Barça will debut tonight at the Coliseum facing Getafe. The Bordalás team will be a real touchstone to see the premiere of the Barça team 2023-2024. Gündogan, Lewandowski and company before a block that if it stands out for something it is for the organization. Here my 5 tactical keys for this match:
Although during the preseason he has already given some clues, today's will be the first competitive eleven of the course. Except for surprise, we will once again see a Barça square in the middle of the field and, also except for surprise, this will be made up of Oriol Romeu, De Jong, Pedri and Gündogan. In addition, the inconvenience of Gavi during the last weeks directs this election. Another different thing will be what happens during the year because, most likely, it is that the Barça coach rotates a lot in these positions depending on the game and the moment of form.
With an opponent that, a priori, will situate themselves in a 4-4-2 or 5-4-1 and that will completely cede the initiative, the context will demand that the central defenders be upright with the ball and divide on the front line. We'll see who Xavi decides to start, but Andreas Christensen's competition for it is very likely. Be that as it may, the team will require the central axis to force the Geta forward to jump and, therefore, open up space to start building the game.
Faced with the aforementioned defense (five plus four or four plus five) and many defensive aids, the second line will have to seek the surprise effect by exploiting the spaces that the movements of the forwards can generate. In this sense, a proper name above the rest: that of Ilkay Gündogan. The most solvent signing of the Barça summer has a special ability to detect the entry spaces and to sense what is the moment and the area of the area to step on to score. Today it will be essential for the upper part of the square to be super active at the top, accompanying Lewandowski. And in this sense Gündogan-Pedri or Gündogan-Gavi have to set the tone.
With an average of 68 long passes per game, Getafe is the team that moved the most in last season. Nothing less than 20% of his game is like this. Reason why it is essential that the team is active and prepared to respond to the passing game of the first play. It will also be super important that the blaugranas are well placed to arrive earlier in the second actions that will take place. Getafe is a team that specializes in taking things from there.
This has been the pairing that he has used up front in his 4-4-2 during this pre-season. A couple that complements each other well and that is much more dynamic and agile than the ones the Madrid team had had in recent years. In addition, due to their type of game, they are footballers who take shape quickly and who can function very well in these first days. We'll see if they both start today or Bordalás decides to play with just one striker but, whatever the case, Barça will have to keep an eye on the evolution of both. The Barcelona defense will have to be very attentive to the evolutions of these three offensive pieces.
