At the start of the season, Barcelona played badly. some of the names you mentioned, are not playing as well as they are today, especially Gavi and several other players. there are many matches that barcelona won, despite the fact that they played badly. I, as a fan, don't really enjoy when they play the game.
In the second half of the season, not so bad though they play goes ups and downs. oh yes, since Busquets was paired with De Jong, Barcelona started playing pretty well. however, for wingers, the performance of the players fluctuated. well, for the defense, I don't doubt them.
You may need to look at Barcelona's journey in La Liga this season once more especially in their 19 matches in the first half of the season. If I am not mistaken, Barcelona has only 2 draws
"Rayo Vallecano and Espanyol" and 1 loss by
"Real Madrid" in 19 first half matches. Then how do you say Barcelona's form was bad in the first half of the season?
Check here:
https://www.livescore.com/en/football/team/barcelona/2911/results/De Jong, Dembele, Lewandowski, Pedri and Gavi and Raphinha played well. They seem to hit it off with Xavi who is so passionate about his team. But unfortunately, Barcelona failed in the Champions League because the opponent was quite heavy. Barcelona also failed in the Europa League because of Manchester United, but next season I hope Xavi can make his dream come true.
okay, makes sense. but if you watch Barcelona match after match, you will understand. you can check, how many times Barcelona played badly but won the match. in fact, not infrequently they only scored 1 goal. I counted, there are approximately 11 games. by the way, I am a Barcelona supporter from the era of Frank Rijkard as his coach. My question is did you watch the whole match by match or just check it based on the livescore you linked. oh yeah, I also have a more accurate source of information.
For De Jong, he was rarely played due to his injury in the first half of the season. plus, at that time Xavi had not paired Busquets with De Jong as a pivot. the system that Xavi is currently implementing is different from the system at the start of the season. if you remember, how many times did Raphinha become a reserve player because his performance was unstable. that's why Xavi trusts Dembele more. which in the end, Raphinha has confidence back after Dembele suffered an injury. for Pedri, yes he is good I admit that. but for Gavi, it's more of a hasty game. After the world cup, Gavi experienced a change in the maturity of his game.
Well, to slip in the Champions League. like I said, they don't have the rhythm of the game, so it's difficult to show their best game in the competition. lost to United in the playoffs, I can understand, Barcelona played well but there were many absent players which made them fail to move on to the next phase. fatally, Xavi put Sergio Roberto in the second leg as a winger against United. I'm not sure, what was in Xavi's mind at that time. even though, he still has Ansu Fati.
At this time Barcelona almost won the League trophy, what an achievement that must be given appreciation. but if the squad is still the same next season, don't expect to be able to compete in European competitions as well as La Liga. because, Madrid will clean up. therefore, don't be surprised if Raphinha will be sold by Barcelona to bring in more ideal players.