Although the team's assist king Dembele will be out for a long time due to injury, with Lewandowski's return from ban, Xavi's Barca have new momentum to move forward.
With the ninth consecutive win in 28 days, under the tactical system of Lewandowski + single winger + four midfielders, Barca's stability is getting stronger. The red and blue team, who scored 50 points in La Liga in the half and headed towards the goal of a domestic double title, are on the right path.
01. Xavi's new tactic: Levan packs of wolves to make people forget Dembele
A. Harvey's new thinking: Lewandowski brings the rear front insertion
Xavi's new idea is to use Lewandowski's running ability and range of receptivity, through his catch-up and tandem, let the overall formation press forward.
However, considering the insufficient load-bearing capacity of the backfield, it is better to give up a second striker and add a midfielder to ensure the efficiency of interspersion and the rate of regression in place, and give up part of the offensive dividend to find a balance on the defensive end.
Sergio Busquets' long pass is excellent, and the key point of tactical logic is that Lewandowski can go to the flank to receive long passes, while Barca's midfield in the back row is quick to cut forward.
Not only the three central midfielders, but also Balder and Rafinha can also speed up on both wings. They move quickly without the ball, and the opponent has too many contact points to restrict, which makes it more difficult.
This time, it is a pity that after Lewandowski's return pass, there was no interaction between Garvey and De Jong, who followed up in the middle of Barca.
Garvey was still a bit hasty in choosing to shoot directly, and he didn't play well in the end. However, when the opponent restricted Barca's movement in the middle, it was obviously not on point.
b. Big overall formation advantage: Barça win in Xavi's layout
From the statistics, it can be seen that in the face of Betis, who have performed well this season, Barca, who played away, have a clear advantage in terms of expected goals, shots on goal and shots on target.
Barca scored in the first half, which is also a typical new tactical masterpiece of Xavi. Barca, who pressed forward with 8 men, formed a 2134 position pattern, and the first line of 4 made it difficult for Betis to target people on the defensive end.
De Jong's passing footwork is really good, but his passing movements are too slow, and he can only deliver high-quality passes after repeated 3 adjustments, so more space is necessary, and it also causes Rafinha, who was originally standing behind, to eventually offside.
Lewandowski's wide range of motion allowed Barca to play this wave of ribbed attacks, while giving De Jong plenty of passing space.
Unfortunately, De Jong's adjustment action was really too much, resulting in Rafinha, who inserted in front of the back point, to be offside, and the beautiful header was ruled invalid. Compared to Dembele, Rafinha's advantage is that he has a good defense and has certain second-striker attributes.
The goal that broke the deadlock was also the result of Lewandowski's pullback to leave room for depth in the centre-back, and the two wings took off and cut forward.
De Jong's quick free-kick allowed Balder to send a cross from the back of the draw on the left flank and Rafinha scored.
The key point of this goal is that the counter-inserted Balde and Rafinha are much faster than Lewandowski, so the opposing central defender is dispatched and cannot keep up with Barca's poor positioning.
Rafinha's two-striker nature still has a bit of an advantage, and Barca chose him over Ferran Torres, also because Rafinha is slightly stronger with the ball and has a much better defensive presence.
02. Busquets of the Game: Pillars at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends
a. Overall formation pressing: Busquets value embodiment
Although Busquets is old, he is still the core of a system. Many people say that Busquets' performance in the Champions League is not as good as that of the league. That's because the premise of Busquets playing well is that Barca unleashes his offensive and defensive awareness after the overall suppression.
Barca's overall strength cannot suppress the opponent in the Champions League, but amplifies Busquets' shortcomings in consecutive returning goals.
This Barca formation suppressed Betis, and Sergio Busquets was at ease in such an environment. He won 15 of his 18 one-on-one ground encounters, contributed nine steals, five fouls and two key passes that brought shots on goal.
Garvey followed up with a shot from inside the box, and it was a long pass from Sergio Busquets to find Lewandowski. This was followed by four people to pick up Lewandowski, creating an excellent opportunity.
If De Jong had moved 1 metre into the middle, maybe Garvey would have passed the ball and created a great chance. Unfortunately, De Jong is still slightly flawed in some of the details of his movements, which is why he can't make moves in the box a lot of the time (Garvey is also slightly lacking in consciousness, and he has more options than shooting).
Under Barca's set of tactics, Garvey plays more tandem and wall work in the pseudo-winger position. He stands here and Barca can play more consecutive passes.
After the overall suppression, Busquets' ability to use space is very strong. This time his forward cut made De Jong's passing easy.
Sergio Busquets' forward cut was timely, leaving room in the centre for Garvey and Pedri.
The pass to Lewandowski was also good, but unfortunately this time the Poles did not choose to dunk the ball for a shot, and directly hit the target after being blocked by the defender with his left foot.
b. Best Busquets of the game: Attack and defense in one
From the statistics, it can be seen that Busquets completed 9 steals and Gavi 6, while Rafinha contributed 2 steals and 2 interceptions as a winger.
He not only opened the scoring of the game, but also helped the team a lot on the defensive end and also filled some holes for Conde.
This time Busquets made a precise foot to break the ball, and then he carried the ball all the way to the impressive.
Busquets is unfortunately slower, so there are few true dragon masterpieces. But his value on the defensive end has always been grossly underestimated.
Conde was in poor form, and this turn was fully exploited by the opponent, piercing his back space many times.
After Araujo frequently made up on the right flank, Busquets repeatedly guarded the center and ribs, which was the key to the defensive line (Conde even made a serious mistake in predicting the second drop point this time, fortunately Busquets saved it).
03. Barça with 50 points in the half: 6th in Europe?
a. Barça's current system is stronger when it is weak
According to the statistics of the authoritative organization OPTA, in the ranking of the strength of the five major league teams, Barca is second only to Real Madrid in 6th place, and even higher than Premier League leaders Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain.
However, it should be noted that Barca's current advantage is that Xavi's system is weak and strong, but the team's thinking will suddenly collapse in some links due to insufficient individual ability.
Barca currently have high requirements for the efficiency of tackles in midfield, but De Jong was overtaken by the opponent four times in this game, which caused a lot of problems.
In particular, William Carvalho teased De Jong this time (the upper grab action is really a bit of a joke), and he directly hit the right space where Conde could not go back. This time, fortunately, it was Balde who blocked the opponent's shot, allowing Enrique to miss the target.
This time it was Busquets, and William Carvalho's ability at foot is outstanding.
Barca needed Araujo a lot of fill-in on the right flank, this time with a foul that prevented the opponent from counter-attacking.
b. Conde's side is afraid of crosses and hitting behind
Winning this match, Barcelona played one more game, eight points ahead of Real Madrid. With 50 points and 32 goal difference at half-time, Barca's advantage in La Liga is still clear.
Because of Xavi's tactical philosophy, the team's lower limit is very high, especially in La Liga's overall forward level in recent years, and Barca's problems are rarely exposed at the league level.
In fact, as long as the opponent punches behind the hole, it is easy to make a chance. This time Abna directly pierced Conde, fortunately Iglesias was more bulky, and the power of returning to the ball was greater, and he failed to catch Barca's loophole and give a fatal blow.
The goal that Betis chased for points was even more inexplicable. As a right-back, Conde is really average in protecting at the back post.
There have been many shots of being pressed by the opponent to grab points or losing the opposite player before, and this time he made a mistake under no pressure and sent the ball to the bottom of the net.
Conclusion:
Under Xavi's tactical system, Barca will have a high probability of winning the La Liga title. Even in the coming seasons, this team will still be the strongest contender for the league title.
However, if the team wants to go to the next level and make a difference in the Champions League, it still needs to complete the upgrade in some key links. At least the current system created by Harvey is still not optimistic.