Lack of concentration had cost Barcelona the Champions League Final spot

Pre-match talks of this Champions League semi-final clash has been on an unusual tone for Barcelona for a long time: the possibility of not winning 3 matches consecutively; and it proved a valid concern. It’s the first time under Guardiola that Barcelona fails to win a major competition (La Liga is all but almost gone) since his taking over in 2008. Any crisis at the mighty Nou Camp? We may need more time to draw a solid conclusion; but if we take a look at the performance and stats, we can generally say that one thing that has cost Barcelona a chance to be the first team to defend a Champions League title is the lack of defensive concentration.

Chelsea’s counter attacks

Throughout the tie, Chelsea has managed 4 (including the half-way line shot by Drogba tonight) shots-on-target and scored 3, all of which resulted from quick counters. It is a known secret that to hit Barcelona with flashing quick counters is one of the most powerful weapon that any team can use to fight against them and Chelsea has put that in perfection. Drogba’s goal in the first leg was more of a tactical victory from Di Matteo since it was Ramires who took advantage of Dani Alves’s advance position and created that goal. In tonight’s game, it was Barcelona’s lack of concentration that gifted two crucially important away goals to Chelsea.

It was obvious to me that Rameires goal was due to relaxed minds among Barcelona’s players: Terry was just sent-off and they scored a second goal right after. Everything was going well and suddenly a deep run from Rameires was unnoticed even when there were enough personnel in Barcelona’s defense (there were 3 men in front of Ramires but a big gap was left for him to run in). Of course Ramires’ finish was superb, but for me, that goal was totally preventable. (Even Valdes’ decision to rush out was doubtful for me.)

Barcelona had the ball for all the second half but failed to deliver a goal despite Messi hitting the woodwork twice. What stuck me was Torres’ game closing goal: he and Valdes were the only two players in Barcelona’s half (Busquets did tried to chance back but he was miles away). That is very unusual for Barcelona even if they are playing Rondos in the opponent’s half: they always have enough players (at least 2) to cover any clearance and put the ball back into play immediately. But this time, even Torres was in a bit of disbelieve that he has a whole 40-50 yards to run with the ball without any Barcelona players around him. You may argue Barcelona’s players were under immense pressure to pull a goal back and pushed up too much but for me, leaving no one in the half-way line was totally unacceptable given that score-line.

You may think that Pique’s injury has an adverse effect but for the last two seasons Barcelona has been playing with ‘fake’ defenders all the time and this should not be an excuse.

Di Matteo’s game plan and adaptation

Credit should be given to Chelsea’s players for their defensive discipline, which is the first priority when facing Barcelona, and, adaptability. (Ivanovic and Bosingwa did a great job tonight in their make-shift CB roles)

Similar to the first leg, Chelsea tried not to drop too deep (as Mourinho’s Inter, who was defending in their penalty area throughout the match) during the first half hour of the game. The only difference was that the whole midfield line dropped and stayed very close with their fellow defenders whereas during the first leg, that gap was mainly filled by Meireles only. The result was mixed during the first half and Barcelona did find ways to penetrate through to the area between Cech and his defenders (Messi and Fabregas’ jaw-dropping one-two was one of the examples).

More credit, however, should be given to Di Matteo, who adapted his side brilliantly given the injury of Cahill and the dismissal of Terry.

First of all, after Terry’s dismissal, Chelsea’s players were pushing a lot more forward then when they are playing with 11. Of course Iniesta’s second goal was a direct result from that but so was Ramires’ goal. Given it’s an away match, the gamble obviously paid off.

Secondly, Chelsea’s defense line was dropping much deeper during the second half and was almost replicating Mourinho’s plane-parking tactics. Throughout the whole second half, Barcelona didn’t quite managed to penetrate through that wall built within Chelsea’s penalty box. It’s quite unusual to see Iniesta and co trying to shoot even when there are 2 -3 players blocking the way.

Thirdly, by replacing Mata and Drogba by Kalou and Torres, it further complicated the dilemma for Barcelona’s last men (Mascherano, Busquets and sometimes Puyol and Alves) by leaving their own half empty. In fact, Torres scored and Kalou also had a half-chance in Barcelona’s box.

Barcelona’s verdict

I would’t say it’s a below-par performance from Barcelona overall because if you look at the stats, they are still that Barcelona who dominates every single match and they did manage to score twice. It was obvious that during much of the second half their energy level dropped so much that there weren’t any movements inside Chelsea’s penalty box: they were merely standing and waiting for the ball to come or perhaps looking for one-two’s to play a midfielder in. Maybe that’s because Chelsea was playing so deep and compact that none of those dangerous defenders-dragging-runs were applicable but that should’t be a problem for them. After all, this is not the first time a team parked a plane and would’t be the last time either.

However, I am more concerned about the bench depth in the defending department. While Puyol is still that fighting figure we’ve known for more than a decade and Pique has certainly got more to give in the coming years, the other new La Masia products who’ve flourished under Guardiola are mostly attacking players: Pedro, Thiago, Cuenca, Tello. For now, the policy of using midfielders as makeshift defenders is still working but let’s hoping it won’t get exposed that hard and that much as tonight.

Conclusion

Rumors are that Guardiola is going to step down after this season. That would be quite a bitter pause note for his managerial career but I am more interested to see him flourish elsewhere to prove his coaching ability. Di Matteo, on the other hand, might need some blessing (or probably a Champions League medal) to stay permanently at Chelsea: we’ve all whiteness how Avram Grant was treated after guiding Chelsea to two runner-ups. Nonetheless, I am sure he’ll do good at Chelsea or anywhere because his time at West Brom and now at Chelsea already proved he’s a very capable coach and should be given the chance to manage a side for a relatively longer time.

Inside-outside runs that create space for dribbler to shoot

Runs are crucial in the attacking phase; in fact, it is one of the most important elements in soccer matches. Effective penetration can only be achieved by off-the-ball runs that will either take defender(s) away from his/her original position. One of the most used runs that can be seen from the professional game is the inside-outside run. It involves a player without the ball (either in advance of or behind the dribbler) making a run away from the center of the pitch with the aim to take away a central defender (or his/her focus, at least) away from that area so that the dribbler has more space to dribble into and possibly take a shot.

During the past weekend, Messi of FC Barcelona and Joe Allen of Swansea City were the latest beneficiaries of such runs from their teammates (Pedro and Scott Sinclair) and scored 2 beautiful goals.

Joe Allen and Scott Sinclair

It all started with a brilliant interception from Scott Sinclair himself at the half-way line. Joe Allen immediately drifted a little bit towards the side to stretch Fulham’s imbalanced defense further following the change in possession.

Joe Allen then took the ball and advanced forward positively and challenge his marker. At the same time, Sinclair made a sprint into the space behind while his marker was running with him. The third Swansea attacker also moved towards the other side of the pitch to further clear the central space at the edge of the box.

Without effective cover, Allen’s marker was beaten and Fulham’s defense was immediately exposed. It was too late for any of the defender to recover and exert any realistic pressure on Allen’s shot which was beautifully taken into the corner of the goal.

Messi and Pedro

The goal also started with a change of possession. After collecting a loose ball in midfield, Messi delivered the ball to Iniesta, who was on the left side of the attacking half, and made a run forward. As was doing it, Pedro, who was originally in the centre forward position, swiftly clear that space by making a run towards the left winger position.

From the snapshot above, we can see the Sevilla’s defender’s attention was taken away by Pedro, turning his back towards Messi, who is about to receive the ball.

Iniesta chose the perfect time to give the ball back to Messi as you can see all the Sevilla’s defenders were caught in bad positions and not able to exert any immediate pressure on Messi.

The Sevilla defender was already in a dilemma because he was facing a 2 v 1 situation and he decided to apply pressure on Messi immediately, which was correct to be fair. However, we all know how easily Messi can beat a rushing defender with his skills, not to mention the space left for Pedro. Eventually, of course, Messi’s finishing was phenomenal which capped yet another beautiful team maneuver from FC Barcelona.

 

 

Copa Del Rey Semi-Final: Barcelona vs Valencia

High defense lines resulting in some beautiful runs

I am always fond of matches between Barcelona and Valencia in recent years because we are guaranteed of some exciting attacking football throughout the match. Valencia had demonstrated in La Liga and also in the first leg of this clash that they are capable of getting a positive result at Camp Nou. Barcelona turned out to be the better team, both in terms of score-line and also performance. However, it was Valencia who found their golden chance first:

Valencia’s chance: blind-side run
Here we can see Barcelona was employing a relatively high defensive line (just about 15 yards behind half-way line) as Valencia had the ball just across the half-way line. The important technical detail is that the Valencia player with the ball was under no immediate pressure and was able to look up for a runner.

If we take a look at Barcelona’s defense line’s shape, it is far from satisfactory because Pique was out of position and pressing the ball with Mascherano taking his place as CB for now. However, he’s not providing any cover nor depth to his colleague as you can see, he’s the highest defender now.

Furthermore, credit to Valencia’s forwards. While the one nearer to the ball did his job and made that run that took all the attention (and his markers) away, the one on the far side was doing a good job lurking behind Abidal’s blind-side (we have witnessed this season how vulnerable he is on his blind-side).
Worst still, the run from the Valencia forward split Barcelona’s defense badly (helped by Mascherano and Abidal’s poor positioning) and created that big gap for the ball to be played in. Valencia did everything right to take advantage of Barcelona’s defense line until the last bit. To be fair, the first touch from Sofiane Feghouli could be better with all those space in front of him. Nonetheless, this was a piece of great attack.

Barcelona’s first goal: running from deep

Valencia failed to score by taking the chance presented by Barcelona while Barcelona pretty much created their own from scratch.

There’s no way you can stop this team of Barcelona from scoring and the reason is Messi. With his dribbling ability, teams can only try to overload him if he’s in dangerous area; but as teams overload him, spaces are given away for his teammates and he can always deliver that pass at the right split second. Moreover, even if you surround him with 5 or 6 players, it’s still possible he can dribble his way out. Here, he demonstrated his tremendous passing ability.

Valencia was deploying a high defense line with 1 defender dropping a bit to provide the depth and cover (whether this was part of the defensive plan is unknown but whether he should be the last defender is questionable; usually the defender on the far side should drop deeper as he’s in a better position to cover central area and if the ball is played over his head, it’ the less dangerous area). Everything else seemed alright at that moment except Messi had the ball on his feet comfortably and was looking up. Fabregas, staying in a relatively deep position also saw that and started running into that huge space.

The pass from Messi was perfect and landed exactly in front of Fabregas who out-ran all the Valencia defenders. (That’s why I question the positioning of the ‘last man’ because he had to turn and run in this case; and as you can see, he failed to catch Fabregas) Valencia’s keeper Alves had no chance to rush out because the ball landed outside of the box and Cesc was close to the ball. Alves hesitated a bit which helped Fabregas to finish by lobbing the ball over his head sweetly.

Conclusion
These 2 examples could best demonstrate to players ‘when, where and how to make forward runs’ and the opposite theme: ‘when, where and how to drop as a defensive unit’. At the highest level, when a good passer is off pressure, even only for half a second, that is the cue for both attackers and defenders to react swiftly. More importantly, be always ready by adopting good body stance and checking the environment all the time because that ‘window of opportunity’ can come any second.

Copa Del Rey quarter-final 2nd leg: El Classico, yet again – Barca goals analysis

Much has been said about the game with a lot of people agreeing that Madrid had played one of best games against their arch rival in recent years. However, I am more interested in waiting for a team to show us how to stop Barcelona from scoring, which, up till now, no one can. The 2 goals scored by Barcelona in this match was enough to see them through to the semi-final and stop their rival from retaining the crown. These goals, once again, are demonstrative in highlighting Barcelona’s fluid and dangerous fast-break attacks.

Barcelona’s 1st goal

The text commentary for Barcelona’s first goal could be very simple: Alves gained loose ball, dribbled and passed to Messi, Messi dribbled and passed, goal. Only 3 players: Alves, Messi and Pedro touched the ball during this attack that spread over almost the full-length of the pitch but Fabregas also did his part in creating space for Pedro and Alexis could have scored also as he was also free.

Just consider this: Dani Alves’ pass took 7 Madrid players out of the game and Messi’s took the last 3 out, leaving Casillas alone. That is an attacking move any team will dream of.

But that didn’t come without careful consideration. First of all, Alves did dribbled for a few yards before passing to Messi. The reason is two-fold. First, it helped to keep Xabi Alonso and Lass (the 2 defensive midfielders) on their foot as they were expecting to engage Alves should he drive further up front. Second, it gave time for Messi to check back and drop between the opposing defenders and midfielders. Combining these, when the ball is at Messi’s feet, Madrid is already facing a numerical inferiority.

To make the situation worse, it was Messi who has the ball IN SPACE and FACING the goal: nightmare for any defenders. He had already demonstrated from time to time he can wind up Madrid’s defense single-handedly. Still, to be fair, Madrid’s defenders did the right thing to drop and stay compact as quickly as they can; but Messi’s ability to dribble at pace and with sweet control leave them with no chance. Combining with the run from Fabregas which drew Arbeloa, the right back, further center into the pitch, Madrid’s 3 defenders were all ‘suck’ into 1 spot at the time Messi release the ball to Pedro, leaving him all the space and time in the world to ‘pass’ it into the goal.

Coaches always say to their players: pick the right pass and the right time to pass to eliminate as many opposition players as you can; Alves and Messi demonstrated that to perfection.

 

Barcelona’s 2nd goal

While all of us are still talking about the screamer from Dani Alves, I am more aware of the build-up to that free-kick that resulted in this strong contender for ‘Goal of the season’.

It started yet again with Barcelona regaining possession on their right back (Christiano Ronaldo was the guy who lost the ball on both occasion). Pique was the man this time: he brilliantly tackle Ronaldo and pass the ball to his teammate on the slide. The highlight of the whole move, though, was the rotation in the Center Forward position. Although this rotation did not result in a goal this time, it’s a great example of how Barcelona keep shifting the ‘point of reference’ in order to confuse opposition’s defense.

As the ball is being played around the center midfield area (and Madrid’s midfielders were busy in chasing the ball), Messi started to drop from his Center Foward position (That’s part of his game and Barcelona’s game, isn’t it?). In order to give Messi maximum space to receive and turn, Xavi then sprinted into that ‘hole’ to take the 2 Madrid Center Backs away from the area. As Messi is dribbling forward, Xavi stopped advancing, leaving the CF position empty again to:

1. clear the space if Messi can dribble into the center area and
2. allow that ‘blind-side’ run from Alexis if Messi opt to dribble down the flank and cross

That didn’t happen as Messi was fouled. But you can see from the clip that Coentrao, Madrid’s LB, would be so vulnerable to an inside run from Alexis if Messi could send the ball to the middle area. And don’t forget the lurking Alves behind Alexis. After all, Barcelona is THE expert in shifting points of attack in a matter of seconds.