Whenever Guardiola tried to cover defending emergencies by swapping players’ positions within his formation in previous seasons, it seemed to work pretty well. So what went wrong against AC Milan? Read on..
Whenever Guardiola tried to cover defending emergencies by swapping players’ positions within his formation in previous seasons, it seemed to work pretty well. So what went wrong against AC Milan?
For me, the answer is clear: There were no experienced defenders who could lead Barça’s back line. While Busquets and Mascherano are both great players with a marked defensive attitude (which is more evident in Muscle Masche‘s case), they didn’t seem to perform well together against Milan’s quality attacking line.
Looking back to recent Guardiola ‘experiments’, we had Yaya Toure in the Champions League final at Roma 2009 and Mascherano in Wembley 2011. But don’t forget that they were joined by experienced central defenders such as Puyol or Pique, who were therefore able to control the game better.
Being a defender myself, I know it’s not just about fitness or pace but also about reading your opponents movements, where they may go next, closing any spaces that may be created.
DEAR GUARDIOLA: NO MORE EXPERIMENTS IN THE NEAR FUTURE PLEASE!!!
