Asked about the opening goal in last weekend's game against Recreativo Huelva, Barcelona assistant coach Tito Vilanova has confirmed to Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia that the team had worked on the free kick during training:
"We had practised that move a lot and we also had a secret sign. Actions like that aren't about one player, others have to mislead the defenders or have to position themselves well. You have to coordinate the movements of five or six players.
Coordinating your players is already hard work and that still doesn't mean that the opponent falls into the trap. Against Valladolid we also tried something at two corners but it didn't work. You also shouldn't use them if you don't really need them. If we would have been winning against Recreativo, we wouldn't have tried it. You shouldn't waste those actions.
The inspiration can come from everywhere. Every game serves. For the Recreativo move, we remembered a goal that Barcelona B made last season in the fourth division. But it doesn't matter, even a Russian league game can be a source of inspiration. We watch the movement and if we like it and it has its worth, we start to work on it.
We notice that the players are enthusiasic about it. Players like Márquez, Touré, Xavi and others are happy with having more options at set pieces, although we don't always have enough time to practise them. Sometimes we have to focus more on working the passing rhythm or tactical issues, which leaves us less time than we would want for the set pieces.
The set pieces are also the result of video reports that contain tens of actions of the opponent. Some have almost hundred actions that are later filtered to show the squad only a small part. They see around twenty of them. The first work is done by staff members Carles Blanxart and Domènec Torrent, they separate the material: tactical issues at one hand and set pieces at the other.
When preparing a game, we try to watch and analyze three or four games of the opponents. I watch all of them, sometimes together with Pep, sometimes with Juan Carlos Unzué. The minimum is the last two games of the rival team and if there's time, we watch some more."
Watch the video of the Recreativo game:
Saturday, 22 November 2008
Barcelona working hard on set pieces
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4 comments:
Indeed a very interesting article. Its always good to know how teams come up with these ideas. Many 10x Pep.
Definitely it was a pre-arranged move, Thats what I call football management!
yes!!!better than frank...am not saying he is not good but he doesnt have clue esp. during the last 2 years.
Our corner tactics are still somewhat predictable. We've gone from 'find Marquez's head' before to our 2 strategies now:
1. Everyone distract the keeper and defenders to go to the far post then sneak Marquez to the near post for a flick on.
2. Corner out to the top of the box and while the defenders are pushing the line up and everyone is running to get on side, sneak 1 person into the box and lob it to him.
We need to mix things up even more if we want these 2 tactics to be a little more successful. After the few goals in the beginning of the season we've stopped scoring goals from corners as teams have adjusted.
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