What Gaudi says is true. Formations are almost irrelevant. No formation adjustment will turn the crap from Saturday into a winning performance as long as players take 3 touches, don't move off the ball, can't circulate the ball, don't press, make the wrong decisions etc. etc. etc.
I'm just amused with your posts because you draw up these funny lineups and genuinly seem to believe you have outsmarted the Barca coaches by doing so and done some tactical wizardry.
I won't disagree that formation changes won't mean anything with how we play now. The ball is moved incredibly too slowly, players linger and ponder on the ball instead of making simple passes to drag defenders out and there is no cohesive off the ball movement but I was just saying that to make a point: we have continued with the same tactics, same shape and same attacking moves for three years now with three different coaches and none of them have came up with anything new except the smallest of variations. The really only difference now between Tata and Lucho is that Lucho has the forwards playing more narrow while Tata had them play wide, other than that its been the same thing over and over and THATS what I have my gripes with, an unwillingness to invent and innovate which is why we are in this situation.
Granted, Xavi, Iniesta and Messi aren't the same players of old but its not like they have forgotten how to play and most importantly what made our play so successful. Without quick, one touch passing, overloading sides correctly to press and win the ball and then circulate the ball to open up space to attack, its impossible to be successful.
The way I look at it, one of the key changes that made us into the team we are now was Pep molding Messi into a false 9. Everybody had become so used to him as a winger that it took everyone by surprise when he started playing in the middle and that evolution alone really helped give us the tactical innovation we needed to dominate the game. All I am asking for is something similar, we just need to rethink a bit how we are using the players in this squad.
For me there are three glaring issues tactically with our current 4-3-3 which in reality is a 2-5-3:
1. Busquets can no longer defend a midfield by himself, his lack of pace is getting woefully exposed on the counter attack. He either needs to start adapting and evolving his game to be more of Xavi-esq controlling midfielder (something that will be very difficult for him with his lack of pace) or we put a more physically imposing and flexible DM next to him. However, by doing so, you lose a player somewhere else which means either a) we play with only one purely attacking midfielder and shift more into a 4-2-3-1 or we rework our shape either at the back or up top. That is why I posted that 3-5-2 first because I think its that direction more that we need to head towards instead of a double-pivot 4-2-3-1
2. We need to rethink what we do with width. The key characteristic of Lucho's Barca is the narrow front three which is great for allowing them more freedom to link-up and get in behind but puts more pressure on the wingbacks to provide a wide outlet. Right now our play usually flows from the middle toward the wings and then back inside a la a cross or a cut back pass to someone overloading the box. Without any real physical attacking threat, especially through the air, this sort of approach makes little sense and considering how we continue to get burned on counter attacks when our wingbacks get caught up the pitch, we need to find different ways to develop width. Right now the only players who can really succeed playing wide is Alba, Alves and Pedro. The latter two being shadows of their former selves and the fact that they are our only players who can fulfill those positions is worrying. The Cuadrado obssession with Lucho this summer is beginning to make more and more sense now, a player like that who can play the ball on the ground, in the air and who has pace, dribbling ability and the ability to finish chances from a wide position would make us a lot more lethal.
3. We need to adapt different formations and shapes for certain teams, particularly in Europe. Teams rarely nowadays can play with one tactical look all season and be successful. For example, Borussia Dortmund continue to struggle in Budesliga despite their success in Europe. Why? Because all the German teams now know what to expect from them and can neutralize their effectiveness. The best teams in Europe right now are tactically flexible and have numerous setups for different tactical situations and especially considering the success we had by making changes like that in the past, having 2-3 formations and setups as opposed to one and only one way of playing will make it much harder for teams to simply park the bus and counter. Namely finding ways to overcome 4-4-2, its coming back with a vengeance now and both Madrid teams play a 4-4-2 specifically because it neutralizes how our 4-3-3/2-5-3 works now. By raising the anti tactically we can catch teams off guard and force them to re-evolve themselves.
We have a very capable squad still but its all simply too stale. With a new approach and by rethinking some roles of our key players, this team can still compete and beat the best in Europe.
. We sold Fabregas (now he would be helpful), Raktic good buy, but certainly not worth more than 18mio.
