The perfect formation for Ronald Koeman’s Barcelona.
When Ronald Koeman first revealed that he was going to be changing the formation from Barcelona’s traditional 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1, many fans and critics were skeptical of the decision.
Barcelona is a club that is a symbol of attacking football. So to change the formation to a more defense-oriented one, seemed like a weird choice for many.
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The criticisms did not last long, however, as the coach has shown that his team has adapted well to the new formation. After the three matches played, it is also easy to make out that the Dutch manager is trying to emulate former Dutch manager, Johan Cruyff. Koeman played under Cruyff in a team which was later tagged as the ‘Dream Team’ and the philosophies are quite similar.
Both the managers prefer to play without a definite striker and instead use a false nine. In Koeman’s team, Lionel Messi plays as the false nine as he confuses the defenders and holds up the play which allows players like Ansu Fati and Antoine Griezmann to make runs into the box.
The formation has been working quite well as they picked up two wins and one draw before the international break. Koeman has been happy with the performance so far and had this to say to Barca TV,
"“with this squad and with these types of players, in my opinion, 4-2-3-1 is the best formation. Looking at the quality that we have, this formation is perfect for the team.”“Overall, the team have looked very good, above all against Villarreal and Celta Vigo. However, if we look at the game against Sevilla, we can improve our pressing. There are details that can be corrected.“Defence always starts with the forwards. If they press well, then our defenders don’t have as many problems. Defending is a team thing, and that could be one of the reasons that our defence has got better.”Source Sport"
Koeman is looking to make the most of the players available to him after a heavily sale-oriented transfer window. While youngsters like Pedri and Francisco Trincao are all looking promising, the only major transfer made by the Dutch coach was Sergino Dest, with the American international looks to be the long term successor to the extremely successful right-back, Dani Alves.
Will Koeman’s tactics bring Barca success?