Barcelona losing grip on their strangle-hold of Europe?

[cZeur]

By no means do I consider myself to be a journalist, although I do enjoy writing, especially about football. I wrote this during the first half of the Poland - Greece game after Lewandowski's goal haha. Any criticism will be greatly appreciated.

“Every empire must fall,” and football is no exception. With news of Pep Guardiola’s departure from Barcelona still fresh in our minds, and with the Catalan giants failing to win a major trophy this season, is their reign at the top of world football coming to an end? While I am not doubting Pep’s replacement, Tito Vilanova’s abilities, I believe that other sides are adapting to their tiki-taka style very well.

If there is one thing that we should take away from this season it is that teams that work their transitions well can often come away with victories against those who like to pass the ball about. This was most evident in Chelsea’s monumental victory against Barca. Despite their dominance on the possession front, they couldn’t engineer a win, a similar scenario to their Champion’s League Semi-Final defeat to Mourinho’s Inter.

I think the underlying question regarding Barcelona is “do they have a plan B?” Despite David Villa’s injury they have not really struggled for goals – enter a certain Mr Messi – the problem comes when well-drilled sides sit deep, narrow and invite them onto themselves. When Messi failed to get sufficient service he tended to come further and further back, to a point where he found himself with both centre backs and a defensive midfielder between him and the goal.

The “solution” would be a battering ram – a target man – to smash through a deep line. Of course, they had one of those in Zlatan Ibrahimovic but he was allowed to leave amid claims that he was “bullied” by Guardiola -what he wouldn’t give to have the Swede in the squad against Chelsea. Instead his response to deep-lying teams was to push Daniel Alves even further forward, almost inverting the pyramid. The problem with that is they became too predictable – players who start in advanced positions are easier to track than those who come from deep.

This predictability is what may lead to their downfall. As Chelsea showed in the Champions League and Dortmund showed in the DFB-Pokal final, direct, transition football can be rather uncomfortable for the Barcelonas and Bayern Munichs.

If Barcelona are to hold on to their crown as the best team in the world, they will most certainly have to adapt to counter the threat of the counter attack.

 

[MUFCMike]

Good article! Quite well written and an interesting premise. I agree with you on the fact Barca lack a target man and, for such a creative team, sometimes lack the creativity and flair to unlock team. The only things here i would say to you is the sentence "While I am not doubting Pep’s replacement, Tito Vilanova’s abilities" I think this would make more sense if you said "...not doubting the abilities of Peps replacement, Tito Vilanova" The way you have written it, the word "abilities" sounds a bit unnatural. Also, would the Fifa Club World Cup be classed as a major trophy? All in all though, a good read

 

[LiverpoolLad]

Im not quite sure if I agree whole heartedly, Barca is the way they are because of the system the club has put into place. Its a continuous conveyer belt of young talent with the same mentality. They have that and the ability to attract almost anyone there. I think Chelsea got extremely lucky and don't deserve the European trophy. Barca isn't going anywhere, they are what futbol is supposed to be.

 

[mccollio09]

I think it's premature to say that their stranglehold on Europe is over. They are still a fantastic footballing side and IMO, if Mourinho wasn't at Real Madrid they would have wiped the floor with La Liga again by at least a ten point gap. But that's not the case.

As far as the champions league goes, you will have your Inters and your Chelsea's who can sit deep and grab a result against Barca, and lets face it, that is the only way you will get to beat them. But I still think that if Barca played their game and Chelsea played theirs, 7/10 times, Barca would win. They'll be back don't worry.

Their main worry should be Iniesta and Xavi coming to the end of their careers soon, but with Thiago and Fabregas, I don't think this will be that noticeable.

 

[LiverpoolLad]

I think it's premature to say that their stranglehold on Europe is over. They are still a fantastic footballing side and IMO, if Mourinho wasn't at Real Madrid they would have wiped the floor with La Liga again by at least a ten point gap. But that's not the case.

As far as the champions league goes, you will have your Inters and your Chelsea's who can sit deep and grab a result against Barca, and lets face it, that is the only way you will get to beat them. But I still think that if Barca played their game and Chelsea played theirs, 7/10 times, Barca would win. They'll be back don't worry.

Their main worry should be Iniesta and Xavi coming to the end of their careers soon, but with Thiago and Fabregas, I don't think this will be that noticeable.

Not to mention Busquets !

 

[cZeur]

Good article! Quite well written and an interesting premise. I agree with you on the fact Barca lack a target man and, for such a creative team, sometimes lack the creativity and flair to unlock team. The only things here i would say to you is the sentence "While I am not doubting Pep’s replacement, Tito Vilanova’s abilities" I think this would make more sense if you said "...not doubting the abilities of Peps replacement, Tito Vilanova" The way you have written it, the word "abilities" sounds a bit unnatural. Also, would the Fifa Club World Cup be classed as a major trophy? All in all though, a good read

Thanks a lot! I agree with that sentence, seems a bit strange the way I wrote it ahaha

Im not quite sure if I agree whole heartedly, Barca is the way they are because of the system the club has put into place. Its a continuous conveyer belt of young talent with the same mentality. They have that and the ability to attract almost anyone there. I think Chelsea got extremely lucky and don't deserve the European trophy. Barca isn't going anywhere, they are what futbol is supposed to be.

While I'm aware of their traditions, when you're at the top every other team is aiming to gun you down, and will do anything to achieve that. I think that for these situations, it's naive to believe that one approach will see you through every scenario. Don't get me wrong though, I really do enjoy watching Barca and I hope they get a couple more years at the top but I think it'd be foolish to assume that they'll be there forever. How they react after last season and Pep's resignation will be very interesting.

I think it's premature to say that their stranglehold on Europe is over. They are still a fantastic footballing side and IMO, if Mourinho wasn't at Real Madrid they would have wiped the floor with La Liga again by at least a ten point gap. But that's not the case.

As far as the champions league goes, you will have your Inters and your Chelsea's who can sit deep and grab a result against Barca, and lets face it, that is the only way you will get to beat them. But I still think that if Barca played their game and Chelsea played theirs, 7/10 times, Barca would win. They'll be back don't worry.

Their main worry should be Iniesta and Xavi coming to the end of their careers soon, but with Thiago and Fabregas, I don't think this will be that noticeable.

The same as above for your first point. Mourinho has almost made it an obsession to defeat Barca and by the end of this season he'd achieved it. I think that other managers will take great pleasure in seeing that Barca can be beaten and will most probably take notes from Madrid.

I agree with your Xavi&Iniesta point, how they handle the transition will also be very interesting.

 

[LiverpoolLad]

Thanks a lot! I agree with that sentence, seems a bit strange the way I wrote it ahaha



While I'm aware of their traditions, when you're at the top every other team is aiming to gun you down, and will do anything to achieve that. I think that for these situations, it's naive to believe that one approach will see you through every scenario. Don't get me wrong though, I really do enjoy watching Barca and I hope they get a couple more years at the top but I think it'd be foolish to assume that they'll be there forever. How they react after last season and Pep's resignation will be very interesting.


The same as above for your first point. Mourinho has almost made it an obsession to defeat Barca and by the end of this season he'd achieved it. I think that other managers will take great pleasure in seeing that Barca can be beaten and will most probably take notes from Madrid.

I agree with your Xavi&Iniesta point, how they handle the transition will also be very interesting.

I never said they would be at the top forever, I just think its foolish to say they will lose their grip. They are going to be a dominant futbol team for the next 10 years at least.

 

[cZeur]

I never said they would be at the top forever, I just think its foolish to say they will lose their grip. They are going to be a dominant futbol team for the next 10 years at least.

10 years is a long time for a football team, but if they can ride out this tough patch then they definitely deserve it.

 

[LiverpoolLad]

What patch? And when you have messi, affelay, pedro, busquets, fabregas, tiago, alexis in first team who are all very young why is that such a long time? They are only going to play better with each other.

 

[cZeur]

What patch? And when you have messi, affelay, pedro, busquets, fabregas, tiago, alexis in first team who are all very young why is that such a long time? They are only going to play better with each other.

Losing the league by a few points, getting knocked out the CL&losing their manager... Other teams will improve though, look at the Madrid clubs&Bilbao aswell. Don't get me wrong, I really hope they do carry on at the top, I'm just suggesting that maybe the Barca train might be derailed slightly.

 

[soccerkid5]

I'm sorry but WHAT???? Iniesta is not that old . Iniesta is just 28 years old. If I can do some sort of subtraction that means he is just 3 years older than Fabregas. How is he coming to the end of his career? As for the topic, I believe that they will lose their grip very soon . Yes they've been dominant for some time now and their philosophy is almost or if not a perfect one but I truly believe there are more and more managers now who are tactically willing , flexible and are able to exploit Barca's flaws and are also able to adapt to barca's play, that is ; they are now able to sit comfortably with 11 men behind the ball against barca and frustrate them .

 

[craig curtis]

Barca still strong as ever imo but madrid are far stronger and have better squad, and now madrid have beaten them to league think they will go on and dominate spanish football now, but other teams in europe are going to have to step up to beat them!

 

[cZeur]

I'm sorry but WHAT???? Iniesta is not that old . Iniesta is just 28 years old. If I can do some sort of subtraction that means he is just 3 years older than Fabregas. How is he coming to the end of his career? As for the topic, I believe that they will lose their grip very soon . Yes they've been dominant for some time now and their philosophy is almost or if not a perfect one but I truly believe there are more and more managers now who are tactically willing , flexible and are able to exploit Barca's flaws and are also able to adapt to barca's play, that is ; they are now able to sit comfortably with 11 men behind the ball against barca and frustrate them .

Guardiola is arguably one of the most tactically innovative coaches in the game at the moment, although he appeared to be reluctant to change the fundamentals of Barca's play style. Like you said, other teams are starting to realise that by making themselves as compact as possible, Barca can't play their way through; and since they lack a Llorente-type player they can't go more direct.

I think that if more teams start playing to Barca's weaknesses either Vilanova has to adapt Barca's style of play or they'll just fizzle out and become a team of the past. They obviously have outrageous talent throughout the squad but they lack variation in my opinion - although I hope I'm proven wrong!

 

[CJACKO11]

I think it's premature to say that their stranglehold on Europe is over. They are still a fantastic footballing side and IMO, if Mourinho wasn't at Real Madrid they would have wiped the floor with La Liga again by at least a ten point gap. But that's not the case.

As far as the champions league goes, you will have your Inters and your Chelsea's who can sit deep and grab a result against Barca, and lets face it, that is the only way you will get to beat them. But I still think that if Barca played their game and Chelsea played theirs, 7/10 times, Barca would win. They'll be back don't worry.

Their main worry should be Iniesta and Xavi coming to the end of their careers soon, but with Thiago and Fabregas, I don't think this will be that noticeable.

Don't agree with that at all, we have always had a good record against Barcelona. Since 1999 we have met 12 times with 4 Chelsea wins, 3 Barcelona wins and 5 draws. And in the 3 defeats to Barca we had had someone sent off in all 3, some teams have bogey teams and Barca seem to struggle against Chelsea.


On the article, i don't think they will be as dominating as they have been but will still be a very good team that's for sure. More sides will take strength from what Chelsea did and if it means getting something out of Barca then they will try and do it too. Barca will then be forced to employ a plan B and they have not got that at the moment. Until then get a plan B i.e target man striker who they can lump it too and put crosses in too if need be then i think they will win less games.

 

[cfc12345]

Im not quite sure if I agree whole heartedly, Barca is the way they are because of the system the club has put into place. Its a continuous conveyer belt of young talent with the same mentality. They have that and the ability to attract almost anyone there. I think Chelsea got extremely lucky and don't deserve the European trophy. Barca isn't going anywhere, they are what futbol is supposed to be.

Istanbul?

 

[maxy67]

Interesting but seems a bit premature. They only missed out on the League and Champions League, and won everything else so thats a pretty successful season for any other club. Also can see them bouncing back next season, with Lionel Messi scoring 70+ goals a season they will be very strong.

 

[zzeezzy]

Teams are adapting to the Barca way, look at Chelsea for example.. Barca have no plan B, that is their biggest problem. Oh and not to mention they always have to 'work' virtually every goal because they have no one ever to get on the end of crosses with a header.

 

[craig9045]

A little early yet i think, i'm waiting to see how they respond to their near misses

 

[cZeur]

Lol, foresight