It was enough
that Piqué said that Barça, basically at Guardiola’s era, was "slave of
tiki-taka" to ignited the debate about the club's playing style. Pautasso
(Gerardo Martino's assistant), said in the previous of Rayo-Barça on Saturday
that sometimes you didn’t have to be so offensive, that if Barça was leading
2-0 against Sevilla, you could be more or less close at the back and go to the
counter. What's more, Barça, after a lot of official matches, had less
possession than his rival, precisely against Rayo.
First consideration: has anyone explained to Mr. Pautasso in which Club is he? What do the members and fans of the club want? Has anyone said him that here is not enough to win, much less at the Camp Nou ?
Second consideration: precisely those media that have been more considerate "Barça" (ie, very close to the current Board), are the ones that have given more reason to Piqué, that it is enough of such possession and passing game, that you need to play in another way. Interestingly, those media that charged more against Pep Guardiola at that time. Coincidence? I do not think so. And the nonsense I'm reading lately on the newspapers is confirming that many talks for not being silent and that many write because they have to fill pages, no matter what they say.
Third consideration: the "tiki -taka" was born with Maguregui, as I have said more than once and he referred, ridiculing, this game touching and passing. The current problem is that many of those who criticize this kind of game do not even know what it is and, above all, how it is worked (trained). It is not to touch for the sake of touching, or to pass for the sake of passing. The first thing to consider is what Cruyff said: If I have the ball and you do not have it, and you have two problems to score a goal. The first one is to have the ball The second thing to consider is what Guardiola said : Do not touch (pass), if you are not pressed . That is, FIRST running with the ball than passing.
Fourth consideration: the basic for the possession game is the position, but not the position of the players. It is the team's position. It is that the team keeps the shape wherever you have the ball and whoever the player who has it, and it is what Guardiola said also, that I have said many times: The ball give us order. Depending on where it is, the players have to be. Whatever you do, whether playing with "false 9”, either the cross comes from the full-back or the winger, either you have one or two players arriving from second line, etc. everything depends on the positioning of the players. Whether players are poorly positioned, the attack is bad and causes the turnover many more options for the opponents. Maybe people should start looking at this, before we talk about changing the style.
Fifth consideration: Any Club must have a structure where everyone plays the same idea. The same game is impossible, since players are not the same and, therefore, every team will have variants depending on the type of players. There are not two equal right full-backs, or not two equal central midfielders, and there are no two Messi. It's that simple.
Sixth consideration: With everything I've said before, it can be a debate about the style, obviously. Now, this debate has to be clearly about football ideas, and not poisoned with "politic ideas" on the issue (the newspapers are full on this and other: just remember that cover about Valdes saying "leaves us on the floor" or Racionero’s writings about Valdés or, what Vehils said on Iniesta about selling the “cracks" or, everything that has been said about this "change of style" ), and that is a debate that affects the way FC Barcelona plays. All teams, not the first team. Why to make the left back of U -14 or U -16 to play in one way if, when they arrive to the first team they play in a different way? Does anyone see any sense on this ?
Final consideration: Barça has got the respect and admiration of football’s world because how they won in previous years. About this, no debate.
Jordi Pascual
You can follow me on Twitter: @JordiPascualP