His club came out with a very familiar game-plan: the Chelsea rules. He should know it well as he was the prime architect. Other clubs and other managers have used it with varying degrees of success because it´s not just a matter of ¨parking the bus¨, putting 10 men behind the ball and lumping it up to target man on the break. It surley is reactive football, regressive football if you want a description that defines it in contrast to FC Barcelona´s approach, but it isn´t negative. The Cristiano Ronaldo goal on the counter is a beauty of clock-work football: studied, perfected, but inventive? Not really, but that´s not the point.
There is also something decidedly beautiful about watching defenders using every bit of available space, not only that amount available on the pitch, cutting off passing lanes, and limiting angles for runs in the box, but they must have studied Barcelona´s tendencies in crosses, through-passes, weighted-passes etc., because it seemed that any-time Barcelona entered the area there was an extended leg, a body and even a head in the space available in that third dimension ready to deflect it, and yes if it seemed that there were arms, elbows and hands conveniently used to assist in that seemingly impenetrable shield then there probably were. Cheating? We´re on the knife´s edge here, but Real Madrid did not resort to the dirty play that has characterized cláicos over the last two years.
Like any other game however, this was not just about what one club did over another. The game is about varied confrontations between both clubs on many fronts. Real Madrid didn´t win the game simply by shutting down the vaunted Barcelona attack. This was also what Barcelona didn´t or couldn´t do on their, regardless of what Real Madrid allowed. There were mistakes made.
Are we going to deny that Cristian Tello looked over-matched in a Barcelona shirt? Sure, he was unmarked on numerous occasions, the kid can run on the wing, but his nerves got the best of him. He is a long way from being a good crosser of the ball, has more goals than assists, and when you are giving Álvaro Arbeloa an opportunity to rehabilitate his reputation as a defender, on occasion after occasion being unable to turn the corner on the lumbering Arbeloa, then you have problems.
Some will criticize Messi also, but this isn´t a case where he was harried into mistakes. His presence was felt but his team-mates dropped the ball. This isn´t even about their attack. They have a problem at the back. Three in central defense is not a problem per-se, Udinese in Italy are quite skilled these days with three at the back, and Barcelona´s main shield is in midfield and in the pressure they commit to ball in the opponent´s half to recover the ball, but their system (the famed Ajax 4-3-3) is predicated on the interplay between midfield and attack, between interior wingers cutting in and the mismatches that fullbacks create overlapping, and that just doesn´t happen anymore with the 3-4-3. Dani Alves looked isolated on the right and the field looked tilted for much of the game towards the left flank.
Is this the end of the matter? Highly unlikely. Barcelona still have the sort of squad that can give Real Madrid problems. The matter hasn´t been settled. It may likely be a different story the next time they meet. Mourinho has not cracked the nut that will decide all other encounters from here on out; this is football. There is no paradigm shift just yet with the sort of players that the blaugrana have. That said, Sandro Rosell and his team have a great deal of assessment to do.
Checking if the comments work
ReplyDeleteGood, good post.
ReplyDeleteThere was so much to take from this game for both side. For Barça, perhaps it's too easy to say that the squad is too light, and especially with the bench Barça had, with the players that came on, there shouldn't be too much talk about that. What should be noted is the lack of impact that some players had on the game. You've rightly highlighted Tello. Alves is half the player he was from two seasons ago. He was the best crosser of the ball in Europe at one stage, but now he struggles to get it anywhere near an attacking team mate. Xavi, probably playing with an injury, didn't impose himself on the game and missed a sitter. Pedro and Fàbregas were just as disappointing as Tello. Messi I thought was great. The problem was he couldn't play the ball to himself.
All of this being said, when we scored we saw the pressure that we were putting Madrid under, they were dropping further and further back and that was what told me that we were making them uncomfortable. We saw the difference when Madrid scored, suddenly they had the confidence to play a higher line.