Luis Enrique

[i_bleed_blaugrana]

Yay! More tactics!

As Ryan_Cule correctly pointed out, Pep was using three back systems in his last season here which came with moderate success. Lucho is experimenting with similar setups and personally I am convinced that if he had gotten his wish in getting Cuadrado, people would be lapping up his tactics. He still can't find that right balance yet and a big part of that has to do with Dani. I hate to blame one player for a teams performance but it cannot be stressed how much he exposes the defense while being unable to execute consistently in the attacking third and it makes us easy to exploit with him on the pitch.

Let me clear up a big misconception that is forming on here based on what I have read about the game yesterday, we did not play a double pivot 4-2-3-1. Our shape was nothing close to that which is why I think a few players, particularly Xavi, are getting some unfair criticism on here.

This game was a 4-5-1 vs. a 3-4-3:


Use this11.com for tactics for football

Quite simply, the biggest reasons why we struggled so much for so long was because of numbers in the midfield. In the center, it was a 2 on 3 with Busquets and Xavi being outnumbered by their central three midfielders. Lucho, in my opinion, for this reason alone clearly has some confusion on when to use certain tactics for certain situations. For example, this sort of setup would have worked wonders against Madrid's 4-4-2. Alba and Alves shutting down Isco and James while Xavi and Busquets take on Kroos and Modric for control in the center, then we have our front three playing against their back 4 and an extra man to cover against Ronaldo and Benz. Tactically speaking and thinking purely in numbers, a 3-4-3 vs a 4-4-2 will always favor the 3-4-3 numerically on the pitch.

But a 3-4-3 vs a 4-5-1 doesn't offer anything tactically which is why we looked like shit until we switched back to our standard 4-3-3 (2-5-3 in actuality) when Rakitic came in. Another gripe I had with this sort of approach is that Xavi is absolutely the wrong sort of player to play as a CM in a 4 man midfield while Rakitic was absolutely the right player to play in that role. For what Lucho was trying to do with this setup up (flood the midfield, limit their space to attack and play more directly to the front three), his player selection was extremely bizarre. A tight, physical and explosive game like this is precisely the sort of game where Rakitic thrives and why we bought him in the first place.

Again, it really makes a lot of sense now why he was pushing for Cuadrado. I think a player like him in the space Dani has would have taken like a fish to water here. Especially since he is pushing us towards a 3-4-3.

 

[Povikas]

Great post

 

[serghei]

The man knows his tactics.

 

[Ursegor]

Barca played 4-3-3 the entire time.

 

[BerkeleyBernie]

Overreacting like *schoolgirls* once again.

Because, of course, *schoolboys* never overreact. Just sayin'.

 

[linetty]

Because, of course, *schoolboys* never overreact. Just sayin'.

Whatever.

 

[Alarcón]

Oh yes, now a whoscored picture will make me believe Pep never changed his formation after the game's initial kick off. Whoscored gave it a 4-3-3 because Pep started with a 4-3-3.

This was the game when Mascherano was for the first time used as RCB and he had difficulties playing there. Keita was very attacking and alves was pushed very high up the pitch.

Appreciate your google search abilities though.

So that makes it a 3 man defense now? Because Alves was high up the pitch? In that case, Barça hasn't played with 4 men in defense for years. No matter how you spin it, the fact still remains that there were 4 nominal defenders on the pitch, 4 midfielders, and 2 attackers. By the way, we had more possession and more shots yesterday than in that prime example of cruyffist football that was the Valencia game 3 years ago.

Oh, and, thanks for the compliment, Google is actually quite helpful in refuting the bullshit thrown around here.

 

[BerkeleyBernie]

Barca played 4-3-3 the entire time.

That was what I saw as well. The oddest thing for me (other than Busi over to the right) was that Xavi pushed forward immediately after passing the ball, moving towards the front line of attack. Usually, he is all over the place, constantly adjusting to where the team needs an extra outlet, but looks like he was instructed here to move forward to be available to the forwards and add more players up front.

 

[Darko]

Yeah, don't know why Lucho instructs the left CM to go forward so much.
The Valencia game was shambles tactically, the only time we looked dangerous trough the whole 90 minutes were long balls(mostly from Pique).

 

[i_bleed_blaugrana]

Barca played 4-3-3 the entire time.

Ehh, yes and no. Modern football formations are dynamic, as you well know, and aren't highly as static or straight-forward as their starting line-ups suggest. The best tactically cohesive teams have a defensive shape and an offensive shape nowadays, and it didn't always used to be like this. That was why Cruyff and consequently Guardiola's tactics were so game changing, it shattered the concept of having set positions inside a rigid formation structure.

I don't know how to embed screenshots on the forum so I could show you physically from the game but if you look at Who Scored's Player Positions on the game, you will see what I mean. Based on our average shape, that is a 2-5-3 and that is mainly because of how high up Mascherano was playing.

So I don't disagree with you per say but its only half the picture. In defensive phases, we drop to a deep 4-3-3 as you well documented with those snapshots. But look at the possession. We had the ball 71% of the time in this game which means almost 3/4ths of the time, we were in our offensive phase which is what my last post was demonstrating. So yes, when we don't have the ball we were in a 4-3-3 but we didn't not have the ball that much overall. And most importantly, we very rarely give up goals from the other team dwelling on the ball, ticking it around and penetrating our shape but we almost always give up goals off a transition from losing the ball during our offensive phase.

So that makes it a 3 man defense now? Because Alves was high up the pitch? In that case, Barça hasn't played with 4 men in defense for years.

This perfectly illustrates what I mean. Even when we had Guardiola, only during our defensive phases were we in a 4-3-3. Once we played the ball out of the back and transitioned to our offensive phase, Dani would push up, and the remaining defenders (usually Puyol-Pique-Abidal) would shift right to form a three man back line, putting us in a 3-4-3. It worked so well because A) Abidal and Puyol were boss defenders tactically and B) they played a very effective offside trap.

Nowadays with both Alba and Dani going forward, it forces the DM to play both as a DM when on the ball and as a CB when off it, an extremely difficult position with a lot of space for one man to cover by himself. Shifting a DM into a CB is a lot more difficult to execute efficiently than shifting a LB into a CB.

This problem is further exacerbated by how wide and forward Lucho pushes Alba and Dani, so much that it imbalances our CMs by forcing them to have to cover the space they leave behind. They play so wide and so forward that its just not realistic to call them defenders, they are much more wingers who track back than defenders who push forward.

Going back to Ursegor, I can see why you say its a 4-3-3 and in some ways what you're saying and what I'm saying are two sides of the same coin. It just depends on how you classify Alba and Dani, and since they do a lot more attacking then defending, I count them in the midfield, which is what they mainly due, provide width in the middle third of the pitch. One last thing with Mascherano, he was the player who split Pique and Mathieu during our defensive phase, virtually the same role Busquets usually plays, thus I view him more as a CB who joins the attack than a true holding midfielder in this formation. It wasn't a double pivot with Busquets and Mascherano holding behind Xavi. Xavi and Busquets were the duo moving together and supporting each other with Mascherano joining later.

Overall, I can see what Lucho is trying to do, and he isn't on a bad train of thought, he just sabotages himself with his man selection and when he decides to change the shape. Believe it or not, against Valencia he should have just stuck with the false 9 system he used against Madrid (minus Mathieu at LB ) and used this shape against Madrid.

For example, if he had Cuadrado in Alves position and Koke, this system would work a lot better. A 3-4-3 of Bravo; Pique-Mascherano-Mathieu; Cuadrado-Koke-Rakitic-Alba; Messi-Suarez-Neymar would look a lot more deadly than the average display we saw on Saturday.

To conclude, I think Lucho is slowly getting on the right track tactically. The APOEL and Sevilla games were steps in the right direction while this game was probably a step back

The big test and indication of Lucho's credentials going forward however will be the return leg against PSG. If he can learn the right lessons from the first leg loss, get Iniesta into this team fluidly (even before his injury, he looked out of sync with the new system) and get them to focus on quicker passing exchanges, we can be alright.

 

[Messi10]

in all serious! lucho been absolute dog pile so far! the Spanish David Moyes! cant wait for him to go.... is tactics are rubbish, he never keeps with the same starting 11 or the same back 4 or even the same bloody goalkeeper! bad decision maker, I am not impressed at all, He wasent even that good at Roma, and he making the same mistakes has he did there. Now he got us playing with two def midfields against the mighty Valencia! the most un barcelona way..... the Board don't help him i get that! LUIS ENRIQUE OUT

 

[DrPepper]

Well, Ursegor's pictures actually tell us it was both double pivot and single pivot.

Nowadays a team normally plays 3 formations during the 4 phases of the game. One is the defensive formation, the other the offensive formation and the last one the pressing formation which is used during the defensive transitions.

Ok, let's look back at the pictures. Picture 2 and 3 show our team without the ball, therefore the defensive formation. Seems like a clear 4-3-3 with Mascherano as DM, Busquets as right CM and Xavi left CM. A 1-2 midfield then. Actually very few teams in the world defend like that (normally you'd defend in a 4-1-4-1), but that's another topic.

The other 3 pictures show the team with the ball, meaning the offensive formation. Here it's actually the reverse of the 1DM-2CM midfield. It looks much more like a 2DM-1CM midfield. First picture shows Xavi furthest forward and being covered by Busquets and Mascherano occupying the half spaces while the last two show Mascherano as the most forward midfield player.

Obviously offensive formations aren't as rigid as defensive formations and in general are and should be much more fluid. But since those pictures are probably taken at random times and all of them show the same midfield formation during build up play, maybe this was the way it was planned. At least during 2nd phase build up play (second third of the pitch). Conclusion: double pivot with the ball, single pivot without ball.

This leads me to the question: Why not the other way? Surely makes more sense to have a double pivot when we don't have the ball because it would give more defensive stability.

 

[Flavia]

Conceded and scored less.

 

[Barcaman]

We conceded a lot against Madrid and Psg which is all that matters in the end.
Only kept clean sheet against Valencia because of Bravo.

 

[JamDav1982]

We conceded a lot against Madrid and Psg which is all that matters in the end.
Only kept clean sheet against Valencia because of Bravo.

Not that I am Luchos biggest fan... but what do you expect?

Do you expect to go to a team like Valencia and not to concede a chance to them? If the clean sheet was only down to Bravo then Lucho deserves credit as he chose him to be signed and he has chosen him as No.1 this far.