In fact, for the current Barcelona, they really have some significant differences from the Barcelona under Guardiola a few years ago.
Although the overall structure of the two teams is not very different, for example, the midfielder still has Habaib as the core, but due to Xavi's aging, Rakitic is now used more as the main force.
But Enrique has some tactics that subvert "tradition".
This so-called "tradition" is the passing control that Barcelona has continued in recent years, or the "tiki-taka" style of play that is more widely spread among fans.
A very clear fact is that although Guardiola himself denies the term "tiki-taka", it is appropriate to use the term to describe the passing style of the team under his rule. In fact, this is also the most praised Barcelona style. at.
The frequent and fast short passes that could only be seen in training in the past were copied by Guardiola in the top competitions, and used this to achieve the ideal situation of "I play the ball and you defend".
The problem is - if this is regarded as a "tradition", then this tradition has actually been partially changed since Martino; after Enrique took over, it went even further than Martino did:
Because at this time he has three big killers, msn.
And when you have msn in your hand, what's the need to stick to the "tradition"?
"I like to use the concept of 'possession time per minute' to calculate almost all offensive technical statistics twice. This can also illustrate the biggest difference between Barcelona and Enrique Barcelona."
Ancelotti said, opening the laptop he brought with him, and Pan Yi also hurried over.
Of course Pan Yi understands what An Pang said about "ball possession time per minute".
In fact, this is the most basic method of football data analysis, and many data analyst analysis teams will also use this concept, including Chelsea.
But many teams don't care about this and think it is meaningless. But Barcelona's situation illustrates exactly what it means to do so.
A line chart is displayed on the laptop, which represents Barcelona's possession time per minute in the past few seasons.
It reached its peak in the 12-13 season when Guardiola finally left office, which was about 13 times per minute, and then fell off a cliff until it was close to the 11 times mark in the season after Enrique took office.
In fact, looking at ball possession rate and number of passes alone, Barcelona ranks first every season. However, if the two are combined to calculate the frequency of passes, Barcelona has declined significantly.
This is actually a bit weird.
Because since Guardiola was born, the significance of passing and controlling football matches has actually been popularized across Europe. Although not all teams are pursuing ball possession, "more and faster passes" "But it is a common pursuit.
If pass-and-control football is a big river, then as every team moves forward along the river to ride the wind and waves, Barcelona, as the front boat, quietly plays a "sail against the current".
This season, Barcelona's number of passes per minute of possession is lower than its old rival Real Madrid, and sometimes even lower than Atletico Madrid! (Of course Atletico Madrid’s passing success rate is a bit eye-catching...)
This is the ruthlessness of data analysis: many illusions about the "cultural" level will appear very fragile here - if you use the banner of "traditional passing and controlling football", but your results are lower than Atletico Madrid How can you say you are adhering to "tradition" when the passing frequency is high?
However, it is undeniable that Enrique's overall results during his coaching period are still quite remarkable - at least he has now won the Copa del Rey and La Liga championships.
And with a firepower output of more than 100 goals on the offensive end, it is absolutely not the turn of the so-called "traditional defenders" to point fingers.
This also raises a new issue: How can Barcelona, which deviates from "tradition", guarantee its offense?
"The answer is very simple. When you have MSN, too much pursuit of the pass and control system will only promote the rhythm and compress the frontcourt activity space, causing MSN's abnormal ball-holding offensive ability to be restricted."
Ancelotti opened another table, which read "Barcelona's shot ratio during possession time".
This is another way of statistics.
Any offense on the football field can be roughly divided into two steps: the first is to convert possession of the ball into a shot; the second is to convert the shot into a goal.
The former focuses more on efficiency, while the latter focuses more on quality. So how to quantify the efficiency of "converting ball control into shots"?
It's very simple. It depends on how much possession time a team needs to form a shot. Therefore, there is the concept of "possession time to shot ratio". The lower the number, the more frequent the shots.
How is the situation at Barcelona?
From Guardiola to Martino to Enrique, every time Barcelona shoots, they need to spend less and less time on the ball.
The change in this data can be understood as the more Barcelona plays, the more "impatient" it becomes, and the more they play, the more emphasis is placed on "quickly forming a shot."
Generally speaking, forcibly increasing the number of shots will result in nothing more than "low quality and more attempts." As the accumulation of shots increases, the threat of shots will inevitably decrease.
However, Barcelona in the Enrique era has managed to do both - this season, Barcelona maintains the number one expected goals per shot in La Liga, specifically 0.158 expected goals per shot, which is ahead of all other goals. The team is at least one level.
With a high number of shots combined with a high shot threat, the accumulated expected goals must be frighteningly high.
The total expected goals number of 95.4 really beats all the teams in La Liga. Barcelona's "true shot conversion rate" ranks first, and the number of goals scored has exceeded 110.
With such data, of course, it is first of all thanks to msn's awesome shooting efficiency.
Among all goals, msn accounted for 82.57% of them; msn accounted for 69.49% of 603 shots.
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Unlike Real Madrid next door, who still score goals most of the time like chopping melons and vegetables, the BBC almost exclusively focuses on off-the-ball play. The MSN combination in Enrique's hands is responsible for holding the ball in the frontcourt.
Not only do the three of them account for a terrifyingly high proportion of offense and shooting in the team, but their data reflecting dribbling and passing of threatening balls also account for a very high proportion.
The sum of msn's "dribbling and one-on-one" accounts for 61.07% of the total number of teams - these high proportions are unimaginable in Real Madrid, which has an evenly distributed ball-holding task and is quite a bit like everyone is a soldier.
If we really want to say that "Total Attack, Total Defense" is Barcelona's tradition, then judging from the data, we really can't see that Enrique has any other traditions besides formation and ball possession rate...
"Of course, the theory of three people conquering the world does not exist." Ancelotti began to open some video files.
"Enrique's normal approach is to hand the ball to msn in the midfield and backcourt as soon as possible. msn prioritizes personal explosions on the spot, uses a minimalist way to advance the offense, and then casually fills in one person from the middle and backcourt after reaching the frontcourt. Achieve “3+x” offensive investment.”
"Look at this attack..."
Ancelotti has clicked on a video, which is a clip of Barcelona's game this season.
This was not a fast break, but it was played very concisely. The whole process was actually just penetrating passes from Neymar and Messi, plus another person other than msn actively moving forward.
But it reveals Enrique's thinking very clearly:
Neymar could have given the ball to Iniesta first when he started, but he did not do so at all. Instead, he dribbled the ball directly between the two people.
That is to say, Enrique gave the three great players in the frontcourt enough space to play freely. Even between individual work and so-called "team football", he chose the former.
"Don't think this is just an exception. Situations like this are common in Barcelona games this season."
Ancelotti opened another video.
In almost the same position, Neymar still held the ball and successfully passed the ball. He finally separated the ball and created a shooting threat.
"Enrique's offensive system that combines 'msn alone' and '3+x' is honestly quite difficult to defend."
"Look at this, when Neymar holds the ball on the wing, he can completely control it and pass it back, or directly pass it across. Both of these things are not difficult for him to do."
"However, he actually took the ball out of the four-man double team... It can only be said that the talented person is brave and the tactical board cannot fit in it."
"Neymar then dribbled the ball forward, with Messi next to him and Suarez on the left. So who will take advantage of the huge space on the right? The answer is: whoever is here comes."
"Usually Rakitic is on the right in the three midfielders, so Rakitic comes in very frequently. The reason why Rakitic is so easy to use and can replace Xavi is largely due to his outstanding performance. His running ability is too important for this minimalist offensive system. Of course Alves does this very often."
"Look at this goal again..."
In the next video, although Rakitic did not touch the ball, his movement is still worthy of attention.
This was a typical Barcelona-style counterattack, with not many troops invested. Messi held the ball and directly leveled the opponent's defensive troops. In the end, it was Suarez who scored.
But at this time, it was Rakitic who joined msn and appeared in front of the goal. He even ran up from the back.
"Barcelona's midfielder often plays the role of a sheep when attacking, but when they really have a chance, they can still score goals instead of relying entirely on msn."
"Of course, msn has to be mentioned here, especially the powerful passing abilities of Messi and Neymar."
"They occupy the top two positions in the short passing rankings this season, so in positional battles, Barcelona often plays some offenses that people don't know how to summarize no matter how they watch the video."
"Look at this goal, Atletico Madrid's defense has no problems, but Messi has really found space to penetrate, and Neymar can really be surrounded like that and still pass the ball accurately..."
Having said this, Ancelotti couldn't help but smile bitterly.
In fact, Real Madrid's performance this season is not bad. BBC scored more goals than Barcelona even with full firepower.
But Barcelona relied on this seemingly simple routine to score goals one after another into the opponent's net, then gain points and finally win the championship.
"So you are right. It is difficult to completely defend against MSN. The most important thing is to cut off the connection between the midfielder and them."
Pan Yi, who had been quietly listening to Anshuai's explanation, suddenly said: "But what if the midfielder can't guard it? After all, there is also Iniesta or Xavi here."
"Haha, I have seen your defensive ability, I believe you will find a way." Ancelotti said with a smile, "If you can't even guard you, then there really is no one in the world who can guard them. Team."
Pan Yi also smiled and said: "I have another idea. If we really can't prevent it, then we can just try to score a few more of them, right?"
"I appreciate your idea." Ancelotti laughed, and then pointed to the laptop, "I happened to talk about their defense."
Of course Pan Yi has also studied Enrique Barcelona's defensive system.
Barcelona this season seems to still emphasize pressing, but the core idea has been changed to parallel positions.
In fact, Enrique has placed great emphasis on the overall formation on the defensive end compared to Guardiola.
Most of the time, he will order Neymar to actively defend, adopt a 4-4 parallel defensive system, and put more emphasis on pressing the midfielder to steal.
However, although Enrique's defense includes the midfield and frontcourt pressing that was emphasized in the Guardiola era, the problem is that this pressing idea is completely different from Guardiola's usual "whole team pressure on the ball".
Guardiola's defensive thinking is to completely break up the formation. From this perspective, Enrique is also "anti-traditional".
And the effect of doing this is also very good.
In the past 2014-2015 season, Enrique reduced Barcelona's conceded goals to only 21!
In the same period, Real Madrid conceded 38 goals.
Since the two sides were evenly matched in the number of goals scored, it was precisely this number of goals conceded that led to the eventual La Liga champion being Barcelona rather than Real Madrid.
So Enrique's "anti-traditional" tactics are really good.
Of course, Pan Yi also appreciates Enrique's approach, and he does the same thing himself.
After all, there has never been any natural law that stipulates which team must play which style, and no team with such a long history has ever truly adhered to a single style of play.
The so-called "always adhering to tradition" is, to put it bluntly, just beautiful words for believers. Put aside the illusory ideals in your heart, and then look at history in the light of public opinion. To put it bluntly, it is the performance that ultimately determines the reputation.
Now if you talk about Real Madrid's earliest five consecutive Champions League titles, or the later Bayern dynasty, Ajax dynasty, or the more recent Milan dynasty, would you care what style of play they relied on to win the championship?
With good results, even if Barcelona is allowed to play defense and set up a bus, if they win all the championships, only a small number of die-hards will question it.
Of course, this is just an extreme statement. After all, if the team's playing style is not good-looking, it will still be very unfriendly to neutral fans, and it will not be easy to attract fans.
What's more, Barcelona's current playing style is still very good. msn's performances always give people a pleasing feeling, but Enrique is relatively more pragmatic.
"So how did you break through their defense?" Pan Yi asked after Ancelotti finished speaking.
Pan Yi is not only a good teacher, but also a good listener.
Therefore, while An Shuai was talking endlessly, Pan Yi listened quietly most of the time, and then only asked some questions.
And these problems are often the key to breaking the situation.
Ancelotti obviously understands.
"One is to make good use of your high-altitude advantage, just like Bayern bombed them in the second round." He pointed to Barcelona's defense on the tactical board and said.
This is obvious.
Barcelona's air defense basically relies on Pique, and no one else is very good.
And Pan Yi's Chelsea has used a high-altitude lineup full of big men in the league, which is really handy.
"Of course, high-altitude bombing can sometimes lead to instability. At this time, we have to find ways to make a fuss in Barcelona's midfield or wing."
What An Pang said makes sense.
If long passes and lobs were a stable means of scoring, then the best teams around the world would just hit the penalty area. In fact, this is not the case.
A truly strong team often combines various playing styles and routines, combining the wings and center, and being able to attack and control, so that they can be hard to guard against.
"So, I suggest you do this..."
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Ancelotti and Pan Yi are discussing tactics here, and Barcelona is not idle over there either.
"I heard that Ancelotti went to London. I suspect that he went to offer advice to Pan Yi."
Luis Enrique's gravelly voice rang out in the manager's office.
There is another person in the office, Barcelona assistant coach Juan Carlos.
There are some documents scattered on the table and chairs in the room, and the computer on the desk is also playing the video of the Chelsea match.
Obviously, Enrique is also carefully studying their last opponent of the season and the most important opponent.
Of course, in Enrique's mind, this is also the most powerful opponent!
"When we played Bayern Munich at home, Pan Yi and his assistants were found in the stands. They should have seen our tactics a long time ago." Juan Carlos said, "Even if Ancelotti goes to help Pan Yi, there shouldn’t be anything new, right?”
Enrique shook his head: "After all, Real Madrid has defeated us in the league before, and it was a complete victory. Ancelotti knows our weaknesses, so Pan Yi will definitely learn from this."
Juan Carlos didn't take it very seriously: "The whole world knows that they can't guard msn, so they will cut into our midfield and steal our Busquets. I think we just need to take the initiative to shrink the formation and let the players pull away." If Kitic and Inesta withdraw to protect Busquets, there won't be much of a problem."
Everyone knows the interception ability of Chelsea's midfielder.
Especially Kante, he faced Barcelona directly when he was in Milan, made outstanding contributions, and eventually helped the team defeat Barcelona.
This time Chelsea faces Barcelona, Pan Yi will definitely let Kanter cut off Busquets' connection with his teammates in front.
Enrique has no doubt about Juan Carlos's judgment.
Busquets is the most inconspicuous and least famous of Barcelona's midfielders, but he plays an extremely important role. He can be said to be the metronome of Barcelona's offensive and defensive transitions.
Therefore, the protection of Busquets is itself a very important part of Barcelona's tactics.
Because of this, Harvey, whose running ability has declined in recent years, has gradually been removed from the main lineup and replaced by the younger and more capable "group leader" Rakitic.
Of course, this Croatian is not just a famous "Mei Chui", his own strength is outstanding.
He is a versatile midfielder who can play almost any position in the forward line.
Rakitic also has broad vision, his ability to read the game is very strong, and he has excellent passing ability. Throughout his career, he has always been an excellent assister.
Otherwise, how could he occupy a main position in such a star-studded team, replacing Xavi, the former brains of Barcelona?
"Actually, I'm not too worried about whether our midfielder can handle their pressing. What I'm most worried about is the full-backs," Enrique said.
"Do you mean... Alba or Alves?" These two are the two full-backs on the left and right of Barcelona's main force.
"Hard to say."
"Hard to say?"
"It depends on which side Hazard plays."
Juan Carlos understood.
Hazard is a good breakthrough player and has both feet that are inverse. He can indeed play as a left winger or a right winger in Chelsea's formation.
What Enrique is worried about now is that neither Alba nor Alves can prevent Hazard's breakthrough.
Enrique added: "Can you imagine Messi breaking through our defense? I feel that at least in terms of dribbling ability, Hazard is not much worse than our Messi."
"But..." Juan Carlos asked inexplicably, "I think his recent state is average? He has no goals or assists. Moreover, his shooting ability is far worse than Messi."
Enrique looked at his assistant, shook his head and smiled.
"Some players can't reflect their role through statistics. Just take Hazard's game against Real Madrid. Although he didn't score or assist, that was because he was heavily marked by his opponent during the game. He It restrained a lot of defensive power and consumed the energy and stamina of many Real Madrid players. How do you think Ramos ended up getting cramps while playing?"
Juan Carlos was at a loss for words.
Awakened by Enrique's point, he really discovered that things didn't seem to be what some media and fans said.
They just stared at the goals and assists, but in the game, Hazard's ball-taking and breakthroughs had an impact and harassment on the opponent's defense, which cannot be summarized by simple statistics.
"Of course, it doesn't matter if there is only one Hazard. We can still deal with him through regional defense. But the problem is that both Bernardo Silva and Lukaku are difficult to deal with." Rick patted the table lightly, even a little angrily.
When he said this, he seemed not to have thought of how many people were also scolding him for actually having Messi + Neymar + Suarez on his hands at the same time...
"What should we do?" Juan Carlos asked.
"If it really can't be solved, then it won't be solved." Enrique suddenly showed a strange smile:
"In a football game, as long as you can score one more goal than the opponent, you win, right?"
