Why Barcelona don't need to change anything
A lot of Barca fans are desperate for changes. "Setien out! Bartomeu out! Griezmann out!" etc. However, I believe Barca are currently in a great spot to win the Champions League. In fact, I would consider us favorites with the return of Dembouz. I like Setien, he has a great philosophy, if he uses the right formation we'll breeze past Napoli and beat Bayern too, trust me. We could play a 3-4-3 against Napoli. Something like this:
By using a diamond with Messi at CF, there won't be a "box" around him to suffocate him, while Suarez will stay forward, Griezmann and Fati come back to help the defence and make inverted runs while the full-backs, Jordi and Nelsinho, make overlapping runs. This will make Napoli chase Barca for the whole 90 mins. REMEMBER! WE ONLY NEED A 0-0 TIE OR WIN, which is a 66% chance outcome! With Messi at CF, he can find Fati, Suarez, Griezmann, or even go back into the diamond with Frenkie de Jong and Riqui. Riqui is an undisputed starter at this point, I don't think anyone can replace him.
Let me know ur thoughts down below!
Comments
Great job, Andrew! Keep it up 👏 The diamond formation worked well in the Villarreal clash but unfortunately, it's not good against teams practising the 'low-block' in defence. And we usually play against such teams in both La Liga and the Champions League, that's the problem.
Yes dully noted. But we saw that napoli did press, just not far out. Meaning if messi plays in the midfield, napoli cant just “sit back”. Also they r down on away goals
Because also, their secret operation “stop-messi” plan is to box him with 4 players, so if he’s deeper then no need for the box
with this formation, we again have the same problem which is lack of width.
I disagree, riqui can easily slide into right wing as the mid becomes 3 players instead of 4. And we know ansu is naturally left wing so yea. But when dembe comes back there’s our right winger there
Andrew Yacoub, if the 3 in the midfield has messi in it and if we are caught on a counter-attack then we will concede because messi won't trackback and we will have a width on right only when he drifts out wide most of the time we won't have the width. with 4 mids and 2 strikers who want to play centrally means we will be very narrow and predictable even more than we are right now.
U dont use width to defend. Only attack. When u attack u have to make the field look bigger and when u defend u have to make the field smaller for the opponent which is why u compress. If u actually think about it, napoli wont sit back and counter. They’re down on goals, away from home, and not in form. If u have riqui sliding in and out of rw to mid there wont be a counter. Napoli will be too tired to. Its keep away, u have to play it right
Andrew Yacoub, I never said we need the width to defend, where did u get that from?? Napoli wouldn't play on the front foot because they know they can counter as they did in the first leg because they know our defence is shambles.
Why not busquets holding and de Jong instead of rakitic? The issue isn’t locking up Messi in my opinion the issue is the lack of attacking contribution. Suarez cannot out muscle CB’s like Koulibaly and Manolas, and Napoli have a very physical midfield. Bayern has pace, strength, youth, and depth. The modern day game favours pace which we lack deeply. This is why I think we will get burned.
Busi suspended and vidal
Oh yes facts I completely forgot, good point. What about Roberto for Raki
Also i disagree, because if ur playing a game of keep away and burn out the opposition then pace has nothing to do with it. Ex barca 2009
The issue is that every opponent has figured out how to defend the possession play. Setien plays keep away but with zero penetration of the defensive lines, all it takes is one slip up, a counter attack with pace, and we lose (Osasuna game)
Well yes, but thats because osasuna didnt press they just sat deep and waited for the mistake. Im 100% sure napoli will press. They’re down on away goals and are playing in Barcelona, theyre not gonna “sit-back” just like they did against inter to lose 2-0
That’s fair but Gattuso knows how to keep his defense composed and on lock the way they did against us in the first leg. And on top of that, with their physicality and their stamina they can afford to overcommit, recover, and still knock us off the ball because of our lack of pace.
We lack pace even in how we move the ball, the opposition intercepts like it’s nothing
Yea but then it comes back full circle to keep away. As long as we burn them out, there won’t be a recover part. They’ll either overcommit or sit back especially in the second half
Setien doesn’t know how to play effective keep away for 90 min, it doesn’t work with our aging squad who lack sharpness. We need to remain competitive by being able to still attack and not rely on draining the clock
True, thats the part i havent figured out other than using the right players. For instance rakitic would not make my 11 but since busi vidal are suspended and arthur hasnt played in a while (and has 0 motivation to play anyway) then rakitic barely makes it