Barcelona underneath Hansi Flick have caught the eye for his or her excessive line of defense and skill to make use of the offside lure successfully.
However, the workforce’s offensive technique has additionally been notable for its extra vertical strategy, with a give attention to attacking shortly and straight. Each of those techniques are carefully linked by one essential factor: strain.
Urgent excessive up the pitch can disrupt the opposing workforce’s rhythm and create alternatives for Barcelona to get better possession in harmful areas, making it simpler to transition into assault.
A typical mistake Barcelona have made
A key concern for Barcelona in latest matches, notably in video games the place they’ve dropped factors, has been the absence of Lamine Yamal within the beginning lineup.
His presence has been very important for the workforce’s urgent sport, and his absence has been felt each in assault and defence.
In La Liga, Barcelona usually recovers 31% of the ball within the opponent’s half, however of their defeats to Osasuna, Actual Sociedad, and Celta Vigo, this quantity dropped considerably, with solely 22%, 18%, and 24% of recoveries coming within the opponent’s half, respectively.
This discount in urgent depth has contributed to the workforce’s struggles in these matches.
Failure to press
Barcelona have one widespread consider every of their three disappointing leads to La Liga. (Picture by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Pictures)
When Barcelona fails to press successfully, their line of defense turns into extra uncovered. Opponents can discover more room between the traces, making their passes extra correct and harmful.
The offside lure, which had been a key defensive tactic, turns into much less efficient as opponents can exploit the house with extra precision.
This shift isn’t essentially because of higher attacking techniques from the opposition, however quite a results of Barcelona’s personal failure to keep up strain and keep compact as a workforce.
Dropping possession extra usually
Within the sport in opposition to Celta Vigo, for instance, Barcelona misplaced possession 43 instances, excess of their common of 29 per sport, which highlights the connection between poor ball retention and defensive vulnerabilities.
Finally, Barcelona’s urgent sport is the important thing to their success. When they can apply strain, they will regain possession in superior areas and create scoring probabilities, whereas additionally defending their line of defense.
With out it, they threat changing into extra susceptible on the again, because the opposing workforce finds it simpler to use the house in midfield. The workforce’s means to keep up high-intensity urgent will probably be essential if they’re to stay aggressive this season.