Chapter V – Guardiola’s Tactical System

“Guardiola has created a different philosophy for Barcelona. I think the Cruyff era laid the

foundation for the width they used in their game, and using the full size of the pitch. If you look

at their midfield players over the last 20 years, they have all been small. What has changed is

the pressing and the areas in which they press the ball. That is what Guardiola has brought to

the team.”

Sir Alex Ferguson

Guardiola’s tactical system takes some inspiration from Cruyff’s 3-4-3, when Guardiola was the

defensive powerhouse of a very talented midfield. He was the balance and together with

Ronald Koeman, the player that built the majority of the plays, similar to Xavi in his own Dream

Team. Cruyff based his system on a central axis composed of the goalkeeper, the centre backs,

the centre midfielder (free from marking) and the centre forward. The remaining six players

covered the sides; the two wingers wide open and almost touching the side line, and the two

side midfielders and two full backs covering the flanks. Cruyff’s system was conceived to

maintain a continuous flow of attacking plays, in which each player was in charge of keeping

the ball moving forward. Barcelona’s playing system is based on the premises of Rinus Michels

and Valeriy Lobanovski: to enlarge the playing field in order to retain the ball easily when

they’re in possession, and to shrink the playing field when they lose the ball, making it easier

to regain possession. Barcelona’s playing style closely resembled the ‘Total Football’ developed

by these two football geniuses who, despite the thousands of miles between them, cultivated

a similar playing methodology with no knowledge of the other’s work. ‘Total Football’

encourages the exchange of positions throughout the field, and covering teammates as they

advance.

Beyond that, Guardiola’s system also features a very aggressive offside line, often defending

inside the opponent’s midfield, along with a very high pressing style of play performed by the

forwards and the midfielders. For this to be possible the players must be in peak physical

condition. Due to such a rapid exchange of passes the players do not become physically

depleted so quickly, because it is the ball that moves and not the players. Even when tired it is

possible for players to maintain a constant pressing style of play during almost all of the game.

Barcelona also plays a positional game that makes it easier for free players to appear, and to

hold the advantage numbers-wise across all sections of the field.

Description of the 4-3-3 System

Before describing Barcelona’s specific system, it important to highlight some of the

fundamental aspects of the 4-3-3 formation, which is the configuration Guardiola has most

often utilised in his time as Barcelona coach, although so far in the 2011/2012 season we have

already seen him deploy a 3-4-3 formation, sometimes owing to squad limitations, but more

frequently by choice.

The 4-3-3 is a system that it is based on the speed of the players in the wings – the full backs

and wingers – and on the passing and game-reading capacities of the three central midfielders.

The triangle in the centre of the pitch can be reversed, with two defensive midfielders and one

offensive one, or one defensive midfielder and two offensive ones, in accordance with the

coach’s game plan and the moment of the game. However, at the core, the 4-3-3 conception is

always the same. The arrangement of the players in the field makes several combinations

possible, the most common being the side combination plays between the full back, the inside

midfielder and the winger on that side; the combination plays in depth between the winger,

the centre forward and the other winger; and the combination play between the inside

midfielder, the centre forward and the winger.

However, as all of the tactical systems, the 4-3-3 also presents some problems, as much in the

offensive phase as in the defensive.

In the offensive phase, most of the pitfalls of this formation are related to the multiplicity of

combinations and offensive overlaps allowed by the system. Indeed, due to the countless

combination plays that can be executed between all the members of the team, the roles and

responsibilities of the players continue changing according to the combination play and the

axis of the game.

In the defensive phase, the greatest problem lies in those areas where it is not possible to

maintain good coverage of the opponent players. Being a system based on the offensive

balance of the full backs, the opposing team will be able to explore long passes behind the full

backs provided they have quick wingers.

Another problem is connected to the most defensive centre midfielder, which in the case of

Barcelona is generally Busquets. If he doesn’t track back adequately, he can create too much

space between the lines, making it easy for the opposing team’s offensive playmaker, or even

a centre forward who retreats a little from his advanced position in the field, to take

advantage. This also frequently allows the opponents to shoot from outside the area. The four-

player defence provides good defensive coverage across the entire width of the field.

However, if the wingers do not defend, the opponents will find a lot space in the weak side of

the defence (i.e. the opposite side of the field to the ball) as we can observe in the following

figure:

Playing model implemented by Pep Guardiola

The system is based on a compact playing style, with all the players placed close to the others.

Beyond that, the players are always in motion, providing passing lines to whichever teammate

has the ball. This fact substantially increases ball possession due to the high number of

exchanged passes. The defence plays very advance on the playing field, and in a very high

pressing zone. As soon as the team loses possession, the first line of the midfield immediately

begin pressing , advancing up the field to put pressure on the opposite defenders.

This allows the defence to advance, and the consequent compaction of the team lines. Pep

Guardiola has a pertinent and curious assertion about this form of pressure and the stress it

provokes in his players, “...if we recover the ball here [in the last third of the field] we have to

run 30 meters up to the opponent goal. If we recover the ball in the defence we have 80

meters separating ourselves from that objective".

In the attack, the players are allowed to move freely around the pitch, as long as they don’t

forget to work for the team. They are always in motion with no fixed positions.

As consequence, the players of the opposing team have a lot difficulty in intercepting the

passes and get tired much more quickly running after the ball, whereas Barcelona players keep

there energy up by running much less; only positioning themselves to receive the ball, and

sporadically trying to break through the defence to score.

To this purpose it is worthy to recall a rather ironic phrase of the German player Michael

Ballack, “It is not only about running. There is also a ball, and, sometimes, is necessary to kick it

too".

The exception to this rule is Messi, who, with his dribbling capacity, is capable of swerving

through half the team to create a finishing touch opportunity or to score a goal. When it does

not have the possession of ball Barcelona seeks to make the field small, as we are able to see

in the following image.

As we can see, there are 9 Barcelona players concentrated in an area only 34 meters wide and

25 meters long. This complicates the action of the opposing team enough that is left with few

options for passing, and few free spaces for the players. The compaction of the Barcelona lines

helps them to press the opposing team and also recover the ball.