The change in modern football as of late has seen Central Attacking Midfielders or “Number ten’s” as they are frequently called has seen the majority of these CAM’s undergo a change in which see’s them provide a much needed defensive shift to carry out play. Oscar, Mkhitryan, Kroos, Modric, Marchisio, and now Fabregas are some of the Modern AM’s that contribute hugely to defence, keeping out the likes of Mata, Goetze, Isco and many more out of the Number ten spot, forcing the latter majority out into wide positions.

Cesc has been rotated heavily under the Barcelona side since joining, being compared most often to Xavi every time he is rotated week in week out with him, but recently under Martino the Spaniard has played as a furthest midfielder, proving to be imperative to Barcelona’s defensive systems, contributing to both channels of the pitch as well as central deep areas off the ball, and on top of that he maintains a CF position between lines in 3rd offensive phases. This work see’s Cesc often fatigued during the latter stages of the game, as he is dropped into central midfield positions or substituted completely during the last 20 minutes of a game or so. Could these excessive work loads that are constantly planted on Cesc’s back be taking its toll? Well, in one of the recent of Barca’s games, Atletic Bilbao, he looked deprived of stamina as he was costlessd of the role of pressing the GK forcing play long. Instead, Sanchez on right winger, was given the role. Fabregas played very deep all game dropping to the half line in 1st phase, trying to exploit the huge gap betwen midfield and defence that Bilbao were risking the majority of the game. Fabregas allowed Sanchez and Neymar to take up much more vertical positions because of this, but Bilbao’s ultra low block prevented penetration excellently the entire night. A 6-3-1 like formation was implemented, with the Bilbao ST hassling CM’s, wingers dropping to form a midfield block around the DM who stayed central, and CM’s dropped to wing backs. This hugely defensive method proved its excellence, offering huge defensive stability and abilities in transitions thanks to the speed provided by the wingers. Fabregas was utilised in a number of roles to break down this block, being rotated heavily with the midfield trio Xavi and Iniesta, allowing the latter to take up higher roles while Fabregas fed full backs from deep to set up low crosses. Despite the efforts of Tata’s men, Atletic’s defence was largely solid the entire night and unable to falter.

Similar to the Bilbao game in terms of result, was Barca’s recent game against the Dutch Ajax.

The game astonished thousands of fans as de Boer seemed to have taken a leaf out of Bielsa’s approach to games, that being an immense pressing game that would result in little or no time and space on the ball for the opposition, something that would prove to be a master stroke and the biggest test so far for Barcelona this season.

Ajax have been clearly instructed to carry out a huge pressing system, not for the first time this season. Ajax’s 1st defensive phase extremely aggressive, fielding up to 7 players in opposition half.

When Barca would progress to 2nd phase build up Ajax seemed to use Guardiola’s ‘Six second rule,’ entire press from midfielders and forwards towards ball zone with back four staying goal side off of opposition, allowing for awareness of situation and ability to track back easily.

The high defensive line would also be utilised whenever Barca aimed for a quick succession into 3rd phases from 1st build up. This nullified the runs from Barca’s front three and allowed for a huge press, as the back four closed space between midfield and defence.

These are just some of the points on how Barca were totally shackled by Ajax’s wondrous efforts, but Fabregas’ role must not be forgotten. Cesc approached the game after being picked at CF for not the first time and his tasks were clear, to press spare CB’s and GK’s forcing the opposition into a long ball which usually concedes possession. This regular pressing tactic indoctrinated by Tata is always going to require work ethic in which Cesc has been horribly victim to over his games at CF, endlessly working channel to channel. But his defensive work in this game was clearly not up to par. The Spaniard looked hopelessly tired the entire game, even more so and fantastically noticed pre-game by Ajax manager Frank de Boer, who appeared to instruct his CB’s to wait for the press, then slowly play back to GK forcing Cesc into further pressing. This effective tactic took its toll after a mere 30 minutes as Cesc looked incredibly fatigued, unsurprisingly due to the amount of movement he was carrying out due to Ajax’s pressing. Tata noted his troubles, and the workhorse Pedro, stationed on RW, was instructed to carry out this pressing role, a costly but necessary call from Tata. The supposed ‘minor pressing role switch’ had a huge effect on the game, as Pedro situated wide had to work those few seconds longer to close down the space between him and the GK and CB’s. On top of this, Pedro’s role seen Cesc pushed deeper in defensive organisation picking up the defensive midfielder Blind.

This lack of pressing in 1st defensive phase early on from Cesc allowed a key man in midfield to progress forward as the GK could play on the ground and have time to pick out a key pass into midfield. Ajax added to Barcelona’s problems by fielding a single pivot with two midfielders advancing with wingers, creating a 2v1 deep in Barcelona’s midfield against Song.

No pressing, key man in midfield allowed forward as a result

Roles of the Wingers

“What are your comments on the change of philosophy you have constructed at Barcelona?”

Tata blinks for a few seconds at the interviewer, before recollecting the words he will state for what must seem like the thousandth time. The former Paruguayian coach seems agitated as he splutters out the answer to a question he has heard too often since arriving at the huge club.

I believe the changes I am making are for the best.

It is certainly a debate whether or not the changes Tata has made is beneficial for Barcelona, one in which many sentimental fans may opt for the old, strict possession based game. But Martino’s changes has certainly made an emphatic, fresh impact.

Many Barcelona fans noticed the permanent change after the loss of possession to Rayo Vallecano in which Barcelona lost battle of possession for the first time in 317 games, and the words from Madrid manager Ancelloti was quite unsettling, highlighting the transformation that Barcelona are undergoing.

“It was strange to see Barcelona counter attack.”. Stated the Italian manager who was clearly intrigued by the situation, stating the obvious as Barcelona certainly utilised the counter attacking system to full effect, a jubilant Pedro netting a hat trick in the 0-4 win. Long balls were often and sometimes unnecessary however, with the CB’s looking to meet wingers runs, and often conceding possession. The early games of course from Tata resulted in a very raw system, lots of players filled with new instructions to be tested in the new season. The defensive organisation was particularly inconsistent in 2^nd and 3^rd phases, often letting a man slip unmarked in a costless zone allowing possession to be progressed through Barcelona’s midfield at times.

The integration of counter attacking has definitely been an interesting sight to see in this Barcelona team, but an extremely interesting one. Against Almeria, Barcelona when winning possession down the channels would immediately seek to play vertical, or if the long ball wasn’t on, initiating a counter attack in which the transitioning player would sprint to meet the pass, while the rest of the team would sit deep. This remarkable system would see the majority of the side sit deep and walk forward while the countering player would sprint to the final third, with the aim of scoring with speed and as quickly as possible. If the goal was not possible, then the Barcelona team would catch up with the transitioning player, shifting ever so slowly conserving energy for defensive phases.

As you can see here, Messi receives from defence who has recovered possession and aims to feed Neymar who’s objective is to break forward and score. While he breaks, the entire Barcelona midfield sits deep as well as the entire back four, literally walking slowly up the pitch, as the entire Almeria team would sprint to halt the counter. When the rest of the squad would be correctly positioned for offensive phases, they will have supported the player that has transitioned forward if scoring wasn’t possible and he was forced to play backwards. This would conserve energy very effectively.

However the roles of wingers weren’t of course strictly offensive, as the two wide players had an important pressing role to carry out, initiating the 1^st defensive phase which is almost often imperative to recovering the ball, with the wingers regularly swapping pressing roles with the CF, as they marked full backs when the CB was in possession, or pressed the back four entirely. However, a simple press or picking up a player neutralising passing options would not do. When the CF was extremely fatigued during the latter stages of the game, or in some exceptions against Ajax, in which Fabregas was knackered in the first 30 minutes, the wingers would have an important role and be worked all game. The pressing would have to be carefully implemented by the wingers as the passing lanes were absolutely vitally important in relation to cutting out the pass. Too often Neymar’s raw talent and weakness when it comes to defensive duties saw him press prematurely, causing weaknesses and often causing an entire passing exchange for the opposition to carry out nearly resulting in a goal, in rare occasions. Messi and Neymar were often a risk defensively by playing them out wide, but their influence offensively would always see them walk into the starting eleven.

As you can see, Neymar presses Sidnei far too early, failing to cut out the passing lane to the Espanyol RB who then has a series of options, which almost costs Barcelona a goal. This premature pressing was carried out by almost all of Barcelona’s wingers, and the chances that almost always occurred highlight how important the wingers are to Tata’s defensive system.

The black lines are movements, and the blue lines are passes.

Neymar presses number 6 Sidnei, failing to block the pass to the RB. Number 3 picks out Thievy who manages drifts into a half space untracked by the Barcelona LB. Due to Mascherano tracking Espanyol number 9’s movements, Pique rushes out to press Thievy quickly, however a run from deep occurs from number 4 Sanchez who is fed by a ball from Thievy, almost resulting in a goal.

The Recovery System

BLUE LINES - Defensive Movements

BLACK LINES - Offensive Movements

It is fair to say that one of Tata Martino’s main aims on the footballing pitch is to maintain numerical equality in all positions and all areas of the pitch, and if possible, gain numerical advantage by overloading these areas. This required a lot of off the ball work and tracking back due to Barcelona’s high line they utilised quite often, often inducing fatigue in the later stages of the game. It had advantages and disadvantages as all systems do, one of the latter being less dominant of possession as Tata wouldn’t carry out an aggressive pressing game until 2nd phase in which two CM’s would press 1 on 1 while the CF dropped suffocating the ball carrier out wide or a risky vertical pass in which Barca would have an excess of bodies in.

Barcelona would often funnel possession out wide forcing the opposition to the touchline. While not aggressively contesting for the ball, Barca would close off all routes out of wide areas due to numerical overloads by dropping bodies deep surrounding the ball zone, which would usually force a costly mistake in which the Catalans could carry out a quick counter attack usually carried out by their wingers, as they are the highest man forward due to Barca pulling deep.

When Barca would lose the ball in 2nd or 1st phase build up, usually due to a risky long ball to wingers, they would have already a deep positioning so they could maintain a stable defence and have numbers behind the ball. This would set up the 1st defensive phase which would be pressing the RCB with CF or LCB with RW, forcing backwards or a long ball forward. Iniesta or Sergio Roberto would man mark the deepest dropping midfielder trying to offer a solution out of the back four as a passing option. This ticked most options and worked often recovering possession, however fatigue set in during the latter stages of the game resulting in lack of pressing intensity, allowing progression forward in possession by the opposition. In these cases, Barca would carry out 2nd defensive phase, a 1 on 1 press while the CF would track back intercepting passing lanes forcing a risky possession choice, usually out wide, and if this wasn’t successful, and it usually wasn’t, Barca would initiate their 3rd phase in which the CF Fabregas would retreat into central midfield causing a 4 man overload, proving to be very effective against 4-3-3′s. This overload caused by Fabregas or Neymar when he played CF in some cases forced the opposition to keep the ball wide in less dangerous outposts. Barcelona then surrounded the player with the CM nearest to ball zone, the LW dropping deep, and the LB pushing forward. This created a triangle around the ball zone, a very effective 3v1. The CM closed off the passing lane into midfield supported closely by the DM and closed down the space around the ball with the DM Busquets or Song providing nearby support. Whenever the CM did this he was drifted from his position, in which the CF would temporarily occupy providing numerical equality in midfield, one of Tata’s most important aspects of the Argentinian’s game. Fabregas was most effective at providing this. The LW or RW prevented the pass backwards to the defence and the full back directly contested the ball carrier. This was a solid reliable method of regaining possession in deep areas as long as the ball carrier did not find a route out of the defensive triangle. But the actual time to recover the ball sometimes dragged due to opposition often holding onto the ball for an extensive amount of time and a foul was occasionally conceded due to frustration and impatience from Barca.

Here is Barcelona initiating the 3^rd phase recovery system on the left channel. Players can be identified by their numbers. The weak side winger, usually Sanchez, Neymar or Messi, stayed forward to provide an option for counter attacking by making an instinctive run behind the back four once the ball was recovered.

Another key factor to this system is compensating for Messi’s non-existent defensive contribution. Tata undoubtedly instructed Lionel to take up very high positioning to utilise his incredibly prolific abilities in the final third, meaning Barcelona would have to cope without the 4 time Ballon d’Or winner’s defensive efforts. This would automatically induce an increased work effort from one player, and that was Fabregas. He was utilised totally in this Axial CF role that is vital to their system, carrying out Messi’s job of blocking and intercepting passing lanes in the triangle, preventing passes backwards towards to the defence as an escape route out of the suffocating triangle, while Messi stayed furthest up the pitch. It will certainly be interesting when Messi recovers from injury as to where he will play, either as CF or RW.

Weaknesses of the Recovery System

Barcelona would often drop very deep to carry out the 3rd defensive phase in particular, due to the demands of this triangle on the flanks, requiring huge work ethic from the front three as well as the CM’s as they instinctively took up non-advanced positions during possession phases, knowing they would be forced to track back. This choice of retaining numerical equality from Tata resulted in the non-immediate regaining of the ball, as work to track back was slow especially during the latter stages of the game, and an overload of the ball zone by creating a defensive triangle on the channel wasn’t always effective. If the full back was beaten then Barca would be extremely vulnerable, or a pass was found out of the block, and contributing to the weakness is the fact that the immense amount of bodies that would be required to carry out this 3^rd defensive phase would result in a huge shift of players over to the ball side, creating a huge weakness on the weak side, so if the ball was switched in these circumstances the Catalans would have to re-organise extremely quickly to the other side to maintain solid defensive organisation, further contributing to fatigue.

The extensive shift from the Barca side apart from one winger meant that they depended on the triangles during 3^rd phase to maintain solidity at the back. If the pressing wasn’t compact or solid enough, the player surrounded by red and blue shirts would find a route out usually by a pass, in which the opposition would be wary of Barca’s vulnerability on the weak side and initiate a high tempo horizontal switch of play, with one or two touches being used, circulating the ball with speed to one side of the pitch to the other. The shift to re-assemble sides of the pitch would occur from Barca and they would press extremely aggressively and a cross would be thrown in by the opposition, Barca’s nemesis over the years even more so now that the 5”8 CB is regularly contesting against six foot target men. Barcelona tried to prevent these situations from occurring as it gifted the opponent time and space on the ball, something which is rarely allowed against a fanatical possession based team. Real Madrid’s best 10 minutes of the second half were during these high tempo horizontal possession phases in which they outplayed Barca and exploited the weaknesses of their 3rd defensive phase excellently.

Conclusion

Gerardo Martino’s transformation with Barcelona is becoming more obvious by the game as results are grinded out, and the Catalans sit top of La Liga. The Argentinian has been bombarded with both criticism and praise alike, the former being thrown at him for the immense changes he has made in Barca’s image and their philosophy, and the latter for being phenomenal results over Madrid and consecutive wins in the league, yet where will they be come the end of the season? Is it a bright future for Barcelona or will the European giants succumb to fatigue and crumble under Martino’s intense philosophy come May? Only time will tell, but it will undoubtedly be an intriguing ending.