New-look Barca betraying their principles

Despite possessing the likes of Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets and Ivan Rakitic, possession football no longer features high on Barcelona's agenda.

In days gone by, the Catalans would suffocate their opponent with long spells of possession, starving them of the ball and pressing and probing until they worked an opening.

It seems, though, that those days are now gone. The control that Barcelona display now is a different kind altogether, with shape and defensive discipline taking precedence over fluidity of movement and total football.

However, is this transformation betraying the club's principles? The great Johan Cruyff would likely shed a tear if he were to witness the evolution in style from the Pep Guardiola days to what is now served up at Camp Nou, with every passing day seeing his beloved club move further away from the interchanging style that he championed.

Whether the shift was through choice or forced upon the club is another debate, with the shock departure of Neymar to PSG and the advancing years and incresing unreliability of Andres Iniesta fitness-wise perhaps acting as prominent factors in Barca's drift form purveyors of purity to yet another product of the results-based institution that is football.

Barcelona's DNA is evolving and the club can only hope that the fans embrace the change, otherwise it could prove tricky to reverse.