Alex Song, FC Barcelona’s latest summer signing, was signed from Arsenal in order to cover for Keita’s departure and possibly later on converting into a center back like Mascherano did 2 years ago.
Alex Song’s debut was against Real Madrid in the Supercup 1st leg. Song gave an impressive performance with the few minutes he got to play, completing 19 out of 19 passes that match. Song’s impressive run continued when Barca’s coach gave him a starting role as CDM against Valencia at Camp Nou. In that match he gave a very solid performance defensive and even attacking wise, with nearly a 90% pass completion rate.
Afterwards, Barca’s back two, Pique and Puyol were both injured. This meant Song will finally get to play the role that Tito partially bought him for, and that was converting into a center back, and it was against Granada. There were very high expectations on him, and everyone expected him to adapt like Mascherano did. Unfortunately for Song, he didn’t perform well, with a lot of defensive lapses and shaky defending.
The match eventually ended with a 2-0 win for Barca on the dying minutes. Yes, a clean sheet was kept for FC Barcelona, but that wasn’t because of the defense, it was because of some heroic saves from Victor Valdes and lots of missed chances from Granada.
Song, again, featured at center-back against Sevilla where Barca conceded 2 goals but eventually won the match in the dying minutes. This match showed that he is yet to adapt to playing in that role.
In brief, Song’s start of the season at Fc Barcelona has been a ‘sweet and sour’ experience for him, as he excelled playing in his natural position which is CDM, while he showed some unconvincing performances when he played in the center of defense.
Song still needs to adapt, no main conclusion or evaluation can be made about him since it is still the beginning of the season. We still have to wait till mid-season to see if Song can adapt to Barca’s playing style or if he will fail like some players have.
Written by Nadim Rmeity
Follow him on Twitter @nadimrmeity
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