FREE FC BARCELONA - A TACTICAL ANALYSIS: DEFENDING PDF Terzis Athanasios | 170 pages | 07 Feb 2012 | SoccerTutor.com | 9780956675248 | English | London, United Kingdom Atletico Madrid - 10 Match Tactical Analysis They won by a margin ofmarking a very auspicious and positive start to the Ronald Koeman era. The starting eleven was, somewhat expectedly, the same set of players that started against Elche in the Joan Gamper Trophy. Neto started in goal in the absence of Marc Andre Ter Stegen. As can be seen, Griezmann frequently dropped deep and moved FC Barcelona - A Tactical Analysis: Defending — and he can FC Barcelona - A Tactical Analysis: Defending forgiven for that, for he is not a natural right-winger; he is an SS. Messi dropped less deep as compared to the Elche game, but he still had the freedom to roam. The left side of the team was highly effective. Jordi Alba was a constant menace down the flank and combined wonderfully with Fati. Frenkie and Coutinho lent their support down the left whenever possible. In stark contrast, the right side was not effective at all. Going ahead, this might be a headache to solve. Barcelona were devastatingly good in offence in the first half. They scored 4 unanswered goals, had an overall of 17 shots in the game, 9 of which were on target. Here is a small data table compiling some stats at a glance for the game:. The first goal was a wonderful long ball over the top from Clement Lenglet to Jordi Alba, who pulled it back for Ansu Fati to smash in a great shot. The second goal came from a quick break. Coutinho carried the ball upfield quickly, catching Villareal out with a fast break. A simple layoff and Fati took care of the rest with a brilliant near-post finish past Sergio Asenjo. The third goal came from a penalty, won again by Fati with a burst of speed into the box, and getting fouled. There was a nice bit of buildup to that:. While the tempo dropped a lot in the second half, there were still plenty of shots taken by Barcelona that required Asenjo to pull off some wonderful saves to keep the scoreline down to As mentioned earlier, the bulk of the productive buildup happened from the left side. Lenglet made a wonderful pre-assist and was assured in his passing in general. Alba was a threat throughout, with his brilliant off-the-ball runs and cutbacks to Fati, Messi, and Coutinho. Fati was a threat with his direct running and taking on defenders. Coutinho and Frenkie provided good support too. Here is a look at all progressive passes by all the starting outfield players:. The half spaces and the left wing were very well utilized, and there were quite a few passes into the box from zone 14 as well. It was only after Kubo came on that they could get into the box with some regularity from the left. But by then, it was late into the second half, and Barcelona had taken the foot of the gear completely. He could not combine effectively with Roberto, and bulk of his passes were back to Busquets or Frenkie or Messi back into the midfield. If he is to continue playing as a winger down the right, he has to strengthen his combination play along the wing a lot more. Being able to take on defenders will be an additional bonus too. Right now, the right side is very limited as compared to the left. It remains to be seen if and when Sergino Dest can change the dynamic there upon arrival. As has been mentioned earlier in the data table, the PPDA recorded by neither of the teams were particularly impressive. PPDA is a proxy for pressing intensity FC Barcelona - A Tactical Analysis: Defending the number of opposition passes allowed per defensive actions. In other words, Barca allowed Villareal to pass around for 15 times on average before trying to win the ball back with some defensive action like tackles or interceptions. Compared to the European pressing elites like Bayern Munich or Manchester City, these numbers are pretty bad. They picked and chose moments when to. Same goes for Villareal as well. They showed too much respect to Barca, and allowed them to build from the back very comfortably. Here are the defensive heatmaps of each team:. For Barcelona, Gerard Pique was a rock, and so was Lenglet. Neither of them allowed a Villareal forward to run past them, and blocked and cleared all shots and crosses into the box. Pique in particular was called into action many times because Roberto was caught way up the field in transitions. Belying his age, he put forth a magnificent defensive performance in sweeping up everything that came up his way. Busquets and Frenkie, while mostly assured in passing, had their nervy moments as well. Busquets was particularly awful in the first minutes. He repeatedly misplaced his passes and that led to repeated transition attacks against Barcelona. In the same vein, Frenkie, who played really well for the first 70 minutes, lost the ball at least three times in the last 20 minutes. Each of the resulting attacks by Villareal were threatening, and required timely interventions by Lenglet and attentive goalkeeping by Neto to snuff out. Going ahead, this is going to be a concern. Both of them FC Barcelona - A Tactical Analysis: Defending to clean their games up quite a bit. All of them looked decent. Dembele kept it simple with his passing, and I for one am glad about it. He is returning FC Barcelona - A Tactical Analysis: Defending a long injury layoff and needs to take it slow and simple. There will be plenty of time to watch his explosive pace and dribbling once he has regained confidence and has stayed fit for a reasonable chunk of time. Pjanic seemed to have shaken off his rust and did pretty well to win the ball back on a couple of occasions, and was very clean with his passes. Pedri was his usual bumbling self. He helped out defensively, connected well with the wingers in passing, and was always a threat with his runs. Trincao looked impressive yet again, and could have scored his maiden goal for Barca but for a magnificent save by Asenjo. He meant business; trying to take on defenders, and trying to FC Barcelona - A Tactical Analysis: Defending whenever he found an opportunity. There is no denying that Villareal was abjectly poor, especially in the first half surprising given FC Barcelona - A Tactical Analysis: Defending players they managed to buy in the transfer window. They left behind lots of space that was ruthlessly exploited by Barcelona. Not all Spanish teams are going to give up similar amounts of space to Barca in the coming games. In such tight games, it will be interestingly to see how this fluid with Griezmann as a wide player manage to perform. I was personally happy with the game, and only look forward to more good performances from the team. Physics PhD student with borderline obsession for the beautiful game. Followed Ronaldinho's footsteps to support the club, and am blessed to have witnessed some of the most glorious football a team can ever play. Your email address will not be published. In recent years, Barcelona came out on top in most fixtures with Ernesto Valverde having one of the most impressive records against Real Madrid. This weekend, Ronald Koeman takes on Madrid for the first time. Who starts? Who sits? Koeman has a lot of thinking to do. For example, in the win at Camp Nou, where Luis Suarez scored the winner, Luis Enrique went into the game off the back of a superb run of fixtures and knew which team would start the game. That said, he will have to thing hard and through about the team selection, otherwise it could come back to FC Barcelona - A Tactical Analysis: Defending the team in an important game. With Marc-Andre ter Stegen out injured, there is little time that Neto will start this game. He has been solid so far for the Catalan giants, so FC Barcelona - A Tactical Analysis: Defending is far from being a problem for Ronald Koeman. In the defence, Koeman has other fish to fry, FC Barcelona - A Tactical Analysis: Defending the right-back position is a much more problematic one. Roberto usually puts on a show against Madrid — but is that enough to warrant a starting spot? Rushing Alba back is not the most intelligent decision, but the defender was rumoured to be ready to play the Hungarians on Tuesday, and Koeman might have taken his left-back out of the team to start him against Madrid. An experienced head alongside de Jong shoulders. Sergio FC Barcelona - A Tactical Analysis: Defending began every game prior to this one under his new coach, so getting him back in the side after rest might tempt Koeman. De Jong looked comfortable alongside both players but was evidently freer next to Pjanic. That said, it looks like a far call to see him start again. For the mediapunta or attacking midfielder, role, Philippe Coutinho will take up that place as he confirmed his superb start to the term with a great goal against the Hungarians. Pedri should get some minutes as his recent outings have been spectacular. The former Las Palmas midfielder will undoubtedly come on, regardless of the scoreline. Lionel Messi is the best player in the world, and he showed more intent against Ferencvaros and will most definitely start against his favourite opponents.