Barcelona-Villarreal liga preview and interview with Cazorla and Borja

La liga promise a great encounter this week where FC Barcelona hosts Villarreal at the Camp Nou. After a season of instability following Pellegrini’s departure, Villarreal bounced back to its progressing curve that led them to become one of the wild horses in Spain. And they made this comeback with fashion.

There is no doubt that lot of common features blend the two clubs meeting today. After a great cycle of Success with Rijkaard, a disappointing season led the Barcelona to bet on their youth team coach (Barcelona B) Pep Guardiola to recover the club, and the outcome was instant. After a successful era under Pellegrini Villarreal had a bad spell under Ernesto Valverde before the club looked back to their youth team coach (Villarreal B) Juan Carlos Garrido to recover the club, and the outcome was instant as well. The dependence on the youth coming from the club academy (with both B teams competing in the Second division) is another common feature. Now what about the following Quotes:

“Villarreal always tries to win games. That’s the initial idea, but we must travel with humility and great respect because we know we play against a great champion.”

“Each of us likes to play football. I try to get Villarreal to play in a way that appeals to our fans, but the ultimate goal is to always win.”

Such vision was successfully transmitted by the coach to the players. El País published an interesting interview with Santi Cazorla and Borja Valero where you can read lot of statements that leave you confused which side the two players play for. (Rough translation)

“The intensity, the pressure, short sided game; we do get that speed on the field. In England [Borja played for West Bromwich] workouts were a little rough, over run, nothing to do with it. Here, we hardly run without the ball.” Say Borja Valero

“Even in the preseason, everything is related to the ball. It makes you work more enjoyable.” Confirm Cazorla

El País: Garrido is very involved in the session. Is it heavy?

Cazorla: “I was lucky to have him in the reserves when I arrived. It's like then. Too tight and wants a lot of intensity.”

Borja Valero: “Some days you wake up with less enthusiasm and, if it were not because of that energy at every moment, you relax. He keeps us plugged.”

El País: It seems to have fun playing.

Cazorla: “The style and the players we have are of high quality and the team enjoys.”

Borja Valero: “It is so much fun. We have the ball and create chances.”

Talking about comparisons between Villarreal style and that’s of Barca, the players had the following to say:

Cazorla: “Our style is to employ many people around the ball and always have the initiative game.”

Borja Valero: “I love this game. Having possession and, on the basis of the possession, trying to hurt the opponent. Barca plays a high level and, relatively speaking, perhaps we are the more we tried after them.”

Cazorla: “We are also running a lot. We both play on the flanks and that’s a position where you have to run. The coach wants us to have much weight in the attack and then help in defense.”

And while Barcelona coming weeks embraces the Classico against Real Madrid, a game lot of observers consider a deciding event in the Liga tour. Villarreeal will play their derby against Valencia next week as a milestone for a competitive stretch of matches that include matches against Sevilla and Real Madrid, and that’s where Villarreal’s destiny this season will be decided.

Putting the uniqueness of the match against Villarreal aside, the suspension of Pique and Milito’s injury are the main initiatives behind writing this match preview. No doubt, there is a tactical challenge, and it will be interesting to see the Pep response to such complications.

It is important to scout the kind of threat Villarreal can create against Barcelona to figure how to structure the team to counter such threats. Villarreal like to keep possession, no doubt. But I strongly recommend not considering this feature as a common habit they share with Barcelona. There is much more directness in Villarreal’s football and they are more a counter attacking team than most of the Liga clubs Barcelona will play against.

Santi Cazorla and Borja Valero are the two players Barcelona need to contain to minimize Villarreal’s threat. If Borja had the time to split Barca’s lines with his quality passes, if Cazorla left to expose the wholes between the lines, this will be a long night for Barcelona. Capdevilla contribution in offense is also crucial for Villarreal’s dynamics as it offer Cazorla the chance to cut inside instead of stretching the field. Nilmar will be the player employed to dance between Barca defenders to push them back creating a space between them and the midfield. That will disturb Barcelona’s buildup while in possession, and will create spaces for Villarreal’s offense while countering. Rossi will create numerical superiority in the midfield when needed, expose the space between defense and midfield, and MOST IMPORTANTLY make the darting runs to the box to get advantage of any lack of positioning discipline between Barca’s defenders MAINLY near the far post when Villarreal attack the flanks.

Knowing that I dont play the guessing game, There are three main assumptions in that matter. And this is a general roundup, so you can make your own prediction:

Valdes, Alves, Puyol, Abidal, Maxwell, Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Villa, Pedro

This selection is so much a Pep Guardiola game approach. And it usually works (mainly because of the players’ quality). Now you can only bet that your team is having a good day, while the opponent is having the worst day of the season. If reasoning will decide the encounter, Barcelona lose this match if Pep picks this selection.

While Alves contribution in the offence is a given, Maxwell is not a wingback who can create the cover. Abidal is a player who can play as a center back and with adaptation time he can end up being a quality option there. But at the moment, he is still far from having the positioning sense, anticipation, and concentration needed in this vital position. He counts more on his stamina, strength and pace which overcome lot of those deficiencies while playing as a left back, but may not serve him as much in the center. With Both Maxwell and Alves being more comfortable going forward than defending, and Abidal lack of excellence as a center back, taking in consideration Villarreal’s potentials on the flanks not only coming from the midfield and fullbacks but also their strikers movement to channels, this Barca selection is a recipe for troubles.

Now of course, the holding midfielder can move back to serve as a third defender. Yet, unless Villarreal make the same mistake Atletico Madrid did against Barcelona, this alternative will not help. With Busquets moving back to help as a third defender, a gap will occur between the defense and the buildup duet Xavi-Iniesta. Villarreal can expose such space to the extreme attacking more centered and negating any defensive contribution of Barcelona’s fullbacks while the immense pressure –and numerical superiority at times- will be thrown on the defense trio to deal with.

Valdes, Alves, Puyol, Abidal, Maxwell, Busquets, Keita, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Villa

In brief, this alternative injects more consistency in the selection. When Busquets move back to assist defenders, Keita take Busquets role as a holding midfielder to close that gap left in the midfield. Iniesta’s role here is to play a dual-role between the midfield and the left wing based on what the match dictates. Now we are trying not to be too creative and stick to the least adjustments possible to the commonly used selections, or else –for this alternative- I favor having Mascherano as a holding midfielder and Busquets for Keita’s role.

This is a highly unlikely alternative, taking in consideration Barcelona’s proactive approach. But we post it to complete the picture:

Valdes, Alves, Puyol, Mascherano, Abidal, Busquets, Keita, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Villa

Solid and secured. It counts on terminating Villarreal’s threat permanently while releasing Xavi, Alves, Iniesta, Messi, and Villa to cause damage. Luckily, we are not that pragmatic.

Valdes, Alves, Puyol, Busquets, Abidal, Mascherano, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Villa, Pedro

1)Busquets is the closest thing to Pique. Plus, He read the game well. Relatively tall. And has the minimal understanding needed to play beside Puyol. It will be smooth for him to track Rossi to the midfield leaving Puyol and Abidal to mark Nilmar (Compare that to having Puyol-Abidal partnership). He can also contribute in buildup through switching with Mascherano when Villarreal mark all passing outlets. This will also damage Villarreal chances to isolate Barca’s defense from the midfield.

2)Mascherano is a master in slaughtering counter attacks, commanding areas, and covering spaces. A great tackler. And most importantly, a player who has no hesitation to commit tactical fouls and receive a card when he feels his defense may get exposed if he doesn’t stop the opponent attack. People criticize him for that (getting booked). Yet, I respect his “on my dead body” mentality, and understand his decision of taking a risk to avoid a disaster.

3)The team gains another goal scoring possibility with Pedro, who also contributes in regaining possession amazingly.

Villarreal trips to Barcelona were full of draws and goals recently. I don’t predict results, and this one is more difficult to predict as it can go both ways and in many ways. 

The previous two meetings at the Camp Nou brought Ultimate pleasure and Ultimate -last minute- disappointment.  Next:

 

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Posted by Ramzi on 06:14. Filed under Barcelona, Football, Liga, Preview, villarreal . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0