Barcelona's Tactics for El Clasico
While Messi has made some
significant progress in his attempted
return from injury, the club needs to
be prepared for the event that Messi
can't start the biggest match of the
season. In that case, Barcelona's
standard 4-3-3 may not be the best
option for the starting XI - and
other options should be investigated.
There's been a lot of positive news
to come out of Barcelona over the
international break. Aside from the
injury scare Sergio Busquets has
faced, the club has had nothing but
very, very good news - including the
great Lionel Messi joining the squad
in full training with less than a
week to go until El Clasico. That's
an incredibly positive thing for the
club, as it provides the best threat
in the world in the biggest match
the club is guaranteed to play in.
There needs to be some
consideration, though, that Messi
may not be capable of starting in
such a big match. After having
missed two months of play, going
from 0 to 100 is going to be a very
dangerous task for the Argentine.
Aside from a potential relapse from
rejoining the game so quickly, the
biggest risk is that Messi simply
won't be ready. Any given match
requires incredible endurance -
endurance that can only truly be
garnered by consistent play.
Unfortunately, that's something
Messi hasn't experienced.
Given the chances that Messi may
need to start the match on the
bench, and be a late-match
dynamic threat, I believe it's
necessary to approach tactical
innovations that will truly give
Barcelona the best opportunity to
shut down Real Madrid . As much fun
as the 4-3-3 has been, it will largely
be ineffective with a player such as
Munir or Sandro manning the right
wing, and their inclusion in the
squad truly just means a better
player must be left out. If that's the
case, I believe that it's necessary to
revisit the idea of formations, as a
whole, in the journey of finding the
best tactical option for the squad.
With Neymar and Suarez in the
squad, and no quality third
attacking option, a two forward
system seems to be ideal. From the
start, the club can look for
variations of a 3-5-2, a 4-4-2, or a
5-3-2. Given the attacking nature of
the players, we can immediately
knock the 5-3-2 out of the
discussion, as well - which gives a
pretty small list of formations that
can (and should) be discussed.
3-5-2
When discussing tactical
formations, it's necessary to find
their inherent advantages and
disadvantages - and how the club is
capable of exploiting them. The first
formation to discuss would be a
standard 3-5-2 - with two pivots,
two wing backs, and an attacking
midfielder. The main advantage
here is the density in defense -
which is why the formation is
widely regarded as the formation of
underdogs. In defense, the wing
backs fall back and form something
of a five-man back-line. The central
defenders are able to smother any
attacks in or near the box while the
wide players are capable of shutting
down the wings.
The biggest disadvantage here is the
lack of width in attack - which
shouldn't be a surprise. If the wing-
backs are busy playing in the
defense, they'll struggle to provide
any sort of quality width in the
attack. They'll never fully be able to
push into the attack, as the wings
would immediately become a threat
for the counter. Given the lack of
wide players anywhere else on the
pitch, the formation immediately
becomes limited horizontally, which
limits the amount of space the
attack can operate in.
Obviously there's a major
advantage in the fact that it pits
Busquets in a position to be
defensive while pitting Iniesta in a
position to control the midfield and
returns Rakitic to his natural
position as an attacking midfielder.
The formation also allows
Barcelona to take advantage of the
fact that they have five very quality
central defenders. The disadvantage
is that it requires Dani Alves to
operate at both ends of the pitch
more frequently - something with
which he already struggles. I believe
Alba would be fine in this role - as
it exploits his stamina and pace -
but the other side of the attack (and
defense would struggle). Given that
most of Madrid's attacks will come
from our right flank, it's not ideal
to use a formation that limits the
effectiveness on that side.
4-4-2
That brings me to the 4-4-2. This is
also a very defensive formation in
nature, though it doesn't force the
squad into a defensive game. There
are a few variations I could see the
club using with this formation.
The first would be the most likely,
with a back-line that reads Alba -
Mascherano - Pique - Alves from
left to right, and a midfield that
reads Iniesta - Busquets - Rakitic -
Roberto, similarly. The natural
wing-backs in the formation allow
both Roberto and Iniesta to take
more central roles while also
providing two players comfortable
playing wide when necessary. As I
mentioned above, this formation
provides more defensive solidarity -
with two solid lines making it tough
for the opposition to penetrate. It
does make it more difficult for the
offense to consistently function,
and it puts two players (Alba and
Alves) that aren't defensive by
nature in very defensive positions.
One adjustment that could be made
is simply removing both wingback
and operating with four astute
defensive players - using a backline
that reads Mathieu - Mascherano -
Pique - Bartra, from left to right,
and replacing two naturally central
midfielders with Alves and Alba.
Realistically, if this were to happen
Rakitic and Roberto would lose
their spot, with a midfield reading
Alba - Iniesta - Busquets - Alves.
That really puts both Alves and
Alba in a great position, as it allows
them freedom in attack with great
coverage in the back-line. The
biggest disadvantage is that it
creates a disconnect within the
squad. The fullbacks essentially
become useless in attack, and limits
the options to just six of the 11
players.
The easy adjustment, from there, is
to combine the two options -
pushing one wing-back forward
into a wide midfield role and
replace him with a more defensive
player. This could either be
accomplished by using Mathieu on
the left-wing in a very defensive
role and pushing Alba as a left
midfielder - subsequently moving
the other midfielders right, and
Roberto out of the starting XI - with
Alves operating as a wing-back, or
vice-versa. Alves could operate as a
wide midfielder (a role he's largely
held when Barcelona hold
possession in Lucho's 4-3-3), with
Alba operating as a wing-back, and
Bartra replacing Alves on the side.
Regardless of how you adjust it, this
is a way for Barcelona to take
advantage of their defensive
numbers while putting players in a
more comfortable position of
operation. From here, it's more of a
question of which style of the third
variation is best for the club - Alba
or Alves operating as the wingback.
To me, the question largely comes
down to which flank is the more
important to constantly have
covered. Given that one of the
flanks will have a defensive
fullback constantly, that side can
stay stuck in - constantly ready to
cut out an attacks down the side -
it's necessary to decide which side
needs to be most astute defensively.
For me, it's more important that
that side be our right side - the one
with Cristiano and Marcelo. Given
that, I would operate Alves as the
wide-midfielder and allow Bartra
to cover the right side the way he
did against PSG.
From there, Alba would act as a
wing-back - allowing Iniesta to take
up a more central role in the attack
and a wider role in defense. It
would allow Busquets to cover the
central defenders, Iniesta to roam
the midfield for space to control the
match, and Rakitic to continue his
box-to-box style that he's thrived in
since joining the Catalan club.
As you can see, it largely ends up
acting as a 4-3-3 in attack, with
Alves operating in half-space, and
the midfield trio returning to
normal. Alba would operate
normally, as well. The only
difference between the normal
4-3-3 and the new formation in
attack is the RB. Instead of Alves
operating like a wingback, and
using an inverted winger on the
right side, Bartra would be a
defensive fullback and Alves would
operate as more of a true winger/
wide midfielder.
In defense, the team drops back
into a standard 4-4-2. The right
side of the defense has very little to
do, given Bartra's lack of necessary
movement, which would allow for
coverage on the left side until
Iniesta and Alba moved back into
position.
While it's unlikely that Enrique will
vary from the 4-3-3 he's so fond of
using, it seems as though this
formation is one of the best options
available. It allows for every player
on the pitch to play a natural style
while limiting weaknesses,
exploiting strengths, and leaving
depth within the squad on all
fronts.
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