3-4-3

[épieur]

Good video on how Barca have been lining up for much of this season:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpFEfkgrwO8

 

A back three of Alves, Mascherano and Abidal should spell murder on paper, but they still have the best defence in la liga (bear in mind, defence-aficionado Mourinho coaches there too). I think Guardiola is really dispelling a lot of pre-conceptions about how football can be played in the modern era.

 

People say that anyone could coach this barca team, but to my mind they simply haven't been paying attention to what happens when barca plays. Guardiola is to my mind the most innovative coach the game has seen in a long time. He has set a new standard for pressing opponents that no team is capable of replicating even 4 years after he began implementing it. And likewise a new standard of possession football that one imagines will never be replicated to the same degree by anyone (Brendan Rodgers I think is perhaps the best example of someone adopting this new philosophy. His team dominates possession home and away even against top 4 opposition).

 

The way he uses his frontline is likewise innovative. It's not just Messi as a the 'false 9' - the wingers are utterly unorthodox in the way they support the centre. It's not coincidence that players of great ability who have shone in other clubs have joined barca and looked totally out of place. This style of play isn't one that lifts up players because they are surrounded by world class players. It's one that demands more of players than what they have played anywhere else.

 

Imo, we aren't just watching one of the best sides of all time. We're watching the forefront of modern tactical innovation that the next generation of coaches will be trying to emulate ten years from now.

Edited April 8, 2012 by epieur

[drdooom]

Pfft 4-4-2 with reference points up front has worked for Roy for 30 years and it'll work for 10 more.

[Cam]

I can't wait until Guardiola has us playing this way next season:

 

Doni

Carragher Adam Enrique

Kuyt Gerrard Lucas Spearing

Henderson Carroll Downing

 

One touch, pace, intelligence, movement, ole ole ole.

[Earl Hafler]

Where's Sammya ?

 

i said someone would win the CL playing with three at the back a few years ago ( actually it was about six or seven years ago )

 

 

Mentioned it the other day but triangles is something we don't do. Flat line - the death of football.

[Cooldude]

It's cost them the league this season to tell the truth. They dropped points early in the season while they were adapting to this formation and blokes just kept killing them down their flanks coz Alves or Masch (whoever was suppose to cover the right back space) didn't do their job. The Valencia game at the Mestella's a perfect example, Mattieu destroyed them on the left

[doug_mac]

Good video on how Barca have been lining up for much of this season:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpFEfkgrwO8

 

A back three of Alves, Mascherano and Abidal should spell murder on paper, but they still have the best defence in la liga (bear in mind, defence-aficionado Mourinho coaches there too). I think Guardiola is really dispelling a lot of pre-conceptions about how football can be played in the modern era.

 

People say that anyone could coach this barca team, but to my mind they simply haven't been paying attention to what happens when barca plays. Guardiola is to my mind the most innovative coach the game has seen in a long time. He has set a new standard for pressing opponents that no team is capable of replicating even 4 years after he began implementing it. And likewise a new standard of possession football that one imagines will never be replicated to the same degree by anyone (Brendan Rodgers I think is perhaps the best example of someone adopting this new philosophy. His team dominates possession home and away even against top 4 opposition).

 

The way he uses his frontline is likewise innovative. It's not just Messi as a the 'false 9' - the wingers are utterly unorthodox in the way they support the centre. It's not coincidence that players of great ability who have shone in other clubs have joined barca and looked totally out of place. This style of play isn't one that lifts up players because they are surrounded by world class players. It's one that demands more of players than what they have played anywhere else.

 

Imo, we aren't just watching one of the best sides of all time. We're watching the forefront of modern tactical innovation that the next generation of coaches will be trying to emulate ten years from now.

 

 

good post

 

i agree with you 100% per cent about guardiola, he is head and shoulders above every coach in world football. similar to saachi's great milan team of the late 80's in the

 

way they press teams. i like the way he signs players who are flexible in terms of formations and playing different positions. i reckon he took a lot of cryuff's football

 

philosophy on board when he played under him in the 90's at barca. its quite similar to the dutch model of "total football " in the 70's in terms of players being fluid and

 

not really having set positions, good movement and lots of short passes. pep's model of total football is superior to holland's in the sense that he has won every trophy

 

while playing arguably the most entertaining football the world has ever seen

 

 

[épieur]

good post

 

i agree with you 100% per cent about guardiola, he is head and shoulders above every coach in world football. similar to saachi's great milan team of the late 80's in the

 

way they press teams. i like the way he signs players who are flexible in terms of formations and playing different positions. i reckon he took a lot of cryuff's football

 

philosophy on board when he played under him in the 90's at barca. its quite similar to the dutch model of "total football " in the 70's in terms of players being fluid and

 

not really having set positions, good movement and lots of short passes. pep's model of total football is superior to holland's in the sense that he has won every trophy

 

while playing arguably the most entertaining football the world has ever seen

 

I think Busquets is the showcase of tactical imprint on the side. He is such an intelligent player. Steps into defence when he needs to, steps forward when appropriate. He falls in and out of different roles whilst still being the passing fulcrum between defence and midfield in a way that requires great understanding of the game. There is no midfielder in the world who has a role like the one Busquets has at barca. It's a new position really. But it's the manager who has given him this role and instructs him how to do it.

 

How Busquets plays is the anti-thesis of the popular conception that Barca are just a bunch of world class players who has been schooled in the same philosophy from childhood and therefore are amazing together by default.

 

And as a case in point, one of the reasons Barca so deftly outplayed the mancs in two finals was that Ferguson totally overlooked the impact Busquets has on a match and focused on stopping Xavi and Iniesta instead. Which is just not possible if you give Busquets time to feed them.

[Nebraska Red]

But, popular opinion has it that Busquets is s****.

 

Busquets is one of the smartest players in the Barca side, Keita does something similar to Busquets , but is better up front than Busquets.

 

The way they press the opposition is great to watch.

 

They also have the ability to change things on the fly when things are not clicking at 100%.

[Damian_de]

Busquets is a magnificent player, unbelievably good. I always think that Xabi could perform the role, and when watching Xabi play for us I often thought that the player he most reminded me of was Guardiola. Circle complete, then.

[yellow jumper]

xabi certainly could, but movement (or rather quick movement) is the weakest part of his game, and i don't think he'd get in ahead of busquets who's not only a good player but also more plugged into barca's triangles and intense pressing game. it was also a problem the world cup winning team had at times, i thought, that alonso took away from xavi to an extent by his instinct to look for the sprayed pass wide or forward, he's not tiki-taka particularly.

 

think the pure 3 at the back has been forced on them to some extent, (pique, puyol and abidal have all had injuries at one time or another), although it is something they do even when they start with a nominal back 4 by pushing alves right up field, and sometimes adriano or maxwell (previously) too, with busquets splitting the centre halves.

Edited April 9, 2012 by yellow jumper

[Nerik]

They have also for years worked on the keeper's ability to pass the ball and act as another defender. Was speaking to a top keeper coach over the weekend and he had gone to Barca in the Van Gaal days and they had Reina and Valdes earmarked as their future keepers due to that ability.

[Hassony]

But, popular opinion has it that Busquets is s****.

 

popular opinion my a***

 

show me evidence of anyone in the last two years that has said that he is s***

[Clay Davis]

Lucas would be absolutely unreal in the 'Busquets' role.

[Crazy Horse]

popular opinion my a***

 

show me evidence of anyone in the last two years that has said that he is s***

 

http://www.liverpoolway.co.uk/forum/ff-football-forum/93039-sergio-busquets-s***.html

[épieur]

popular opinion my a***

 

show me evidence of anyone in the last two years that has said that he is s***

 

overrated.

[PhilM]

Busquets is a diving c***. I say that with no fear of it ever being able to make me look stupid.

[richwilks]

West Ham would destroy them with their 8 big strikers.

[oran]

I think Guardiola is overrated.all of his top players were already there when he started (maybe alves wasnt,dont remember).

The system was already there (although he tweaked it a bit).

he spends a lot of money and most of his purchases didnt exectly turn out to be good.

I also think that without messi,they are barely half the team.the passing is nice no doubt,but most of their passing and possession is between xavi and iniesta close to the halfway line,and they need messi to take out 3-4 defenders out of position.

I really think that without messi,they are more like arsenal of a few years back.beautiful passing game,but lack of purpose.

 

what i will give him is the pressing game,which is very impressive,and moving messi to the center.

[Damian_de]

I also think that without messi,they are barely half the team.

How can you tell?

[oran]

How can you tell?

I cant,but this is what I think.

Messi takes 3-4 defenders out of the way all the time.

[épieur]

I think Guardiola is overrated.all of his top players were already there when he started (maybe alves wasnt,dont remember).

The system was already there (although he tweaked it a bit).

he spends a lot of money and most of his purchases didnt exectly turn out to be good.

I also think that without messi,they are barely half the team.the passing is nice no doubt,but most of their passing and possession is between xavi and iniesta close to the halfway line,and they need messi to take out 3-4 defenders out of position.

I really think that without messi,they are more like arsenal of a few years back.beautiful passing game,but lack of purpose.

 

what i will give him is the pressing game,which is very impressive,and moving messi to the center.

 

 

Guardiola took over a team in decline and then promptly shipped out the three biggest stars of the side: Deco, Ronaldinho and Eto'o. Oh, and he shipped out Thuram and Zambrotta while he was at it.

 

The system wasn't already there except in the sense that they play attacking short passing football and so did Rijkaard's side. Rijkaard was much more direct and focused on moving it through the lines as quickly as possible. Guardiola is far more focused on possession and compressing the chains as close to the oppositions goal as possible. It's a fair bit different from 'tweaking it a bit', not in the least so when his tweaks have created a model of possession football that has never been seen before in football.

 

Purchases haven't been his department. That was Beguiristan, who btw left the position as footballing director as a result of a string of poor purchases (though he did great for them earlier on).

 

He took Messi and turned him from a decently prolific winger to the most sublime goalscorer for generations. He took Xavi, who had previously been a class midfielder but very much second fiddle to Deco, and turned him into the best midfielder in the world. He took Iniesta and put him from supersub to carrying the mantle Deco used to ave in midfield. Oh and he only grew into a world class player under Guardiola too.

 

He made players out of the likes of Pique, Busquets, Pedro, at the expence of the likes of Toure, Marquez and Henry. It only looks straightforward now because he was so successful with it, but those are genuinely bold and visionary moves.

 

I agree that this season they have been overreliant on Messi and lack spark without him, but he has won three league titles and a CL trophy where that hasn't been the case to the same degree.

[oran]

Maybe im wrong.But until he will be succssesful (sp) with another team,or after the likes of xavi and puyol will retire,im still skeptic.

Im not saying he is a bad manager.he is very good.But I think some of the superlativs thrown at him are premature.

[Raj]

Maybe im wrong.But until he will be succssesful (sp) with another team,or after the likes of xavi and puyol will retire,im still skeptic.

Im not saying he is a bad manager.he is very good.But I think some of the superlativs thrown at him are premature.

 

He's won everything in front of him which the previous manager was not doing as regularly

Look at the post above to see what he has done to that team

He's also done this whilst playing against one of the most expensively assembled teams in the history of football, with one of the greatest managers of our time.

He deserves all the plaudits he gets

[oran]

mourinho got there last season.

this season madrid looks favourite to the title..

he is a good manager,but to me,he still has thngs to prove.

[Raj]

mourinho got there last season.

this season madrid looks favourite to the title..

he is a good manager,but to me,he still has thngs to prove.

 

Mourinho got where? They lost the league and CL to them.

They are favourites, but there is still no guarantee that they will win, especially with their current league form

 

His record is phenomenal. he has nothing to prove to you or anyone else at this point.

 

In the 3 completed years he has been there he has won

 

3 La Ligas

1 Spanish Cup

3 Spanish Super Cups

2 Champions Leagues

2 Euro Super Cups

2 World Club Champs

 

So out of all the trophies he could have won he has only lost 3. 2 Spanish Cups and one CL

This season they can still win the CL. Spanish Cup and the league