Mandieta6;2758824 said:
It worked last year although it nearly didn't. I highly doubt it will work again this year. Just like you if you don't improve your squad, you're going backwards, if you don't improve your tactics, the same is true.
look, Total Football is not a tactic, it is a philosophy ... Ajax, Holland, and Barcelona's brand of football thus focuses on always looking to attack, maintaining the lion's share of possession, and allowing the free form formation to entertain ...
philosophy does detail specificity of tactics ... but it does define an "ideal" of sorts: when you can pass the ball all the way to the back of the net without having to exert yourself for a shot -- that would mean you are in control, and dominating ...
don't make the mistake of thinking that that is the only way a Total Football unit aims to play ... when the opponent can contain you to passing the ball around the midfield, just outside the box, and are effective at closing down any openings, then it is clear that the ball cannot be passed into the net, and something a little different is necessary -- a shot from distance, a cross, etc. ... this is where I agree with you that in some matches when teams "park the bus", Barcelona have sometimes shown a distinct lack of creativity ... but, quite simply, it is up to the talented individuals out there to improvise a solution when such situations presents themselves ...
Mandieta6;2758824 said:
Defense is as important as attack in footie, and any team that does it well should be commended. Now, if you never try and attack, and just park the bus, that's a different thing. But every big team has to deal with it, and most teams have different methods of dealing with it, so should Barca.
agreed ...
against Rubin, Ryazantsev's goal was of the kind that happens once in a blue moon ... it is a perfect example of an unstoppable shot ... maybe it can be said that he should have been closed down better by the defenders, but once that shot was unleashed, it would have flown in against any team, playing any style of football ... the same applies to Essien's wonder goal with his weaker left foot in last season's semifinal, and Scholes' goal in the semis the previous year ...
what isn't OK is what happened for Gökdeniz Karadeniz's goal at the Camp Nou ... those are defensive issues to be taken care of, because it means the offside trap was allowed to be sprung and/or the defensive organization and cover was lacking ... this is something that can be addressed in training ...
Mandieta6;2758824 said:
And I really disagree with the notion that defending form deep is ugly, or 'less-than-admirable'. If you've seen Chelsea play this season, you'd notice that they rarely apply pressure high up, and defend from deep and break on counters. Yet Chelsea's game this season has been incredibly entertaining. It's just a different way to play.
Regarding how teams tackle Barca's way of playing, well, what do you expect? For teams to go out there and get battered? No, few, if any teams can out-play Barca in terms of posession, so you have to defend well and kill them on the counter.
Defense is as important as attack in footie, and any team that does it well should be commended. Now, if you never try and attack, and just park the bus, that's a different thing. But every big team has to deal with it, and most teams have different methods of dealing with it, so should Barca.
you're forgetting that even these "big teams" decide to park the bus when they play Barcelona ...
you ask if Barcelona (and the fans) expect their opponents to play an open formation and let Barcelona's attack slice through? of course not ... what Barcelona and their fans want is for the other team to put up a fight, and not just sit back waiting for a mistake to happen ... the intention of the game is entertain by scoring goals ... but when teams play deep and defend with 10 men, it is an admission that they do not have the skill necessary to hold back a team like Barcelona's attacking potency with just the regualtion 4 defenders, plus the defensive midfielders -- it means they need all hands on deck to contain the indomitable threat that faces their goal ...
I look at that as a compliment to Barcelona ... and when these so-called "big teams" (who are supposedly the main rivals in Europe) employ such tactics, then it is the ultimate compliment ... if Barcelona and its players take this constant defensive approach that they have to put up with as a compliment, then they will not feel frustrated ...
I agree that it is ridiculous to expect an inferior side to come out and actually try to battle Barcelona, to not be defensive and not just wait for a mistake to hit on the counter ... I don't agree with people who call such tactics "antifootball" -- it is merely a different approach ... but I do think that reverting to an all-out defensive approach, and hoping for a mistake so you can hit on the counter, is a sign of inferiority in skill ... I don't find much to be admired about that ...
if Barcelona concede on the counter and they lose because of it, then so be it ... apart from claiming to have somehow beaten Barcelona, I don't think there is much for the opponent to be proud of in winning that way ... if life is just about the scoreboard and nothing more to these people, then such a victory would be all they are looking for ... personally, though, the scoreboard is merely the statistic, while the grandeur is in the epic tale of how the result came to pass ...
Mandieta6;2758863 said:
I think one problem is that Ibra and Messi sound like a mouth-watering combination, but they still don't have any chemistry between them.
I don't know man, they've had some good-looking combinations already ... they're not telepathic by any means, but right from the Gamper Trophy, all the way to yesterday, each match has had at least one piece of slick interchange between them ... not enough you might feel, and I would tend to agree ... but it will improve with time and practice together ...
, Sergi Gomez, Javier Espinosa, Sergi Roberto, Adria Carmona).
