We have a great new video series called Attacking the Barcelona Way. These are new style "Tactical Analysis" videos. You won't see usual "old school" type footage with players demonstrating drills and exercises. These videos go much deeper and include actual real game footage, where the coach analyses the tactics, breaks down movement, sequences, combinations,
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By Stevie Grieve, Author of Coaching the 4-2-3-1, Coaching the 4-2-3-1 ADVANCED Tactics, Modern Soccer Tactics and Winning Soccer Tactics.
Barcelona in the 2012/2013 season have been almost unplayable. Last season, they became slightly predictable, they suffered from no width or balance, especially on the left side, which Jordi Alba has fixed this season, and suffered from being too focused on playing centrally, and retaining possession when penetration opportunities have become available. This season, Alba has contributed to the width and balance issue on the left side, but more noticeable has been the massive amount of ‘killer passes’ being played from all over the field. In this game, Alexis, Messi and Villa all scored from a killer pass from different areas of the field.
Alexis’ goal – Iniesta plays a through ball 40 yards from goal between the center backs
Iniesta dribbles forward with Alba in support on the left to make a 2v1. As Iniesta cuts inside, Alexis knows that a space between
Continue readingBy Stevie Grieve, Author of Coaching the 4-2-3-1, Modern Soccer Tactics and Winning Soccer Tactics.
In the recent UEFA CL match between Barcelona and Spartak Moscow, many people expected a close match between the sides, mainly as not only are Spartak a good side, but have ex-Valencia manager Unai Emery as manager, who knows how to play against Barcelona and keep the game tight, as he did so many times with Valencia. Despite never winning against Barcelona, his team was never embarrassed and often looked like they could win, but could never take the chances.
Spartak played the game with a solid and narrow 4-4-2 formation, with Ari and Emeneke looking to play in the channels in transition, Emeneke looking to overpower Mascherano at every opportunity. Barcelona played in their usual style and had most of the possession, looking especially dangerous down the left with Tello v Kombarov, where the 1st goal came from.
Tello goal – Adriano’s deep supporting run creates Tello’s space to shoot.
As Alves receives from Pedro, he dribbles inside, and then as he is pressed, passes over to Xavi, who knows he will
By Waleed Zaghloul
Manchester City has just won the Premier League after beating QPR in dramatic fashion. What City has faced during this game was very similar to what they and Barcelona have faced almost all season. Many games have seen teams defending against these two fancy teams with 10 and 11 players for the whole game. It was interesting seeing Drogba playing as a left back against Barcelona in the Champions League.
Chelsea and Real Madrid have played way too negatively against Barcelona in recent weeks and so did QPR against Manchester City in the recent historic game. The worrying sign to us coaches is the fact that Chelsea and Real Madrid achieved their goals from such negative tactics and QPR almost did the same. Such negative mentality has been advocated in recent years by Mourinho when he was at Inter Milan (against Barcelona in the Champions League) and by van Marwjiik with the Netherlands at the World Cup final against Spain.
Many teams have become proficient at bunkering down or “parking the bus” in front of their goal. This necessitates coaches becoming better at teaching their team how to break down such bunkered defenses (or at least trying).
Variety is Key
A respected FIFA coaches instructor once said that how well a team is coached is usually apparent in the way they create chances. The better coached a team is, the more effective ways they have to break down the opposing defense.
Ball possession is important in football, but as most coaches can attest possession does not guarantee winning games (ask Guardiola!) So what could be done to increase your team’s success chances when it comes to breaking down bunkered defenses? I concur variety is a key factor!
Variety means utilizing different ways of attacking the opponent. This includes playing wide and attacking through the wings. It includes penetrating attacks though the middle, shooting from distance and attacking through set pieces specially free kicks and corner kicks.
Let us have a look at how Manchester City was faring against QPR in the variety sense.
First Goal – Principles of Attack
City switched play to the right wing, but after Zabaleta was closed down, they switched to plan B which was penetration though the middle (against nine defenders in the box with the tenth player just outside the box).
This goal involved several attacking principles carried out very well. The City players were
Continue readingBy Waleed Zaghloul.
Watching the latest Classico, I was wondering how much change will be seen from both teams based on the analysis of some vulnerabilities in a previous meeting this year (discussed in previous blogs). Some of the points analyzed back then showed two vulnerabilities for Barca, defending the counter attack specially against speedy opposition and the other was their left back. Real Madrid were overly aggressive in closing down Messi that they left other Barca player wide open at the back. Madrid were also notably losing their heads and committed very hard fouls when whatever they tried tactically did not work. Let us have a look at some instances of the latest Classico and decide for yourselves.
Asleep at the Wheel
This first image shows, in addition to the fact that this goal should very well have been called off for offside, a lack of interest from the Barcelona players. Four of the five players are off position and do not seem to be marking any of the Real players and all four are
Continue readingBy Stevie Greive
As the ball is returned to Pique, Iniesta checks his run for the 4th time! This time, as Alonso is too far away, he wont be able to press effectively and stop Iniesta receiving with ease. Iniesta dribbles back then passes back to Pique, then circles round the back of Alonso. Xavi is ready to make his circle run, and when he does, Messi will fill in his space (positional rotation).
Note the Real Madrid players circled and who they are supposed to be marking – Diarra (Xavi) Pepe (Messi) Alonso (Iniesta) and Di Maria (Alves). Only Pepe is
Continue readingBarcelona are the team of the moment. Everyone is talking about them, and for good reason. They are hands down the best team in the world right now and many people are making the case that they are one of the best teams of all time. All this is based on the skill level of their players, the incredible teamwork, quick one and two-touch passing and the way they out play their opponents and dominate the time of possession. It's no wonder they win so many games and score so many goals.
But there is one part of their game that doesn't get much attention, and yet it is critical in my view, and is the difference between them being a good team and a great team. It is the difference between them winning games against the likes of Real Madrid and Man U and dominating possession or finding themselves in close fought battles...not to say that those games are not close fought battles, but take the Champions League Final against Man U. It was as one-sided a game in the final that I can remember. Or Saturday's game v Man U...Barcelona had 69% v 31% of the possession.
So what is this part of the game that really makes Barcelona special?
Continue readingWhat a game! Your team played great. Everything is PERFECT! Your team played poorly. Everything SUCKS! The thing to remember is your team most likely isn’t as good as you think they are when they play well and most likely they aren’t as bad as you think they are when they play poorly. Coaches, players
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