FC Barcelona Tactics

[KingMessi]

Dat lineup, I'd imagine Reus in place of Sanchez though.

Rafinha could potentially play the linker role? He was great in central midfield for Celta last season and this season we haven't seen him in midfield at all. Or Rakitic could play the linking role as well.

--------Messi------
Busquets---Rakitic

Koke or, potentially, Pogba, could also play the linking role.

 

[Behrox]

Dat lineup, I'd imagine Reus in place of Sanchez though.

Rafinha could potentially play the linker role? He was great in central midfield for Celta last season and this season we haven't seen him in midfield at all. Or Rakitic could play the linking role as well.

--------Messi------
Busquets---Rakitic

Koke or, potentially, Pogba, could also play the linking role.

Or maybe we could ditch the pivot altogether for a collective midfield unit like Ancoletti is using in Madrid. I think Xavi-Rakitic-Rafinha might be good enough for defensive cover without compromising on offensive flair. Xavi to play a Pirlo-esque role while Rakitic and Rafinha play the box to box mids

 

[DrPepper]

Or maybe we could ditch the pivot altogether for a collective midfield unit like Ancoletti is using in Madrid. I think Xavi-Rakitic-Rafinha might be good enough for defensive cover without compromising on offensive flair. Xavi to play a Pirlo-esque role while Rakitic and Rafinha play the box to box mids

Ancelotti's 4-4-2 has two very creative players who aren't actually that good defensively as double pivot. It works good enough but still has balance problems. First half against Barca when they had to chase Neymar's goal and pushed up the defensive line a bit they didn't always look comfortable. In three matches against Atletico this season they never won and lost two times. So I'm fairly sure they will have balance problems in the latter stages of the Champions League. And a 4-4-2 like Madrid's is more useful for wing play.

I actually don't know Rafinha too well. Isn't he more an attacking midfielder who could also play on the wings? Doesn't seem like a more defensive minded player. But Koke or Pogba could play a linking role too. Kovacic would also be superb. Gündogan is my favorite because he resembles Xavi the most but still has his own style.

 

[instinct]

Yeah, Gündogan would be a great addition to our squad, I thought about that as well. Hopefully he'll return to his best and we'll sign him.

I don't think that Xavi - Rakitic - Rafinha would work out that well. Xavi offers no defensive contribution. Rakitic and Rafinha both have a great workrate but I don't think that they offer enough quality in their defensive play to leave an actual pivot out. Madrid usually plays more defensive than we do because they want teams to attack to create space for their counter attacks. Consequentely, they defend more as a collective. Our defense is higher up the pitch and Xavi + Rakitic are relatively slow while Rafinha is not the best tackler (IIRC). It could be suicidal when we face a counter attacking team like Real Madrid.

I think that Pogba, Koke, Gündogan and Vidal would all be a great addition right now.

 

[KingMessi]

I actually don't know Rafinha too well. Isn't he more an attacking midfielder who could also play on the wings? Doesn't seem like a more defensive minded player. But Koke or Pogba could play a linking role too. Kovacic would also be superb. Gündogan is my favorite because he resembles Xavi the most but still has his own style.

Rafa played a lot deeper with Lucho at Celta. But yeah, he can play anywhere in midfield and on the wings.

 

[Gaudi]

Since we mostly agree about our problems and this sportpulse article is pretty much saying same things what do you think happened? Are players aware how they moved before, how team moved and played before? Do they realize they digressed and do they know why that happened?

 

[Luftstalag14]

Since we mostly agree about our problems and this sportpulse article is pretty much saying same things what do you think happened? Are players aware how they moved before, how team moved and played before? Do they realize they digressed and do they know why that happened?

Nobody outside the club knows. These are professionals, if the journalists, us fans and armchair football strategists notice certain things, it is hard to imagine that these guys didn't. We keep hearing from Tata, Luis Enrique and the players after each defeat that they were reflecting and trying to correct the wrongs, but we hardly saw any real, concrete and noticeable changes. Why is that? I really don't know.

Again the question is, is Luis Enrique the man to make the changes needed happen? Don't keep our hopes up.

 

[Zincubus]

Like Spain at Euro 2012?

-----Rakitic----
Masche----Busi

I don't specifically recall any of Spain's midfield setups at Euro12 but your setup was whati had in mind . Messi free role but deeper than Neymar and Suarez who will cause absolute havoc when they develop a decent understanding .

 

[Flavia]

I'd like to see this:

Pedro, iniesta or rafinha on the right.

 

[Behrox]

I'd like to see this:

Pedro, iniesta or rafinha on the right.

That is actually personnel wise the best formation we can put up which would provide the balance in our play in all areas but I know (no doubt I know it) that Lucho won't try it as you drop his man crush Dani in that formation

 

[Toecrusher]

Been thinking up formations in the past week with all the frustration.

In particular was trying to come up with a formation that maximises our squad, the players individual skillsets, while maintaining team balance (i.e. Lucho's job!)

Below is what I settled on.

Positives
- Suarez in his best position
- Messi and Neymar in familiar positions, centrally
- Creative burden shared between Messi and Neymar
- Width (attack and defense) with Pedro and Alba
- Using Pedro's best attributes (workrate, stamina, crossing, runs behind the defence into space)
- Ability to attack from centre, with midfielders (and AMs) close enough to play triangles
- Defensive stability with 3 permanent centre backs, reducing counterattack danger
- Midfield defensive support for Busquets
- Iniesta/Rakitic playing a deep lying playmaking role, with some defensive responsibilities (ala Modric)
- Defensive responsibility of front 3 reduced

Current Problems it addresses
- Messi isolation
- Busquets isolation
- Counterattack threat
- Creative burden on FBs
- CMs babysitting FBs
- No midfield creativity
- Height at setpieces (with atleast two tall CBs at all times)
- Dani Alves (!)

 

[Goldo19]

Pique needs to be benched and sold, mascherano needs to take the CDM role from busquets, rakitic needs to be starter and main cm only taken off when tired, rafinha needs to start more often to become the player we need our, attack is beyond good they just need time to get to know each other, and alba and pedro needs to either start stepping up on defense/ attack or prepare for the bench.

it pisses me off how barca are being so relaxed in their transfers. obv now they have the transfer ban but before the ban instead of getting some star players we get players like Douglas(shouldnt be on the team, not even regarded as a top player in brazil), Matieu ( a smoker, 30 years old), and vermaelen(great player but injured almost all the time) our best "transfer" so far have been the young kids munir and sandro(we have to wait to talk about Suarez and rakitic).. Real madrid right now are ready to scoop up hazard if Man U take bale that would make them the best team for the next 4 years. think about it.

navas(27)
carvajal(22) varane(20) ramos(28) marcelo(26)
kroos(24) modric/isco(29/22)
hazard(23) james(22) ronaldo(can and probably will play til he is 31)
benzema(26) (or reus(25) if madrid win the race for him)

barca needs to step up man we could have benefited from Marcos Rojos ($25m), Blind($20m), cuadrado ($40m)
we should try and get hazard before RM.. in fact we should have made a trade fabregas for hazard. Hopefully reus wants to join barca instead of Madrid.

idk i think we are in for a lonnnggg couple of seasons with this transfer ban..hopefully Messi Neymar and Suarez can put the fans and team on their backs, and luis enrique can bring out the best in rafinha and rakitic

 

[frog-fcb]

I liked messi on the right last nite cutting inside he looked a lot livlier also having suarez in the central role will.benifit the team more with his added height etc

 

[Hamzah]

I would like messi and suarez to switch more often during attack, but messi should be in the middle during the build up mostly. Suarez should also stay central, neymar can provide the width.

When we lose the ball I'd like messi to fuck off to the right wing allowing the hardworking suarez to be in the middle when we don't have the ball. Real Madrid and bayern both have different formations with and without the ball and I think it's something that would help us.

 

[Kasperroed]

3-4-3 is the only solution for our problems. I've thought about this for hours. There is not other solution that could work better.

We have 3 central strikers and we still need width. Neymar and Messi are "wasted" on the wings, so a 3-4-3 is needed. In addition, that would give us an extra CB for defending corners/freekicks.