Madrid defeats Barcelona -- Here's Why

Coach Fabio Capello credits a "new attitude" for the victory. He's wrong. As we have preached for some time, attitude is not a substitute for resources. Yesterday evening, Madrid's resources on the field were superior to FC Barcelona's. Last year, as Real Madrid discovered that they did not have the players to win the big games, they learned that even when they played hard, they lost to the better teams. Discouraged, they lost to inferior teams.

Yesterday, Real Madrid won because Capello finally figured out how important speed is. Robinho, as we promised, provided the velocity needed to open the field; Van Nistelroy had space to move, and Raúl returned to being the goal hound he can be when there are other players with bigger and faster players to do the work of getting to the penalty area. Meanwhile, FC Barcelona with Gudjohnsen a disasterous substitute for Eto'o, bogged down in the last 30 meters, and their 4 able "touch" players -- Iniesta, Deco, Xavi Fernández and Ronaldinho -- spent more time bumping into each other more than doing anything else. Thuram, an equally disastrous substitute for Márquez, was out of position on Raúl's goal, and seemed lost the entire evening. Thuram was to provide more speed than Márquez, who had a difficult time with Chelsea's faster forwards. In last night's game, Márquez would not have had the same problem with Raúl or Van Nistelrooy.

Even so, Madrid's defense was porous, Messi broke through almost at will during the first half, and FC Barcelona flubbed numerous occasions, twice with little more to do than push the ball into the net.

Bottom line: the season is long and Madrid lacks depth. For those of you who have asked me if I am a FC Barcelona fan because of the case I wrote with them (i.e., a Real Madrid enemy) the answer is no. I am not a football fan, I am a strategist. Strategically, FC Barcelona has not adapted well to the loss of Eto'o; Gudjohnsen's failure will require another set of strategic adjustments. Strategically, Capello has been slow to recognize that defending field position is no longer a substitute for velocity. Yesterday, the Brazilians saved the day. (Roberto Carlos was outstanding on defense.)

Comments

[Diego Cortez]

I agree that "Attitude" is not a substitue for "resources", but, Is "speed" a substitute of "skill"?
I think that passing right, centering perfectly and being skilled when inside the goal area made the difference in the RMD-BCN match.
Of course, if you are skilled and have super velocity, you will be the king, but there are more than one example of slow players winning a match by themselves (Riquelme, latest Zidane)..........

[Ingolfur R Ingolfsson]

It is easy to point at the new guy when nothing seem to have changed for Barcelona but the injury of Etoo and the inclusion of the Icelander. However I think important players like Ronaldinho and Deco have to shoulder more blame. Their fondness of hanging on the ball too long and clogging up the middle is very easy to defend against for quality teams like Chelsea and R. Madrid. Ronaldinho was the worst player on the field in London and if Deco will ever pass to Gudjohnsen there will be a national holiday in Iceland. Barcelona have to use the length of the field and pass the ball more quickly. That's what they did very effectively last year. If you can't combine speed with passing skills and movement off the ball you won't be succesful.

[David Bruce Allen]

A Professor Analyzes Football,

Not all my readers agree with my assessment of why Barcelona lost. That's fine; in part, I agree wit both Diego Cortez and Ingolfur Ingolfsson. Slow players sometimes win games, and Ronaldinho's performance was sub-sub-sub par. But I'll stick to my velocity thesis; Ronaldo, Henry, Eto'o, etc. are my evidence. If you don't have the players to open the field, using its full length, there's no way to move the ball quickly. For Barcelona, Messi provided some, but not enough last Sunday. For Real Madrid, Robinho broke the game open. I realize he did not score the goals.

Reg

[Klaus Caspar]

I watched the second half of the match. Capello is mixing cement and Madrid is on the way to become the best defending team in La Liga. Barcelona had a number of great chances all originating from their players’ individual skills – but as a team they weren’t able to break through Madrid’s well arranged defence. Madrid didn’t give them the space. It didn’t help that Ronaldinho and Messi are faster than Canavaro and Emmerson. I’m not sure that Madrid had superior resources compared to Barcelona. Both teams have absolute top players that are skilled, experienced, and fast. But I’m sure that Capello configured his resources better than Rikjaard.

What is more important? Robinho’s speed? Or the free space he could run into? It is about pacing the players so that they are available when and where they need to be. I dare to say that RVN scored a goal he wouldn’t have scored last season at Manchester. Madrid were more confident as a team and individually – fuelled by their early goal.

Superior attitude or confidence was – like the match result – an outcome of having played better than Barcelona that evening. The root cause for the victory was the good old Catenaccio tactics in modern form. I’m not pulling stereotypes just because Capello is Italian. Maurinho is very successful with Catenaccio at Chelsea where he first stabilized the defence and then started forming a really cohesive team.

Successful clubs will be those with coaches that are able to attract the best players, choose those that will be able to play as a team, and imprint a flexible system on that team tailored to the opponents. Formations such as 4:4:2, diamonds, and pressing are already routine. But what makes the difference is the ability to execute formations in superior style which depends on athletics (speed is only one dimension) and anticipation. Klinsmann managed to get to that level with the German team during the world cup.

The next higher level is forming teams with the ability to attack in a style that cannot be anticipated easily. To say that Grasso and Lahm are goal scoring defenders misses the point. It’s about a team providing more options than the defending team can block. In that respect Barcelona is ahead of Madrid even though they lost on Sunday.

[Fernando R. Vila]

I totally agree with the assessment about speed. It has been proven in other tema sports like american football and in rugby. What isimportant to recognize is that speed is not just about the running speed of players, is first and foremost about speed of movement of the ball.
Zidane in his heyday was not a slow runner at all, his speed was deceptive because of his very long and graceful stride. And his greatness begun with his ability to initiate the receipt and movement of the ball with one touch less than most players, and continued with his ability to quickly see the best possible course of action to unclog the play.
Riquelme, being a great player, does not have the speed, that is why he is playing in Villareal and not in one of the great teams.
I do not want to discount attitude either. The best strategy takes you nowhere if the players are not motivated to pay the price necessary to win. On the other hand, a well designed strategy gives the palyers confidence, which feeds the winning attitude.

[Nando Vila]

I agree with the comment above that collective team speed is what is needed, and not individual fast runners. Robinho, whilst possessing good individual speed often takes too long to make a decision, or wastes times with useless stepovers that get him nowhere and this harms team speed tremendously. On the other hand, a guy like Reyes (not as fast as Robinho in straight line speed but still fairly quick) is a much more direct player, with longer range of passing who can thus hurt a team's defense much more rapidly than Robinho, whose main threat is his dribbling. A player that can open a defense up through passing is much more dangerous than a player who is a pure dribbler.

Van Nistelrooy has never possessed world class speed if you clock him with a stop watch. But he has a very rapid finishing movement (with any part of his body), which gives him an advantage in the tight spaces in the box. It's no surprise that out of Van Nistelrooy's 150 goals for ManU (in 219 matches, an amazing strike rate) only 1 came from outside of the box.

In conclusion, I disagree that actual individual speed is the be all and end all. I value skill, speed of thought, awareness, and agility much more than straight line speed.

Nando

P.S. I also have to wholeheartedly disagree with you on the notion that Roberto Carlos was 'outstanding in defense'. You yourself said that Messi broke through almost at will, guess who was supposed to be marking Barca's RW?

[David Allen]

Thanks for your comments. The bottom line is that more and more often velocity is marking the difference between teams. Gio van Bronckhorst is getting less playing time at FC Barcelona because he is not fast enough to cover certain forwards.

As to my particular evaluation of player performance in specific games, I agree with you all that this is quite open to discussion. I will try stay away from evaluating individuals and stick to the team issues. The temptation, however, is sometimes too great.