By splitting the field into 3 spaces we have the standard centre and 2 wings (half spaces shaded). In this example, Abidal is about to receive possession from Keita and he is positioned in the left half space, from here he has an excellent angle ‘around’ the villareal midfield line and can easily pass to either Thiago (more central) or Pedro (touchline) to progress the ball into phase 3 of possession.ģ – It should be noted that in this match, Villareal played in a 4-1-4-1 later on which gave more space in the half spaces for the opposition to exploit (as they used 1 pivot instead of 2) so this situation accentuated slightly however the meaning is the same.Īnother main characteristic of the wide 3-man defence is their spatial coverage in relation to general ball circulation. They were very effective against teams who sat deep and narrow (basically everyone aside from Bielsa’s Bilbao) as they opened up more passing lanes from the half spaces which allowed for vertical passes around the midfield block in order to progress the ball upfield.ġ – With Barcelona’s central overloads, the opposition are forced to become narrow themselves to try and make up for the roaming players adding to the existing 4 (diamond) in the centre.Ģ – The back 3 allows the wide centre-backs Abidal (left) and Mascherano (right) to spread out and cover the width of the pitch whilst Busquets (centre) stays slightly deeper. With 3 permanent centre-backs, Barcelona’s system at the back was generally the in-possession shape of the standard 4-3-3, as Busquets played often in the middle of the back-3, where he would be as a pivot in phase 1.Īs a result, the effect was generally the same as the 3 could stretch to cover the entire width of the field, often just deeper than the halfway line.Ī more interesting facet of this system with 3 permanent centre-backs however, is the positioning of each wide centre-back. El Loco has been one of Guardiola’s greatest influencers for his coaching career, as he spent a lot of his ‘transition’ period between playing and management studying coaches such as the Argentine. ![]() In recent times, the system was very Bielsa-esque, with small things such as the ‘+1 rule’ in defence apparent and 3-1 in attack often being formed. It is worth noting that this 3-4-3 system has been applied in teams of similar designs in the past, with Cruyff’s dream team – in which Guardiola flourished under the management of Cruyff. Possibly to increase the their attacking potential against teams who sat deep for 90 minutes, he brought in Cesc Fabregas to replace a full-back and play upfield alongside Messi alongside the addition of Alexis Sanchez as another option on the wings. ![]() In his final season at Barcelona, Guardiola started to experiment and make deviations away from his 4-3-3.
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