Tactical analysis of an action made from a long build-up of around 50 seconds.
Photo 1. Pedri has the ball. No approaching moves from Busi, Griezmann, and De Jong, who are hiding behind markers. Griezmann is facing away. De Jong already starts to translate to the other flank knowing what is gonna happen.
The idea of play here illustrates Koeman's basic tactics very well. The team does very little to attempt to play in crowded spaces. Especially in the nearby sectors to where the ball is at a given time. Usually, we simply direct the ball to the players left standing in space by the opponent. This is probably intended. This is also the way an opponent expects to be attacked (hence why those players are left free).
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Photo 2. The ball has reached the other flank on the trajectory Pedri -> Pique -> Araujo. Now Araujo is on the ball. It's basically Photo 1 mirrored with the players from the other flank. The defensive setup of Levante is also mirrored of course.
Again, not a single approaching move from the midfielders to get rid of their markers and provide a pass option near the ball carrier. Btw, we're talking about some D-level defenders from a bottom team made in La Liga, considering that the players marking out our midfielders are the AMs and strikers from Levante, so attacking players from a bottom league team. The defenders are guarding the likes of Dembele, Griezmann, and Messi.
Busquets can move a bit to his right and receive, but he's either unaware of this or doesn't think Araujo will pass it to him. This could be true, Araujo is not very comfy on the ball, so even if Busi moves a bit here, Araujo probably doesn't pass to him surrounded by 2 (even if loosely). A big reason why ball-playing abilities are important for defenders these days. Not only at Barca but in most big teams.
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Photo 3. This is another change of direction. Mind you these are slow types, going through 2-3 defenders, so Levante has plenty of time to set up and make the transition from one side to another.
Note the position of Pique. What Pique does here is simple to explain. So, he can go up and stand in a more advanced position, Levante's positioning is not blocking this, but even invites it. But is too afraid that if he does that, he will be beaten for pace if a counter happens. So he kind of takes about 20-30m. of extra space as a precaution, standing way back compared to his fellow defenders in the back 3.
The situation is very similar to photo 1. Little to no moves from corresponding midfielders (Pedri - Busi, or De Jong - Busi on the opposite flank) to get in possession. This is the main type of build-up pattern. From defender to midfielders, and it is missing in the whole build-up. This is against Levante, not some high-level team where you can say, their defense is too good or too tight, you just can't play where you want to play. No. Here we can't play where we want to play because we don't even plan to, or do something about it. We just take the passing paths that Levante offers willingly until they make an error.
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Photo 4. We'll go through faster on this one. It's the same thing, Pique to open wide man, Dembele. You can say that, in this type of build-up, trying all the time to bypass the more crowded areas, the opponent can only be unbalanced by personal executions, amazing passes, or major individual mistakes from their defenders. Sometimes you need all 3 in a single action to collide and give you a chance. Like we will see here.
Here, Dembele being a dangerous 1 vs 1 player draws not just one opponent as a slow player would, but 2 (once again shows much much speed counts these days since Dembele's only real elite quality is his speed). The wide defender, but also the wide attacker that was guarding De Jong.
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Photo 5. This is an individual run from De Jong, combined with one of the rare great passes that Dembele pulls of in a match. But even with that rarity happening, Levante still has control and numbers. Everyone is accounted for, some are even double-marked. De Jong has a bit of space, but not much, Griezmann is marked well, Pedri is also between two players. It's basically a 6 vs 4 for Levante.
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Photo 6. The Levante player fucks up even though he has the position, getting outmuscled by De Jong, then somehow, 4 Levante players can't mark 2 threats near them. One is watching, the other 3 somehow go for the same player. And we have a chance.
Conclusions:
The approach is lacking big time in terms of passing options that present near the player with the ball, and Koeman's snubbing of Puig makes me think seriously that this is tactical. The approach seems to be that, once a midfielder is covered, then the thing to do is to pass to the open man, even if that open man is not in a good position (open men usually come with a positional disadvantage).
The team relies, just as with Valverde, almost exclusively on some offensive player destabilizing a well-set defense shape with some personal executions. This works only when you have absurd talent up front, who can work 10 actions of this kind and improve over half, using his skill on the ball. Dembele touches 10 actions like this, makes something great out of 1 (maybe 2 if lucky), trips himself in 2, gives a bad pass in 2, is dispossessed in 3, and gives a safety pass in another 2.
Any side that positions decently in defense can dictate how we will play, making us predictable. You don't have to do much as an opposing manager than just instruct your players to stand around our midfielders and we are already tentative to pass to them. Most often, the players won't do anything to move out of marking (except Puig who is quick, never hides from the ball, and moves non-stop). Players will stick to their positions a huge amount of time (even if marked out by doing so), and the ball will follow the free players the opponent leaves.
Only when the ball is in the possession of either Messi, or the wide players (especially wingers), do midfielders make runs usually. Meaning Koeman sees the CMs as more attacking outlets than players that create plays or dictate the game and where the pass goes. This is another reason why Puig is snubbed. He is a player that helps the midfield to dominate and find a way out of crowded zones, creating superiority and passing lanes inside those areas.
The lack of speed of some players is tactically evident in many moments because the slow player will not allow himself to take riskier available positions. The reason is to protect his lack of speed. Pique's situation is a great example. He can take better, a more potent position and help our build-up by giving it more speed, but he doesn't do it because such a position would demand the use of his speed in case there is a counter.
), and more trying to generate some central combinations. With Pedri, Messi, De Jong. But the plan seems to be different.
