The Fans Football Blog3

Thats a defect in our system: when we move forward, we create a three central backs line, one defensive midfielder, while the rest of players move to serve the offense operations in and around the box. The first clear return of this structure is the space created between our midfielders on the edge of the box and our defenders stepping on the midfield line. That’s more than (30m X 68 m) area where we only have one player – defensive midfielder- to cover. If the defensive midfielder moved closer to the offense operation lines, he will be able to gain the middle range opponent clearance. Yet, a long range clearance may catch the defensive midfielder out of position. It gets worse if we play Marquez and Pique together as Central Backs, or if we miss Abidal. Abidal is the only proved defender who has enough pace to catch a counter that pass the highly positioned defense on the edge of the Midfield line. Puyol also has the fighting spirit to create a cover as well, to some extend.

During the group stage, the defense weakness was completely covered by our offense brilliance. To give a clear idea about how fragile our system make us when we face the counters, this is a short report:

In our group we had to play against:

Sporting: so far in the third place in Portugal league.
Shakhtar:Fifth in Ukrain league.
Basel: Second in switzerland league.

Keep all that in mind, because thats far from the kind of clubs we will meet in knock out stages.
I will avoid pointing on our rank defensively based on the other teams reaching the knock out stages, because most of them had a more difficult teams to play against in knock out stages, yet they conceded less goals, most of them at least.

Instead I will compare our defense to the defense of the other teams in our group. Even though they played a more conservative games against us but the numbers show an unexpected sign:

- Basel and Shakhtar (together) failed to score any goal against Sporting in 4 games played home and away. They scored 2 goals in 3 games against barcelona, 5 goals in 4 games if you take the last game against Shakhtar in consideration.

- Basel and Sporting scored 3 Goals in Shakhtar net in 4 games, they scored 4 goals against Barcelona in 4 games.

- Sporting and Shakhtar scored 10 goals against Basel in 4 games, they scored 4 in 3 games/7 goals in 4 games including the last game barcelona Played against Shakhtar.

This is a very direct comparison. It shows that even though our offense forse the opponent to get squeezed in their own area, the opponents are still finding it relatively easier to score against Barcelona than scoring against each other. Only our scoring machine upfront covered this defect. But it will not be the case against those who are better than third,fifth and second in their own leagues.

As a living scenario, I will pick Man Utd (the current champions of the world), and imagine their coach playing a 4-3-2-1 at the Nou Camp. Four defenders plus three Defensive-midfielder-like players to create the defensive Bus, with the trio Tevez-Ronaldo-and Rooney rotating for the three other roles (yes I dropped Berbatov). Giving the instructions for Ronaldo to run through Alves Territory, and instructing Rooney or Tevez to stay close to Barcelona deepest defender while the third player with his high work rate bark for any cleared ball, racing the wind for it. The first result is the insecure feeling Barcelona will get when Alves move forward while Ronaldo positions himself on the right. We cant afford losing Alves in the offense operations, so one central defender will have to move wide to cover the right flank. One marker without support will not be enough so: either our defensive midfielder take Ronaldo in the midfield- unlikely because it leaves the field empty, or the other Defenders will be forced to create depth in case Ronaldo passed the fake right back. Moving the backline deeper will enlarge the space between backline and the rest of the team, while keeping them on the midfield line means getting beaten by the Man Utd trio pace in the counter. With the absence of sufficient cover infront of our defense, the opponent counters will be too fast for the midfielders transition to take place. Result? Man Utd defense clear the ball to the empty space mentioned above, a Man utd player receives it and plays it to the other empty space between our defense and Goalkeeper, then a race between Pique-Marquez and Ronaldo-Rooney/Tevez for the ball. Keeping in mind that Valdes is not the best libero-Keeper you can think about.
Before Betis game, it was understandable that some barcelona confident fans will find this scenario as "Unlikely". Watch Betis counters and you will definitely know what I mean.

This case study brief most of the alerts covered in this article. The solution is the mixed of everything discussed, we need to approach the champions’ league knock out stages as it needs, not as we succeeded to do in the liga. May be considering two defensive midfielders as a must for any tactical structure we apply in the Champions’ league will be a good start. At least after we pass Lyon. Last season, I was calling for a three players in the back when the team move forward instead of giving the two backwards the instructions to attack. It is happening this season when needed, we have more balance in the team this way and I like it! Now my new call is to have two defensive midfielders in front of our back when we play out of home in the Champions'. Let a combination of five players from the panel of Messi, Alves, Xavi, Iniesta, Gudjhonsen, Hleb, Bojan, Eto’o and Henry move forward squeezing the opponent box with no concerns. Noting that having two defensive midfielders is not less lethal at offense than the system currently applied. I can assure you its even more productive and generate more scoring opportunities, because we Barcelona fans know it well: dominate the game, and then enjoy your victory.

- If you will play the second leg at home. you don't need to be so obsessed to finish the opponent away. All what needed is to come back home with a result that will make your life easier.

- When you play abroad, time is on your side. No need to rush to crush! Let the opponent feel they are running out of time, they need to score or else! Then you will hunt the result you are seeking.

- Keep being loyal to Barcelona Philosophy about earning back the ball fast, and dominating possession. Scoring will come as an unavoidable outcome of dominating the opponents at their homes.