'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
16 trophies in 6 years. What a journey it has been for Barcelona. Just a few weeks ago, everyone thought with Barcelona drawing at home 2-2 vs Getafe, their title challenge was effectively over. But for two consecutive match-days, with all of the top 3 losing points, the title was bound to be decided on the final matchday between the top two at Camp Nou.
Barcelona needed a win while for Atletico Madrid a draw would have sufficed. And as it has been for 4 occasions previously this season, the match ended in a draw, despite Barcelona taking a lead with a brilliant Alexis Sanchez strike. The Chilean’s heroics were cancelled out by a Diego Godin header and Atletico hung on to secure a draw and win the title. For a team consisting of Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Neymar etc., a trophy-less season is hardly acceptable.
But that being said, this has truly been one of the closest La Liga finales you’ll see. However, that doesn’t take away the fact how relatively poor Barca has been this season. Let us analyse what truly went wrong for Barcelona, in general and how they can fix this.
Identity Crisis
Barcelona are facing an identity crisis, more than anything. The reason Barca was so successful under Pep Guardiola from the 08-09 to 10-11 and even upto 11-12 season was because they had a certain philosophy, that of tiki-taka! It was characterised by sharp one-touch football, short, pin-point passing, mesmerising runs (on and off ball) followed by incisive through balls and extremely high, never-ending pressing! Their simple motto was that they wouldn’t let you have the ball: if you don’t have the ball, you can’t attack them! Barça’s 5-0 demolition of an undefeated Madrid side or their UCL final triumph over United showcased that to its full brilliance!
But now, what Barçelona follow is a skewed, warped version of that philosophy: they just play short passes with no intent! Gone are the clever runs of Pedro and Villa which drew defenders away for Messi to work his magic; gone are the high pressing in midfield led by the ever-present Busquets. And this is truly hurting Barça’s gameplay. Teams are just parking the bus or simply pressing Barcelona high up so that they can’t pass in the opposition’s final third.
Barcelona-Real Madrid 2-2 Heat Map
Barcelona are a team of technically gifted, but short-statured players. They can’t charge at opponents and dispossess them by strength or win headers at will. Instead, they use their incisive passing skills and movement to their advantage and try to cause havoc! But, when players like Dani Alves keep lofting high crosses into the box hoping that someone will head it, it completely ruins their momentum.
Lack of Plan B
Cules worldwide have been demanding for over 2-3 seasons for different tactics when tiki-taka fails; when Barca come against teams that park the bus, like Chelsea or Inter (Jose Mourinho showed the underlying problem with this philosophy with Inter Milan). So, what can be a option B? Most say that Barca needs a tall centre-forward to hustle and bustle his way in the penalty box. Well, that might hamper with Barcelona’s entire way of playing. So, instead, what if they got a proper centre-forward (like Aguero, who is recently being linked to Barca) and then make Messi play on the right-wing (like he used to) so that he can cut in and shoot? I present a few formations I made that could demonstrate Barcelona’s plan B:
Alternate Formation I: 4-4-1-1
Alternate Formation II: 4-3-3
Alternate Formation III: 4-3-3
Freedom of managers
It is generally accepted that Pep’s Barca was possibly one of the best squads ever. They won everything in their sight, including the sextuple (only club to do so) which consists of La Liga, Spanish Cup, Spanish Super Cup, Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup!
Barcelona’s Sextuple
But Barcelona now is not comparable to Barca of then. Key players like Puyol and Xavi are getting old and players are leaving. So the responsibility lies with the manager to make use of the transfer market, the squad and tactics to get the best possible results. However, the last two seasons, that hasn’t been so!
This season, under Argentine Gerardo Martino, Barcelona fans had hopes of change. But alas, the initial promise soon turned to dust; Martino’s initial squad rotation, willing to take risk with players, implementing a more vertical and direct style of play soon vanished and got replaced by the stagnated passing, lethargic game-play we see today. Managers need to be more assertive and independent; boards do have a say in the club, but that shouldn’t, in any way, hamper with the way the manager wants to run the club.
That being said, right after the match vs Atletico, Martino announced that he will leave the managerial position, based on mutual consent. Right now, former Barcelona player and Barcelona B, Roma and Celta de Vigo manager Luis Enrique seems the forerunner for the post. However, despite his moderate success at Celta, Enrique was deemed to be a failure at a big club like Roma. One has to question the board’s reluctance in going for settled managers with European experience, instead of giving the job to relatively inexperienced ones, like Tito(may his soul rest in peace), Tata Martino and now, possibly, Enrique.
Smart Business in transfer market
Barcelona aren’t the smartest club when it comes to transfer market deals! Disastrous deals like Dmytro Chgrynskiy(bought for €25 million and sold back for €15 million the next season) or Zlatan Ibrahimovic(bought for €46 million + Eto’o and loaned out to Milan the next season with option to buy at season’s end for €24 million) or Thiago Alcantara(won’t sadden more with details) haunt Barca fans’ memories.
Barcelona needs to be smart on the transfer market. They already have 3 classic wingers, with Iniesta and Messi capable of playing in the LW and RW respectively. So, players like Tello, Afellay, Bojan or Isaac Cuenca are surplus to their needs. If recent rumours are to be believed, Liverpool and some English clubs are interested in Tello, and they could fetch around €10 million for his services. Also, Song is also rumoured to be on his way out as is Dani Alves(possibly to PSG): these players, in total, might fetch Barcelona around €40-42 million!
Tello on way out?
Buying necessary players
Now, let us consider Barcelona’s incoming deals. If a plan B is to be possible, they need a proper ST or CF. Aguero might cost them in excess of €50-60 million, so that might not be a wise choice. Instead, they can look at possible cheaper alternatives like Mario Mandzukic(who would be forced to play second fiddle to Lewandowski at Bayern next season) or even a certain costlier Diego Costa.
Barcelona to get Sergio Aguero?
As for the centre back position, with Puyol leaving, you might envision Marc Bartra to take up place alongside Gerard Pique. But Barcelona do need to buy possibly two centre backs: Real Sociedad’s Inigo Martinez and Villareal’s Mateo Musacchio seems cheaper, proper alternatives, or even Dortmund’s Mats Hummels who is more than capable with the ball at his feet (Athletic’s Aymeric Laporte, with his €36 million buy-out clause seems too high for a 19 year old teenager)!
Barcelona have relentlessly pursued David Luiz for the past couple of seasons, but if they do end up buying him, it would be advisable to play him in CDM, like Mourinho has been doing the past couple of matches. As of now, Barcelona’s best bet for the CB position might be AS Roma’s Mehdi Benatia: he is excellent in reading the game, is an adept passer and is very strong in the air.
David Luiz – CB or CDM?
Playing players in proper positions
If you look at the way Javier Mascherano plays, you can easily mistake him for a sort of defensive midfield enforcer, not a starter centre back for one of the biggest football clubs in the world. That’s possible because Mascherano is a really poor CB. He played his best football, in my opinion, as a defensive midfielder in a Liverpool shirt. He needs to be given the same role here, with the occasional appearances as a centre back.
Also, people have criticised Cesc Fabregas as not having the same impact he did in Arsenal. Truth be told, he hasn’t been used in the same capacity in Barcelona. He has either been told to replicate Xavi’s role(for which he has lesser understanding of play and patience) or Messi’s role(for which he has lesser dribbling skills or shooting abilities).
Fabregas plays best as an attacking midfielder, preferably behind the striker. He needs to be given a role in Barca that replicates that, because, let’s be honest, players like Xavi or Messi can never be “replaced” in a squad.
More development of youth prospects
Early to middle of last decade was the golden era for Barcelona youth development. Players like Messi, Pedro, Pique, Iniesta, Busquets, Fabregas etc all graduated around that time and broke into the first team squad, dominating world football. But since then, development has become a bit stagnant. Players like Bojan, Fontas and Cuenca are all showing initial potential, only to fade away.
Players like Thiago Alcantara showed promise too, but he wasn’t given adequate first-team football and is now flourishing in Bayern Munich under Pep Guardiola. Barcelona still have a lot of bright aspects coming through arguably, the best footballing academy, La Masia, like Deulofeu, Rafinha (Thiago’s brother), Montoya, Sergi Roberto, Bartra etc, whereas players like Bagnack, Ie, Grimaldo, Denis Suarez, el Haddadi, Dongou-Tsafack, Sergi Samper and Adama Traore are certainly ones to look at for the future(Barcelona have won the UEFA Youth League of this season).
But they do need first team football, they do need experience. While Marc Bartra, Martin Montoya and Sergi Roberto have already broken into the first team squad, players like Deulofeu and Rafinha certainly should be given chances to flourish next season.
Barcelona’s future?
Next season is a new season; and what Barca fans possibly want most is a change in the board-members’ philosophy and thought process! They need to stop thinking that tiki-taka (or whatever Barça is playing now) is invincible- it is miles from it! Different situation require different tactics; you can’t try to eat meat with fork and then use it to scoop wine.
Barca needs to adapt and evolve if it wants to survive. After all, when the motto of your club is Mes Que Un Club (more than a club), you do need to pay heed to whatever your supporters are demanding and work with them for the best interests of the club.
