The Battle for Europe...

By: Ryan Noormohamed

At the start of the season, a man whose footballing opinion I trust told me that the "Battle for Europe" will be between either Man United and Arsenal/Chelsea or Real Madrid and Barcelona. His prediction didn't necessarily ring true for the former as both Arsenal and Chelsea's title and cup challenges went out with a bang and a whimper respectively, but the prediction with regards to Real Madrid and Barcelona remains truthful.

For those who are not aware, last week's Champions League results dictated a run of fixtures that sees Real Madrid play Barcelona a total of 4 times in 18 days. Yes, folks, this is our childhood fantasies come to life. Christmas only comes once a year, but we have a total of 4 Clasicos awaiting us in a span of less than 3 weeks. Two of the greatest and most successful names in the game, with the two best players in the world in their rosters, going head to head 4 times to determine the almost certain winners of the UEFA Champions League, Copa Del Rey, and the Spanish La Liga.

Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo vs Barcelona's Lionel Messi

In addition to a historical and socio-political rivalry that doesn't need to be detailed here, we have a clash of two distinct footballing philosophies. Barcelona plays a possession game unlike any ever seen, with some of the greatest midfielders to grace the sport providing service for World Cup winning striker David Villa and the reigning World Player of the Year Lionel Messi. Barca's secret lies in La Masia, their academy which spawned 8 of their typical starting 11, and some of the world's best players. Real Madrid, on the other hand, undertook a massive rebuilding project that ushered in the new Galactico era, bringing in the world's best in players like Xabi Alonso, Kaka, Karim Benzema, and Cristiano Ronaldo, as well as manager Jose Mourinho, arguably the best manager in the world. They were brought together for one unified purpose-to conquer Europe and to knock Barcelona from their throne.

Their previous attempt to do so resulted in a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of a well motivated Barcelona side. Mourinho's team set out to play Barcelona's game against them, and ended up being utterly destroyed by one of the greatest demonstrations of skill and quality that any team has ever assembled.

Now, Real Madrid has not one but four chances for revenge in the coming 18 days. The question is: will they succeed?

Squad Depth

Xavi of Barcelona

Barca may have the best starting XI in world football, but with four major games against their biggest rivals in a short span, it may come down to who has the better bench.

The Edge: Real Madrid
Madrid will most likely play their 4-2-3-1 formation that they've stuck with for the majority of the season. When a 65million pound signing in Kaka is warming their bench, and other players like Adebayor, Higuain, and Benzema will have to compete for places on the starting XI, its easily suggestible that Real will have better impact from the bench. Over the course of the 4 games, however, one can expect Mourinho to try new tactics and play fresher players.

Ability To Play the Game the Way they want it played:
It is worth noting that by this, I mean that I believe that the winner of this 4-game series will be the team that controls the game to their favored liking on the pitch. Or, rather, the team whose tactics and team selections are most effective.


Neither of these teams are short on playing ability, but the fact that Lionel Messi, Xavi, and Iniesta are irrepressible for Barcelona means that:

The Edge: Barcelona
I go with Barcelona here because, though Cristiano Ronaldo has put up significant goalscoring and assisting numbers for Madrid, their over-reliance on him to do the deed is keeping the others in the team from shining, whereas one cannot say the same about Barcelona. Barca's possession game dictates a high number of chances being created, and Messi's role in this strategy is not only to score goals but to assist a high number as well (47 goals and 20 assists in 47 games at the time of writing). The real proof to this lies in the numbers that other forwards on the team have:

David Villa: 21 goals 7 assists in 41 games
Pedro: 20 goals 7 assists in 45 games

Compared to Real Madrid's forwards:

Cristiano Ronaldo: 41 goals 12 assists in 46 games
Karim Benzema: 21 goals 4 assists in 42 games
Gonzalo Higuain (half season due to injury...): 10 goals 4 assists in 21 games
Emmanuel Adebayor (half season due to loan): 5 goals 0 assists in 16 games
Angel Di Maria: 9 goals 13 assists in 40 games

This would suggest that while Ronaldo and Benzema have found the net many times, they rely more on their midfield to do the creative work rather than they themselves work at bringing others into the game. Messi, on the other hand, has provided 20 direct assists this season, mostly for both Pedro and Villa who are having 20+ goal seasons themselves. Itself a remarkable feat for any forward in any league in the world.

When comparing midfielders, however, it is difficult to find a statistic that adequately shows a dominance of one side over the other. If football were to count "second-assists" in the manner that Ice Hockey does in the NHL, we could determine the statistical dominance of the midfield more precisely. However, one statistic that does ring true for determining the quality of a midfield is pass completion. Here, it is clear that Barcelona is dominant. In the early season matchup between these teams, Barcelona completed 600 passes to Madrid's 110, which reflected well in the 5-0 scoreline.

Psychological Factors:


Real Madrid has lost the past 5 Clasicos in a row, but Mourinho will surely have prepared his team for this penultimate series of matches.

Keeping in mind that though one match is played on neutral territory (The Copa Del Rey final, held at the Mestalla), Madrid have 2 games at home. This very distinct home field advantage could be significant as the series comes to an end.

The Edge: Real Madrid
I give the edge to Madrid here because they have almost nothing to lose. Here, the footballing Gods have given them four opportunities to defeat Barcelona, with each victory being seen as a major upset in the eyes of the world. Just one victory for Madrid could see the Barcelona gravy train come to a screeching halt, while the pressure is on Barca as the favorites to make sure that they retain their favored status.

The Mourinho Factor:

Real Madrid Manager Jose Mourinho

Jose Mourinho, the ex-Porto, Chelsea, and Inter Milan manager, is now the current manager of Real Madrid. He, whose career began as a translator for Barcelona in the 1990s, has an established Champions League record and is thought of as one of the greatest managers in the world. Mourinho is well known as a shrewd tactician and man-manager, and it was his Inter Milan team last year that found a way to defeat Barcelona over a two-legged tie. For this reason, we can't suggest that squads and tactics alone will decide the outcome of this series.

Mourinho was hired to oust Barcelona from their position as the world's best team, and this 4-game series is his ideal chance to do so. One manager has succeeded in shutting down Barcelona's possession and passing game, and he is the man to do it again.

In Conclusion:

I expect Real Madrid to play defensively and on the counterattack, while I expect Barcelona to dominate possession at both the home and away games. I believe that in a one match final, Barca will win. However, for any team to win all four matches would be impossible, and Madrid will definitely be looking for revenge after losing the Copa Del Rey to Barcelona, hence why I believe that Madrid will win the following match either home or away. However, in the final leg of the tie, all predictions go out the window. Both teams will have a shot at winning and will give their all, and we may indeed see some surprises come our way. As for La Liga, no matter the result, Barcelona's lead is too large to be overcome.

Its all in the Nature of the game. Its called a clasico for a reason, because every game quite literally is a classic. We, the beloved spectators, are truly blessed to have not one, but four classic matches coming our way soon enough.

Trequartista? An introduction...

By: Ryan Noormohamed

While bouncing around a few ideas for my first article on this blog, I realized that our name, for some, needed some clarification. This article will attempt to demonstrate what a trequartista is, and the purposes it serves in a team, while providing also a nice comparison between two of the decade's seminal trequartistas in Francesco Totti and Alessandro Del Piero. 

What is a Trequartista?

Firstly, where does the word come from? "Trequartista" translates roughly from Italian to mean "Three Quarters" or, rather, that he plays approximately 3/4 up the pitch. The modern trequartista is the central attacking playmaker of the team. In teams that play with a trequartista, the primary focus on attacking has been shifted to one player whose job is to create the final pass or move to finish the attack, and thus delegate possession and defensive responsibilities to the central midfielders behind him. By allowing one player to focus almost entirely on attacking creatively, it allows the team to get the most out of their player by playing to his strengths. Trequartistas have been used in teams playing with 2 strikers, 1 striker, wingers, a diamond midfield, and other options. There is no clinically proven formation to use a trequartista, however, in the modern game we typically see a 4-4-2 diamond midfield formation (also known as a 4-3-1-2), or a 4-2-3-1 in which the trequartista is playing in the middle of the bank of three. Because of this, the common "identifying number" for the team's trequartista is the number 10. Famous trequartistas who have worn the number 10 include but are not limited to Alessandro Del Piero, Francesco Totti, Zico, Roberto Baggio, and Zinedine Zidane.

Zinedine Zidane

The Trequartista in the Modern Game:

So, for those just now learning what a trequartista is, you're probably wondering WHO in particular I am talking about. For example, is Lionel Messi a trequartista? How about Ronaldinho? Wayne Rooney? They may all wear the number 10, and they are definitely all attacking playmakers, but not one of them fits the trequartista archetype. One player wearing the number 10 and fulfilling this role of late has been Wesley Sneijder. Before the 09/10 season, Sneijder left the sun of Madrid and joined Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan, eventually leading them to an unprecedented treble of Coppa Italia, Serie A, and Champions League titles, scoring 9 goals and notching 12 direct assists in the process. This world class form carried into the World Cup as well when, being the fulcrum of a rather dull Dutch central midfield, he scored 5 goals and tallied another assist, and was hailed by some as the standout player of the tournament.

However, while the exploits of Wesley Sneijder have been admirable, his role and his form within this role have not been replicated elsewhere recently. Modern tactics dictate the need for a holding midfielder and a deep-lying or defensive playmaker, which has nullified the effect of most wannabe trequartistas (more on this in a future article). Furthermore, in leagues such as the English Premier League or Scottish Premier League, a trequartista is often not given the time on the ball needed to do his job effectively, and thus some modifications to his role must be made. The prime example of this is the 08/09 use of Steven Gerrard in Liverpool's midfield. Manager Rafael Benitez's now popular 4-2-3-1 formation featured a world class central trio of Javier Mascherano, Xabi Alonso, and Steven Gerrard, with Fernando Torres playing as a lone striker (albeit, sadly, when rarely fit). Mascherano won the ball, Alonso kept the tempo flowing, and Gerrard kept the goals roaring. In his best ever season, he notched a total of 24 goals and 11 assists in a season-long tour de force that saw Liverpool narrowly lose to Chelsea in the Champions League Quarterfinals and finish a mere 4 points behind Manchester United in the league. Gerrard was the attacking focal point of the team, and played centrally where a trequartista should play, but his skills were comparable to brute force rather than silky smooth finesse work. Compared to Sneijder or Baggio, it was clear that something is definitely missing in his approach. In this blogger's opinion, he did a good thing by managing to mend successfully (and for perhaps the first time) the traditional playmaking abilities of a trequartista and the English tendency to get "stuck in" as they prefer to put it, essentially a sense of physical discipline with regards to tackling and positioning. He may have blended effectiveness with grit, but he still can't be classified as a traditional trequartista. 

The Eternal Question (for Italians at least...)

Some would suggest that this question was answered with their success at the 2006 World Cup, however, in comparing the two greatest attacking players of their generation, a clear answer is still not found. Of course, I'm talking about the difference between Alessandro Del Piero and Francesco Totti. 

Alessandro Del Piero

Of course, one's opinion could be heavily influenced by the team one sympathizes with or supports. Both happen to be legendary one-club men (or...pretty much...) who competed at the international level for the same position in the Italian national team. But whether one sympathizes with Juventus or Roma is irrelevant when determining the class and talent of the two players. However, which was the better trequartista? One can determine an answer by asking one very important question: Is a trequartista expected to score goals on a regular basis? Or is his overall contribution towards the attacking ability of the team more important? 

If you're in the "pro-goals" category (and in this particular case, some GREAT ones), the 282 goals in 683 games for Del Piero has him winning the cake (from wikipedia). However, why then did Marcelo Lippi choose to build his team around a half-fit Totti, himself a more assist-friendly player. Further adding fuel to the fire, it was Del Piero who scored the goal that sent Italy into the final, himself an extra-time substitute rather than a starter.

I suppose the easy answer would be that it comes down to the preference of the manager. However, some things that we know about trequartistas across the board are as follows:

1. They tend to be good passers. This is an obvious statement.

2. They tend to be strong leaders within the team. Take for example the two mentioned above. Both managed to become captains at their clubs. Include here the examples of Gerrard, Zidane, and Zico and you have yourself a case that a good trequartista is typically a good leader on and off the pitch.

3. They tend to be good free kick takers. Case in point, use the comments section below to name a few that aren't good at taking free kicks...

Francesco Totti

In conclusion, the advent of the trequartista allowed for teams to enhance the attacking contribution from an individual player with regards to goals (optional, see above) and assists. This threat was met with the "Makelele" player (possibly itself a future blog piece...) which resulted in modern football's current deprivation of the particular player. However, players like Wesley Sneijder and Steven Gerrard, as well as numerous others, have resulted in a small semi-revised revival of the role of the classic no. 10, arguably the game's most glamorous type of player.

The "Invincible" One: FC Porto Manager's Rise to Fame in 18 Months

Andre Villas Boas is Portugal's newest and most intriguing manager

 by Alex Bowen



 
Not much can be said about Portuguese football since the League/Cup/European dominant sides of FC Porto under Jose Mourinho in the early 2000s. Any fame that might be credited to the champions of Portugal in recent years has been overwhelmingly overshadowed by the immense media and publicity of the English Premier League, Italian Serie A and the Spanish Liga. It is safe to say that the powerful Mourinho side is a thing of the past and has lent the limelight to others for the time being. Quite frankly, unless specifically searching for fixtures and results of Portuguese teams, chances are not much will be found without a little digging. Yet after witnessing the class of the most recent installment of FC Porto against Spartak Moscow tonight, and having followed the unbeaten clinching of the Portuguese Liga, one may be forced to turn his attention west of Spain for a bit. The record-breaking FCP side under manager Andre Villas Boas has been nothing short of astounding. In fact, Boas is being hailed as the Jose Mourinho Mk. II after just eighteen months of managing club sides. This conjecture might prove to be slightly premature as Boas progresses in his own right as manager of professional footballing sides.

As a scout under Jose Mourinho at Porto in his early twenties, AVB quickly became of age and used his talent in observation to expose Mourinho to the tactics required to remain superior to the opposition. Dubbed as Mourinho's "eyes and ears," Boas nurtured himself into a position of high regard in the Special One's eyes. In many respects, Villas became the Tonto to Mourinho's Lone Ranger, following him from Portugal to England and finally to Italy. After witnessing his boss's European superiority, Boas decided to have a go on his own for reasons unclear.

Apparently FC Porto had seen enough to merit a job offer after his short tenure at Academia Coimbra in 2009. The then 32 year-old helped his side from a win-less last place position in the league to complete the season at mid-table. Furthermore, he thrust his team into the semifinal of the Portuguese League Cup only to lose to his future employers. After only eight months on his first managerial position, he moved on to his Alma Mater and "dream job" of FC Porto in the summer of 2010.

His mission was simple: bounce his new team back from an embarrassing third place finish the previous year and lift the league trophy for Porto once again. This mission was slightly confounded by the loss of two key players (Bruno Alves and Raul Meireles) upon his arrival. Needless to say, his side had not the footballing stature nor the publicity of the intimidating reigning champions Benfica.

Rather than shaping his new campaign around excuses and cautious footballing behavior, Boas enforced an ironically "beautiful" tactical regime. He reintroduced the attacking 4-3-3 formation, focused their game around a free choice-oriented passing philosophy, and presto - FC Porto clinches the league after 25 matches and loses not a single game. This brilliant attacking philosophy seemed to also unify a now stalwart defense, keeping clean sheets the majority of the time and only allowing 26 goals in all competitions thus far. Easy enough? These results are absolutely staggering considering the position of the club, the experience of the manager, and the increasing pressure on the players to perform well day-in and day-out.

It is obvious that Andre Villas Boas possesses a sound tactical mind and a brilliantly adhesive locker room presence that brings out the best in his players. The world must watch and wait as a brilliant new Invincible One rises out of the shadow of his predecessor and begins to show Europe just what an overlooked Portuguese side can do these days.



sources:

-http://www.zerozerofootball.com/

-http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704380504575530111481441870.html

-http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/crucial-role-of-boy-scout-who-is-mourinhos-  eyes-and-ears-552798.html

-http://www.portugoal.net/

-http://www.footballistic.com/