Barça B: The tactical flexibility of the second team

author: Jaume Marcet
source: fcbarcelona.cat





Luis Enrique tried last weekend against Alcoyano succesfully a different tacical system than the normal one. Barça Atlètic defeated the leader with an unusual 4-4-2 that satisfied the Asturian coach.

The normal system used by the teams of Barcelona's youth academy, as well as by the team of Luis Enrique is the same as the one of the first team: the 4-3-3 that the club has made its own over the last decades. This tactical system was first used by Johan Cruijff in the 1993-1994 season as an alternative for the classic 3-4-3. Since then, coaches like Van Gaal, Rijkaard or Guardiola have used it in the majority of the games.

It's a starting line-up that allows you to have an ideal positioning of the players on the pitch when you want to dominate the game, have ball possession and attack during most part of the match. Luis Enrique, the coach of Barcelona Atlètic, has naturally taken up this ideological and tactical legacy and from his first game he used this 4-3-3. The Asturian coach nevertheless understands that there aren't dogmas and that every football view should be flexible. That's why, starting from the basic system, Luis Enrique has tried two alternatives.

When the team needed to take risks and attack, he used a 3-4-3, a system that became famous because of being the system used by the "Dream Team". You give up one defender but you strengthen the midfield. But there are other types of games, in which the technical staff of the second team prefers to have more people in midfield given the conditions of the pitch and the opponent. That was the case last Saturday in Alcoy, where Barça Atlètic played with an unusual 4-4-2.

Apart from the four defenders and the three natural midfielders, the tactical change consisted of pulling back Jeffren from his position as right winger to the position of attacking midfielder in front of the three other midfielders. This left two players up front, Maric and Benja, who played together for the first time. On a small pitch and with an opponent who played very directly, the tactical plan of the second team proved to be very effective since the players of Luis Enrique didn't have to play with an inferiority in midfield and could take advantage of the weak points of the opponent's defense with two classic centre forwards like Beja and Maric.

At the press conference after the game, Luis Enrique explained the reasons for the tactical change of his team: "Our normal system is 4-3-3, and we even play 3-4-3 sometimes, but we can also play 4-4-2 or other systems. It's necesary to adpat to the circumstances of the pitch, the opponent and your won playing style. I like the idea that the other coach doesn't know how we will play. We can use different systems and be as effective."

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