Arsenal v. Barcelona: piggy in the middle
Welcome to the first post in 7amkickoff’s Arsenal v. Barcelona week. Today we kick things off with a child’s game. Xavi and I have the ball and you’re the pig in the middle. See if you can take it from us.
It has become a sort of shorthand to call Arsenal “Barcelona-lite” and it’s not only wrong, but does both teams a disservice. You ease into this false equivalency by simplifying both Arsenal and Barcelona’s games. If your understanding of football is that of say a Stoke City supporter you can easily say “Arsenal pass, Barcelona pass; Arsenal attack, Barcelona attack; Arsenal possession, Barcelona possession; they must be the same.”
They aren’t.
Barcelona are a possession based team, that is to say that their philosophy is to keep possession. Arsenal are similar in that sense in that Arsenal try to keep possession but the problem is that while Arsenal tries, Barca succeeds. This isn’t to say that Arsenal don’t have any merit, I just like to think of both teams as jazz musicians, Arsenal are Monk — technically perfect but prone to wild outbursts — and Barcelona are Count Basie — organized, hard working, and just enough magic sprinkled in to distract you from the metronome like quality of their back ground music.
In their six Champions League matches this season, Barcelona managed an eye gouging 77.5% of possession where Arsenal kept “just” 62% of the ball. 62% is damn good but 78% is on another planet and this alone should show that the two teams aren’t quite the same.
Barcelona not only keep possession, they use possession to generate opportunities and limit their opponents’ chances. So, in those same six Champions League matches they had an amazing 18 shots per game with almost 7 on target. All the while limiting their opponents to 6 shots per game and just 1.335 shots on target. Put it another way, Barcelona only allowed their opponents 8 shots on goal in all 6 games.
Arsenal let Shaktar have 10 shots on goal in just one game.
So, while Arsenal try to play a possession based game Barcelona play a soul crushing possession dominance game and they do this through hard work and constant practice of a game that us Yanks, in our very straightforward way, simply call Keep Away. Xavi explains the system:
Some youth academies worry about winning, we worry about education. You see a kid who lifts his head up, who plays the pass first time, pum, and you think, ‘Yep, he’ll do.’ Bring him in, coach him. Our model was imposed by [Johan] Cruyff; it’s an Ajax model. It’s all about rondos [piggy in the middle]. Rondo, rondo, rondo. Every. Single. Day. It’s the best exercise there is. You learn responsibility and not to lose the ball. If you lose the ball, you go in the middle. Pum-pum-pum-pum, always one touch. If you go in the middle, it’s humiliating, the rest applaud and laugh at you.
There you see the entire system laid bare. Barcelona’s players came through their youth academy where they all learned both the offensive and defensive components of piggy in the middle. The first and possibly the most profound difference between the two clubs is that for all their talent, Nasri, Arshavin, van Persie, and the entire Arsenal defense were bought, not raised. For Barcelona that’s the opposite and eight of the starting XI who destroyed Real Madrid were a product of Barcelona’s youth academy.
There’s an almost telepathic link that develops when you play with someone since age nine and for all their possession and wonderful passing, Arsenal don’t have that right now. Which is why in some games Arsenal drop off a bit or as Arsene Wenger likes to say “lack sharpness.”
Barcelona have only had one match all season where they generated fewer chances than their opponent; away to Racing Santander. Arsenal have had 10 games where they allowed their opponent more shots or shots on goal — the most recent example being the 4-4 draw against Newcastle.
What Newcastle did would be unthinkable for Barcelona. First off, because Barcelona haven’t conceded more than a single goal in any game all season League play or the Champions League since Hercules beat them 2-0 at the start of the year.* And secondly, because Barcelona don’t have games where they “lack sharpness,” their passing is automatic. But thirdly, and most important, they know what it feels like to be the pig in the middle and work their asses off when they don’t have the ball.
All three of those components to Barcelona’s game come from piggy in the middle: when they have the ball they keep it, when they don’t have the ball, they want it back and they win it by hunting in packs. Can you imagine a passenger like Arshavin or Denilson on Barcelona? No, because even… no especially their superstar Lionel Messi presses all over the pitch. He hates that feeling of not having the ball and he wants it back.
Arsenal don’t have that attitude. Against Newcastle they gave up possession and tried to sit back and absorb pressure. That tactic won’t work against Barcelona, they will shred any team that simply lets them dominate the game. Jose Mourinho learned that lesson quite harshly when Barcelona ripped them for five goals.
The only way to beat Barcelona is to be greedy with the ball. You have to want the ball more than they do and you have to work to get it back when they take it from you. In short, Arsenal need to play the best game of piggy in the middle that we have ever played.
Now, lest you think this is an obituary I do think that Arsenal have a chance. With Jack, Theo, Cesc, Song, Arshavin, van Persie and Nasri we have a talented core who are all healthy and playing at the top of their respective games. They could win it and I’ll describe how… tomorrow.
