http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604 – A team with all the depth required? (Part 1)
The Catalan Giants are often hailed to be the best team in the world. On the other hand, they are often criticized over their squad depth. Even though this was the case back in the days when they won six titles in a single year, Josep Guardiola dealt with
the team the very next year.
The Catalan coach was criticized over his decision about the Cameroonian striker Samuel Eto’o who was involved in a player plus cash deal with Zlatan Ibrahimovic – the Swedish striker who failed to impress in the Blaugrana outfit.
While the first year of Josep Guardiola saw Yaya Toure pairing up with Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez in the midfield, there weren’t many players to replace these midfielders during the season. Xavi Hernandez’s replacement was mostly http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Seydou-Keita-c33177 while
Andres Iniesta was not much replaced. Moreover, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sergio-Busquets-c33048 was trying to make his way up the ranks and he often came on to replace Yaya Toure.
The team relied too much on the attacking trio of Samuel Eto’o, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lionel-Messi-c22296. The three of them formed an outstanding partnership. The three of them scored the highest amount of goals for the Catalan Giants and just when everyone thought
that they might be the best strikers for the Spanish Champions, Josep Guardiola decided to replace Samuel Eto’o with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Zlatan-Ibrahimovic-c38029.
The midfielder Yaya Toure was also shown the doors soon. Toure joined the Premier League side Manchester City while the young Sergio Busquets was given the holding midfield position in the first team.
The second year in the Josep Guardiola era saw Zlatan Ibrahimovic leading the attack alongside Lionel Messi and Pedro Rodriguez. Thierry Henry was barely seen on the pitch as he was being used as a substitute for either Zlatan Ibrahimovic or http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Pedro-c29582 Rodriguez.
While Ibrahimovic was trying to learn the ways of Spanish football, Pedro Rodriguez was trying to make way into the first team.
The midfield remained stagnant. There were barely any substitutes for Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta. While Iniesta was mostly substituted by Seydou Keita during the time he was injured, Xavi Hernandez gave out more than 50 appearances in order to keep
the team going.
Josep Guardiola relied on the same defenders for most of the games. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Daniel-c9879 Alves joined the attack from the right flank while playing as a full back. The left back position
was given to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sylvinho-c34439 in the first year while Eric Abidal joined the first team in the second year.
As Josep Guardiola continued to produce outstanding results, he got the support from the club and he signed a few players in order to keep the team going. A striker has been added by Josep Guardiola in every year and this strategy always works. With a lot
of competition in the attack every year, players keep on performing in order to keep their position in the first team.
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