Seven years ago, a Barça center-back put a simple but forceful label on a dream attack, made up of Messi-Suarez-Neymar (MSN). “That’s three cucumbers,” he said then Gerard Piquéamazed as he was by the offensive impact of these strikers so different and, at the same time, so complementary.
On Saturday, in Seville, and after an unappealable 0-3, another Barça center-back tagged a trio (Raphinha-Lewandowski-Dembele) which does not yet have a short name. It could be the RLD. “Upstairs we have three planes,” he said, admiring Eric Garcia to justify that the center of gravity of Xavi’s Barça has moved, once again, to the attack, given the efficiency they have shown in the last three games: 11 goals have been scored by the Barça team (3.6 per game) and only he conceded one (0.33), that of Isak in Anoeta.
dizzying football
They are absolutely different dimensions between both tridents. But, deep down, the same tactical ideology underlies because the force of the strikers drags in such a way that it becomes the axis.
As he lifts and solidifies his project, Xavi watches as his team’s center of gravity shifts to the attack
And that in a club like Barça, used to debating the game, is an unexpected return to the past – with the MSN the last Champions League and the treble was achieved in 2015 – because it collides, at least initially, with the essence. But Xavi, as happened in his day to Luis Enrique, He has to exploit the resources and, above all, the solutions provided by those forwards.
Play, therefore, Barça in a vertiginous way. At a gallop he knocked down Sevilla in less than an hour. Just 50 minutes and game more than resolved. And his football, although it seems contradictory, is based on the speed and forcefulness that he exhibits every time he steps on the enemy area, resolving the traffic jam he had at the beginning with that 0-0 against Rayo where he paid for his lack of aim . The ‘planes’, as Eric described them, force the coach to simplify the game, transforming the center of the field into a fleeting way station, without much elaboration.
“We take advantage of transitions very well, but I feel more comfortable in positional play”
Xavi, Barça coach
Something that makes him feel “uncomfortable”, as Xavi himself confessed, after 0-3. “We took advantage of transitions very well,” admitted the coach, aware that the three goals came through the most direct path.
In the gestation of the 0-1 against Sevilla, Barça only needed 11 seconds. At 0-2, 16. And at 0-3, at the exit of a rehearsed corner, just eight seconds
in 11 seconds the 0-1 culminated by Raphinha. in 16 seconds the 0-2 was made that proved the quality in Lewandowski’s unchecking and the quality, of course, in the definition. And only eight seconds It was 0-3 born from the scoreboard by Sergio Alegre, Xavi’s third assistant, who drew a short corner kick so that Koundé, with a header, assisted Eric. From center to center.
Simplify and save time
Xavi does not deny that new tactical suit. Not much less. But he doesn’t hide his preferences either, more related to his way of playing. “I like the positional game more,” acknowledged the coach around that unexpected and inevitable tactical turn that his team has shown.
He would like his Barça to be like he was as a footballer. Pausing, installed in the opposite field, dominating the ball, without going into round-trip matches, and drowning the rival through the multiplied pass, choosing the path of patience to break down walls.
But his Barça is now effectively different, thus simplifying the construction process for the coach, even revealing that his players lack “neatness” in the game, in addition to committing “too many losses”.
Lewandowski’s power
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All that pause and neatness that Xavi would like is, however, overshadowed by the flight of the planes, with Lewandowski piloting the ship. Much more than a pure ‘nine’. Much more than a scorer (five goals in four league games). He has arrived from Munich, already 34 years old, ready to bury old prejudices about periods of adaptation to new schools that, in reality, are the same because talent escapes from the blackboards.
He is the boss of Barça, the new leader, and he has only been in the city for two months. The Pole flies calmly because at the other end of the field he has Ter Stegen’s bodyguard, the best co-pilot. Lewandowski also has that his partners in the attack (the left foot of raphinha is as poisonous as generous and Dembele he runs free after five years of frustrations, although he lacks being resolute) they propel him from the wings. “It’s wonderful to have Lewandowski with us, he’s a natural leader,” confessed a relieved Xavi.