Tuesday 8 March 2011

Barca - Football from another planet - But West Ham could do it!

Now I'm not being silly here, we can't do the Messi bit in the final third I accept, but that apart, we could learn a lot from watching Barcelona tonight. It's not the attacking that left me breathless, but the way Barca play when they DON'T have the ball.

Arsenal did not have a single shot all night. Why? Because they couldn't get the ball out of their own half! Inside twenty minutes I was calling for the introduction of Arshavin and Chamakh and for Arsenal to go long ball. Their attempt to play the ball out from the back was clearly not working because of the way EVERY Barcelona player pressed. In effect, Barcelona defended on the edge of the Arsenal penalty box!

So time and time again, Arsenal managed three or four passes and then lost the ball and, because Barcelona were winning the ball in Arsenal's half, and more often than not in the final third of the pitch, launching an attack was then easy. When you win the ball that high up the pitch, you only need two passes to open up a shot on goal!

The other thing that was fascinating was the number of times Barcelona players drifted offside, looped behind a defender and then came back on in a "blind" position. The ball retention was beautifully simple with Barcelona lining up five players across the pitch like a rugby three quarters line and moving the ball sideways, backwards, sideways, sideways, sideways, waiting, waiting, waiting, then Messi steps back onside and the ball is released and everybody springs into action. It is almost counter intuitive. Instead of piling players into the box, Barcelona ignore the penalty box until the trap is sprung, with until that point, all bar one of the players parallel to or behind the man in possession. There is no centre forward, there are no strikers as such, it is fascinating to watch and a whole new way of playing football.

Of course Messi has sublime skill but it is his movement and patience that opens up teams more than any devastating passing or fantastic dribbling. I'm not saying we can do what Barca can do with the ball but we can reproduce the movement of the man furthest forward, this tactic of going offside and looping behind the defenders whilst the ball is retained.

We can also press like Barcelona, pinning opponents in their own half rather than closing on the half way line. It won't work against the likes of Bolton, they will go long ball, but it would work against Spurs for example.

Arsenal will moan about the sending off but Van Persie was always going to see red after that flare up in the first half. Wenger should have pulled him off at half time. I don't believe for one moment that he didn't hear the whistle but the red card was ridiculous regardless, as absurd as Piquionne's sending off at Everton. What a mad game it is when Carragher doesn't see red for that potential leg breaker on Nani but Van Persie sees red for having a shot after the whistle was blown. Common sense? Referees are devoid of it obviously!

Anyway, I hope Grant was watching tonight and that Ba, Cole and Piquionne start working on the offside, onside routine. It's pretty easy to do, providing you have midfielders with the intelligence to retain the ball until a player steps on unseen and in space. In Noble and Hitz, we have players with that ability!

And Barca play in their version of claret and blue!

11 comments:

Stani Army said...

Noble can easily do what Xavi does.

Vialli used to make that run HF.

Hammersfan said...

Maybe he did, but not as effectively and as often as Messi. He stands five to ten yards offside sometimes, it is amazing to watch.

Stani Army said...

Yeh, and Vialli used to actually sprint forward, across and then back, whereas Messi kind of tip-toes and floats in and out.

Mesmerizing stuff. Their fans must be spoilt. Can you imagine turning up to watch that every weekend?

Hammersfan said...

Would get boring winning every week!

Chunky said...

Barca were awesome last night and did a pretty good job of making Arsenal look like Bishops Stortford FC. That facinating style that they showed in the final 3rd was the rock to conventional footballs scissors. If they have one problem, it is that they dont shoot enough, instead trying to pass the ball into the net.

Arsenal were truely outclassed and some players, especially Bendtner, looked completely out of their depth.

Entertaining stuff to watch but clearly impossibly to officiate. The ref totally lost control in the first half, and the sending off (although hilarious) was a farce.

John said...

Yea, but boredom would make a nice change from agitation.

Anonymous said...

kevin in manchester writes..

cut out the middle man HF and tweet carlton direct with the 'loop back '. You are right; it is a cunning stunt

MARGA BOSCH I EL SEU VERB said...

up the hammers!
visca el barça!

our blog:
penyabogarde-goldencorner.blogspot.com

catalan hammers!!!!

penyabogarde said...

visit:

penyabogarde-goldencorner.blogspot.com

(the hammer tribune of Premià de Mar, Barcelona)


visit:

penyabogarde.blogspot.com

(the bizarre barça fan club of premià de mar, Barcelona)


up the hammers
claret & blue
blaugrana al vent!

Johntan said...

It looks easier than it really is.

Nat Peters said...

Tell me something good!

arsenal kaputt!