Understanding Liverpool FC’s Tiki-Taka (Part-1)

We all know Tiki-Taka is the style of football that Barcelona and Spain showcase, and we know it involves an intricate passing game, but what does it really mean? And how do you go about with a Tiki-Taka set-up?.

Essentially, it is the quick and short exchange of passes between players. That is the general ideology of the Tiki-Taka. The ball keeps getting exchanged in the middle of the park, with players running down the channels and through the middle, and the idea is to dominate each territory of the pitch. What I mean is to slowly move up the pitch with the ball in possession at all times.

Now let me explain how and why this works:

• Attack is the best defence

A very defensive statement to start off with, but as the saying goes, attack is the best form of defence. If you have the ball and are in control, the opposition can’t score a goal. Of course, you will still be vulnerable to counter-attacks when the ball is lost, but essentially when you are attacking, they can’t score. That is why the Spanish approach in the EURO 2012 tournament was so heavily criticized – no striker and 6 midfielders in the starting XI. They simply kept the ball so often with a lack of attacking intent that they kept opponents away from their goal whilst trying to carve out a few chances of their own.

• It wears teams out…

…especially those who are playing the pressing game. Tiki-Taka requires opponents to do the chasing. Unless of course you’re in the Champions League final and you’re playing against Di Matteo’s Chelsea, but that’s a story for another day. Usually, you will have the opposition do the chasing, and that will be something that Tiki-Taka teams can use to their advantage.

• It looks good to the eye

I love the game of football. I love it when Liverpool FC win. But if Liverpool win with style, I find that a much bigger bonus. For the love of the game!

The Formation: Defence

Ideal centre-back pairing for Tiki-Taka? Martin Skrtel and Daniel Agger

The system thrives on the fact that there are two attacking full-backs to widen the play and find the gaps in the midfield before slowly moving forward with the ball. In this post I will only talk about the defensive side to the Tiki-Taka and the successful case studies of this approach to the beautiful game.

There are two parallels that I will draw here. One being the numerous Barcelona models that Pep Guardiola coined in his time at the Catalan club, and the more relevant one – Brendan Rodgers’ approach, the way he set out his Swansea team last season.

Ideally, you want two types of defenders in the heart of the defence. One ball-playing centre-back coupled with a physical and more aggressive defender. The ball-playing centre-back’s role is to help the team move the ball forward and perhaps provide calmness at the back, whilst the more aggressive one provides order and no-nonsense defending at the back. It has been used by Barcelona – Pique and Puyol’s partnership is a prime example of this, and even Darren Ashley’s overall distribution for Swansea was splendid over the course of the 2011/12 campaign.

In Daniel Agger and Martin Skrtel, we have both. In Agger, we have a player who knows how to bring the ball out of his area and even take long distance shots – a bonus with him in the set-up. On the other hand, Martin Skrtel provides absolutely no-nonsense, full-on physical contact for the entire 90 minutes. They’re really capable defenders and I am confident that our defence will be able to adapt to a more adept passing game.

The fact that Barcelona sometimes even prefer to go with Sergio Busquets and Mascherano at the back is testament to this. They want someone who is good at standing tackles, and is able to distribute and bring the ball out to the midfield.

Now I will explore the role of wing-backs, and this is a very important aspect of the Tiki Taka. Hard running is needed for this job, as wing-backs will need to fulfill both their offensive and defensive duties. The idea is that when one fullback attacks, the other stays back. The back four then turns into a back three, with the defence shifting to cover the empty space. This gives the marauding wing-back the freedom to attack the opposition, with the knowledge that there is cover behind.

That is one reason why Eric Abidal was used alongside Alves a lot. Abidal was never going to cover much ground, instead, his job was to tackle and take the ball. Jordi Alba’s signing shows a different approach – either that Barcelona are going to push Alves up the pitch permanently, or quite simply have two very attacking fullbacks. Alba showed the qualities of a model wing-back for this approach, as he started and finished off a move to put Spain in the driving seat for the EURO 2012 trohpy. It was fantastic, it was brilliant, and it was just what you expect from a Barca fullback.

In Glen Johnson, Martin Kelly and Jose Enrique we have three decent, if not good fullbacks. I personally prefer the pairing of Kelly-Johnson (the latter out left) as Johnson can cut in and take shots whilst Kelly is also good at attacking the opposition. Enrique is bad with decision making, and after being caught napping on a few occasions in the 2011/12 campaign, he was dropped from the starting XI. Jack Robinson was the second choice behind him in terms of natural left-backs.