Sergi Barjuan has urged Barcelona's players to add greater substance to their style as the stop-gap head coach pointed the way forward in the post-Ronald Koeman era.
The clash with Deportivo Alaves on Saturday may prove to be Sergi's only game as boss of the first team, with Barcelona eager to bring Xavi to the club.
Sergi's regular role is as coach to Barcelona B, and he has had precious little time with the senior stars since Koeman was dismissed on Wednesday, after a 1-0 defeat to Rayo Vallecano .
Barcelona head into the weekend in a lowly ninth position, nine points behind leaders Real Sociedad, albeit with one game in hand.
They have played the same number of games as Real Madrid, who sit six points clear of Barcelona and already have a Clasico win in the bag this season.
Sergi believes Barcelona can get back on track and said in a news conference on Friday: "We have to be united, people have to come to the ground tomorrow.
"The way of playing will not change, but maybe some tactical concepts could provide the solution. The style is non-negotiable."
He added: "Tomorrow we have to win the game because LaLiga is open. We have to recover the idea of vertical football."
Former Barcelona and Spain defender Sergi will be without Ansu Fati for the game due to the teenager's knee injury, but Ousmane Dembele could be involved for the first time this season, with the winger back in training after his own knee lay-off.
Sergi said: "I want to put some joy back into the team and get them enjoying their football again. I need all the players to be plugged into turning this situation around."
Playing a vertical game, which would mean being more direct, would seem an obvious move given the personnel available to Barcelona.
Feeding the ball as early as possible to the experienced and capable likes of Memphis Depay and Sergio Aguero may be the smartest option for a team who have struggled to find an identity since Lionel Messi's move to Paris Saint-Germain.
Barcelona have played fewer long passes (449) than any team in LaLiga this season, according to Opta data, but they have played the most possessional passes (6,364), as well as the most passes in the opposition's half (3,431).
Clearly, they are struggling to find a winning formula with their keep-ball game. This has not been helped by their finishing, with just 15 goals scored from an expected goals (xG) total of 18.7.
While Barcelona have lost their last two LaLiga games, to Real Madrid and Rayo, Alaves have picked themselves up after taking just three points from their opening eight matches and have beaten Cadiz and Elche back to back.
Barcelona have not lost any of their last 20 games at home to Basque opponents in LaLiga (W18 D2) since their 2-1 loss against Alaves in September 2016.
Alaves have kept only one clean sheet across their 16 away games against Barcelona in LaLiga, conceding 53 goals across those games. The shutout came in a shock 1-0 win in February 2000.
Sergi said of his opportunity to lead the Barcelona first team: "First of all, I would like to thank the club for the trust they have placed in me. Secondly, I want to send a big hug to Koeman because we have worked side by side these months.
"I arrive in a complex situation, but we are already working. We will have to look for the opponent's weaknesses and try to break their streak with our game."
Wataru Endo hails Liverpool spirit despite ‘difficult decisions’
Wataru Endo was disappointed but proud of the way nine-man Liverpool fought in the face of “difficult decisions” during the last-gasp defeat at Tottenham.
Jurgen Klopp’s men saw their unbeaten start to the Premier League season end in north London as Joel Matip’s own goal in the sixth minute of stoppage time gave Spurs a 2-1 win.
Liverpool had gone so close to a point after seeing Curtis Jones’ booking upgraded to red midway through the first half after his challenge was reviewed by VAR.
Son Heung-min soon broke the deadlock only for the Reds to equalise through Cody Gakpo, whose half-time replacement Diogo Jota was sent off in the 69th minute for two yellows.
But the main talking point was how Luis Diaz’s opener was wrongly ruled out for offside due to what the Professional Game Match Officials Limited called a “significant human error” by VAR Darren England.
Summer signing Endo, who came on with Liverpool reduced to nine men, said: “At the end, a very tough game but there were 50-50 decisions in the game and yeah, it’s very difficult to play with nine players.
“But I wanted to get one point so I am very disappointed about it.
“I am just so proud of this team. I am just disappointed.
“We have to learn from this result and of course we showed our spirit, even though we faced difficult decisions we fought until the end.
“That’s Liverpool and always we have to try to win the game. We can learn from this game but we just keep going.”
Liverpool will look to bounce back from their first Premier League defeat of the season at Brighton next Sunday before attention turns to international matches.
Matip will be particularly desperate to win after his late own goal in the capital, but Endo says nobody in the dressing room is blaming the defender.
“Actually, he played an amazing game today so no-one can say something to him,” he told the club website.
“I am so proud of what he did today and I am so proud of what my team-mates did today.”
Liverpool have a Europa League group match against Union Saint-Gilloise before heading to Brighton, but there are no continental distractions for Spurs this year.
Tottenham missed out on European qualification in a poor 2022-23 campaign but have been reborn under Ange Postecoglou, with his new-look side second in the standings.
“It was an important moment,” goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario said.
“We were level, then we scored. We deserved this win all together.
“We have to enjoy this moment, to rest then keep going because we have another challenge next week (at Luton) and then the international break.
“We have to be focused and to prepare the best game by game.
“This has to be our goal throughout the season – keep going, keep working.”
Officials stood down after offside error in Liverpool’s defeat to Tottenham
The match officials at the heart of the “significant human error” which saw Liverpool wrongly denied a goal in Saturday’s defeat to Tottenham have been stood down from duty for the rest of the weekend.
Darren England was due to be fourth official at Sunday’s Premier League match between Nottingham Forest and Brentford, while Dan Cook was to be assistant referee for Monday’s west London derby between Fulham and Chelsea.
But the Professional Game Match Officials Limited announced on Sunday morning that England, who was VAR for Saturday’s game at Tottenham, has been replaced by Craig Pawson, while Eddie Smart will step in for Cook, who was the assistant VAR to England.
“Darren England, VAR on the Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool fixture, and Dan Cook, AVAR on the same game, have been replaced for the Nottingham Forest v Brentford and Fulham v Chelsea matches today and tomorrow night respectively,” a PGMOL statement said.
“Craig Pawson will now assume England’s duties as fourth official at the City Ground while Eddie Smart will take over from Cook as assistant referee at Craven Cottage.”
On Saturday, PGMOL admitted the pair had failed to act after Luis Diaz’s 34th-minute strike was incorrectly ruled out for offside. Still images of the incident showed Cristian Romero play Diaz onside.
The disallowed goal came with the match still at 0-0 but after Curtis Jones had been controversially sent off following England’s intervention.
Son Heung-min put Spurs in front moments after Diaz’s goal was disallowed, and although Cody Gakpo levelled, Tottenham went on to win 2-1 thanks to a stoppage-time own goal from Joel Matip, with Liverpool finishing with nine men after Diogo Jota also saw red.
In a statement on Saturday, PGMOL said: “PGMOL acknowledge a significant human error occurred during the first half of Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool.
“The goal by Luis Diaz was disallowed for offside by the on-field team of match officials.
“This was a clear and obvious factual error and should have resulted in the goal being awarded through VAR intervention, however, the VAR failed to intervene.
“PGMOL will conduct a full review into the circumstances which led to the error.”
Kai Havertz showed his mindset is spot on – Declan Rice
Declan Rice hailed the mindset of Kai Havertz after he broke his Arsenal duck with a goal in Saturday’s impressive Premier League win at Bournemouth.
The Gunners strolled to a 4-0 victory at the Vitality Stadium as Bukayo Saka headed them in front with a Martin Odegaard penalty doubling the lead before Havertz stroked home a spot-kick of his own and Ben White wrapped up the points with a stoppage-time header.
The win takes Arsenal a point off the top of the table ahead of the visit of reigning champions Manchester City next Sunday.
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It remains to be seen if Havertz will start that game having struggled to make an impact following his £65million move across London from Chelsea in the summer, although manager Mikel Arteta said he hoped this would “change everything” for the Germany international.
Saka had initially collected the ball to take the second penalty before ceding responsibility to Havertz, whose conversion was met with jubilant celebrations from team-mates and the travelling fans alike.
“It was emotional, for the fans, for Kai, for everyone involved, because we want him to succeed so much,” said fellow new recruit Rice.
“Honestly, he works his socks off every day in training. In games he gives absolutely everything.
“He’s had chances to score this year, hadn’t scored yet, but today to slot away a penalty in that high-pressure moment shows the mindset that he’s got, shows the talent he’s got and his all-round performance was so special.
“We’re a young group of lads who really believe and trust in the manager. He’s brought that environment into the club, and the whole energy around the place in terms of staff, the players, the fans at the Emirates.
“It’s such a special feeling. It’s really good to be a part of and like I said, that’s why I came to Arsenal, It’s real honour to play for this club and when there are special moments like this, it’s really good.”
Bournemouth remain winless in the Premier League under head coach Andoni Iraola and never looked like ending that run against their superior visitors.
“We have to be better,” Iraola told afcbTV.
“We have some minimum (requirements), everyone needs to run and needs to fight – we need to be better especially at both ends.
“We were not pressing correctly but we all tried and didn’t give up but we have to do much better. The fans have been very good with us, we cannot ask for more.”
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