Missing chances and hitting the woodwork might have played some part, but to the plain eye Barcelona were simply not as dominant as they should be. I’m judging this by the high expectations Barcelona fans had for the 2011-2012 season.

Regardless of what Sacchi demonstrated, Chelsea played with two banks of 4 which played very very deep. Yes, it is difficult for any team to break down a team that camps on the edge of penalty area. The point though is that it has undone Barcelona on many occasions now: against Inter, against Real Madrid in the Copa Del Rey final, and against Chelsea. If they fail to pass through a defense to create enough chances, or dribble through a defense, they cannot do much else. Barcelona are no real threat from set-pieces, they cannot go wide and cross it high, and they cannot shoot from distance. All these things are an important part of the game. As for my last two lines, I didn’t mean them in context of the Chelsea game. I was talking about how they have come up short in the La Liga often. You need to look no further than their last game of the season, the Betis game, for this.

I find it curious that you mention refs as one factor for some of Barcelona’s poor performances in La Liga, because I’ve been watching Barca and I feel they’ve gotten their fair share of game-changing penalties this season. A lot of them being wrong calls. Like the Malaga game where the ref saw gave one to Barca for a handball, or that Cuenca dive (I don’t recall the opposition).

No, I don’t believe Barcelona have only one game-plan. Guardiola is a genius. But I truly feel that they can be more dynamic if they get a true target-man. I don’t know how anyone can disagree when Pep himself recognized this need by signing Ibra.

Cesc has scored more headers than Ibra this season or when he was with Barca for that matter, get it? ?

There your Plan B supposed example being not Plan B enough to being with.

Team has scored 187 goals this season and 42 times hit the post, missing tap-ins and being reckless in front of goal was great part of the season as well.

Chelsea didn’t play 2 bamks of 4, they were palying 5-6 in the front line. And breaking that down in not easy for any team regardless of plans, Sacchi demonstrated that vey well with his famous training ground experiemnt.

Despite that they did break them down, over 2 legs they had 4 shots on the post, close to 40 total shots, with around 12 on target plus a lot of tap-ins.
Re watch the match if you really think what you wrote in your last 2 lines.

Changing mid game(formations, tactics, personal) IS going for a different Plan, that is what it means, just because other teams do it doesn’t change the Fact that A particular Team is changing its plan of action(or play).

Away form early in the season did cost us the title, everyone knows that.
Why away form was like that has reasons as well and they are varied (and missing chanced, lethargic individual play, injuries, refs, being unlucky, etc all played a part with no one particular aspect dominant or singly responsible on its own)

I objected to this delusional notion of a team like Barcelona being so inept that it can’t play more than 1 way.

And if one does assert that then that person should be prepared to be called out on facts.

And nothing you said in your comment points to Barcelona having only 1 game plan, if you do then watch more.

The author is perfectly justified to say that Barcelona doesn’t have a Plan B. Now, most teams don’t have a Plan B which is a clear deviation from their original plan because there is no need for them. For Barcelona however the case is different because teams have learned to play against them. If you park the bus against Barcelona, or if you force them to play through two lines of 4, and while doing it if you can catch them on the counter, Barcelona can be beaten. You talk about the in-game tactical changes and variations in strategies as if it is something only happening within Barcelona’s dugout. Every team with a tactician in the dugout makes tactical adjustments to suit different games and to counter different situations within a game. With Barcelona the need for Plan B was made clear when Pep signed Ibra so they have a big-man to play long to when they can’t break down opposition. It didn’t work out for personal reasons but that season Ibra was vital in his contributions (what 24 goals and 15 assists?), and it showed in the games that they won 1-0 and 2-1. This season Barcelona has not lost the league because of injuries or missed chances but because of the fact that they simply haven’t matched Real Madrid’s away form. Ronaldo has 23 away goals compared to Messi’s 15. Why? Because Ronaldo can power through an opposition when nothing else works. Think about all the Barcelona away draws. If you won them wouldn’t you have won the league or at least been closer to Real Madrid? I think the need for Plan B is very clear there. Barcelona couldn’t break down the opposition, and they hit them on the counter and from there on Barcelona didn’t have other weapons to use.

“A ‘Plan B’ will also need to be devised”

Author need to watch more matches.

Or define what Plan B means, is changing entire tactical formation with crucial personnel removed NOT a change of plan, is this change done in both pre-game and IN-game NOT changing of plan.
Is playing entire 60 game season with varying formations and varying strategies NOT change of plan.

Only an idiot or someone who doesn’t understand football or doesn’t watches a team can use this term of “lacking Plan B” with Barcelona.

There is no plan(or changing of them) which can remedy missing Penalties and tap-ins. Period.

Apart for this joke assessment, article was rather ok, while also missing the points where, things like Messi playing in the middle in 2-6 Clasico victory was Tito’s idea according to behind the scene chatter.
Plus the timeline of Tito is hushed past, there is way more information available on him that a 3 line para.

This same author wrote that diabolical “The troublesome Lionel Messi” article weeks back.

If this site can’t find proper Barca correspondents who write about the club why use such inept people at all.

Constant use of misinformation(Plan A,B,C, etc) sooner or later makes people believe that’s the truth when in fact the reality has been distorted.