The comparison of the Swans style of play to Barcelona has been made lots of times by fans and analysts this season, but mainly in vague terms like 'tippy tappy', and 'tiki taka'. This article is called The 'tiki taka' Handbook, and tries to explain the basic theory behind the style that Barcelona, Spain and the Swans try to play. It's written by a UEFA qualified coach and based on an interview with Brendan about his tactics. MUST READ IMO http://thepathismadebywalking.wordpress.com/tika-taka-football-handbook/0-complete-handbook/
Nice to see we're appreciated, John. Ta very much. Looks like your lot may not even make the playoffs this time. Progressing well year on year then. Think about that when you're trudging 'along Fabian Way on the way to uni' (from Mumbles?).
the main difference between swansea and barcelona is that barcelona in general pass it in the opponents third, and create about 20 chances a game, swansea tend to pass it outside of the opponents 3rd, and create less clear cut chances, not a pop at swansea, no team can copy barcelonas style and be as good as them
Don't disagree with that swamp. Got to remember though that there's ever such a slight difference in budgets.
i know that full well, a few seasons back chelsea assembled on hundreds of millions were reduced to defending for 90 minutes, same with inter when they won the CL. worth noting that valdes, pique, puyol, xavi, fabregas, iniesta, messi and pedro all came through the youth system... the problem with swansea is that if you pass the ball around the back for ages without the threat of either going direct through a ball over the top or hitting the channels is that opponents push up higher and higher and you dont end up threatening to score, so although you wont concede, you wont score either. you do wonder whether rogers has copied the model, or has he come up with his tactics himself?
Explains what happens far too often. Ivoralljack et al have comnented in the past about our lack of conditioning. But note one very important thing - to play the way we try to, the way Barca does, is extraordinarily taxing on both mental and physical stamina - its really hard ****ing work. In fact the only thing harder is playing against it - take last season's United v Barca as an example, United were doing Ok until the old legs of Giggs and Scholes just stopped them from pressing as hard as they were and the team in general just eased back giving Barca the tad more space they needed to shift into gear and dominate ownership of the ball. We struggle for periods when teams with stronger players with more stamina gain the upper hand. A recent example is our second half against Chelsea. Also remember that at our level differences between teams in every metric are measured in fractions - it doesn't take much of a shift to tip the balance one way or the other. We will get better by getting better, mentally sharper, athletes in our squad. And I think this explains the demise of Dobbie and others. Over the next season we will see more players we thought of as key being displaced by players that have the engines physically and mentally - plus of course the skills - to play our style. Mental stamina becomes critical in this style of game because of the tempo of the play - if you're not ticking over upstairs forget it. Rogers recent comments about McEachran not being match fit are interesting this context - does he mean physically or mentally or both.
If we could afford a better class of player we could get closer to, though never remotely equal, Barca's effectiveness in the final third. Some of our squad came through from the lower divisions so are obviously limited with what they can do. I think Buck has adapted the Barca model to suit that. We don't have the quality of player to consistently play the killer balls in the final third, so Buck reverts to the possession at all costs philosophy for two reasons. A) If we have the ball our opponents chances will be limited and B) our style is designed to try and pull the opposing defence out of shape and eventually tire them into mistakes to let us in. Staying up is vital for us. The longer we are in the PL, the better the class of player who can be attracted and afforded. This will obviously help us with creativity in the final third and give us more urgency and penetration to go with what we've got. It could be a potent mix. I won't feel safe until we have the 40 points which will keep us up but I think the next ten points are going to be difficult because every team is going to be scrapping for points for one reason or another. I think we will do it but it is no foregone conclusion. Three points at Stoke would be a huge step for us if we can manage it.