WE'VE LOST THE 2v1. AND THE BEST MESSI

Since always there has been talks about the importance of playing on the wings, giving width. To make open the opposing defense, either bringing the wingers to the flanks and leaving the center free, either taking advantage of the own full-backs going up.

The football of Barça in recent years (and, we can say that almost always since I can remember) had wingers. Either playing with "right leg" to go to the goal line and crossing or either with "switched leg" to go from the outside to the inside of the box.

Now, with Luis Enrique, we don't have this. I will not speak about if mode, if evolution... No. I just want to mention what, for me, are the tactical consequences.

On one hand we have that, the fact that there are no wingers, makes that the full-backs are the ones that have to go to the goal line and cross. As the winger is not there to cover him, it is the job of the Attacking Midfielder to do it. This means that in the middle, where once we had Xavi and Iniesta (to go to the best known and nearby), now there is no one. But not only that. Busquets not only drops between the center-backs to take the ball out, but also he stays there in a lot of plays; this means that there are 3 at the back and none of them is the full-back of the other side where we have the action. That is, the Barça midfield has many distances among players. And it costs a lot to recover the ball, because the players are very far from it. If this recovery is not done immediately after loss, it's time to go back to defensive positions. And sometimes very quickly, too quickly, because the opponent has had time and space to organize the counterattack.

1. WITH LUIS ENRIQUE

And so we say Busquets is not useful when the problem (in principle, beyond that he is better or worse fit), is that he is placed 20 meters away from the AM's when before he was just 10. And of course, he can't arrive to all. Before it was all triangles between players. Now, they are not. And the foundation of any organization are the triangles that allow to give constant support to the companions.

We turn now to the offensive situation when we have wingers. We have the full-back going up by the flank and, a few meters away, we have the winger. On one side or the other. The opposing defense goes to intercept the full-back, who passes to the winger that give the ball back. 2v1 situation, impossible to stop if well executed. Classic scenario in football. And if the 2v1 is at the flank, it is still more impossible to stop. No more.

But we have more. Before, when the AM was going up by the middle of the pitch, accompanied by the full-back, we had the same 2v1 situation. Yours-mine and a player "deleted". And the AM or the FB continued carrying the ball and created again this 2v1 with the opposing center-back when Messi (with that "false 9"), was going two steps back.

2. WITH GUARDIOLA

Now, no. Now there are no wingers. As much as someone says "narrow-wingers". This does not exist in football. Wingers, by definition, are open. If not, they are anything else, but they are not wingers. We continue. No wingers and the forwards are too close to the defenders to create these spaces and 2v1 situations. It's that simple. And when the FBs go, the forwards are fixed. As he is fixed, we know where he is and therefore there's no 2v1.

And this, that seems so simple, is one of the things the actual Barça has lost. The 2v1 aims to eliminate opposing players and lines. If we have a team mate (who some call "the third man", which is free), we have a passing line. And, as we have passing lines if the move is continued (Pass and go), that is what we have to do, we have a returning line. We have 2v1. The issue is that the player with the ball always follow the play, so, the opposite player coming not know where to go. If he goes to the one that has the ball, the one that does not have it is free. If he goes to the one that does not have it, the carrier has space.

Before, Messi, with this of the "false 9", had the wingers 20-25 meters away. Space. Plenty of room and also with Leo very close to the box. Now, if Messi wants this distance with Neymar and Suarez he has to play 10-15 meters behind them. That is, 10 to 15 meters away from the box. And Messi, as closer to the box he is, as more dangerous he is. Before, Messi was running parallel to the line of the box to shoot; now, he runs towards the area to pass. Now, when he does a 2v1 is 15 meters away from box. Before, he was at the edge of the box. It was much easier to shoot and score. Also, Xavi and Iniesta were 10 meters away of him; 2v1 and 3v2 were continued, and the space was easily found. Now, Xavi, Iniesta, Rakitic, are 30 meters away of the Argentine star. Or he does all it by himself or he fails to 2v1 he can do with Neymar or Suarez, because he is not on the edge of the box. Note that, the goals he's scoring now is when he "lives" on the edge of the box. The same as he did before.

Therefore, today we speak of Messi-Neymar-Suárez connection, but we forget that the one that was lethal was the Messi-Xavi-Iniesta connection with Busquets playing the role of "Big Brother" and controlling everything from behind. Now, this connection is virtually nonexistent. The distances are much bigger. And all this is very noticeable.

I want the returning of the wingers. They will return us the 2v1 and they will return us the best Messi.

Jordi Pascual

You can follow me on Twitter: @JordiPascualP

COMICS AND SUPERHEROES

When I was little, there was a whole comic series characterized by the appearance of some Superheroes (Captain America, Professor "X", Ironman, Thor, Batman, Superman, etc..), which all them had two things in common.
The first is that they could lose battles, but always ended up winning the war. It may be, that at the beginning of the story told, they were overcome by evil, but in the end, always ended winning.
The second is that his appearance was always towards the end and that he managed to solve the problems, however great they were. Everyone knew it, but not for that we were all waiting for the moment that he started putting the bad guys in their place, which was what they deserved, of course, that's because they were the bad guys.
Jorge Valdano defined Romario many years ago as a "cartoon player", such was the way of moving and doing the Brazilian.
Today, I want to define Messi as a "Superhero Comic". To all who were at the Camp Nou yesterday or, watching the match against Betis on TV, we came a scare when Pepe Mel's team went ahead at the very beginning of the game. We had lost against Bayern (and how), Madrid had won (also suffering more than it was supposed, but had won), and a defeat against Betis could assume that Madrid put to 5 points on Wednesday, having a match against Malaga by that Cup Final to be played on a Friday because Saturday's "Eurovision", etc, etc.. And we all know how it is, in general, the Barcelona's supporter: going from optimism to pessimism (and vice versa), more easily than taking a coffee in the morning before going to work.
Luckily Alexis (yes, the same one that is useless, according to many), equalized a few minutes later and, while Villa was missing all that was possible to miss (and the impossible, too), Betis scored the second -and great goal- , when we were about to reach the half time.
And the Superhero? For, as applicable, was on the bench looking at everything with a face of "I can not believe what we are missing, I'll  have to fix it myself." The second half started and suddenly flipped the Nou Camp. But there is no goal! What is it? Well it happens that the superhero had begun to warm-up and turned pessimists into optimistics.

Villa, finally, scored and Barça tied the game. Messi replaced Villa (I think Barça fans ever, and those that are not, were so clear which the substitution would be), and the Superhero came in for the action: 15 minutes were enough to make two of his plays, to score two goals, one of them, in a free-kic, amazing and send another free-kick, at switched foot (it was for a right players and Xavi was there to kick it), to the crosshead of goal. By the way, "Xarli" Rexach scored this goal at the Calderon Stadium about 36 or 37 years ago. This player also was different.
The Superhero had already done the work. Barça fans could breathe easy, knowing that Wednesday, if Madrid does not win, Barça will be League's Champion, which means something, as much as some people try to minimize it.
By the way, as a good Superhero, when he left the pitch he was not happy at all. What now? What is it? Was he injured? Did he see a card that will make him to miss the next game? None of that. Simply, despite being a Superhero, failed once, a few seconds before the end, taht would have been the "hat-trick" and we all know how Messi dislikes missing a goal. Although you've done everything right. Although the bad guys are already locked up in jail. Even it is good for nothing. Well, for nothing. This goal would have been 47 in the league. Only 3 less than last year. But there are still 4 games. Sure that the Superhero will do something special, that's why he is a Superhero.