Directness and Defending

In Pep’s era our defensive plan was pretty straightforward: Retain possession and press immediately when it is lost. This laid the foundation for everything else. We could push full backs up in attack because by pressing high we would have the numbers in the right areas. We could handle the opponents pressing us by simply retaining possession until the opponents wore themselves out. We could similarly defend a lead not by falling back into a compact defensive shape, but by continuing to retain the ball. Of course all this focus on possession meant that we would sometimes have a hard time in breaking down the opposition when they parked the bus.

With Lucho (and several transfers) came a good deal more directness to our play. This has really helped our efforts to break down defenses. Our record under Lucho against Atleti is a real testament to this. This added directness (in addition to the new players) played, I think, a big role in Treble. But last year in addition to the directness we still had Xavi who when needed could help with the possession game. He could be brought on when we had the lead or facing a different opponent. I think this gave us a balance directness when we need it and control when we needed that.

With Xavi’s departure and continuing changes we look a little different. We are having a very good season so far (I don’t mean this to be as a criticism of the results, but rather to initiate a discussion on Barca’s evolution), especially given transfer/registration ban. That doesn’t mean we haven’t lost some of that balance. The best I can tell our strategy now is to defend via scoring. We are being pressed hard, try to score even if it means losing the ball and facing more attacks. We are leading by a couple of goals with 20min to go, go score a few more. Given the front three we have, for the most part, it has usually succeeded. We may try for the spectacular, loose possession and give up a goal, but give our front three a bit time and they will make up for it with two goals.

The question is will this strategy continue to work, especially against the top teams in Europe in tournament setting like the Champion’s League. And if this is our new strategy should we try to rethink the composition and tactics of the rest of the team: Do the rest need to be able to pull back (like full back positioning) and absorb the pressure better so our attacking players can always play with greater risk? Thinking about the coming Arsenal game, before this year I would have expected them to play a bit more defensively (not park the bus, of course), now I am not sure if their best strategy isn’t to come out and try to press us hard and take advantage when we given up possession. They would have to manage how much effort they expend, but I think they would find some joy with that approach if they are able to score early. Thoughts?