We’re used to viewing the modern Barcelona as a team of idealists. A squad of artists lead by artists. The picture of the Barcelona of the past is romanticized, covered in glitter and of course, in trophies. It’s a team of technical geniuses, passing maestros and a style of play so deeply rooted in the players’ character that it’s impossible to imagine the team without it.
However, if we glance down to look more closely, the Barcelona of late hasn’t been that. Pep Guardiola was the last real idealist to lead Barcelona, and even his last season ended on a negative note. Tito Vilanova was forced to make compromises due to personal reasons and as many issues came together at the final stretch of the season, Barcelona failed to compete against its greatest rivals. The league title was a bandage to the wound, but the issues remained. The side hadn’t won a single big match, not against Real Madrid, not against PSG, and most certainly, not against Bayern Munich.
Barcelona wasn’t competitive. It could score beautiful goals and run over a mid-table league side, but that was that. That was different.
Many viewed Tata Martino, too, as an idealist when he first stepped on Catalan soil. He had a mystery surrounding him: not many had heard of him, fewer had watched his teams play. His name was mentioned alongside the likes of Marcelo Bielsa – the father figure of so many modern idealists – and when his first Barcelona home match ended in a 8-0 friendly victory over Santos, the Barcelona basking in the summery sun raised its hopes up. “This is our Barcelona.”
And it didn’t end there, Barcelona has played beautiful football. It has scored a ridiculous 111 goals in all competitions so far, less of the burden has been on Messi and the team’s attacking force has left many opponents disarmed. Yet, concerns have been there, lurking right around the corner.
Barcelona hasn’t always played the famous tiki-taka, they haven’t always had 75% of possession, frankly, they haven’t always looked like the sparkly Barcelona of the past. They have been more direct, they have used the counter attacks more, they have even defended slightly deeper to nullify the opponent’s counter-attacking threat. Barcelona has adapted, more so, Tata Martino has.
Adapting, however, isn’t an entirely familiar phenomenon in Barcelona. During the greatest years of its history, the side got used to making its opponents adapt, not the other way around. Barcelona would force their opponents to back off, push them into a corner and end up celebrating after the final whistle. Not always, but more often than not, at least if we are to believe the memories sweetened by time. Barcelona wouldn’t drop deep, it wouldn’t make tactical fouls or long diagonal passes. It would stand by its philosophy as long as it had to, no matter what the outcome.
The outcomes, unfortunately for the idealists, developed in the wrong direction. More physical sides would push Barcelona aside and the Catalans would lose not only aerial but all physical battles. The middle of the field would become overloaded, the likes of Xavi and Iniesta would no longer enjoy the space they used to, and suddenly, Barcelona could no longer make its opponents adapt. That’s when Barcelona had to adapt, and that’s when Tata Martino arrived.
But it wasn’t all smooth. A good indicator of the shock in Barcelona is the early-season El Clasico. Tata Martino brought on Alex Song, a defensive sub, and that decision didn’t go down well with a section of Barcelona’s fans, but possibly won them the game, at least helped them to. Such pragmatism wasn’t a familiar feature at the Camp Nou.
In fact, when Barcelona traveled to Manchester to face City, many similarities to the Clasico lifted their head. Martino started with four midfielders and the game plan – Barcelona’s best defense – was to keep the ball, emphasize control even more than usual, and kill the game off with individual brilliance, or more accurately, with individual moments of brilliance. And although both City and Real Madrid had their chances, Barcelona won both matches conceding only once over the 180 minutes of football. Against some of the greatest attacking forces in the world. Tata had made Barcelona competitive again.
Although speculation for the sake of it is worthless, some could say that had Barcelona faced Manchester City last season, they wouldn’t have won. They didn’t beat Real Madrid either. They were slaves of their style, unable to vary it, thus unable to compete against sides that knew just what they were going to do and had the power to stop them.
This season, it’s all different. Barcelona have beaten AC Milan, Real Madrid and now Manchester City, and although there were bumps on the road – in Amsterdam, for example – when it has mattered the most, Barcelona has been up for the challenge. Compare that to the previous season, when AC Milan was the only “big club” Barcelona managed to beat, and the difference is huge. Why? Because Barcelona adapts.
Only Martino’s next season will tell what kind of direction he really wants to lead this Barcelona to. The summer transfer window will tell a lot as well, the rumored interest in a striker is a clear indicator of what the Argentine wants in his team. As of now, the Barcelona boss is under unimaginable pressure to win, and because the current Barcelona – with its deficits in the defense and the midfield pressing – can’t always beat its physical opponents with tiki-taka alone, Martino has had to find alternative ways to win and break the opponents down. A packed midfield, the occasional diagonal and a deeper defense line are just that: alternatives. And as far as results go, Barcelona has no reason to complain.
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