THE BALL GIVE US THE ORDER

When Cruyff came to Barça as Manager, he said that so well known and simple: "If I have the ball, you don’t have it and, therefore, you have two jobs: get the ball and score a goal". Then, the "Dream Team" came.

Pep Guardiola, Cruyff’s pupil (and also of Van Gaal, Capello, Lillo, Bielsa, etc.) rewrote the sentence and said that of "The ball gives us the order" which seems silly, but that says 2 things very clear:

1)     If I attack well, that is, if I'm well positioned on the pitch, when the ball is lost you’ll have many more options to recover it quickly (the "rule of six seconds": if not stolen in 6 seconds, regain initial positions) 
2)     If my shape is good when the opponent has the ball, I have many more options to intercept, steal, cut the pass, etc.

All this is beside the point that there is much talk lately about Barça's Vilanova and further compared with Guardiola: now there isn’t this pressure that existed before, the team is less "positional" (shorter attacks) and vertically (more "stretched”, etc.). I totally agree with this, but for me this is not the problem of the current Barça.

Isn’t there high pressure? Well, if I press right at the back, I’ll catch the ball. Remember where turnovers were done by Mourinho’s Inter or by Bayern the other day. Not in defence, no: In the space between the "creation area" and "end zone", which is commonly known as ¾ of the pitch.

What happens there? Well, there are 5-6 men behind the ball and 5-6 ahead, i.e. if I steal the ball, I have plenty of room to run and few players to defend. Where Bayern pressed? At the same place. To which players? The same that Inter: Xavi and Iniesta. These could pick up the ball more or less quietly in their own half, but by the time they passed the centre circle, agonizing pressure and forcing losses.

Why here? Well, here is where teams generally tend to be more disorganized: neither the defenders are out, neither the attackers are at place to start the static attack. Consequence: disorganized team and facility for the opponents. As we have not order, problems.

If this can be done to Barça, Barça can also do it, and this is what they DID before and what they DON’T do now. We talked before about the "six seconds". If the team did not recover the ball, they recovered the position, but they CONTINUED PRESSING. Now the team "floats" on the ball holder, and press only when it comes near the box and, for me this is a problem.

Now, the team recovers the ball, generally, far from goal. This allows for, obviously, many more spaces (Barça does it when attacking static, the others do the same). As there are spaces, 3-4 players go to counterattack quickly. If the play is finished, perfect, but if not, now there are problems. Before, when the team was leaving out, was leaving ALL, the 11 players, so that, if you could not finish the play, always had support behind to begin static attack. Not now. The ones for the counter go out and the rest of the team is practically on own half, a little bit "you’ll do it" and, when they can’t finish the play, there are just 6-7 players to defend, as the others have already been overcome. It is not to attack everyone, but it is to maintain the proper gap between lines, and it seems that currently it doesn’t happen. The problem is not to be more vertical. The problem is to have the team in place. Again the same: lose the ball at ¾ of the field with space for the opponents and, with few people to stop them.

There is a third point: finish the plays. In Guardiola’s “manual”, this was a basic principle. If I finish the play, I go to place to re-start the recovery of the ball (in case the goalkeeper saves or goal kick). If you don’t finish, I'm back in the previous case: as I have separate lines, there are spaces for the opponents.

Anyway, it’s always the same: to have the team ordered, well positioned. And, always, depending on where the ball is. You can’t start static attack if you are not well placed, because if you're not well placed, you’ll not move the opponents from side to side, and you will not find the spaces. And if you do not find spaces, you lose your calm and if you lose your calm, you make mistakes and, if you make mistakes ...

And, to be well placed, you must be close the ball, because "the ball gives us the order."