Defensive gifts cost Barca dear

Barcelona is paying a high price for its slip-ups at the back. Vilanova's side has conceded six goals in its last three games after a spate of individual errors. Poor decision-making and lapses of concentration have seen the 'Azulgranas' fail to win two straight matches, the first time this has happened this season.

The clearest example of the problem came on Saturday in San Sebastián. Barcelona was firing on all cylinders for the first 40 minutes, only to concede just before half-time and fall apart from that point onwards.

It was a comedy of errors against Sociedad. Alves and Piqué were the double act responsible for Chori Castro's first goal. Mascherano failed to get enough on his block for the second, succeeding only in deflecting the ball and giving Valdés no chance, and the Argentine was caught snoozing again for the winner.

Gerard Piqué's two bookings, both of which were avoidable, also played a key role, leaving Barcelona a man down with 35 minutes still to play. All in all, question marks again surround the Barça backline, although not Víctor Valdés, despite many attempts to turn the 'keeper into the scapegoat.

After looking shaky at the beginning of the season owing to injuries, the return of Piqué and Puyol had restored security to the Barça defence. Having averaged 1.5 goals a game in its first 18 fixtures, the team conceded just 0.75 a game for the next 8.

Barça's last two-match winless streak sparked the departure of Guardiola. It came at the end of April 2011, when the side followed up the loss to Real Madrid with a 2-2 draw with Chelsea.