In the 1984-85 season, with the arrival of Terry Venables, Barça surprised its rivals with a series of rehearsed set-piece plays that favored Alexanko and Migueli’s rise to the finish, who took advantage of Schuster’s measured crosses. first post, where they were extended by a teammate to the second, where a header from one of the two centre-backs awaited the back of the opponent’s goal. The strategy, together with a suffocating pressure on the opponent’s ball output, allowed the Blaugrana eleven to win the League title, remembered as “Urruti t’estimo”, a phrase with which Quim Puyal immortalized the penalty stop of Urruti in Valladolid the afternoon that the alirón was sung, eleven years after the previous title with Cruyff of great figure. That surprise factor lasted one season, because in the next most teams had already discovered the antidote and Barça was more predictable.
With the added problem of the confrontation between Venables and the team’s star, Schuster. The conflict reached its peak in the European Cup final against Steaua, when midway through the second half the German midfielder was incomprehensibly replaced by Moratalla.
Almost four decades have passed since that episode. Nowadays everything happens much faster and football is no exception, which is why the invention lasted less than three months for Hansi Flick. As has been proven against Real Sociedad, Celta and Las Palmas, the three have known how to break the offside and have used the same one-on-one pressure throughout the field with which Barça prevented them from getting the ball. played to the opponents from their own goal. Knowledge of the opposing team’s game is essential in today’s soccer. All technical staff have a tactical analysis laboratory, in which the game of the next rival on duty is analyzed down to the smallest detail. So after having his license plate taken, Flick’s team needs a pit stop to review their tactical resources so they can surprise again.
It is not about pointing fingers at anyone and increasing the revolutions to find culprits. Pointing the finger at De Jong is as petty as it is unnecessary. It’s about reinventing yourself again and searching Flick’s notebook for new solutions that surprise you again.
#Reinvent #Lluís #Canut
