serghei
Senior Member
As much skill and quality as this guy has he really needs to improve his positional discipline and awareness on the pitch massively. When he plays in the place of Iniesta he needs to realize he is a LM not a LW. Many times last night he pushed up far too high and it sometimes looked like we were playing with a front 4.
Here's an example from last night just before we scored the 6th goal:
You could chalk his positioning down to the fact we had a huge lead and it really didn't matter anymore, but there is no excuse to be that high up on the pitch especially when the ball hasn't crossed half way line yet. His job is to break down the opponent's midfield with cutting passes/dribbles through the lines of defense and get the balls to our forwards in space, not to push up to the point where he could essentially be considered a 4th forward. He needs to tuck into the midfield like I have illustrated providing the CBs with a passing option and allowing Alba to push a little higher up and wider to give us width and overlap creating attacking combinations on the left since Suarez plays centrally. His positioning was also one of the biggest reasons why Girona were able to break on the counter so easily, when he's caught up in attack we lose our structure and numbers in the midfield allowing us to be overrun.
I hope this part of his game massively improves over time or otherwise we cannot play him in the midfield against the bigger sides.
Actually, he doesn't have to occupy the space that can be claimed by the CB that is on the ball there. Why go in that space if Vermaelen can push up himself, not being pressured? And if Vermaelen claims forward space on his own, then he has Coutinho or Alba to pass to once the player that is marking Alba there makes a move to stop him.
On form Pique here claims the space and makes a Girona player leave his marker to stop him (either having Alba, Coutinho or Paulinho as a good passing option, depending on which opponent moves to stop him). Not to mention that with a low risk pass, he can engage Rakitic who is completely free, standing in space on the far end.
In this instance, Vermaelen needs to go up with the ball, because he is not pressed at all. You would have a case if Vermaelen is pressured. Then, yes, Coutinho needs to provide a passing option fast. But in this instance, Vermaelen is in a good position to drive forward and Coutinho should stay in a more advanced position. Once Vermaelen makes 2-3 steps forward, he can access Coutinho there in a more advanced (and more dangerous) position. Girona's setup here is bad as it's been in the whole 2nd half.
That's not how it works. You adjust the movement and the tactics to how the opponent is or is not pressing you. If the opponent is not pressing your defenders, they have to push up util someone from the other team leaves the defensive block to pressure him.
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