Take a look at this video real quick and especially the first goal. No way me calling out for Klopp but it reminded me of us so much it made me laugh a bit:
Now I know its St. Pauli (who?) but for that first goal it was such a reminder of the football that we used to play but I can't understand why we don't anymore. They overload one side to establish an even numerical situation, move into triangles and move the ball quickly, selflessly and incisively. Simply no answer for it.
There is nothing stopping this team from playing football exactly like that. Messi's goal against PSG was a good reminder of that and with the right balance and a quicker passing metronome, we could cause teams a lot of problems still.
I think the biggest lesson Lucho learned is that he needs to learn what the starting 11 he wants that is balanced enough to be able to nullify and snuff out counter attacks and ideally win the ball in the midfield. But he has time on his hands and luckily we are still top of the table so its no crisis yet. Its better to lose this game than next years game.
Lucho has a lot to consider though right now with who is going to get the lions share of game time going forward. In my opinion, the front three is a no-brainer and in some ways if Lucho can get Suarez firing sooner than later, that alone could really elevate our overall game. I would rather see a lot less of Pedro however and a lot more of Munir and Sandro. I think Munir alone offers as much and right now more than Pedro does while Sandro's more physical frame I think could become a lot more valuable as the season wears on. He has excellent potential as a super-sub.
The defense is tricky. Huge question marks with Pique at the moment, he does a lot right but these mental lapses are beyond frustrating and increasingly occur too frequently. As a coach, there isn't much you can do except bench him and try him in low risk games to see if he can iron out the mistakes but for now Pique needs to be behind Mathieu. Lucho in a lot of ways is trying to mold Mathieu into the new Abidal which I think is why he threw him out on the LB role at Madrid. At this point in time, he isn't good enough on the ball with his decision making to warrant that kind of position yet but he has a lot to offer as our LCB. Alba-Mathieu on the left is very solid and both players have great recovery speed to put out fires, and since most teams have pacey players on the RW anyway, they could neutralize that side of the field on the counter attack effectively and allow us to overload the other side to win the ball. On the right side is where we have problems and they obviously have to do with He Who Crosses to No One. He was surprisingly solid in Madrid however and his just raw speed and athleticism are good traits to have as long as he stays back more. However, instead of trying to make Mathieu into Abidal, I'd prefer him to experiment with Bartra as a right Abidal. A back four of Alba-Mathieu-Pique-Bartra, in my opinion, achieves exactly what he was trying to do in Madrid but with the better attacking wing back for the team. Bartra isn't slow (he wasn't that far away from Bale in that foot race. Anyone remember how bad he burned Maicon against Inter after they just won the CL? and that was multiple times. Sorry just Bartra gets unfairly critiqued for that goal) and he's good on the ball. Him and Pique would complement each other well and it'd be a nice way to maintain height inside the box to control crosses and set pieces.
Its a shame that its is our midfield that is the biggest concern at the moment because, for the upteenth time, we gave away the two players who should be filling this void to our biggest rivals right now, Chelsea and Bayern. One has butchered his knee multiple times while the other is running riot. Can't help but feel that selling Cesc and Thiago will continue to haunt us down the road. Particularly Thiago considering how unfortunate he has been with injuries. Anyway, Behrox mentioned shifting Xavi into a Pirlo role and honestly with two physical workhorses like Mascherano and Rakitic next to him, its not a bad idea at all. It would allow him freedom to roam the midfield, overload a side when needed to create an extra triangle, drop deep to receive to outlet from the defense and play the ball into attack, and follow the play from behind to thread the final ball or shoot. You will call me crazy but I think Xavi has offered this team more than Iniesta has recently and with Iniesta being injured, now seems a good time to see where Xavi fits into the picture. Rakitic is a lock in the starting midfield for me because he is so well-rounded and is adaptive based on who he plays with and allowing Xavi to take on more of the dictating role will allow Rakitic to focus more on either defending or going forward. The last question then is Busquets vs Mascherano and after his game against Ajax and his performances in the WC, we will be much more defensively solid and be able to withstand counter attacks better with Mascherano than Busquets. In games where Xavi isn't in the picture, Busquets should play because we will need his passing ability but at times I feel that him and Xavi can be a bit too redundant in what they do: recycle possession. Which is why I like a Xavi-Masch-Raki midfield right now, in that we have two solid, robust midfielders who read the game well and are strong in the tackle but can also deliver quality threaded passes from deep. Then Xavi has total freedom to control the game and we don't get so exposed by his lack of defensive attributes. Xavi's sole ability to control a game on his own in the middle trumps Iniesta's too occasional moments of brilliance as of late.
So I think our most balanced 11 that could compete against the best of Europe right now based on form is:
Bravo; Bartra-Pique-Mathieu-Alba; Xavi-Masch-Raki; Suarez-Messi-Neymar
Time will tell what he decides. I am sure he is putting a lot of thought into this and while it isn't a perfect start, I'd rather us peak in March than in October.
