Guardiola uses Mascherano at centre-back in 1-0 win over Shakhtar
Javier Mascherano
There were no major surprises in Barcelona’s 1-0 win over Shakhtar on Tuesday night.
5-1 up from the first leg, they were fairly comfortable in Ukraine, keeping possession for long periods and winning the game with a Lionel Messi goal shortly before half time.
That is, until you consider Barcelona’s line-up, where Javier Mascherano started as a right-sided centre-back, alongside Gerard Pique.
Barcelona have had a problem at centre-back in the last couple of months. Carles Puyol’s long-term injury problems coupled with Eric Abidal’s serious illness mean they’re very short at the back, especially having let go two centre-backs last summer – Rafael Marquez and Dmytro Chygrynskiy. Neither of them featured much last season, but in terms of pure numbers, Barcelona are very light there. Only Pique, Gabriel Milito and Andreu Fontas are fit, and recognised centre-backs.
With Milito terribly slow and Fontas extremely inexperienced, Guardiola’s solution in recent weeks has been to pair Pique and Sergio Busquets at the back. Busquets is more of a holding midfielder than a centre-back, but he has played at the back in a three-man defence in the past, and has adjusted reasonably well to playing as part of a back four.
The first leg of this tie caused Busquets and Pique problems, however. Neither are particularly quick – a big issue considering Barcelona always press, and therefore play a high defensive line. The pace of Puyol or Abidal was sorely missed. Shakhtar created numerous good chances by simply playing the ball over the defence for Luiz Adriano to run onto, and would have gone ahead were it not for some wasteful finishing.
Therefore, for the second leg, Busquets returned to his holding midfield position, switching places with Mascherano. At 5′8, Mascherano is hardly the commanding figure you’d expect for a defender, so the only logical explanation for Guardiola deploying him there is for his pace. This might also seem strange – Mascherano has never appeared a particularly quick player, but then in the central midfield zone, we rarely see him tested for speed. On a similar note, we never really saw that Busquets lacked pace until he was used at centre-back, where it was more obvious.
How did he do? Largely as you would expect – he was good with his tackles on the floor, but largely struggled in aerial challenges, as his mixed ‘tackles’ chalkboard shows:
Mascherano's tackles
He was more comfortable when doing what comes naturally – moving up the pitch and intercepting short passes into feet:
However, in a way, that slightly contradicts the apparently purpose of him playing at centre-back. If he’s constantly coming up the pitch towards play, Pique will still have to cover for him, and the Spaniard’s lack of pace will again be exposed. Mascherano’s performance was solid, but perhaps not quite the solution Barcelona need.
Pique praised Mascherano for his display, saying, “Mascherano is a very fast and intelligent player. He has the quality to adapt to any position”, whilst Dani Alves said simply, “Mascherano was superb at centre-back.”
Guardiola explained his decision after the match. ”I wanted his speed at the back, and also his experience”, he said. It’s an option we have until the end of the year, and also in the future. He is very disciplined.”
It remains to be seen whether Mascherano will play there in Barcelona’s run-in. First and foremost, he is suspended for the weekend’s Clasico – but with three more games against Real Madrid probably coming up, his new-found versatility may be useful.
Chalkboards from TotalFootball
Guardiola uses Mascherano at centre-back in 1-0 win over Shakhtar
Are Puyol and Abidal quicker than Pique then, you think?
there you go – you beat me to it this time……
Yes and yes. Puyol always has a sense of urgency in his play, no matter the opponent or score.
Pique outran Cristiano Ronaldo in both of last year’s Clasicos. He is fast.
Oh yeah, and Puyol kept the speed of Robben in the WC final. He is fast, right? Cmon, supposing Piqué managed to outrun Cristiano once or twice, but I’ve seen multiple forwards in La Liga outpacing Piqué. So he is slow, right? I mean, what kind of argument is that? Separate runs or runs against particular players in a particular matches don’t prove anything. They depend on the momentum, initial speed, starting points, disposition of both players (form, injuries, half-injuries) etc.
Pique is very slow.
Abidal any day is quicker than Pique. Puyol is much more disciplined and his positional play is superb. Pique and Busi as a pair are better on the ball and more creative but then Barca needs some pace in the backline to counter Ronaldo, Di Maria and co
I could even understand questioning Puyol’s pace. He’s small, beefy, it isn’t necessarily obvious that he is quite a fast player. Also, Ryan summed it up very well, in my opinion – “Puyol always has a sense of urgency in his play”.
But, on earth, haven’t you seen Abidal sprinting?!
Seems to me that Pique’s pace is underestimated. He doesn’t look very quick because of his size and his legs naturally not moving with the same frequezy as shorter players’ but I’ve seen him outrun players who are concidered very quick quite often – at least over longer distances. Maybe his accelleration is below average but his speed is definately not.
For me, Piqué seems barely keeping up with forwards during these runs, what looks quite dangerously. Perhaps that makes me see him as not so fast.
“The pace of Puyol or Abidal was sorely missed”
– surely you don’t consider Puyol as quick or pacy? – Abidal, I can understand, but Puyol is old and quite rotund (I like that word). How about Guardiola tries Adriano at Centre Back – ?
He’s tall, he’s quick and he defends well enough…..you’ve gotta feel a bit helpless if you’re Milito – a midget midfielder is preferred to you in you natural position…..you say Fontas is inexperienced – surely, at 5-1 up, this would be a perfect chance for him to get some experience….?!?
Uhm, Adriano is tall, you say? He is 172 cm (Milito is 179 cm, Puyol is 178 cm). And, apart from his good recent performance, he is quite “unresponsible” at times. I wouldn’t risk putting him in CB. And I don’t agree on Puyol not being fast. Agree on Fontas, though. I don’t understand why players such as Alcantara, Jeffren and – especially now, facing personal problems at the back – Fontas are getting so little playing time.
fair enough on Adriano – I was going on my mental image of him – I didn’t actually bother to find out how tall he actually is (or isn’t). But I definitely can’t agree with you on Puyol – the guy is not fast IMO. But, because his reading of the game is so good, he manages to get into the right position a lot “quicker” than other defenders……you know what they say – they first 3 yards are in your head…..(Bobby Moore used to say that, and he wasn’t quick, but was one of the best defenders of all time – Puyol is very much like him, I think).
I guess, we need some video footage to come to some conclusions
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Hey ZM, will you do a tactical preview for the four upcoming classico’s?
What I love about Barcelona’s system:
Barca’s centre-backs would be defensive midfielders anywhere else
Barca’s full-backs would be wide midfielders anywhere else
Barca’s defensive midfielders would be creative centre-midfielders anywhere else
Barca’s centre midfielders would be attacking midfielders anywhere else
Barca’s wide forwards would be centre-forwards anywhere else
But then the pattern breaks because of Messi
CB: Pique, Fontas, YaYa, Busquests and Mascherano.
FB: Alves, Bartra & Adriano
DM: Busquests and Yaya
WF: Messi, Pedro & Bojan
Pique has had indifferent year. Sometimes he has been good but sometimes he has been caught off pace as well.
I really liked Mascherano in the back. He is very quick and extremely good tackler. In addition, i think he got yellow cards in each game for first 5 or 6 games with Barca but has hardly had any since then. He is very intelligent player who could be a good CB. Very little time till date for him so hard to make any judgements. But he comes from Argentina who have had excellent record of producing great CB’s of average height (Ayala, Passarela). In absence of Puyol, he is a good option to have. Puyol, if fit, will always be preferred though.
yes, but “average” height for a centre back should be around 5′11″ – not 5′8″. Alex Ferguson always said about Gary Neville (who is around 5′11″): “if he was a couple of inches taller then he’d be a World-Class Centre-Back” – notice how all of Man Utd’s Centre-Backs are over 6ft…..
Its the ‘average’ height of center backs, but not the ‘requirement’ height. Pure height isn’t everything when it comes to winning headers; theres anticipation, positioning, strength, and jumping ability in play too.
See Fabio Cannavaro at 5′9″ beating everybody in the air during his prime, and Oguchi Onyewu 6′5″ (at least when he was playing at Milan) losing simple headers because his positioning and judgement of the ball was so bad. He even got injured for 4 months because he misjudged the ball’s flight, stretched excessively and landed badly.
Anyway, since Barca plays with such a high line, they don’t need huge aerial defenders as much as quick covering defenders. Regarding Man Utd, I suppose the British aren’t too used to short defenders yet; look at the reaction when Vermaelan (6′0″) was unveiled at Arsenal.
Barca will buy a new centre back next season. He’s tall, he’s fast, he’s got great technique, he could dribble past opponents, and most importantly, he could play long-range passes with sheer accuracy.
His name is Cesc Fabregas. And Guardiola will buy him from Arsenal to invent a new role in modern football called “very-very-verryyy-deep lying playmaker”. Watch it
- Anonymous:
you are right, of course. But it helps if your airial ability is good, combined with being quite tall – look at Andy Carroll at Liverpool (ok, he’s a striker, not a Centre-back). His airial ability is second to none (judgment of where the ball is dropping, timing of his jumps), and he’s around 6′4″, which makes him UNBEATABLE in the air……you would rather have tall defenders who are good in the air than short ones (unless their defensive ability on the ground is second to none – i.e. Cannavaro).
have you seen 5′7″ Gary Medel leap for a header? 5′11″ or taller is probably ideal, but taller players don’t usually give that much if an effort in their jump. ofcourse this depends on many factors, but I generally disagree with the categorization we usually employ to determine a player’s best position
“Football used to be an easy game. The big lads played at centre-half and centre-forward, the hard lads played at full-back, the bright lads played at inside forward, the hard lads who were a bit bright and the bright lads who were a bit hard played at wing-half, and the little, quick lads played on the wing. Left-footers played on the left and right-footers played on the right. And the one with no mates went in goal.”
The quote comes from Jonathan Wilson, and in my opinion it depicts perfectly what you have said. The point is, that was in the past.
Well said!
In Latin America, it’s quite common to see a CB in the mold of Mascherano. In fact Barcelona, and Guardiola get a lot of credit for innovation, but it has to be said that some of the stuff they do is old hat in Latin America, although “innovative” in Europe.
There is a negative aspect, as the poster said, like when you play a fwd like Andy Carroll. I mean let’s say you play a German club with forwards that dwarf your CBs. Not good.
On the plus side, you have flexibility to quickly switch and interchange betweent 3 and 5 man defenses.
What’s nice about center backs like
they are.
still waiting for fontas. whats “wrong” with him?
How different is this to Michael Carrick being used as CB when United’s defenders were at the doctor’s office? Even Roy Keane had been used at the back sometimes.
Barca fans are feeling great about Mascherrano. Once Puyol is back we will not see him in a CB role, but he is definitely going to have more starts.
He was very impressive in almost all the recent games.
Puyol, while not nearly as fast as Abidal, is still faster than Pique if only insofar as his positioning is still superb and that he often instinctively covers “behind” his partner, letting Pique make the first challenge while readying himself to round up the remains of the play. he isn’t noticeably faster than Pique in a flat-out footrace, i wouldn’t think, but the way in which he plays makes him better against pacy players. in Puyol’s absence Abidal is a huge miss; his sheer speed and athleticism was a great compliment to Pique.
Milito is certainly gone in the summer, but i do wonder why Pep hasn’t been easing Fontas into the lineup. he’s Pique Mark II; tall, strong, good on the ball and as you’d expect from a Barça academy player, an excellent passer out of the back. maybe Pep doesn’t think he needs the new version?
Mascherano seems, from the limited viewing, a better option there in the short-term than Busquets, who’s fluidity through the midfield has been missing in recent games. pity the former is suspended against Madrid on Saturday, we’d see him put to the test.
I suspect that next year Abidal will be the starting CB and Adriano will take over FB, full time. Puyol will be reserved for the inevitable injuries.
incidentally, ZM, i hope you’re ready to be busy. 4 Clasicos in 21 days between 2 managers who love to throw tactical surprises. should be thrilling.
thats right
Can’t wait, Barca play Madrid 3 times and Spurs once
This guy is a beast. Simply the best tackler in the world. I think Football Manager should rate his tackling attribute as “21″, not “20″
Indeed he is. A fantastic player. And to think that Alan “Javier Mascherano on the bench” Pardew is once again a Premier league manager. Christ.
This is going to be a bit off-topic. Milito is not only slow, but also clumsy. His current performance is a tragedy. Nearly every time he had the ball, he couldn’t pass it without making trouble for the team. Not even mentioning that he could get a straight red card for what he did just after entering the match.
That’s what injuries and a general lack of playing time makes with a fine player. I hope Barça drops him this summer and finds some decent replacement. Fontas as the only backup CB is still a shortage in personell. Or if we consider Abidal as a regular CB from now on, that would make 4 CBs: Pique, Puyol, Abidal, Fontas. Pushing Abidal into CB is comfortable for an LB position atm, as both Maxwell and (surprisingly for me) Adriano are performing quite well.
There’s nothing off-topic about that comment, mate. Thats’s exactly the sort of info and opinion that we want on this board…..the thing is with Milito’s passing ability – I bet it’s no worse than most other Centre-Backs in the Champions League, but at Barca, if you can’t pass the ball exceptionally well then you simply don’t get ANYwhere near the first team…..
In addition, Milito has awful positioning. Especially with regards to offsides :-S Not a good thing given Barcelona’s high defensive line.
Milito has been truly dire, and that’s a real shame since after coming back from his longest injury stretch last season he was excellent, until he picked up another.
i would assume that Barça will use their buyback option for Alberto Botía from Sporting in the summer; he’s been progressing well there.
Actually Milito had a beautiful 30 meter diagonal pass that nearly put Pedro (or was it Alves) on goal. His passing ability is still class. I agree that he has lost a lot of pace and for some reason has forgotten how to position himself.
Spot on. I forgot about that pass. Yes, that was the brightest moment of his display that day.
But Milito was the next great Argentinean! Wasn’t he? It was laughable how we was brought in to replace Marquez. He shouldn’t be in the same breath as El Kaiser of Michoacan, Marquez ever again…
By the way Marquez played Defensive Mid as well as Center Back well above average for many years for Barca!
Well, I criticized his current disposition, but I’d like to underline that I think he has most of what it needs to be a great defender. I’m blaming the injuries. Obviously Marquez is one of those players with a special gamesense, so it would be difficult to replace him =].
It seems the logical step for Mascherano to play at the back – in every Barca game I’ve seen him play in he’s usually to be found deeper than at least one of the centre-backs. Physically he’s all wrong for position – short and lightweight – but this is just a traditionalists view of what a central defender should look like (see previous comments regarding Sir Alex). The rest of the Barca team breaks the physical mould for their position, Dani Alves looks like a distance runner not a full-back, so it wouldn’t surprise me if this was a change that could be used more long term. Though I’d advise Mascherano to have a word with Fabio Cannavaro about how little man can learn to jump with the big boys
But Full backs basically are long distance runners, no?
Short CBs, while certainly rare, do crop up from time to time- Spot on about Cannavaro.
The fact that Mascherano plays deep from a midfield position gives license to the defense to get further forward. Playing him at CB could work cos of Busquets and Pique covering for height. Barcelona need a little more dynamism that he provides in midfield, as their intensive passing game continues to evolve.
Mascherano as some sort of libero? That just sounds too weird.
That’s to say Barcelona want more dynamism in midfield than Mascherano can provide. Even with an edit button, I need to repost! Curses.
I think thats a good point about Busquets and Pique covering for height – I guess with the Barca ‘Total Football’ model system, Busquets can fall back when the ball is being played long – kick-outs or playing a long ball team etc… and masch can slip in when the ball is in the deck. Sounds plausible in theory anyway…
Very interesting. The one thing I would disagree with is that Busquets’ absence of pace wasn’t apparent when he played in midfield. I know he’s one of your favourites, but c’mon…
Same with Mascherano not being noticeably fast. One of his biggest strengths is being able to sprint from behind an attacking player and take the ball before they realize he’s there, something that can only work if he is very quick. Surely we haven’t forgotten his performances vs Kaka during the 07 CL finals or his miracle stop of Bendtner in the 2nd game vs Arsenal this CL.
That’s where we need to distinguishe pace (general speed, when you have acres of freedom ahead of you) from acceleration (eg. in “close combat” to make a tackle).
Where’s the tactical preview for Spurs Madrid lol?
And the point of that would be…?
I didn’t realise he was suspended for the clasico. Who will play the holding role, then? Assuming Abidal still isn’t fit and Busquets starts at centre-back.
Abidal just had a major abdominal operation to remove a liver tumor, he will not be fit for some time.
Keita/Xavi/Iniesta?
That’s the most intuitive approach, but we need to remmeber Keita hasn’t played DM for quite a long time already. Who knows, maybe Pep is preparing something special?
Isn’t playing a player like Mascherano at centre back the logical next step when dealing with a false 9? A sort of false 5?
That’s a an interesting point there. It would seem like the logical step to take since the false 9 drops deep, the false 5 would simply be following him into his natural area of operation. My only reservation would be the space created which could be exploited by late runs from the opposition team.
excellent idea, but would it work when the false 9 is part of a front 3? imagine it was Barca vs Barca…if Mascherano picks Messi, you still have to deal with a 4 v 3 situation, and its not a very natural 3 because its 2 FB’s and a CB, whereas ideally a combination of 2 CB’s and a FB would be better, because it’ll be easier to squeeze space and/or deal with more players if forced to congest centrally. this would work in a flexible team, and I’m pretty sure this idea has been implemented already (Costa Rica-Argentina friendly is a good example, as well as Bielsa’s Chile in the WCQ) with players who are comfortable playing atleast 2 positions…it needs special conditioning, synchronisation and tactical understanding. it’s total football, but in its defensive aspect, something we don’t hear about too often I think
Anybody agreeing that Shakhtar were pretty damn good? I had the impression they were kick-ass in keeping and winning back the ball in the centre of the pitch, and they also had phases were they pressed and consecutively dominated the game. The game deserved to be a draw, Barca could not offer much except that one magic moment of Messi…
Great point. I’ve seen nearly all the CL games, including all of Barca’s, and quite a bit of La Liga, and Shakthar was easily the most threatening opponent Barca has played all season. Certainly much better than Real Madrid who IMO are vastly overrated this season. With better finishing in the first leg this tie would’ve have been much different.
Yes, I agree, Shakhtar were good, especially considering they were missing basically their entire backline(Srna and Rat are key to their play). I would’ve liked to have seen them play any side except Barca and Madrid…
To me the rational behind Mascherano as a center back came down to him being the guy that robs the ball and goes into challenges. I don’t see him playing at that position much more different than what he gives to Barca anyway when he plays in DM, just that he does that now in defense. The pace issue is huge for Barca and another key reason why Adriano is starting over Maxwell, since he is much faster.
Overall, I guess he will get more used to that position.
Actually, Adriano got the chance because of Maxwell’s injury some time ago. Now Maxwell seems to be fit again, but Adriano managed to impress Guardiola with his recent disposition. Their rivalry for a precendence in LB position will only do good for Barcelona.
Keita is good enough in defense, and excellent on the ball, so he will be a decent stopgap as holder on Saturday.
I think Madrid’s holding situation is also tenuous, as it was abject during the last Clasico. Since Madrid will likely not dictate the game or dominate possession, Xabi Alonso’s best attributes are dulled and his flaws are exaggerated. With the pressing Barca do, Xabi’s signature long passes to the flanks will probably be disrupted, and his close control and defensive ability (both passable, but neither attribute is world class) will be put to an extreme test.
I think Lass should be holding, with Khedira playing box to box (he really needs to press forward more than the last Barca game) and either Granero, Kaka, or Ozil playing as the most advanced. Granero’s advantage is that he’s the most comfortable of the three when forced into deep defensive positions, Kaka’s advantage is that he is the truest number 10 and can cause Barca’s makeshift holder a lot of concern, and Ozil’s advantage is his excellent form. Madrid have so many options in midfield, I’m excited to see which Mourinho chooses. We’ll likely see several variants during the four game “series”
Any thoughts?
Last time Keita played DM for a longer period than 10 last minutes of the match, was last season, I think. I’m not sure, Pep is going to risk putting him there, but I guess, he doesn’t have many other decent variants.
I’m not quite sure that we will see that much of a variety in tactics of both teams. Perhaps in CL, but rather not in BBVA/CdR fixture. Usually when two teams face each other twice in a short interval (16 IV, 20 IV), there is no time for preparing, training and mastering a new tactic, thus teams prefer to stick with the tactic used in the first match, with the only thing being fixed – the evident holes in it, that just got exposed by the opposition. That consecutive match is often dull, boring, and ends up with a draw. The other reason is, Barcelona always plays the same, tbh
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On the other hand, Mourinho doesn’t know words such as “usually” or “often”, while Barcelona will surely shuffle their line-up for a second match, as Mascherano will be able to play in it.
I believe Pep will play Milito in the league with Busquets as DM and Mascherano in CdR.
As far as not playing Lass on Camp Nou was a matter of a pressure from Perez/Valdano/supporters or it was simply Mourinho that wanted to see how it ends up when he plays a “usual” RM line-up, I guess this time nobody will be angry on him, if he puts Diarra in.
(Sorry for two comments).
Playing Mascherano against Madrid would be tactical suicide in my opinion, Adebayor would slaugter him in pretty much all aspects.
Can’t wait for this spell of games though. The game on Saturday is basically an appetiser for the real tactical battles that will come in the CDR Final and more importantly the two CL Semi’s.
Both will of course be mainly focused on the CL, the league is already decided, and the CDR would be nice, but the CL even nicer. Managers tend to prefer to have the 2nd leg at home, but I think Jose will be pleased to have the 2nd leg at Camp Nou. IF Madrid can take a lead to the Camp Nou, I fancy them to go through, Mourinho will park the bus, and no one parks a bus better than a Mourinho managed team, but the real test of Jose in my opinion is how does he beat Barcelona at home, where preferrably he will need to attack them, and get at them.
Some intriguing battles ahead.
1. Don’t worry, Mascherano can’t play on Saturday (suspension). 2. I think you are underestimating Copa del Rey. El Classico in the final of the cup patronised by the King has a special meaning in Spain. 3. You need a specific type of players in your team to park the bus (vide Inter). I don’t think Real has proper players. They might try, but they’ll get broken (even Inter got broken, if not for the referee’s floating nature :]).