Pep Guardiola defends Barcelona’s 3-4-3 formation – La Liga News
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604 manager, Josep Guardiola, has defended the 3-4-3 formation he has recently put in practice. The Catalan manager stated that the line-up looks fragile but is most effective for his world beating team.
Guardiola has changed the system of La Blaugrana this summer. Questions were raised about the overbooking of midfielders at Camp Nou are finally being answered. As Cesc and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Thiago-c34888 settle in the first team, the long term approach of the tactician should be
heralded.
The formation has given the Catalan manager plenty to ponder about and has resulted in solutions to his long-standing problems. Javier Mascherano finally has a starting berth, and Guardiola can impose his brand of free flowing possession football completely.
However, the change in system comes with some doubts. It has been the topic of great debate in Catalunya after last Wednesday’s match in San Siro. Barca suffered against Milan’s attack, which was able to breach the defence many times.
The match against the Italian titans has shown that the new system comes with inherent risks. Guardiola has admitted that he was fully aware of these repercussions as he was part of the squad when Cruyff used it in his Dream Team.
The discussions are exactly like those that took place a few weeks ago after the league fixture against Valencia. That game ended two-all as the Barca defence was caught napping many a time, with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Javier-Mascherano-c18071 being the main culprit.
However, the tactical shift has to be lauded as it has generated the right set of results. Out of the eight occasions the formation has been put into effect, only AC Milan and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Valencia-c40863 have managed to pierce their defences.
This average is better than the instances where they have played with four defenders. On 13 occasions they have played with the 4-3-3 formation and have shipped in 10 goals.
The three men defence has conceded at an average of 0.5 goals per game, while with four men the coefficient rises to 0.76 - a considerable difference to boot about.
With this new system, they do not focus exclusively on defence but gain effectiveness in midfield, meaning they retain more possession and create more chances.
With 3-4-3, the average number of goals scored is higher than the older system. There have been scandalous thrashings for Almeria (8-0) and three times when they have scored 5-0: Atletico Madrid, Villarreal and Mallorca being the victims on these occasions.
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