Guardiola 3-6-1 formation – the new way to fit Cesc Fabregas into the first team? (Part 2)
Josep Guardiola changed the formation from 4-3-3 to a 3-6-1. It was for the first time that Barcelona were shaped like this. The Catalans have often played with a 3 man defence line but it was for the first time that Barcelona were playing with a six man
midfield.
Josep Guardiola totally changed the shape of his team and they didn’t take much time to adapt to the new formation. Cesc Fabregas was introduced during the 80th minute and that is when this formation took its shape and it took http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604 only 7
minutes to score a goal which helped them win the trophy as the score line became 3-2.
While Victor Valdes stood guard between the two posts, he was aided by three defenders. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Javier-Mascherano-c18071 and Eric Abidal featured at the back as three centre backs.
The holding midfield position was taken by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Seydou-Keita-c33177 and he was aided by two centre midfielders – right centre midfielder and left centre midfielder. Xavi Hernandez operated as a right centre midfield player while Andres Iniesta operated in the left centre
midfield position.
The four midfield players made a diamond shape with Cesc Fabregas playing at the tip of the diamond, right behind Lionel Messi. The Spaniard has often featured in the attacking midfield role while performing for his former club http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Arsenal-c38429 but it was for the
first time that he featured in a diamond formation.
Furthermore, there were two wing backs rather than two full backs. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Daniel-c9879 Alves played in the left back position while Adriano played in the right back role. Guardiola decided to play them on the opposite flanks so they can cut in and aid the strikers.
Lionel Messi played as a sole striker up front and he didn’t have to fall back to aid the team in the midfield.
Barcelona created a lot of chances with this new formation. The Spanish Champions were finding it relatively easy to keep the possession of the ball as they were outnumbering Real Madrid’s three man midfield.
Cesc Fabregas also adapted to the Spanish style of play quite easily. It was easy for the Arsenal skipper to play in the Barcelona team and that was because he started to play football in the same club.
With this formation, Barcelona created three outstanding chances to find the back of the net. The first chance fell to Andres Iniesta on the left flank. The Spaniard could not control the ball on time and that is the reason why he couldn’t convert it into
a goal.
Later, Cesc Fabregas gave a ball to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Adriano-c3773. The Brazilian man swung the ball in only to see the Argentinean volley the ball to the back of the net.
Barcelona won the match with that goal but everyone over looked the pass Cesc Fabregas played later to set up Lionel Messi for another goal. However, the Argentinean man could not convert despite being one on one with the goalkeeper.
Josep Guardiola played a 3-6-1 formation just to prove that he can play all the three midfielders at the same time. Is he going to continue with the same formation? Well, only time can tell. For now, Barcelona have showed that they are one of the best teams
in the world with one of the best tacticians – Josep Guardiola
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