by Цоомоо » Sun Nov 19, 2017 10:55 pm
Christian Eriksen.. Can he solve Barcelona’s midfield problems ?
Barcelona isn’t the team that plays beautiful football like before. They aren’t the team that used to dominate and be feared by the strongest teams in Europe.
The Catalan club is getting away from its famous philosophy based on Total Football principles and applications like Juego de Posición, Positional Play, of Pep Guardiola (we’ve explained Positional Play in details previously).
The execution of this dominant style is based mainly on the quality of the midfield and the ability to play centrally. It depends on players who have excellent vision, tactical intelligence and technique to break the lines, find spaces, step into spaces, play quick passes, dribble, beat pressure, move the opposition, keep the ball. The midfield trio composed of Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets, and the false 9 Messi cannot be forgotten. The way they moved the ball between themselves was unplayable.
Since the Luis Enrique became in charge of the team, the focus was on the front trio, Messi, Suarez and Neymar. In this era, the importance of the midfield was reduced to be only an intermediary to provide the front 3 with the ball and they will do all the work by spreading their magic to find the net. As a result, Barca put aside the principles of Positional Play. And we could notice that Barça’s possession under Luis Enrique was aimless, it was like keeping possession for the sake of keeping it.
After Xavi’s departure, the club didn’t find a proper successor who can do his work. Rakitic is terrible in the controller role that I explained before in my article about the problems caused by the wrong position of Rakitic. In the last season of Enrique, the opponents knew Barcelona’s weak point and focused to exploit it, they established high press on Barcelona that Barcelona couldn’t beat due to lack of creativity due to midfielders like Rakitic.
With Valverde, Barcelona put a specific organization to beat pressure. But the problem remained in the inefficiency of the midfield due to the lack of creativity of midfielders and the injury and old age of Iniesta, the only creative midfielder in the final third. The midfielders like Rakitic and Gomes can’t make the difference when the opponent defends at the back with 10 players. They can’t come up with new solutions, they don’t have plans or understand the game.
I mentioned in a brief way what are the problems in Barcelona’s midfield.
One of the solutions proposed was to rely on La Masia players but also to recruit quality players from outside the club who can fit the style. One of the players that were suggested to solve these problems was Christian Eriksen.
Before I say if he can solve Barcelona’s midfield or not, I should say what kind of a player and role Barcelona need the most. Simply, Barcelona needs a controller, a player with a similar role to Xavi’s one. Finding Iniesta’s replacement isn’t the most important thing now because having a new Iniesta won’t solve the core problem but it will solve some problems like the absence of Creativity. The priority should be directed to a controller, who is more crucial for Barcelona’s philosophy. Why? Briefly, the controller is the one who steps into space, creates spaces for his teammates, participates in building up play, breaks the lines, controls and dictates the tempo of the game, is connected to every player of the pitch, is responsible for possession’s recycle and retaining possession, beats pressure, performs quick passes, understands the game, protects the ball, has pinpoint passing ability at all ranges, plays in deep position (Xavi’s case) and at last, but not the most important thing, creates chances.
It would be unfair if I compared Eriksen or any other player with Xavi, but I can compare him with his style, position and role. There are controllers like Verratti, Seri and Jorginho.
Eriksen is a key player in Tottenham and he is the main source of creativity and key passes there. He can play on many midfield positions. In Pochettino’s 4-2-3-1, Eriksen occupies the position of the right attacking midfielder in the front 3 line behind the striker. He can drop into the 2-man midfield line.
Two of his advantages are that he played in Ajax and he is accustomed to the Dutch school of Total Football, the origin of Positional Play. In addition, he is a bit adapted to the high pressing game thanks to Pochettino’s style of play. So he has a great passing ability and has a great technique skills and he can play the counterpress game. These 2 elements are essential in Barcelona’s style.
Eriksen can control the game and dictate without the opposition notices. But it’s not his major role and he doesn’t do it at a high degree. I mean that he doesn’t play the number of passes a controller normally plays, he hasn’t strong passing connections, in terms of number, with his teammates. And at the end, he is the best player of Tottenham in terms of passing ability and retaining possession. That’s why he leads the attack. His 80% Pass Completion in 2016/2017 season indicates the fact that he hasn’t a veritable controller role. This percentage is due to his direct play and due to his difficult passes that he delivers through defenses.
In Tottenham he is the player with most assists and key passes. He is in the top 3 play makers in terms of chance creation of the Premier League. He has a freedom of movement in the front, he can move from his wide position to a more central one. He receives the ball between the line and exploits his creativity by making his teammates score. His passing is extremely accurate, he can perform aerial diagonal passes and can deliver lob through passes to put his teammates in front of the goal. He gave 15 assists in the Premier league in 2016/2017 season. There is no doubt about the magic of his feet. He can also give key passes from wide areas. He has a brilliant passing skill at any range.
He also takes long shots and scores them.
He isn’t a player who runs with the ball, he plays elegantly, he sprays his magic from his spot. He is always looking for the chance to appear to deliver a killer pass. He knows when to play a long pass and when to give a short pass. He has good understanding of the game.
But without the ball, Eriksen is always in continuous movement as he searchs for space to step inside to offer a passing option. He always wills to receive the ball, to have the ball at his feet.
We can deduce from what I mentioned above that he shares some qualities with Xavi as he steps into space, has great passing skills, has distribution ability, knows when to pass, he doesn’t often run with the ball, operates from his spot and can penetrate the opponent defense with his passes.
But their are some things in my opinion that say that he hasn’t the profile of a real controller like Verratti for example. Some of them were already mentioned above
First, he plays in very advanced areas, he has an attacking midfielder role, he also plays wide. He is attacking-minded. He doesn’t occupy a deep role. He isn’t involved so much in building up play. He is more oriented to more direct and attacking duties. Maybe it’s the style of the team or the instructions of the coach that doesn’t allow him to show his quality of recycling the ball. But it’s difficult to predict if he can succeed or not in a controller role.
Second, I noticed that he is a little vulnerable when he faces pressure as he gets dispossessed in similar situations. He faces some difficulties to beat pressure. His dribbling quality doesn’t allow him to beat immediate press and he doesn’t protect the ball and perform turns to get out of pressure.
Third, I don’t think he can occupy a major role like a controller. I don’t think a whole midfield system can be based on him. He wouldn’t be able to be the core and the center of the midfield and the whole team, and spray balls in all directions from deep area. I don’t think he can move the opposition by his passes and manipulate the opponent. He isn’t the type of tenacious holding midfielder who can maintain the possession of the team. For example, if you are watching Verratti, you would see him drop deep, even to the defense line, while building up play, he participates in the early phases of attack preparation. He occupies central areas, perform short passes, and advances in the field with the progression of the ball. He is patient and calm and doesn’t look for quick attacks if it’s not required. He always moves to the side where the ball is to support his teammates. He is the player who is shaping the attack and dictating the game. We haven’t seen from Eriksen a profile of a kind of player like this, he haven’t played in a role like that in Tottenham.
Eriksen is more an attacking player who performs well in the final third. Maybe he can be Iniesta’s replacement due to his attacking skills and creativity despite they have different styles. Eriksen considers Iniesta as his role model in football.
Eriksen can solve the problem of creativity as he can add great innovation into the midfield but I doubt he can fill the controller role whose absence is really affecting Barça and is the origin of the midfield’s problems.
So, Christian Eriksen.. can he solve Barcelona’s midfield problems ?
In my opinion, he will solve some important ones but not the principal ones. At least, he wouldn’t fix the problems in the way we’re expecting (controller).
#Yf
Eriksenii talaarh n ch yahav.
Ehnii heseg n bol uneheer unen l dee.
Neg tiim argatsaasan hojluud ch amtgui l bn.
Er n davraachjee, Barca fanuudee