Its not often Sir Alex Ferguson admits that his side deserved to lose. In fact its even le s often that he admits his team were outcla sed. Even in the midst of Rafa Benitez peak at Liverpool after they beat United 4-1
Andrew Whitworth Jersey at Old Trafford, Ferguson still felt that his side had played better. Yet last weekend he had to admit that his side deservedly lost to the team that had again stood in the way of him and Europes top prize. The fact that United were so utterly demolished added strength to the argument going round that this Barcelona side are the greatest club side in football history.And its hard to argue with that. In Guardiolas three years at the helm, Barcelona have won 3 La Ligas, 2 Champions Leagues, 2 Spanish Super Cups, 1 Copa Del Rey, 1 Uefa Super Cup and 1 Club World Cup. All this while playing football that demands exceptional ball control, great pa sing, spacial awarene s, interchanging of positions and aggre sive pre sing. Its hard to find a weakne s in the Catalan side and you just have to go on to a internet football forum to see fans testing out their tactical prowe s and trying to come up with a way to stunt Barcelonas brilliance.A few teams have stopped or were close to stopping this Barcelona side. Inter last year just about managed to halt them in the semi finals by getting at them at home and then through amazing organisation and defensive solidity at the Nou Camp. Arsenal beat them at the Emirates this year and were a Bendtner away from knocking them out in the second leg. Real Madrid of course beat them in the Copa Del Rey Final this year. Even Hercules beat them 2-0 at the Nou Camp earlier in the season. Yet many of these victories were overcome by lucky circumstances. Real Madrid were lucky not to have 3 or 4 players sent off in the Copa Del Rey Final this year and this obviously would have swung the final in a very different direction. When Arsenal beat them 2-1 at the Emirates, Barcelona probably should have been 3-0 up at half time and had a perfectly legitimate goal ruled out for offside while Me si didnt appear to have his shooting boots on. Even Inters famous 2 leg knock-out last year is still looked back on with some fortune after Barcelona had to travel around 600 miles by bus for the first leg after the Icelandic volcano and had another legitimate goal ruled out in the second leg which would have sent them through to the final.This adds to the growing opinion that it is virtually impo sible to find a weakne s in Guardiolas side. There is hardly anything in
Tyrunn Walker Jersey the system they play or the players that they employ that helps you come up with a tactical plan to beat them. However run your finger down their entire squad and you may find something worth looking at. Barcelona have a lack of squad depth. In modern day football it is so important to be able to rotate your players without it affecting your play. The amount of games top teams have to play, as well as the intensity and concentration they have to play them with leads to inevitable tiredne s and injury. Thus ensuring that you have plenty of high quality players is so important. Yet if you look at Barcelonas squad you see a lack of proven high quality players to backup their proven high quality first team players on the pitch. Look at their substitutes for the first leg of this years Champions League Semi Final against Real Madrid whilst Madrids list included players like Kaka, Benzema, Higuain and Adebayor, Barcelonas bench included players like Roberto, Thiago, Jeffren and Fontas. Now obviously these players are
Deacon Jones Jersey young and could develop into top cla s players, Thiago in particular having a lot of potential from what Ive seen of him. But can they next season, afford to develop these players into the team whilst potentially risking points to an already tight race between them and Real Madrid?In fact their youth system which deservedly receives an enormous amount of credit for consistently producing top quality players may be a reason for their lack of squad depth. There is a reason why Arsene Wenger has often not bought proven, high quality players for big money. Quite simply, because it stunts the opportunities for the younger players to develop. If you have a squad of high quality players then there is le s opportunities for a clubs youth players to come through and become a regular fixture in the first team. It also adds a lot of pre sure to a young player if they are taking the place of a Champions League winner or a League title winner or a golden boot winner etc. If the young player fails to perform then there is an absurd amount of pre sure for him to not get a look in again. Its one of the major faults in football a lack of patience.Thus because of Barcelonas brilliance at finding young players and developing
Tyler Higbee Jersey them into a top player, they have to make room for these young players to come through. Therefore if players get tired or injured these young players are forced into the spotlight of arguably the best team of all time.The other main reason for Barcelonas lack of squad depth is their style of play. While their pa sing game is simple in theory and looks simple on the pitch, it is far from easy to pull off. Their moves are practised for hours in training and its not just the po se sion thats hard. Their movement is probably the best Ive personally ever seen. Their interchanging of positions, making sure each major zone is has at least one player in it has to be done as a team and they have to work together to pull it off. This matched with their high intensity pre sing game means that it takes a lot of work to fit into the team. Plus amongst all these things, you have to be good on the ball
DeSean Jackson Jersey .Therefore it is extremely difficult for new players to immediately come in and fit into their team. Caceres, Hleb, Maxwell, Chygrynskiy, Ibrahimovic, Adriano and arguably Mascherano came in for plenty of money and couldnt have a positive impact on the team. They failed to live up to the extremely difficult style that Barcelona have and many of them were shipped out immediately after failing to impre s, the main exception here being Mascherano, who after a poor started has impre sed recently.Therefore, unlike most other teams, Barcelona cant just go out and buy top players, in the knowledge that their squad depth will be secure. They have to be extremely clever and make sure each player has the ability required and can develop into their team. This summer will be key to how they will do next season. Do they buy 3 or 4 top quality players? Or do they bring in 1 or 2 and leave space for the younger players to come through? Its a ma sive dilemma adding to the amount of pre sure that there is from Real Madrid at the top of La Liga. Weve seen this season and last season that there is virtually no room for error for either of these teams. If one of them even so much as draws a game, they are then immediately
