The final analysis, part three: brilliant Busquets
As is customary after a Spain or Barcelona success, the performance of Sergio Busquets (two La Ligas, a Champions League and a World Cup after two seasons of professional football) has largely been ignored.
In the World Cup final he was one of the key players for Spain – keeping Wesley Sneijder quiet, providing his usual solid, reliable passing from a deep midfield position, and dropping between his centre-backs to turn Spain’s 4-2-3-1 into something more like a 3-3-3-1 or 3-4-3 when in possession.
Busquets was crucial in Spain’s early dominance in the final. He was the midfielder with most time on the ball (see the amount of space he is in on the ball below), and retained possession well.
Many have commented on the fact that Wesley Sneijder (apparently in the running for the Golden Ball award before the final) had a very quiet game, but few have pinpointed Busquets as the reason why. He (red) performed a near-man-marking job on Sneijder (blue) throughout the game, always remaining tight and goalside whenever Holland got the ball, denying Sneijder space to work in.
That would probably be expected of a defensive midfielder playing against a playmaker, but what made Busquets’ role close to a man-marking responsibility was that he was given the instruction of following Sneijder, even when the Dutchman was behind the ball.
In this example below, Arjen Robben is carrying the ball forward towards goal, but despite being the central midfielder with most responsibility, Busquets (red) vacates his natural zone, and is primarily concerned with tracking the runs of Sneijder (blue). Because Spain’s 4-2-3-1 system features two holding players, Xabi Alonso (yellow) is able to drop in and occupy the zone in front of the back four.
And this continued for 120 minutes, with Busquets so effective in his defensive responsibilities that it’s difficult to remember a single thing Sneijder did in the match. This tackle from Busquets (pink) on Sneijder is in extra time, with the two players in almost exactly the same position as in picture two above, which was taken in the first ten minutes of the first half.
The most interesting thing about Busquets’ role, however, was the frequency with which he dropped between the centre-backs, allowing them to spread into a back three, and giving the full-backs license to get forward and provide the width Spain often lacked throughout the tournament. This concept has been discussed at length previously on ZM, and it was great to see Busquets, Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol switching seamlessly between the two systems, as they do at Barcelona.
The two centre-backs spread to the flanks, and Busquets (yellow) drops between them, expanding the active playing area in defence. The same happens below.
Spain were able to keep the ball and played out from the back rather easily, for Busquets frequently had time to look up and play a good pass.
Holland surprisingly didn’t respond to this by trying to close him down (Sneijder was in a good position to do so) but they did try and recreate it themselves.
Here, Joris Mathijsen and John Heitinga have moved wide when Maarten Stekenlenburg has the ball, and Mark van Bommel (orange) attempts to drop between them and receive the ball. Spain are more aware with their pressing high up the pitch, however, and Xavi (green) follows him all the way. Van Bommel turns to see Xavi, then puts his hand up to Stekelenburg, instructing him not to send the ball his way, and Holland instead have to play through their centre-backs – not as assured passers as van Bommel.
The final analysis, part three: brilliant Busquets
I am at work ……..but I was hoping you would write something today so kept checking 2 or 3 timess and finally you did …….good stuff…..Busquests is def barcas and spain unsung hero……….doing all the mopping up for others to shine.
Barcelona are so brilliant, I’d argue he’s not the only unsung hero in that team right now – I was really impressed by Keita last season. But then Keita’s given the freedom thanks to the disciplined sitting of Busquets, so ultimately, it all comes back to Busquets!
Regarding the Sneijder-Busquets duel, there was one moment where Sneijder easily got rid of his manmarker and played an incredible throughball to Robben, who missed one-on-one with Casillas. That should have been a goal and would have probably given this WC a different winner.
Had Robben scored, I imagine Sneijder would have been awarded the Golden Ball, while people would point to Busquets’ “mistake”. Shows how one moment can change everything in football.
Despite of this Sneijder through ball, Busquets got two passings wrong as well – directly to Netherlands player in Spain’s half, with only two players behind of the ball. Very bad mistake, if you as me. I am not sure this kind of mistakes are acceptable or not….
I agree Derek. I’ve felt that Sneijder’s performances on this website were actually underrated. Most of his goals were lucky, but he really should be commended for his passing, especially his ability to play killer long distance passes as he did on a number of occasions.
I agree. Sneijder is one of those playmakers that can create something out of nothing. You can deny him the ball for most of the game, but he will still create a good chance or two with his throughballs.
It’s his work off-ball that impresses too. He pressed with thoroughness and real bite. Playmaking credentials aren’t his major selling-point: rather, his all-round attacking-midfield game is what makes him so special.
I agree with this comment as well. The article does help me appreciate Busquets’ key contributions (thanks for that). But the argument that Sneidjer was shut down feels overstated. He delivered a killer pass that might have decided the game, and indeed should have. Spain played on a knife’s edge in the tournament, for all their dominance of possession. Their lack of early goals meant they were always one mistake away from disaster, and against the Netherlands they made that mistake, only to be saved by Robben’s poor touch and Casilla’s foot. But history loves a winner, and now we are talking about Spain as a classic side.
There was a fair gap in which Sneijder was able to make that pass, but yes, that old fine line in football. I suppose if Totti had made just one killer pass in the 2006 final, we’d have hailed his genius rather than reflecting on his anonymous overall performance. And, if Brazil had somehow overcome Holland (back to 2010 again now), we’d recall that performance as one of character and steely determination!
I wouldn´t say it was a mistake. It came from a high ball both of them disputed, then Wesley pushed Busquets and took the ball to provide that “killing” pass. You can see some spaniards asking for the foul, but since Webb didn´t whistle it´s ok, no problem. But I repeat, you can´t put it on Busquets since he was pushed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjYKSyui1jI
Other than that I can´t remember a worthy play by Sneijder, so yes, IMHO Busquets did a great work on him.
This final analysis has exceeded your already high standards, ZM. These three articles have been a pleasure to read, thanks for your effort.
So what is better, Spain’s 4-2-3-1 that converts to 3-3-1-3 in attack or Chile’s 3-3-1-3 that can convert into a 4-2-3-1 in defence?
Mexico’s 3-4-3 converting to 4-3-3 when in defence
.
I would say by system, Chile’s should be better. But the advantage for Spain is that 6/7 of their players play together for the whole season, in Barca, making them really proficient in what they do and their system is made to look better. However, the lack of goals is a major point here, which could be explained by the fact that in Spain’s system they were used to have the cherry on the cake of Messi for the whole season in Barca, who would do 1/4th or 1/3rd of the most important peice of work, once the ball crosses the half line and with the limited amount of time they got Villa and Torres couldnt really match it up. Of course, they are no match for Messi, still….
What is the reason that people cannot understand this very simple thing: it is physically impossible to score many goals when the opponent is parking the bus. Every Spanish opponent closed the game down, dropping deep and getting men behind the ball. Only Chile tried something different and that resulted in more occasions for scoring by Spain. Who knows how many goals would be scored by Spain if Chile stayed 11 men on the pitch and it was a knock-out game.
If there is only one team wanting to play football, there won’t be any football.
agreed.
you think teams don’t do that against Barca ?
Lets face it, Barca score more goals only cuz of messi.
I think if Torres had been in form, there would be more goals to be had for Spain.
Barça score more goals because quite a few La Liga teams are hopelessly naive, and because they practise together all year around. Messi is also a factor, sure, but hardly the only one.
Having watched almost every Barca game in recent season, I’d say rarely any team in La Liga defended so deeply against Barca. But the key reason Barca scored so many goals is the quality of opponents. Messi might have added a large portion of goals, but the fall of number of goals wouldn’t be a dramatic one without him.
Just look at what happend when Inter arrived at Camp Nou.
Forgive me, but your explanation for the lack of goals in Spain is rather poor, it has nothing to do with Messi, but with the system Del Bosque has used in this Cup, playing two defensive midfielders together, Alonso and Busquets. Compare it with the lineups Spain used to put in the last Euro: two forwards and Silva, Senna, Xavi, Iniesta in the mid, being Senna the only stopper. In the second halfs Torres used to be replaced by Cesc Fabregas, providing a five men midfield with clear offensive vocation. You can´t ask a midfield formed by Alonso, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets to have the same depth in their game than a midfied formed by Silva, Xavi, Iniesta, Senna (and eventually Cesc).
In fact, despite de World Cup, many people in Spain (me included) feels that with the current system Spain have gained control of the game but have lost much of their brilliance.
Add this to the fact that Villa, Torres, Iniesta, Silva and Cesc didn´t arrive to the World Cup in their best form, mainly due to a season full of injuries, and you have a better explanation of the lack of goals.
Messi? Messi has scored 0 goals in the tournament. While being a really great player, most of his success in Barcelona has to do with Xavi, Iniesta and others doing the work to give him the ball in positions where he can make the difference, and not merely “once the ball crosses the half line”, as you say.
Busquets’ positional awareness is excellent, see this very insightful video (it’s in Spanish but the annotations make it easy to understand)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1SIHPevhXA
That is an excellent video to go with an excellent article.
It’s a shame the holding midfield role isn’t appreciated more in football.
I also noticed that very occassionally Xabi Alonso took up that position in the three.
That’s nice, cheers for that. The related vid against Arsenal is good, too.
I’d never really regarded Busquets as a particularly good player, but this certainly makes him seem like a tactical gem.
He has always seemed very streetwise, going down under minimal pressure and making a meal of it whenever he does. I suppose I have to begrudgingly admit that this is a good way of eliviating pressure on your team when you’re in a tight spot, which for a player playing deep will be very tight when it happens. However, I think this is the reason people choose to ignore him as a good player. Despite his incredibly impressive record at club and international level, he is still seen, by me at least, as a bit of a cheat, especially with his very well publicised dive against Inter.
It will be interesting if he can develop a bigger range of passing and a decent long range shot (unless of course he already has these qualities and I’ve not seen them) and see if he gets more recognition as he develops as a ball player as well as a disrupter.
Well, you seem to demand more of him than of most other holding midfielders. Understandable given the company that Busquets plays among – Xavi and Iniesta raise the bar very high for whoever plays behind them.
Busquets is one of the best short-range passers around; which other defensive midfielders can pull off those passes in triangles when under pressure?
In Brazil, people would kill to have a defensive midfielder as technically adept.
Denilson!
Right, although I would argue that Denilson is more offence-minded and creative (he himself thrives when protected by a player like Busquets).
But yes, even a player of Denilson’s quality would be a starting point for the next Brazil project in Copa America, Olympics and ultimately 2014.
Well the combined play of Puyol, Pique, Busquests, Xavi and Iniesta was exactly like what they do for Barcelona without any difference at all. The other players were just asked to fit into this system, it looks like. With Del Bosque, now announcing that Messi was his Golden ball player – I am pretty sure that he was so impressed of the Barcelona style of play and he didnt disrupt that system of play at all amongst the above 5 players. Ramos and Cdevilla fit in exactly like Alves and Abidal and whenever Pedro was there, it was one more Barca player up front.
I still say this Spain team is better than Barca. Give me San Iker and Capedvila over Valdes and Abidal. The national side also has an even more incredible depth.
I’d keep Abidal instead of Capdevila.
Abidal is a more solid defender and fast in counters, he doesn’t provide that much offensive threat but he is a stone wall.
is he really? His performances for Barca and France (albeit at centre back) beg to differ.
His performance at Barca has been stellar this year, he did miss a month or two from injury.
But it was notable in CL (group stage) versus Inter and CL versus Arsenal how well he handled that left side. Maxwell was a good good backup and held well but Abidal provides a better cover.
For France… well, what can i say… France was terrible overall
Hmmm. It seems like you’re forgetting a certain small Argentinian…
I’m not sure if you’re insisting it, but I don’t agree that the Netherlands “recreated” it by seeing Spain does that. Throughout the tournament it was a firm play by Holland team: when Stekelenburg had the ball, either in play or as a goal kick, Mathijsen and Heitinga went extremely wide and close the back line, while Van Bommel dropped to the centre to pick the ball in case noone followed him.
You kind of touch on one of the seldom mentioned (directly) benefits of switching from a 4 man back line to a 3 man back line the way Spain does – it beats the high press of a 4-2-3-1.
This game showed the typical adjustments that a pressing 4-2-3-1 makes to deal with the 4-3-3 (or 4-2-3-1 here) switching to 3-4-3. The wingers follow the advancing fullbacks, and then as the CB’s spread wide and the DM drops in you get 3 v 1 in the back.
Now the attacking mid in a 4-2-3-1 has a no win decision. If he stays in his typical zone the opposing side can move the ball with ease across the back in a 3 v 1 situation. But, even if he follows the DM, it is now 3 v 2 across the width of the pitch (which still favors the defense) but more importantly, he’s vacated the space typically occupied by a deep-lying playmaker. And for Sneijder, it was unlikely that one of his holding mids would step up to fill this space. But even if say Van Bommel does come out, this is exactly what Spain wants.
The key to this is having ball playing CB’s, as you point out. That’s why Holland’s version would never be as deadly. I would suggest (as you have) that this type of movement will drive the next tactical trend because it answers the question of how to overcome a high press. The next major shifts in formations will be first, to emulate this movement in the back, and second, to find a way to still pressure the adjusted shape.
what great post!
“The key to this is having ball playing CB’s, as you point out. That’s why Holland’s version would never be as deadly. I would suggest (as you have) that this type of movement will drive the next tactical trend because it answers the question of how to overcome a high press. The next major shifts in formations will be first, to emulate this movement in the back, and second, to find a way to still pressure the adjusted shape.”
-pure brillance
I think people should give busquets more credit rather than judge him based on his looks and his peek-a-boo moment at the champions league. He is a very good player, he breaks up attacks well, he moves the ball upfront pretty well, has decent dribbling skill and considering he is only 21, he has a long way to go.
Agreed. It’s simply astonishing that Busquets wasn’t at the very least on the short list for best young player.
I’ve no gripe about Muller winning the award, but dos Santos? Ayew? Busquets is potential realized. They are potential. You’d think that “anchors the midfield of the side about to play in the World Cup final” might get one on the shortlist. Apparently not.
Busquets made two significant errors which led to big chances for the Netherlands. In the first ten minutes when he miscontrolled a simple Alonso pass, which led to Kuyt having a shot on target. And when he lost the battle in the air which allowed Sneijder to play in Robben for the chance that Casillas saved with his foot. But I guess nobody’s perfect, eh?
Sneijder’s been kept quiet in plenty of games, he was barely there against Cameroon, Denmark and Uruguay. His (deflected) goals made it seem like he had a tournament than he actually had.
Well, you’re spot on about Sneijder, I thought his tournament was hugely overrated and he was quite underwhelming.
I am happy somebody said this. If not for the goals, Sneijder would have never been the front runner for the golden ball. He was pretty average for me too.
Sergio did have a handful of mistakes, but over 120 minutes it’s harsh to expect total Makelele perfection of a 21 year old. Ironically, I thought that Robben’s two chances were superior to anything that Spain mustered with all their possession, but Iniesta’s cool finish off a nice Cesc pass (and botched VDV clearance) sealed the game.
You´re forgetting the clear chances by Villa (2), Cesc, Navas, Sergio Ramos (3)… 8-9 clear chances compared to the 3 Holland had.
In most of what you mentioned in this piece, you’re right. However, you should remember the fast and excellent Sneijder’s pass through to Robben which the latter failed to exploit. In such games, one chance might determine the fate of the match.
I love how Busquets only made about three mistakes that people can remember, and yet he is still being bashed for it. I really don’t understand why people find it sooooo difficult to accept that Busquets is a terrific player. Players like Xavi and Iniesta made more mistakes than Busquets, but obviously no one will ever mention that.
The difference is that Busquets job is much easier than players like Xavi and Iniesta. He plays simple balls and concentrates on marking the other team’s offensive players. Yes, he has good positioning and etc but with the coaching that hes received that is not hard to attain.
How is it easier? Please explain this to me! Being a holding midfielder is by far the hardest and most mentaly demanding position on the pitch. Only the best players and most intelligent midfielders can handle that position. Xavi, Iniesta & Fabregas all started in that position. All were successful at youth levels but couldn’t do it on the big stage. Busquets is a skinny, tall kid who a couple of years ago was playing in Segunda B or something, so how is he capable then, not only at Barca, but in the Spain NT as well. If his position was easy and only requires “good positioning, etc…not hard to attain” how come a country like England with “world class” players cannot produce a single player who can do what Busquets does? Is good positioning, simple, accurate passing, and unfussy tackling such a hard thing to attain? Maybe, because England’s #1 holding mid isn’t even a holding mid at his club! If Busquets is average/over-rated/crap, what is someone like Barry doing playing football?
Bingo! my friend.
Even if that was true, does that really give you a reason to bash him?
Like Mati, I have to ask you, Pencho, how? The difference in how Xavi and Busquets play is in their use of space. For Xavi, he’s trying to find or make it, with Busquets he’s trying to define it and close it down. Space in the game is dynamic and dependent on player movement. It takes a person with almost an artistic sense to ’see’ it as it happens, or just before it happens. Busquets was always good this way with Barcelona. His problems were more of trying to do too much early on with Barcelona, like too ambitious a pass when the simple pass to Xavi was a lot better. He’s actually gotten more disciplined in his role, so much that he put Yaya Toure on the bench last season.
Sorry guys, I didn’t mean that Busquets is overrated or that he isn’t a good player. But I stand by my statement that his job is easier compared to guys like Xavi and Iniesta. He stays back and reads the movements of the other teams offensive players. Exactly like fcb_guerrero says, he plays simple balls to Xavi because when he tries something from creative it doesn’t work most of the time.
Maybe I’m valuing offensive players more than defensive ones but regardless, that is how football works. Which is why guys like Kaka cost twice as much as the rumored price for Ashley Cole even though Cole has always done his job much better.
P.S. England doesn’t have “world-class” players. The EPL does. Besides England does have a good defensive midfielder but his knees are made of cheese. (His name starts with Har and ends with greaves)
So where did Sneijder go when Busquets was on the ball… He can’t man mark him and then be in space to be the player given most time on the ball…. Is this selective analysis?
sneidjer will rarely contribute defensively. Unless a team makes a concerted effort to man mark or press the two holding midfielders then the Spaniards will always find someone in space. Busquets and Pique covered more ground then Kuyt and Van Bommel over the course of the tournament. Alonso and Xavi covered even more. The problem is that most teams can’t keep pressing the whole game. Moreover, RVP/ Sneidjer/Robben press inconsistently.
To beat Spain you have to have your forward palyers pressuring their midfielders and your midfielders and defenders creating narrow walls of defense.
I’m not saying Sneidjer contributed defensively. Busquets can’t be in 2 places at once. Being in space when he has the ball by definition means he isn’t by Sneijder.
i’d say, as shown above:
busquets drops back between the CBs, sneijder didn’t follow, be it due to tactical instructions or pointlessness because of the inconsistent pressing of his teammates (robben + RvP especially).
I think the point being made is that Busquets can’t be man marking Sneijder and available to be the free man, if you are man marking someone you can’t go and stand in a free space playing 3 yard passes to team mates. If you lose posession then the player you are responsible for is free from your attention.
Busquest didn’t man mark Sneijder but he did take most responsible for staying close to him.
Hence the fact the piece makes a point of saying “He (red) performed a near-man-marking job on Sneijder” and “What made Busquets’ role close to a man-marking responsibility”
Well it’s his position on the field, just above or in a high defensive line. His mistakes will often make the highlight reels for leading to breaks/opportunities for the other team, so it’s understandable a lot of people don’t think too highly of him. He’s also a far better player technically then you often get to see because it’s just isn’t needed and can be very dangerous in the role he’s asked to play. I remember some great moves/rushes by him in the barca shirt but it would seem logical he’s being told to take fewer risks.
People hate Busquets for some reason. Probably because he appears to contribute so little. Considering how physically insubstantial he is, he does an incredible job.
He only appears to contribute little because of the comparatively stellar playmaking company he finds himself alongside.
Parachute him into the midfield of most other teams and people would start singing his praises.
I struggle to think of anyone who could take his place in the Spanish or Barcelona line-up. Maybe Essien?
Essien’s a much different type of player. Mascherano would be a better comparison.
Agree re: Essien, who is more box-to-box (todoterreno) and wouyld therefore be more in contention with Keita (and Essien is superior, in my opinion).
I am sure a number of Barca fans will tell you that they want Yaya Toure to start ahead of Busquets. And many non-Barca fans will point to his theatrics that led to Thiago Motta’s red card in Champion’s League. I find myself impossible to like a player with no sportsmanship whatsoever.
So do you like Iniesta? Alves?
I don’t, but more importantly neither does Guardiola himself.
His reasoning was that the presence of Ibrahimovic slowed down the ‘desmarques’ (off-the-ball movement in attack) and so he demanded more from his midfielders in return; quicker and slicker passing by way of compensation, and Busquets was considered superior to Yaya in this regard.
Just to clarify… “I don’t want [Toure ahead of Busquets]…”
I think he’s a very good player but he is also a dirty player. As many of the holding midfielders do these days he knows how to tread the line of a yellow with professional fouls and little kicks here and there. I don’t enjoy that aspect of the game. What sets him apart for me is that he falls over at the slightest touch and rolls around for 5 minutes while looking through his hands to ensure that his theatrics have the proper effect. He alsow whines to the ref a lot. He is essentially a combination of the worst of Robben mixed with the worst of Van Bommel.
Jared, do you really think he puts in a tenth of the dangerous challenges as Van Bommel?
Fact is that Busquets’ coaches have/will never reprimand him for the playacting. I don’t like it but I see its value.
I didn’t just mean the bad challenges, I was including Van Bommel’s tendency to whine a lot and I see the same thing with Busquets. Although that seems to be the whole Spanish team.
Yes, it’s the dive thang that irks a type of fan. Busi is good at it, like Alves. It can be embarrassing sometimes, but if the ref buys it, so be it. A lot of other people do it in all the leagues.
Even though other people do it.. it shouldn’t be an accepted part of the game. The problem is that the referees wait to see a player go down before they award anything… they should award a free kick whether the player goes down or not only if they they don’t look to be getting any advantage.
The whole play acting ‘tactic’ has been getting way out of hand.
Despite Ramos and Capdevilla providing width on the wings, I still found Spain playing very narrow, and it fustrated me alot.
And does anyone think Iniesta’s goal was a tad lucky? I mean his shot was very well taken, but his first touch to the ball was poor (unless you think he ment to make the ball pop up like that).
mmmm… i beg to differ, if it wasn’t for his first touch he wouldn’t have scored and/or Van der Vaart would’ve intercepted.
He used one touch to control and direct the ball for him to shot. The second time he touch was when he shot it.
Interesting to call Iniesta’s touch ‘poor’. He stops it with one touch, and it bounces up a bit, high enough for a volley. He takes the volley with a jabulani ball and nails it. I have no idea if Andres planned it that way, or it ended up that way. What did happen is Iniesta had just enough time to control the ball with a player sliding into his path, and put enough pace on the ball that the NED keeper had no time to react sufficiently even though it wasn’t more than a foot away from him. So, I have to say, no, sir, it wasn’t poor touch in the slightest.
Judging from the almost absolute control he routinely has of the ball, I’d say that he meant to do it.
ZM you need to get on British TV and convince all these football fans who have been brain-washed with the image of Busquets being a “cheat”. I’ve seen disgusting dives by Gerrard that no one talks about. Anyway, back to the point, Busquets is under-rated. Hes the kind of player who at youth levels won’t stand out. Just another lanky holding midfielder who passes accurately but without much imagination. However, his undertsnading of the game is made for the big time. This kind of player is a tactician’s dream. I think Capello would love to have this kind of player. He sees things before other players on the pitch and for a 21-22 year old, his mistake rate is minimal. Can anyone name another player in the same position with as much influence and responsibility in their clubs and national teams?
That’s an easy one, Javier Mascherano. That guy was supposed to control midfield for Argentina playing alongside 2 wingers in central midfield in Di Maria/Maxi or alongside a clearly not fit for the game Veron. At Liverpool, he played alongside the obviously not good enough Lucas or Gerrard who refuses to actually be a central midfielder. Compared to Mascherano, Busquets has it easy. Busquets can look up and hit a 5 yard pass to a world class player at virtually any position around him in defense or midfield.
I’m not British and I think he’s a cheat. I also think Gerrard is one of the worst divers in the world though too. To prove that I’m not biased I think as an American that Jozy Altidore falls over when breathed on.
Funny how Liverpool fans can’t appreciate Lucas, the next Gilberto Silva in the making.
I feel like Lucas was a better player going forward at Gremio. He wasn’t just another Gremio destroyer. I also feel like Anderson was more of a no. 10 in Brazil instead of the holding/deep lying role he used to play
Some of those 5 yard passes are more complicated to pull off than a lot of Hollywood balls – it all depends on the pressure and restriction of space exercised by the opponents; you need immaculate technique at times and Busquets has this, more than Mascherano (for all Jefecito’s other qualities)
Brain-washing or not but the fact is that Busquets is a cheat. He is inteligent, disciplined, technically and positionally good but still, he is a cheat. Even more, he is a cheat in the extended sense of the word meaning that not only uses his trained abilities to disguise a lot of yellow-card-level infractions but he is also regularly scheming to get key opponents booked/sent off or the referee conditioned to subsequent leaning. This is what I believe after having watched virtually every Barca match in La Liga and CL under the last season, and not because of a single piece of antics against Thiago Motta.
I appreciate the importance of tactics and admire ZM and many of the contributors to this site for their understanding of a multitude of aspects in the game that I can hardly grasp or even see. Yet I sense a slight tendency among tactically oriented minds to not calling (some/many) antifootball practices by its name. One possible reason for this is the (understandable) zeal in keeping at arm’s lenght with subjetivity and banality.
Bottomline is that…a cheat is a cheat.
The reason to “not call antifootball practices by its name” is because it is boring and leads to tedious debates.
Can understand that. I bet you write an article with 99% of tactics and 1% of ethical considerations and you will easily get back the inverted ratio in the comments from your readers (my post included in the 99% of “moral” rants, je, je). No question that in this or similar sites the focus must remain on tactics and strategy.
Further proof of how difficult it is to expose and root out the Busquets and van Bommels (or at least the Mr. Hyde side of them) of this world.
The difference between the “anti-football” of Busquets and that of Van Bommel is that one leaves his marks mentally, the other physically. Personally, I don’t respect dirty fouling, but a slight shirt pull, cheeky trip or any similar “anti-football” gesture is totally acceptable because the purpose is purely footballing, not harming & injuring opponents.
I always thought cheating only occurs off the field, with teams fixing games, bribing refs, sending out money bags, etc because it all happens behind the law…if it occurs on the pitch, in the ref’s presence, with cunningness and quick thinking, you should applaud a man’s genius!
Also, I dont get why this tactics vs morals conversation is even being discussed.
To compare Busquets and Van Bommel is laughable. While Busquets cheated in that Champions match against Inter, a brick doesn´t make a building and you won´t find a single play in this Cup where he has cheated. It´s difference between a 21 years old player who learns what kind of plays damage his reputation and are not accepted, and a known psychopath who is +30 and has learned NOTHING in his entire life as a player. Put Van Bommel in Vinnie Jones´ group and leave the other boy alone.
Im so glad someone else thinks Biscuits is fantastic.
so now you are two
There’s a hell of lot more than that. Pep Guardiola and Vicente Del Bosque, for instance.
One thing I learned from watching Mauro Silva play in the late 90s-early 2000s, is that the less you notice a great DM in a game, the better he’s doing.
Watching the final again and keeping more of an eye on Busquets, he had exactly that sort of game. I guess that’s what happens when you’re learning the game from Pep…
Yeah, totally agree. Do you think is it possible to Barcelona play in what you call a 4-2-4ish with busquets/xavi in the middlefield and a front four with pedro/messi/villa/iniesta? or it would be just suicidal?
It will end up as a roughly 4-2-3-1 formation.
Why not? Similar has been done before… http://www.zonalmarking.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/barcelona-3-0-valencia-tactics-messi-22.jpg
Busquets is a cheating, diving, thief.
¿Olé?
Sorry to be digressing a bit here, ZM, but formations are just too interesting. For example, it’s generally understood that Spain played in this WC a 4-2-3-1. But we also now that when Spain were in possession, their formation would shift to something more like 3-1-5-1 or 3-1-4-2. So, for Spain 4-2-3-1 was their defensive formation. Chile, on the other hand, was a 3-4-3 that would shift to a 4-3-3 defensively, right? If that’s so, then for Chile 3-4-3 was their attack formation.
To look at Barcelona quickly as comparison, we have 4-3-3 yet defensively they play more of a 4-1-2-3, and offensively (depending on who’s on the field) 3-1-3-3 or even 3-4-3 (when playing high up with two attacking fb’s).
What determines how a side’s formation is typically defined?
I think most people still think of three zones in the field. Here at zonal marking, they’ve injected the new generation of football theory where there are 4 lines which are determined by a player’s distance away from goal. Front to back line is usually about 25 meters or so.
I think most people start looking at a formation based on how they defend a goal kick or the average position in which players are when the defense recovers the ball. My guess is that it’s more focused on defense rather than offense.
The fact is a player’s transition from offense to defense and defense to offense plays a large role in how formations look and operate. A team with central overload would look different from a team that spread the field with width. A breakdown of where a player is active horizontally and vertically would be nice information to have. It would certainly help define the team’s offensive strategy and defensive philosophy better.
I agree with your point about formations. I think a lot of the time, people who analyse football tactics in detail focus so much on other things that the basic quality of the formation is not given enough attention.
I like Busquets as a player, but how much of what ZM is describing here is “brilliant” play as opposed to brilliant tactics? Busquets dutifully follows Schnieder around. Busquets dutifully drops into the center of defense when Spain are in possession allowing him space to pass the ball without hindrance. Again, I think he is a talented player, but how much of this really shows that he is a great player as opposed to merely an obedient one?
But great players have good discipline (follow orders, demand, stay focus, play, take responsibilities) and they perform. Sergio Busquests does have good discipline and does perform on the pitch.
His task wasn’t as easy as some people say, first you have the pressure to fulfill the shoes of a GREAT PLAYER which was Marco Senna and at his age to perform this consistent in a World Cup has a lot to say.
I also think he was very helpful playing with Puyol and Pique and undoubtedly play it to Xavi, Xabi or Iniesta.
He many not be the greatest in his position but given his age and his improvement in one year; i’d say he has a big potential in becoming one.
Heck… Pep Guardiola and Vicente del Bosque adore that guy, that’s a good reference.
OK i am not a tactical genius like ZM is but acc. to me (& some of my folks out here), Alonso looked far more settled and organized than Busquests both in Offense and Defence. Maybe Busquets only job was to pass the ball on the ground sideways but pinpointing him as one of the reasons why Spain won is laughable.
Yes, it’s laughable! Spain kept four clean sheets in four knockout games – saying that the holding midfielder who played every minute of those four games is one of the reasons Spain won – absolutely laughable.
Yes, it’s all Busquets’ work. Puyol and Pique were busy killing flies maybe.
Point me to where someone said “it was ALL Busquets’ work”, and you’ll get a gold star.
Can’t really agree on you pointing out Buesquets as key, ZM. I would say that during the entire tournament, Busquets hardly dropped deep enough to make up a back three with Puyol and Pique. At the final game, however, he was near to being excellent, but that is more because Netherlands never put extra man forward, only hoping for Sneijder to long-pass a low cutting ball from deep to a running Robben. We will have to compare Busquets with Tolya Timoschuk (in his hay-days of 2005-2008), when he controlled midfield with possession, good simple passing despite his lack of skills, plus excellent positioning/marking/tackling, and on top of that, being a defensive midfielder who dropped deep (mainly to sweepe deliveries into empty space, therefore, allowing defenders to mark prioritise man-marking opponents). Timo also went hight up to offer himself as extra option, and most importantly, to shoot from distance. Buesquets has a long way to go, but we should expect big thing from him
Also, regarding Sneijder, I wish some coach would turn him into a holding midfielder who actually creates from deep. Sneijder’s body is built to withstand physical contact, his passing is excellent, and he could do well tackling everyone on queue. His long range is great, too. Barca can’t decide on Yaya Toure and were looking to get Mascherano and then Cesc, but I think Sneijder is the man to play next to Xavi.
Pirlo?
Almost. Pirlo is not that physical, though. But Sneijder’s excellent directing play from deep and his runs into space during counters I find impressive, too
my dog performs its role of licking its balls brilliantly. he always knows just where they are, and just how to lick them. he doesn’t get the praise he deserves
Thanks for sharing.
is that supposed to be some kind of metaphor?
Sad that with the growing popularity of the site, the quality of the commentary will drop to this level.
Anyone else thinks sergio BUSQUETS is WAYYYY hotter than sergio RAMOS?
The question is, would Senna not have been able to do just as good if not better than Busquets? Senna is in my opinion a better handler of the ball, he’s got more experience, he’s stronger, a better tackler, has great positional sense, has deadly free-kicks and a great long range shot. He’s also just as good as Busquets at passing.
Through the whole tournament I think Busquets showings were very, very average. Even in the final he made vital misstakes. Saying he marked Sneijder out of the game is not fair to Sneijder since Spain had so much of the ball to begin with.
From what I’ve heard Senna’s club form has been quite bad since the Euros. I’m sure the coach would have been delighted to have the Euro 2008 Senna but it just wasn’t happening. They’re lucky that Busquets has stepped up in that time.
Well, quite. He wasn’t even getting into Villarreal’s side by the end of last season, del Bosque ommitted him because he wasn’t up to scratch. He wins the World Cup and he still has people questioning his selection decisions for the squad, it’s amazing. I’m not really sure why it is “The question is…” anyway, it seems quite an irrelevant point to Busquets’ contribution to the final.
No wonder your Busquets-choice is questioned (who is Busquets?). It would have been more sophisticated to point out prominently the effect of Arbeloa for Spains victory.
Blimey, I forgot he was in the squad!
Well, Senna did have his injury problems. I’m just saying I think that Spain would’ve played a lot better with Senna on the field than with Busquets.
In most of the Spanish games that I saw (I was abroad during the World Cup except for the final) most of the the attacks were coming from the space between midfield and defense where Busquets should’ve been and broke up the play. Unfortunately, he was nowhere to be found and this happened numerous times. Xabi Alonso had to cover for Busquets a lot.
Are you going to make a “Team of the World Cup” by the way?
Just looking for people’s opinions. I’m not proud of creating a ‘what if’ scenario, but bear with me, I think it’s interesting.
Spain, as this site points out, overloads the midfield by having Iniesta come inside, creating a 4v3. Do you think that can be countered with a different 4-4-2 than we’re used to? The king you create when the centre forward drops into midfield in a 4-3-3, leaving 4 central midfielders and two wide forwards.
Opinions?
Milan have done that sometimes back when they used the diamond. Shevchenko would get wide in an area similar to where Robben resides today. So they would have Rui Costa, Pirlo, Seedorf and Gattuso in the middle of the field.
To me this was most obvious in the CL final against Juventus.
But I don’t think that would be necessary because not many teams play a CM / AM like Iniesta as a winger.
Not sure if I got you right, but I like the sound of wingers going in from both sides with fullbacks running into flanks high up, thanks to central striker pulling in. On the other hand, we could also have two strikers going wide, one pulling in, allowing attacking midfielders to run high into penalty box. I believe to have read stories of great Hungary having two forwards pull back closer to midfield to let wingers attack penalty areas
It’s noted that spain’s front three where often very narrow, making the forwrd runs of the fullbacks even more important. Busquet’s role in the side was the key to giving them the freedom to get forward.
I thank websites like Zonalmarking for understanding how football is played.
I was telling an Arsenal fans how Busquets’ was crucial in Spain’s success and he just laughed at my apparent lack of knowledge about football.
it’s very plausible, though not incontestable, that having someone doing the sorts of things busquets did was crucial to spain’s success. this, however, does not automatically translate into statements such as ‘Brilliant Busquets’.
capdevilla was quite important to spain’s success – having a left-back is generally useful. they tend to do all sorts of things like tackle the opposition’s right-sided attacking player, shuffle across when the opposition have the ball on the opposite flank etc etc. just because capdevilla did these things and many more – just as he was asked to do, by the way – does not mean i wouldn’t raise my eyebrows at headlines such as ‘Virtuoso Capdevilla’.
i’m really sick of people accusing others of a lack of understanding, because someone disagrees with their opinion, or does not share their admiration/dislike for a certain player, especially when that opinion is oh so fashionable. that kind of pompous, superior attitude reveals more about your own shortcomings than anyone else’s.
i thank posters like you for understanding that Zonalmarking understands how football is played. lets all agree with eachother and spend our time thanking eachother for just how well we all understand football
What crawled up your arse and died?
your friend. he said he was prepared to go literally anywhere to escape you going on about brilliant busquets
How sweet.
Now you’ll finally have someone to talk to
Couldn’t the whole ‘Busquets having space and time on the ball’ aspect be turned on its head though? Plenty of excuses have been made for Messi, RvP and even Torres not having as bad a tournament as most have made out to be, because they were marked heavily out of the game. The reason given for this was that they were obviously highly prioritised by the defending team, and instead these players were expected to draw their men away, creating space for team mates through their off-the-ball movement.
Considering the players Busquets has with him, I’d rather have my men on the players he’s looking to pass off to and press them rather than ‘waste’ Sneijder on Busquets. If there is a turn-over in possession, then the situation would be biased for Sneijder, who has now lost Busquets and would have time and space of his own.
I don’t think Busquets’ on-the-ball or off-the-ball play was anything special, and I’d have to agree with Steve that people seem to be giving him too much credit for doing what would be considered a good or solid performance in anything other than a world cup final.
whether the ’stage’ of the game is applicable, I’m not too sure… personally I think it stats venturing into the subjective part of the argument. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking him as a player (he’d fall down too easy), he’s playing top flight football at, objectively, the best teams, at the same age as me.. I just don’t think he deserves all this praise he’s receiving for just doing his job.
I agree with both Smith and ZM that Busquets was vital for Spain in their road to win the cup, but I look Busquets as a guy who is “brilliant” at what he does but not “brilliant with his skill set”. He’s only 21 anyways, he still has room to improve and it is most likely that he’ll add and polish more aspects of his game and become one of the best holding midfielders during his career.
ZM,
As always – a brilliant article. Busi is the best. Keep up the great work!
it was very interesting to read.
I want to quote your post in my blog. It can?
And you et an account on Twitter?
Spain performed splendidly at the FIFA 2010 and defeated The Netherlands by 1-0.
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