FC Barcelona Tactics

[instinct]

Ladies and gentleman after the game against spain vs brazil. I've finally concluded that we need to change tactics. The era of using one tactic is over , teams have figured us out . I just hope tito is creative enough to find another solution. Otherwise we are not going to get anywhere.

Do you really believe in Tito?

 

[taduong]

@ ebieymjunior, nice post! appreciated most your ideas, esspecially u choose Montoya and Thiago over Alves and Xaivi and get rid of Pedro as well

 

[DonAndres]

Ahh somebody should phone Tito and tell him that we have to play with libero
Nowadays libero's position is dead, but if Tito uses it and benefits, he automatically will become the second Pep

Football goes in cycles. The libero was dead for the last 20 years but find a way to bring it back and adopt it to the modern game and it'll spur a lot of tactical evolution in other sides, and in the mean time give us lots of defensive success.

 

[taduong]

Do you really believe in Tito?

it time for sth like a revolution, little or much. i dont believe Tito the right one for that

 

[taduong]

about the Libero, i think that Pep did it more than 1 time. I remmember the game vs Mourinho's Inter in NouCamp when he play Pique as a Libero and Toure as half CB and DM. Toure is the perfect choice for that position

 

[DonAndres]

Pique plays like a sweeper naturally in style being more reserved in position but the suggestion here is for a permanent libero that actually operates behind the defensive line and controls the game.

 

[instinct]

it time for sth like a revolution, little or much. i dont believe Tito the right one for that

 

[ZenI]

This season, IMO we need to start from the back - getting our defense in shape. I see some of you criticizes Alves, and yes, he didn't have a great 12/13 season - but we are a little spoiled because he was one of the most important players in our success years and he can still defend at least as good as Alba. Why doesn't Alba get any critique? That smurf can't defend at all.

 

[darthvader7888]

This season, IMO we need to start from the back - getting our defense in shape. I see some of you criticizes Alves, and yes, he didn't have a great 12/13 season - but we are a little spoiled because he was one of the most important players in our success years and he can still defend at least as good as Alba. Why doesn't Alba get any critique? That smurf can't defend at all.

Alba by himself is not a huge problem, the problem is pairing him with Alves. We can't use both of them together. And I know who I'd rather play. Hint: it isn't Alves.

 

[ebieymjunior]

Pique plays like a sweeper naturally in style being more reserved in position but the suggestion here is for a permanent libero that actually operates behind the defensive line and controls the game.

Even if they don't play with a libero, they can at least have some defensive tactics in place. Tactics that are specifically made for defenders, not for the whole team.

Here's the thing: the CB is a sort of goal keeper on the field (so to say). They have to communicate with the players in front of them, cause they see all that's happening in front of them, and with Puyol out no-one seems to be talking (Mascherano does that sometimes so props to him).

Another thing is that a CB's first priority is to stick at the back (not going forward like Pique often does), and NEVER loose sight of ALL the forwards. That's how Bayern scored the second goal in the friendly yesterday: they lost sight of the forwards, which were at the back of them. That's why reflex, strength, determination and concentration are the qualities that CBs need to have.

Barcelona plays in zones (not man-marking), which isn't a problem, but they should at least man-mark in their zones on defence.
Solution:
1. Communication
2. Focus
3. Motivation (never loose hope, even if you're 5-0 down).
And finally: don't play a CB which doesn't deserve to play (a la Pique after many bad performances), it's not good for them, nor for the team.
Let them work hard for a place, that'll give them the confidence they need.

 

[DennyCrane]

Barcelona should play with a commanding libero (last man) that is perfect position-wise and communicates with the other 4 defenders: a CB and the fullbacks in one line in front of him, with the DM a bit further up working as a hybrid CB/DM (which is already the case for Barcelona).

It's so amazingly secure, cause if the attacker gets past the CB, the libero has a chance of defending him, while both CBs on one line allows the attacker to pass them by at once. It also really helps against counterattacking teams, cause the libero sees the whole pitch in front of him, which makes going past him a lot more difficult (and communication a lot easier).

It's all about tactics and leadership (the kind of leadership that Puyol/Silva/Muniesa types of defenders have)
e.g. 1. If the opposing CF sticks to the libero deep, he moves up on one line with the other 3, then tracks back to his position, leaving the CF on that line, where he eventually stays by the CB.
e.g. 2. If one of the FBs goes forward (they should interchange who goes), the libero takes his place, and they form a 3 man defence line.
It essentially gives the libero space to roam between the keeper and the other defenders to close/open up the field, confuse the opposition and play around with the offside trap.

The libero doesn't do as much physical work as the CB, who's always in contact with the attacker, but he needs to command them in every area of the game (and even shout at/motivate them at times), especially on corners, where he should stick between the keeper and the back post to guard it. It's perfect for "injury-prone"/old players, cause they don't TOO MUCH physical work all the time (more mental work, vision and extreme concentration).

Teams were scoring at will against my team until we used and perfected this defensive system, and it really worked well (when well executed). When we got the hang of it, we went 5-6 straight games without conceding one goal, throughout the season.

BTW: I was really disappointed with Xavi when he got so discouraged after going down 2 or 3-0 against Bayern. I guess he's not used to losing (so badly), but that's when the team needs their captain the most (he's arguably the coach on the pitch). That's why Puyol is such a great one. He never loses hope and always keep on motivating the team (getting rid of any kind of complacency along with it), and constantly talks to them.

That's why Muniesa must get a new contract and go on loan if he won't get enough playing time, or don't loan him out at all and let him learn from Silva, cause he'll be one of the best in a few years time. He could well play libero behind Bartra.

Nice post. Love me some tactic debate

But first off, some semantics: A Libero is not a sweeper; well he is kind of but that only describes half of his role - namely the defensive one. Lacking a direct opponent on the pitch, the Libero is heavily embedded into the attacking game and covers vast amounts of space to serve as a deep lying playmaker, open man in midfield or even in the last third of the pitch.
Seeing his offensive role, it's clear that Barca already has such a player. It's Busquets.
Contrary to what someone stated, a Libero must have a wide array of skills; which means that one needs an elite player to play this position. Pace, endurance, vision, a deep understanding of the game and technique. Franz Beckenbauer, Horst Blankenburg, Ruud Krol, Gaetano Scirea and Matthias Sammer - all of which were known and famous for their classiness and technical skill.
Furthermore, the Libero of the past was the leader on the pitch, both offensively and defensively. He was a 'free' player for all intents and purposes; which also meant that other players weren't as 'free'. With the Libero moving up the pitch, either a holding player or a midfielder had to be sacrificed to cover the Liberos' position in defense. In modern football, especially Barca takes a leading role here, each player has both offensive and defensive tasks and duties. The game is 'democratized', if you will. Fielding a Libero means altering the entire style of play.

Now that we've established what a Libero is and that Libero =/= Sweeper; let's assume that Barca would field a sweeper staggered behind a 3-man defense: For multiple reasons, this can't work.

1. The offside trap: Barcas' high line of defense requires the efficient use of the offside trap as one of many means to suffocate counter-attacks. The Sweeper behind the defense was (arguably) established by Herbert Chapmans' Arsenal in 1925 as an answer to the modified offside rule and became quite popular later in the italian catenaccio. Yet naerly none of the teams at the time, or in later years for that matter, fielded such a high line of defense as Barca does. Doing so requires the defense to be on an almost straight horizontal line, which can't work with a sweeper. That's why high intensity teams like Sacchi's Milan abstained from fielding one and instead chose a back-4.

2. High pressure: Fielding an additional sweeper means sacrificing a player. In order for efficient counter-pressing to work local majorities have to be created with an efficient use of 'covering-shadows'. One less player up the pitch means one less player to press, which results in less efficient use of coverering space.
Using a sweeper as you described, someone who basically covers the FBs' position when he (the FB) is moving up the pitch, there would be no notable difference at all to what the team played under Guardiola. Because again, that is/was Busquests' part. Nevertheless, it means sacrificing a player which is arguably (!) more efficient higher up the pitch in a counter-pressing effort.

3. Attacking: The flipside of the defense coin. One FB going forward at a time means an asymmetric and therefore predictable approach to the attacking game. Don't get me wrong, both FBs' bombing forward all the time isn't the solution and symmetric play isn't by nature preferable. It's just that a different form of asymmetry should be aspired. One FB working the vertical, while the other FB is moving forward diagonally, as seen vs Milan and many times before when Abidal played LB, provides enough width and also a distraction.

4. Busquets: I mentioned him before and here's why: He is a modern-day libero. Not in the sense of being staggered behind the backline in the formation, but because of what he does. As long as his role is clearly defined and he finds a balance between his offensive and defensive duties, which wasn't always the case, there's simply no need to field a sweeper.

 

[DonAndres]

Nice post. Love me some tactic debate

But first off, some semantics: A Libero is not a sweeper; well he is kind of but that only describes half of his role - namely the defensive one. Lacking a direct opponent on the pitch, the Libero is heavily embedded into the attacking game and covers vast amounts of space to serve as a deep lying playmaker, open man in midfield or even in the last third of the pitch.
Seeing his offensive role, it's clear that Barca already has such a player. It's Busquets.
Contrary to what someone stated, a Libero must have a wide array of skills; which means that one needs an elite player to play this position. Pace, endurance, vision, a deep understanding of the game and technique. Franz Beckenbauer, Horst Blankenburg, Ruud Krol, Gaetano Scirea and Matthias Sammer - all of which were known and famous for their classiness and technical skill.
Furthermore, the Libero of the past was the leader on the pitch, both offensively and defensively. He was a 'free' player for all intents and purposes; which also meant that other players weren't as 'free'. With the Libero moving up the pitch, either a holding player or a midfielder had to be sacrificed to cover the Liberos' position in defense. In modern football, especially Barca takes a leading role here, each player has both offensive and defensive tasks and duties. The game is 'democratized', if you will. Fielding a Libero means altering the entire style of play.

Now that we've established what a Libero is and that Libero =/= Sweeper; let's assume that Barca would field a sweeper staggered behind a 3-man defense: For multiple reasons, this can't work.

1. The offside trap: Barcas' high line of defense requires the efficient use of the offside trap as one of many means to suffocate counter-attacks. The Sweeper behind the defense was (arguably) established by Herbert Chapmans' Arsenal in 1925 as an answer to the modified offside rule and became quite popular later in the italian catenaccio. Yet naerly none of the teams at the time, or in later years for that matter, fielded such a high line of defense as Barca does. Doing so requires the defense to be on an almost straight horizontal line, which can't work with a sweeper. That's why high intensity teams like Sacchi's Milan abstained from fielding one and instead chose a back-4.

2. High pressure: Fielding an additional sweeper means sacrificing a player. In order for efficient counter-pressing to work local majorities have to be created with an efficient use of 'covering-shadows'. One less player up the pitch means one less player to press, which results in less efficient use of coverering space.
Using a sweeper as you described, someone who basically covers the FBs' position when he (the FB) is moving up the pitch, there would be no notable difference at all to what the team played under Guardiola. Because again, that is/was Busquests' part. Nevertheless, it means sacrificing a player which is arguably (!) more efficient higher up the pitch in a counter-pressing effort.

3. Attacking: The flipside of the defense coin. One FB going forward at a time means an asymmetric and therefore predictable approach to the attacking game. Don't get me wrong, both FBs' bombing forward all the time isn't the solution and symmetric play isn't by nature preferable. It's just that a different form of asymmetry should be aspired. One FB working the vertical, while the other FB is moving forward diagonally, as seen vs Milan and many times before when Abidal played LB, provides enough width and also a distraction.

4. Busquets: I mentioned him before and here's why: He is a modern-day libero. Not in the sense of being staggered behind the backline in the formation, but because of what he does. As long as his role is clearly defined and he finds a balance between his offensive and defensive duties, which wasn't always the case, there's simply no need to field a sweeper.

The more I think about it, a sweeper would best work if we have a double pivot as well. Granted, Barca play a high line but some of the mechanics of it can be adjusted to make the sweeper a massive benefit instead of a hindrance.

1. Fullbacks: I don't see that much benefit of both fullbacks bombing up at the same time because both flanks aren't being used. If one fullback bombs up the other can shift inwards to form a 3 man back line that wraps around the formation and remains flexible in movement, not just rigid or straight.

2. Double pivot: Barca will have to find a different kind of double pivot system than what is fielded by most other teams to suit our philosophy of play. Busquets/Samper seems good for the future as both are great technically and have amazing defensive positioning. I'd suggest that if that were to happen that they become more eager to venture forward in the buildup play while the other remains reserved and vice versa so that they are very involved and crucial. Them sitting in front of the 3-man back line during our attacks will decrease the amount of holes we have defensively and make it more solid.

3. Pressing: Our back line will look a little thin with this formation initially but the team needs to have a pressing system like Bayern did in the semifinal and like Sacchi's Milan side did back when they were the best in Europe. It's not about hardcore, endless stamina running like dogs ala Dortmund or Madrid. It's about shuffling around and covering all the free space they have in between the lines of their formation so that they have absolutely no space to play the ball. As we get dispossessed we'll shut them down with the pressing and shift back to the 3 man back line with the sweeper behind it. If they want to play long balls/high balls the sweeper can cut them out. If they start shoving too many people up front to handle, we can switch back to a 4 man back line to catch them offside.

4. Sweeper: His job remains crucial throughout the entire game in giving us security. He's the one calling the shots in terms of positioning for the back line and the deep midfielders. He's the one who keeps shuffling around to position himself in case an opposition player slides a loose through ball past our players. His mere presence cuts out a lot of "behind the defense" options for them to play and ultimately will cause them to make errors. 99% of the time they try to catch the sweeper out and make a mess of the defense, they'll end up hitting the pass too hard out or mess up under pressure. The entire system forces errors and in the end is so unorthodox that they wouldn't be able to break it down for quite a while. Eventually the sweeper will die out as it did before, but this system can work for us for quite a few years.

5. The defensive system in general: You might be thinking that all of the things that I said are way too complicated and theoretical to really carry out but think of it this way. As a collective defensive unit, this system gets the best out of everyone while disguising their worst as everyone covers each other in one way or another. Individually their jobs are easy enough, but what it adds to the group is extremely valuable. Opposition players will find it very hard to find a way through and this sweeper system helps us remain secure even when a player doesn't do his job correctly, which often screws us over.

 

[Hamzah]

You're getting bogged down with the sweeper nonsense. It might sound great as a theoretical concept, but in reality a normal back four is best. Sweepers are only effective in a back three anyway. I agree with the part about pressing and also trying a double pivot at least.

 

[DonAndres]

You're getting bogged down with the sweeper nonsense. It might sound great as a theoretical concept, but in reality a normal back four is best. Sweepers are only effective in a back three anyway. I agree with the part about pressing and also trying a double pivot at least.

A flat back line is all that is known today, so many simply dismiss the idea of a permanent sweeper. It's bringing back an old concept and evolving it to modern football and Barcelona football. So far it's only theoretical obviously because of the lack of current trials in actual gameplay, but with an open mind and tweaking the mechanics it could easily be brought back into practical use. A back 4 with pressing and double pivot could do the defensive job fine, but correctly inserting a sweeper into the mix would change the game completely, make us unpredictable and unorthodox and give us the same innovative edge we had back in 08/09. For one it helps stretch our play out in possession when it's been looking completely overcrowded and compressed for a while now, and two it gives us a new form of defensive solidity that couldn't previously be achieved with our style of play.

 

[Hamzah]

There's plenty of sweepers in football today. They only work in a back three though. One example is Bonucci at Juventus. In a back four it ruins the defensive line and messes up the shape.

In a back four, especially with high pressing, a sweeper is a bad idea. It works in back threes and though it can work with high pressure it's better with deep defending.

Barca can have effective defence with a back four with good understanding and good pressing from the rest of the team. You talk about innovation but it's not important for defending. Depending is about not conceding goals and using what works and has been known to work. Innovation is for the attacking parts of the team. Pep when he was with us evolved the idea of false nine and inverted wingers but his defence was nothing revolutionary. It was a back four with the team pressing.