THIS IS A FEATURED POST. PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ALL THE LATEST NEWS.

Starting this week we will be bringing to you a fresh new weekly column from someone whom many of you might remember from FCB Transfers days. totalBarca is proud to collaborate with Football Mood and exclusively bring to you writings from the mind of Ramzi Tanani in his very own weekly column – Ramzi’s Rambles.

It may be an exaggeration to call Dani Alves and Eric Abidal unsung heroes. Alves was but a dream for Barcelona fans for a few seasons before being signed. Later on, he received more praise than the Cesar of Rome. Abidal was not an extremely popular player since day one, but now his role is highly appreciated by fans. Still, the question remains: Does anyone rate this fullback partnership as essential, compared to the Messi/Ibra combination for example?

Football is a team sport. It is turning to be more and more systematic and less dependent on the brilliance of individuals. Quality players are still the deciding cards yet, that will only happen within the group dynamic. Individuals can win games, but it takes a team to win titles. In the past twenty years, I can only recall two players who were capable of holding their teams on their backs and carrying them single-handedly to titles. Maradona for Argentina and Ronaldinho for Barcelona. Not sure if it will ever happen again, we may need to wait another 20 years.

Talking about systems: Fullbacks contribution, first scene.

It’s important to note that “fullback” is not an accurate term to use while addressing Alves and Abidal. Not wanting to dive into a historical thesis about the position but in brief, the term fullback was initially used for the two defenders in the 2-3-5 tactical structure that dominated ancient European football. The two defenders were instructed to open to the flanks, leaving the space in the middle for the center half (center midfielder) and a flanked midfielder to accommodate.  Looking at the traditional approach in Europe, fullbacks in the 4-4-2 tactical structure were responsible for closing down the flanks defensively, leaving the offense duties to the flanked midfielders (Left/Right midfielders). The offense oriented approach as we know now is derived from the Brazilian version imbedded in the 4-2-4 formation and the European 3-5-2. In this formation the players (solely) responsible for activating (offense) and guarding (defense) on the flanks are called wingbacks. Abidal last season was the closest to fullback, though not exactly a one. Alves in return was the closest to wingback, with more accessories.

When Pep started his adventure last season, he realized the amount of modifications needed to repair the systematic defects of the team. He is the son of total football. But there was a long way to reach his goal and little time before the season actually kicked off. He scheduled his “to do” list and prioritized the changes needed.

Using 4-3-3 as an initial tactical structure, was a must. Based on that, the contribution of the forwards and midfielders in defense is a key factor. They contribute through putting continuous pressure on the opponents, in the opponents defensive third. That’s easy to say, but hard to implement.

One of the major difficulties that face this football approach is the positional mess. In a traditional tactical system, players always maintain a zonal positioning where every player has his own territory to guard, and a specific teammate to cover. For Barcelona, players’ positions are related to the ball movement and the opponents’ positions. As an example, when Messi puts pressure on the player in possession; Ibra/Eto’o and Iniesta mark the opponent’s outlets to make sure the player in possession will not easily pass the ball to his teammate. Xavi needs to create cover in case the opponent breaks through the initial pressure; when the ball moves, the whole positioning chain revolves. That’s why, when Barcelona put pressure on the opponents’ players, static positioning will not work. The players need to master a dynamic positioning system that’s based on impulsive understanding binding the players together.

Unlike zone marking, where you gather your resources to defend in your own half, pressure means that your players will serve defensively all over the field and more notably in the opponent’s half. If the opponents break through the initial pressure, they will find all the space they need to counter attack. When Pep started his coaching mission, the players were not capable of putting quality pressure on opponents to enhance the possibility of winning back the ball more often and getting countered less. That’s why, until Barcelona mastered the requirements of the total football style, there was a need to overcome the counter attacking threats. Pep needed to use his fullbacks wisely for this process.

Instead of using the two fullbacks equally for defense and offense –the orthodox total football approach, he saved Abidal for the defense work playing him as a third center back when the team set offense. Having a static base of three center backs and a holding midfielder in front relatively secured the team against counter attacks. This gave  more coverage and security behind to Alves and enabled him to focus on his offensive duties. Abidal’s pace installed an added value to the relatively slow defensive duet.

Using Abidal and Alves wisely changed the entire tactical structure of Barcelona. By being more offense oriented, Alves helped the midfield avoid numerical superiority, which is one of the major defects of the 4-3-3. We always secured a midfield of four during the offense buildup stage. With him making the right flank his own, Messi –the right wing- was no more a right wing, but something between right wing and attacking midfielder, which released him from the tactical responsibility of stretching the field on the right and allowed him to focus on scoring goals. With Alves operating in line with Xavi and Iniesta, Henry was not exactly a left wing, but something between left wing and second striker. This led him to achieve a high scoring rate last season, where he played closer to his natural position. The output of this functionality became too mobile to mark or contain by position, as none of our flank forwards –especially Messi- were actually running through the opponents’ fullbacks territories.

This season’s evolution, again thanks to the fullbacks!

The previously mentioned structure had two defects:

1) It is more focused on security than efficiency: One of the main defects of the 3-5-2 formation is that sometimes it wastes lot of resources on a function that can be achieved by a smaller number of players. While setting offense for example, why would a team keep three players on the backline if the opponent keeps only one forward in front? At least one of the three defenders should be used in an offense related job or else he will be considered unemployed while his team is playing with nine players against ten. More accurately seven players against nine in the opponents half.

2) The threat of an opponent putting pressure on the flanks; which was one of the reasons why the 4-2-4 didn’t survive long. Being overly dependent on Alves at the right flank, while keeping Abidal in the dock with two center backs, offers an opponent the numerical resources needed to hire (and cover) one of their players to attack the right flank. This continuously forced Alves to withdraw to serve his defense duties more often, which affected his vital offense contribution.

In addition, there was a specific threat that Barcelona needed to overcome this season. Opponents started to put more pressure in the Barcelona half as an attempt to disturb the offense build up from the roots. This encouraged Pep to go one more step further toward perfecting the system.

When the opponent contains the midfielders and puts pressure on the defense, it’s important for the defense to do one of the following:

1) One of the center backs (Pique) should move forward to receive the ball in a holding midfielder position so the team can break through the initial pressure by the opposition. While doing so, the left fullback (Abidal) moves to the middle to act as a second center defender (besides Puyol), the original holding midfielder (Yaya/Busquets) tries to create an outlet in front of the ball, and the third midfielder (Iniesta/Keita) opens to the left flank balancing the flanks with Alves on the right and Xavi in the center assisted by Yaya/Busquets and Messi.  Because we have Abidal who is a quality defender, we can afford doing so.

2) The team tries to break through the pressure by activating the two flanks in parallel. Fullbacks always have more space in front of them than players in the center; because of this, it’s the most reasonable approach for the two fullbacks to move forward to receive the ball behind the opponent’s players executing the pressure. If more defensive cover is needed, the holding midfielder can serve as a third center back temporarily. With Ibra playing as a roaming forward, the need for Henry to cut into the box increased. That’s where the left fullback offensive contribution becomes a must. We bought Maxwell for this reason, but recently Abidal proved that he can fulfill this role without compromising his defensive performance. That’s a precious gift.

At the moment, we are playing more a 4-4-2 diamond than a 4-3-3, bouncing back to Cruyff’s dream team version. Our fullbacks are the systematic keys for this structure to make or break it. There were lots of famous fullback duets (portmanteau) in the history of football: Nílton Santos+ Djalma Santos and Carlos Alberto+Everaldo for Brazil, Paul Breitner +Berti Vogts in West Germany, Antonio Cabrini + Claudio Gentile in Italy. In modern days (since I started to follow football), there were some impressive fullbacks as individuals (Maldini), and there were some impressive duets like Jorginho + Branco and Cafu + Roberto Carlos for Brazil; Lilian Thuram + Bixente Lizarazu for France; and to some extend Gianluca Zambrotta + Fabio Grosso for Italy (it’s worth noting that all the mentioned duets won the world cup for their nations).

The most impressive duets who were capable of complementing their offense/defense qualities perfectly were the French. Yet, the Alves-Abidal partnership is already showing more quality than that legendary duo on every aspect.

- Ramzi