Barcelona 2009/10: fewer trophies, better team
Barcelona’s 2008/09 season was the most successful in their history; the most successful in any club’s history. Surely they couldn’t have an equally good campaign this time around?
The most immediate answer to that question is no. Out of the Copa del Rey to Sevilla on away goals, eliminated from the Champions League in desperate circumstances at home to Inter – a repeat of the treble was not achieved. But in the league, Barcelona have exceeded their achievements from last year. 99 points compared to 87 last season, just one loss compared to five last season. Real Madrid’s leap forward kept the league going until the final day and suggested Barcelona were not as dominant – but Barcelona cannot influence Real’s points tally (obviously aside from the two head-to-head meetings, where Barca won home and away). Taking Barcelona alone, and La Liga alone, they were better than last season.
What has created the illusion that they were not? For a club like Barcelona, style is often given a higher billing than substance, and certainly, they have played a slightly more reserved, less dynamic brand of football this season. Swapping Samuel Eto’o for Zlatan Ibrahimovic was always going to necessitate a slightly different way of doing things in the final third, but equally as important was the decline of Thierry Henry. The relative lack of form of Andres Iniesta (just one goal and five assists) has not helped either.
The case for the defence
Overall, however, it is possible that Barcelona are a better side than last season. For starters, their defence this season was excellent. In only five league games did they concede more than one goal, and on three occasions that was when they had a commanding lead in the game and were coasting to victory – which has, admittedly been a slight problem with Barcelona this season, that they sometimes seem to have taken their foot off the gas prematurely, such as against Sevilla recently.
Successful defences are always built around teamwork and cooperation rather than individual brilliance, but a notable factor in Barcelona’s defensive excellence this season was the improvement of the individuals. Victor Valdes, long thought of as Barcelona’s weak link – a local lad who got lucky – has been one of the best goalkeepers in Europe. His shotstopping is superb, he looks in command from crosses, and his distribution (for a side like Barcelona, a key feature for goalkeeper rather than an added bonus) is excellent. In front of him, Dani Alves has improved the defensive side of his game without being any less of an attacking threat, whilst Gerard Pique has continued his ascent to one of the best centre-backs in the world.
The defending has started right from the front of the pitch, as Barca have at times played an extraordinarily intense pressing game, most notably in the first half at the Emirates, where Arsenal struggled to get out of their own half. This, coupled with the desire to prevent the opposition finding space ‘between the lines’, means that their defence often played a very high line – consequently, they were often prone to fairly simple balls in behind their defence for a pacey striker, like the one Diego Forlan scored against them in the only league game Barcelona lost all season:
They were sometimes criticized for this, but it was merely a byproduct of the pressing game – you can’t praise one part and then criticize the other – and Barcelona’s defensive record of 24 goals conceded in 38 games means that their defensive tactics were unquestionably a success.
Unfashionable players step up
Another reason for the defensive excellence has been Sergio Busquets, now regarded as Barcelona’s first-choice holding midfielder, ahead of Yaya Toure. Busquets hasn’t yet got the recognition he deserves – maybe because casual observers struggle to understand what sort of player he is. He is not as powerful and fearsome as Toure, but is more disciplined than the Ivorian and more reliable in possession.
That was effectively the difference between Barcelona this season and Barcelona last season across the pitch – they were slightly more functional, slightly less spectacular. The pattern was repeated on the left side of midfield – Iniesta’s injury problems meant that he started only 20 games – Seydou Keita started 23. Keita is clearly the less talented player, and rarely found himself the hero (no goals or assists since October) but his reliability on the left meant Barcelona’s left-back had slightly more license to get forward – Maxwell had a good first season and Eric Abidal took on a slightly more attacking role than he has been accustomed to (although still remains without a single goal in his entire career). Players playing at left-back contributed ten assists for Barcelona this season, compared to just one last season, when you probably wouldn’t have seen goals like this one:
Ibra and Pedro
Further forward, there were changes. Ibrahimovic in and Eto’o out was the obvious one, but equally the rise of Pedro and the decline of Henry altered the way Barcelona play. Again, Pedro is not as dynamic or athletic, but is both a lethal finisher and disciplined defensively. He has established himself so quickly in Barcelona’s side that it’s easy to forget that last season he made just six appearances and didn’t contribute in terms of goals. This season he scored 12 goals in La Liga, 4 more in the Champions League, and his ability to play on the left, on the right or through the middle meant that he was so useful for Guardiola – in the game at the Bernabeu, for example, he started on the left with Dani Alves playing in a defensive wide-right position, before switching to the right for the second half, to allow Maxwell to take up a defensive wide-left position.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic continues to divide opinion, but having won seven league titles in seven seasons with four different sides (Calciopoli notwithstanding) even his doubters must recognize his success. As the second most-expensive player in the history of football, his first season can be considered a slight disappointment, but from 23 starts and 6 substitute appearances, 16 goals is a far from shabby record. Besides, he has unquestionably provided Barcelona with a more direct method of attack – his goal away in Stuttgart was a good example of that. He’s also linked well with Messi – see this unselfish layoff:
And let’s not forget that he scored within minutes of his first El Clasico to give Barcelona the initiative for the rest of the season:
Messi
The obvious star was Messi, and he was a star not merely because of his brilliant football, but because he could perform well in different roles. He started the reason in a right-sided forward role, sometimes played as a false nine (like at the Bernabeu) and was also happy deeper behind a central striker – it’s difficult to say which he prefers. His hattrick against Valencia came when he played just off Thierry Henry…
…and his hattrick against Zaragoza was when he was on the right side of a forward trio:
Does it matter where Messi plays? As long as he can receive the ball in an attacking zone, probably not.
Variety in systems
All of this has been achieved with Barcelona switching between two separate formations. Their standard 4-3-3 from last season was generally favoured, but their plan B was a 4-2-4 shape that provoked much debate about its merits – it was certainly easier for them to press the opposition defence with the four advanced players, and it allowed them to stretch the play in the final third whilst featuring another central attacker. It meant Xavi playing deeper and required an awful lot of running from both the wide attackers and full-backs (possibly too much to sustain for 90 minutes) but when they needed the change in shape, it often worked wonders. The second half against Valencia, where the 4-3-3 had proved so ineffective in the first half, showed how it could outwit opponents, and against Arsenal home and away, Barca dominated.
And there were variations in each shape depending on the personnel, too. Against Real Madrid the 4-3-3 took a more defensive slant with a full-back on the wing, and Messi playing furthest forward. The 4-2-4 was different with Iniesta on the left to with Keita on the left, as Iniesta kept width more, whilst Keita tended to play from a central position. The fact that so many Barcelona players are versatile – Messi, Pedro, Bojan, Iniesta, Maxwell, Puyol, Toure – means it was often hard to guess their shape. The only low point in the season was the two-legged tie against Inter, where twice Guardiola fielded Ibrahimovic as a central striker, when a more fluid system based around pace and movement surely would have been better.
But this was still an extraordinary season for Barcelona, and other managers can take two lessons from it. Firstly, that even if your side is successful, your system must still evolve – the introduction of Ibrahimovic and Pedro made Barca fresher, and meant they played in a slightly different way. Secondly, your side must have a plan B – if Barca had played a 4-3-3 all season, they may have been figured out. The 4-2-4 kept teams guessing.
Whisper it quietly, but this was a better Barcelona side than last season. If the league table doesn’t lie, the greatest points total in La Liga history speaks volumes.
Barcelona 2009/10: fewer trophies, better team
I agree…last season’s side was great but this one was harder to beat and better allround.
Definitely. People will point out the Champions League but actually I think that only strengthens the case. Last season Barcelona were, to most neutrals, fortunate to reach the final thanks to some awful refereeing (although purists like myself were glad they got through against the dull approach of Chelsea).
This season the boot was on the other foot. They weren’t quite as beautiful on the ball against Inter as they were against Chelsea last year, and certainly not as good as they were against United in the final, but they were, this time, on the wrong end of some decisions that should have gone their way. Trophies aren’t the only indicator of a good side.
The front three hasn’t quite got the same dynamism of last year but Messi’s been amazing and Pique and Busquets have improved massively, making Barcelona a lot harder to beat. As a team they’re a much better side this year than last.
Barcelona 2009/10 best team, Messi – best player
I found all his games on :
Messi videos
and all his goals
http://feelplayer.com/Messi_videos.html
I wonder if they were on the “wrong side” of the decision which saw an Inter player red carded and kicked out of the game after a shameful display of acting? They were up 11 to 10 for most of the most important game of the season. How can you compare this to the disasterous referring display that was Cheslea v Barca the year before? Not even close.
Barca was a very good team this year. But were far from dominant. They lost out of the Champions League to a team which obviously played better than them over 2 legs, the second one as previously mentioned, with only 10 men!
And in 2 very important games, the Classicos against Madrid, they did not show a dominance that would be expected. Real Madrid had more opportunties, shots and shots on goal, in both games. Especially in the first classico, Madrid clearly outplayed Barca. In the 2nd, Barca outplayed Madrid, but it was much closer than the scoreline would show.
Basically they won La Liga, and barely at that. Let’s not get too carried away with their “success.”
Sorry but you soudn liek a jealous Inter, Chelsea, madrid fan. The things you say make no sense. Barca was absolutely better than Inter this year, they outplayed Inter in three games, while Inter outplayed barca only once at home.
durante el mundial make analisis de los partidos?
I think the answer to this is “Si”
So you’ll be making analysis in the world cup party? Great.
Partidos also = “games”, no? Parties, games, ZM is there.
Hey, i just recently discovered this site and boy was i missing something! Great insight!!
I was just wondering as a Barca fan, would you care to write an article on how you think we might fit in Villa Ibra Messi Pedro ??
He meant to ask: will you analyze the games of the World Cup?
This will be one of the most exciting things to look forward to this World Cup! Good to hear.
A few previews would be great too – including speculative ones like the England 3-5-2 one that was just based on that one rumor.
and all that without iniesta for most of the season, and ibra half asleep for the second half. next season will be interesting. especially when they bring in villa.
Seeing how they fit Villa in will be very interesting, especially if they don’t sell Ibrahimovic.
Ibra aint going anywhere especially with Henry all but over.
I will be disappointed if they sell Ibrahimovic. Yes, he had a quiet second half in the League but his role is vital in what it is considered the plan B. He is less mobile as Eto’o but he can bring other skills to our table, a better aerial approach and more physical presence up front.
I think he deserves a second chance to fully adapt to Barca’s [much complicated] system, from here we’ll see a much fluid -yet successful- side than this year. However, i am afraid if they bring Villa, Ibra’s spot will be in jeopardy.
Villa is versatile, though. While he generally leans to playing on the left side of the pitch, he can play in the middle or on the right depending on the circumstances. He’ll essentially make the fluid Pedro-Messi-Bojan trio of short speed merchants into a quartet.
one main feature we’ve learnt this season is that pep values versatility from his players and options. that is what both cesc and villa will afford him.
simplistically he will again rely on 4-3-3 and 4-4-2 (although diamond will come into the foray a lot more) but it’s the playing style offering by villa’s clinical ability as well as pace that replaces henry who’s really disappointed pep this year.
pep’s made comments that he hasn’t been happy that he’s had to rely on the same players for so many minutes this season and with this expansion he will not need to rely on them that much.
people get hung up on the importance of 1st elevens – of course a first choice eleven is important but only to a degree, having the ability to tackle different sorts of game with a different 1st eleven for each is far more valuable.
I don’t think it’s that fans get hung up on the importance of 1st elevens; players are equally hung up on it. Villa won’t be happy moving to Barca to sit on the bench when other major clubs in Europe were also interested in him as first choice.
As for Cesc, I really do wish people would stop talking as if that’s done. No comments from Fabregas (in fact his most recent comments state clearly that he’s happy at Arsenal and in no hurry to leave) and none from Wenger. Yes, Cesc wants to go to Barca, but maybe now.
No fee has been agreed either, and this has been a stumbling block before between the two clubs (Henry). Unlike Henry, Cesc’s by no means a player on the decline and has a long contract.
reports from barca insiders are that cesc has let it be known he wants to leave and a contract has already been agreed, the arsenal contact is the stumbling block – not even sure how big a deal that will be as arsene doesn’t like keeping players who don’t want to stay. not saying it’s not entirely plausible that he will stay, because of course it is. but you know.
re. villa, he is one of the more humble and realistic footballers around and i don’t think that will be an issue, no player comes to barca expecting to be heralded a king – even ibra, with the ego the size of camp nou itself is very humble of the opportunity he’s been given.
Apparently, Cesc has already told Wegner that he wants to leave (widely reported by the English and Spanish media). It’s just a matter of settling on a transfer fee. Arsenal want €45m and Barça wants to pay €35. I think Barcelona wanted to add Toure to the deal for €25 going the other way, but yesterday his slimy agent said that he would not go to Arsenal (although he wants out of Barcelona).
i agree but theres a few things i would like to say.
1. pique and puyol and the high line along side with immediate midfield pressure has helped barca the past 2 seasons. victor valdes remainds the biggest weakness in their defense (i wonder why hes still playing for them).
2. ibrahimovic did not exactly bring the expected impact i.e. the dominance in air as he did with inter. but i do agree that he made barca more all round. imho, i dont think its a good deal with inter.
3. barca did not completely suffer without iniesta as pedro had a breakout season. he covered the role of iniestas cuts.
4. messi is phenomenal this season. messi made barca this year more formidable than last year. but i believe dribblers like him can be taken down by an organized defence as proven by chelsea last year and inter this year.
Victor Valdes is still playing because they dont have a better keeper to replace him with. Although he won the Zamora trophy, he still looks like the weak link.
hahaha.
i just think its easier replacing than to dish out etoo and $$$ for zlatan for a slight improvement in game depth.
p.s. what an insult to casillas that valdes took the trophy. on the other hand my madrid seems to have the mentality that all we need for our defence is a keeper.
Barcelona’s stronger defence actually helped Valdes win it. Otherwise he is not even a second choice keeper for Spain(Thats Reina). I think its time for a defensive Galactico to come to Madrid. Whatsay Nesta?
hahaha. please dont ruin my already ruined team.
real madrid is such a joke in terms of management and organization.
@Vince
Oh come on. RM this season was a lot better than what they were last season. They need a strict disciplanarian. I think they need Jose Mourinho above all.
i think i would have to AGREE and DISAGREE.
this season better results because we have a bunch of strong players. and raul served well even as a reserve.
last season it went down hill because the management panicked after a series of injuries.
the season was good at first and i havent seen madrid playing like a team in YEARS. sneijder. de la red. ruud+raul (possibly the best combo ive seen over raul+morientes).
but this year its just a bunch of good players playing weekly pick up games. thats what i feel.
im surprised van der vaart got his starting position back. when even sneijder cambiasso robben all go off loaded. all great players which i wished still plays for madrid. i wish madrid can play as a TEAM like inter like barca etc.
if i were jose i wouldnt come to madrid because coaches has no say in madrid. madristas have no respect for coaches. del bosque got laid off after winning the league. capello won both times in the first season but they dont like his style. not a good job to be honest.
I think Jose will take it for precisely that reason. He believes he’s special enough to be the exception that proves the rule, that Real will give him the respect that even the likes of Del Bosque and Capello didn’t get.
The one thing I’m relishing about Mourihno sullying La Liga with his presence is the inevitable moment when RM give him the boot.
There are only a handful of players who would improve this Barcelona side, either Torres or Villa, Ronaldo, a very good goalkeeper (Casillas in an ideal world – but I appreciate this is unlikely) and perhaps Ashley Cole at left back. I don’t quite understand where Fabregas would fit into the side, particularly as they appear to be courting Mascherano to fill the role of deep lying midfielder and Iniesta due to return for next season.
Clearly they are the best team about, possibly ever, but there is still a “chink the armour”, their insistance on pressing so high up the pitch early on is only useful if they get the goals. The 1st leg against Arsenal demonstrated that if opposing teams can stay in the game until the last half hour they are vulnerable because they expend too much energy in the early stages of the game. This is the same reason why Brazil won’t win the World Cup this year.
I agree with the overall premise that this season they have been far better than last year, the number of trophies is irrelevant.
cant agree more on what you said about the “handful of players who would improve this barcelona side”!!! but i would like to add that this is under the assumption that barcelona maintains their style. under this particular style its really hard to make anymore improvements. even with the addition of lets say villa, torres etc. the difference would not be drastic (especially i think torres does not play with the possession play which barca is famous for; maybe he has been modified to the premiership).
on the other hand. i cannot say that they are the best team ever. i agree attacking wise perhaps (hell. even better than my favorite real madrid with zidane). but i personally would rather have a team which can beat any team 1-0 than a team that can beat 9 teams 5-0 but lose to 1 team 0-1. but id like to say i think rafa’s liverpool at times and mourinho’s teams are better in that specific sense.
the stamina aspect you spoke about. i also cannot agree more. most fans who dont play would not understand such thing.
they do not understand how it kills team when they cannot score after a long press. and how much energy it takes to play attack football. the running into spaces etc. thank you for pointing that out.
but with regards to brazil (sorry im not a fan of the brazilian team). i believe the reason why brazil stands out in the national level is because of their style and not necessarily the overall ability of their players (not to say they are anything less than brilliant). i think european players are used to the “team” environment and system. versus brazilians started off in streets and their style involves much improvisation (like many other south american countries). since national teams dont have the luxury club teams do in terms of training time. their improvizational intuition the brazilians are used to are to their advantage in the national level. on the other hand it is somewhat against them in the club level because they are less able to execute strict game plans.
Brazil are currently executing a “European” style, they function extremely well as an organised defensive unit, have developed a superb counter attacking element to their game and have broken the stereotypical mode of South American football by employing a strict pressing game when not in possession. The comparison I was making between Brazil and Barcelona is only applicable to their respective pressing games which are very similar.
It is understandable to desire a team who will win 1-0 all the time to a team who win 5-0 most of the time and lose occasionally, Brazil unfortunately fall into the latter category which is why they won’t win this summer (also take into account if we assume all the seeded teams win their groups Brazil could not have been given a more difficult draw in the latter stages).
i hope what you say indeed does happen this summer.
hahaha.
p.s. honestly. ive been worried that their switch to euro style under dunga would be a problem as it would make them much more organized than before. especially when i saw how good lucio could be in the inter game under mourinho.
“but i personally would rather have a team which can beat any team 1-0 than a team that can beat 9 teams 5-0 but lose to 1 team 0-1. but id like to say i think rafa’s liverpool at times and mourinho’s teams are better in that specific sense.”
Barca lost 1 league game all season long (it was 1-0). Barca did crash from the cups and Europe, but which specific Liverpool and Chosen One teams are you referring to as being more consistent? Of course winning consistently is more important than getting blowout wins, but getting 99 points on 31 league wins certainly qualifies as winning consistently.
barca delivers in la liga. no question. as you said. 99 points. amazing feat.
i was just talking generally. like how barca similar to many clubs who play attack football tend to drop points against weaker teams. but on the other hand. their archrival real madrid never seems capable of taking them down (well. maybe el classico cannot simply be labelled as “just a league game” with all its cultural significance and implications. haha.). torres with with atletico took them down a few times with i found absurd given that atletico was weaker back then and barca was as strong (in a different way i guess).
as much as i dislike man utd most of the time when they lose. it made sense to me.
o. the rafa and jose teams i was referring to. i had champions league in mind the past few years (actually i also had chelsea last season vs. barca in mind). their encounters with barca. i felt like barca had problems delivering against these teams as a matter of their style. which is why i prefer a less all out attack team and regard this year’s barca as superior to last years (goal scored and concession). argh… i just cant think of how they can beat this inter with even a 10 man inter playing like this.
actually maybe using consistent wasnt a good choice of words and i should have mentioned that. i should have said that i felt that boring teams like liverpool (not talking about this season’s for obvious reasons. haha.), chelsea, inter etc. they are more vulnerable against strong teams (again. i always felt like their losses made sense most the time). while barca literally can beat anyone 5-0 but could also drop 0-1 against whatever tier teams.
also. i think in champions league. busquets this year and the refereeing vs. chelsea last year. they sort of ruined what barca’s perception for me.
do you think its a question of style that barca’s all out attack is vulnerable to weaker teams who dont care to win but just want to salvage a point by putting up a 10 man defence? or is it a matter of depth of attack (ibrahimovic was brought to correct this problem without much success)? or is it really a matter of misguided perception?
“i personally would rather have a team which can beat any team 1-0 than a team that can beat 9 teams 5-0 but lose to 1 team 0-1.”
I find this to be a horrible attitude. I understand it as: “I want a team that always wins and never excites.” As a fan I want the opposite. As a player I want the opposite. Your desire would be no fun for anyone. The chance that your team might lose or that they might do something extraordinary is what makes you sit up on the edge of your seat and bite your nails. If you know your team is guaranteed to score one goal and then park the bus who will want to watch them? not any neutrals, that’s for sure…
Excellent point. It’s the unexpected that gives football its drama and makes it worth watching. I think even fans, deep down, would rather watch a side that might lose, even if it hurts at the time. They want the excitement.
I also can’t understand where Fabregas would improve this Barcelona side. Mascherano actually makes more sense. Of course Cesc’s long term future is clearly in Barca; replacing Xavi.
Mascherano would be a bad fit as Pep does not believe in the Destroyer-Creator model.
He believes in the Creator-Creator model. Barcelona is all about attack. They can only play one way.
Vince, you should watch the 90 min of all games of Barcelona to understand why Valdes is playing in Barcelona. Throw away those nasty highlights videos, they don’t give you the chance to taste all Barça goodness.
i agree with your comment that a lot of videos are made which put valdes in a bad light.
but personally. the games that i have seen him play. hes been giving me the sort of confidence along the lines of alumnia, james etc. brilliant at times but ridiculous at times also. i would call him somewhat reckless or eccentric.
personally. i favor a more consistent goalkeeper than one who fluctuates between the caliber of buffon and a sunday league keeper.
In my opinion, Barcelona isn’t the typical team. The team is not based by all round players, is made of very specialized players that maybe as individuals doesn’t stand by themselves but alltogether sing a wonderful melody.
Casillas, Chech or Buffon could play for any team around the world but I sure they will fail in Barcelona for the same reason that some of the great keepers in the last two decades failed. They need to be tested to prove their skill.
Valdes is one of the toughest keepers when it comes to mental skills and also have an outstanding ability to block the ball and deny second chances along with a brilliant feet work (is that good that sometimes is over confident).
Today, the only keeper I’m aware that could fit in Barcelona game is Van der Sar but the age…
The question is not who is the best keeper, the question is: Will another keeper fit in Barcelona style?
the problem i have with valdes is not so much with his keeping skills. but more on his judgments i.e. his overconfidence etc. and the number of times hes passed to villa.
i do not question his shot stopping ability. as you said. hes excellent with many thunderous shots.
I agree. Valdes is the master at making clearances outside his box. I don’t know whether Barcelona could get away with having Pique/Marquez and Puyol at center back without a goalkeeper who was confident enough to rush 30 yards to intercept balls over the top. He’s really just extremely confident with both his feet and his head.
“Casillas, Chech or Buffon could play for any team around the world but I sure they will fail in Barcelona for the same reason that some of the great keepers in the last two decades failed. They need to be tested to prove their skill.”
Sorry, I may have misunderstood you here but are you serioulsy suggesting that Real Madrids’ (and Spains) goal keeper, Chelsea’s (and the Check republics) goal keeper and that Juventus’ (and Italy’s) goal keeper need to be tested to prove their skill? Thats (from the top of my head) 1 European championship winner, a WORLD CUP winner and a multiple Premier league/FA Cup winner. Which of course is mere childs play in comparision to Barcelona …..
Appologies if i misread that, because well no sane person would actually say something like that …
Donovan I think you’re spot on. Valdes almost plays like a sweeper in the Barcelona system; it’s not the same position it is at other clubs.
Van Der Sar does the same thing at United; in fact I remember ZM doing a comparison of how VdS and Cech distributed the ball in one of the United v Chelsea clashes this season and showed how often Cech hit it long where Van Der Sar played it short.
Sorry Jason I didn’t explain my thesis in the proper way.
What I meant is that Casillas, Chech and Buffon are warm-blooded kepeers, gk that need to be shooted several times during the game to play in their splendor, to be mentally in the game.
On the other hand, Valdes is a cold-blooded keeper, he have the mental ability to stay connected all game long with few hand interventions.
This is not about baggage is about the approach to the game.
I can’t believe that anyone who has actually followed the team closely over the last 2 seasons would still argue that Valdes is a liability. For every boneheaded move he makes, he follows up with 10 amazing saves.
Valdes has been incredible in goal this season and has saved Barcelona in many matches. Anybody who says otherwise has not been paying attention. One person who has been paying attention is Vicente Del Bosque, because he’s taking Victor to the WC.
The scary prospect is that one can just imagine Barcelona improving in 2010/11, especially given the right signings (and the threat of a potentially Mourinho-managed Madrid). Can’t wait!
Indeed. The sad thing is that it’s difficult to see the gap between the top two and the rest narrowing, especially as the third-placed side will be losing their best player!
Get set for another two-horse race season. Atleast if Mourinho comes to Madrid (looks like he will) the El Classico would be something to relish.
Maybe their best two players if Madrid signs Silva.
Silva will almost certainly be leaving Valencia. They’re in no financial position to resist bids for their best players (look at the Villa situation). It’s sad, and goes to show the problems with finances in football right now. Something needs to be done.
Me too!!!
Yet again, this meme of style being more important to Barca than substance. I can’t hold brief for Barca, but as an Arsenal fan I have heard that said often about Arsenal.
For those two clubs, both style and substance are important.
It is not enough to win. It is important to win playing good football.
But you’re essentially complaining about nothing. The article refers to the ‘meme’ rather than says it’s true, and yet you’re still off on one as usual.
I do wish Arsenal fans would stop comparing their team to Barcelona.
Barcelona win things; Barcelona are a really hard team to beat; Arsenal are neither of those things.
Barcelona’s style creates the substance – their style of play creates endless goalscoring opportunities and their pressing game protects, most of the time, their defence from over-exposure.
Arsenal’s style of play creates endless goalscoring opportunities against weak teams, and is easily shut down by strong teams (look at their results against Utd and Chelsea).
Their midfield doesn’t actually like to tackle, so their pressing game is really just them standing further up the pitch, allowing the oppo to counter-attack with ease.
When Arsenal start putting up results like they did in 01/02 and 03/04, feel free to make comparisons.
It’s not Arsenal fans making the comparisons. It’s the media. Read what OG said again; “I have heard that said often about Arsenal.” And there’s little doubt that for Arsenal style is important.
Nobody is denying Barcelona are a far better team than Arsenal; if there were doubts they were clearly erased when Barcelona made a mockery of Arsenal in Europe. But there is clearly a similarity in their philosophies.
That Barca are more effective at winning things with this philosophy isn’t being denied for a second.
Your mentality is typical of so many football supporters, and it is stupid. It can be paraphrased as “if you don’t win your league or a cup, you suck.”
There are 20 teams in each league. Arsenal finished 3rd and progressed in the knockout rounds of the CL before falling to the best team in the world and last year’s champion.
Any non-biased observer (ie one who hasn’t been told “silverware is all that matters” so many times that the mantra sinks in despite having no bearing to reality, one who actually likes the sport for the experience of watching and not just being able to say, “my team won this and that”) can see in a heartbeat that your mentality means every team but one or two fail every year.
Barcelona were W31 D6 L 1 in their league, Arsenal were W23 D6 L9. While no one can say that Arsenal were as good as Barca, to say that Arsenal aren’t hard to beat for the rest of the premier league when they lost less than a third of their games and won the 3rd most in the league is just silly.
I hope you don’t mean me. Like you I’m sensible enough to know that trophies are a privilege not a right, and for every side that wins the league there must be 19 teams (in a 20 team league) that don’t. Only one side can win a cup competition too.
Arsenal play beautiful football, not necessarily as beautiful as Barca but then they don’t have the likes of Messi and Xavi, or even the likes of Pique, who’s well on the way to becoming the best centre back in the world (both defensively and with the ball at his feet he’s superb).
That’s hardly “failure”. They’re no Barca but other than Barca, who is?
Firstly: Anonymous, I’ve seen plenty of Arsenal fans make this comparison (not in terms of quality, but in terms of style).
Josef, you’ve wheeled out a strawman sentiment that I never expressed and then gone to work on it with gusto.
I never called them failures, they do great against weaker teams, and I acknowledged that.
But I think they’re a great bet to choke against any team which has the same raw player quality, which suggests their team game’s not so impressive as people like to make it out to be.
Man Utd aren’t so superior man-for-man that they should pick apart Arsenal like they did: Chelsea aren’t so superior man-for-man that they should dismantle Arsenal like they did.
Any team with good players that wants to g out and beat Arsenal should be able to: Tottenham, Man Utd, Chelsea – Man City and Liverpool are cursed by caution.
I see no beauty in a tactic that only works agaisnt teams that are man-for-man worse than you. What’s the point in tactics if they don’t lift the collective above the sum of its parts?
Arsenal has no no structure, no balance, and thus no beauty in my eyes. Regardless of their opposition, Arsenal always look like they’re playing an exhibition match against inferior opposition: attack with gusto,FBs and even CBs surging forward, with no actual plan to cover for them; lose the ball and don’t bother tracking back; hope that dealing with your attack will prevent the opposition bothering to probe your defence.
None of this is a logical plan to employ against a decent team. Barca’s gameplan, if you can execute it, is impressive: Arsenal’s gameplan, if executed, will only ever be lucky, because it has no defensive component. The defensive plan seems to be “fill in four names as defenders, and hope for the best”.
Real M, rightly, get stick for thinking that just wheeling out the best players possible makes the best possible team, but Arsenal just do the same thing, on a far tighter budget, and are praised as some great creation.
When English pundits (not ZM, but the stupid ones) want to suggest faults in Barca’s set-up, they just list the ways to beat Arsenal, and assume they apply to both.
When Tactically, as well as man-to-man, Barca are out of Arsenal’s league.
And despite not actually playing defence, I don’t see Arsenal producing any more beauty than Chelsea this year, or Man Utd for the past three – teams who actually balanced their desire to create goals with a desire to win games, because they’re not run as a personal vanity project by a manager who peaked in 01/02.
The article is about Barcelona ‘10 being better than 09′ gameplay-wise (tactics, possiession, the flow of matches), not in terms of success (outcome, trophies, scores). Nobody says it’s “good” that Barcelona played better but won less. I’d actually argue that something went quite wrong because in that light.
Technically (and to be hugely pedantic) they won 4 trophies this season (La Liga, Spanish Supercopa, UEFA Super Cup, FIFA World Club Championship) and 3 last season (La Liga, Copa Del Rey & Champions League).
Its an interesting argument. I think last season with the midfield being more based around Xavi, Iniesta and A.N. Other and the fiercesome front 3 of Messi, Eto’o and Henry they seemed a more rounded team, but you can’t really argue with 99 points, one defeat and only 4 defeats all season, nor the fact of Messi getting even better and reaching a distrubing level.
I still maintain the performance against Arsenal wasn’t actually that good. After their sizzling 20/25 minutes they still had not scored and in the second half they lacked concentration and managed to not even win the match. Their “revenge” match against Sevilla at home after being knocked out of the cup was one of the best performances I saw – although again they didn’t score til the second half – they tore Sevilla to shreds and were literally unplayable.
Next season’s La Liga will probably be even tedious in terms of competition at the top of the table but the Gran Classico’s will be hilarious!
Ya, but proper trophies, you know, where the score is 1-3.
But you can’t deny the importance of beeing fit for all the 9 month of the season. I can have a strong opinion cos I live in Barcelona and I can tell you that the first goal of this season was end 2009 with all the trophies in our hands. Barcelona just missed a title that was the CWC (and ok, UEFA/EL if you don’t count the Fairs Cup).
This was an incredible season not for the game or the titles, it was because they could, as a team, keep high shape of form for the all 9 month.
Great analysis. I agree with Barcelona being better this year. Last year they were lucky in the semis of the CL and this year they weren’t.
I have a few questions I would like to hear your opinion about.
How could Fabregas fit in their shape?
Why do you think Messi does not fit in Argentina’s team as well as he fits in Barca, given that he is so versatile anyways?
and
Do you think the demonstration of Inter how to attack Barcelona (at the San Siro) and how to defend against them (at the Camp Nou) could be successfully adopted by smaller teams?
I assume if Fabregas came, then he would be alongside Xavi, with Busquets behind, and Iniesta playing as a wide-left player…
Messi – that’s a big debate. Let’s see how he performs this summer for Argentina before we make too many sweeping statements, but Argentina hardly had a cohesive system throughout qualification.
Re: Inter – other sides can certainly use it as a template, but Inter do possess excellent players and are very good side in their own right.
unless fabregas is capable of changing his game. i dont see him fitting in barca. or contributing.
in my opinion. cesc is amazing in passing in a totti way. he plays a lot of first touch cross passes (cesc does it more so on the ground while totti does it in the air). he requires a lot of support from the flanks i.e. a lot of runs. not saying hes lazy but hes a “lazy” type player.
as much as ppl say arsenal and barca are the same style. i would beg to differ. arsenal is a run and gun team and that is all they are. barca plays run and gun if their opponents are open to attacks. but if a defence is put up. they play possession i.e. siege football. e.g. even forwards like etoo no how to first touch a pass back when theres no turning.
this i would say arsenal does not do.
im not sure how cesc would fit into barca as these days most team forces barca into a siege one way or the other. id prefer to play an extra cutter like pedre, iniesta, messi than to have an extra holder unless the holder has a good mid range shot (which cesc does not possess). ALSO. we all know xavi is a “decent” holder (cesc plays deep but he doesnt really HOLD per say).
maybe a better addition to the squad is to play a stronger physical presence as a cutter or striker.
I think it’s hard to say Fabregas wouldn’t be an important player for Barca if he signed. Not to understate Keita’s contribution but surely Fabregas would be a better choice in certain situations. But even that’s not that important, as ZM pointed out in the article below, a player can be valuable without a regular starting position.
“Rotation still isn’t fully accepted by supporters, and certainly not by the mainstream media. Every time a club signs a big-name player in a position they are already well-stocked in, the issue arises of ‘how they will fit into the team’, ignoring the fact that, as United and Barcelona have shown, there isn’t as strict a ‘first team’ as there used to be.”
http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/01/28/how-the-2000s-changed-tactics-7-squad-rotation/
Also, while I think he would be able to make a contribution in his first year, Fabregas is certainly a target for the long term considering his age.
Hope he stays on Arsenal though!
“Also, while I think he would be able to make a contribution in his first year, Fabregas is certainly a target for the long term considering his age.”
no doubt that is why i do not understand why it seems like he is desiring an immediate move to barca when he is likely able to do so later on in his career.
afterall he can guarantee his performance and start at arsenal more so than barca (i.e. more used to the league; more reliance from the team). vs. in barca there are all sorts of unknown (i.e. xavi; different league.).
Vince, gimme a break. On what do you base your assertion that Cesc is “desiring an immediate move to barca”?
Nothing. Because he never said that.
To be fair Van Persie is certainly capable of one touch passing. It’s just that this season he’s hardly played (since November) and Bendtner doesn’t have his first touch.
Cesc’s long-range shooting is decent but nothing spectacular. I wouldn’t say Cesc is a “cross-field pass” kind of guy, though. He’s much more fond of a quick one-two on the edge of the box than a long range pass. His long range passing is excellent, true, but it’s not his first instinct.
I’d love to see Barca pick up Guti as a bench player for Xavi and Iniesta. He’s available and relatively cheap. He’d be a great fit for the Barca style and would give Guardiola more freedom to rest Xavi and Iniesta later in games. Wonder if Barca fans would accept a Madrid lifer like Guti.
Never. Guti? Never.
i can’t help but think if fabregas and villa came to barcelona, spain’s national team would be the biggest beneficiary…pique and puyol in defense, xavi, busquets, and fabregas in the middle, iniesta on wide left, villa as CF…how many national teams are there who could potentially have 7/10 outfield players in the same starting line-up at a top level club (if not the best in the world) playing together day in and day out in the same sort of style (passing, fluid, tiki-taka football)? if del-bosque decided to quit all they would have to do would be say “hey, pep, what say you take over the national team too, you already have the core and most of the starting line-up playing for you anyways?”…and god forbid (i bite my tongue as i say this), pep leaves barca, del bosque could just take over…i think they could acomodate both fabregas (he would take the reigns in a couple of years from xavi) and villa, even if they do keep ibra…it could be two different barca styles with villa and ibra in them but that is necessary as you mentioned for a team to keep evolving and stay fresh, i am more worried about bojan’s development though.
I agree that signing Cesc and Villa would cause a bit of a roadblock to Bojan’s development (and possibly mean Pedro gets less starts than he needs too).
For me Cesc to Barca is more of a marquee signing for the sake of it rather than a player who improves the first team. It may actually hurt the squad (Bojan and Pedro) more than it helps.
Of course this presupposes it will happen, which is by no means certain at this point.
about bojan, i’ve got full faith in how pep’s handling him to be honest.
bojan is one of the most talented young players (still 19) i’ve seen tbh in terms of technique and game intelligence. he’s actually one of my favourite footballers despite achieving very little so far. i know how ludicrous a statement that may seem but seriously, genuinely love watching him, as much as i love iniesta etc obviously the gulf in ability is blatant but yeah
he has a couple of problems:
1/ anxiety issues a la jesus navas supposedly but barca/his family don’t want it publicised and are taking it slow with him, so don’t expect him to leave any time
2/ not enough game time, that’s the only way any player develops – and btw, when he got a run of games, he scored freely – 7 in 9 in one run this season.
here’s a stat for you:
of people who’ve scored as many as him or more in the league only messi, higuain and ronaldo have a better goals per minute
3/ he hadn’t, until barca switch to the 4-4-2 variant, suited the barca system in top division football (as opposed to in the cantera / youth divisions) because of his physique. he hasn’t fully developed and isn’t expected to mature according to barca coaches til he’s 23 or so. there’s no rushing with this and pep knows and is taking good care.
bojan is a raul type forward, very clever and technically blessed.
don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect bojan will become as good as villa is now considering he’s still only 19. but these things take time
Point 2) is where Villa might cause a problem, and where signing both Villa and Cesc almost certainly would. How often will he play?
We’re all supposing that Pep will find a way to fit Ibra and Villa into the same side, but to do so would inevitably mean less playing time for Pedro, and almost no playing time for Bojan (who’d likely be behind Pedro in terms of a spot in the first team).
Signing Cesc would actually make it even harder, as Ibra would likely have to be dropped from the first XI to make room (trust me, Cesc isn’t going there, if he does, for a place on the bench; Wenger will use the old “You’ll start every game here, but not there” trick to try and get him to stay so Barca would have to promise him starts).
This would put another player (Ibra and Pedro) ahead of Bojan for a first team place, and no matter how much Pep might rotate, it’s unlikely he’d change all front three on a regular basis, so Bojan’s then looking at the odd scraps of time or action in the Copa.
I think ibra is not fitting in this team obviously..
i would like to see next year a more fluid system with Toure, Xavi, Iniesta and a DM like busquets all in the same line-up..
Upfront messi, pedro, villa and boyan can do everything..
Pique Rules !
Busquets showed more discipline and zeal than Yaya who played in about the same manner as Ibrahimovic did (i.e lazy, lethargic, refusing to make runs or help out the defense when maintaining possession, slow to cover space). But you cant possibly be serious when you say Busquets is more reliable in possession ??
Why not? He keeps possession very well.
http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/04/20/inter-v-barcelona-passing-statistics/
http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/03/31/arsenal-2-2-barcelona-passing-statistics/
Zonal, i think that Busquets is good in passing, but only when barcelona needs to get the game calmer.. And of course many many times this is not the case..
Sergi cannot advance, gain meters in the field and dribble with the ball when needed.. Xavi can do it, Iniesta can do it, Toure can do it magnifically (as he demonstrated one more time against Valladolid), but Sergi cannot..
And of course keita cannot..
So, i would like to see both three (Xavi, iniesta, toure) with one more giving defence reliability (Busquets or Keita).. I think it woulb be an amazing combo..
Barcelona and Madrid already possess enviable squads. (Probably)With guys like Fabregas and Villa moving to Barca and Ribery to Madrid, they will have an ensemble cast of the best players in their respective teams. With Ronaldo and Kaka already in Spain and players like Fabregas and Torres(failure to win trophies with their respective teams is a driving factor here) eyeing Spain, looks like Spain could well emerge as the bigger football league, a place currently occupied by England. Most of the big name summer transfers are linked with either Madrid or Barca and eventually Spain(Fab and Torres to Barca, Ribery and Mourinho to Madrid)etc. As a fan of the premier league i would be devastated to see all the top guns making a bee line to La Liga. The talent shift from the Premier League and Seria A to La Liga is surely going to hurt the two leagues.
But at the end, for example, in this season the CL final is between a german and an italian team. Don’t worry too much for that.
Also, apart from Barcelona and Madrid, the other teams in the spanish league are in huge economical problems. The best league needs the best teams no the best two teams.
Nicely put.
Not sure Torres will end up in Spain when there’s plenty of interest from the likes of Chelsea and Man City. Fabregas may yet stay at Arsenal. Ribery may well also end up at Chelsea; I’m still not sure Mourinho will spend too much time “improving” Real’s attacking on the basis of their 102 goal season (they outscored Barca).
He’s more likely, in my book, to sign defenders and defensive midfielders to address the goals conceded being more than Barca’s. It’s not as if Chelsea couldn’t offer Ribery the sort of wages Real would or the same sort of prospects in the Champions League (in fact Chelsea got further than Real this season). He’d fit Ancelloti’s tactics too.
Real outscored barca, due to henry not performing and Ibra being a total flop. Next year with Villa and Pedro getting even better I dare Real to outscore Barca, considering Iniesta will be up there helping Xavi with the Assists
I’m gonna have to commit the unthinkable blasphemy of disagreeing with ZM’s highness on this one.
There is no doubt that the defence has improved as a unit and that Valdez has gone from bad to great in a season. But, overall, Barca’s team in ‘09 was better than in ‘10 for several reasons.
The biggest difference lies in the incredible way in which Barca’09 dominated games and retained possession. The opposition never had a chance against them. Remember the 6-2 at the Bernabeu? The destruction of ManUtd in the final? The effortless, comprehensive and consistent way in which they took charge of matches in 09 is something I had never witnessed before or since.
This wasn’t true this season mainly due to three factors: The Eto’o-Zlatan transfer, the collapse of Henry, and the injuries to Iniesta. With Eto’o, Iniesta and Henry in top form in ‘09, the team was unstoppable. The front three were very dynamic and mercurial. They constantly moved around and confused opposition defenses. But Zlatan is no Eto’o, he’s too static and slow, and waits for the ball to get to him. Whereas in 09 the whole team was a fluid continuously moving unit, Zlatan stuck out like a sore thumb in ‘10. He could never fit in with the team’s plan A, and when they really needed a Plan B (against Inter) he failed to deliver it. The giant Swede didn’t do much to erase the ‘big-game-bottler’ tag bogging him. Sure, he scored a lot against weaker opposition, but frankly, who wouldn’t score playing with these team-mates against weaker opposition?
With all the money spent on Zlatan, Barca didn’t spend on reinforcements for the squad, and so were stretched very thin throughout the season. They looked out of options, and their bench hardly inspired confidence.
The most revealing factoid about Barca’s season: the team that eliminated them from the Champions League was a team made by Barca. In exchange of Zlatan (who did nothing in both legs), Inter received Eto’o and the money to buy 5 other starters in that game: Sneijder, Lucio, Milito, Pandev and Motta. Just imagine how much better a team Barca would have been had they kept Eto’o and used Ibra’s cash to buy these 5 great players. I think that will go down as one of history’s worst transfers.
Finally, a comparison of points tallies in the two season can be deceptive. In 2010 La Liga’s other teams were shambolic and made RM and Barca look better in comparison. Whereas in ‘09 La Liga’s second-tier teams looked semi-decent and could compete at both domestic and European levels.
None of this is to say that this Barca team was bad. It was a great team. But it was not as good as Barca’09, which I believe is the most impressive team I have ever seen play football.
Disagreement is encouraged
The 2-6 against Real is clearly a more impressive scoreline than the 0-2, but in many ways the 0-2 was actually a more impressive performance. For a start, they were always in command of the 0-2, whereas last season in the 2-6, they went 1-0 down and then were threatened at 2-3 as well. It was a tremendous performance, but the final two goals were scored when Real went for broke – Huntelaar on for Marcelo, Van der Vaart on for Robben. When you consider that Messi missed two one-on-ones this year, the scoreline could easily have been 0-4. Ok, it’s the scoreline that matters, but then a 2-6 is no more valuable than a 0-2, and in terms of domination and control of the game, I don’t think there was much difference between the performances, especially when you consider that Real were infinitely better this season than they were last.
Also I think the performance in the win over Manchester United is overstated. They went ahead against the run of play, the game was fairly even until Ferguson moved to a crazy shape featuring Ronaldo, Tevez, Rooney and Berbatov, which opened up the game for Barca to dominate for the final third of the game. But I don’t think it was a destruction.
Not sure about the Ibra big-game bottler tag either – the two goals against Arsenal and the winner in El Clasico show he can perform on the biggest occasion. He didn’t play in the second Clasico or the second leg against Arsenal because of injury – so aside from the two Inter games, there weren’t really any other big games for him to star in. And I think we can excuse two below-par performances, especially (as documented here) it was equally a case of Guardiola getting his tactics wrong.
I also think the dip in quality in La Liga is exaggerated. I don’t think the league was of a particularly high standard this season, but nor have all other 18 teams regressed dramatically from last season – the top two simply got better.
The point about Inter being a team ‘made by Barca’ is an excellent one, though.
The comparison between the points tallies is deceptive. Barcelona won the last title with three games to spare, 86 points and a Champions League final on the horizon. In the ensuing matches, starters included Oier Olazabal, Xavi Torres, Victor Sanchez, then-unknown Pedro and Alex Hleb, and Barcelona took one point from an available nine. They were all winnable games: Depor and Mallorca away and Osasuna at home, which Barca lost.
So the number of points is an illusory comparison because Madrid wasn’t close behind, forcing Barcelona to win out. Can you imagine this season’s Barcelona winning the title with three games to go, then beating Sevilla away with, say Jonathan and Thiago Alcantara in midfield and Fontas in defense? Probably not. The points total is simply a reflection of how much better Real Madrid became, not an improvement by Barca.
Correct, Barca was forced to start their tired/injured star players and field them for more minutes because of RM’s pressure for La Liga and because they had more trouble unlocking tight defenses early on. That probably contributed to their exits in CDR and the CL.
Also, people need to stop claiming Ibra had a good season cause he scored this goal and that goal. You might be a good player but if the TEAM looks worse when you’re on the pitch that means you did not have a good season. It happened countless times this year, including the Clasicos. Ironically, one of the few times the Barca looked very good with Ibra on the pitch was the first half at the Emirates – a game that looked nothing like the type that Ibra was brought in to win.
That’s because Ibra’s not the conventional “number 9″ that some people seem to think he is. The flow of a game like the one at the Emirates suits him much better. He was really a support striker at Inter, not a target man.
Don’t forget, teams always look worse when their focal point is a new player who’s settling in. The key is; is he still performing (scoring and making goals), and he is.
Next season he’s got no excuses. If they still look worse with him than without him then it’ll be time for him to move on, but I don’t think that will be the case. Ibra’ll probably thrive with Villa around. I can see them being really deadly together.
Excellent analysis ZM. I do think that in the end last season’s Champions League final was a destruction, but you’re right that until the first goal the game was even and if anything United were probably the better side until the goal. After that, though, Barca ran rings around United.
I also agree that the performances of Barca and Real are not purely down to the rest of the league getting worse (although it was a factor) but probably had as much to do with Barca and, in particular, Real getting better. Real getting better pushed Barca to improve, because if they hadn’t they’d have lost the title to Real.
Yes, Barca started off poorly in the first minutes of that CL final as they often do (look at their most recent match) an then went on to make Man U midfield look like amateurs. Could it be that the finesse type game they employ is more subject to early game jitters?
Actually I think it was purely the high tempo start United employed. Chelsea did something similar in the semi, but unlike United they got a goal. Their mistake was that they didn’t go for a second to kill the tie.
United’s problem was they didn’t capitalise on the early start and then conceded a goal against the run of play. After that their high tempo approach would’ve been too high risk (and left them open for Barca to carve apart at will) so they slowed down.
That allowed Barca to settle. The early blitz approach is high risk; if it pays off you can take command of the game, but if it doesn’t you spend the tie chasing things.
I still believe that had Iniesta played against Inter they’d have struggled to come back from a goal down in the San Siro. They missed an extra “passer” in midfield.
about Ibra, the goals against Arsenal were not that special and Pedro would have score dboth of them, olso don’t forget how he missed from 1 meter in the beginning of teh game. I olso don’t agree with your comment earlier that ibra is strong in the air. he is actualluy worse in the air than any of his teammtes, because he doen’t use his head, instead always tries some karate-kunfy kick. Ibra is a joke for teh 2nd most expensive player in the workd.
“In exchange of Zlatan (who did nothing in both legs), Inter received Eto’o and the money to buy 5 other starters in that game: Sneijder, Lucio, Milito, Pandev and Motta.”
fascinating. I always thought Ibra was overpriced and if it were me (though I clearly am not privy to the chemistry/dressing room matter of either team) I wouldn’t have traded Eto’o for Ibra straight up, let alone paying extra for Ibra.
I also concur with the overall assessment from a fan perspective: I found the Henry-Eto’o-Messi-Iniesta-Xavi-[Toure or Keita]-Abidal-Pique-Puyol-Alves lineup to be more fluid and exciting to watch. Busquets’ positive aspects are too subtle/boring for me, I always loved Henry, and Eto’o is so much more interesting to watch than Ibra, who really does give the impression that he can’t be bothered to run. Plus with Iniesta in the midfield instead of on the wing the inventiveness of passing through the middle is increased.
On the other hand, ZM persuades me with his analysis of the Classicos and with his suggestion that the fault re: the Inter loss was with Pep because he should have know that inter’s CBs would fare better against Ibra than against a trio of speed merchants with Messi as a false 9.
Barcelona were very lucky to escape with a win at Camp Nou during the first Clasico. RM were the better team that day. That the 2-0 win was more dominating than the 6-2 is absolutely ridiculous. The 6-2 win was a complete romp and RM could not even hold on to the ball towards the end. In both matches at the Bernebau, RM played like hooligans once they realized their cause was hopeless. They should have had 2 players sent off in the last one.
The only thing you could say is that RM were far improved this year so the two wins are more significant.
The 2-0 win was more dominating than the 6-2 because Barca were in total control. Yes, later on during the 6-2 Barca were dominating, but earlier on they had some scares The 2-0 was comprehensive; Barca never looked like being in any danger.
They were in complete command from kickoff. It was scary how good they were.
I fully agree 100%, this is the truth and everyone knows it. The fact that wit an inferior fluid attacking trio (Messi, Bojan, pedro; inferior to Henry Eto Messi) they were still dominating proves teh fact that Ibra is going down as teh worst transfer in history. 70m€ wasted. Ibra doen’t fit and will never fit, I don’t see why people don’t get that. Pep got it because he bought Villa. Even Xavi and Puyol were deligted to have and I quote ‘a etoo like mobile striker’. Xavi and Iniesta need a mobile center forward, tha tis the whole point of having creative midfielders. I hope ZONALMARKING elaborate on this point. Even Inter with a creative Schneider and a mobile effecient striker had succes. Zlatan works when you play long balls at him.
first things first, great article.
Do you have more statistical analysis regarding last year’s Barca and this years?
Both the Soccernomics/Why England Lose book and it’s spiritual inspiration ‘Moneyball’ point out that playoffs and/or tournaments fall victim to sample size problems. Barcelona clearly had a better league performance, but does anyone know their overall win percentage & goals f/a this year compared to last year?
The same statistical comparison of when Ibrahimovic was on the pitch and when he wasn’t would also be fascinating but that’s probably too much.
Don’t agree at all. How you can say this years team which won one trophy was better than last year’s which won an unprecedented treble is beyond me.
You’re only real point seems to be that this season they have got more points, which could easily say more about the strength of the league this year than the strength of this barcelona team. If the record breaking points total by the top two was because of the increased strength of the teams why did real yet again flounder in europe against a weak lyon team?
You reference style and substance and i beleive last years team had more of both.
The league last year was effectively won after 34 games. It was clear both teams knew barcelona had won. The gap between the two stood at 7 points( they had just beaten real madrid 6-2). This skews the final table i beleive as barcelona took there foot off the gas. They could have scored more and got more points than they did in there last 4 games but with the league over and two finals coming up they played these games pretty much on autopilot.
After 34 games barcelona had 85 points and had scored 100 goals.
They only scored 5 more goals in the season and picked up 2 more points. It’s clear they weren’t trying fully.
If they had continued scoring goals and picking up points at there current rate they would have picked up 95 points and scored 112 goals.
Though it’s possible that even if barca had continued to be fully motivated for all there league games they wouldn’t have reached these targets but i think it is much fairer to compare these stats with this seasons stats as barcelona were took to the very last game this season.
Now, in terms of style it seems unquestionable that last years team was one of the most entertaining teams to watch ever and while this years team has a lot of style they really don’t compare.
Substance, as well as winning more trophies (proper ones) there is not that big of a gap in points tally if you use there expected tally if they hadn’t switched off.
I mean 4 points is the difference. 4 points extra in the league means more than 2 extra trophies? I don’t think so. I personally the strength of the league explains the 4 points rather than a stronger barcelona team.
So, just looking at the stats i’d have to say that last years team was better.
Great site by the way.
“You’re only real point seems to be that this season they have got more points, which could easily say more about the strength of the league this year than the strength of this barcelona team”
Actually there are several valid points made in the article:
1. Barcelona played better defensively
2. ‘Unfashionable’ players played better (Maxwell, Keita, Busquets, Abidal Valdes)
3. More Variety in systems (Ibra, 4-2-4 plan B system)
4. Aside from scoring more points, they also lost only 1 game compared to 5 last year.
Also, as Soccernomics/Why England Lose points out far better than I, the best team does not always win when it comes to 1 or 2 games. Luck plays much more of a factor then is generally advertised. For example Bayern Munich has more trophies this season than Barcelona (2-1) and is in the Champions League final. But how many would say they are a better side than Barcelona? Trophy count is not always the best indicator of how good a side is. It’s debatable surely, but it’s hardly as inconceivable as you say that Barcelona was better this year than last.
Yeah. Those are good points and i did try and make it clear i was only really looking at the stats ( because admittedly my tactical knowledge is pretty limited and crap compared to zm’s) but i still think last years team was better. It’s not as if they were unlucky this year in the champions league, bojans goal probably should have stood against but barcelona had been playing the second leg with an extra man for a long time after an incident which wasn’t even worthy of a yellow, in my opinion.
I didn’t really mean to say he had one good point. The article’s good and has many good points. I more meant looking at the stats there is only really one thing this years team had over last years (which isn’t true as you pointed out as they lost less this season ( though 2 of the 5 were in the last 4 games))
Sometimes the margins between victory and defeat are so narrow though, which is of course why it’s such a great sport.
But sometimes it comes down to such small things that it’s ridiculous. If Iniesta’s shot against Chelsea had been a yard higher, or if Bojan’s shot against Inter had been allowed, it would have been a complete reversal in terms of the Champions League. I’m not sure you can conclusively say that the 08/09 team is better than the 09/10 team based upon trophies alone, as ludicrous as that might seem.
But for me, this season they were much more of a cohesive unit than last year when it was more about individual brilliance. There’s no doubt most would favour last season’s team, but from a tactical point of view (which, after all, is what this site focuses on) I’m not so sure.
Also, as many successful managers have said, it’s tough getting to the top but even tougher to stay there – so we shouldn’t underestimate Barcelona’s achievements this season having won so much last.
“But for me, this season they were much more of a cohesive unit than last year when it was more about individual brilliance.” I think a key factor is match hardness. This season’s side has had to perform ridiculously consistently to win the league, and thus been able to play with incredible intensity in some crunch games and perhaps generally moreso than last season… Back then, Barca were so rampant in the first half of the season and not being challenged as much by Madrid, they dropped points in quite a few games in the second half (even before the last few games when the league was on) and ended up nearly being caught cold in a way by Chelsea.
I’m not sure if “much more of a cohesive unit” is the right way to put it. It’s a bit hard to figure it out personally, but I thought – and still think – that the 2008-2009 team was also very much a team for all seasons in a way, at least potentially (and it wasn’t their fault they weren’t challenged so much in the league as this season). Put it this way, if last season’s team had much of the match hardness of this season, then I think last season’s team would be superior, if that makes any sense. I can understand the current team being seen as better than 2008-2009 were generally, but by the END of last season, having gotten through those big games against Chelsea, Real Madrid and Man Utd, I tnink Barca were better than they are now and I think it’s appropriate that it shows in a different amount of season-long trophies won (just as it’s appropriate that this season’s Barca won more points in the league than the Treble team did, signifying the increased pressure and ability to withstand it).
And I see what you’re saying regarding the 4-3-3 and the evolution to 4-2-4, but in fairness it wasn’t just one variation of 4-3-3 used last season by any means either. Towards the end there was something like 4-3-1-2 (with Messi as a false nine and Eto’o and Henry as wide forwards), and I think that served as an important plan B back then.
I think Busquets made the most of it but Motta’s foul was clearly worthy of a yellow, and if memory serves he’d already been booked. You can’t raise your hands around another player’s head; it will always result in a card of some kind.
Barca were supremely unlucky in this year’s Champions League and Chelsea were even unluckier last season. So as ZM points out above, take luck out of the equation and this year’s side wins the “big” double and last year’s just the “small” one (domestic cup and league).
Besides, this site is focussed on tactics, and this year’s Barca is tactically superior to last season’s.
I think the merit of Barcelona’s performance this year is that last year nobody had got their number, while this year absolutely everyone – obviously Inter, but also even Almería and Espanyol, who managed to scrape points off them – saw them coming. (Guardiola was certain this would happen and even warned before the season started that more of a drawn-out trench war than a weekly firework display should be expected.)
And that is why this year’s tactical achievement is an immense one: they’ve continued to surprise (by shapeshifting, by sticking a right back in Messi’s 2008 position – against Real Madrid! – or a left back in Xavi’s, etc.) when everyone thought their game was a 100%-known quantity. And, despite concerted efforts from almost everyone they’ve come up against, they’ve continued to thrill and entertain. The matches might not have turned into schoolboy-kickaround joyfests quite as often; but how could anyone deny they’ve played hugely attractive, creative and ultimately winning football?
On a few of the points made by others above:
On Víctor Valdés: To read some of the comments made about Valdes, you’d think he was the ringmaster of the Lehmann & Barthez Freak Show. Ever since the retirement of Zubizarreta, and most notoriously when Busquets Senior briefly held tenure of the Camp Nou woodwork, “Barça’s goalie is laughably crap” has been a trotted out as a universal truth on the sole evidence of some tendentious YouTube howler compilations. Having watched him pretty much every week for the last two seasons, I can only qualify Valdés’s performance as both solid and spectacular. He’s ironed out all the former creases in his game, and I haven’t seen him make a single “OMG error” (formerly known as “the Schmeichel moment”) all season, whereas even Iker Casillas has had a few of those. He’s an essential part of Barcelona’s recent success and single-handedly the reason why some on-paper-comfortable three-one wins didn’t end up as three-all draws. “Barça is Víctor plus ten” – Pep Guardiola dixit.
Busquets v Touré: I agree completely with ZM on this. Because of the very British knee-jerk aversion to gamesmanship in all its forms (well, unless the man doing the gaming is Jose Mourinho, that is), all that many people see is Busquets’ diving. Yet winning free kicks by any means fair or borderline-foul in a very dangerous place – when in possession, his zone, after all, is the floor plan of Xavi, Alves, Messi, Marquez and Ibra’s shooting gallery – is all part of his mission. Even falling down as if hit by a sniper on feeling the merest tug on his shirt, in the hope of spurring the ref to reach for his top pocket, isn’t a black spot on Guardiola’s game plan; it’s what’s on the blackboard. Guardiola may be an aesthete, but he’s also played in Serie A; he’s certainly not naïve. And let’s not kid ourselves that Touré doesn’t do exactly the same. The man is huge – a sequoia, an Ent – but five-foot-nine opponents seem to have an uncanny ability to scythe him down at will. Odd that. (He is fouled – and “fouled” – less than Busquets, simply because he participates less in possession.)
On Ibrahimovic: The most commonly held view seems to be that Ibra is Guardiola’s What-On-Earth-Was-He-Thinking Folly – a player who’s fundamentally “wrong” for Barcelona. Not at all. A “big, strong lad”-type “9″ has actually been a feature of the Barcelona style book ever since Johan Cruyff wrote it (when Julio Salinas played the role – yes, in the same team as Romario and Stoitchkov). Indeed, before the Ibra/Eto’o swap became an option, Guardiola was even reported to have been sniffing around Luca Toni, on Cruyff’s urging!
On valdes; OMG errors? What about last game. Horrendous touch bobbled to the other team and they almost scored. In the 2-2 draw vs arsenal theo walcott managed to side foot the ball into the net without actually avoiding the keeper. It was a weak sidefoot straight at him and he couldn’t keep it out. Pretty poor attempt. I think he’s pretty decent but i think barcelona could do better and probably would if he wasn’t a youth product.
Sunday? That was Piqué’s fault, who hadn’t noticed the pressure and, if he had, would have booted into touch rather than passing back. Watch it again.
Walcott’s goal was a powerful, angled shot – so it was sidefooted, but it was no tap – that bent Valdés’s fingers back and hurtled in. Would he have tipped it clear nine times out of ten? Probably, yes, but, hey, this was the tenth. It happens to the best of them. (I’m old and crusty enough to have seen Gordon Banks let five in once; on better days he would certainly have stopped at least a couple of the goals – does that mean he was an unreliable goalkeeper?)
I’m afraid your last sentence makes no sense at all to me. “Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol and Piqué? I think they’re pretty decent but I think Barcelona could do better and probably would if they weren’t youth products.” Er….
What? When did i say that.
I was just saying i think they stick with valdes because he’s from the youth system.
They favour players from their youth system, yes, but they’re far from sentimental about them if they’re not felt to be up to the job – just ask Ivan de la Peña and Chapi Ferrer, both of whom were offloaded when they were considered surplus to requirements. Even Xavi was only that far from packing his bags under Rijkaard.
Thank you! All three points are spot on
I am tired of hearing people complain about valdes, name one keeper in the world that can stand still for 89/90 minutes, but when called into action for that minute has the mental strength and concentration to not be scored upon a vast majority of the time…in one on ones, i regard him as the best in the world, his positioning was at times suspect (in previous years) but he has fixed that…casillas has over the last two years made more howlers (although they are not the same sort of howlers as barthez and lehmann) than valdes but they are overshadowed because of the sheer number of times he saves madrid’s ass with tremendous saves…in big games, valdes has consistently saved barca in much the same way casillas does with madrid, his gaffes last year (hes been a rock this year) were limited to stupid games and dint cost barca… from memory heres what i remember of valdes being key
1. classico 1 08/09: he kept the scores tied at 0-0 until eto’o’s knee scored
2. chelsea semi final – home: huge double save on drogba, kept the score at 0-0
3. chelsea semi final – away: 2 one on ones, free kick from drogba…regardless of how you see the decisions in that game, chelsea would no where near have been angry had one of those chances gone in
4. man utd final 09: barca went up 2-0, huge save on ronaldo, kept utd at bay and giving them any thought of a comeback, we all know how good/lucky man utd are when it comes to coming back
5: classico 1 09/10: again madrid pushed barca in the first half, huge toe poke save on ronaldo, keeping them from taking the lead and getting their tails up
6: classico 2 09/10: no huge saves, just reliable solid keeping, not giving madrid a whiff of hope
his concentration is 100% even when he is not doing anything…he could be taking a shit, reading a newspaper and having a coffee during the game and would still make those saves
on Toure vs busquets: toure is much better going forward, and a great tackler but busquets does the dirty work much better in much the same way as you dint know what edgar davids was doing in the midfield…barcelona are a team that does a lot of technical things extremely well but they also do the dirty work extremely well, and busquets is much better at this then toure although i love toure and sometimes curse guardiola when he doesnt play…i remember xavi saying busquets is a “puta” and he is “tall, lanky and not athletic and has no great technical attributes but he is extremely important”…barcelona’s success over the two years has been built on hard work and little details in the dirty work and not just on extremely talented players…when messi, xavi, and iniesta track back to win the ball they lost you know they have been taught right. my only criticism of ibra is that he doesnt defend and run enough (which also means he lazily stay offside a lot) and that was why i was so sad to see eto’o go more than anything else
http://barcelona.theoffside.com/la-liga/xavi-speaks-out-before-the-clasico-real-madrid-has-a-lot-of-nerve.html
Q. Do people look at Barça differently now than three years ago?
A. Yes, it’s something that stands out. Now it’s wonderful to be a Barça player. It’s the first time we get so much recognition. You go to the UEFA gala, you see yourself in Marca, at the LFP, at the Centenary… and other players come up to you, former players, veterans… that they thank us for how we play, even if they’re not Barça fans, that’s the best! “And with home-grown players, and so humble,” they tell you… that’s something to be proud of, but it’s the prize for the Barcelona school.
Q. What is?
A. That you get recognition, not only for playing well, but for you having an elegant behaviour both when you win and lose, for respecting a style of football and a set of values. That’s what I’m most proud of, the prize to La Masía, to the things I learnt from Vila, Benaiges, Tort, Vilaseca… and now, from Pep.
Q. Does that schooling show in him?
A. Yes, Guardiola is a clear exponent of that culture. We are privileged students of a great school, that’s obvious.
Q. Even Busquets?
A. He has something else. You look at Busi and you say, “This one is not worth a damn. He doesn’t even have style”. But he sees the game before anyone else, always on the first look. He’s so tall, and always half stooping, falling down but with his head held high… he needs to see the field, where we are and then he makes up his mind. And always well. But, besides, he’s a right bastard. He gets a leg in, he goes for the crash, he’s puta, from the street. That kind of cunning, you either have it or you don’t.
Excellent analysis Archie (although the Lehmann remark was a bit low! Don’t forget he was the best goalkeeper in Europe when Arsenal reached the Champions League final, as voted for by UEFA).
There’s so many myths surrounding this Barca side, especially the likes of Valdes and Ibra.
Thank you for your analysis and your great insight about the game. I discovered your site last month and had to take time to read all of it
However, I can’t agree with that article. The fact that Barça won only one trophy against six of them is relatively unimportant, you’re right with that. But their total of 99 points is relatively unimportant too. You can’t ignore the two games against Inter, or the defeat against Rubin Kazan. This would not have happened last year, too.
What I see is that more of Barça’s results, and more of their goals, depended on individual actions. This is quite obvious when you watch Messi’s hattricks, on the two videos displayed, 4 of them are quite purely individual achievements. And Messi sometimes disappointed me with this new style, sometimes too much individual (mainly during the last months, notably during the second Clasico).
The same can be said about Ibrahomovic. And this was Guardiola’s aim when he chose to recruit him : have one striker capable of doing what he’s doing, individual actions like against Arsenal, in London. But, as some say (Raynald Denoueix for example, who is quite a specialist on the question) what Ibra has been bringing to the side must be compared to what he is costing, in terms of collective inspiration, instinct, what Eto’o had quite naturally that Ibra, even with a lot of work and even good efforts, will never have.
This has changed a bit for a few weeks only, with the empowerment of the “Bajitos” (the “short men” Messi-Bojan-Pedro). I was at Camp Nou for the game against Tenerife three weeks ago : the change in the playing style was obvious after Pedro replaced Piqué. Ibra was still quite transparent, but Barça existed, besides Messi’s genius.
Finally, I think that if Barcelona played good football at all this year, it was essentially thanks to Xavi (and Iniesta, when he was fit). The most difficult games were those when he was out, as in march (against Osasuna, or Mallorca).
For all these reasons, I wouldn’t say that this year’s Barça was better than last season. On the contrary. And I believe Guardiola knows that, and that his choices were not always good. This is the reason why Villa is coming next year, and why Ibra will probably not spend another year in Catalunya.
PS. Your great site would even be greater if you had something about the most interesting tactics (and tacticians) of the history. Like Uruguay 1924-1930, WM, Grande Torino, Hungary 53, Brazil 58, Helenio Herrera, Reims 54-56, Nantes (65-66, 83, 95). A few games by themselves, too, could be analyzed with profit (as England-Hungary 53, WC final 50, WC final 54).
I disagree that the points tally is very important, I think that’s absolutely crucial. But your other points are certainly valid and the way you put the Ibrahimovic dilemma gets it spot on, I think. The problem with him is that he’s only needed in certain circumstances.
Re: the final point – the site focuses on current tactics and trends, simply because the history of tactics can be explored through Jonathan Wilson’s excellent Inverting the Pyramid – no need to go over anything covered in such detail, as it would doubtless be a poor imitation!
Unfortunately, Ibrahimovic as a tactical sub – to be used the way Pellegrini has used Guti this season – is not sustainable. You can sign a Negredo or a Llorente to serve as a tactically deployed big-strong-lad “9″ (which is how Cruyff used Salinas), but not a Ballon D’Or/FIFA World Player candidate and leading Nike poster boy. Market forces, and all that.
I assume the dilemma arose because the Ibra that Barcelona thought they were buying – the YouTube Ibra – is really two players: the big-strong-lad “9″ Ibra and the flicky, backheely, chippy, nutmeggy, cheeky Ibra – in other words, he’s Crouch and Cantona rolled into one. Or, on a particularly good day, Gap-Toothed Ronaldo (GTR) revisited.
The problem is that Zlatan Cantona has been on display only very rarely since he’s had a Barcelona shirt on. And that means they’ve only had half the player they thought they were buying – and, by extension, only half the opportunities to make effective use of him.
Do you think that Barca would be able to play the high pressing game in a league like the Premiership over the course of the season and win the league that way. I think the Premiership is too fast to play this way for the entire game over a course of a season and is probably why you don’t see even the top teams play this way.
I agree with the article but I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Barca is great and I think Ibra was a good addition – it’s just that he’d be much better for the side if I didn’t see him drifting towards the wings so often. Admittedly, I’ve seen a handful of games this season but the ones I have seen (Inter vs Barca leg 2 for example) are games where the opposition has packed it in and instead of going into the box looking for a cross he’s been sitting out wide. I’ve seen it in other games too and while it may just be a sampling error, if I am right is this just down to trying to make space for Messi et al?
Technically this “team” won four trophies and the other only three. This team was on the field for the final game of those competitions and won those matches since last August.
Could you do a similar analysis on Real Madrid and their improved performance, pretty please??
Barcelona gets a lot of attention, naturally, but there’s another interesting and very successful team playing in La Liga and I’d like to see a little bit more discussion/information about that than just the simple ‘they don’t play as a team and obviously just rely on their big stars (C.Ronaldo) to bail them out every game’ you usually hear. I don’t believe it can be that easy to get 96 points. I think you could be the perfect person to delve into the question of what’s made them so successful this season, but why they still failed! Thanks in advance
I concur, I’d like to see more attention to the also record-breaking Madrid side. They’ve received a lot of criticism over the last few years, deservedly so for their Champions League performances which have been dire, but their league results have been very good bar their inability to rear in this Barca side. I’d like to see a tactical discussion of their league form. Why has Higuain worked so well and Benzema hasn’t for example?
And why has Higuain done so well in La Liga but not in the Champions League? It’s a mystery.
I think Real Madrid defy any logical analysis. They are so all over the place.
I would like someone to be able to explain how such a group of outstanding individuals can fail to fire in the same direction at the same time. But I doubt anyone can explain it.
I’m just not sure that stands up to the stats; 96 points and over 100 goals suggests they’re doing something right. They’d have walked the title but for Barca being so damn irresistible.
Real Madrid
Improvement = Ronaldo
Fell Short = Defense (especially in the center after Pepe went out) and not good enough in the center of midfield.
Succinct, if a little simplistic. Ronaldo was certainly an excellent acquisition as Real finally had their “Messi”, that special player that can win a game for you by himself. I think they’ve missed this since Zizou. Ronaldo’s not as good as Messi, but he’s not exactly rubbish either
As for the defence being the weakness, that’s true, but the question is why. Was it just individual errors? Were they not well organised enough? Were the tactics wrong? Shape is an important part of defending.
Do they lack the right personnel? Essentially the question is what will Jose (or any other manager) do to rectify Real’s issues? Is it as simple as buying in new players in the defensive part of the team?
For me, an accurate, albeit gross oversimplification of last season’s Barca and this season’s Barca is that last season’s team was raw and free spirited, this season’s team is more cultured and disciplined. While the team absolutely demolished anything that stood in the way last season – no matter what the obstacle did to stop them – this season teams have come up with more reinforced barriers to Pep’s boys. Last season, Barca was a wrecking ball swinging at a plywood fence, this season, Barca is a a pin trying – and ALMOST always succeeding – to pick a lock.
What a great metaphor. Well done, sir, for putting into words what many of us have been thinking.
to me, both teams were great teams, easily the best sides in europe. if they could faced each other the final score would, probably, be 4-4.
in both the 2009 and 2010 semifinals of the champions league they were subdued and kept in check by two extremelly disciplined and motivated teams with something to prove. they were probably better against inter than against chelsea, but being better doesnt always mean you win, as luck also plays a big factor in close encounters. last year team was lucky, while this year they were unlucky.
great, great site.
great, great site.
Whilst I think you’re spot on about luck, it would be somewhat disrespectful to whichever side wins the Champions League final to say that Barca were a better side than them, especially if it were to be Inter. They did beat them over two legs, even if they were somewhat fortunate to do so. That’s not easy to do.
nothing to do with the trash that is the rest of la liga? honestly at least 80% of the teams there are plain awful. the fact that barcelona and real madrid probably make 5x the money that valencia makes from TV rights means that the whole liga system is skewed towards them winning. They can rotate their players alot more knowing that most teams will roll over and die.
yes barcelona are good but they arent phenomonal, they struggle against organized teams. The fact is wing play is so important to both real and barcelona because there is barely any closing down or marking of wing players in la liga, add to it that amount that refs protect the bigger teams and players and you have a system of 2 teams getting stronger and stronger while the others are running on the spot.
You’re right about the state of the TV money in Spain and I think the more even handed system in the Premier League is probably what creates the more “even” league that we’ve seen this season, where even the likes of Wigan can beat the eventual champions 3-1, or Burnley beating last year’s champions.
But to put Barca and Real’s success solely down to the weakness of La Liga is crazy. Barca made a mockery of the third best side in the Premier League and were unfortunate against the champions of Italy. Real Madrid may have failed in Europe but pushed the great Barca side right to the limit in the league. Both of them are excellent teams.
Yes, they’re aided by the lack of genuine competition in the league but they took full advantage of that, both scoring over 95 points and both scoring over 95 goals. That’s quite spectacular, and suggests they’d have both been title contenders in England too (and probably would’ve been champions and runner up).
Tried arguing along these lines in another thread although I was shot down pretty badly. Thanks for putting it so eloquently!
David Villa is officially a Barcelona player. What will happen now to the system?
Well let’s say it’s more harder for Ibrahimovic to get starting XI
I think it’s going to be a wake up call for Ibra to perform better and focus now that he has a competitor.
I also believe that Pep will be much happy now that he has plenty of options on the front line and Xavi/Iniesta are going to have a blast playing behind them.
This squad is getting more interesting…
I think that’s an interesting point (and is of course true).
But is it pointing towards strengthening Barca further by strengthening their bench? Long gone are the days where you can field a straightforward 4-3-3 (say the classic Xavi/Iniest/Henry/Eto/Messi) and ride with that over 5 different competitions with each player playing as close to 90 minutes as possible.
No longer will subs be used in a “damage limitation” kind of way, where you’d bring on an acceptable substitue who can bring a little bit extra energy, but lets face it, simply not the same quality. For example subbing Ibra for Bojan.
Nope, now we will see teams quake before David Villa being substituted for Ibrahimovic. Not only are you facing a(nother) world class player, but this one is fresh off the bench and brings a whole new attacking dimension.
The dynamic Iniesta will no longer need to be forced into 90 minutes of football when a different “type” of world class player in Fabregas can be taken in.
What I’m not just saying that Barca are strengthening their bench here with the latest transfer activity. But we are also seeing a broadening of potential match-changing strategies which is something I think this article alludes to.
Something I think Barca desperately needed against Inter a few weeks ago.
I agree. I think rotation over the course of a season and flexibility in each match is the key to the whole operation.
With a three-man front line, Villa/Ibra/Messi, Iniesta/Villa/Messi, Villa/Messi/Pedro, plus – when Messi needs resting – Villa/Ibra/Pedro… all those combinations, and more, aren’t just theoretically viable, they’re pretty much proven, with all the players involved having succeeded in those different positions. If we add Bojan into the mix, itching to come on and bring even more freshness, I think we’re looking at a truly droolworthy (and, for opposing coaches, exasperating) attacking force for next season.
If they do sign Fàbregas as well, I assume it’ll mean that when he’s on the pitch, Ibra won’t be, because the logical way to make room for Cesc would be to push Iniesta up front on the left and shift Villa over into the middle. Meanwhile, Busquets can be Xavi, Keita can be Iniesta or Busquets (assuming Touré is sold)… like the adverts say, the possibilities are endless.
In the second clásico this year, Guardiola’s position-switching at one point reminded me of those kids’ games when you have to slide all the tiles along a position and up a row to try and make the picture. Now he’ll be able to do that not only every week, but with a single substitution.
Total football becomes total tactics.
Unlike Villa the Fabregas deal isn’t done yet, and may well not happen. Arsenal want £50 million, Barca won’t pay that, and with the length of contract Cesc’s on, Arsenal can afford to be stubborn about this. Wenger’s done it before.
Sure, you can’t keep a player against his will, but sides have shown before (Ronaldo from United being an example) that unless you get the price you want, you can hang on to him until you do.
As for Toure being sold Archie; that’s pretty much the only way the Cesc deal happens. Arsenal would apparently accept £40 million + Toure and that is closer to Barca’s valuation. Barca may even be able to get him for £30 million if they throw in another player on top of Toure, which is apparently the most they’re willing to pay for him, on account of feeling Arsenal “stole” him.
Problem for Arsenal is that Fabragas wanted to go last year and only stayed because Wenger begged him to. He’ll go to Barca for between 35 and 40 when all is said and done.
According to reports this morning Arsenal are prepared to dig their heels in and demand at least £45 million. The problem for Barca is that Arsenal know that selling him means massive rebuilding and that isn’t cheap.
There’s no way Arsenal will risk not playing Champions League football.
Besides, I’m still unconvinced he wants to go this season. Yes, there’s some substance to the rumours that he met with Wenger to discuss moving to Barca, but what is that substance? Is it simply that he’s said “I’ll stay this year but I’m going next”?
He’s seen how close the team was this year, after all. Van Persie stays fit, who knows?
His most recent quotes were “I’m happy at Arsenal and in no hurry to leave”. That suggests it’s far from a certainty that he’ll be at Barca next season.
Uh, I think you are wildly overvaluing Cesc. €50 million AND Toure!? That’s not going to happen. Toure’s been valued at €25m by Barca, and I believe they are offering €35m for Cesc (Arsenal wants €45m euros not pounds), so you do the math. Toure + €10-20m would sound about right. The only problem is that Toure’s agent just came out and said that he would not go to Arsenal.
The way I see it…in this season’s “alternate” formation…the kind of crooked 4-3-3/4-2-4/4-2-3-1 hybrid monster.
- – - – - – Valdes – - – - – -
Alves – Puyol – Pique – Abidal
- – - – - – - Yaya/Sergi – - -
- – - Xavi – - – - – - – - – -
- – - – - – - – - – Iniesta – -
Messi – - – - – - – - – - – - -
- – - – - Villa – - – - – - – -
- – - – - – - Ibra – - – - – - -
Basically, any of Messi/Villa/Ibra are interchangeable with themselves as well as Bojan/Pedro/Jeffren. Obviously it’d be rare to see Ibra out wide right (he is no Eto’o) or Jeffren playing as the most advanced striker but these are players who are comfortable playing all over the place and this system suits that. Iniesta’s role can also be filled by Keita, Maxwell and under some circumstances (Yaya stays, etc), even Sergi. If Xavi is ever unable to play, Sergi or Iniesta could take his spot with others providing cover. It all works out very well in my head but hopefully Pep can put all the pieces together and make it work on the pitch.
Villa tends to drift left naturally, so he’s probably likely to shift to the left of Ibra in that shape, but other than that that’s precisely how I’d expect to see Barca line up next season (assuming no Fabregas).
If Cesc signs it would probably mean he’d play at the expense of Ibra with Villa leading the line and Iniesta to the left with Fabregas playing in Iniesta’s usual position. I doubt Fabregas will go to Barca to sit on the bench.
Essentially Messi would be free to roam to the right of Ibra, Ibra would have more freedom to drop off into space (knowing Villa can lead the line) and Villa will be given license to drift to the left or run in behind defences. Deadly.
No mention of Guardiola’s poor judgement in letting go of Etoo and Bringing in Ibrahimovic – and then not knowing what to do with him?
16 goals is OK. But it was unquestionably a frustrating season for Ibra. And the signing of Villa confirms that it was a mistake in the first place.
Also has everyone forgotten Chygrynsnsky? (Are there that many ‘y’s in his name?)
Who says Villa was signed to replace Ibrahimovic? Ibra was signed to replace Eto’o, Villa to replace Henry.
Calling player change as “replacement” is very misleading. Villa, Ibra, Eto’o, Henry play in different styles. The only thing in common among them is they are all strikers.
Take a look at Inter, they traded Ibra away for Eto’o/Milito/Motta/Sneijder and adjusted tactics accordingly. The 09/10 play style was vastly different from the 08/09 Inter. On the other hand, Barca tried to play the same style of football with Ibra as center forward. Guardiola seemed unsure how to adjust tactics to let Ibra play to his potential, so he just made Ibra play the Barca style game, but the results were not rewarding.
I agree about how Guardiola misuse Ibrahimovic. When he was still in Inter season 2008/2009 (he was the top scorer), Mourinho actually not deployed him as 100% center forward or -ppl say- the classic number 9, he was more “free-role” creative attacker type. When ball came to him he was not always looked for goal but waiting for his team mate went forward and gave them assist.
I meant in terms of who they replace in the squad. They’re certainly very different players. In fact I also agree about Ibra being misused this season; he’s not Eto’o.
Has Eto played to his potential at Inter? I don’t think so.
Yes, more ‘y’s than an underpants factory, in fact – the “Чигринський” on his passport has been transliterated to CHYGRYNSKIY on his shirt. (Why, in that case, isn’t it “Rubyn Kazan” and “Arshavyn”, then, eh? Yt’s a byt of a mystery.)
Anyway, I’m confident he’ll come good next season (and with Márquez almost certain to leave this summer, he should have more opportunities to prove himself). Barcelona’s image may be one of shiny, happy people holding hands, but in truth it’s a very tough system and club culture to adjust to. I’m old enough to remember* Ronald Koeman’s first season, and disconcerted though I’m sure Chygry has been in his first year, he still doesn’t know what a whistling-with-true-gusto Camp Nou sounds like.
(*I’ve been saying that so often here recently that it might save time if I abbreviated it to “IOETR”.)
An excellent analysis.
I have a request for you folks. If it is possible, can you post an article showing the various possible combinations Barcelona could play now that they have two top strikers in Villa and Ibra, both jostling for a starting spot?
I don’t see much jostling in the offing as far as Villa’s concerned. I don’t know how much you’ve seen him play, but his flexibility of movement and already highly developed complicity with Xavi and Iniesta mean that he’s going to be as much of a given on the team sheet as those two and Messi are, I reckon.
No, what has me scratching my head – with apologies to Rodgers and Hammerstein – is this:
How do you solve a problem like Big Ibra?
How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?
How do you find a word that means Big Ibra?
A flibbertijibbet! A will-o’-the wisp! A clown!
Villa will start. Ibra’s the problem, especially if they sign Cesc, as that would probably mean Ibra on the bench. I don’t think Cesc would go to sit on the bench, even if he loves Barca.
That is exactly my point.
What will happen with Ibra? If he stays, how will Barca line up?
I don’t think there is much of an issue if Ibra is sold. I just can’t imagine a functioning line up with both him and Villa starting.
Can you please provide an analysis of the Real Madrid team also coz I think Real Madrid have performed almost at the same level as Barca over the season except in the head-to-head matches..
I think it would be a better overall analysis if you put the number of goals scored by a player in all competitions instead of just the league or the CL.
For example, Ibra has 21 goals this season. A 20+ goal season is GOOD season for a striker compared to a 16 “not too shabby” goal season.
Same with Messi who has scored 47 goals in all competitions with 34 being the league. Both the tallies equalize Ronaldo’s.
Pedro also has 23 goals (more than Ibra!). 12 in the league and the rest in other competitions.
My 0.2 $
Hi ZM, extraordinary site, keep up the joy!
I wanted to include another dimension on the analysis, differentiating “variety in systems” from “variety in play”. One thing that stood out from the ‘08-’09 Barsa was the feeling that the shot could come from anywhere, I kept waiting for a tactic that included a surprise attack from Valdez! That is not the case with ‘09-’10.
Recently Mourinho said “I’ve beaten Guardiola because I left him out of options”. I believe circumstances led Guardiola to effectively be out of options, relying heavily on the superhuman ability of his two cracks (Messi and Xavi), and that in my opinion makes Barsa a weaker side this year.
But now the proof (or allegedly), if you consider Iniesta an Dani Alves as mildfielders:
‘08-’09 Goals scored by line:
League:
Strikers: 73% – Midfielders: 25% – Defense: 3%
Champions:
Strikers: 68% – Midfielders: 23% – Defense: 10%
‘09-’10 Goals scored by line:
League:
Strikers: 78% – Midfielders: 18% – Defense: 4%
Champions:
Strikers: 85% – Midfielders: 5% – Defense: 10%
So basically midfielders were less of a threat in this season, meaning Barsa was far more predictable and easy to control. That doesn’t seem to be the case in the league, where I would say the quality of their strikers and passers (Xavi and Dani Alves) sufficed to make the difference, but in the big matches against World-Class direct-play counter-attacks (Inter, At. Madrid and Sevilla), the lack in variety did make a difference. Remember the key goal of last season, at Stanford Bridge, was scored by a midfielder. Also in this analysis, consider that Madrid is lousy in defense and do not play defensively, hence Xavi + Messi could make the difference.
I’m pointing to Ibra as a reason for this lack of variety, since he had tremendous trouble keeping ball rythm during “link-up” play, Barcelona could not be as fluid as last year, midfielders would not be as confident to run up the pitch in quick transitions wary of his losses, and his inability to press after losing the ball meant Barsa needed additional help around him to press high up the pitch, or keep the team in midfield until someone else had the ball. I think this is the reason for the 1-4-2-4 system (one more guy pressing up-front, effectively three, but one less in midfield, effectively two and much more vulnerable to counters) and for Xavi dictating a slower tempo than last season (when the tempo was quicker and dictated by the whole team’s more aggressive movements).
Slower tempo meant less open play, hence the better overall defense, and four upfront strikers meant more goals from strikers with the defense-attack transition occuring high up the pitch. Fundamental weakness in those two apparent strengths (lack of variety in possession play, one less guy to contain counters) made Barsa a more fragile team against focused, world-class teams. As Guardiola said before the Atletico loss, “In an open game we’re weaker than Atletico”… would you believe that to be true in ‘08-’09?
My two cents!
Oh and just wanted to spoil the fun one would make out of Abidal – it appears he has scored three goals already. Two goals for Lyon in French Cup as French wikipedia states (
Daté du 9 Décembre 200911 , here is a vid from one of these goals: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9069053189400957922# ). And about the third: can you remember the penalty shootout in 2006 Mundial final ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_FIFA_World_Cup_Final )?
Cheers
As we know, sometimes wikipedia sucks, so here is a real source for these two French Cup goals:
http://www.lfp.fr/coupeLigue/feuilleMatch.asp?saison=2004/2005&code_evt=CL&num_ordre=7&code_jr_tr=T95
http://www.lfp.fr/coupeLigue/feuilleMatch.asp?saison=2006/2007&code_evt=CL&num_ordre=1&code_jr_tr=T98
i gotta say, i love this place.
i was looking on the net for a place exactly like this and thank god i found it
looking forward to seeing your world cup analises
I believe the key reason for the Villa and Cesc signings will be even more variety in attack. Defending against Messi-Ibra-Pedro is one thing, defending against Messi-Ibra-Villa another, defending against Pedro-Ibra-Villa yet another thing etc.
the team will be very very unpredictable and difficult to prepare against. Question will also be whether Barca take the Mascherano option for this season. Clearly, few DMs got a better sense of positioning than him and he could also make sure Busquets doesn’t become too cocky. For next season, Pep will have his long squad of 20 players to count on he wanted for this season. I don’t see Ibra gone but rather he is to stay. He should work better with El Guaje.
I think contrary to what most people think, Fabregas is a must signing. If not Fabregas another creative atacking midfielder, in the worst case they can keep Lheb. But we need messi upfront, and not falling back to the midfield. I think Yayha could olso be used more as an attacking midfielder