With 28% of possession and only 194 passes completed to Barcelona's 782, Chelsea have reached for their tactics at Camp Nou in 2009 and Inter's in 2010 to once again prove that the "best football team ever" can actually be halted.
As argued by an ancient strategist Ibn Khaldūn in his theory of the cycle of civilisations, the sophisticated culture is always inevitably defeated and replaced by the barbarians.
In the run up to the first leg of the UCL semi-final, I have come across probably the most interesting analysis of Nou Barcelona's impact on world football and its basic values. John Carlin and Michael Robinson put together a wonderfully argued and explained piece (LINK) that concludes:
"Will Barcelona’s triumphant run last? Who knows? Guardiola may leave the club; Messi might suffer a career-diminishing injury, or simply run out of steam; a rival coach might come up with the antidote. It is possible, if highly unlikely, that Barca won’t add to the 13 out of 16 trophies they have won in the past three seasons. But whatever the future may hold, they have left an indelible mark on the game and its history. Nothing will ever be the same again.
Would this Barcelona really leave the legacy of their football? Will other teams adopt it and aim to improve it? It did not happen back with Johann Cruyff's Dream Team, nor with Rinus Michels' total football. When facing the Catalans in a direct confrontation, everyone aims to halt them instead, rather than replicating their opponents' style. Some have already tried to play it the beautiful, open way but immediately suffered badly, like did Manchester United in their 2011 UCL Final at Wembley. There is a handful number of teams that want to play the Barça way, like Swansea - quickly nicknamed as Swansealona - but they are still exceptions that make the rules.
Although the link between Michels, Cruyff and Pep Guardiola exists and the philosophy has been around for 30 years, FC Barcelona remains a niche in the world of football. Are we going to see more teams with short defenders and no archetype strikers playing across Europe? There is no indication suggesting it.
Furthermore, building clubs' foundations on the academies and youth development has de facto become a financial fair-play (FFP) necessity than an overwhelming inspiration from La Masia. The night before the Stamford Bridge encounter Cesc Fàbregas admitted that even the universally praised football of Arsenal is far less rigid and more chaotic comparing to what he is now experiencing at Barcelona.
This FC Barcelona of Josep Guardiola and Lionel Messi may be the best team to ever grace the turf but they are likely to remain just a fantastic phenomenon that left behind a wonderful piece of history rather than a meaningful legacy and inspiration for others to take it further.
3 comments:
You make some interesting points, but i think there are a lot of factors in the Barcelona dynasty you've missed. It's not just their style of play that has made them successful - there is also the fact that the majority of the players are also representing the same country, and have an extra bond as a result. Manchester United are following this trend, signing a lot of English players over the past year, and German clubs have also aimed to bring young players who are the future of Germany to the same place. It’s not necessarily a trend invented by Barca, but they’re showing it can work.
Also, Spain allows youngsters to train for longer each day than in England, and Sir Alex Ferguson and other football experts in England have called for this to be rectified.
Teams that play highly defensive football are often heavily criticised by neutral fans, whether they win or lose, and if they lose the criticism is even stronger. Also think that not every team has just tried to 'shut down' barca's style of play, with Arsenal standing tall against them with a very open attacking style of football in the Champions League last year. In fact, it could be argued that without Van Persie's red and Bendtner's screw up they could have gone through, not barca. The football might be more chaotic at Arsenal than Barcelona, but they have less money (can't spend big on the likes of Sanchez etc, even Fabregas himself went for a fee they'd never be able to afford), and they're all representing different countries. I think this is a factor in Barcelona football that is very underrated.
Also, don't think that Guardiola is the reason for Barca's success, he's simply part of the institution. As a United fan I wouldn't want him coming to us when Ferguson retires and I think that shows something about my faith in his talent.
There are ways to get around financial fair play rules, as City will possibly prove, that don’t need to include big investments in youth. I wouldn’t agree that is the only reason clubs want to make their youth players better, though I think that Barcelona sticking with young players while they improve has given many clubs the confidence to have more faith in untried talent to eventually deliver.
It’s the heart in Barcelona that I think is unprecedented, and I hope that’s the legacy that carries on. With all due respect to Chelsea and Manchester City, that’s why I hope both these clubs don’t win a Champions League trophy under their current regimes – because in an age where clubs like these are spending big in the hopes of immediate success, Barcelona are showing that money is a factor in winning the European Cup, but not the most important one.
Yes, teams can only be as dominant as barca have been for a few years at a time, a decade at best - juventus in the 90s is an example of that. But a lot of Barca's teachings will come into play at Europe's biggest clubs, or the clubs with the smartest owners anyway, even if teams can't imitate their skills on the ball.
Just my two cents :-)
Vanessa, thanks for your insightful comment, certainly worth these two cents!
I am only more than happy to agree with your points that I have, intentionally or not, overlooked in my assessment of this great Barcelona dynasty. I'm particularly keen to highlight your point on building strong internal bonds with multiple layers of youth development.
It's a complex question to assess who came up with it first. Over the decades, football clubs often represented regional forms of nationalism in promoting "local lads".
Yet, it's a common mistake to assume that Barcelona don't spend vast sums of money on individual talents. Ironically, their big purchases in most cases failed to deliver and justify price tags in recent years, to only mention Ibrahimovic, Henry, Sanchez, Chygrynskiy or even David Villa (this is arguable but I'm happy to be challenged).
PS. It was interesting to find out that you support ManUtd! Didn't know it! Well, nobody is perfect :)
Yeah i think it would be interesting to look into the country + club players more. I think that's why Germany did so well in the World Cup and I also think as crazy as it sounds that's why New Zealand did so well - they all play for wellington and had the same manager. But i think Barcelona are bringing this back in an age where money is mattering more than ever, and Fabregas taking a pay cut to join his home club shows how strong their bonds are with one another.
Completely agree that money has helped barca, but the thing that i like so much about them is that money hasn't been the decisive factor in their success. Would be interested to see who would stay at City or Chelsea if their wages were to be cut.
And lastly haha yes i am a united fan, but i won't hold it against you that you're chelsea ;-)
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