[THREAD] Santos vs FC Barcelona in 2011 - A lesson in Positional Play:

Guardiola started an 11 that included zero ‘forwards’.

His structure facilitated a thorough domination of the phase space, which led to authority in the match.

The first sub-space in the phase space is ‘The Area of Mutual Help’ - the area around the position of the ball.

The second sub-space in the phase space, known as The Area of Cooperation, was also brutal.

The Area of Cooperation is heavily reliant on the team’s structure - which should be designed by the trainer to optimize the abilities that his players contains.

Pep did just that.

The domination of each sub-space means a domination of the phase space, which forces the opposition’s players to vacate spaces that are occupied by a Barcelona player - creating indefensible moments.

This grants an authority on the match that provides many paths for progression:

Santos defended in a 4-4-2 midblock.

To create superiority against Santos’ first line, Pep elected a 3+1 (Puyol, Pique, Abidal; Busquets).

This 3+1 achieved superiority at different heights to progress past Santos’ first line.

Santos’ 4-4-2 morphed into a 4-3-1-2 as a midfielder jumped to Busquets.

This meant the indefensible space of Santos was on the sides of their midfield three.

The question became, How do we occupy spaces to:
1) Enlarge the indefensible space
2) Occupy the indefensible space

1) Xavi consistently dropped alongside Busquets.

This maximized the space that is conceded by Santos’ defensive shape as well as created superiority against Santos’ second line (contained one player) of pressure.

2) Because of the width provided by Thiago and Alves, Messi or Fabergas were able to fill the vacated space.

(Continued )

The other of Messi/Cesc occupied the spaces off the backs of the midfield three of Santos, creating conditions that would see Santos punished if they were to expand.

(Continued)

Once the indefensible space was exploited, Santos’ midfield shifted to close the space.

This meant the indefensible space is now on the opposite side of the pitch.

Barcelona created 2v1s on the opposite side to ensure exploitation of the indefensible space.

“Attack one side to finish on the other.”