Chelsea vs Barcelona - Bridge erupts with joy

Before I go forward with my analysis of the game, let me appreciate match referee Felix Brych for his outstanding performance in a game which was more intense and tiring than any others in recent times. The amount of (unfair) criticism referees get these days is way over the line. This was a match in which fans from both sides were ready to pounce on referee even for slightest error. Credit to him for keeping cards in his pocket for most of the time and players under check. Analysis after the jump.

This was an agonizing and tiring game for both sides. Barcelona have never faced a top club who played so defensively this season and they found it very difficult to break Chelsea‘s defense. Both Milan and Madrid went with an attacking approach trying to disrupt Barca’s passing game and did succeed to an extent. But this was altogether different from what they have faced this season.

Chelsea played 4-3-3 for the first time since Roberto De Matteo took charge but it was more like 4-5-1 with wingers on both sides dropping deep for defensive roles.Chelsea’s intent was very clear from the start of the game. They allowed Barcelona to have the ball were content playing in their own half. Ramires started on Left flank just like he did in Napoli‘s game to nullify the Dani Alves threat. He did a very commendable job defensively. But the advantage of having Ramires as left winger is in addition to defensive role,he was able to run forward beating Dani Alves(You can refer to my earlier post on Ramires). It comes as no surprise that most of Chelsea’s attack if not all came from left flank.

Inter Milan under Mourinho applied a very effective strategy when they played against Barcelona in semifinals in 2010. Whenever Barcelona had the ball,Milan created two layers of four men each in front of their 18 yard box not allowing Barcelona space in the midfield. If any Barca player got past first layer,he had to deal with the next defensive line. The important thing is they kept it narrow and didn’t allow Barcelona to have space in the mid-field. They had a strategy, an effective one.

Similarly, Chelsea kept it very narrow in the midfield and forced Barcelona to go wide. In case any player dribbled past Chelsea’s midfield, one of the player from defensive line would step up to deal with him(In case of Messi, this is two or three Chelsea players thus outnumbering him).They always had one extra defender to cover for the defender running with Barca player which implied even if the likes of Messi, Fabregas and Sanchez beat one defender, they still had to beat another before reaching Petr Cech. That is the reason we saw Sanchez putting it wide under pressure from Cole, a goal line clearance of Cole and many others chances which Barca squandered. This was very effective strategy and was the main reason Barcelona weren’t able to score despite having many chances.

Main problem Barcelona were having is Chelsea weren’t coming out of the shell. Although they didn’t show it on their faces much, Barca players were clearly frustrated. Their response was to shoot long balls over Chelsea’s defensive line into their forwards runs. Fortunately for Chelsea, their Centre Backs were just good enough to deal with them.

Pep Guardiola responded by bringing on Pedro Rodrigez for Alexis Sanchez thus stretching the game wide. I had expected Issac Cuenca to come on at the same time as well. Unfortunately for Barcelona, Pedro wasn’t even at his normal standards and he didn’t cause much of a concern for Chelsea.

Coming to selection of sides, one which I found odd was Mata’s.De Matteo selected him as right winger in 4-5-1. He was completely ineffective both in defense and attack. The only argument which justifies his selection is he kept the game as narrow as possible on the right flank. But is that true?

(Image from whoscored.com)

This is the average position of all players on the field. Notice Mata was the only player who was in Barcelona’s half on an average. More importantly, he was isolated from other Chelsea players. But this was hardly his fault really. This simply isn’t his kind of game. In my preview of the game I predicted Mata to be given a free role and provide be pivotal whenever Chelsea got the ball. A player like Sturridge or Torres who can beat the defenders would have been a better option. De Matteo certainly missed a trick here.

Another important detail which the image provides is Ivanovic’s position. Although Cole and Ivanovic are on same line, Cole has the pace to track back and Ivanovic doesn’t. Also remember that this is the average position so would take into account all the runs Cole made forward by virtue of Chelsea’s attacks on left flank which implies Cole was even deeper when Barca had possession. This is a cause of concern for Chelsea. Ivanovic was the culprit for 2nd goal against Napoli in the first leg because of same reason. He has to stay tight to Cahill and force Barca wide or else Barca will exploit the space between Cahill and him.

One can expect Chelsea to use same strategy in the second leg and park the bus. Of course 1-0 lead means Chelsea have the luxury to defend deeper and shut down Barca completely. The pitch at Camp Nou is only slightly larger than Stamford Bridge( Camp Nou: 105 x 68. Stamford Bridge : 103 x 67) as opposed to the general view that Camp Nou is HUGE. Ofcourse, I would prefer Torres over Mata on the right flank. One factor which will come into play in second leg is Set Pieces. With Adriano on the pitch over Pique, one would have expected Chelsea to get a goal or two from set pieces. Chelsea have Terry, Cahill, Ivanovic and Drogba as opposed to Barcelona who only got Pique and Busquets to defend the corners. But Chelsea managed only 3 corners in the whole game, all of them coming in the second half. But the long throw-in’s showed Barcelona are vulnerable at set pieces and this is one are Chelsea must concentrate on. With Barcelona against Madrid and Chelsea against Arsenal in the weekend and second leg on Tuesday coming up, it is going to be an exciting week ahead. Fun!