The reality at Barca: An analysis of the current status
By: Dr. Mo Bayegan, (Hon.) B.Sc., MA., DC, MPF, Masters of Professional Football, UEFA B , FC Barcelona - INEF
In a few hours, Xavi’s Barca will face off against Napoli at home in the Champions League. There are many who speak openly about Xavi’s departure from the club should the team not qualify to the next round of the Champions League; something that is not only of sporting importance but of economic importance to the club.
Many pundits, observers, and football analysts have called this season a failure and consider the project a failure. This is normal at Barca. The standards at the club are extremely high. No one doubts that. But it’s important that everyone, including those within the club do a thorough analysis of the situation before jumping to such conclusion. What seems like a failure at Barca is the envy of hundreds of professional clubs around Europe and the world. Which club in the world wouldn’t want to be the defending league champions competing for the league once again, and having real hopes of advancing in the champions league? And all of this is being done with teenagers from the academy on the field!
As such in this short article, we will examine the realities of the club and why Xavi and his project should be considered a massive success. We will also highlight the reasons why Barca is not currently meeting its own highly set standards. Lastly, we will highlight the tactical reason why Barca is not currently performing at the level we are accustomed.
The reality of the club and Xavi
There is no doubt that Xavi is pure Barca. His heart bleeds for the club and there is no doubt that he has every intention to see the club success. This is the initial starting point for any Barca coach and his faith in La Masia proves this. Let’s not forget that Xavi took a huge risk by taking the coaching position at a time when many would have rejected the position. He entered at a time when the club was in its worst economic situation, and when the greatest football player in the history of the game had left the club. During this time, we also saw the departure of Busquets, Jordi Alba, and Gerald Pique. Players who had been fundamental components of the club for more than a decade. The departure of Dembelé is yet another important point to consider. Thus, when we say Xavi has taken over the rebuilding phase of Barca, this is absolutely true in every sense. The stadium is being rebuilt as we speak! Everything at Barca is being rebuilt. How do you continue after Messi and Busquets? Rebuild!
Aside from the departure of key players, other notable departures from the club must be considered. Namely, that of Jordi Cruyff and Mateu Alemany as sporting directors of the club. Anyone who has experience in the world of football can confirm that the roles of sporting and technical directors of the club, along with leadership of the president and the board, define the success of the club. Without great technical and sporting directors, the role of the coach and the efforts of the technical staff on the field becomes irrelevant. The departure of Jordi Cruyff and Mateu Alemany not only have had an impact in player selection and purchases, but seem to have had an impact on the game model of the first team. The game model of Barca of this season is very different than that of the Barca of the past season and this can partly be contributed to the influence of Deco. Let’s keep in mind that the ultimate role of the technical director is defining the game model of the club, and at least from the perspective of outsiders, it seems that Deco has had an influence in the change in the model of play we see currently. Not to mention, decisions in signing and releasing players.
During this season, the team has also suffered many injuries to key players that have effectively left Xavi with no other options than to play with teenagers of 16-17 years of age. This in itself is a blessing in disguise and a massive success for the club. Xavi and his belief in La Masia have been the reason for the appearances of players like Yamal, Cubarsí, Guiu, Fort, Fermin and Balde. These players are the future of the club, and it has cost the club zero dollars in player aquisitions. How much will these players sell for in the future, or what success they will bring to the club in the years to come will be a testament to Xavi and his trust in La Masia. The same can be said of Koeman.
It should be added that, the injuries being suffered by the players, specifically those injures that pertain to muscle strains, can be attributed to the heightened level of stress within the club. Physiologically speaking, the more psychological stress a players senses, the more likely the player to sustain an a muscle injury. As such, we should keep this in mind prior to placing blame on the medical, technical and physical preparation teams. The atmosphere at the club is very different this season, and as such, the players are sensing the heightened stress. The result, more muscle injuries than last season. This also explains why this season, Dembélé has not sustained any muscle injuries in Paris. He is not stressed like he was at Barca. As such, the club and the technical staff should do a better job to insulate themselves from the media and the paid external attacks by media sources who are not sympathetic to the club and in the hands of traditional sociohistorical madridismo forces. The catalan media should be ashamed of themselves for playing such games and putting undue stress on the club, the technical staff and the players. The Catalan media needs to be more sympathetic to the needs of the club currently. If not, they should be branded as paid bandits of the media controlled by external centres of power.
Overall, given the fact that Barca and Xavi have overcome one of the most difficult economic situations the club has faced in many years, along with the constant and always present external attacks that we can only attribute to the “side-effects of the sociohistorical Madridismo” that exist in Spain and La Liga, to be in the hunt in La Liga and the Champions League with teenagers from La Masia can be considered a massive success. And as mentioned above, the envy of hundreds of professional clubs within Spain, Europe, and the world. What appears as a failure in Barca given the high standards the Catalan people always set for themselves, would be considered a massive success anywhere else in the world. At Barca we are a victims of our own high standards. However, with that said, there is room for critical analysis, specifically from a tactical perspective on the field.
What needs to improve immediately?
As mentioned above, there seems to be a huge contrast in the game model of the current Barca, than that which defeated Madrid in the Supercopa of last season in Saudi Arabia. Some of this is attributed to lack of players at the disposal of the coaching staff. We have already touched on this. The other reasons can be attributed to football and tactical decisions being taken by the the technical directors, the coaching staff, and the players on the field.
Now what does it mean that there has been a change in game model? It simply means that Barca has has stopped demonstrating habits and behaviours (both in possession and out of possession) that have for many years defined the identity of the club and how the team plays on the field. For instance, currently we see less one touch and two touch passes, we see less repetition of passes, we see less passes per game, less possession than usual, and less ball circulation and multidirectional ball movement. The distances of association between players when in possession attributes to many of the issues highlighted above, and of course, has consequences in moments when the ball is lost; something that has become very common and acceptable at the club. It should be unacceptable to lose possession of the ball at Barca because of forced decisions, lack of perceptual awareness, and lack of maturity to make the 5 meter pass instead of the risky divided pass over 40 yards into open space. Above all this, when the ball is lost the sub-par intensity of re-press and the lack of commitment and involvement from all 10 players (goalie excluded) leads to prolonged moments out possession chasing the ball in a low or medium block. This should be unacceptable at Barca. When the ball is lost, all 10 players MUST run as hard as they can to repress the ball until the ball is regained. There are many players on the field who simply don’t understand this concept and the distances of association between players further complicates this problem.
The constant loss of possession has physiological costs as well. The more the team lives in transition, the more they need to exert energy to regain possession of the ball. It is highly obvious that Barca currently is living in transition rather than in possession. The ball is lost constantly and this constant transition leads to goals against, and causes much more fatigue for the players. Essentially, you run less if you don’t have to constantly transition to recovery moment. This is perhaps the greatest change in the current game model. The ball is too often forced forward and lost. In short, too many balls into divided spaces, too many passes in the air, too many long distance passes, and too many touches on the ball. Barca cannot be a transition team. Barca needs to live in possession, even if it means moving it side to side, inside and out, for 85 minutes before we get a goal from a high percentage chance.
Constantly crossing the ball into the box, hoping for someone to head into the net is a gamble that has not paid off. Robert Lewandowski is not producing from such chances, and this is not how Barca should be looking to generate goal scoring opportunities. The lack of combination play in the central channel, and the inability to arrive into the area to create goal scoring opportunities is yet another consequence of the changed game model. Joan Vila has a fantastic saying: “At Barca we don’t just pass through the middle, but live there.” The current Barca is simply passing through the middle of the field and not living there, and we are not punishing the opponent with prolonged possession of the ball. It should be unacceptable to lose the ball at Barca. We cannot constantly arrive to one lateral channel, intent to progress and lose the ball. This is not acceptable. Play the five meter pass, keep the ball moving in any direction, and progress in high percentage moments. Don’t force the game! Side to side, inside and out, backwards and sideways, short passes, one or two touches, repeat passes, live inside the central channel. This is Barca. The ball currently is not moving enough and the speed and rhythm of the passes are sub-par.
The current Barca has a further problem, which of course is rare at the club. The team cannot build out of Zone A against high pressure. Much too often we see the team lose possession in build-up or play long passes into divided situations where the strikers are fighting for the ball. This is not to say that you should not play long to overcome pressure. Not at all. However, the idea should be t fix the rival’s back four in order to create numerical superiorities around the ball in Zone A and B in order to progress the ball up the field with short passes. Currently there is not enough numerical superiority around the ball, and when there is superiority around the ball, the superiority is lost due to the positioning of the players as they are not providing a passing line.
Playing direct long passes has further consequences and they are two fold: (1) when you play direct, the distance between lines of players are long and the midfielders and defenders now have to cover large distances with high speed running to arrive for the second and third ball; and (2) when a long pass is lost, the transition to recovery moment has huge physiological costs, and tactically it is much more difficult to control the transition moment when we are very far apart from each other (distances of associations). Now why are we playing long passes and can’t build up from Zone A? The answer goes back to what we discussed above, but there is a much more important reason.
The current Barca rarely uses the goalie in build up or when in possession. This is related to the fact that we don’t repeat passes, specially between central defenders and the goalie. The players seem to be focused on finding the vertical pass rather than finding the pas that keeps possession and allows the ball to move multi-directionally. Granted that Ter Stegen has been injured this season and it is very difficult to play without him in build up. But, it is an observable pattern that players prefer to play vertical than play backward to the goalie to keep possession. Barca needs to use the goalie more to maintain possession, and more importantly, to be able to build out of zone A against high pressure. Without using the goalie we will continue to play long and vertical to player that do not have the ability to maintain possession of the ball like Messi, Suarez, or Neymar were able to do. The current number 9 at Barca spends more time on the ground horizontally complaining about fouls, and the few times that he arrives to collect the ball, the ball is immediately lost. Therefore, we need to maintain possession using number 1 rather than 9, or we change 9 for a player that can play with their back to the game and to arrive as a false to help in build up. Lewandowski has failed to deliver in this regard.
Luckily we have one of the best goalkeepers in the history of the game when it comes to using his feet. Stop forcing the ball forward. It’s okay to play backwards, even if they whistle or if the clowns on the TV show Chiringuito say otherwise. Remember external attacks from institutions of sociohistorical Madridismo will use even reporters to disconnect the club from its identity. Don’t lose it. Stick to it.
Lastly, we need to be critical of the technical staffs’ choice of player selection and game management, specifically substitutions and starting lineups. Again, we have mentioned that there have been many injuries. This surely has had a huge impact on the decisions taken by the technical staff. However, we have to be critical of the choice of the starting number 9 who is currently not producing. We also have to be willing to give chances to the new Brazilian, who may be raw and in need of tactical sharpening, but I suspect his raw ability is what Barca needs to escape the predictable, mechanical style of play currently seen. Let’s not forget that Barca has always had a South American Saviour up front who could change the game in a heart beat. So, let’s give the new kid a chance and see what he does with Raphina, Yamal and Felix around him. The outcome could be surprisingly good, or at the very least, it can’t be any worse than now, because the team is currently struggling to find the creative solution in the final zone.
We also need to be honest and admit that certain players such as Koundé, do not have the level to be on the starting line up at Barca. Not only he suffers defensively, but he is also suspect with his decision making with the ball. Other solutions need to be found for the role of right central defender, or we can change styles and play with a natural right back such as Forte.
Along the same line of thought, and to finalize here, we need to be critical of the inability of the coaching staff to find the right combination of the starting eleven and to play with them consistently. In my opinion, the best teams, weather in football or basketball, have their starters, and it is always clear who will start, minos one or two players. For instance, the Chicago Bulls had their starting line up, we all knew who it was, and for 72 games, the starters were the same (more or less). I think we can also all agree that the physiological loads of playing 3 NBA basketball games in a week are taxing, but the starters remained the starters. Barca needs to have a clear starting 11, especially when it comes to the back four and the midfield. The starters need be clear and the best players need to play always. Their loads should be managed during training in the week, not during games. It doesn't make sense to rest the a good player because he will be playing mid-week. Rest him during training not the games. The best players need to play. Currently the best player combinations are not on the field, and the constant changing of roles has a negative consequence on the performance of the players. The uncertainty and unclarity of the roles and responsibilities of the players leads to decreased self confidence, since the player cannot identify why they play one day, and not the next, and why 30 minutes and not 90 minutes.
We have to be clear about who starts, we have to be honest about who are the best players (ad combinations), and sit those who do not perform. For instance, taking out Raphina before Lewandowski, specially when he is performing well sends the wrong message to Raphina and hurts the team. Also, players like Felix, Raphina, Yamal, and Vitor need to be tested together because their raw, natural style which is what is missing currently from the Barca model.
With all that said, the Xavi project remains a success by any measure and regardless of what happens against Napoli tonight, the club will always be indebted to Xavi for taking on the role at the most difficult time of the club, and for doing with a pay cut. We will also be indebted to Xavi for allowing La Masia to once again take on a central role at the club, and for having the courage to play with 16-17 year-old teenagers in La Liga and Europe in order to secure the future of the club, and more importantly, for showing the world why Barca is, and always will be, more than a club. Even in its toughest moment, the club has built a world class stadium, rebuilt the club financially, and restored the future while wining leagues and cups. Let’s stay positive and appreciate this success. Lots of luck to the team tonight and whether we win or lose, Visca el Barca and thank you Xavi.
Dr. Mo Bayegan, (Hon.) B.Sc., MA, DC, MPF
Masters of Professional Football - FC Barcelona - INEF-UEFA B