At the moment are showing no signs of letting up, and the question which seems to be circulating in football a lot these days, is for how long can this team continue to play the kind of football they have made famous, and also to keep enjoying the success (which is represented in the trophies they have won recently) that has come so frequently since the appointment of Pep Guardiola as manager with twelve trophies in three years being a statistic that speaks for itself and that doesn’t need further interpretation.
Start of an era
The appointment of Guardiola as manager in 2008, at that time, was seen by many as surprising, with many names being rumored, with one of those being Jose Mourinho, the current Real Madrid manager, something which now, seems impossible that will ever happen, being that he is Real Madrid manager and that he has somewhat of a turbulent relationship with the clubs fans.
At the time, the previous manager, Frank Rijkaard, seemed to be running out of ideas, and the club needed someone new, with a different perspective, to regain the title back from Real Madrid, who indeed won it in what was to be Rijkaards last season at the helm of the club.
Guardiola was given that task after managing the clubs B team, in what proved to be a short but successful stint, managing to help the team get into the second tier of the Spanish league. If anyone epitomizes Barcelona, then it is Guardiola, and that even though as mentioned before it was surprising, he is after all Barcelona through and through, he seems to tick all the boxes, Catalan, Catalan speaker, learnt his football in the famous “Masia”, played through all the ranks at the club, played most of his career with Barcelona and was captain for most of this time, lifting the European cup for the club, in what was the first in their history.
One of the most determining factors that seemed to influence the decision, of the then board, which included ex president Joan Laporta, to appoint him was indeed, most of these things, and also most importantly he understood the values of the club and football ideals that were put in place through Cruyff, based on the famous Dutch method of Total Football.
Dutch influence
Since the days of Cruyff, when he was manager of the club, and successfully won the European cup in 1992 with the dream team, Barcelona have been famous for its constant use of the 4-3-3 system, with it been used on a regular basis throughout the years by various managers, with the basis of playing short, passing football with lots of movement and the possibility for players to interchange positions without it being detrimental to the style of the team.
The simple, effective, and draining effect that this style of play has on teams, with teams having to put all their energies into trying to recuperate the ball, has been a joy to watch for football purists and those who don’t have much of a know how to the game, therefore attracting new fans of the game, and being given the chance to watch football in its most purest form. This style of football, which Guardiola has instilled into his team, has even managed to be awarded its own name, tiky taka, something which, all those years ago, of whom Cruyff, was a linchpin for, achieved the same feat, with Ajax´s and Holland brand of football on this occasion, being given the name of Total football.
Guardiola, has done though, what all aspiring coaches in the game should do, he has used his in-depth knowledge of this brand of football, and created his own style, by making minor tweaks in certain places, which have added a new dimension to the style. First of all, after he took over Barcelona, and before he could impose his view of how he wanted the team to play, he had to bring in those players who he thought were appropriate and could fit in easily and do the job he would ask of them, and get rid of those, who he thought, maybe were past it, in football terms and definitely in relation to their spells at Barcelona, and that would not compliment his style and philosophy of play.
A few big names were shown the door on that first summer in charge for Guardiola, Ronaldinho, Deco among those shown the door, and those brought in, were Danny Alves, Pedro, and Pique.
These new signings along with the addition of players from the B team, that Guardiola had previous experience of, from his tenure there, allowed Barca to build on total football and combine other elements into their play.
Total football and more
Barcelona’s play is all about passing and movement but there is one aspect of their tactics which has become almost as important as this. This is pressurizing the opposing team high up in their own half of the field so as to deny them space to get the ball down and play football. This tactic is based on the aspect of forcing the opposition into making a mistake, therefore upon this error, they will receive the ball and then move it quickly so that the opposing team has no time to make the transition from attack to defense, something that Barcelona are able to do with the upmost effectiveness.
The wide men don’t track back so if possession is lost then there is always an outlet to give the ball to, especially if one of the opposing full backs decides to go forward and join in the attack.
In modern football, and in the last ten or so years, there has been great emphasis on a defensive midfielder to break up the other teams attacks. Sergio Busquets in this aspect, performs this task very well, and with the growing emphasis being that this player has the ability to start attacks off, and give the ball quickly to the ball players, then his undoubted value to the team is second to none, as he has these abilities and more, with also being able to interchange with Xavi and Iniesta, to move the ball quickly with pace and precision, building on those aspects of total football as talked about before.
Xavi and Iniesta in the middle of the park, and also with the flexibility that the formation allows them, to drift and take up positions all over the pitch, meaning that there are always players available to pass the ball to. This of course, makes the possession bar look very favorable on the part of Barcelona in their matches but also adds another aspect, as the opposition can spend long periods of time chasing the ball and therefore wasting lots of energy, which can be taking advantage of later on in games.
So much so, that Barcelona look like they play in sync, in every game, looking like a well-oiled machine, with full backs encouraged to join in in attacks, centre backs able to step out with the ball and integrate as well, wingers taking on fullbacks and getting balls into the box and committing defenders, and this is also without the mention of the world player of the year, Lionel Messi, who scores on average thirty odd goals per season, as well, as countless assists to his teammates. The details are amazing, and it’s no reason that the last few years at Barcelona have been the most successful in their history and many see them as the best team in the world at the moment and probably in the history of the game.
Jose Mourinho era in Real Madrid
One of the ways in which the supremacy of Barcelona could be taken away in Spain and Europe, is Real Madrid. Since the arrival of Mour-inho (who spent time at Barcelona as coach and translator to ex man-ager Bobby Robson), Real Madrid have evolved into a TEAM, some-thing missing through previous managers, and this season have started to impress more because of their results and style of play.
Last season, at times they played spectacular football, but sometimes looked to have lots more in reserve with Mourinho seeming to hold back and play for results, which is good, but in a team as historic as Real Madrid where they have been known throughout their history for attractive football, the fans of the club seemed to be growing a little disgruntled with the style of football that they were playing.
This season is a different story though, as the tentative style that was encouraged last season, seeming to be a thing of the past and the team has played a mix of pretty, effective and stylish football, with an em-phasis of pressing high up the pitch when without the ball, very similar to Barcelona.
It also needs to be taken into consideration that Mourinho’s teams tend to play better their second year than their first, so if they did break their trophy duck last season by winning the Copa del Rey, then maybe this season, could be the season to try to put a stop to Barcelona’s domination In Spain and Europe, going on the point that has been highlighted in relation to teams Mourinho has trained in the past.
The pretenders
So the question is who can stop them? As discussed before Real Madrid seems to be the main takers in this aspect, definitely in Spain as the top two seem to be a forgone conclusion in that area, as no one outside of these two seem to have the team and resources to compete.
In Europe, England provides the biggest hurdle, with the Manchester teams and Chelsea being those who could threaten their grip on the Champions league, although, United seem to be the main contenders, but as has been seen in two finals in the space of three years between the teams, Barcelona have had no real problems with United or any other English teams in the competition in the last few years.
Elsewhere, the big two in Italy this season seem to be having a disaster so taking this into consideration, in this aspect and anywhere on the continent there doesn’t seem to be any big threats so probably these can be discounted from the equation.
The biggest threat seems to be therefore Real Madrid, who will push them hard this season on both fronts, Spain and Europe, and of course, all will depend on the desire of Pep (Guardiola) to keep signing on for more than one year, if the success of the club is to be continued.
There is one thing for sure though, and that’s that at the minute they are the best and the team that all others should aspire to be and who should try to play like.
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