Roads Leading to Rome (part 3)

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Ramzi ContributionsRoads Leading To Rome, Part2Roads Leading To Rome, Part1Messi Free, Winning Dynamics RoadMap to titles,Trible? Part4:Do we buy? Fabregas Part3:Do we buy? DefenderPart2:Do we buy? GoalKeeperPart1:Do we buy?Transfer GuidelineCrush the busChampion's Luck CL Draw:Inter One More down, next?el clasico the essence of Spanish footballEl Clasico, what’s beyond Kicking the ballBarcelona and laws of powerFacing The BatsGuardiola's favorite not fans'Lets march to victoryTotal FootballFinal CountdownA kick on The KneeA Trap in The shadowWill December be The decider?Barcelona vs Basel,The perfect result!A Ramble in BaselDAVID VS GOLIATH?A new Day has come 3A new Day has come 2A new Day has come 1Adrenaline!!!Call me crazy!The Ramzi report: Espanyol

In the First part we discussed more the nature of Champions' league, the kind of challange it require, and we started to figure out where Barcelona stand at the moment.

After a break in the Second Part with some of the consepts involved in nowadays football universe, we bounce back in this part to continue discussing things Barcelona needs to improve to enhance champions' league hopes.

We didn’t solve the “Counters' Blind Tunnel” we create when we move forward.

Thats a defect in our system: when we move forward, we create a three central backs line, one defensive midfielder, while the rest of players move to serve the offense operations in and around the box. The first clear return of this structure is the space created between our midfielders on the edge of the box and our defenders stepping on the midfield line. That’s more than (30m X 68 m) area where we only have one player – defensive midfielder- to cover. If the defensive midfielder moved closer to the offense operation lines, he will be able to gain the middle range opponent clearance. Yet, a long range clearance may catch the defensive midfielder out of position. It gets worse if we play Marquez and Pique together as Central Backs, or if we miss Abidal. Abidal is the only proved defender who has enough pace to catch a counter that pass the highly positioned defense on the edge of the Midfield line. Puyol also has the fighting spirit to create a cover as well, to some extend.

During the group stage, the defense weakness was completely covered by our offense brilliance. To give a clear idea about how fragile our system make us when we face the counters, this is a short report:

In our group we had to play against:

Sporting: so far in the third place in Portugal league.
Shakhtar:Fifth in Ukrain league.
Basel: Second in switzerland league.

Keep all that in mind, because thats far from the kind of clubs we will meet in knock out stages.
I will avoid pointing on our rank defensively based on the other teams reaching the knock out stages, because most of them had a more difficult teams to play against in knock out stages, yet they conceded less goals, most of them at least.

Instead I will compare our defense to the defense of the other teams in our group. Even though they played a more conservative games against us but the numbers show an unexpected sign:

- Basel and Shakhtar (together) failed to score any goal against Sporting in 4 games played home and away. They scored 2 goals in 3 games against barcelona, 5 goals in 4 games if you take the last game against Shakhtar in consideration.

- Basel and Sporting scored 3 Goals in Shakhtar net in 4 games, they scored 4 goals against Barcelona in 4 games.

- Sporting and Shakhtar scored 10 goals against Basel in 4 games, they scored 4 in 3 games/7 goals in 4 games including the last game barcelona Played against Shakhtar.

This is a very direct comparison. It shows that even though our offense forse the opponent to get squeezed in their own area, the opponents are still finding it relatively easier to score against Barcelona than scoring against each other. Only our scoring machine upfront covered this defect. But it will not be the case against those who are better than third,fifth and second in their own leagues.

CASE STUDY:

As a living scenario, I will pick Man Utd (the current champions of the world), and imagine their coach playing a 4-3-2-1 at the Nou Camp. Four defenders plus three Defensive-midfielder-like players to create the defensive Bus, with the trio Tevez-Ronaldo-and Rooney rotating for the three other roles (yes I dropped Berbatov). Giving the instructions for Ronaldo to run through Alves Territory, and instructing Rooney or Tevez to stay close to Barcelona deepest defender while the third player with his high work rate bark for any cleared ball, racing the wind for it. The first result is the insecure feeling Barcelona will get when Alves move forward while Ronaldo positions himself on the right. We cant afford losing Alves in the offense operations, so one central defender will have to move wide to cover the right flank. One marker without support will not be enough so: either our defensive midfielder take Ronaldo in the midfield- unlikely because it leaves the field empty, or the other Defenders will be forced to create depth in case Ronaldo passed the fake right back. Moving the backline deeper will enlarge the space between backline and the rest of the team, while keeping them on the midfield line means getting beaten by the Man Utd trio pace in the counter. With the absence of sufficient cover infront of our defense, the opponent counters will be too fast for the midfielders transition to take place. Result? Man Utd defense clear the ball to the empty space mentioned above, a Man utd player receives it and plays it to the other empty space between our defense and Goalkeeper, then a race between Pique-Marquez and Ronaldo-Rooney/Tevez for the ball. Keeping in mind that Valdes is not the best libero-Keeper you can think about.
Before Betis game, it was understandable that some barcelona confident fans will find this scenario as "Unlikely". Watch Betis counters and you will definitely know what I mean.

This case study brief most of the alerts covered in this article. The solution is the mixed of everything discussed, we need to approach the champions’ league knock out stages as it needs, not as we succeeded to do in the liga. May be considering two defensive midfielders as a must for any tactical structure we apply in the Champions’ league will be a good start. At least after we pass Lyon. Last season, I was calling for a three players in the back when the team move forward instead of giving the two backwards the instructions to attack. It is happening this season when needed, we have more balance in the team this way and I like it! Now my new call is to have two defensive midfielders in front of our back when we play out of home in the Champions'. Let a combination of five players from the panel of Messi, Alves, Xavi, Iniesta, Gudjhonsen, Hleb, Bojan, Eto’o and Henry move forward squeezing the opponent box with no concerns. Noting that having two defensive midfielders is not less lethal at offense than the system currently applied. I can assure you its even more productive and generate more scoring opportunities, because we Barcelona fans know it well: dominate the game, and then enjoy your victory.

The Two legs Approach:

When I question our system compatibility with the Champions' league needs, I do not mean its less powerful. But the Champions' league force you to install more elements in your Game management. For example, your approach to the first leg game away from home must take the following in consideration:

- If you will play the second leg at home. you don't need to be so obsessed to finish the opponent away. All what needed is to come back home with a result that will make your life easier.

- When you play abroad, time is on your side. No need to rush to crush! Let the opponent feel they are running out of time, they need to score or else! Then you will hunt the result you are seeking.

- Keep being loyal to Barcelona Philosophy about earning back the ball fast, and dominating possession. Scoring will come as an unavoidable outcome of dominating the opponents at their homes.

You need to make sure the opponent do not score early. Dominate the possession (pst!Control the midfield) . Then you get advantage of their need to score a goal opening spaces at the back and you generate fast counters. Our Classical tactics of 4-3-3 do not serve these objectives. It either win you the game or throw you out of the Champions' league. One of the recommended tactics goes as follow:

This is one sample of possession+Counters strategy. A 4-2-2-2 can also be another option, where Messi play on the free role around the striker, with two midfielders and two Defensive midfielders behind. What I like about the one represented above is that it pulls the opponent out of their area, or else their stadium fans will put more pressure on them to get a good home result. It creates more spaces in the opponent half. It will insure that you dominate the midfield, and the match in return. And with fast counters you can score at least once, while the opponent will find no spaces to generate counters. The star on the right top show where I believe most of the game will be played. I don't think we will have to go deep in our half that often. Barcelona players are well known for being able to earn back the ball fast, and With this structure it will get faster. The red Zone show the area where we are fragile when we use our classical 4-3-3 as shown in the last frame of the animation to compare. Instead of having one player to cover your back(classical approach), this way you will have two, and without damaging Barcelona offense power. you do not need More than Messi-Iniesta-Xavi-Alves-Eto'o/Henry combination to move forward and hunt goals when you play outside Catalonia.

The impact of the domestic status of the opponents in their Champions’ league adventure.

This is a very important factor. The previous factors focus more on our own situation, but the opponent situation while approaching the game against Barcelona is as important. If we consider Italy, England, Germany and Spain as the main threats for us in this competition, we need to keep an eye on how things are going in the respective leagues. The more competitive it is, the better opportunity we will get to knock our opponents out of Champions’ league battle.

The Premier League: Man Utd may create a margin at the top of the premiership before heading to the Champions’ league semi Finals, especially after sacking Big Phill at Chelsea and the flu Benitez suffers from before every premiership match leading him to another bunch of weird decisions. The question is: Will Chelsea and Liverpool keep fighting for the second place till the end? Though it may not has the same energy-sucking impact on their CL chances. Aston Villa is the good news, if they can keep the pace with Liverpool, Chelsea, and Arsenal then they can keep the big three alerted to continue fighting domestically for next year European competition seats till the end.

The new Chelsea coach makes them more dangerous in the Champions' league. My only doubt about him is that he never succeed with teams having Mega stars in their squads. Other wise, he is a tactical genius!

Man Utd are always dangerous, they have the squad and they have the coach who know how to manage and prepare his team for the big games, nothing they need more.

Liverpool Coach is a cup games expert, so there is no way you can exclude them, While winning back the injured players will make Arsenal a different team than what we have seen up till now.

Serie A: Roma will fight for the European seat till the end, while Milan is our hope to keep Juventus and Inter busy competing for the domestic title. Its a Priority for Inter to win the champions' -may be over winning the league. If Milan and Juventus failed to keep pace, they will be a team to beat. Juventus and Roma? You never know! when they ae in their good days they can beat any team.

La Liga: I believe Barcelona will end up creating the relaxing margin-yea I heard about the last draw. If Villarreal, Sevilla and Valencia kept on dropping points and losing form, they will secure the second place for Real Madrid. I think no matter how it goes the Champions’ league will be Real Madrid priority. More about our own Domestic Competitions status, beside the impact of Knock stages Draw on the club opportunity to win the Champions league, you can find in RoadMap to Titles:Trible?

Bundesliga: TSG Hoffenheim, good luck!

Though the impact of domestic games may not look crucial, but in the champions’ league every little detail counts, including the fact that close hard domestic competitions end up increasing the fatigue and injuries, if you know what I mean.

I am a believer in Barcelona chances to reach the final, to the extend that I am planning to be there if it happens – that’s if I succeeded to hunt a seat this time…- but if this article weavers some of your confidence that we will definitely be there, if you feel stressed, worried and uncertain. Now you are in the right state of mind and heart to enjoy the adventure of Champions’ league knock out stages.
Thats My saying regarding Barcelona challenge in the champions' league, now the stage is all yours.

Ramzi Tanani