Comments on: Risky strategy by the reigning champions

By: Varun

Varun — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 13:46:11 +0000

Pep has already taken that step. he is already a revolutionary.
Barca do like to play with multi-functional players hence there is no genuine no. 9 after Ibra.

As for set pieces, possession game of Barca allows for less of that to happen besides
I would like to point out this stat for you
Last season Barca let in 3 goals from 137 corners in Liga.
Not too bad for the shortest team in Europe.
A must tall or commanding CB is a myth and this proves it. It nice to have them but not a necessity.

In possession Romeu is very much like Busquets, but Busquets is fact when tracking back, in U-20 i consistenyl saw over 4-5 matches Romeu lacking pace even more the desire to track back when Spain suffered counter-attacks, I blame him for poor trackign back on Brazil’s 1st goal as well.

Bartra was beyond flawless in U-20, he looked out of place in that team he was that good, he’s as good with ball as Fontas, if not better,
I find Fontas is still developing in terms of close quarter possession when pressed, Bartra to me showed better composure under pressing in U-20

Early days but Barca has enough depth to go 65 matches this year.

By: Mahesh Balas

Mahesh Balas — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 23:44:17 +0000

Thank you Varun. The whole conversation about having 11 midfielders instead of specialists at individual positions is pretty revolutionary. Arrigo Sacchi was a genius to bring the concept forward but Pep might go one step beyond and implement it.
But Barca has to keep in mind that Madrid is improving and other teams are figuring ways to stop the Barca attack. Set pieces and deliveries from the byline have been one such thorn in the past. The goal from Cristiano Ronaldo from the Copa Del Rey finals comes to memory here. Maybe a true central defender can do better when situation like that arises in 11/12 season. Hoping Mascherano is up for it.
Romeu I dint think was any slower than Busquets, but with Busquets, Masch and Keita ahead of him in the pecking order a loan deal to a smaller team would have been a wiser choice than to grace the Chelsea bench.
Pep always seemed to favor Fontas more than Bartra. Guess the reason behind that is his ball playing ability more than his defensive ability. If things go well in start of the season, I am sure he would have plenty of chance to showcase his talent this season.
Hoping for the best as well.

By: Varun

Varun — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 22:20:52 +0000

Nice article.

I don’t feel Pep is using a risky approach at all.
I follow Barca closely (for more than a decade now).
I think this season we are going to see something revolutionary from Pep.

There were hints to it in ZonalMarking site and its comments section.
Ray Hudson mentioned it in BeyondThePitch podcast few days back as well.

Using 3 at the back or using a DM as sweeper/pseudo CB. diamond in the middle or someting even more dramatic
Something interesting is about to happen i feel.

Late last season was weired, almost all of our backline except form Alves/Pique were decimated, this is a one off.

Fontas has been promoted, then there is
Bartra who is a very polished CB currently better than Fontas i feel, having seem him in U-20 WC, he was immense.
Romeu i felt was too slow at tracking back, he will be severely challenged in BPL in this regard.

I am not worried 1 bit. and i am with Ray Hudson, something big is about to happen which is going to change the game itself.

“Sit tight”, as Pep said more than 3 years back.