This article proved educational to me so I thought others might enjoy it. A very clearly written description of the specifics of at least some of Barca's tactics, and their coaches role in developing them: http://www.miostadium.com/opinions/simon-kuper/barcelonas-secret-soccer-success
Chapter 1: How to score when dominating possession outside opponents 18 while all 10 opponents are inside the 18. Chapter 2: How to convert a PK w/o hitting the crossbar Chapter 3: How to flop like a fish Chapter 4: How to leave someone un-marked 50 yards down field while having your entire team inside opponents 6 yard box.
Chapter 5: How to blow 83% of possession Chapter 6: How to use your 10 corner kicks verses the blue teams 1 Chapter 7: How to take 23 shots but only force their keeper to save 4.
What a game, but I think the officials all made a huge mistake: They didn't spot the infringement by the Chelsea players before Messi struck the penalty kick. At least 3 Chelsea players invaded the penalty box before Messi struck the ball. The penalty kick should have been retaken.
Considering Messi shouldn't have even been on the pitch by then, and UEFAlona arranged for an early red card AND the usual soft PK, it's amazingly rich to argue that the refs didn't do enough THIS time to hand Barca the win as per regulations. I was only astounded that the goal by Sanchez from Alves who was two clear yards offside was correctly not awarded. Mistake by the crew there, the Turk was no Ovrebo or Kuipers when it comes to delivering the correct result at any cost to credibility; he obviously should have overruled his linesman.
Ok, the timing of the article was unlucky given their performance this last game. But that doesn't take from the fact that Barca has been an outstanding team that has completely manhandled great teams regularly for a few years now. I remember when they tore a pretty strong Man U team to shreds last year at Old Trafford, among other victims. And they did the same against many other great teams over the past few years. One bad game doesn't mean they aren't the best overall team in the world, possibly ever. And whatever you think of them (and yes, I hate the diving some of their players do as much as they rest of you do) it isn't relevant to whether or not other coaches/teams can learn from how they play. I have always been struck with not just their obviously superior possession game but by how quickly they close down the other team and win back the ball when they lose possession. Usually within a couple seconds of losing the ball, the opponent with the ball has 3 Barca players in his shorts and within a few more seconds Barca has the ball again. Now anyone watching the Galaxy knows we struggle at this particular task and I'm pretty sure even more finger pointing by Keane isn't the answer. So I thought the ideas in the article provided some new ways of thinking about what does and does not work tactically for LAG and why. Another reason I thought this was an important topic - in our last game against SKC I felt one of the reasons we looked bad was that KC was very effectively doing this against us -- as soon as we won the ball they were all over us like flies on shxx. Some of their superiority in this area may be explained by their athleticism, but it seemed to me a lot of it was the result of some nice tactics on their part. So if they can do it to us, I would like to see LA improve to the point we could do the same to others. Because we superiority in so many other areas of the game (no one else has a Landon, Becks, and Keane) if we can work on this we could really be a dominate team, rather than a score and semi-bunker team. So Bruce or Curt or Sarachan or Kirovski (?) - if you are reading this post check out the article and see if you can't incorporate at least some of the tactics in your training of our beloved Galaxy!
we dont have anyone near as capable as an Abidal or a Dani Alves to support this type of offense... we also dont have a guy like Iniesta or Xavi. I love Beckham and think he's a top class distributor but thats mostly of the route 1 soccer. Xavi is so precise and crisp and well just plays it to the feet of a guy like Messi... What makes Barca so good is that the keep ball system they play fits pretty much every player they have. And every player they have is on a world class level... Part of the mystique with barca is that most teams just go there to defend and let them do it.
Actually, that was the weakest Man U team to ever contest a Euro Cup final. Nor has Barca faced any really serious competition during their golden age. Real Madrid was in their worst crisis in decades for most of Barca's run. Italian soccer was gutted by calciopoli, taking Juve and to some extent Milan out of the equation for years. Even so, a crappy Inter team managed to oust Barca. Bayern is also just now coming out of a long doldrums. Barca basically benefited from the weakest field in the history of the Champions League format. This last bit, the pressing, is what was actually revolutionary about Barca. Not the tikitaka, but that ferocious high press. You can see its influence now in teams as disparate as Klopp's Dortmund and Conte's Juventus, neither of which play tikitaka with the ball, but press like Barca off the ball. The inability of teams to counter this tactically with direct play releasing runners behind Barca's backline is directly down to the prevailing conservatism in coaching. The determination to keep men behind the ball and not give up numerical advantage in any areas means coaches are too cowardly to station two or three attackers riding the last defenders who will release instantly on a punt out of the back. Doing this would be an easy way to keep Barca honest and make them fear pressing so high and making so many passes, because any mistake will risk a one-on-one at their back, but it would require risk-taking and guts, which is basically a nonexistent commodity among today's coaches. Credit to Pep, he diagnosed the (greatly debased) state of the game in our time and, with the help of a half-billion dollar roster, developed a strategy to overwhelm all comers. Aided by UEFA's collaboration in granting some of the most obscenely one-sided officiating seen since World Cup 2002. But greatest of all time? Not even close. The classic Milan and Juve and Ajax sides, just to name a few, would have destroyed this Barca.
Yes, superior possession game, good spacing and the ability to quickly win back the ball when losing it is precisely how they beat ManU in the CL finale last year at Wembley. This year, they were clearly the better team vs. Chelsea in BOTH legs. However, this year was simply not their year to win it all. And that's soccer and that's why games are played and that's why fans like us watch them. Having one bad week doesn't mean they're no longer a great team. Skydog, I agree with you 100%. I don't get the hate and sarcasm from some of the posters here.
there isn't much hate and sarcasm that's why you don't get it. The timing of the post makes it comedic... relax
When you're the champ, everyone else wants to see you fail. That's how it is. As a Chelsea fan, life is great. At least until Liverpool and Bayern turn the tables on us.
Barcelona or Wolverhampton sometimes its just about having a laugh, not taking it too seriously and enjoying it...rarely is it vindictive