Barcelona's pressing game: the importance of Busquets

Josep Guardiola has revolutionised modern football with this Barcelona side. Whereas the focus of the media is always on their technical skill (which they have in abundance), their great strength lies in their pressing and defensive discipline. The game against Santander (0-3 win) was a clear example.



We see all the ingredients of a modern side: a false number 9 (Messi), with Villa in the role he is accustomed to from the Spain side (as a striker who finds his space between the central defender and the full-back) and Iniesta in a relatively free role. One of the cornerstones of Guardiola's philosophy is pressing all over the pitch. Some examples:


Keita has followed Diop deep into the Santander half.


Maxwell, the Barca left back, has followed Kennedy into his own half.


Dani Alves is putting enormous pressure on his direct opponent, deep in the Santander half.

These are not coincidences. This is the result of systematic training on putting the opposition under overwhelming pressure and denying them space. It is interesting to see how underrated Seydou Keita is in all this. He's a rugged athlete, who can run all day, and nevers gives the opposing midfield players any room or time on the ball.

However, the World Cup has also given Guardiola some new ideas.



Busquets (red) has fallen back into a massive gap between the two central defenders Piqué (who is receiving the ball) and Abidal. We recognize this tactic from the Mexico side at the World Cup: Osorio and Masa Rodriguez in central defence, with Rafa Marquez (not coincidentally a Barcelona player then) dropping back as a sort of anachronistic sweeper. This give one of two central defenders the option of taking the ball out of defence (as Piqué is planning to do here).
Busquets, whom I would argue is the single most important player in this Barca side, did this a number of times in this game, to great effect: not only did this give the freedom to Piqué, who is extremely comfortable on the ball, to join the attack, but he also gave himself time on the ball: by dropping deep, he shook off his marker, so he could receive the ball, look up, and play the right pass. Busquets is not given enough credit for his technical skill, but as long as it is recognized only by Guardiola, and not by opposition coaches, Barcelona will be able to build from the back without any pressure.


Busquets is able to bring the ball out of defence without any pressure whatsoever

Busquets is important in another way too. As has been pointed out by Jonathan Wilson and David Winner, in the great Ajax side of the seventies, of which Guardiola is without any doubt a great admirer (it was, after all, Johan Cruyff, the master of that team, who made a lasting impression on Guardiola when he was coach at the Nou Camp), Johan Neeskens was, maybe somewhat unknowingly, the cause for a systematic pressing game and offside trap to develop. As Neeskens was a very aggressive player, he followed his man (usually the opposition playmaker) everywhere, even when he dropped back to his own half. Consequentially, the Ajax defence had to follow Neeskens (in Total Football, the most important rule was: keep the playing field big when in possession, small when out of possession) to keep the space between defence and midfield manageable. This meant a very high defensive line. Combined with extensive pressure, this Ajax side often suffocated the opposition. Busquets is playing the Neeskens role for Barcelona, to great effect:



It is important to note that Barcelona are already 3-0 up. Still, Barcelona are putting enormous pressure on the Santander defence. Busquets has just sprinted into view, and is forcing his defence to come up with him. Not only, then, does Busquets press the Santander team by cutting off the space in front of their defence, he marshalls his defence, and Barcelona deny Santander space. This is not as easy as it sounds. It requires enormous levels of stamina, concentration and, maybe most importantly, guts. If the opposition are good enough to play their way out of this predicament presented by Barca pressing, they have a good chance of a free route to goal. However, Guardiola has trained his charges so well that this almost never happens against relatively weak La Liga opposition. It is worth noting, however, that this approach worked wonders againt Arsenal last season too, in the first leg of the Champions League quarter final. Barcelona are just that good.