Sergio Busquets

Andresito

Senior Member
Staff member
Images only show so much, check his behaviour in the video instead: https://streamin.me/v/2a35182b

Runs to press Kimmich which is fine, it even makes Kimmich pass it back to Hernandez, attack averted. From then on I don't understand what he's doing.
Why even press Lucas at half speed. At the latest, the moment Lucas passes Upamecano, Busi is supposed to head back into position. Look at how he's still jogging like a CF when Sane receives the ball.

It's lazy and it shows he lacks concentration. Against your Cadizes it might be ok, but Bayern they punish you. They attack the exact same spot Busi is supposed to be at, drawing out Christensen and dragging Araujo out of position.

Not to say the whole loss is on him with Lewy and Pedri missing clear chances. But man with Busi's experience shouldn't make these mistakes, especially when he lacks the speed to get back into position, he shouldn't leave it in the first place.
 
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Bobo32

Senior Member
Images only show so much, check his behaviour in the video instead: https://streamin.me/v/2a35182b

Runs to press Kimmich which is fine, it even makes Kimmich pass it back to Hernandez, attack averted. From then on I don't understand what he's doing.
Why even press Lucas at half speed. At the latest, the moment Lucas passes Upamecano, Busi is supposed to head back into position. Look at how he's still jogging like a CF when Sane receives the ball.

It's lazy and it shows he lacks concentration. Against your Cadizes it might be ok, but Bayern they punish you. They attack the exact same spot Busi is supposed to be at, drawing out Christensen and dragging Araujo out of position.

Not to say the whole loss is on him with Lewy and Pedri missing clear chances. But man with Busi's experience shouldn't make these mistakes, especially when he lacks the speed to get back into position, he shouldn't leave it in the first place.
Yeah he was correct in making Kimmich go backwards, and then he was correct in completing covering him, so that the ball went towards the flank instead of through their best player through the middle. It is when the ball leaves Upamecano that he, in theory, can sprint back to his position. Barcelona are 3v2 on the flank there though, and they are 8v5 on their own half with one player joining to make it 8v6. In theory you can sprint into better positions in every sequence, but you can only make so many sprints a game, and he didn't spot the danger that we can see when arguing after the fact it lead to a goal.
Busquets probably isn't OPTIMAL in the way he moves there, but even Usain Bolt wouldn't be able to do anything to hinder that goal from his initial positioning - and that is after knowing the fact that Dembele, Pedri and Alonso were unnecessarily and quickly beaten, and knowing Araujos, Koundes and Christensens terrible defensive play. Gavi misjudged the play completely too and sped up the counter by trying to get the ball ASAP with a tackle, but that is a ridiculous part of his game that I like and think is needed for the team though.
Busquets has rarely sprinted backwards, he understands that it is often wasted energy, and spoils the structure both defensively and after winning the ball. He is maybe a bit lazy or unworried defensively there, but thinking a bit about the coming counter. The goal shows very bad collective and individual defensive understanding by most Barcelona players, and it is also very well done by the opponent.

Those 2 don't work together though.
Fluid roles and total football needs a lot of dynamism rather than stationary, ton of switches too.
Busquets current stationary state is the opposite of total football essence.
He was always stationary to 90%, helping the team press high sometimes. It has worked very well, both Barcelona and Spain have had their best periods ever with him at the center, both teams playing pretty fluidly.
 

Joan

Well-known member
Let's take a look at more pictures. In the first picture, you can see Busquets just after Kimmich released the ball. And you can see the distance between him and Hernandez. He starts running forward to close down Kimmich. In the 2nd picture you can see Busquets when Upamencao released the ball. That was wrong. He had no chance of closing down Upamencao, and Lewa was already trying to press while blocking passes into the middle. At that point should've been sprinting back to fill his position as it wasn't covered. He starts jogging towards the ball instead. That's a lapse of concentration and a mistake, but if we're keeping it realistic, he probably wouldn't have been there in time.

The real question is why Xavi has our slowest player (in particular, MF) do the pressing high up the pitch. If that's the plan, he gotta have Gavi and Pedri as pivots. But here they play as interiors. Pedri is trying to close Mazraoui on the wing, but Gavi was going for the ball. It was another mistake as there was a hole in the middle. It shows when he's forced to change direction abruptly. Lack of concentration and poor judgement from Gavi, Pedri and Dembele fail to close down Mazraoui 2 on 1, Alonso is a cone and loses both Sane and Musiala, in fact, he didn't even make an attempt. Christensen pushes forward and tries to block Musiala, but he fails and Sane gets the ball. Re. Araujo, Muller drags him out of his position, but he also start his run late (slow), and misjudges direction. He starts running parallel to the goal line and then has to chase Sane. No guarantees he'd catch him, but he'd have an advantage of one or two steps, and better speed.

It was truly a team effort. Everyone participated.

Slika-zaslona-2022-09-16-u-11-38-53.png

Slika-zaslona-2022-09-16-u-11-39-39.png

Slika-zaslona-2022-09-16-u-11-41-59.png
 
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serghei

Senior Member
Let's take a look at more pictures. In the first picture, you can see Busquets just after Kimmich released the ball. And you can see the distance between him and Hernandez. He starts running forward to close down Kimmich. In the 2nd picture you can see Busquets when Upamencao released the ball. That was wrong. He had no chance of closing down Upamencao, and Lewa was already trying to press while blocking passes into the middle. At that point should've been sprinting back to fill his position as it wasn't covered. He starts jogging towards the ball instead. That's a lapse of concentration and a mistake, but if we're keeping it realistic, he probably wouldn't have been there in time.

The real question is why Xavi has our slowest player (in particular, MF) do the pressing high up the pitch. If that's the plan, he gotta have Gavi and Pedri as pivots. But here they play as interiors. Pedri is trying to close Mazraoui on the wing, but Gavi was going for the ball. It was another mistake as there was a hole in the middle. It shows when he's forced to change direction abruptly. Lack of concentration and poor judgement from Gavi, Pedri and Dembele fail to close down Mazraoui 2 on 1, Alonso is a cone and loses both Sane and Musiala, in fact, he didn't even make an attempt. Christensen pushes forward and tries to block Musiala, but he fails and Sane gets the ball. Re. Araujo, Muller drags him out of his position, but he also start his run late (slow), and misjudges direction. He starts running parallel to the goal line and then has to chase Sane. No guarantees he'd catch him, but he'd have an advantage of one or two steps, and better speed.

It was truly a team effort. Everyone participated.

Slika-zaslona-2022-09-16-u-11-38-53.png

Slika-zaslona-2022-09-16-u-11-39-39.png

Slika-zaslona-2022-09-16-u-11-41-59.png

Pretty much. Also, Kounde could spot Araujo's bad positioning there and react faster, he sees the gap created there but it is too late. If he was just a fraction faster in covering he closes down Sane.
 

malvolio

Senior Member
So after more analysis and initial heat of the moment judgement has passed, we are not blaming Busi for the loss? I am dissapoint barcaforum.
 

Andresito

Senior Member
Staff member
So after more analysis and initial heat of the moment judgement has passed, we are not blaming Busi for the loss? I am dissapoint barcaforum.

I don't blame Busi for the loss but I blame him for the second goal. Overall I think Lewandowski was a bigger disappointment during the game, Pedri's two finishes also hurt.
 

evilhita666

Barçapocalypse NOW!
The problem is not if he was to blame for the loss... It's that we all knew it would happen and are left wondering why we keep making the same mistake over and over again...

Busquets in CL games is a huge liability...
 

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