match analysis

8/2/2019 Match Analysis

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Barcelona 1-2 Real Madrid: Real on brink of

title

April 22, 2012

The starting line-ups

Cristiano Ronaldo scored the winner as Real Madrid effectively clinched the title at the Nou

Camp.

Pep Guardiola made two surprise decisions, playing La Masia products Thiago Alcantara andCristian Tellothe former in midfield, the latter in a wide-left role. Gerard Pique was omitted

again.

Jose Mourinho was brave with his starting XI, selecting the same side that had underperformed

in Munich in midweek, which meant Fabio Coentrao continuing at left-back.
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As with Chelsea in midweek, Real had to depend upon Barcelona finishing poorlybut overall

they limited the number of chances Barca created, and were the more efficient side.

Barcelona shape

Whereas Real played their usual 4-2-3-1, Guardiolas choice of formation was a surprise. Hewent for the 3-4-3, which meant Dani Alves pushed very high up on the right, Tello on theopposite flank, and Adriano on the left of a back three. This was an attacking gamble by

Guardiolahes commented before on how dangerous it is to play a back three without

controlling the whole game.

In a sense, it also hinted at Guardiolas lack of confidence in Barcelonas attacking department

he felt he needed two wingers to stretch the play on either side, yet also an additional midfielder

to ensure superiority in the centre. This came at the risk of defensive stability, and Barcelonawere particularly vulnerable to breaks into the channels/wings.

Back three / four

Of course, when Barcelona play a three-man defence theyre always half-thinking about playingwith a four. The man to drop in here was Sergio Busquets, who was a central defender when

Real broke quickly down the flanks and one of the wide defenders had to move across to the

wing, but he became the deepest midfielder when Barcelona had the ball.

Individually Busquets played the role very well, but there were two problems in the defensive

transitions with this approach, mainly because of the speed with which Real attacked. Most

obviously, Barcelona were bare down the flanks, but there was also the secondary problem thatBusquets was forced to leave Mesut Ozil when he was dropping into the backthis gave the

German time on the ball to thread passes through to the attackers. In fact, it was a combination ofthose issues that resulted in Reals winner.

Real defence

Real broadly implemented their previous strategy of pressing high early on, then dropping deep.

But the initial pressing wasnt so heavy, nor was the drop-off so sudden and obvious. It was all

much more controlled. Mourinho is seemingly happy with the way Real often use a brokenpress the front four close down, but then the two holding midfielders stand off and make sure

they stay close to the defence. This has been obvious in the past couple of months and

particularly at Bayern in midweek, and though it looks far from ideal, its happened so often that

Mourinho must endorse it. Its at odds with his usual insistence on being compact, and it cangive Barcas deep midfielders time on the ball, but it did result in a couple of Barca errors when

passing out of the back.

That said, some level of compactness was retained by the fact Real didnt drop too deep.

Mourinho had famously held out against Barcelona in 2010 with Inter by telling his defence toplay extremely close to goal, almost inside the penalty area. Here Real were braver with their
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positioning, and caught Barcelona offside five times. Only after Sanchezs arrival did Barcelona

have a real threat over the top (more on that later).

But this wasnt a battle of formations, dependent upon one man getting space, or one side

cleverly dominating a certain zone. Barca had more players in midfield, of course, but Real sat

deep with six men behind the ball and let them playBarcelonas possession was 72%, butMourinho wasnt troubled by this. He made his side focus on cutting out balls into the final third,

and was actually hoping Barcelona would come onto Real, in order to leave spaces at the back.

Lack of Barcelona cohesion

The real tactical issue, while not wanting to detract from Reals excellent shape, was Barcelonas

lack of quality in attacking zones. Mourinho will have been delighted about how rarely his

centre-backs were dragged out of position, yet also shocked about easy it was for them.

The main problem was the lack of support for Lionel Messi. Guardiolas decision to go with two

true wide players on either flank meant Messi wasnt going to receive much assistance in thepenalty box from either of themTello stayed wide up against Alvaro Arbeloa, and although his

finishes were very poor, he played the rest of his role reasonably well. Alves, on the other side,

hugged the touchline more.

Therefore, with the Real defence stretched, runs had to come from midfield. Thiago played quite

deep and seemed to have the job of playing in Busquets position when Busquets was busy withdefensive tasks. Xavi Hernandez tried to get forward (and should have scored in the first half

when Messi slipped a good pass through the defence) but Iniesta, the midfielder starting highest

up, very rarely got into dangerous positions himself, and should have been doing more to get inadvance of Messi when the Argentine dropped deep.

Runs


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Line-ups after Sanchez's introduction

It was hugely surprising that Guardiola waited until 69 minutes to change his side, even when

taking into account Alexis Sanchezs injury. As soon as Sanchez arrived on the pitch, he had an

impactnot necessarily with the goal itself, which was a scrappy effort, but with his initial runfrom a central position towards the right (exactly the run he kept making against Real earlier in

the season) which distracted the defence and allowed Messi to run with the ball to the left, from

where the chance was created.

Barcelona needed more runsboth vertical runs from the midfield to play an active part in

things, and lateral runs from the forward line to test the positioning of the Real defence. Until

then, it was a quiet night for the Real Madrid centre-backs. Messis false nine positioning wasnta problem, because even when one centre-back was drawn out, no-one looked to exploit the

space Messi had created, and the other centre-back could cover comfortably. The one exception

was the Xavi chance, when four Real players were attracted to Messi. These situations needed tobe created more often.

Real attacks
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With defence almost taking care of itself, Reals true excellence was in their attacking play. With

28% possession it didnt come in huge bursts, yet they had six shots on target, double

Barcelonas total. They didnt need a player in the role Ramires played against Barcelona on

Wednesday (tracking the full-back, then bursting past him),because Barcelona werent playing

any full-backs. Instead, their breaks were more about interplay, like their goal in Munich, and

they got four players in positions where they could break forward. Even when Busquets becamea defender, Real could often attack four versus four, and Ozil was able to float laterally to pick

up the ball and orchestrate these moves.

Counter-attacking is one way Barcelona can be exploited. Their other major problem is from set-

pieces, and although their weakness in these situations is often overstated (they usually defend

zonally very well), when theyre without Pique the problem is more severe. Eric Abidal wouldalso help in these situations, as would Seydou Keita. Real were an obvious threat from corners

and went ahead from their first, but they did well to simply win them in the first place seven,

compared to Barcelonas four. It probably wasnt a deliberate strategy, but its rare that an awayside has so many corners at the Nou Camp.

Subs

Mourinhos was delighted with the shape of his side, and basically only made straight swaps

the one exception was the introduction of central midfielder Esteban Granero for Di Maria,

meaning Ozil went right, into the position hed just created Ronaldos goal from anyway.

Guardiola made three switches. First there was Sanchez on for Xavihe went upfront and Messi

dropped deeper, more of a clear 3-3-1-3. Then Pedro replaced Adriano a very attacking move

in theory, but Alves retreated into the back three and Puyol swapped sides. Pedro offered a little

more than Alves, who remains better at bombing forward rather than starting as a forward.

Finally, Cesc Fabregas came on for TelloIniesta went into the forward three, but by this pointBarcelona seemed to have lost belief.

Conclusion

Real would have celebrated a draw like it was a win as Guardiola admitted before the game, a

draw would have meant the end of Barcelonas title hopes. But the symbolic importance of the

Real victory shouldnt be overlooked. Had Real won the title yet still failed to overcome

Barcelona, they would have faced accusations they were simply better at swatting asideminnows, rather than a better team than Barcelona in direct confrontations. This result means

there is no doubtin this game, and in this season, Real were the more efficient side.

Their winning goal summed up what they have done so well all seasonthey broke quickly,

directly and got Ronaldo into goalscoring positions despite him starting on the left. It was also

reminiscent of the goalaway in Valencia, which showed their ability on the counter-attack better

than any other goal theyve scored this season.
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That directness was badly missing from Barcelonas play, as was the integrated movement that

has been so important in their attacking play under Guardiola. Here they were too dependent onMessi, and offered him very little support.


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[La Liga] Real Madrid 1-3 Barcelona

i hnh xut pht ca 2 i

Jose Mourinho khin nhiu ngi ngc nhin vi i hnh xut pht, nhng Pep Guardiola c nhng

thay i chin thut ph hp mang v chin thng cho Barcelona.

Mesut Ozil, cu th hu ht mi ngi u ngh s ngi d btng cht thp cho tuyn gia bt

ngc s dng trong i hnh 4231 quen thuc ca Real. Lassana Diarra xut pht tu, nhng

th ch Khedira, trong khi Fabio Coentrao chi v tr hu v cnh phi.

Guardiola t nim tin vo th lc ca Pique v Puyol, v Mascherano trn gh d b. ng cng s

dng Cesc Fabregas v Alexis Sanchez trn hng cng.

Cu hi u tin trong bi preview Liu Real c y cao i hnh v p st cc cu thBarca?

c tr li mt cch rt r rng trong 30s u tin ca trn u. Valdes chuyn hng v Benzema c

bn thng nhanh nht trong lch s cc trn siu kinh in.

Pressing v Ozil

l cch bt u trn u tt nht cho i ch nh, v li chi pressing ca Real, nhc don

t trc, r rng nht trong khong 20-30 u tin ca trn u. Hngn chn Barca ln bng ngay

t phn sn i phng, cho d hng phng ng Barca vn kim sot bng rt tt trong sut c trn.


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Tuy nhin, iu ng ch l 3 mi nhn ca Real khng th hin c g nhiu, ngay c khi ginh

quyn kim sot bng. Ronaldo thng xuyn bm bin, Ozil gn nh v hi v b thay ra sm hip

2, Di Maria vn lt lo nhng khng hiu qu. Khi yu cu cc cu th tn cng hot ng nhiu hn

khi ko c bng, c thMourinho gin tip lm hao mn nng lng cn thit tn cng.

Quyt nh ln nht ca Mourinho, s dng Ozil, khng thnh cng. Cho d c cung cp kh

nhiu bng trong hip 1, anh hu nh khng to c mt tnh hung nguy him no. Khi khng cbng, Ozil thng xuyn t ra thiu mt cht tc tranh cp bng, v ng l ra Real phi c

mt cu th tranh chp bng na gia sn, ni Mess li su v c nhiu khong trng.

i hnh xut pht ca Barca

Ngay c vi s linh hot quen thuc, i hnh ra sn ca Barca vn kh on. H vn ra sn vi i

hnh 433 quen thuc, nhng Iniesta chi rng hn, v Messi chi ging nhmt s 10 hn mt s 9

o. Cesc khng gp mt trn hng cng nh nhiu trn u qua m bnht vo hng tin v v

dng nh t ra khng bit nhim v ca mnh l g, trong khi Sanchez xut pht bn cnh tri, nhng

b vo trong ng vai tr mi nhn.

Cch sp xp ny gi nh li i hnh Guardiola s dng trong trn thng 2-0 ti Bernabeu vothng T, khi Messi chi thp v Pedro chi bn cnh tri. Sanchez gy p lc tt ln cp trung v

Real, i khi l c Coentrao, v Iniesta thng xuyn dng v gy kh d cho hu vBN.


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i hnh ca Barca sau 20' u tin

Barcelona

Guardiola cho Alves dng cao nhmt cu th chy cnh, Puyol dt sang cnh phi, Pique trm

ch v Busquets li xung chi trung v. Cesc chi thp hn h tr cho hng tin v, v Barcelona chi

vi i hnh 4411 dn ngang.

L do chnh xc Guardiola thay i i hnh vn cn b ng, nhng n c mt s li ch:

1. Busquets, cha kha ca trn u bi khnng pht ng tn cng, thot khi seo bm ca

Ozil v c th tip tc phn phi bng ln pha trn. Anh ny cng thng xuyn dng cao khi Barca tn

cngeo bm Ozil to iu kin cho Xavi p st vng cm Real.

2. Ronaldo l mt mi nguy him u trn vi mt vi tnh hung nguy him, nhng vi vic cho

Puyol theo km cng vi s h tr ca Pique (Alves cng c mt vi tnh hung h tr), Guardiola hunh v hiu ha Ronaldo. Ronaldo hon ton im hi lng ting, v vic Mourinho c gng pht huy

khnng ca Ronaldo bng cch y anh sang cnh phi vo hip 2 cng chng t s hiu qu ca

nhng sthay i ny.

3. Barca chi dn tri hn vi s xut hin ca Alves, iu h cn thiu trong nhng trn u trc.

Alves tn dng khong trng mnh mng gia Marcelo v Ronaldo, thng xuyn thoi mi dn bng

mi khi Barca phn cng, r rng nht l qu tt dn n bn thng ca Cesc.


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4. t quan trng nht, nhng vn phi nhc n, l Cesc khi anh li su v bit nhim v ca mnh l

g, c bit l hip 2.

Sau siu chnh ny ca Guardiola, Ozil ng ra phi lm c nhiu hn, khi theo l thuyt anh

s c nhiu khong trng hn, nhng Busquets vn tip tc theo st Ozil v ngn chn khnng kin

to ca cu th ny. Theo biu di, trong hip 2, Busquets thng xuyn dng cao hn so vi 3

hu v cn li, nh l mt thnh phn ca chin thut phng ng 3 ngi.

v tr trung bnh ca cc cu th Barca trong mi hip

Messi

Khng ging vi trn tranh siu cp khi Mourinho cho Carvalho theo st Messi, trn ny anh c

t do. Messi chi nhmt s 10 (thm ch cn thp hn) v l l do cp trung v Real khng

theo st anh. Nhng khi Diarra v Alonso cn mi m vi Fabregas v Xavi trung l, Messi c rt

nhiu thi gian cng nh khong trng, bt chp s tranh chp hiu qu ca Diarra.

bn thng u tin, Messi c thi gian v khong trng thot khi seo bm ca Alonso v

Diarra trc khi chuyn bng cho Sanchez, trong khi bn thng thba, anh cng l ngi chuyn

bng cho Alves mt v tr trng tri. Cn li anh khng ng gp qu nhiu vo nhng quyt nhchin thut khc ca Guardiola. n gin l anh c qu nhiu khong trng.

Thi gian cn li v nhng sthay i

Real qu thiu may mn bn thua th 2, nhng bn thua th 3 c v nh nh ot trn u,

mc d ng hmi chpht th66. i bng ca Mourinho chi dn tri hn, v Barca chcn tp

trung vo vic gi bng. Kaka thay th Ozil, Khedira th ch Diarra sau khi cu th ngi Php nhn

th vng, v Di Maria nhng chcho Higuain. Higuain cm trong khi Benzema dt sang cnh tri,


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c mt ln p st khung thnh Valdes sau khi vt qua Puyol. Nhng sthay i ny khng thc s

hiu qu, nhng phn no cng mang li cht sinh kh cho Real.

Barca chng gim nhp trn u, v cng c th ghi thm bn thng. Nhng sthay i ca

Guardiola u din ra sau pht 80, v u l nhng sthay i n thun v nhn s vi Seydou

Keita, David Villa v Pedro.

Kt lunMourinho thng xuyn b chtrch v khng dng cm khi i u vi Barca, nhng trn u ny

ng s dng 4 cu th tn cng cng nhp st i th ngay tu trn. Chin thut pressing

pht huy hiu qu, nhng Ozil th khng.

Vic chi vi 1 mt cu th kin to trung tm ca Real ng ngha vi khong trng m h to ra

cho Messi, khong trng m chc hn Messi s khng th tn dng nu Real chi vi thm mt tin v

phng ng. Chng ta khng th bit nu mt i hnh khc c pht huy hiu qu hay kov n cng

c th to khong trng cho mt cu th khc, nhng cho ai khong trng cng c, trMessi.

Mourinho s li li cho s thiu may mn, v thc tl Guardiola cng phi thay i. Nhng

Guardiola thnh cng, cn Real th khng th thch nghi vi sthay i ca i th. Nhng cu

th Barcelona phi thay i vtr u chi xut scBusquets tt v tr trung v, chvi cuthlm c nh anh, Puyol hu nh ko bRonaldo nh bi, v mt Alves ln xung dc hnh lang

cnh phi l nhn t quan trng trong hip 2. Mt chin thng mang tnh chin thut dnh cho

Guardiola.


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[Copa del Rey 2nd leg] Bcelona 2-2 Real Madrid

Real Madrid khi u v kt thc rt mnh m, nhng ch5 pht m hoc ca Barca trc gi ngh

gia 2 hip l qu cho h.

Pep Guardiola khng hthay i i hnh so vi lt i, vi vic tip tc tin tng Jose Pinto trong

khung g.Trong khi , Jose Mourinho cho ra sn mt i hnh giu sc tn cng, vi Kaka xut pht trong vai tr

mt playmaker v Gonzalo Higuain l tin o cm duy nht. Pepe li v chi v tr trung v s

trng bn cnh Sergio Ramos.

y l trn u m Real kim sot th trn v chi tt hn hn so vs nhng trn El Classico khc

di triu i Jose Mourinho. Do Barca khng t c sn nh vn c ca mnh.

Khi u trn u:

ng nhchng ta don t trc khi trn u bt u, Real Madrid dn ln p st ngay t

ting ci khai cuc, vi 4 cu th tn cng nhm dn p 4 cu th phng ng ca Barca. V cng nh

nhng trn Siu Kinh in trc m chng ta lm quen, Real c c c hi r rt trc khi

Barcelona kp thchng vi trn u, khi Higuain b l c hi mi mi t1 ng chuyn bt cn

t pha cc cu thi phng.

Trong hip 1, nhng ng chuyn ca Barca khng kt dnh nhmi ngy to nn nhiu c hi cho
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Real, nhng tht tic khi cc cu thReal khng tn dng c nhng tnh hung . i qun ca

Mourinho xng ng c c nhng thnh qu t nhng n lc v sdng cm theo bng ngay t

ting ci khai cuc ca mnh. Cng bng m ni, chnh thmn Pinto c v nh gy ra cho Barca rt

nhiu vn , anh khng khng ch v phn phi bng tt cho hu v nh Victor Vandes. Mt s

ng chuyn bt cn ca Pinto a bng n chn tin o i phng ngay trc khu vc cm

a.

S di chuyn i hnh ca Real trong trn u va qua cng rt tt. Kaka pht ng kh nhiu t

phn cng li hi, lm Sergio Busquets phi n lc theo km QBV FIFA 2007. iu ny to nn rt

nhiu khong trng cho Mesut Ozil, ngi c trn u ni bt nht trong chui nhng trn Siu

kinh in gn y khi xut pht t v tr tin v cnh phi.

Vn ca Barcelona:

Khnng chuyn bng ca cc cu th Barca, nh ni, dng nh km hn mi ngy rt nhiu.

Vn ca h l: th nht, h khng nhn c bng nhanh chng t hng hu v do s p st ca

Real. Th hai, Barcelona ko dn, m rng i hnh khng tt, v c gng kim sot khu trung tuyn

rt cht chi. trn lt i, nhng ng mbng lun n chn Iniesta, cu th chi t do bn

hnh lang tri. Trn lt vny cng vy, Iniesta chi ng vtr . Nhng, i mt vs anh khng phi

l mt Hamit Altintop - ngi khng bit phi chi nh th no v tr ny, m l Alvaro Arbeloa - mt

hu vcnh ng ngha. Chnh v th, vic theo km qu tt ca Arbeloa khin Iniesta khng bit

phi di chuyn ra cnh (ni anh him khi c bng) hay vo trong khu vc trung tuyn cht chi. Cng

lc bn cnh phi, Barca khng c mt cu th chy cnh ng ngha, khi Dani Alves c nhc nh

phi chi cn trng hn bnh thng.

Real Madrid khng chi chc chn nh thng l, Lassana Diarra phi thng xuyn di chuyn ln

pha trn p st Xavi to khong trng rt ln cho Messi khai thc. Bn thng m ts xut pht t

l hng , khi v tr Messi nhn bng cch kh xa 2 cu thnh chn ca Real. Vi khnng i bngiu luyn mnh, Messi to ra c hi ghi bn cho Pedro. Cng phi ni thm rng, Barcelona

hng li rt nhiu t chn thng ca Iniesta, Pedro mt cu th chy cnh c tc , vo sn

thay ngi to ra nhiu mi nguy him bn cnh tri hn.

Nhng sthay i ngi chin thut:


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Cha kha ca hip 2 v s tr li ca Real, l sthay i ngi ca Jose Mourinho khi trn u tri

qua c mt gi. Estaban Granero thay Lass, ch yu l do tuyn thPhp dnh 1 th vng ( vnu anh khng th hay khng dm tackle th khng cn l do no khc gi Lass li trn sn). Nhng

chnh sthay i ny gip Real di chuyn bng nhanh hn.

Karim Benzema thay Gonzalo Hguain, sm vai tr tin o cm duy nht. Nhng th v hn c l s

xut hin ca Jose Callejon bn hng lang tri thay cho Kaka. iu c ngha, Callejon c th

ng u vs Alves v to iu kin cho Ronaldo thoi mi tham gia tn cng. Real lc ny chi vs i

hnh 4-4-2, vs 2 tin o Benzema v Ronaldo h tr tt cho nhau.

i hnh ny vn hnh rt hiu qu, y Gerard Pique v Carles Puyol li xung rt su. Bi ny

lun trong tnh trng lo lng sut trn u, v Barca khng cn 1 cu ththa thi tdo pht ngtn cng pha di (thng l Pique). Guardiola quyt nh khng ko Busquets li xungiu

c th to ra chin thut hp l hn. (Xavi v Cesc m ng khu trung tuyn v a Mascherano

vo sn nu cn).

C lmt cu ththa ra nh nu sgip ngn chn nhng bn thng ca Real? Ronaldo vt

qua Puyol qu d dng dn n bn thng th nht, cn bn thng th 2 li l mt v d na chng
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minh khnng kim sot bng yu km hng hu v. Khnng chuyn bng v v tr ca cc hu v

Barca u t hn thng ngy.

Kt lun:

Real khng th ginh chin thng chung cuc, nhng h th hin mt mn trinh din rt tt ngay

trn sn thnh a Nou Camp. Mourinho dng cm hn vi s chn la i hnh v nhng chth

ca mnh. Real ngn chn khnng pht ng tn cng cng nh vic to ra cc c hi ca

Barcelona.

Vn duy nht ca Real n gin l h phung ph qu nhiu c hi. H to c nhiu tnh hung

n bn hn Barca nhng vic dt im yu km lm nhng nh ng kim v ch phi dng

bc. Li lm thuc v cc cu th ch khng phi do chin thut kh hp l ca Jose Mourinho.

Nu c tt nh trn u va qua chng ta c th hi vng tiki-taka s sm c ha gii.


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Barcelona 1-0 Inter: Mourinhos side

progressdeservedlyApril 28, 2010


There are times when the hype about Jose Mourinho is frustrating and cliched, there are times

when it is fully deserved. Tonight was the latter in one of the great defensive performances inrecent footballing history.

Barcelona reverted to their traditional 4-3-3 they had persisted with until recently, with amidfield trio of Busquets-Keita-Xavi, Yaya Toure in defence, and Gabriel Milito surprisingly

pushed out to left-back. Pedro Rodriguez stayed wide-left, Lionel Messi cut in from the right,

Zlatan Ibrahimovic was the striker.
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Inters line-up initially looked to be unchanged from the first leg, but a change after the warm-

ups saw Cristian Chivu replacing Goran Pandeva surprise given the nature of the switch, butone predictedin ZMs preview. They played a lopsided 4-2-3-1, with Samuel Etoo high up onthe right-hand side, and Christian Chivu playing in front of Javier Zanetti, blocking the runs

forward of Dani Alves.

An inevitable point given the nature of this sites previews for the two legs andthe report on the

first game, butone must question Pep Guardiolas inclusion of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He wassurprisingly deployed last week at the San Siro, and it resoundingly failed and rather than learn

his lesson from the first leg, Guardiola again included Ibrahimovic to little effect. Thats not to

say that the Swede was uselesshe wasnt, but Barcelona struggled to get the ball to him in astatic central position, because of the presence of Lucio and Walter Samuel.

The key moment of the game was unquestionably the sending-off of Thiago Motta. Although

Inters display for the rest of the game consisted of putting all their men behind the ball anddefending deep, one must note the fact that Mourinho didnt turn to the bench after the

sending-off. Many managers would have removed one of the three attacking players in favour ofanother holding player (considering it was a central midfielder that was dismissed), but

Mourinho instead shifted Chivu inside, switched Etoo to the left, and moved Diego Milito to theright-hand side.
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Immediately after Thiago Motta was dismissed

The result was a 4-5-0 where Wesley Sneijder was generally the furthest forward player,

rather than the two strikers who often found themselves defending deep in their own full-back

zones. In this respect, Inter were not controlling the ball, but they were still controlling the space.The two lines of four covered the width of the pitch on the edge of Inters area, but Sneijders

presence ahead of those lines made it slightly more difficult for Barca to create in that

deep-lying, central position. Xavi and Busquets still dominated the ball, of course, but theywere forced to shift it wide to Alves (who had a poor game) or Gabriel Milito, who was not

comfortable on the ball.

And when Barcelona got the ball wide, it was surprising how rarely they looked to create anoverlap. With Messi drifting in from a right-sided position and Milito offering no attacking

threat, Barcelona only had two players stationed in wide positions - Alves on the right, Pedro

on the left. Alves was met by Zanetti with the rest of the side shifting across to cover the space.Pedro was met by Maicon, with the same effect. But the other eight outfield players all remained

between the ball and the play when this happenedthe lack of an overlap meant that none of the

Inter players were never drawn outside by a decoy run. Barca always had ten players to get
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past, and their tendency to shoot from long-range demonstrated the fact that they were simply

finding it impossible to play through Inter.

Of course, the sending-off meant that Inter found it very difficult to get bodies forward in attack,

but this contributed to their defensive ability. Not only were their forward players forced to do

less running up and down the pitch, their defensive players were able to hold their shape easier.They were able to sit deepthere was no space in behind for Barcelonas pacey players to

exploit, nor was there any space between the lines for Messi to work his magic in . It alsomeant that it was near-impossible for Barcelona to play their favourite ballthe one from central

midfield between the opposition centre-back and full-back, for a wide players running onto the

ball, because the angle was simply too acute.*

As is customary when a good footballing side struggle against a good defensive side,

Barcelona were accused of having no Plan B by the (British) commentary team. Aside from

the obvious sheer hypocrisy that stems from simultaneously criticizing Barcelona in this respectwhilst marvelling at their patience that proved victorious against Chelsea last season, this

somewhat misses the point. In the final half hour, playing exclusively through small, quick,tricky players (a front four of Jeffren, Pedro, Messi and Bojan) was Barcelonas plan B. Theirplan A had been playing through Ibrahimovictheyd created a good chance in the first half bysimply lofting towards him in the box, where his knock-down found Pedro.

We then come back to the idea that, as proposed in the preview, Guardiola surely should have

played it the other way aroundthe small, tricky players to start the game and wear Inter down,

then Ibrahimovic to come on and provide a more direct threat late on. Certainly, when youre

withdrawing your 6 forward for a 57 winger and then shoving your 6 centre-back upfront to

compensate, youve probably got muddled somewhere, ignoring the sheer brilliance of Piques

goal.

In Inverting The Pyramid, Jonathan Wilson explains how Arrigo Sacchi once demonstrated in a

training session how five organised players could hold out against ten disorganised onestaking

his Milan back five of Galli, Tassotti, Costacurta, Baresi and Maldini and pitching them against

the clubs best ten attacking players. The 15-minute game finished scoreless, despite the

attacking talents of the likes of Gullit, van Basten, Rijkaard, Ancelotti and Donadoni. This game

was a match version of that. Barcelona completed 555 passes compared to Inters 67, andproduced the most dominant display of possession in European competition this year,86%. And

yet, for all thathow many times did they actually get the ball into serious goalscoring

positions?

This was a match that wasnt won by individual performances (although the likes of Lucio and

Esteban Cambiasso were superb), or by player v player battles on the pitch, it was won by theunderstanding between the nine outfield Inter players. Mourinho will probably be asked tonight

about his late pre-game switch, his post-match celebration and his thoughts on the Barcelona

fans, but hopefully he will also be asked to expand on quite how he managed to set his team out

to withstand that amount of pressure. It outfoxed a manager as talented as Guardiola and negated

the ability of Messi and Xavi to createwithout ever seeking to deprive them of getting theball. Mourinhos approach was not to man-mark, and not to press high up the pitch, but instead
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to sit deep, use strict zonal marking and only pressure the Barcelona players within 25 yards of

the Inter goal. Easier said than done, and to pull it off against such great players requires abrilliant tactical brain from the manager, combined with intelligent players and hours of work on

the training ground.

It could have all been so different had Bojans last minute goal not been disallowed for acontentious handball decision, and whilst the result of the tie would have changed, the tactical

analysis would have not. Inter were defensively superb tonight and over the course of the tie,

deserved to go through. Its easy when looking at football games especially for a website like

thisto simply say that the winning manager got it right, and the losing one got it wrong but

its hard to argue in this case. Mourinho remains the master, and tactics remain the key towinning football games.


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Barcelona 2-2 Chelsea: Chelsea do an Inter

2010

April 25, 2012


Chelsea produced an astonishing defensive displayand still created chancesto progress to

the Champions League final.

Pep Guardiola made the surprising decision to drop Daniel Alves, bringing back Gerard Pique in

defence. Isaac Cuenca was fielded on the wing, and Cesc Fabregas in an attacking central

midfield role.

Roberto Di Matteo named an unchanged XI from the side that won 1-0 in the first leg, and setout in the same shape.


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There were two first half substitutions due to injury, howeverGary Cahill went off and was

replaced by Jose Bosingwa, with Branislav Ivanovic moving into the middle. Gerard Pique alsohad to depart, with Alves back in the side and Javier Mascherano moving to the centre of the

back three.

Where to start? Likein the first leg, Chelsea had to rely on Barcelona squandering some verypresentable chances, but their overall display at the back was excellent.

Barcelona formation

Barcelonas shape was something like a 3-3-1-3, with Lionel Messi playing as the number ten.

Cuenca was used on the right to stretch the play, a reaction to the first leg, when Barcelona

lacked true width. He often lost the ball when attempting to dribble past his full-back, though he

did provide the assist for Sergio Busquets first goal, which came from him staying widefollowing a cornerin that respect, he did his job OK.

Alexis Sanchez was used through the middle, where he had an instant impact against RealMadrid at the weekend. He combined with Messi early on, and although Messi didnt have a

particularly good game here, at least the Chelsea centre-backs were being distracted by the clever

runs of Sanchez, and Messi was getting into good positions on their blind side. Sanchez was alsoclearly troubling John Terry, shown by his red card.

Chelsea shape

The major effect of Barcelonas switch to a 3-4-3 was that Chelsea could be even narrower than

in the first leg when the ball was in the centre of the pitch, and make a very tight unit thatBarcelona found it difficult to play through. Ramires, who had spent the first game running up

and down the line with Dani Alves, now had no full-back to track and could tuck in as an extramidfielder, while Juan Mata did the same on the other side. There were also even greateropportunities to break down the line into spaceRamires and Ashley Cole did that in the first

minute, but afterwards Chelsea struggled for an out-ball.
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Instead, Petr Cech thumped the ball down the pitch for Drogba to chase an approach that

almost worked in the first leg, and threatened a couple of times here, perhaps most obviously

when Victor Valdes came out and clattered into Drogba and Pique.

11 v 10

Terrys red card (in Inter 2010 terms, the Thiago Motta moment) changed things. Di Matteos

initial reaction was to bring Bosingwa inside along with Ivanovic , and move Ramires to right-back. Chelsea were now 4-4-1, the most common way to play with ten men. But because their

approach until then had been to defend with 4+5, they now looked uncomfortable defending with

4+4,even if theyve been playing that way in the league. The away side were disorganised in theminutes leading up to half-time, and Andres Iniestas goal came when the midfield had no shape.

However, Ramires broke down the flank brilliantly for a crucial goal on the stroke of half-time.

Ramires had created the goal for Drogba at the same point in the first leg with a similarly-inspired counter-attack, and just as that goal allowed Chelsea to sit back and defend at Stamford

Bridge in the second half, they could do the same here.

Second half

When Di Matteo got the players in the dressing room at half-time, he essentially switched back

to the way Chelsea had been playing until the red card, defending 4+5, with Drogba out wide on
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the leftjust as Diego Milito had filled in on the flank for Inter in 2010. Therefore, the way

Chelsea defended wasnt actually any different from how theyd started the gamealthoughsince they had no striker and no-one to hold up the ball, they had to do much more of it.

They also had players out of position, and the man they may have worried about, Bosingwa, did

a fine job in the centre of defence.Its been discussed beforethat sides are better off with quick,nippy full-backs in central positions against Messi, rather than lumbering, physical centre-backs.

Bosingwas job was about tracking and tackling rather than heading the ball clear Barcelona

barely crossed in the air, and Bosingwa wasnt exposed.

Rough second half positions (same image, different labelling for either side)

Guardiola had changed system for the second half, moving Iniesta inside, bringing Cuenca to the

left and telling Alves to push on down the right. Guardiola was trying the classic strategy againstten menmake the pitch as wide as possible. Chelsea adapted by playing wider in midfield

now, rather than the wide players moving very centrally without the ball, they stayed towards the

edges of the penalty area. This worked excellentlythey never allowed their whole team to be

sucked to one side, and Barcelona never had a player on the overlap in a considerable amount ofspace. Drogba conceded a penalty, of course, but at least he was helping out defensively.
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Chances?

The penalty was obviously crucial to the game, and like in the first leg, Chelsea had to rely on

poor finishing. There were some who said Chelseas approach at Stamford Bridge wasnt

particularly effective because Barcelona had chances, but any strategy against Barcelona will

always allow them some opportunitiestheyre too good to be kept at bay for 90 minutes.

The key was that Chelsea limited the number of chances they had in the first leg to a reasonable

numberaround five, at a rough count. That is an acceptable figure against Barcelona on a bad

day you might concede five, but Barcelona do waste chances, so youre giving yourself some

hope.

Again, with a non-scientific counting system, Messis penaltywas Barcelonas fifth clear chance

of the game. Thereafter, they barely created anything, with long-range efforts and half-chancestheir only sights of goal.

Barcelona problems

Barcelona had two main issues in the second half. First, they had too many defensive players onthe pitchJavier Mascherano and Carles Puyol as centre-backs, and Sergio Busquets as a

holding midfielder. Chelsea were breaking, but when Barcelona had the ball (which was the vast

majority of the second half), they had 3 v 0 at the back. Mascherano could have been sacrificed,

Busquets could have played his half-and-half role, and still could have played the first pass into

the final third. (Its also worth asking whether playing a back three at the start, comprised of puredefenders rather than Alves or Adriano as half-defenders, was a wise move against a side only

playing one striker.)

The second issue was exactly the problem they facedagainst Inter two years agothey had noplan B, in the shape of a static central target man to find, either in the air or for some hold-up

play. In fact, they had even less of a plan B. Two years ago, Guardiolas mistake was that heplayed his plan B as his plan AZlatan Ibrahimovic started the game when Inter were playing

quite high up, then had been removed by the time Barcelona realised they needed a centralstriker. At least in that game Barcelona could push Gerard Pique upfront to be their number nine,

and although they didnt turn the tie around, Pique scored a brilliant consolation goal.

Ibrahimovic has been sold, and Pique had gone off injured. Barcelona didnt have anyone theycould look to here, which was probably why Seydou Keita was brought on for Cesc Fabregas,

despite the fact Keita is naturally a more defensive player. Admittedly, Keita had little impact

(and again, Guardiola could have sacrificed a more defensive player), but the move made somesense.

By this stage Barcelonas positions had ceased to exist, but the roles were still fairly obvious three defensive players, Xavi orchestrating from deep, Cristian Tello (on for Cuenca) and Alves

on the flanks, then Keita, Iniesta, Messi and Sanchez in and around the box.

Chelsea hang on
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Chelsea continued to be extremely tight in the centre Lampard, Meireles and Mikel were

unmoved despite the tactical changes, and replicated their approach from the first leg. All threestayed central, and when Xavi got on the ball and looked for forward pass, one player often came

out to casually close him downnot really attempting to win the ball, but forcing him to play out

to the flanks rather than a more incisive ball. Mikel again found himself ahead of Lampard and

Meireles when doing this.

The one difference from the Inter strategy was that Chelsea didnt immediately drop back to thepenalty boxin fact, when Barcelona built moves from their own penalty box, Chelsea stayed

quite high. It was surprising that Barcelona didnt seek to play forward more quickly heretheir

passes were slow and predictable in deep positions, when they really needed to hit Chelsea whentheir defence was off-balance up the pitch. Barcelona also failed with the majority of attempted

dribbles.

and pounce

Chelsea, remarkably, still managed to offer a goal threat. Drogba was superb and won a corner

(something Real Madrid did well at the weekend), from which Ivanovic should have scored.Kalou replaced Mata and found himself through on goal, but wasted the chance.

Fernando Torres replaced Drogba late on, and was the hero with a late goal. There wasabsolutely no natural logic to thisTorres had been far less effective than Drogba on the left,


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failing to track his man and giving the ball away. In fact, he only found himself through on goal

because of a failed dribble that meant he was out of position Barcelona, having throwneverything forward in the final minutes, were now literally in a 0-5-5 formation at that point.

But in a way it was fittingthe goal came from a hoof downfield from the Chelsea penalty areato the number nine. That was the approach they started with at Stamford Bridge when Drogba

failed to control a punt from Cech when through on goaland that was the way they sealed the

tie.

Conclusion

In Mondays press conference, Petr Cechwas askedif hed been on the phone to Jose Mourinho,asking for tips about how to beat Barcelona. The question was referring to Saturdays 2-1 win for

Real Madrid, of course, but more appropriate was Mourinhos triumph two years ago. The

situation was almost identicalsemi-final second leg, early red card, strikers playing on theflank, ultra-defensive. When two sides have completely different approaches yet contest a close

match, it makes for a brilliant spectacle.

Barcelona have won the Champions League twice under Guardiola in similar circumstances

(two-goal victories over Manchester United), theyve now been eliminated twice in similar

circumstances (failing to break down a side parking the bus at the Nou Camp). However, itsworth pointing out that they lost the tie in the first leg as much as in the second, and probably
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had their better chances at Stamford Bridge. They also failed to score an away goal, which meant

Chelsea had a significant advantage after Ramires goal.

With many star performers over the two legs it feels unfair to pick out a single player, but

Ramiresis the ideal player for playing against Barcelona. He is mobile, hard-working and

energetic without the ball, but also breaks directly when possession is won. He looks forward,and breaks past Barcelonas first press. His superb finish was a nice bonus.

The final conclusion is to reiteratea point made last weekthe Champions League semi-finals

consistently produce the most intriguing, unpredictable games in modern football, and its most

memorable moments.
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Inter 3-1 Barcelona: Why did Pep Guardiola

play Zlatan Ibrahimovic?

April 20, 2010

Its not often during his two seasons asBarcelona manager that you can conclusively say that Pep Guardiola got his tactics wrongbuttonight that was the case, as Inter take an important two-goal lead to the Nou Camp.

Both sides essentially played their standard formations. Inter were 4-2-3-1 with Samuel Etooand Goran Pandev wide, and Javier Zanetti continuing at left-back. Barcelona played a similar

team tothe first leg at against ArsenalZlatan Ibrahimovic leading the line, Lionel Messibehind him, Pedro in a wide-right role and Seydou Keita playing from in to out on the left.

In playing their tried-and-tested shapes, its fair to say that neither team significantly adapted

their side to try and counter the strengths of the opposition. The result was that we had a far

more open game than we expectedmidfielders got time on the ball, full-backs were able to

attack, and there were plenty of chances.
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Referring back tothe preview published on this siteyesterday, its fair to say that the starting XI

from Guardiola didnt work. Playing Ibrahimovic upfront as a focal point for the attack didntsuit Barcelona in this game, and played into the hands of Lucio and Walter Samuel, who dealt

with the balls into the Swede comfortably throughout. Playing Ibrahimovic means thatBarcelona play a slightly different way - and as a whole, that is a positive thing for the squad.

Sid Lowe at the Guardian has commented that Ibrahimovic was bought so Barcelona were ableto score goals they werent able to without himhis goalaway in Stuttgartfor exampleand

although Barca may be a slightly less prolific side in the forward positions, they arguably are

more varied in their attacking options.

Tonight, however, the focal point Ibrahimovic offers was not needed. Barcelonas passingstyle was slightly longer than usualXavi tried to hit surprisingly long balls into him with his

back to goal which he failed to control, and Barca tossed crosses into the box for him to

challenge for in the air, but on more than one occassion he went with his feet, rather than his

head.

Playing Ibrahimovic backfired for three reasons:

1) It meant Barcelona changed their passing style and played longer than usual, meaning they

were less fluid and suited Inter defensively.

2) It meant that Messi had less space to work inagainst Real Madrid at the Bernabeuhe thrivedby playing infront of the Real Madrid centre-backs and on three separate occasions he reached

through balls played by Xavi. Tonight, with Ibrahimovic taking up his space, he couldnt playthis role.

3) It meant that Barcelona were less secure defensively on their left-hand side. They were

completely caught out for Inters third because Keita was playing relatively centrally and failedto track Maicons run. Had Eric Abidal been playing left-back with Maxwell infront, its

doubtful that would have happened.

Barcelonas switch to the system in the preview (and in doing so, taking a off striker(Ibrahimovic) for a left-back (Abidal)) when 3-1 down was surely an admission from Guardiola

that his initial shape was wrong.

Equally, Mourinho played the game beautifully. Setting out with Pandev and Etoo wide wasslightly more attacking than was expected, and although Pandev found it difficult defensive

against Dani Alves, the move worked very well in moving Alves narrow when Pandev made

inward runs. Inters first goal was a great example of this from a right-wing cross, Alvesfollowed Pandevs run towards the penalty spot leaving a huge gap at the far post, where Wesley

Sneijder ghosted in unmarked to score.

Its difficult to blame any single player without knowing Guardolas instructions, but itsinteresting to note that Rubin Kazan manager Kurban Berdyev (until tonight, the only tactician to

get the better of Guardiola in the Champions League this season), saidhe helped beat Barcelona

because I noticed that Xavi and Andrs Iniestakey players in the teamalmost never drop
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back to their own penalty box. Busquets, the left central midfielder was always going to be

drawn to the near side of the goal from a left-wing attack, so Sneijder was probab ly Xavis man.

If Berdyev noticed Xavis positioning in this manner, then its fair to say that Mourinho probablywould have done too, and therefore the Pandev-in-and-Sneijder-out routine may have been a

specific plan.

The second goal saw Barcelona caught out on the break down their weaker left-hand side, as

previously mentioned, whilst the third saw Sneijder again unmarked at the back post in a not

dissimilar fashion to the opening goal. Inter essentially exploited Barcelonas weaknesses verywell indeed.

Diego Milito led the line well

Another feature of the game was how often Barcelona were caught out from balls over thetop.One cannot simultaneously praise Barcelonas integrated pressing throughout the team andalso criticize their tendency to play a high line the two are basically mutually inclusive and itsclearly a risk that Barca feel is worth taking. Inter looked to exploit Barcas high line but didnt

do anything out of the ordinary to try and catch Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol out, they simplytried the ball over the top time and time again: Inter players were caught offside five times in the

opening 25 minutes.

The final period of the game saw both sides revert from their starting XIs to the teams shown inthe previewDejan Stankovic came on for Goran Pandevand there were no goals. Indeed, the

final minutes were rather what we had expected from the outset, a tighter, tenser game

with Barcelona playing the ball around the Inter penalty area hoping for a killer ball, with

Inter threatening mainly on the break.

It should come as no surprise that Gerard Pique played for much of the final ten minutes as anauxiliary forward, despite it being the first leg, for three reasons. Firstly, Guardiola had already


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brought on a defender for a striker and therefore moving a defender upfront made the side no

more defensively open than he had started the game. Secondly, because an away goal in the finalten minutes here would have counted for more than a home goal in eight days time. Thirdly,

because Inter were tired and slightly ragged at the back, and in three weeks time they will quite

possibly play the most Catenaccio-esque football well see in Europe all year.

As for MessiInter didnt do anything special to counter his threat. One player generally

Cambiassostuck to him tightly when the ball was in and around the penalty area, but there wasno specific man-marking duty and he wasnt much of a danger throughout. Ibrahimovic taking

up Messis space did a better job for Inter than a man -marking brief ever could.

A million things to discuss from this game, and the British media narrative will undoubtedly be

Mourinho gets his tactics right and he certainly didbut more crucial was the fact that

Guardiola got his wrong.


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Chelsea 1-0 Barcelona: Chelsea score the

type of goal they were trying to score, and the

type Barcelona were trying to preventApril 19, 2012

The starting line-upsMeireles and Lampard briefly swapped positions

Didier Drogbas goal in first half stoppage time gave Chelsea a surprise victory.

Roberto Di Matteo brought in Raul Meireles, with Salomon Kalou dropping to the bench and

Juan Mata moving wide. David Luiz was injured, so Gary Cahill played at centre-back, andBranislav Ivanovic at right-back.

Pep Guardiola didnt select Gerard Pique, electing to play Adriano at left-back, so Carles Puyolcould play in the centre of defence alongside Javier Mascherano. Andres Iniesta and Cesc

Fabregas both started.


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Chelsea rode their luck and Barcelona squandered chancesbut overall this was a very

disciplined display from Chelsea, and an extremely impressive defensive performance.

Approaches

This was a clash between two clearly contrasting styles. Barcelona, even by their standards, wentfor a ball-hoarding approach. Lionel Messi played much deeper than he usually does, cominginto midfield to help retain the ball. Iniesta, rather than a natural winger, was on the left to give

extra passing quality out wide. Alexis Sanchez was a wide player stretching the play, rather than

inthe centre-forward role hes played in some other big games this season. Guardiola paid

Chelsea a lot of respect with his approach, and though Barcelona had the majority of the ball,this was actually a conservative Barcelona display.

Di Matteo went very defensive from the start. A few sides notably Real Madrid, but alsoMilan

have started off pressuring Barcelona heavily and breaking up their rhythm in the first ten

minutes, with some success. There was no intent to do this from Chelsea tonight they sat back

with three holding midfielders (Frank Lampard barely got into the opposition third and remainedin his position),which was a modification of the previous defensive shape Di Matteo has used.

Ramires was understandably pushed out to the left to track Daniel Alves runs (those two were

once in competition for the right-sided shuttling role Dunga wantedin his Brazil side). Mata was

on the right, not his natural role, but he did OK by keeping things narrow.

Therefore, this wasnt remotely a possession battle. Barcelona were the only side looking to keepthe ball, and the passing totals of 158-754 were pretty much what youd expect.
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Chelsea deep and narrow

Chelseas first task was trying to prevent Barcelona playing through the centre, and force them

out wide. Their approach here was interestingLampard and Meireles flanked Mikel. Lampardstarted on the right with Meireles to the left then they switched, but Meireles kept foulingFabregas, so they switched againbut they were basically doing the same job anyway.

Jon Obi Mikels role was particularly interesting. Usually, in a 4-3-3 / 4-5-1, youd expect thecentral player to be the deepest of the three midfielders (like Sergio Busquets, for example), but

Mikel was often the man to move up the pitch and close down Xavi Hernandez. Lampard and

Meireles would stay quite central, quite tight. When the ball was then moved out wide, Mikelwould drop back and form a line of three again, or sometimes slightly deeper than the other two.

But he very rarely played on his own in front of the defence.

This worked well, and Messi hardly got the ball between the lines. The only time he got a largeamount of space to run with the ball at the centre-backs was late in the first half, when he had

dispossessed Mikel himself and created his own attack (he teed up Fabregas, who shot weakly

and allowed Ashley Cole to clear off the line)forward passes into that zone from Xavi orBusquets were difficult, because Chelsea were packing the zone around Messi.


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In a sense, Mikel was playing something similar to the rolePepe fulfilled in the Clasicos last

seasonbrought in as a central defensive midfielder with a physical presence, but then asked to

move higher up and get into the face of Xavialthough he did it in a more disciplined manner

than Pepe did.

Barcelona struggles

Chelsea were helped by the fact Messi kept coming too deep, and although its clearly a chicken-and-egg situation (as Messi becomes frustrated at the lack of service and drops further and

further from goal to get the ball), Barcelona tend to look weaker when Messi comes in front of

the oppositions holding midfielders. He needs to have faith that the other players can provide a

good forward pass into his feet, even if it wasnt forthcoming in the first half.

Fabregas was given the job of floating around, trying to pick up the ball in small gaps, and burst

through the defence into goalscoring positions. However, his touch and (more obviously)finishing were poor, and too often it was he and Messi trying to beat five Chelsea players (the

two centre-backs and three holders) in central positions. Barcelona were significantly

outnumbered in this zone, and by far their best move of the match, the chance they created forSanchez to hit the bar, came when Iniesta drifted inside and played the pass from between the

lines. The rest of the time he stayed very wide and often tried to dribble past Ivanovic which he

can do, but its not where he is best.
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Overall Chelsea were extremely narrow, helped by the fact that Ramires was on the left and is

excellent at shuttling from inside to out, and also by Matas tendency to drift central.

Chelsea breaks

With the ball, Chelsea only really had two strategies. The first was to hit Drogba early on henearly had a chance by collecting a long ball over the defence from Petr Cech, but he couldntquite control the ball properly. For much of the first half he was frustrating, constantly caught

offside, but this was because Barcelona were trying to squeeze the play even more than usual.

They were afraid of Drogbas aerial power, so were pushing him away from goal.

The second approach was down the left, into the space behind Alves. He is, of course, the most

attacking full-back around, and it should come as no surprise to see him high up into the Chelsea

half. But, in a way, it was something of a surprise Alves can play much more cautiously, and atthis stage last season, when Real Madrid had spent the Clasico mini-series getting Xabi Alonso

to hit long diagonals in behind the full-backs, Guardiola ordered the full-backs to stay as part of a

back four. In a game where Guardiola was taking a cautious approach overall, it was a surprise tosee Alves given so much positional freedomit was a huge change from last years semi-finals:

Look how much Chelsea focused their passing down the left:


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Ramires was always going to be keyhe is both the most energetic and the most vertical player

Chelsea have.It may be an odd comparison, but his role was similar to the one Victor Moses

played in Wigans 2-1 win at Arsenal on Monday nighttracking the full-back up and down, but

being quicker to sprint forward at transitions, and therefore being the main outlet on the counter-attack out on the left. Chelsea continually looked to the left, and though it only worked once, for

Chelseas only shot on target in the entire game, it did the job. (Incidentally,Arsenals winner athome to Barcelona last seasonalso came from the left-winger, Andrei Arshavin, getting free

because Alves was caught in the opposition halfalbeit from a different situation when the ball

arrived from the opposite flank.)

But tiki-taka,as has been noted before, is partly a defensive tactic. By retaining the ball for so

long and keeping so many players in conservative positions, Barcelona were actively trying toprevent Chelsea breaking.Fabregas described them as a counter-attacking side yesterday:

Theyve gone back to the type of Chelsea that was more successful. Playing on the counter,trying to hit the target man, sitting back and using that number nine as a reference pointtheyare a very, very dangerous team. They are like motorbikes now. Faster, quicker to get the ball

forwardwhen I was at Arsenal and now with Barcelona, even thoughwe kept possession, itshard. We would dominate the ball, create chances and then a counter-attack from Didier Drogba

and goalthey have a super-fast counter-attack.
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It shows what Barcelona thought the main threat was. For them to concede such a goal will have

been particularly disappointing for Guardiola, and the positioning of Alves must be questioned.

1-0

Chelsea taking the lead in the first half was key to the rest of the game. Its impossible to be sure,but its a decent bet that had they not gone ahead, they wouldnt have kept a clean sheet. Theyneeded a result to take to the Nou Camp, and at 0-0 they would have pushed the full-backs on

more, probably given more freedom to Lampard, and maybe even have replaced a holder with an

attacker. Barcelona would have enjoyed more space going forward. The comfort of the one-goal

advantage gave them the license to sit behind the ball, with even Drogba coming back andhelping pick up Sergio Busquets late in the second half.

Chelseas unwillingness to come forward was a real problem for Barcelona. Their best moves inthe first half (the Sanchez shot off the bar, the Fabregas shot off the line) came from direct play

through the lines. Here, they couldnt play vertical passes and had to keep moving sideways.

This was a problem because they didnt have natural wingers in the side (Iniesta is a centralmidfielder, Sanchez has spent much of the past two seasons playing centrally), which was why

Guardiola brought on Pedro Rodriguez and Isaac Cuenca , but neither had a great impact.

Chelsea were able to keep their shape throughout Salomon Kalou came on for Mata to

increase their chances on the break, while Jose Bosingwa replaced Ramires (tired, and on ayellow) very late. They relied on a couple of terrible Barcelona misses, but can be pleased withtheir performance without the ball.

Conclusion

Is it better to face Messi and Barcelona with one permanent holding midfielder or two? wasthequestionearlier this week. Chelsea went with three, and were brave enough to give Xavi time onthe ball, with sporadic pressure from Mikel, the central of the three holders. With further

narrowness from the flanks, Chelsea simply packed the centre of the pitch, and Barcelona

seemed surprisingly unable to get through this.

But the importance of the Chelsea goal to the clean sheet shouldnt be underestimated. That gave

them license to park the busboth here, and in the Nou Camp next week.
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Chelseas change in defensive system under

Roberto Di Matteo

April 16, 2012


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Three Chelsea systems without the ball: (a) Villas-Boas' 4-3-3, (b) Villas-Boas' 4-2-1-3, (c) Di

Matteo's 4-2-3-1

The major change at Chelsea under Roberto Di Matteo has been the difference in the wide

positions, stemming from a combination of the change of style, and the change of formation.

Andre Villas-Boas wanted 4-3-3 and lots of pressingtherefore the job of the wide players wasto close down the full-backs, and they defended high up the pitch.

Villas-Boas then started playing withJuan Mata as a central playmaker, but the formationremained more 4-2-1-3 than 4-2-3-1a minor difference, but the wide players were still staying

high up the pitch, even as Villas-Boas went from a heavy pressing game to something more

cautious.

Di Matteos formation, on the other hand, is 4-2-3-1Chelsea are defending with two banks of

four behind the ball, something they havent done for a long time.

With their past few coaches, Chelsea have been used to playing 4-3-3, or 4-3-1-2, or 4-3-2-1, all

of which defend with either a four and a three, or a four and a five, depending on how cautiousthey were playing.

Defending with a second line of four is very unusual for Chelsea, and Di Matteo deserves a lot of

credit for implementing the system so quickly and successfully. Oddly, Di Matteos major

problem at West Brom was the lack of defensive organisation, and Roy Hodgsons job when

replacing Di Matteo was all about getting the side structured without the ball.

The major effect of the change in system is the identity of the wide players. Daniel Sturridge,

who regards himself very much as a forward pushed out wide, rather than a wide midfielder,could work well within the 4-3-3 as he was playing high up, close to goal, and usually receiving

the ball within thirty yards of goal. Now his role has changed completelyit involves

retreating 30-40 yards when the ball is lost, and defensively Sturridge is not particularly adept.

On the other flank, Juan Mata is also no longer quite right for the wide role. This is a different

situationat Valencia he played that role well enough, and hes certainly more defensivelyaware than Sturridge. But a combination of factors(a) his fitness, which has clearly dropped

significantly in recent weeks, (b) the fact hed been used to pressing high up, and now would be

being told to drop deep, and (c) the desire to play him in a central role, perhaps the most

important factorhas meant he also no longer plays on the flank.

Therefore, in Sundays game against Tottenham, it was Ramires and Saloman Kalou who played

in the wide positions. These two are clearly less spectacular players, but both are much moredisciplined and underrated in terms of their efficiency with the ball.Ive written about Ramiresfor the Guardian, but Kalou was also impressive yesterday, and of all the Chelsea players who

could broadly be termed attackers, is probably the most aware tactically.
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There is also now a central midfield two, rather than a three. This is less of a departure from the

4-2-1-3 we saw occasionally under Villas-Boas, though Chelsea are still getting used to playingthis way. Yesterday it was unusual to see John Obi Mikel often briefly higher up than Frank

Lampard when Chelsea didnt have the ball, and that two is now functioning as a unit rather

than with one given the primary defensive responsibilities.

There was a little bit of confusion about how to pick up Rafael van der Vaart in the old 4-3-3,

he would clearly have been tracked by Mikel, the only holder. Now, there has to be morecommunication and improvisation as the opposition number ten varies his position.

How Chelsea will cope with Lionel Messi this week Messi remains to be seen, and its difficult

to work out whether its better to play with two holders or one holder against him. The only timeMessi looks relatively infffective is when he has to come deeper than both men in a double pivot

to pick up the ballas was the casefor Argentina in the Copa America, and for Barcelona in the

Copa Del Rey defeat to Real Madrid last season.

That is probably what Chelsea will be hoping for, which means Di Matteo will ask his doublepivot to play very deep, probably allowing Barcelonas midfielders a lot of time on the ball.
http://www.zonalmarking.net/2011/07/02/argentina-1-1-bolivia-batista-tries-two-systems-but-neither-works-well-as-bolivia-grab-point/http://www.zonalmarking.net/2011/07/02/argentina-1-1-bolivia-batista-tries-two-systems-but-neither-works-well-as-bolivia-grab-point/http://www.zonalmarking.net/2011/07/02/argentina-1-1-bolivia-batista-tries-two-systems-but-neither-works-well-as-bolivia-grab-point/http://www.zonalmarking.net/2011/07/02/argentina-1-1-bolivia-batista-tries-two-systems-but-neither-works-well-as-bolivia-grab-point/

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