Real Madrid 2-1 Barcelona: Bale shines in Ancelotti’s counter-attacking 4-4-2
The starting line-ups
Gareth Bale scored a sublime late winner to win the Copa del Rey.
Carlo Ancelotti was without Cristiano Ronaldo, which meant Isco coming into the side. He also used Iker Casillas, his cup goalkeeper.
Tata Martino returned to the system he favoured in the Champions League matches against Atletico, with Andres Iniesta on the left and Cesc Fabregas in midfield. Neymar was given another chance.
Real played an extremely reactive, counter-attacking system, and were forced to withstand long periods of pressure – but they created better chances on the break.
Real shape
The most surprising thing about the starting line-ups was that Real Madrid were basically playing a 4-4-2 system, rather than the 4-3-3 Ancelotti has used for much of the campaign. That said, the formation they used in the previous Clasico, a 4-3 defeat, became something of a 4-4-2 at times when Ronaldo drifted inside and Di Maria overlapped, and Ancelotti had started the campaign with a a 4-4-2, too.
This system probably surprised Barcelona. Bale was expected to begin on the right but instead played as a second striker, starting from an inside-left position. Angel Di Maria played on the right flank and was the most energetic Real player, effectively a midfielder without the ball and an attacker in possession – he darted forward to open the scoring after a brilliant counter-attack.
What was most striking about Real’s system, though, was how closely it resembled the shape Atletico successfully deployed against Barcelona. They played in two deep banks of four, and depended upon the wide players to burst forward to support the attackers. Isco, primarily seen as a playmaker, showed all the defensive aggression of Atletico’s two wide players, making nine tackles (three more than anyone else) despite being on a booking from the third minute. In all likelihood, Ancelotti did his homework, saw the Atletico approach, and replicated it as closely as possible.
Alves poor in possession
Real’s counter-attacking opener originated from a mistake by Daniel Alves in an advanced position, and it wasn’t the only time where he conceded possession cheaply, allowing Real Madrid to counter-attack quickly. The situation at the back, with Barca’s (rather unconvincing) centre-backs playing two-against-two, meant any cheap concessions of possession immediately put Barca under pressure.
Like in the matches against Atletico, Alves always seemed to be the player in space. He had more touches of the ball, 126, than any other player in the game – but yet again, he didn’t always have an obvious target in the middle. It was the same old problem – Neymar was on his flank, so hardly a crossing target, Lionel Messi was in deeper positions, and there was no true left-winger on the far side. Amazingly, twice the man getting on the end of Alves’ crosses was Jordi Alba, who had a decent headed effort and then knocked the ball down for Andres Iniesta’s blocked shot. But Alves and Alba in such advanced positions inevitably caused Barcelona problems further back.
Busquets
The player who encountered serious positional difficulties was surprisingly Sergio Busquets, usually immaculate in his holding role, excellent at reading the game, and intelligent in reacting to opposition attacks and positioning himself accordingly.
Here, however, he didn’t seem to understand the system he was playing against. It was as if he’d been expecting to play against a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1, and therefore have the responsibility of pushing up to press an opposition central midfielder, denying them time on the ball. Here, he kept on charging up the pitch to pressure opponents, but Xabi Alonso and Luka Modric were positioned very deep, and therefore not in a natural zone for him to press.
Busquets has become increasingly mobile and proactive without the ball, but here his presence was needed in deeper positions. For a start, Barcelona were often two-against-two at the back, and therefore the centre-backs would have appreciated some support. Instead, there was often too much space in front of the defence, allowing Benzema to come short and receive possession easily.
In at least three situations in the first half, Busquets was caught out and left his defence unattended. The most obvious example was on 35 minutes, when Busquets charged down Di Maria extremely high up the pitch, and as Di Maria turned and played a simple ball to Isco drifting between the lines, Busquets was on the same horizontal ‘line’ as Fabregas and Xavi Hernandez, his two midfield colleagues. This meant fully 25 yards of space for Isco to exploit – he ran with the ball, had Bale and Benzema as options, and eventually only a brilliant Alba blocd prevented Isco from putting Real 2-0 up.
Barcelona have structural issues as a whole – they don’t press cohesively, they don’t cover space effectively, and the defenders are frightened to push up and keep the side compact. Busquets can’t be blamed for those problems, but his inability to compensate with his usual intelligent defensive play was surprising. In the second half he played much deeper, but even here he made errors – at one point he found himself covering for Javier Mascherano on the left of the centre-back pairing, but allowed Bale to come inside onto his left foot far too easily to shoot.
Barcelona go 4-3-3
It took until the hour mark before Martino switched to a proper 4-3-3 system, and immediately Barcelona put more pressure upon Real’s backline. Neymar was much more lively from his favoured left-sided role, forcing Pepe to come across and make a crunching last-ditch tackle at one point, while Pedro Rodriguez (who had replaced Fabregas, inevitably) provided some liveliness from the right, even if he was often collecting the ball in deep positions rather than running in behind, and was a little clumsy in possession.
Marc Bartra headed the equaliser from a corner, and then Barcelona had a 15-minute spell of pressure where they genuinely seemed the more likely side to score the crucial third goal. Again, however, it’s tough to credit Martino for this switch when it’s obvious that Fabregas in the side, and this ‘modified’ 4-3-3, simply doesn’t make sense in the big games. A purer 4-3-3 with three proper attackers was the way to go tonight, and Martino only allowed his side half an hour in their best system.
Bale wins it
The danger of so much possession, of course, was that it meant more opportunities for Real to counter-attack, and they scored the winner in the 85th minute with another brilliant goal on the break. If the first was a classic counter-attacking team goal, the second was was a classic counter-attacking solo goal, with Bale simply roaring past Bartra on his way to goal.
Again, the goal came when Barcelona lost possession in an advanced right-sided position, when Alves was high up the pitch, and again Busquets was bypassed easily – not that they were to blame. It’s also notable that, like Atletico, Real didn’t thump the ball clear deep inside their own half – they instead played out, worked the ball forward quickly, and made a defensive situation an attacking opportunity.
It was just individual magic from Bale, the kind of thing Real expected when they paid so much money for him last summer. In a good first debut season, he probably needed a goal like this, in a big moment, to be seen as a real success. He thrived as Real’s chief attacking weapon tonight – supporting the theory that he’s probably at his best without Ronaldo in the same side, playing roughly the same role.
Ancelotti promptly removed Di Maria, Isco and Benzema, bringing on Raphael Varane, Casemiro and Asier Illaramendi, ending up with five defenders, four deep-lying midfielders and Bale on his own upfront. It would have been interesting to see how that would have worked in extra-time – and the match wasn’t far from getting to that stage, as Neymar hit the post in the final minute.
Conclusion
A victory sealed by a brilliant moment of individual magic, certainly, but Ancelotti’s tactics worked better tonight. Real soaked up pressure and were rarely penetrated, and then took advantage of great counter-attacking speed to put Barcelona’s nervous centre-backs under pressure. The winner summed up what an incredible speed advantage Bale had over Barcelona defenders.
For Barcelona, the real worry is that Martino seems incapable of learning lessons from previous defeats, and the persistence with this system – with Iniesta and Neymar out of their favoured positions to accommodate Fabregas, who shouldn’t be starting anyway – simply doesn’t make any sense. Three defeats in three successive matches, in three different competitions, doesn’t make for good reading.
Real Madrid 2-1 Barcelona: Bale shines in Ancelotti’s counter-attacking 4-4-2
Good writeup. What’s also worrying for Barcelona is the oxygen starved impression they’ve been giving in a bunch of key matches in 2014. It’s almost as if Martino is uncapable of inspiring them and/or they are confused as to how they’re supposed to play. First half against Atletico, first half against Granada, first half against Real madrid… List can be made longer.
Certainly it can’t just be down to fatigue as Martino has rotated a whole lote more than Vilanova did.
I’m beginning to doubt this coach, he seems to have lost the locker room.
Also, would yoy say this system resembles the system Vilanova used in big games? If I recall correctly he attempted to accomodate Fabregas+Iniesta+Xavi in some sort of system where Fabregas and Iniesta interchanged positions on the left, also to maximize possession.
Didn’t really work out too well back then either.
Iniesta, nor Fabregas, are true wingers. It encourages Jordi alba to push up to the left as Iniesta often cuts inside, and as you mention, Alves pushed up the other side too. Leaves huge amount of space for the poor CBs and the recently somewhat shaky Busquets to cover.
Busquets pushing forward was one of the things I’ve seen too. But Busquets was also left alone by the other midfielders. Barca was not compact, the midfield was too open. Either the defenders push high to stay close to the midfield or the midfielders move back. But over all this games raised a lot of question marks regarding Barca’s tactics. Not only the midfield but also the attack. Is Messi fit and is he used in a role that makes him shine? Why are there no strikers on the pitch? Why has Dani Alves developed from the best and most unique full back in the world into a normal full back?
I doubt that Martino is able to get the best out of his players. His tactics may fit to other teams but this squad is different it needs special tactics.
A lot of names are in the media (all rumours). I can only say something about the German ‘candidates’. Looking at what Klopp has done in the last years, his idea of foodball is about hard pressing, transition and counter attacks. I think that won’t fit to Barca. Also, as far as I know, he does not speak Spanish or Catalan, that is a big issue in this club (not to know what is going on behind the scenes). And Klopp has a long term contract with Dortmund and said he don’t want to leave early. Löw, could be free after the World Cup (you never know what will happen). But it is so long since he managed a club, I can’t predict how this would turn out. Of course I can be wrong and both maybe playing great possession based football when in charge of the right squad.
But I think Barca needs someone who experienced the ideas of Cruijff or is close to Guardiola. This team needs direction, someone to ‘invent’ the next Barca dream team.
one or two points are good but special tactics what are that . a little bit of a tweaking is required but just like utd this squad too has got old and most importantly teams have realised the way that they can play against barcelona . so saying that that martimo isnt good or cannot coach this team is not proper .
Too old? The only ones over 30 were Xavi, Alves and Pinto.
Most players not older than, lets take Schweinsteiger or Lahm at Bayern.
This is not just a bunch of very good players. The squad is assembled to play a certain style. It is correct that opponents have learned to play against Barca. Therefore Barca needs evolution. But what happens now is that Barca has no real plan how to play, it is something between possession based football and … what is it actually? What I have seen yesterday was football that nearly any team in the world could (try to) play, including the failures. It is like Barca tries to be Barca but is no longer able to be Barca. There may be different reasons, but it seems that Martino is not the solution, as many other managers wouldn’t be neither. It is not Martinos failure that this squad needs very unique managers. The alternative would be to fire half of the squad and make Barca just one of the other teams.
When it comes to transfers. It is not only about the lack of defenders. Guardiola wanted to sign Pirlo (as we learned this week), Modric was on the marked some time ago. This are players that would have helped Barca to evolve and to have options (Busquets and Pirlo in a double holding role etc.), but Barca signed different players. Also, to compete on the highest level you need a manager able to adjust in every situation. Like ZM wrote Martino does not seem to learn from the defeats. He does not change a lot within the game etc. At the beginning of this season they said he will be more pragmatic than the managers before. But I can’t see that. Guardiola is more pragmatic when he switches fromm 4-3-3 to 3-4-3 or 4-2-4 etc. to adjust to an opponent.
There are several problems. Players are not as good as two years ago, or not fit. But there are also problems caused by the squad management. I don’t know whether Martino is responsible or if the bord is interfering with his work. But this team needs a make over and I don’t see Martino to be the right person to do that after this season.
that is another good comment . i think martimo wants them to stay deep and hold shape rather than the high line and pressing that had been the trademark of their game . last year also vilanova had discovered that players are not that fit anymore that they can play a pressing game for whole 90 min’s . this year martimo had tried them to play deeper and press only when the ball comes in midfield or deeper .
to be honest a coach needs to have a line of thinking and i think that martimo is not wrong and the team will take time to play the way he wishes to play . he had added more width to the game a feature which barca lacked .
the rest in my full comment .
One problem with the criticism of Barca is that we are used to see Barca play a certain style. If this style changes, we say: Wait a moment, that is not as good as it was in 2011!
But who says Barca has to press all the time? They didn’t do that a few years ago and they can be successful with a change in style. Maybe they press a little deeper and have only 55% of possession. That is not a radical switch to counter attacking or reactive football.
But i think some players have the same problems to understand this ‘new’ Barca as we have. At the moment it seems to be the only way for Barca because the players are not able to play like in 2011 and the manager isn’t capable to establish a Guardiola-esque style anyway.
This clasico was very disappointing after the one we saw a few weeks ago.
For the rest the same conclusion as last week can be drawn:
- Alves still isn’t capable of understanding the importance of a game.
- Barca again improved after the Fabregas substitution, this ’s always the case so how comes Tata is still playing him in the starting lineup, he can’t be that blind.
- Messi should be benched if his work rate stays this low. The 1-2 started because he let Isco turn to the front instead of putting pressure on him.
- Neymar still is overrated and it’s clear they bought him for marketing purposes instead of football purposes, for his price they could’ve bought a legitimate striker and a defender.
It seems as though the dressing room is running Barca. They had a stagnant three of Messi, Iniesta and Cesc, when they crossed the half way line and Neymar always looking to direct the ball inside as well. Around the halfway line, Real did play a 4-4-2 block with Benzema and Bale occupying Busquets and Xavi but when deep in their own half, I felt as though they played a 4-4-1-1 block, with Bale on one pivot, while Benzema occupying the 2 centre backs. There was plenty of space on the flanks but like most teams that play against Barca, Real didn’t seemed to mind the unopposed crosses into the box. It says something when Cesc was marking Pepe at corner kicks.
I don’t understand why Pedro and/or Sanchez didn’t start. If Real persisted to play a narrow back four, it would have at least stretched the last line and created more pockets for Messi and co, especially as Xabi Alonso seems too slow now to be as effective as previous years. Also, there would have been legitimate attacking threats down the wings, rather than the current fake ones, where Barca players were always looking to play narrow. When Modric and Isco play so defensively well, it doesn’t show their defensive capabilities as such but that they defended in very confined spaces. Isco was tucked inside the left and they almost played a flat three like United did against Bayern in the first leg. With Sanchez and Pedro, you have players willing to run off the ball. In theory, Martino wanted the second line runners to break the lines but they are too slow (Cesc) or prefer a more obvious design of playing the ball into the centre swarm and wanting one-twos (Iniesta, Messi, Neymar). It feels as though Martino wants to please Neymar, Iniesta, Xavi and Cesc. The compromise seems to play with 2 or 3 false 9’s at times and hence to the detriment of Messi who can only find space to the right and again, always looking to pass inside. And when you play Neymar on the right, it seems there is no space. Barca always occupied the central areas, whereas vintage Barca would have players on the inside wings and outside wings and with a tempo change run into the central zones with the ball and off the ball to create havoc. But now, it seems ball retention is the only noticeable characteristic. There seems to be zero risk in any capacity with Martino’s decisions.
If there is a tactical reason for fielding 4 central midfielders, it must be that he values ball retention over legitimate attacking threat and hence can be looked upon as a defensive measure. It’s a u-turn from the direct form of play they were practicing at the start of the season. Of course, playing direct means less possession and more attacking opportunities for the opposition. If so, it means that they must really fear playing quality sides and have no faith in their defence (rightly). But in doing this, they actually blunt their only means of winning, which is to outscore the opposition.
Interesting comments re: ball retention indicating no confidence in defenders. Barca are notably static without the ball now. Compare that to Real, who break so quickly and make such aggressive runs off the ball. It’s almost as if Barca have so much time on the ball that the players lack the energy to keep making runs that really threaten the opposition. Real may only break a few times each half but every time feels like a genuine threat and the desire to score every time is palpable. Let’s hope Madrid can delivery a really commanding performance against Bayern. They were lethargic last season and need to hit the ground full speed from the first whistle. Like Liverpool.
I’m actually really interested if both teams will change tactically. I do think that the 4-4-2 that Real played was less of an attacking decision, than a defensive measure. A 4-3-3, naturally becomes a 4-1-4-1 block but this is risky. It seems tight in theory but because only Benzema occupies a midfielder, one of the central midfielders has to move out of the line. This exposes Alonso’s lack of pace and energy. A 4-4-2 block allows the 2 forwards to occupy the opposition midfielders and still leaves a central midfielders to mark a no. 10 and the other central player free. Also, a 4-4-2 block allows two men further up the pitch for the counter and if Wellbeck can cut apart Munchen, I’m sure Real’s forwards will have a field day. In this sense, maybe it’s a blessing that Ronaldo is out because Di Maria on one wing allows for energy and still a solid block when defending.
The other game should be great also. I remember when Chelsea played Utd in the Community Shield in 2008 or 2009, he let Utd have the ball and attacked only with 5. He said that Utd had a great counter attack, so that’s what he tried to stop. Mourinho’s teams are usually counter attacking and even at Real, they found it hard to break down La Liga teams. Athletico are also a counter attacking team and in a sense, both teams are comfortable without the ball. It will be really interesting to see how both managers set up.
I have a question?
regarding this counter attacking strategy, what is deference of Mourinho’s Real Madrid and Ancelotti’s Real Madrid. Counter attacking vs Barcelona is Murinho’s idea or some one else was behind this?
Success… I say that ‘tongue in cheek’, but in reality, Mourinho was ripped for having such talent at his disposal and playing a system that soaks up pressure and counters instead of going toe-to-toe with the other wealthy clubs. Regardless of a small tactical difference that may exist between countering up the middle or down the flanks, the main reason Ancelotti is not having to answer the same questions is because of the success. That and the impression that everyone seems to love Ancelotti. When you’re abrasive, you better consistently produce or the criticism will come quickly!
the barcelona mourinho faced was better though
Counter attacking goes way back, it isn’t Mourinho who invented this nor is he the first coach who played this way against Barca but weaker teams didn’t have the quality that madrid has so madrid was one of the few teams that succeeded in making the counter tactic approach work.
Overall I think the main difference between mourinho’s madrid and Ancelotti’s madrid is that Ancelotti does a lot more with his players qualities, mourinho’s tactics are all about not conceding a goal.
Of course Mourinho didn’t invent counter-attacking, but the question is why Ancelotti isn’t criticized for it, yet Mourinho was, against the other wealthy clubs.
I don’t get why many negatively discuss Mourinho’s tactics as “all about not conceding a goal”, when his Real Madrid team scored more goals than any other Real Madrid team in club history his last year! If I recall correctly, Real Madrid had a few reasonably talented teams over the years.
Every game under Mourinho was about counter attacking..
Ancelotti plays counterattacks only against Barcelona. Against other teams he plays 433 with possession based and quick attacking football if an opportunity arrives.
That mourinho’s madrid scored more than other madrid teams is also caused because the gap between the best teams and the rest is getting bigger.
Mourinho just play counter football all the time and against weaker teams that’s no fun to watch, yes the score a few goals from excellent counter attacks but the overall display often wasn’t that good.
I also don’t have the idea that mourinho improves his players, he motivates them perfectly however but i would like to see that managers of top teams also improve their talented young players.
He is all about result orientated football and i personally prefer teams that play a more spectacular type of football but in the end mourinho wins prices and that’s what matters most.
Also a big difference between mourinho and Ancelotti is that one is a gentleman and the other is an asshole and although that says nothing about their qualities people will keep it in mind.
As a supporter of a side who had both Carlo and Jose as managers, I would prefer Jose every time. (And this is knowing full well that Carlo led Chelsea to the domestic double.) And I know full well he’s an asshole, but…I just can’t bring myself to care, and I pity the folks who use his personality as a shield for resenting his results/teams/trophies.
But that’s not the reason I decided to comment. I categorically disagree that he doesn’t improve players. Drogba, Lampard, Sneidjer, Ronaldo, and Hazard all became the players they are (and for Hazard, will become) because of Jose. Drogba, my god, 150 goals in 8 years after Jose was mocked for splashing the cash to Marseille.
Well, to be fair, you can’t really say they ‘only’ counterattacked against all teams and scored the most goals in club history… unless you believe that all/most of the other teams in the league are borderline mentally challenged and couldn’t figure this out.
I somewhat agree with your point about talent development. To go even further with that, I think he may be more calculating with each move that he makes. Two current examples that jump out are the Man U. job, and Romelu Lukaku. He may not have had a chance for the MU position, but I don’t think he would have even wanted it. He either wins, and doesn’t get any credit, or he loses and is the reason. With Lukaku, he is already distancing himself for his return. If Lukaku were to come back to Chelsea and play well, he gets no credit, but if he fails, it’s Mourinho or his system that failed him since he proved he could succeed against that level.
You make a great point about his system or philosophy, in that he (right or wrong) only puts himself in situations in which he can not be viewed as the problem.
@robert
I was talking about young talented players.
Drogba, Lampard, Sneijder, Ronaldo weren’t young talented players when they played under mourinho.
Hazard already was an important player at chelsea before mourinho arrived same thing goes for Oscar.
Mourinho always has a main squad with experienced players and only in a few occasions he let’s a talented young player play.
Jese and Morata didn’t get many minutes under mourinho at madrid.
He hasn’t much eye for the youth which is quite logical because he’s only there for a few years and his only goal is to win prizes.
@frank
They didn’t only score at counter attacks but they did score a lot of goals by it.
I see a lot of la liga matches and most teams in Spain want to play attacking football and mourinho’s madrid just let them do that and then take advantage of the room they leave behind their defence and then they were deadly.
They rarely encountered teams who really parked the bus like teams did against Barca.
I think parking the bus works better against Barca anyway because Barca lacks physical strength.
What a stupid comment. Mou made Porto players, Mou made Ozil and Khedira into what they are today and Mou made Chelsea players. Oh and Mou made Ronaldo best in the world.
You can see how Mourinho works with young not famous playes with Varane and Sahin. They were benched for years in Madrid, not playing. Varane started playing when Pepe was injured and Albiol was playing poorly and Carvalho has injury problems too. He was the last option for Mourinho and didnt trust him at all. He even used Ramos on CB and not Varane.
Mourinho always buys “done” players, he didnt buy any young teen wonderkid and didnt make him a wordclass. Look at Lukaku, lol, same as Sahin and Varane. Now they have problems with strikers because Mourinho doesnt trust youngs and put the best young striker in the world on loan and he blames his strikers they are bad. Just pathetic Moanrinho
@zaraf
People often call things stupid if they can’t understand it.
Maybe put the mou goggles of for a while and take an objective view of the facts.
Mourinho didn’t made Ronaldo the best in the world, Ronaldo plays almost the same as in his time by manu but is now on a better team.
In my opinion he isn’t the best in the world but that’s something different.
Khedira already played 4 years at VfB Stuttgart and also made his debut in the national squad before going to madrid when he was 23 years old, so he was already shaped before coming there.
Mourinho didn’t really made him a better player, he still plays the same way only is much more matured.
Also Khedira didn’t make a sudden progression in his abilities.
Ozil also had 4 years of bundesliga experience before going to madrid.
Also Mourinho didn’t had a lot of confidence in him because in every major game het put him on the bench or tucked him away as a right winger where the number 10 spot is by far his best position.
@messi Mou gave Varane a chance in EC when he thought he was ready. He gave chance to Morata and few others. Yes, he is very picky but he picks only the best. That is one of his qualities. Nobody really knew what Ozil was capable off and near to noone saw the brilliant defensive football mind that Khedira is (in my opinion he discovered the best DMC when whole world was praising him as B2B)
As for Ronaldo he made him complete player – maybe your wording is correct – he helps players mature. But he does that in a way that he completes them. Ronaldo was selfish and not reading the game enough when he was in ManU i thought but he came in and made him understand the game. Same could be said for Khedira who I think even said something like that in one of his interviews.
Mourinho is villfied because he only knows that one style of football. Ancelotti “soaks up pressure before pouncing” only against Barca and maybe Bayern; Mourinho does that every match, even against Gijón or Almería. For Real Madrid, it’s not enough to win, you need to win in style, and he is either incapable to do that, or he is unwilling to play truly attacking football.
Well Mourinho tried to match barcelona head to head but he got smash with the 5-0 in 2010 during the el classico.
Basically, you can counterattack either by dropping deep and waiting for quick break or by putting constant pressure upon opponent’s midfield or defence.
Ancelotti, like Simeone, seems to be more proactive when it comes to pressuring Barca; Mourinho seemed to be comfortable with giving them ball
This is going to sound either ignorant, or smug, but I mean neither. How exactly is it ‘counter-attacking’ to pressure an opponent high up the pitch? I’ve never heard this referred to as counter-attacking. Whether it’s in sports (soccer/football, boxing, etc.), or war, I don’t believe it’s referred to as a ‘counter-attack’ unless the opponent first ‘attacks’.
Its counter attacking in a way . They try to win teh ball back and exploit transitions in play to score. They just win teh ball higher up than the sides that sit deep
Mourinho’s side pressured Barca pretty well if you check the archives here.
Ancelotti also let the side drop deep in this game too. I don’t think there’s much difference tbh.
For me the main difference is that the latest games have not been about Unicef or UEFA favouring Barca, not about trash talk, not about the battle of managers, not mainly about kicking opponents, red cards and so forth.
Maybe all this excitement is gone because of a drop of quality? Definitely regarding Barca. At Madrid there is no real drop in quality, but different management, different methods.
It’s back to normality for the clasico.
haha you should watch past clasicos to find what is normal, fighting is the normal. The rivalry is very high. in the 90s there were many bloody clasicos, and in the 200s with Figo it was the fans that were a threat.
It is interesting that the violence in clasicos didnt stop when Mourinho left but a little before, when Guardiola left, the season with Tito had very peaceful clasicos.
Well, the 90s and early 2000s are now over 10 years gone. When Mourinho arived at Real, escalation was re-esablished. Of course because both teams were very competitive during this time. Maybe the situation relaxed a little when Guardiola left, but that is because Mourinho lost his main target.
Mourinho is well known for his mind games. Guardiola on the other hand has not started comparable fights in the Bundesliga so far.
I’ve always understood the possession style of play to be akin to basketball’s half-court offense and counterattack to be like basketball’s fast break.
Most teams can play in either manner. But the more one team (like Barcelona) attempts to dominate possession, the fewer chances the opponent is going to have to score, solely by virtue of not having the ball. As a result, the other team (in this case, Madrid) is going to naturally try to score more quickly when they do win possession — they will try to break quickly and create immediate goal-scoring chances.
A fast, athletic team like Madrid may be more suited to a counterattack style of play because that is where they can best use their speed and strength. A smaller, skillful team like Barcelona is best suited to a possession style to maximize their skill and movement and minimize their physical limitations. But both teams can utilize either approach if they wish.
As for Mourinho and Ancelotti, Mourinho’s teams are probably more cautious defensively (not conceding is the top priority). Ancelotti’s teams seem more open in their play; plus Ancelotti has Bale to work with, which just makes Madrid seem more attacking-oriented than usual.
Had Ronaldo played as badly as Messi did yesterday, for sure you would have slaughtered him.
+1
wow, he “thrived”. I counted 5 wrong ball distributions from him that costed Real to either lose possesion or slow the attack down. As for goal. It was nice but nothing a speedy striker couldnt pull out – the goal was mainly defensive error bale just did what every speedy striker would do in this situation.
Why in the 7 hells would you praise Bale in this game is beyond me. The only player that is worth mentioning in this failure of a game is Di Maria.
Bale, for all his defensive deficiencies (whom by trade is a full-back), shafting him forward as a battering ram is the only option for him to play well.
I can see him fading by 28.
Gone Are Cruyff and Ronaldinho
Barcelona’s style has become a shy parody of its former self and against top competition seems increasingly to depend on the fitness and/or mood of Lionel Messi. There is tiki taka in midfield zones, and occasionally in the defensive third, as well, but next to none in the attacking third. They don’t even have a Plan A these days.
As we saw in the Confed Cup, one of Neymar’s greatest assets is his acceleration and footspeed, yet Barça did nothing over the course of the season to take advantage of it. All players are expected to adapt to a system that is getting more and more transparently stoppable. So it’s a double error: (1) adhering a little less imposingly each season to a system that CAN be defended against; and (2) failing to tweak the existing system to take advantage of new players’ strengths. It is almost as if everyone has been trying to fix the problem, according to his own diagnosis, but at cross-purposes, with no coordination or guidance. The two worst offenders: Alves dumping those hundreds of crosses into the box (and giving away possession therewith 99% of the time) and Fabregas constantly slowing things down in transition (and “retaining” possession as soon as it has been regained).
Because Messi has no problem getting past a defender, if Martino was looking for a novel way to use him, try him on the LEFT wing and watch the chaos that would ensue. Messi might not score much but he would become the greatest dummy imaginable (he is no dummy on the right, where his presence enables defenses to become more compact, not less), and if forced to choose, I’d much rather see Messi making pinpoint cutback crosses from the endline than Alves lobbing the ball diagonally into the six-yard box. Messi could hardly sulk any more out left than he has on the right wing. I thought Neymar’s most interesting performances this year came in the False Nine when Messi was injured. These are just a couple of wild ideas among many possible ones, although, as we all know, they would not work. But as blogs such as this one show, the ways teams prepare for opponents have become extremely sophisticated. All prior “tendencies” are identified, broken down, and war-gamed. Dynastic clubs/systems must adapt and they must surprise, to thrive beyond a good run of a few years.
The point of tiki taka isn’t that one player (Messi) or position (generally, whichever one Messi happens to be playing) does the scoring. In a certain sense, probably more than any other system in the history of the game, the point is for the system to do the scoring. Barça have lost sight of that—even as they cling to the outer form of tiki taka (while individual players invent their own Plan Bs)—and it was their heartbeat. This edition has lost the Dutch-Brazilian, disciplined unpredictability in the attacking third that was Barcelona’s secret sauce.
Good tactics by Ancelotti he has learn his past mistakes because against Barcelona at home in the league match he done a big mistake by employing 4-3-3 because this formation is not suitable against teams like Barcelona as you will give big space to messi,iniesta and xavi but by playing counter attack football like mourinho style then you got a chance to win the match by limting the space to Barcelona midfield.
The difference between the Ancelotti’s and Mourinho’s Real Madrid is that Mourinho’s side was quite reactive. Ancelotti has for the most part been proactive.
In the first classico Ancelotti still didn’t have a clear idea of his style or best 11. In the second classico he did quite well but the red card changed the game. Before that Ancelotti had exploited that Di Maria was left unmarked and could therefore charge down the left with Ronaldo getting more central. Di Maria ran riot as a result. However we conceeded too many chances at the back playing such an open game and even if the game could easily have swung the other way it probably wasn’t what Ancelotti wanted. This game was much smarter on Ancelotti’s part. We easily soaked the pressure and created chances with as deadly a counter attacking force as we ever did under Mourinho. I have long feared we were losing the counter attacking element but last night proved Real Madrid still have it. The only problem was that the chances weren’t be taken earlier.
A good thing about the formation and the personnel is how flexible it is. That very team shouldn’t have any problems switching to an offensive style. Nor would it be hard to change tactics. This 4-4-2 could easily be a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3.
i cannot criticize tata martimo because he has inherited a team and its policy and is being told to fiddle with that . compound to that the squad has got old . xavi,alves even iniesta . the team still wants to press but they dont have the legs . having said that i think martimo too need to take a part of a blame .
how many times had we discussed this last year that messi doesnt likes to play as a lone striker upfront and that his best performances have always come up when he has somebody to play around . so why was he played upfront his whole body language showed a lack of interest in the game . why is neymar played or even started when he hasnt been performing upto his internet standards because of which he had been able to command such an exorbitant sum .
now in the game madrid was never going to allow barca any space throught the middle and we could quite literally see through the game . you could see the space barca was getting on the flanks . now i had never seen barca making so many crosses during the game . yes martimo had discovered that they dont play with sufficient width and he had made them play with a full width . even last year barca had started to make some aerial crosses in the box and were successful in scoring goals because like evra alexis is a good jumpers but unfortunately he was missing .
but my point was barca was getting space on the flanks and they should probed madrid deeper . alves was crossing from the 18 yard line instead i would had liked him to work deeper in the madrid box and then cross which would had brought more chaos in the madrid box . before getting injured jordi alba had started to give some trouble to madrid . he was starting to get beyond the back four and most importantly he was at the end of some crosses in the box . that is what i wanted from alves . he had been doing that last year but this year he had been throwing crosses only .
having said that you cannot take nothing away from real madrid . they were able to isolate two barca centre backs against two players . they could evade challenges and could move the ball far more easily . i had never seen xavi alonso being able to pass the ball so calmly in a barca fixture . players like di maria and isco were brilliant . isco deserves a special mention because earlier in the season he was spending too much time on the ball and at time losing possesion but he was brilliant in this match and wasnt spendind too much time on the ball . he evaded challenges beautifully . most importantly his positioning was superb .
so all and all even though madrid won the game bayern will be a different medicine and will need a better performance because if they cannot open the middle the know how to open flanks .
You’re right on that they want to press but can’t do it anymore but in my opinion it has nothing to do with age because the ones who are often too late to press are the younger players like Fabregas, Messi and Neymar.
Those 3 should lose their prima donna attitude especially Fabregas and Neymar because they haven’t really proved that much.
yes you are correct . neymar and fabregas arent quite suited to the barca style . fabregas had been like typical english midfielders who go and stand up and does not close down as like the other of his team mates . neymar is a failure and i havent seen a single piece of evidence to back that this boy can be a future superstar . because of him a good player like alexis and pedro are benched and may leave barca in the future . if we look the past players just look at villa, and even eto . the amount of hard they use to put in was second to none . as soon they would loose possession they would start pressing and would try to regain the lost possession . barca clearly miss villa at the top not only for defensive play but also the way messi would had loved to play around him and get free from playing lone at top .
It will be interesting to see how Ancelotti will let Madrid line up against Bayern with Cristiano back in the team. The 4-4-2 will probably not work as well because it means one of Bale or Ronaldo will have to do Di María’s work.
What if the “2″ were Bale and Ronaldo?
Well, bench the only brain in attack – Benzema – and field two ego shooter. Like that. Maybe works just fine. Brute force counter attacks.