Beating Barcelona - The Ajax way

Danny Hoesen of Ajax battles for the ball with Javier Mascherano and Gerard Pique of Barcelona during the UEFA Champions League Group H match between Ajax Amsterdam and FC Barcelona at Amsterdam Arena on November 26, 2013 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Perhaps one of the most surprising results this week came at the Amsterdam ArenA, where Ajax emerged victorious over Barcelona, the match ending 2-1 to the hosts. It is very much worth noting that this is the first defeat Barcelona have encountered this season, in all competitions, and their first loss under boss Tata Martino.

Though people will claim that Ajax got lucky and that Barcelona had zilch to play for, this is actually not true, because anyone who had watched the first half will tell you that Ajax dominated Barcelona for long periods and fully deserved to be ahead. Barcelona’s approach to the game also refutes any claim that they were not taking this seriously, the Catalan side also committed 17 fouls and picked up 2 yellows – hardly casual. Bearing in mind all the injuries afflicted on Barcelona players, this is one of the strongest Barcelona starting XIs that Martino could have sent out.

Huge credit is due to the Ajax team and even more so, to Frank de Boer. The boss had declared the previous day at the press conference that the Dutch side will be looking to play their own game and stay true to their style. His team went out on Tuesday night and did exactly that.

There are teams who have opted to take the trodden path against Barcelona – to defend deep with two lines of 4 or 5. Delay conceding as much as possible, and when you get possession, counter quickly and try to score. Teams like Chelsea, Inter, Milan and Real have all implemented these tactics against the Catalan side and seen relative success.

de Boer however, knew that the very Ajax style that Michels had brought back in the late 60′s and 70′s is one that could counter Barcelona’s tiki-taka efficiently. One of the most decisive (and perhaps less-known) tactical developments of the Michels era was the birth of pressing and de Boer – a child of the Ajax system who would go on to become a Barcelona player – understood that once the Barcelona players were closed down, they had little options to pass to and could make mistakes and lose possession.

This was a recurring theme in the first half. Every time Barcelona tried to play out from the back, the entire Ajax team would close them down, playing into another famous Dutch concept – space. They would hunt in packs – mind you, Ajax played a high line defence – and make the pitch as small as possible for the opposition. But when Ajax were in possession themselves, the wingers and fullbacks spread far out onto the touchline, enlarging the pitch for themselves – which is a very Michels ideology through and through. The pressing is very obvious in the screenshot below.

As early as the 6th minute, the pressure on the Barcelona defence was obvious. There are three players surrounding Xavi at the moment, giving him minimal options of what to do with the ball. Puyol is a few metres away but then he risks the ball hitting one of the Ajax players and losing possession. Further down the field, we see Daley Blind keenly marking Cesc Fabregas. Leftback Nicolai Boilesen pushing up on the further flank and rightback van Rhijn tucking in, squeezing the whole game into one side of Barcelona’s half. At the same time, neither fullbacks have relinquished marking – Boilesen shadowing Pedro and van Rhijn still keeping an eye on Neymar.

Though not visible in the screenshot, behind van Rhijn and positioned at the centreline are the Ajax centrebacks – Moisander and Veltman with goalkeeper Cillessen patrolling like a sweeper-keeper. In the entire first 45 minutes, Ajax made 33 ball recoveries within the Barcelona half and had slightly more ball possession in the first half (though this stat was then altered completely by the second half Barcelona domination). It was pressing that led to the second Ajax goal as Mascherano under pressure, made an inaccurate pass that was cut out by Serero who initiated the attack that led to Danny Hoesen striking the ball into the back of the net.

De Boer’s decision to play with Daley Blind as the anchor in midfield is one very important move. Akin to what he did with Vurnon Anita a season or two back, de Boer has deployed the left-back Blind as a defensive midfielder for the last 4-5 games already, and the results have been telling. A product of de Toekomst means that Blind has had crisp passing drilled into him since a tender age, and this showed in the first 30 or so minutes until he had to move back to defence as Boilesen went off injured. Blind’s passing in midfield gave Ajax a rhythm and comfort, as he pulled strings, constantly making himself available to his ball-playing centrebacks or to follow through on misplaced passed by his teammates slightly further up. He was performing what is essentially Busquets’ role for Barcelona.

Indeed Blind’s assuring presence at the back gave both the midfielders and the fullbacks some confidence to push up as Ajax created 6 chances in the first half compared to an uncharacteristic 2 for Barcelona.

Also worth noting, is young left-back Nicolai Boilesen’s performance which was cut short at 32 minutes when he was injured after being fouled by Pique. However, those 32 minutes were sufficient for him to make it to the UEFA Team of the Week. Viktor Fischer – who started on the left wing – was expected and hyped to cause the right side of the Catalan defence most problems but it was his compatriot Boilesen who pushed up and ran overlaps, and seemed to have a never-ending fuel of energy. All the while, he kept Pedro’s contribution to absolutely zero as the Spaniard seemed invisible for almost the whole time Boilesen was on pitch. His influence and involvement up pitch is seen by his action areas below (credits: Squawka).

The pressing pushed and pushed Barcelona back into their own half and the immense pressure on the midfield and defence meant that Fabregas and Pedro had to drop deeper to defend, mainly due to the increased attacking presence down the left as compared to the right. Neymar was stranded up top but when balls did find him, the Brazilian was dealt with efficiently by either van Rhijn or the high line of Veltman and Moisander.

The start of the second half saw the inexperience of the Ajax defence show. van Rhijn played a very poor backpass to Veltman which nearly played Neymar through and Veltman, who was criticised by his boss for not trusting the goalkeeper to deal with it, brought the Brazilian down. The foul seemed to be outside the penalty area after replays but the penalty was awarded and Xavi scored. Conceding a goal might not have concerned de Boer as much as being brought down to ten men. He immediately brought on centreback Denswil for Lasse Schone and Ajax played a lopsided 4-3-2 with Hoesen the single forward up top and Fischer slightly to the left or a 4-4-1, with Hoesen up top, as shown below. Even when forced into these circumstances, Ajax defended with a fairly high line, as seen below.

The two lines of 4 are fairly conspicuous as Ajax, even with their numerical disadvantage, continued to press whenever they did not have the ball – which was understandably more with Barcelona. Klaassen and Fischer were playing in front of van Rhijn and Blind on the respective flanks and would be allowed to move forward to support Hoesen who would try and hold up the ball. Once they lost it though, both would go snapping at the heels of Barcelona players. The decision to tap into the work rate of these two young players in Klaassen and Fischer meant that the numerical disadvantage was minimized as much as possible.

Barcelona looked to get the ball as often as possible to Neymar, who seemed most likely to create an equalizer for the Catalans. de Boer’s response to this was fairly effective, making the midfield three of Klaassen, Poulsen and Serero defend in a compact triangle as seen below, whereby the ball is trapped down that flank. The options for Neymar are limited to playing the ball back into defence or to take on the defence, solo. Overall, Barcelona tended to attack the right of Ajax and piled their pressure there, as Iniesta and Neymar both combined there but neither could break through the compact defence fully, the high line working very effectively.

As the game further progressed, we even saw Christian Poulsen operate like a libero (a concept too familiar to de Boer, a sweeper himself in his playing days) – dropping back deep to defend and then given the license to progress up field and the Dane nearly set up Davy Klaassen in the dying minutes of the match.

Conclusively, it was evident that the first half won Ajax the game – they had played their famed Totaalvoetbal as de Boer had demanded of the team and completed a famous victory, given the history between the two clubs and Ajax’s failure on the big stage in recent times. Ajax’s tactics can be condensed into three words: press, pass, play, all on a basement of creating space and equally, getting rid of it for the opposition.

Perhaps the injuries and resultant omissions for Barcelona helped in a large way, but on the day, it does not seem a fluke victory. Against a full-strength Barcelona side, the result may not have been the same, but even when playing a supposedly ‘meaningless’ fixture, on their day, that very Barcelona XI can beat teams comprehensively and credit is due where it is due, for some smart tactics by de Boer and energy, dedication and enthusiasm from the players.