Ramzi Rambles: Adrenaline!!!

I CAN SEE YOU!! Barely sitting on that couch, I CAN SEE YOU! having a walk every once and while, then sitting back staring to that box of light, your TV, waiting the game, I KNOW…I know…you feel your stomach getting squeezed so bad that you can barely breath! You are hungry, no matter how much you eat! Don’t worry! You are not a psycho and need no cure, All what you need is …
A GOOD GAME! A VICTORY!!

But first, I’ll make a confession…
In the selection I suggested for Shakhtar game (read here), I picked Sylvinho. Well I strongly believe he is still needed to do that role, but against some middle–to-low teams in the league, not against Shakhtar. I didn’t take – by mistake- the physical demand of the game in account, and that was naïve, they would have crushed him without notice.

Aside of that, after watching the game, I became more confident that using the fresh blood selection suggested, with the roles I had in mind and based on strategic approach including starters and substitutes, would have yield a better performance, better result, and saved more energy.

Now let’s turn the page…

Barcelona – Atletico Madrid

Is one of the Milestones of the season, every game is important, but there are those games that offer you the right test and the realistic indication about where you stand, what you lack, and where you need to improve, if not even deciding the dimensions of your season ambitions.

So, for the importance of the game, allow me to be little bit clinical this time, taking in consideration that we all know the team we are going to face, so unlike Shakhtar, no need to introduce.

Atletico Madrid Selection:
After CL game, it’s not easy to pick a definite selection, especially for a team having a reasonable depth as Atletico, and trained by an ultra versatile coach like Aguirre.

The most likely 4-4-2 selection will be:
Franco, Perea, Ufaljusi, Heitinga, Pernia, Maxi, Assuncao, Maniche, Luis Garcia, Sinama Pongolle and Aguero.

If Aguirre wants to be mean, he may bench Sinama for the first half and play Raul Garcia, he knows that if Barcelona doesn’t score in the first half, they will go crazy, if he watched Espanyol game, he will know what to do.

Barcelona Selection:
After CL…it’s easy to pick the selection…

Valdes, Abidal, Pique, Puyol, Alves, Busquets, Keita, Xavi, Iniesta, Eto'o and Messi.

That’s the selection in principle, more to come.

Atletico Madrid Brief dissection:
Perea: strong and solid, if it will turn to be a physical compact between him and Iniesta, he will make it difficult for our man, but he lacks mobility, that’s where Iniesta can no doubt outclass him while smoking his cigar! Will Aguirre switch him with Ufaljusi? That’s possible but unlikely happening. But he will not be alone anyway; Maxi Rodríguez will be there also. Perea is not a big threat going forward, though he has good shots, which is a trend in Atletico current squad.

Ufaljusi, Heitinga: a strong duo that with time will prove its worth, still not clicking yet, Ufaljusi is a born leader with great abilities to play long balls to the forwards, so the high defense of Barcelona need to be fully aware of that.

Pernia: is almost the opposite of what Perea is! May not be the best fullback defensively – though not a bad one, but his best quality is going forward, plus being a free kick specialist.


Maxi Rodriguez: one of the most complete midfielders when he is in form. This guy knows how to defend, how to distribute the ball, how to cross and he has the wide shots that Valdes needs to expect.

Assuncao, Maniche: while Assuncao will play the holding role, Maniche is having one of his best periods since Euro 2004, he is back to meet expectations, very dynamic, aggressive for the ball and “also” shoots from wide range.

Luis Garcia (or could be Miguel de las Cuevas): the one who will work as a left wing, both of them are skillful enough to link with Kun, and Sinama.

Sinama: what a bad news for Atletico, Forlan injured, but that wasn’t all bad, Sinama is the good news at the beginning of the season, scoring and linking up with the Kun perfectly.

Aguero: after CL game, Marseille Coach, Gerets, paid tribute to Atléti striker Sergio ‘Kun’ Aguero, he said: “We know that Aguero is a phenomenal player, he scores goals that others do not. He is somebody who goes, just at the right moment, behind defenses. I had informed them (his players) of that 25 times and that makes me frustrated… but I cannot kill my defenders.”


Barcelona dissection:
Now I understand the belief that Atletico will play defense that some fans may predict, but Barcelona must not keep anything for chance, and no doubt Pep will instruct his players how to deal with various scenarios, and here is a sample.

Valdes: after a great performance in Champions League, we hope he keep it up and prove being decisive.

Defense:
Being fond of Mathematics since youth days, let me break down my message in two equations:

Marquez + Puyol = troubles.
2 CB+ 2 backwards = troubles.

Those are definite facts for me now.

And lets not let names bluff us, if Puyol played against Shakhtar in Abidal's place, it doesn’t mean he was a third CB, if you watch the game again you will notice he was doing the fullback job going forward more than Abidal ever does.

So that’s the first I expect, three central backs dedicated to their defensive role, as mentioned above, my favorites are Pique, Puyol, Abidal. Yet Caceres may turn to be one of the selection surprises, but I will stick to what is tested for this game.

How to defend?

First, let’s deal with the Aguero case, aren’t we all in need for that?

This guy just loves to penetrate from the week side between the fullback and central back. In this game I can see him working through the right flank of Barcelona, penetrating to the box.

By doing that, he seeks to force Alves to stay back, so he accomplishes a defensive role for his team, and at the same time makes the defense busy so Sinama positions himself where he can finish, and the midfielders position themselves well to take wide shots.

The solution is not through Alves, that will be harmful for Barcelona set offense. When Aguero moves toward to the box edge, its Pique's role to mark him, Alves turn comes when Aguero drop back to the midfield to the right, there is when Alves takes his man, while Pique creates depth on the right, Puyol and Abidal secure things in the middle.

The last card for Atletico on that flank, is to try to confuse the Alves/Pique contribution, through moving Pernia (the left back) forward, hoping to confuse the defense system, but that’s when Messi's defensive contribution start, first by positioning himself on the left flank of Atletico in a way that makes Pernia think twice before leaving his spot and move forward, and if needed tracking the leftward back.

Will Aguero switch to the right? There is no question, he will do for sure! And for that the same system should be applied, involving Keita and Abidal.

Sinama meanwhile must be contained by one of the other two free central backs, while the third creates the depth.

In the midfield, Busquets acts as a midfield sweeper, with Iniesta dropping back as a fourth midfielder, and Alves acting as a fifth, the team has no doubt enough troops to contain the trio Maxi, Maniche and Garcia.

If it happened that Atletico only used one forward (Aguero) with five midfielders, then Pique plays “full deny” marking on Aguero on the right, and Abidal does so on the left, with the other two defenders creating depth, keeping Alves and Keita focused on the midfield battle.

Pressure on Atletico's defense is a must, they make lot of mistakes under pressure, Barcelona needs to work for that.

Offense:
Let’s stick to what works, Alves on the right supported by Messi from deep, Iniesta from the left supported by Keita, and Xavi orchestrating the symphony from the middle.

Eto'o being the wild horse running all around creating spaces for those who penetrate from behind, and you all have the name of Messi in mind right now.

I believe this forward style needs no further explanations, we all know it already, but there are some points Barcelona need to be aware of:

1) Xavi: We hope it never happens, we don’t like it, but it will happen sooner or later, a team Barcelona play against will successfully contain Xavi.

It’s obvious that he is Barcelona maestro, and the one who dictates the tempo – which we lacked in Shakhtar game by the way, and that was one of the hidden nodes that caused that unattractive performance- will that be a disaster? If the team expects it, then it's not at all, unlike last season, and that’s one of the blesses of the new system.

Last season we used to play using Messi on the right, Ronaldinho/Henry on the left and Xavi with Iniesta in the middle, it was a piece of cake to freeze that offence set up, simply the left fullback and left midfielder freeze Messi on the right, the right fullback with right midfielder freeze Henry on the left, the two central midfielders with one dropped back forward deal with Iniesta and Xavi, while Eto'o is locked between two central backs.

This season with Messi playing deep and leaving the right flank for Alves, it'ss not that easy anymore, because to freeze the playmaking process u need to deal with both Messi and Xavi in the middle assisted by Keita – for now till Hleb is back, can you imagine?!- now how many players you need for that?

Man marking will not work anymore, so teams work more with tight zone defense, and through opening the flanks wide using Iniesta and Alves, plus Messi's silky moves and Eto'o's bothering runs, with the hope to see more shots from the edge of the box, this defense system is something Barcelona can deal with, even while lacking the big striker in the box.

2) Positioning of the players to meet the crosses: one of the nice things Xavi mentioned in his interview, is that they are trying to develop more tactics to take advantage of corners, which is a need when you know that at least Barcelona gains ten corners per game.

But what about the crosses? I noticed that all the guys go to the same spot when a cross is made (both defensively and offensively by the way) we need to balance the move to cover both posts and the middle, al what needed is some training, this is attainable.

3) I don’t want to create another debate about positions, I am already exhausted after months of debate regarding how good Iniesta can be on the wing, so I will hit my note and run! I would like to see Toure playing the Keita role while Hleb is missing.

4) To make sure he gains the midfield playmaking dominance, Pep may decide to play Iniesta in midfield again, and use Henry on the wing, don’t be surprised if it happened, I am not so excited about that idea, but there is certainly a point if it happened.

5) Fatigue: Barcelona players had a very difficult week with two demanding games played already, but hey! Atletico had there fair share of that mess, played two highly demanding games. Even when it comes to injuries we have Hleb and long term Milito, they have Simao and Forlan, so let's skip that factor aside.

6) Free kicks: Alves hold your stick in the field, no one else dares to take it! Even my beloved Xavi :)

Finally regarding Pep Guardiola, I recommend that we resist getting addicted to whipping ourselves, it's boring now to keep saying this team needs time, but hey! It’s already going good, five wins in a row, lot of people haven’t expected that!

He was lucky? Well as a person who doesn’t consider luck being a daily loaves, I suggest that we make a decision, either to believe that the lightning never strikes the same place twice (his substitutes seems to work all the time), so we give him the credit, or we consider it all for luck – the win and defeat - so let's stop analyzing so we all go to spend our time with praise, and if it didn’t work, don’t blame Pep, its just bad luck.

I vote for offering the guy his fair chance, I suggest that you visit the following webpage, it may inspire how dodgy beginnings may lead to glory if given time and patience even though Pep beginning is quite promising so far, knock here and get in.

Enjoy the game, and good luck!