Chapter 98: Tiki Taka Does Not Equal Invincibility

Chapter 98: Tiki Taka Does Not Equal Invincibility

"I don't think Barcelona are strong enough to lock in victory before the game has even started!"

After the lottery ceremony, when Degan was interviewed by reporters, he was very dissatisfied with the bad news from the media.

"Football is played by people, and it is also people who decide the outcome of the game. Barcelona is indeed a strong enemy, but they are also a team of people. We are not facing a group of Godzillas. People who think we have no chance. I seem to be all idiots, after the game is over, you will know how ridiculous you are!"

Prandelli also said in a subsequent interview: "Barcelona is very strong, but we also have advantages!"

Florence has the advantage, which is the consensus of Prandelli and Digan.

The strength of Barcelona lies in their offense and their control of the game. Speaking of which, the tactical characteristics of Fiorentina and Barcelona are somewhat similar.

Barcelona's tactics originated from Cruyff, and there is also a very alternative, unique name kk. The origin of the name kk is not a word in Spanish or English, or some other common language. This word is actually an onomatopoeia. Used to describe players making quick, short passes on the pitch.

The kk tactic originated when Cruyff coached Barcelona from 1988 to 1996, and was then developed by Dutch coach Van Gaal and Rijkaard, and used by other La Liga teams.

During Rijkaard's coaching of Barcelona, ​​the version of kk tactics was developed to the extreme and achieved the greatest success.

The working principle of kk, or the core concept is to control the ball, which is achieved through passing, not dribbling. Passing creates possession and space.

In kk tactics, short passes are used at most. Of course, the tactics do not require players not to use long passes, but only require the most accurate way to pass the ball, and short passes are the most accurate.

First of all, when passing the ball, the players need to form a passing triangle. If there is a passing triangle next to the player with the ball, it means that he has two or two players who can pass the ball. If there are more passing triangles, it means It means that there are more support players around him.

The triangle can be extended. When a player receives the ball, other teammates need to approach quickly to form another triangle. In this way, when the defensive player presses up, there is no less than one pass option. The possibility of losing the ball is also reduced.

There are also characteristics in the choice of technique. When the Barcelona players pass the ball, they will try their best to keep the ball from spinning, so that it is convenient for teammates to pass the ball directly and accurately to other teammates without stopping the ball. Make many mistakes.

It is completely different from the concept of regional football. The concept of kk football is an upgrade of the concept of total football. Players cannot stick to their regional positions. They must quickly and continuously adjust their positions according to the situation of their teammates. , thus continuously forming a passing triangle. Going back to the issue of space creation mentioned earlier, if the connection points are dead, then the space is also dead, and if the connection points are alive, then these connection points are the creators of the space.

When with the ball, kk passes the ball to control the ball and create space, and when off the ball, kk is also using its triangle.

Once the ball is lost, the people involved in the passing triangle will form a defensive triangle at this time, quickly forming an encirclement of the opponent's ball holder, enclosing the ball holder in a "box", and then encircling and suppressing them. So kk's offensive weapon is also a defensive weapon.

It can be said that Barcelona's success is based on kk's tactical achievements. In the era of Cruyff, Van Gaal, and Rijkaard, Barcelona have all achieved brilliance.

It is not to say that everything is due to kk, but that this is a basic concept of football. Its existence, under the hands of every coach and under the feet of every group of players, will give rise to different versions, and there will be Different results, however, it pursues control, and the concept of creating gorgeousness has led the trend of football.

kk is pursuing perfection, but it is not perfect.

In the previous life, in the 2010 Champions League semi-finals, Inter Milan coached by Mourinho defeated Barcelona 3:1 in the first round by pinching Messi and cutting off the rhythm of Xavi's passing. Come to 0:1 to advance.

Although Mourinho's tactics seem clumsy and rough, they are obviously the most effective. They use destruction to compress Barcelona's control area, isolate Barcelona from the dangerous area, and then pass a more direct long pass. To look for scoring opportunities.

Degan had thought about the situation in the confrontation with Barcelona before. There is no doubt that Mourinho's Inter Milan in the previous life is the most worthy of emulation, and the current Fiorentina also has this ability.

Before the draw for the knockout round, Degan and Prandelli analyzed Barcelona's tactics, because Barcelona is undoubtedly the most threatening opponent if they want to succeed in the Champions League.

Barcelona's style of play this season has continued the successful 433 formation of last season. The goalkeeper is Valdes, and the defenders are Belletti, Puyol, Marquez, Edmilson or Thuram, but Thuram has recently been injured. I guess it won't be able to catch up with the first round of the confrontation between the two teams. The midfielder Deco and Harvey are the unshakable main players. Iniesta and Herald will compete for the remaining position. The positions of Henry and Messi on the front line are compared Solid, the center is rotated between Larson and Eto'o.

In terms of offense, Barcelona followed the essence of kk tactics, mainly short passes. The players relied on small-scale cooperation and flexible running positions to tear apart the opponent's defense. The midfielders Harvey and Deco also sent sharp through passes. Compared with short and direct passes, Barcelona uses less long passes and is generally limited to long passes to mobilize opponents.

When attacking, the starting point is often Harvey. After he takes the ball, he observes whether there is a space. If there is, he chooses to pass the forward to play a fast ball. The defender makes a breakthrough, or it is handed over to Iniesta or Deco, who will cooperate with small-scale passing and cutting.

On the right, the rising Messi is a very good wing assaulter. His speed ensures that he can quickly break through the opponent's left back, and then make a low pass near the bottom line, or cut inside and choose to shoot.

On the left, compared to the speed-type Giuly, the destructive Henry can provide more offensive means. Ronaldinho was originally in this position, and Rijkaard gave up Ronaldi. After Neo, he chose Henry, who has a stronger impact ability. If the situation on the right and the center cannot be opened, Henry can take the ball and pass directly to let his teammates in the center outflank. If the opponent's defensive system is relatively strict, At this time, Henry will use his outstanding in-cut offensive ability, either use fake moves to shake past the opponent's defender who is coming up to intercept, and then choose to shoot by himself, or cut in, seeking to cooperate with the center for two-for-one, if The opponent is really pressing too tight, so Henry can also choose to pass the ball back to Belletti, who is plugged in, and let the latter cross, or hand it over to Harvey for a second organization.

In addition to the basic routines of positional attack, Henry, Harvey, and Deco all have excellent footwork for taking free kicks. Of course, their long shots are also very threatening.

When corner kicks are obtained, Marquez and Edmilson's headers can also lead to goals. Generally speaking, Barcelona's offensive methods are very rich. If the opponent wants to mark a certain player to achieve destruction The purpose of Barcelona's offense is a bit unrealistic. After all, Barcelona currently has Iniesta, Xavi and Deco three players who can control the ball.

But like everything in the world has two sides, Barcelona's style of play is not completely invincible. Of course, their current artistic football is undoubtedly the most entertaining and the most pleasing to the fans, but there are also hidden dangers, that is, it provides opponents with greater opportunities to counterattack.

From Cruyff's era, through Van Gaal, until now the Black Swan, the core idea of ​​Barcelona's tactics is "ball possession". Generally speaking, as long as you firmly grasp the ball, no matter how strong the opponent is, It is only required to be under the feet of Barcelona players, so that a steady stream of attacks can be guaranteed until the opponent is dragged down.

This kind of tactics suppresses the opponent in the opponent's half, reduces the opponent's defensive space, reduces the possibility of playing straight passes and fastballs, so most of the time can only rely on short passes, and too many short passes will lead to The low offensive efficiency is often due to the inability to open the opponent's space after dozens of passes, but he makes mistakes, resulting in the loss of possession. At this moment of transition from offense to defense, it is most likely to lead to conceding goals, which is also the tragedy of all teams playing artistic football.

Such sidelines often appear in Barcelona games. Barcelona aggressively attacks and suppresses the opponent in the half court. At this time, Barcelona's real defensive players are only two central defenders. There is no guarantee that the crisis will be resolved every time.

Once Barcelona loses the ball, it will expose a huge gap in the defense. The opponent often only needs a long pass to directly tear their defense line, hit behind the central defender or hit the gap between the midfielder and the central defender. , This method is especially threatening to Barcelona when the opponent has a fast and strong forward.

Fiorentina not only have this type of offensive players, but also the top in the world.

To alleviate such hidden dangers, Barcelona is required to have a midfielder with excellent judgment, timely replacement, and excellent stealing ability.

When Barcelona encounters a counterattack, this player can destroy the opponent's long pass counterattack, or when defending the position, retreat into the penalty area and assist the central defender in defense.

Edmilson at his peak possessed such abilities, but it is a pity that the Brazilian is no longer as brave as he used to be, and his position has also shifted to the position of central defender.

Harvey is currently standing in this position, but Harvey has to bear the responsibility of offense, and it is inevitable that he will lack energy when defending.

Barcelona also has a long-standing problem, which is not enough air power, whether it is offensive or defensive.

In the team, only Puyol's header is reassuring. In this way, when encountering a team with strong aerial strike ability and multiple high points, Barcelona seems to be more difficult. Therefore, facing an offensive player with an excellent header like Fiorentina , and a well-organized team as a whole, Barcelona is more troublesome.

The overall height of Barcelona is relatively low, and sometimes it is not tight to mark people. In order to overcome the opponent's aerial attack, all they can do is to further increase the intensity of ball control, firmly control the ball under their feet, and try not to give the opponent sideways Pilling chances.

Of course, only relying on high points and speed, it can only be wishful thinking to beat Barcelona. So how to break Barcelona, ​​at present, a very important link is how to break Barcelona's frontcourt press, that is, how to deal with the transition from defense to offense. The initial two-foot pass can only achieve the goal of countering Barcelona if the snatched ball is effectively passed from the backcourt to the frontcourt and poses an effective threat to its penalty area or goal.

The reason why Prandelli and Degan both think that Fiorentina has the advantage when facing Barcelona is because they have such qualities. Fiorentina adopts a tactic of four defenders in echelon positions, and at the same time supplemented by three midfielders. The midfielder is more like a free midfielder.

Let the libero stand behind the two central defenders when defending. For Barcelona, ​​which likes to make a fuss in the middle, it will lose the space for air cuts and counter-runs in the middle. The libero can make up for these defensive gaps very well, and the center Defenders can also go up and steal more boldly. For defense, adding a free agent is more beneficial to defending Barcelona than adding a defensive midfielder.

The existence of the free man, in addition to increasing the defensive depth, the defender has more routes to pass the ball after stealing the ball. It is also impossible for the striker to siege into the penalty area, because it is too energy-consuming and will cause the formation to be out of line. There is more space, so with a free man, a ball line will be added after stealing the ball, and this line cannot be blocked.

In the free man tactics, the free man is the initiator of the offense. Once the ball reaches his feet, he can launch the attack almost undisturbed, and there are many routes and methods to choose from. Even if he fails, he can come back Reorganization will not be frantically surrounded by Barcelona like the defensive midfielder in the parallel position, and the quality or efficiency of the organization's offense will be greatly improved.

Back then, Ancelotti changed Pirlo from the front midfielder to the midfielder, and sent Milan to the top of Europe by placing the organization core behind. Now Barcelona's siege tactics have made the organization core stand in the position of the midfielder. Played well, only by placing the organization core further behind can Barcelona be defeated.