Barcelona’s Villa, Ibra, and Messi: Fantastic three or fantastic four?

Villa’s move to Barcelona is so far the most exciting transfer for the summer. A player who scored 129 goals and created 53 in the past 5 years for Valencia joins the Catalan offense armada. Spanish media published dozens of articles about the definite departure of Ibrahimovic because he will not have a place in Barca’s lineup while some-me included- considers Villa acquisition as the best news for Zlatan. But what can we expect from Barcelona offense next season?

There was a general dissatisfaction between Barcelona’s fans when you ask them about the offense line performance of last season. Such dissatisfaction usually targets the newest kid in the building A.K.A Zlatan Ibrahimovic, especially after the inflated values stamped on his transfer. No one can argue that Zlatan was not the greatest of them all and if he is seriously considering winning the champions’ league he needs to improve his contribution with the club. Yet, with the declination of Henry and injury owes of Iniesta, I couldn’t resist thinking of Eto’o’s performance the season when Ronaldinho and Deco disappointed while watching Barcelona’s performance in 2010. 

I usually stress on the need to structure a permanent offense presence at the highest point possible on the field. If the team is defending, that offense reference has to position the threat in line with the opponent’s last center back. In the final third –when the team attacks- a permanent presence in the box with sufficient support is a must. One of the reasons I doubted that Brazil will win the world cup was the lack of support inside the box where only Fabiano can cause damage –beside set pieces. One of the points I voiced regarding Spain is that to win the world cup they need to have Torres in the selection with Villa. Time confirmed that.

“Offense wise, Kaka’s form will be vital to link midfield with offense and guarantee change of play which will be important against parked buses Brazil will face. Yet, the most notable concern is the lack of players who can create threat inside the box. Something they may need if the opponent left no spaces for the Brazilian forwards to demand the ball in the space or shoot from outside the box. Only Fabiano can get advantage of Maicon and Bastos crosses. That’s why I think it was better to use a player like Baptista who can serve better than Elano the system Brazil is using.”

"After the game against Switzerland, Vicente del Bosque modified the selection slightly to solve problem number one: Lack of offense presence inside the box. He counted on Torres as a striker with Villa exposing the spaces."

In his first season, Henry struggled to fit the role requested as a left wing. In the second season he had his best performance at the club. It was not just about adaptation. It was not only because the team as a whole performed better which is a need for any forward to meet the expectations. It was basically because his role was modified. Eto’o’s Henry played the role of Ronaldo’s Rooney for Manchester United. He was a player who creates spaces, shake defense line and open to channels (left). He was the first player to run forward exposing the space and demanding the ball upfront, supporting Eto’o when the team retain possession. Eto’o was the player who took advantage of that work (synchronized with the work of the group) and did what he like to do most: scoring (without ignoring his immense contribution otherwise). That’s why shuffling the lines forward when retaining possession was smooth and timed. 

The second alternative applied in 2009 was having Yaya-Keita-Xavi in the midfield with Iniesta-Eto’o-Messi playing upfront. Regardless of the impression that “Iniesta does not score so he can’t play on the flank” the team eventually scored the same rate of goals with this alternative as they did using the first one. The keys of success for this alternative were 1) With Iniesta moving to the midfield more often to contribute in the buildup, Messi had to work less in that department (than he had to do in the first alternative, Henry-Eto’o-Messi), so he was able to demand the ball closer to the opponents’ area. 2) Eto’o’s style for being a player who likes to demand the ball behind the opponents’ lines which forced the opponent defense line to be more conservative to create spaces behind (ultimately created more spaces between the lines to move the ball forward. When the team attacked the box Keita was the player who supported Eto’o in the box. He didn’t score lot of goals but he pulled the defense attention and created spaces for Messi and Eto’o to operate.

Barcelona Tactics last season were subject to lot of discussions. Was it 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, 4-1-3-2, 4-2-4, 4-1-4-1, 4-4-2, or simply a 4-3-3 is not what matters most. The loss of Henry meant the 2009th first alternative is not valid anymore. Pedro is a good player. But he wasn’t able to serve that offence dynamics in his first season. He can’t serve as a “station” holding on the ball and giving time for the players to reposition, instead he accelerate the tempo even when there is no sufficient support, squeezing the options and spaces instead of creating them. Besides, he is a typical Barca player whose first priority is the ball, not the field dimensions. Sometimes running into the space upfront even if you get no passes serve the team much more than moving deep and doing a Xavi. Remember that substitution del Bosque made in the world cup final (Navas for Pedro)? That’s exactly what I mean regardless of my opinion about starting Pedro in the first place then subbing him that early for Navas. But it shows What Pedro is good at, and what he is not as good. No doubt, he was one of the best performers for Barcelona last season, and one can only expect him to get better next season. But the point here is not about his individual qualities but the contribution he makes with the system in hand. Pedro’s inclusion –as Ibra’s inclusion- required system modification. Such changes take time to turn fruitful. 

The absence of Iniesta either for injury or lack of form (even when he played) ruined the advantages of the second alternative. He wasn’t in the midfield to assist Xavi nor he was on the wing/midfield to contribute in the buildup keeping Messi upfront. That situation forced Messi to contribute in the midfield more than he did before and kept him a bit far from the offense department. Ibra in the other hand is not an Eto’o who enjoys playing between the defenders waiting the pass in the space. He is a forward who like to touch the ball more often and if his teammates didn’t deliver it to him he will come all the way to get it. The output was a Barcelona offense playing in the midfield. When the team succeeded to shuffle the lines forward everyone was happy. Interestingly-for example- that the games Keita scored his goals were the games where Ibra produced his finest performances with the club. Coincidence?

Ibra generated some of the complexities of Barcelona’s offense. But he wasn’t THE complexity. Lot of theories took place last season and it went so far that I had to make a long rant in one of my posts responding to one of the most popular arguments: Bojan should have played against Inter instead of Ibra. When Coincidences support an argument there is no place for logic. Which is pretty much the case here. But later on, the upgraded accomplished version of Bojan dressed in a Spanish kit proved otherwise against Switzerland and later against Holland (none of them were even close to Inter’s quality). 

The first thing to expect for last season is that ibra will not be sold. Hear me Sandro? The second thing to expect is that the complications of last season will not exist. Zlatan took a whole season to adapt. Pedro is improving every time he blinks his eyes. Bojan already announced that for next season he will not be the squad child anymore, he feels like a man;-) The best thing ever happened to Messi was losing the world cup because that will generate him with enough hunger for the following four years. And there is a Villa in the villa. 

Villa will no doubt be the player who can complement Ibra most and both can create acres of spaces for Messi. The three players will create offense triangles more than an offense line. Messi behind both Villa and Ibra is one. Ibra being the head of the triangle while setting offense then pulling the defense put of position for Messi and Villa to demand the ball behind the defense is another. Ibra playing behind Messi and Villa then crushing into the box is an option as well. There are countless options and it will be up to pep to decide how to approach every game. The three players are assists generators. The three players can create spaces and can expose them. The three players –if you analyze their attributes- complete each other like the colors of a painting. There are lots of reasons to feel excited about this offense troika.

But while hailing the fantastic three, let’s not forget the excitement of the fantastic four when the club signed Henry to join Messi, Ronaldinho, and eto’o (Though, I wasn’t that excited, but that another story). We all know how that tale ended up. Will the fantastic meet the expectations this time?

Posted by Ramzi on 05:22. Filed under Articles, Barcelona, Football, Henry, ibra, Liga, Messi, pep, Ramzi, transfers, villa . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0