Barcelona remain top of La Liga but it's fair to say that the Spanish champions are enduring a difficult time right now.

They haven't won any of their last three matches and manager Ernesto Valverde seems to be more dependent on Lionel Messi than ever before.

One big issue is the team's current lack of defensive stability, sparked by Clement Lenglet's recent red card and Gerard Pique's extremely costly errors.

In the past week, the Spaniard has made four mistakes in three different games which have all directly led to the opposition scoring.

Spanish outlet Sport claim that "arguably this was the defender's worst week while at the club in terms of performance", and they may be right.

Pique's horror week: Part 1

Things started on Sunday 23 September as Barca were held to a 2-2 draw by Girona at the Nou Camp and Pique produced two sub-par moments.

His poor challenge allowed Cristhian Stuani to break free and score, and then he nearly gave away a penalty in the build-up to the ex-Middlesbrough man's second goal (0:38-0:58).

Pique's horror week: Part 2

The Catalan giants suffered a shock 2-1 loss at Leganes on Wednesday and Pique made another huge mistake which resulted in the winning goal.

Showing a lack of concentraction, the 31-year-old's attempted clearance ended up turning into a perfect assist for Oscar Rodriguez (0:49-1:03).

Pique's horror week: Part 3

If that wasn't enough, in Barcelona 1-1 Athletic Bilbao on Saturday, Pique was the only player who didn't step up as Susaeta whipped in a 41st-minute cross.

As shown below, the Spanish centre-back played Oscar de Marcos onside and he snuck in at the back post to give Bilbao the lead (0:21-0:39).

What are Barca fans saying about Pique?

Barcelona supporters on Twitter who have observed each of Pique's decisive mistakes feel he needs to benched for the time being.

Check out some of the best reaction below:

Pique has been superb throughout his incredibly successful time at Barca, which makes his recent loss of form all the more worrying.

Having sold Yerry Mina and Lenglet still adapting to life at the club, Valverde needs the World Cup winner to be performing at his world-class best.

At the age of 31, maybe Pique, who has retired from international football, will benefit from some time out of Barca's starting XI.

Do YOU think Pique should be dropped from Barca's XI after a series of costly mistakes? Leave YOUR opinion in the comments box below!