Friday 13 March 2009

Iniesta, Left or Center?



Being the hot topic of the week, I think it’s a good time to raise the issue of Iniesta Role in the team. where can he help the team more this season, as a midfielder or as a Left wing?

For the start, there are some points to make clear before getting in-depth:

The Henry/ Iniesta rotation on the left offered us lot of possibilities. Henry usually takes the Left wing seat in the selection, while he plays more as a second striker. Iniesta plays on the left wing, but at the same time while working on the offense build up, he still have the midfielder genes that helps him a lot to link with his team mates in the field, and generate assists. None of them has to be the one and only option. It depends on the games played. The same as Henry must not be considered only as the striker who take the left wing position. We also need to see more Henry as a striker in Eto’o place, with Iniesta on the left wing.

One of the reasons of the drop in form we passed through is that we limited and squeezed our options in some positions. That’s why, while discussing the Iniesta case, I will pass on the methods we can apply to enrich our options and show more depth in the squad. The following months are the most important and we need to learn lessons from the past.

We all know that Iniesta can play on the left AND the center, based on every game needs. This is not the case. The question is: While we are seeking balance between performance and effort to keep our players as fresh as possible till the end of the season, where can Iniesta serve the team most?

To go directly to the point-too late: in some games where possession is a priority, the Xavi + Iniesta partnership is a must. yet, I still believe Iniesta makes the team better when he plays on the left. May be it’s a wrong time for me to raise this issue. The team started to perform well, and it happened to be when Xavi and Iniesta are running the show in the midfield. I think if I mentioned this last summer (and I actually did and no one complained), or may be after our first game against Numancia it would have been better. Simply because the partnership didn’t click back then. But here is my reasoning for preferring Iniesta the wing, over Iniesta the midfielder. Noting that when I say Keita as a third midfielder, its also applied for the other options there, based on the game played. So here we go:

1) Shallow Non-symmetric structure: Having Henry on the left wing and Iniesta as a midfielder creates a system chaos in a way. If Iniesta stick to his midfield role, we play without a left wing. Henry will be cutting into the box too often as a forward. Thats where and how he helps the team most. Instructing Iniesta to move to the left when Henry cuts inside means you will only have Xavi at the center and with only Yaya behind him. Messi cover up for that offensively when he cut inside helping Xavi with ball distribution and penetration. But when the ball is lost and dropped or cleared behind the offense line we create on the edge of opponents box, then: counter counter!


2) Cannibalization: it’s a system analysis, Marketing and project management expression. I tried to explain it using my own words, but then I found on Wiki a great explanation and here it is:

"Cannibalization is when companies, particularly retail companies, open outlets too close to each other. Much of the market for the new outlet could have come from the old outlet. The potential for cannibalization is often discussed when considering companies with many outlets in an area, such as Starbucks or McDonald's.

In project evaluation, the estimated profit generated from the new product must be reduced by the earnings on the lost sales." (Wiki)

In english it means: having players on the field who eat from each others Role. With Iniesta + Xavi in midfield, Henry + Eto'o in the crouded box, we actually have lot of that. For sure Xavi plus Iniesta is better than Xavi alone. But if Xavi Added value to the team is (A), and Iniesta added value is (A), then Xavi + Iniesta added value in the midfield is not (2A), it’s (1.5 A). Some may think we upgraded the midfield with half an (A) having iniesta there, while we actually lost half of the (A) added value that Iniesta can inject in the team if he played little further than Xavi and in a different role, like left wing. You get an (A) in midfield (Xavi) and another (A) on the left wing (Iniesta). I believe thats a bigger loss than benching one of the strikers, using a third midfielder who add physical balance in that department, and starting Iniesta to attack the left flank of the opponent.

3) Resources management - 1: In our case here, it’s important to see the added value of Iniesta in the midfield, his added value on the left wing, then compare. Iniesta is a player any team will die to get and hire to orchestrate the ball distribution. No doubt. But isn’t he too good to be employed as "an outlet" for Xavi? From the left flank he showed almost every time he played there that he can lead the team from the left to the box and take the game on his own. As much as I believed at the beginning of the season that he can play as a left wing, against all odds back then, I also believe he can actually score many goals through being a left wing. He proved it when he reached his peak and before he got injured. At least Iniesta penetration from the left with Keita running to the box can score enough goals to cover the loss of goals that may happen if we benched Henry, or played him in Eto’o position.

If you can have a Messi-type player on the left (Achievable), why will you give up on that to drag him to serve as a Xavi outlet? You need an outlet, start Hleb, believe it or not he can do the passing passing passing thing beside Xavi. Start Keita, Gudjhonsen or the best option for the future of that position, Busquets. And put on the left a player who can dribble two defenders while moving the ball in a 2 cm space near the baseline (remember?). A player who can open the field. And instead of playing beside Xavi who is suffering from a crowded defense in the center, play him on the left to stretch the defense wide. Thats how the midfield will be less crowded for Xavi to operate.

Xavi is the best playmaker in the world, he is not easy to contain. It may sound practical to have Iniesta as a distribution assistant beside him but it sounds more practical to create the playmaking Chain I mentioned once before: Alves on the right, Messi cutting inside the box from the path between Xavi and Alves to get advantage of the space made by Henry or Eto'o, and Iniesta on the left with Keita between Iniesta and Xavi Crushing into the box to catch opponent defense with surprise and dropping back to play beside Yaya when needed.

Possession is a key principle in Barcelona Ideology, that’s well known. But there is another principle that is as important, but rarely discussed: Stretching the field wide. You cant focus on one principle and neglect the other, the whole system will collapse.

4) Resource Management - 2: Lets take Barcelona selection in the game against Lyon and imagine it didn’t click for a reason or another (this is football u know?), Lyon parked a bus and we failed to score for the first 60 minutes. What are the options we had on the bench as "game changing" cards? Who are the added values for offense? The 19 years old unused Bojan?

Coaches always need to put themselves in the position of keeping control on the game destiny, not to throw all the cards and wish wish wish and pray for luck. When you reach the second half and everyone is tired (Both teams), getting Eto'o into the game from the bench to run over the opponent exhausted defense can change the game. Same for Henry, or Iniesta. But when you have them all on the field, then the ones you install from the bench during the game are not better than the ones you already employed in the start up selection.

Its not easy to explain it, but its a deciding factor in football. its about the strategic approach you plan for the game, not just the tactics and selections you start with. And it includes lot of "what if? What if? What if?..." the more of them you have and know the answer for, the more you will be seen as a coach who master reading the games. Now without being critical, how many times the team was passing through troubles and we ended up only making one substitution at most? Guess why...

5) Resources Management - 3: Based on the points mentioned above this is another way to show more depth in your squad. It’s like the cheque’ financial role of showing the presence of more liquidity in the market than there is for real.

Employing Iniesta in the midfield means having only one big performer to serve on the left wing (Henry), and it block any possibility for other options in midfield. The depth of the squad Auto-squeeze. Make a slight change in the way the system function to activate the options available, and here you are!

In another hand, Keep some key players out if you can (and with the quality of our players we always can). Start Bojan-Eto'o-Messi against Almeria for example, with Yaya- (Busquets/Gudi/Keita/Hleb/Ramzi...) and Xavi as midfielders. you think this is not a good enough line up to win? Excuse me! They definitely are! They are better than any other team start up selection in the liga.

I know we can use better selections, but this way you have Henry and Iniesta among others on the bench. Not only as winning cards but also to save some batteries for what comes later. We were rotating at the beginning of the season even when the team lacked chemistry. Lot of fans were critical and demanded fixed selection. Hopefully Guardiola can overcome public opinion pressure, and -most importantly - the players ego and return to the policy that he knows its a need for the team. We needed to get back the balance after the shaky performance in recent weeks, now back to the basics!

6) Efficiency: by description, it’s the ratio of the useful energy delivered by a dynamic system to the energy supplied to it. If our system does not work unless if the best of the best of the world wide players are installed in, then this system is screwed. Why will you need a system if its solely based on individuals collective effort and not on the synergy created by the entire group? I don’t think our system is that dummy. It is definitely flexible enough to blind the potentials diversity of all our players in a well customized package. Injecting the less vital players in the mix for the starting up roles, if with the right doses, earn u results and keep you fresh.

Most importantly, efficiency in football also means to measure the amount of effort burned in the game to get a result. The system with lot of back and forth transitions already killed us before. We all enjoyed the beginning of the season when players were leaving traceable marks on every field they invaded back and forth, pushing themselves to the edge. But we didn't notice the amount of biological fuel that style demands, till the players' bodies screamed the "enough is enough" complain.

Now we are little more fresh than two weeks ago, we need to learn from the mistakes and do better in that mean. Keita/Busquets who drop back when needed to act as a gap filler behind Xavi and beside Yaya will serve this goal. It decrease the space the rest of the offense need to run through while switching between offense and defense. They will be closer to the opponent area, which means a better offense return, and less defense effort. Thats a kind of total quality management. So the player we install in the midfield for doing the dirty job actually enhance our offense. Iniesta can do it as well? Well...do we really need to exhaust our most skillful players to do the job that demand physical effort, while we have players who are physically better?

7) Seeking perfection: Having Iniesta in the midfield and Henry on the left, is a very rigid structure that is hard to customize during the game, based on the match conditions. To give you an idea about what that means let me pick the other option and explain its mobility:

-- Yaya Keita Xavi in midfield plus Iniesta on the left:

a) Iniesta on the left already create an outlet for Xavi, but instead of being an outlet between Xavi feet so they bounce on each other, he is a wide outlet whom the opponent defense get stretched to track.

b) If Xavi needed serious help in the midfield, assuming that Messi -keita-Yaya help was not enough, its easy for Iniesta to hurry for help dropping to the middle but just as often as needed to operate the game, then he bounce back to do his job. based on the previous cannibalization analysis, this way u get Xavi(A) in the center+ Iniesta(A) playing on the left +Iniesta (0.5A) assisting in the middle when needed.

c) While dominating the game, Iniesta on the left and Alves on the right stretch the opponent defense, making it less crowded for Xavi in the center, more lethal for Keita to run into the less compact Box to meet Iniesta and Alves crosses and create more gaps for Messi to penetrate through.

d) During the game we felt a need for more cover because the defense is little bit shaky at a certain period, no problem! Keita move to play as a second Defensive midfielder beside Yaya till things are more settled. More dominance in the midfield needed? just ask for it! Keita +Yaya as defensive midfielders, Iniesta+ Xavi attacking midfielders, Messi on the free role around the striker (Henry or Eto'o). Things going fine, we go the opposite way regarding the midfield-offense structure:2-2-1-1--->1-2-3.

Now imagine the team applying that. In one year from now the switching between the mentioned scenarios will become a second nature for the players. So the group systematic work will make us play a water like tactical structure that keep reshaping itself during the game based on the on-time needs. Now who can contain that? No team in the whole world!

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For those who like Statistics (something I am not the best with), here is a report summarizing Iniesta status in the liga till now.

A) Iniesta games on the left:

Betis Sevilla-Barcelona 2-2
Santander-Barcelona 1-2
Barcelona-Mallorca 3-1 (Iniesta entered the game Min 66 and scored a goal Min 75)
Malaga-Barcelona 1-4
Athletic-Barcelona 0-1
Barcelona-Atletico 6-1
Espanyol-Barcelona 1-2
Barcelona-Betis 3-2
Sporting-Barcelona 1-6
Barcelona-Santander 1-1 (entered in the 39 th minute)

Briefing: 10 games- GF 30 goals (3 goals per game), GA 11 goals (1.1 goal per game) , gathered 26 points out of 30 points available 87%.

B) Iniesta games in the center:

Barcelona-Athletic 2-0
Barcelona-Sporting 3-1
Barcelona-Numancia 4-1
Barcelona-Almeria 5-0
Numancia-Barcelona 1-0

Briefing: 5 games- GF 14 goals (2.8 goals per game), GA 3 goals (0.6 goals per game) , gathered 12 points out of 15 points available 80%.


C) Without Iniesta(someone else in the midfield with Henry on the left):

Atlético-Barcelona 4-3
Barcelona-Espanyol 1-2
Barcelona-Deportivo 5-0
Osasuna-Barcelona 2-3
Villarreal-Barcelona 1-2
Barcelona-Real Madrid 2-0
Barcelona-Valencia 4-0
Sevilla-Barcelona 0-3
Barcelona-Getafe 1-1 (henry entered the game min 55)
Recreativo-Barcelona 0-2
Barcelona-Valladolid 6-0

Briefing: 11 games- GF 32 goals (~3 goals per game), GA 10 goals (~1 goal per game) , gathered 25 points out of 33 points available 76%.


You can do your conclusions based on the data listed above. There is one important thing I wanted to point, and it is related to section (C), its not true that we need Iniesta in the midfield simply because the other options sucks. It is obvious that with the other options in the midfield beside Xavi, we played the most difficult games this season we scored the same rate of goals and if you neglect the last two games played with this status against Atletico and Espanyol where the whole team had a drop in form so its not fair to hook it on the third midfielder, you will easily find that:

In the previous 9 games, the team: Scored 28 goals (3.1 goals per game), GA 4 goals ( 0.44 goals per game), Gathered 25 points out of 27 points possible 92.6 %

So Allow me to stick to what i wrote long time ago about: Guardiola favorite, not the fans'

When I show dissatisfaction, it’s not because we are not good, or very good, or very very good. But because I believe this team can seek perfection, creating a different level of football, that had never been witnessed before.

Ramzi Tanani

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

I will read it later (thanks for brightening up my train travels every once in a while, Ramzi), but just my first thoughts on the issue:

1. I like Iniesta a lot on the left, he has done great there this season. He's more dangerous in one-on-one than Henry which mean that he can give some live to that left wing and offer the team some variation, rather than always using Alves-Messi on the right. Now most teams only have one guy on Henry and use three to cover Messi, so Messi also benefits if Iniesta plays on the wing. Of course Henry scores so much more the last months, so it's a risk to play Iniesta over Henry cause you lose a lot of goalscoring.

2. I like Iniesa better in midfield this season although you see that Xavi isn't that present when he's there. Which is normal, but still.

And finally 3. Why is Hleb never used in midfield by Guardiola???

Dan R said...

i will probably never read this, cuz this season is too nerve racking... let alone the last game! (This football shit can cause a cardiac arrest i tell you!), i don't need it to overload my brain too!
but keep 'em coming!

Anonymous said...

he is briliant!

Anonymous said...

Ramzi i always like your articles and I must say something that honestly mean, why don't you go to some traing to become a coach, although u don't need one. U would make a perfect second coach at Barca I am more than sure.

Great, great analyzes...

kamikaze kontiki said...

Great presentation of the points too. Couldn't agree more Ramzi!(Surprised?) And I think on this one going by Guardiola's selections I would say that he agrees too (He better, I am shit scared we will go into games with Liverpool/Chelsea/Man U which will test our endurance without any options on the bench).


Interesting though that the stats show we have conceded goals at a lesser rate with Iniesta in midfield. Would like to see the possession stats for these games too. Maybe there is some sort of correlation: Above 70% possesion = less goals conceded.

Anonymous said...

I am yet to read this as I am @ work (close in 1 hrs time). But Ramzi rumbles are gr8. Wld read it if can still see when I get home (BEER)... As far as the topic says, I would have Ini in the midfield, depending on the opposition. If its a hard to break dwon team (EPL) i would have him on the LF and use to holding midfielder - Yaya and Busq. If its an "easy team, I can use him with Yaya and Xaxi.. nothing do us

Anonymous said...

with all my respect to u mister ramzi but i disagree totally with. i prefer iniesta on the midfield for several reasons:
1-iniesta can dribble in midfield and he adds fluidity in midfield that we don't have when playing keita,yaya,busquets,gudi whom r all rigid players not good in 1 on 1 situation.
2-inista never forgets his defensive duty.he defends a lot and acts sometimes as a DM when needed on counters.
3-iniesta doesn't score the way henry do.remember his goals against lyon athletico.that would never happen with iniesta on the left.
4-u want to bench a great player like henry who is at his peak right now and scoring goals 4 the team.he will lose his confidence in himself and the critics will start to surfass again and he will not change the course of the game as a super sub.
5-iniesta said that his preffered position is midfield and i am sure he knows better than u where he should play.
6-and this A's and B's thing is useless.football is not mathematics.my father always told me 'the ball have no god'.it means that football is changeable,its not constant.
7-we have a manager whose name is pep guardiola so we can all rest catalans.




i cotradict a lot with u ramzi.u made many mistakes sorry.

Anonymous said...

Without Iniesta:

Villarreal-Barcelona 1-2
Barcelona-Real Madrid 2-0
Barcelona-Valencia 4-0
Sevilla-Barcelona 0-3
Lyon too.

Toughest games with Thierry having his best games. It would be madness to drop him for Iniesta.

Anonymous said...

you got a lot going on in this article ramzi but i actually managed to get through this one. luckily the boss's are out of the office ;^). i dig your "cannibalism" analogy & i think stretching out the midfield to let xavi do his thing is exactly what we need to do. i think the best way to do that would be with a left-footed player on the left side, whether that be in midfield or up top. i'm for buying silva and rotating between 1)having him on the left wing(sorta like luis enrique back in the day) & iniesta hanging around in the center & 2)iniesta up top with keita alongside toure if a game has already pretty much been killed off or barca needs a little more muscle in the middle.

Ramzi said...

Thanx for Patient reading guys.

Granche:noubarca promised to make me the coach when he become Barcelona president, we will see :) On a serious note, thanx for appreciation, and I'm working on my coaching studies, though barcelona is still a very far objective for me to target.

Kami: In the section (c) without the two mentioned games, you will notice a contradiction. Beside you need to take in consideration number of away games and the number of games at home, between the two options (Center and left).

Tarek: your Father is right and football is not pure math, thats why there are more than one way to see things and all respected.
Same as Iniesta, Henry always say that he prefer to play as a striker:) We do whats the best for the team and the players are disciplined enough to go for it.
"we can all rest Catalans.", Well I have lot of Catalan friends, but I am not a Catalan myself, But I know, you were talking about yourself:)

Anony the games you listed were without Iniesta at all (he was injured) so you suggest that we sell him and stick to what worked there? Football is more complicated than direct conclusions.

Note: Its not Iniesta vs Henry. and in the article i already explained that.

Again thanx for offering the time to read.

Anonymous said...

i just want him play all the matches,any position.
He gives a heavy confidence to the team with his game.
To me, he is the best team player of the world.
Most of the matches goes unnoticed for his work,and i hope he does not mind about that to a great extent.
I am sure that Guardiola know that he is as important as Messi,Eto'o, Xavi and Henry if not more.

Anonymous said...

@Ramzi

lol...i felt an article like this coming after the debates on the offside. I thought it was either going to be an examination of Iniesta in the middle/left or maybe a discussion regarding the defense with and without Puyol/Abidal. Seems I was correct. Maybe we can expect something in the next few weeks regarding our defense :)

Great post though. I can understand all your arguaments and i definitely see your point of view. Personally i prefer him in the middle because I see him having more of an obvious impact from that position. That being said his effectiveness there is going to vary from opponent to opponent and game to game, it is also going to depend a lot on who starts up front. For example if Messi does not start i would prefer to see Iniesta on the wing.

In the end i think it is a very difficult thing to generalise, sometimes he will be more effective on the left, other times in the middle. What i know for sure is that he is an absolutely exceptional player and we are lucky to have such a gifted and versatile player.

Guardiola has made very good decisions so far (with only a few mistakes) and so I will trust him to make the correct decisions regarding Iniesta. Wherever he choses to put Iniesta, if he is on the pitch then I will be happy.

Ramzi said...

Miguel if your boss saw you reading Ramzi and fired you, don't say its my fault.

Hilal, I am so sure Guardiola will do the right thing, and then You will change your opinion, so soon, and you will confess for the whole world! Mark my words! lol

Anonymous said...

HAHA Ramzi....halla we will see. Inshalla if we win the CL and the league and you were right i will gladly eat my words :)

Anonymous said...

ramzi you caught me at a bad time since it is 330 am where i am and i need my beauty sleep lol but i will read what you wrote with breakfast tomorrow. but allow me one more commendation for our secret weapon don andres iniesta, i dont remember who said it it could have been rijkaard or some old coach of his, hell maybe even laudrup his idol but this person said that iniesta is all about intelligence, he's maybe the smartest player we have. but his instincts are incredible too and i agree with those who said his presence gives a spark (confidence if you will) to our team..till tomorrow, altho i will only come to read not to comment on your theories/analysis as i can see you are a scholar of barca's game :)

~noob~

Anonymous said...

I am always waiting for Ramzi's articles. I like his ideas, which are about the same with mine. Therefore, I would like to respond to Tarek Rafeh:

1) You are right about the added fluidity that Iniesta may offer with his fast thinking and good techniques. But he can't show his dribbling ability at the center of the field, especially if the opponents crowd the center area. He can dribble delightfully on the flank, where there is much more spaces. This what Ramzi said regarding cannibalization. As a CM, Iniesta gives fluidity but can't drbble much, hence he gives 0.5 A, while he can pass, dribble, and preserve the fluidity on the flank, hence he gives A.

2) Yup, Iniesta never forget his defensive duties, but he never really good at it. Keita is better than him defensively. As Ramzi said, why should we use our one of the most gifted player to do things that he don't really good at?

3) You are right here. Even Iniesta admitted that he need to improve his finishing. IMO, he can offer other quality though.

4) Who care if Henry is world class? We need somebody to ease the pressure on the right flank and bring more of Barca play to the left. Henry failed to do it. Iniesta is capable and he has already done that.

5) Iniesta said he preferred to be at the center, but he also revealed that he is also as comfortable on the left.

6) Did Ramzi said that he used mathematical derivations to analyze? No, he used 'a system analysis, marketing and project management expression'. There's no maths there. Just analyzed with a healthy brain.

7) Oh you are right, Barca already have Guardiola, so no articles like this anymore eh? Then fcbtransfers.blogspot.com is a very dull site that only contains rumors, which are extracted from other source.

And Ramzi, you said that you didn't compare how Iniesta and Henry performed on the left flank, but for me you did that, and I have no problem with that. I prefer Iniesta over Henry on the left, because Henry have lost his speed, thus he can't dribble as good as the old days anymore. Move Henry to the center, let Iniesta play where he can express himself more :)

Thanks a million for the article Ramzi.

Anonymous said...

Yes move henry to the center. Next season we definitely need an winger type player. BUt for now, why not use hleb in middle, he MIGHT just provide some of the fluidity in passing dribbling that iniesta does. At least give him more chances there.

Yes Henry is on form, but he creates nothing on the flank. I think messi eto/henry in center, is enough finishing quality for our attack. Like someone said we need to spread the field left right and center. Guardiola, pls pls splash out on silva or ribery

sashi said...

guys... check this... seriously bad state...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1161829/Spurs-flop-Dos-Santos-makes-shock-switch-Ipswich-failing-impress-Barcelona-move.html

Anonymous said...

To everyone who have mentioned Hleb to be given more chance, well, I'm sure Guardiola knows what he is doing. Maybe Pep didn't give more chance to him simply because Hleb didn't impress much in training. Actually, Hleb did feature for us. He even has started as a CM, but I forget against whom. What I do remember is his passing was not accurate, and in one match, Eto'o was annoyed with him. Yes I couldn't hear what Eto'o said, just looking at his reactions after another fail passing from Hleb.

Anonymous said...

I bet you absolutely kick arse on football manager ramzi.

Anonymous said...

Thanks alot Ramzi for such a wonderful article, once again :)

I pray to god everyday that Iniesta remain fit and play the next game just like Messi(ah), coz this chap brings in alot of variety and intelligence into the game, whether he plays in midfield or left...but i think we should be feeling very lucky to get such a versatile player coz he can play any role Guardiola wants to...and I agree with the point that, it depends on the opposition and state of the game whether Inie should play in either of the roles...like that opposition should not be able to guess our game coz sometimes when a team plays alot of game in a season, it becomes more easier for the opposition like ManU (who we will face in CL 2009 final) to understand our pattern of play....Personally i would prefer him to play in midfield this season coz Henry is scoring goals..and we need more fluidity in the midfield which we miss sometimes..Hope Busquetes get matured a bit faster and since Henry is not in our long term plans, Inie is obviously going to play alot more up in the pitch in years to come....and once a player like Ribery or Silva comes into our squad as most of expect (hope atleast 1 would suffice), I think Inie will get more opportunity to move forward and make Barca games more beautiful...

Pardon me, coz i am going a bit off the topic in my next comment..

Ramzi, I think you should have avoided the comment about Bojan (The 19 years old Bojan).. I hope he does not read this article... he is our future..he needs to be motivated every time we get a chance to....he is just 18 years old...and most of us expect more which sometimes i feel is unjustified... he is a good player...we should give him some time to get matured..dont forget, he has to compete with players like Eto', Messi, Henry who has been playing in their respective National squad for many many years...Bojan is only into Under-21 sqaud of spain...so I request all the Bojan critics to have some patience and give him some time....and FYI, Bojan is one of the player who has been utilized the most in Copa and look we are in the Final of Copa, which eluded us for the past 11 years...so we should encourage him, motivate him...we should never let him go from spain..may be we can loan him to Villareal to get some experience, may be he should play against us to know the intensity of the games, and bring him back when Henry leaves us after next season...

Anyways great article Ramzi...Hope someone does some sort of analysis like this about our defence and come up with a good solution for that too...i know theat we have let in least number of goals in this season, but i think some of the goals we have allowed are through silly mistakes by our shot blockers...i hope someone in the coaching staffs are concerned about such silly things and correct them....i am sure Guardiola is working on that coz we let in too many goals 2 weeks ago and now they are improving a bit, but still some mistakes happened during Lyon match...hope we dont forget about our defence when we get too excited about so many attacking options lol....

Anonymous said...

@Sashi, isnt he a spurs flop? Thats what you get if you are not patient. Prodigal son I say. We can save his life and pay £1M. Spurs wouldnt say no.

Anonymous said...

Ramzi, forgot to ask u...are u doing some management studies?? LOL....u have used alot of jargons which we use only during MBA graduation....

Ramzi said...

Zealot, My minster of defense! :)

Nithin,you mean Jim Collins and his terminologies? Nah I don't know about that ;)

Now regarding Bojan:

When I wondered about who can be the winning card at the bench. The unused 19 years old Bojan?
The word Unused is the key term in the question, You cant keep a player on the bench and barely start him, then only when the team in the mess, you get him in to change the game. He is not fit, he lost the sense of the games, his moral is low, and he is not confident enough to take the game on his shoulders. When he is young, you burn him this way. In my last comment in the following link I expressed my support more for the boy:

http://fcbtransfers.blogspot.com/2009/03/arsenal-interested-in-bojan.html

Now regarding the concern that he may read that phrase:

You can be sure, if he is that fragile, he would have been suicide already. In my meanest critical nature, I will still be a sweet heart compared to the devils of Marca and co.

One of the things about the players of the big teams are that they are arrogant in a way, and shielded, so don’t worry. Beside, if he really reads me, he probably read the previous praise I wrote often. So he can’t complain ;)

Anonymous said...

Great article ramzi, again!

Iniesta does a great job in the left, even better then in the mf.

The last two seasons is also a good exapmles that Iniesta+Xavi in mf is not working well all the time.

But i would like to point two things

Iniesta decision of position is comlettly depends on Xavi, Completly!!

If xavi is in good shape in the match, then Iniesta can do a great jobb in the left. If xavi has a bad day. All the team will have a bad day and iniesta will be more important in the m.f.

Another point is that you have to consider the opponent.

One can only take account to his own stuff, but it is 22 players and not only 11.

It is as important to check the opponent to see which kind of players, quality, tactical and so on.

In some matches our backline got disturbed from the opponents and the backline did not succed so well bringing up the boll to the mid field.
Xavi hade to go down to bring the boll and it was an enormous distance between him and the front players.
In those kind of matches Iniesta in the m.f is more important. Someone needs to build on the attackings.

The trainer have to check very carefully the opponent before taking the decisions.

Rijkaard used to say - " i dont care about my opponent, i play my way".

It is wrong to do it. The Barca playings stile was very easy to read after some matches. It was easy for the opponent trainer to prepar his team.
Never a suprising.

Iniesta needs in both m.f or l. wing.
It depnds.

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