The Barca defense of three: less is more

One of the main virtues is Pep Guardiola as coach is to anticipate events, to prevent future problems that may arise. Knowing as one of the shortcomings of philosophy Barcelona, ​​reinvented each season his team and introduces new variants. In part, of course, not be so predictable, few teams are as studied by its rivals, but also because he knows the beginning of the end of empire Blaugrana, like any other, born inside: on the boat clicks into excellence, the day that they believe there is nothing to improve, begin to decline.

In its second year, having won the treble in his debut as coach of elite reinvented striker Messi as false, sticking out of the band and placing it among the gamers and the goals. He made ​​full: since then, Messi has won two gold balls and no doubt that next January will be awarded the third row, something that has only consguido Michel Platini (years 83, 84 and 85). After winning his third consecutive league champions and his second in three years, Guardiola concluded that to continue to maintain competitive tension, his team needed a radical change or, more fair and accurate with reality, an evolutionary leap considerable.

The Santpedor, obsessive worker and as few, should review all of his books during the summer and ended up concluding that the best I could do was return to the beginning of everything: the 3-4-3 of your Clockwork Orange friend and mentor Johan Cruyff. Pep Guardiola knew that the challenge will be proposed to his players had to be the most exciting and challenging as possible. The most difficult yet: reissue his success with an even more offensive and dangerous, a defense unless a gamer and more.

The performance can not be more striking response to the times in football. Except for last night's game against Viktoria Plzen , which took up the defense of four men by the recovery of Pique and Puyol, who did not play together for months, the club started its eight previous games with a defense with only three defenders. Result: the club only received seven shots between the posts in eight games, including in four of them Valdés did not have to even a single stop. This also playing with a defensive trio in which any of its components is a natural center, with the trio of Mascherano-Alves Abidal, the most used.

The Brazilian side has assumed a new role on the team, sacrificing his own offensive style for a more rigorous defense, something that has been doing the past year. And Mascherano, what say? The little chief arrived in Barcelona assuming and accepting his supporting role (and praising) the superiority of Busquets in their abilities to be the team's defensive midfielder. But the injuries behind center last season (endemic in the Age Guardiola) Pep gave the opportunity to discover the great virtues of Mascherano and central, so much so that less than a week came to qualify central as the best currently had in the template.

In short, Pep Guardiola goes against what their colleagues have been doing for decades. Who else who comes to less accumulation of defenders when performance needs to improve defensively and, consequently, it is not surprising to see how many coaches take hold of the defense to counter five different problems that can occur in the usual four-man defense. Guardiola Guardiola is made of sterner stuff, go ahead, like a coach who has come from the future to teach us all that another road is possible. His behind three, far from causing problems in the defense network has improved the overall performance of your computer. Valdés defended so well that night surpassed the record of unbeaten Miguel Reina boasted more than thirty years. Sure enough, with Guardiola, less is more.