ALEX SONG HAS BEEN A DISASTER SIGNING FOR BARCELONA

ALEX SONG HAS BEEN A DISASTER SIGNING FOR BARCELONA

D. Ray Morton, 24th February 2014.

How statistics can be deceptive. This weekend, after 31 straight unbeaten games, Alex Song was involved in his very first Liga BBVA loss as Barcelona fell to a 3-1 away defeat at the Anoeta against Real Sociedad. It makes it sound as though their lucky charm finally expired. This is not the case, however. Since signing for the Catalan giants in the summer of 2012 from Arsenal, Song has been used as a squad player despite his €19m price tag. In signing him, Barca felt they could fill up to three squad positions from central midfielder to the anchor man position and also as a makeshift centre back in the manner which Javier Mascherano can occupy such roles.

In his year and a half at the club, Song has mainly only been rotated into seemingly easier league matches. He has never been first choice in any of his supposed roles. Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Cesc Fabregas usually contend for the two central midfield positions and Sergi Busquets has owned the defensive midfield pivot since he was promoted into the first team by former manager Pep Guardiola. Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique, when both are available, have been their first-choice centre halves and the aforementioned Mascherano had also provided cover and is now probably a fixture in their strongest XI.

This doesn't leave Song with much to do. Barca have looked sluggish whenever he has had to fill a midfield role and they have looked out-and-out shaky when he has been asked to fill in at the back. The club have made bad defensive signings in recent years, €25m flop Dmytro Chygrynskiy being a prime example, but he was promptly offloaded back to Shaktar Donetsk. It is something a puzzler that Song did not meet the same end as Arsene Wenger could well have been open to taking him back at the Emirates.

His performance on Saturday night was abject. Fielded in one of the more advanced midfield positions beside Iniesta, Song was still at fault for Barca's first conceded goal on 32 mins. Gorka Elustundo managed to rise for a header which took a heavy deflection off the badly-positioned Song to register what went down as an own goal to make it 1-0 to the home side.

Barca's talisman, Lionel Messi, managed to equalise soon afterwards with a beautifully struck left-foot shot from just outside the box but the Catalans laboured in the second half after their trip to Manchester in mid-week and conceded two just before the hour to the impressive Antoine Griezmann and the other from Zurutuza. With that, Song was hauled off for Fabregas to try and save the game.

But to no avail. Barca dropped three points and now Real Madrid lead the Liga BBVA table thanks to a 3-0 home win against Elche as cross-city rivals Atletico Madrid collapsed to a 3-0 away defeat at Osasuna. The title race is extremely close this season in Spain. Many people are predicting it to come down to the final set of fixtures where Barcelona will have to face Atletico Madrid. It is expected to come right down to the wire and one wonders whether Barca will live to regret the three points dropped against Sociedad when such a fate could well have been avoided had they fielded a smarter starting line-up. The finger of blame doesn't lie squarely on Alex Song but he has certainly made himself a fine nomination for being the end of season scapegoat.