Tito to Tata - A boon or bane for Barcelona?

Getting rid of Messipendence

Barcelona aren’t the same without their Argentine wizard, Lionel Messi. This has become a world known fact ever since Messi has had troubles with his hamstring, being ruled out under both Tito & Tata for a reasonable period. However, the Catalan forwards, namely Pedro, Alexis & Villa did not step up when the onus was on them and it was all plain sailing for the opposition to contain the Blaugranas.

Under Tata, the Catalan firepower has made a valiant effort to keep the scores ticking.It still seems they might flounder in the bigger stages without the Argentine captain but the attitude has certainly changed and there is belief among the remnant of the Catalan attack. Under Tito, Pedro had a mere 10 goals to his tally, Alexis was a goal ahead of his counterpart with 11. While in this campaign, both Pedro & Alexis have 17 each.

Playing time for youngsters

One must sing Tata’s praises for changing the fortunes of La Masia graduates namely Sergi Roberto & Marc Bartra. Sergi Roberto is a talented lad and can really be going places in the future. He has already made 22 appearances with three of months to go this season compared to the 5 appearances he got under Tito.

Bartra is arguably the best defensive product from La Masia in recent times and is having his deserved breakthrough this season. He formed a great partnership alongside El Capitano, Carles Puyol in the cup games and his performances have even earned him a national call up from World Cup winning manager, Del Bosque. He might as well travel with the La Rojas to Brazil, which would certainly be the perfect finish to what has been his dream season. Dongou, Adama Traore are other youth talents who join the list.

Gutsy selection

Tata has made a statement in his debut campaign with his selection policies – selection and decisions to win. He possesses a winning mentality which Tito lacked and he is not afraid to gamble. At the same time, he does enough to not put his teams under total jeopardy. Some of the prime examples of his selection which gave him a great deal of return were pushing Messi to the right flank, playing Cesc as the false ‘9’ against Real Madrid, playing Fabregas and Xavi at the center to push Iniesta on to the wing against Manchester City. Such decisions have made Tata’s intentions evident – play to win. He was instrumental in bringing fellow-Argentine, Lionel Messi back from his long-term absence and Tata laid the perfect platform for Messi to gradually hit form.

Barcelona are second in the table in what has been a cat and mouse game between the Madrid clubs & the Catalans, swapping the top spot at regular intervals. The Catalans have set up an El Clasico final for the Copa del Rey and have taken a healthy lead against Manchester City in the Champions League. It has by far been a pretty good season to say the least for a debut manager and the see-saw has swayed more towards boon than towards bane, when comparisons are drawn between Tito & Tata.

However, the questions of “Can he? And how long?” still remain unanswered and time is the only key to unlock them.