The El Classico
was meant to be a proof of either Barcelona's dominance or Real
Madrid's emergence. It became a yardstick of parity in terms of goals
and surely, for entertainment value, a classic.
For the Camp Nou
crew, the denial that they are on the downward spiral fed on the fact
that the Catalans stroke the bar and dominated possession in
non-essential portions of the pitch.
As for the
Galatico, they always deny they were the chasing pack, and frankly,
they have been no match to their arch-rivals until the arrival of The
Only One.
Even upon his
arrival, Jose Mourinho wanted to stop Barca from playing football,
condemning the fixture to a laborious affair of kick and run, Madrid
doing the kicking while Barcelona ran away with the ball.
Judging from
recent fixtures, Madrid have really come of age, playing their
football which has neutralised Barcelona, exactly what this blog
prescribed for the success of Madrid, and probably the end of the
dominance of Barca.
Pouring water onto
the entertainment that kept the world captivated and spectators
screwed onto their seats, this El Classico was devoid of tactical
maturity on the part of Barca. It could be that the influence of
astute coaching that characterised Pep Guardiola's tenure is coming
to the fore.
There is no doubt
of the quality of the players at the Camp Nou, but the world was
presented with the opportunity of contrasting worlds of football;
sheer talent and sheer coaching brilliance. Barcelona's game revolve
around the artistry of the generals, probably the greatest assembly
of the finest midfielders on the pitch at the same time, in Iniesta,
Xavi and Messi.
On the other side,
a purely drilled Real Madrid oozed the confidence of man-made
architect work. The match's result hinged on how well Mourinho's
tactics were implemented by troops spearheaded by Cristiano Ronaldo.
The unparalleled craftmanand artisanry of Messi and Ronaldo was value for money. It eventually
became for a tit-for-tat affair as their influence translated into
the actual 4 goals scored - two apiece. Messi and Ronaldo basically
competed as the only two protagonists in a huge arena overflowing
with expectation.
Statistically,
Ronaldo is an overwhelming workaholic who runs, shoots and scores. By
contrast, Messi has much deadlier efficiency in terms of
contributuing positively with the ball. They have been exceptional
for their teams and phenomenal as individuals.
Whatever opinion
one holds, the truth is that the rivalry gets bitter by each El
Classico and that Barcelona are the dominant force. More truer is the
fact that Real Madrid is takng the initiative from their adversaries
and very fast.
How much the
advantage of having Mourinho in their corner will be converted to
perenial success will depend on how long Barca will remain tactically
inferior. They need a special one to super-glue their tiki-taka into
permanency.
Barca have greater
need for a proper coach who will ensure the team's proficiency and
supriority is unquestionable. Their techique, if it could be
quantified in cash terms, would equal the United Staes Of America and
the Eurozone while Madrid's would only compare to Great Britain's.
The tactics, using
the same scale, are exactly the opposite. At the end of the day, it
becomes a question of how useful the tactics are over technique and
the other way round. While the balance of both would be ideal, the
situation favours Barcelona for the next foreseeable future.
Given the above
reasoning, the Ctalans lost this El Classico points while Real gained
a point. Afterall, Barca were home, but as we all know, this usually
counts for nothing when these titans meet.
Well i think you are being unfair to barca they just dropped their first two points of the season and madrid is still 8points adrift.Madrid/Mourinho uses win at all cost tactics. With barca he is employing a defensive approach and counter attack barca are still doing their thing playing football whereas mourinho is playing barca that's the difference. He plays basic route one football his advantage is that he has highly talented players who can cause harm to you at every turn he spends millions assembling these starts and he says he is coaching? If you kick the ball forward and it lends just outside the 18yard and a star like ozil gets it surely you can claim to be a tactician , i have seen madrid play many a times i will be trying to see the genius in their coach but i only see route one football aided by expensively assembled stars. Certainly as two institutions we cannot compare what barca has achieved using their own products and philosophy compared to madrid who use money an mourinho, and galaticos .
ReplyDeleteI may be harsh to Barca, which I admit, but if you cannot see the coaching done by Mourinho, we are definitely in different world. As an example, did you see where Madrid stopped Barca? It was a zonal approach whereby Real let Barca unproductively pass the ball square everywhere on the pitch, save for the final third. That zone was declared a 'NO FOOTBALL' area - probably your observation that Madrid played Brca and not football. The resultant of that strategy was that by the time Madrid won the ball, Barca where out of position. Waiting for the enemy to re-organise would show the folly of the Commander, hence the counter-atack notion you attribute the tactics - route one as you call it. At the end of the play, talking football, Madrid let Barca get away with murder. They should have killed the game in 0 minutes. Barca, as I said depend on excellent ball control and ball passing of Iniesta and Xavi(technique) while Madrid are entirely depended on planning from their coach, (tactics). I recommend THE ANATOMY OF FOOTBALL, my book available online in Amazon.com. It will change the way you watch football.
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