Barcelona’s Tactics, formation and 3 men defense

What is the formation that is being used by most of the teams now a days or even in the worldcup 2010? The answer is without a doubt 4-5-1 [4-3-3/4-2-3-1]. Which shows that teams are now playing with single striker. This brings a new question into mind. When we play 4-4-2 we need two center backs to track both the strikers, why do we need 2 center backs when there is only one striker?

2 Center backs vs 1 striker

When this situation comes, one of the defenders will track the striker and other will be waiting to cover the first defender. The left and right backs will track the opposite teams 2 forwards. Which suggests the one of the Central defenders is always free. Also the second defender can push into midfield or initiate forward runs. Now another question, Why do we need 4 at the back always?

do we need 4 at the back ?

when the teams play 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1, as we saw above, one of the central defenders is free. So why can’t we manage the defense with 3 men and push one extra men into midfield? This idea is not a new one and in the past many team tried it. Most recent is Mexican team at the world cup. And now Barcelona started improvising this formation.

Barcelona’s Formation [vs Rubin]

Rubin vs Barcelona formations

OK. Here i marked defenders[yellow] Alves[2], Pique[3],Puyol[5], Maxwell[19] and  Midfield[orange] Xavi[6],Mascherano[14],Busquets[16] and Forwards[Pink] Villa[7], Iniesta[8],Pedro[17], as per the UEFA formation diagram.

The actual formation when they played was different. Both the left and right backs pushed forward. Mascherano moved to a position in between Pique and Puyol.

Barcelona's actual tactical formation

Now this is 3-4-3 formation. The forwards are very narrow, both Villa and Pedro likes cut in and attack.. this allows the left back and right backs who already pushed higher up the pitch to drive further up the pitch.

In general, the teams playing against Barcelona tends to sit deep and defend. When Barca has the wide defenders pushing forward and giving them the extra width to attack, that stretches the defense of the opposition. This is very much possible because all the men that Barca uses as wide players [pedro, messi, villa] likes to cut inside and play. This also makes the forward 3 of the Barca very narrow. The extra central defender will cover the space infront of the goal while the other two takes relatively wide positions to cover the space left by the full backs.

Barca played the same formation/tactics against Atletico Madrid. In this match they used Busquets as the extra central defender with Xavi and Iniesta in front of them covering the midfield.

Atletico vs Barcelona formations and Barcelona Tactical formations

Will this works always?

This will work every time the opposite team sits deep or just trying to defend. In case your opponent choose 4-4-2 to play against this 3-4-3 formation [like Atletico Madrid] you are leaving one of the central defenders free at all the time by deploying both strikers higher up the pitch. The best formation will be 4-4-2 with second striker playing behind the main striker or a false nine role. Another thing that can work against 3-4-3 is long diagonal balls to the strikers.

Different version of this approach by MUFC

Manchester United's tactical formation against Everton

Sir Alex used this formation in their game against Everton. He placed O’shea just in front of the central defenders. Both the full back for forwarded in that match. It all worked well for united but they didn’t defend well in the last few minutes of the match when everron took corners, so not much was written about this formation or use of the extra man in the central defense.

Valencia 0-1 Manchester United | Too much respect from both sides but Finishing quality prevails

15mins on pitch, 6 passes, 2 shots on target, 1 goal …thats Chicharito for Manchester United. A good first touch followed by a well taken shot …surely he made Michael Owen will be proud. United had won the match with 1-0 against Valencia on Spanish soil in Champions league group stage.

As expected Sir Alex deployed 4-5-1 formation with Berbatov as lone striker and Carrick, Anderson, Ferdinand and Rafael got the starts. Valencia too fielded 4-5-1 with Soldado as single striker.

Valencia vs Manchester United statring Lineups

Tactics

The best part of the tactics is the visit of Sir Alex to Valencia game against Atlántico Madrid. He fielded the team according to the observations and with the limitations that Rooney, Scholes and Giggs are not available due to injuries. Though the above UEFA starting lineups picture shows United formation as 4-1-2-3 and Valencia as 4-4-1-1, the actual positions are bit different. Since Valencia uses Albelda to pass the ball around from the deep midfield, SAF though it would be nice to stop that flow and he deployed Anderson higher up the pitch to control Albelda. Which means Anderson was handed more of a defensive role. Fletcher and Carrick patrolled the midfield. Here is the actual formations from UEFA web site

Valencia vs Manchester United tactical formations

First-half

In the firsthalf both teams gave more respect to each other. both teams are more happy to see the position and wanted to play on counter attack. The result is a slow paced game, which ended with no shots on target from both the teams at end of first half. Valencia maintained high defensive line and Mathieu tried to get forward more means Nani’s forward runs are restricted. Berbatov who played deep also never found any service from midfield when he stayed up front. You can see SAF showing 6 [six in the box] in the first half, while defending a corner, which he shows how United defended in the first half.

Second-half:

Nothing changed, except Nani trying to play higher up the pitch along with the anderson. As SAF says, some players creating something out of nothing or moment of brilliance. Berbatov did the same, He received a long ball on the left side, got away from the defender and had a shot which is on target but saved by goal keeper at near post easily. This is best action of the match so far from United.

Substitutions:

Valencia made the first substitution by replacing a midfielder with a forward and changing the formation to 4-4-2. This change brought something to their game and started passing the ball more to the wingers. This is the period where you can see, Pablo sending more crosses into the box.

united has to respond to the situation and they did by replacing Anderson with Hernandez. This means united are now playing 4-4-2 . United could have scored immediately when Nani’s cross missed everyone waiting and found Hernandez on the left fat post but he couldn’t reach the ball.

Switching to 4-4-2 brough life into game

Then Berbatov was substituted by Macheda. Many might have expected Owen to come on but since Hernandez a similar player is on the pitch, SAF went for Macheda who can drop deep and defend as well.  The result is immediate, Nani’s run midfield and the pass found Macheda who spotted Hernandez’s run early and passed the ball to him. The first touch of Hernandez is superb and then he finished it with more flair.

In conclusion, a satisfying night for united with win. There are few positives to take also, The return of Ferdinand, Carrick and Anderson. United’s defense surely looked much better than the one that leaked goals for the last 3 weeks. Carrick is at his best but a valuable option to have with Scholes injured. Both the teams didn’t played well really and didn’t created many chances due to lack of creativity from the midfield, might be due to missing the key players but in the end the quality of finishing and clever substitutions won the match for United.

Bolton Wanderers 2-2 Manchester United | Evans, O’shea, Evra, Rooney …

On a day when United can put pressure on Chelsea, they wasted the opportunity to do so. To be honest though they have 66% of the position… still chased the game and are behind bolton twice. Interestingly  managed 13 shots to Bolton’s 15 and committed more fouls than bolton.

BWFC v MUFC lineups

United went with the same side that won against Liverpool with Rooney and Berba upfront with Scholes and Fletcher running midfield. Bolton also played 4-4-2 with Davis and Elmander upfront. Bolton started brightly and they maintained the same pace throughout the game. Game is not very much tactical to write in depth analysis but there are few interesting things about manchester united.

United continued their habit of leaking goals from the defense. For more embracement its again Johnny Evans who was at fault for first goal along with confusing position of Evra in the goal post. Then Nani sent a brilliant strike into goal to level the score. At half-time team talk, SAF told them to send the ball to Nani as much as possible but Nani was not able to send many crosses into the box. But Nani was unsuccessful through out the match to send the crosses into the box except the the one that Owen scored. The second goal which was deflected off Fletcher is not entirely his fault, had Evra or Evans did their job, that cross would never have reached Fletcher. Fletcher’s substation was not surprise since we have a midweek CL match and finally Struggling rooney was subbed. The goal was Owen is simply super and it send a reminder to SAF that, he had an option to turn to, instead of sticking with Rooney.

How many of you had observed and agree with me that, Van Der Sar is poor in this game? After the first 10mins, i started counting how many times pass from VDS finds a united player. All his long passes went to Bolton players…expect one 1 out of 13. Which means for every 8mins, Bolton’s attack came through a goal kick or free kick.

Edwin Van Der Sar ball distribution against Bolton

Observations:

Evra: Everyone is saying Rooney is not in form but the one who is surely struggling from that Worldcup hangover is Evra. He is not at his best in any of the games so fat this season. On the left side, we always get crosses from Evra more than the left winger many times but in the last 2-3 games those are limited to 3 or 4. Match against Bolton, he had 4 attempted crosses and just one is successful.

O’shea: Don’t know why he is still a preffered right-back this season. He is slow and not creative. Not getting into more attacking positions or crosses. in the match against Bolton, he had just 1 unsuccessful cross into the box to his name. We all know, Neville is old and not a good choice now but we have young Rafael waiting for opportunities. He may did a mistake against Bayern Munich that defeated us but he deserves a chance so is his brother. Don’t know when SAF will fix this right back issue.

Johny Evans: I’m sure he has lots of talent otherwise he will not feature in those many games for United. But this season, so far he is struggling. Against Bolton, he didn’t have a tall striker or someone Tevez, still against Davis he struggled. Also we saw Evans giving away a penalty to Torres in the match against Liverpool. Which suggests that, he not dealing properly with strikers who moves more or run around the Penalty box. Evans need to step up to cover this in his defense game, otherwise he may not be wearing that United shirt for long.

Rooney: First time, i though we could have started with any other striker. His choices are wrong and not showing any confidence. He needs to move on and make his on-field scoring count. Now, Owen has sent a signal that he is ready for action… so it would be interesting to see, if SAF opts for Owen in future.

Manchester United 3 – 2 Liverpool Review | Berbatov – A genius at work

A much awaited fixture of the English premier league between the great rivals with huge history and passion. Not a derby game but was described as mother of all derbies. Everyone expected a lot from this match. In the end its Manchester United’s new hero Berbatov sealed the deal for them with sublime Hat-Trick. But United defense which was sloppy for 10mins in the second half, allowed Liverpool to comeback into the game with a penalty and free kick.

Here is the starting lineup of both the teams for this match. united Opted for 4-4-2 with rooney and Berbatov upfront, as expected. Liverpool played 4-4-1-1 with Torres upfront with some surprises in the midfield. This the first time SAF deploying 4-4-2 in a big game after a long time. But given Berbatov’s form and Rooney’s workrate … it seems he went for the right option.

Manchester United vs Liverpool Starting lineups

We expected either Cole or Gerrard to play behind torres but coach RH gave Meireles that role. And Maxi started on the right side. Poulsen started along with Gerrard in the midfield. For united Fletcher and Scholes in the midfield and O’shea returned to the defense.

First Half

United Started very well with their midfield getting the ball to the wingers very early. This kept Liverpool in their own half for most of the time and they defended with numbers. In the midfield Meireles marked Scholes, means Torres is the only man upfront for Liverpool. Liverpool defended really well in the first half till 40th mim.

Liverpool defended well with 2 lines of defense

As you can see here, Liverpool formed 2 lines of defense. In the above pic, Nani is having the ball and you can see five liverpool players are around him. but as you can see they left one of the united players unmarked always. Poulsen also tracked Nani through out the game because Konchesky is not upto the mark.

First Goal

As we all know, United attacked through their wide players especially Nani. Their midfield attempted long passes to the wide players and then they got in the crosses which liverpool found difficult to handle with. Here is the series of actions for first goal:

United's first goal

Nani received a long ball from the midfield and he drove forward and sent a cross into the box. did you observe the 4 Liverpool players behind united’s front 3 men in the picture? So its initially 3v3 up front and as you can see Berbatov didn’t started his run and rooney is sprinting forward this allows United’s front 3 to exchange the passes and if required send the ball to the midfield which is in space. When Giggs took the corner from the left side, it really surprising that Torres has marked Berbatov and he was caught on the wrong end. Berbatov looked like running opposite side but when the cross came in, Torres is just holding him and gave a free header.

Torres and Midfield

In the whole first half Torres managed just 3 passes. So what Liverpool midfield is doing ? Here is a stuation from the game when Liverpool is in attacking position from the first half.

Liverpool's midfield was poor and sent the ball either back or sideways

Liverpool player  on the ball is Poulsen, he had options to send the ball forward or to Cole on the left who is not in this picture. He is in ample of space but he sends it back to a player who is near to Rooney and the pass goes to Maxi and comes back to Poulsen and finally ends up with a pass to goal keeper. Did you observed Torres there between the central defenders? what was he doing there with his hands on hips… watching liverpool midfield’s artistic work? They never played ball to him, the only time ball went to Torres is when they attempted long balls which happend just 2 times in first 45mins.

Here is another moment from the first half where they kept torres.

Liverpool's midfield was poor and sent the ball either back or sideways

Look at number of options the Liverpool player had. But he opted to pass the ball to Cole on the left wing which finally comes back to Poulsen.  This means in the first 45mins they never tried to attack the united’s midfield. Instead they passed the ball either sideways or backwards.

Second Half

In the scond half, Gerrard started pushing forward and Liverpool added some pace to the game. Still they did the the same thing they did in the first half. But United didn’t changed their style of they. They got the ball to the wide players and depended on the crosses.

United's Second goal - Another long ball another cross

Second goal

This is a brilliant moment of the game, from Berbatov to give united a 2-0 lead. He collected the ball from Nani on his knee and tried a bicycle kick which ended with hitting the inside of the top bar and landing inside. Again its a cross from Nani that lead to the goal. you can see in the picture, still nani is tracked by 2 liverpool players and Giggs who is on the left wing is free and unmarked. Even if the the cross went over the united forwards, giggs can make most of it.

United defense and Liverpool goals

At this moment it looked like united are all set to win without any hurdles or twists. But for 10mins, united defense was fragile and Liverpool made most of it with a penalty and freekick. Irrespective of his success in the past, Torres finds it difficult with Vidic this time and he has chosen to attack Evans in the second half. When Torres for the ball be ran into the 6yard box and Evans fouled him which lead to a penalty and Gerrard converted it.

Liverpool Substitutions :

Roy Hodgson made a substitution on 66th min by Replacing Maxi with Ngog. This changed the liverpool’s formation to 4-4-2 with Ngog playing just behind Torres as second striker. Cole and Meireles moving to wings with Gerrard and Poulsen controlling the Midfield.

Formations after Liverpool Substitution - both teams 4-4-2

This change brought life to Liverpool with Gerrard moving forward freely but they lost the midfield advantage they have in the first-half. Gerrard moving forward means, they left one of the United player free in the midfield and it is Scholes. And Scholes started controlling the midfield and sent more long balls to forwards and Nani.

O’shea Yellow card and second goal

O'shea foul on Torres and yellow card

Many may argue that O’shea should get Red card for this foul but Referee got it correct. As you can see in the picture, When ball was played forward, Torres, Van der sar and Defender are moving towards  it. Then O’shea clipped Torres leg and fouled. It is very clear that other United players are in good position to get the ball. So the referee gave him Yellow card and awarded Liverpool a free kick. When gerrard took the free kick, Fletcher moved slightly away from the wall and gerrard is cleaver enough to send the ball through that gap. Now the score 2-2.

United Substitution:

with the score settling at 2-2 SAF had brough in Macheda for giggs and with this change United now had 3 forwards upfront with Berbatov in the middle. As i wrote earlier Paul Scholes who was free in the midfield sent a long cross to O’shea on the right, who sends a cross to Liverpool penalty box and again Berbatov rose and heads home a winner, and his hat-trick.

Now SAF Replaces Berbatov the new hero who went into the bench with standing applaude from the United fans, wtih Anderson and Nani with Gibson. This changes United shape to 4-5-1 and closed the shop.

Conclusion

In the end it was 3 crosses, 3 goals for United. But they found a new hero in Berbatov, who was described by SAF as a Genius before the match and he proved that he is a genius at work. He may have just 22passes to his name in the whole game but every time he got the ball, it looked like he is about to do something. Now we all know, what tempted SAF to send 30mi on a player. United deserved their victory and for Liverpool the score line may be flattering but they need to work on a lot of things and its a surprise they created little and scored on the united’s defense errors.

Preview : Manchester United vs Liverpool | Tactics or Moment of Brilliance

After two consecutive draws which were resulted from conceding last minutes against Fulham and Everton, Manchester United are up against Liverpool who were not much impressive so far this season. If you take the form into consideration, MUFC with two draws and LFC with one draw and loss coming into this battle.

There is one good new for Liverpool, J Cole will be available for this match after completing 3 match ban. And Torres was fit and roaring to go. For Manutd, they had Rooney back in the last match against Rangers and there is a set back with the loss of Valencia due to injury.

After watching Liverpool this season, their coach RH seems to be favoring 4-2-3-1 formation than 4-4-2 which they played in their first match. And as far as ManUtd are concerned, they are yet to find which is a better working formation for them. Taking Berbatov’s form into consideration, they cannot leave him out and Rooney is not a kind of player who they want to keep on bench. but with Liverpool’s 4-2-3-1, if united opted for 4-4-2, Liverpool may dominate the possession in the midfield due to 3vs2 situation.

Liverpool are expected to start with this lineup and United are yet decide 3 players[in red box], as per my guess.  If united opts 4-4-2 then, Giggs will take left wing and Berbatov will play behind Rooney and need to nullify the Liverpool’s advantage in the midfield. If United opts for 4-5-1 then, Park will be deployed on left wing and Giggs in the center and it will not be a surprise, if berbatov takes the lone striker position.

If we observe liverpool’s game, most of the time their attack will originate from the right side through Johnson driving forward and kuyt continuing it. The other option is Gerrard playing killer passes to Torres. So United has 2 tasks. 1. Make Fletcher keep track of Gerrard then you can easily deal with Torres. As we all know, Torres is not a kind of player who drops and takes part in the build up play and then scores a goal. He is an out-and-out striker, who depends on his pace and position to score goals. This means the supplier is must for him to score.  2. Restrict Johnson’s movement. He may not be a complete defender but his forward runs are more effective for Liverpool. The other one i didn’t mentioned was JCole. in my assumption, he will get a free role and  may just work as second striker also. Everyone says, free role behind the main striker is his best position but he never played in that position and all his best performances are on the wings.

Result? the game will be decided in the second half with 2-1 score to United. We can expect a tight game with good tension for fans because Liverpool knows that they are playing their Rivals United and they have the tendency to come all guns blazing into this fixture irrespective of their form 🙂 .