Three At The Back for the Catalans (Barcelona: 3-4-1-2)

In reference to the article published on goal.com, a quasi-satire-football-website, apparently there is a bit of fantasy in store for all football fans. It seems Barcelona are going to play a bizarre 3-2-3-2 formation this season. Well you could argue that the rate at which the Catalan club is spiraling out of control these days, nothing can be put beyond them.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1717/editorial/2014/08/04/5002476/messi-suarez-neymar-cuadrado-in-one-team-barcelonas-plans?ICID=HP_HN_1

The rumour however, like all rumours during the summer break, must and should be taken with a pinch of salt. The Cules are notoriously loyal to the 4-3-3 formation; a system they preach at every level of their famed La Masia academy. According to Johan Cruyff, the best Euporean footballer of all time and the brains behind the modern version of the academy, this consistency gives a standardised solution to the team and the players in the long run. There is no use arguing with that. Partly because Cruyff will never stand down and largely because there is every semblance of truth behind the claim. 4-3-3 is a mainstay and the most basic modern formation. It is the first sketch to a plethora of other contemporary formations like 4-2-3-1, 4-3-2-1 etc.

At Barcelona, although the 4-3-3- is a holy sermon, there have been occasions when a 3-4-3 has been used, most famously by Pep Guardiola. But the formation didn’t lead to much success and the team reverted to the ever-reliable 4-3-3. But soon enough, the tika-taka code was cracked by ultra-defensive teams that attack on the break. And ever since this ‘invincible’ tika-taka tactic was compromised, technical teams that set up defensively (see Chelsea) have challenged it and often emerged victorious. Atletico did it last year and the year before, Bayern (counter-attacking) truly demolished Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final with an aggregate score of 7-0 over two legs.

There is always a natural cycle and all things, good or bad, come to an end. Such prophetic wisdom would discourage you from blaming any specific reason for the demise of things but academically looking at it, one of the main reason for the downfall of tika-taka at Barcelona is perhaps the reluctance of full-backs doing their primary job – defend. It is no coincidence that Barcelona were a force to reckon with when the more defensive minded Eric Abidal was hugging the left touch line and the younger Dani Alves on the right actually read team hand-outs. Now, Jordi Alba thinks his main competitor is Cristiano Ronaldo and the older Dani seems convinced it would be cool to go out with a few hattricks under his belt.

In essence, what that means is that both Jordi Alba and Dani Alves have evolved into wing-backs. And if given a chance to produce in that capacity, there is little doubt if they would. However, in its purest form, the suggested 3-2-3-2 is a truly ridiculous formation and one that can never work. It looks and sounds like fantasy football which has no regard for balance across the pitch, narrowing down the game to a suffocating level.

Take a look at the deployment of personnel suggested in the goal article.

(Courtesy, source goal.com) 

The ground rule for any team that wants to play with 3 defenders at the back is they need to be complimented by wing-backs who are willing to run themselves to the ground. Without that physical presence on the wings, it’ll be very easy to get in behind the defence because the 3 defenders would naturally be playing close to one another. Let’s not forget most of the top teams at the World Cup played with three men at the back and it proved very effective. Chile even managed to stick in a 5’7” Gary Medel into the back 3!

Barca certainly have the players required to play a 3-man defence system. In fact, one could even argue that the way things stand, they are more suitable to it than they are to a 4-man defence. Gerard Pique has been hugely criticised of late and with the performances he has been putting in, little surprise there. His positioning has been suspect and his concentration has been dwindling. Without a leader like Puyol besides him, he is a fish out of water and totally out of depth. However, no one can doubt his ability on the ball. So, if Pique plays in the middle of the three-man defence as a 'sweeper' carrying the ball forward, starting attacks, his ability will count double.

(Three man defence)

On either side of Pique will be Jeremy Mathieu and Javier Mascherano who will add experience and bite to the unit respectively. Mathieu who is also surprisingly fast at the age of 30 can dictate terms from the back and Mascherano who is one of the best reader of the game in football would be phenomenal in this setup.

(Four-man midfield with wing-backs)

The four-man midfield is a no brainer with Alba on the left, Dani Alves on the right operating as wing-backs and new boy Ivan Rakitic joined by Sergio Busquets in the midfield pivot.

(Three man attack in a 1-2 formation)

Up-front is where the four best players at Barcelona will fight for the three spots. Well, technically the three best will fight for two spots in the 1-2 formation. Lionel Messi is a given on the right-hand side of the front two. On the left could be Luis Suarez or Neymar. The 1 could be either Iniesta or Neymar. Any of the three can operate there if Iniesta is unavailable. It’s a beautiful problem for Barcelona to have.

This is what the final team in a 3-4-1-2 formation would look like.

It is difficult to argue against the overall quality of this squad. This is the same system Louis van Gaal used at the world cup with The Netherlands and it produced tremendous results for the Dutch. The 3-2-3-2 was obviously a troll by goal.com. But a three-man defence would usher a new revolution at Barcelona and 3-4-1-2 seems just the right way to play it.