‘Barca rely on MSN excessively’

In his latest column, Guillem Balague says Barcelona’s dependence on Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar is becoming excessive.

Sky Sports’ Spanish expert also looks at Zinedine Zidane’s tactical masterclass against Atletico Madrid, who are struggling defensively under Diego Simeone.

Balague also answers your Twitter questions, including the likelihood of Messi joining Manchester City, and whether Luis Suarez deserves to win the Ballon d’Or ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Barcelona have dropped seven points at home in the league, which is unheard of in recent times. In Alaves and Malaga, they have come up against five at the back and they took points from them, but this Barcelona side should still beat that.

They had 29 shots in the 0-0 draw against Malaga, with eight on target, and 99 times out of 100 they would win that game – but they didn’t on this occasion.

This is a Barcelona made for the front three. If two of them are missing – like Messi and Suarez were against Malaga – then they do not seem to be as comfortable or have as many collective answers as they used to in the past.

In the four games they dropped points, Messi has either not featured or hasn’t played the 90 minutes, which again suggests their excessive dependence on him. They’ve only gone five games without conceding this season, and the second line aren’t adding a lot – Denis Suarez, Arda Turan, Lucas Digne, Paco Alcacer and Andre Gomes all have to improve

The fact that it’s Barcelona’s worst start since 2004 suggests that this league is the strongest it has been for many years. But it was also a weaker, more predictable Barcelona.

Real second string providing welcome headache for Zidane

It’s interesting that Real have managed to win difficult games without one or two of their superstars. They did it against Real Sociedad, Real Betis and of course Atletico Madrid – with Pepe, Sergio Ramos and Toni Kroos all missing the 3-0 derby win over Atletico.

Injuries have worked in favour of Zidane, and the likes of Lucas Vazquez, Nacho, Mateo Kovacic and Isco all look hungry. The second line of players have responded really well and that hasn’t happened so well for Barcelona or Atletico.

I have criticised Zidane a lot in the past because he hadn’t done enough for the team at times, and what I hear from the changing room is that he is not the most motivational of coaches. However, he actually did some very interesting things against Atletico which meant he regained some credit.

Firstly, to have Gareth Bale on the left and Lucas on the right in a midfield five, they had to track Atletico’s full-backs. …

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