barcelona played napoli in the ucl round of 16 . i had done barcelona ganes before and i dont think that anything has changed but i expected a fight from napoli . i dont know about gatusso but i dont think he had watched barcelona's game's much . the italian's are called the masters of tactical football but i didnt find any great tactical understanding from gatusso because he just couldnt gauge the length of pitch and the distance between his lines .
both the teams operate with 4-3-3 formation but they can change depending upon the situation of the game . first off napoli with the team that gattuso selected barca knew that they couldnt get in the running game against napoli .secondly with the front three off insigne,mertens and callejon they knew that they couldnt play a high line to they dropped back deep and got numbers behind the ball whenever they lost the ball . barcelona played a patient game when they lost the ball and didnt went chasing trying to win the ball back . there things that i was disappointed with gattuso's napoli . they knew that they didnt had height in the ball and barca had dropped deep to deny them space behind the back four so they needed to change the way they tried to get the ball in the box . if you had watched the game closely then you would had seen that the distance between the lines was way more than 12 yards which gives the defender to take proper actions .it is very natural the bigger the distance between two players the more time the ball takes to reach to the intended player and in that time the defense can take necessary actions . the distance between the midfield and front three should had been narrower that between 8 to 10 yards which would had enabled a slick passing game. secondly napoli were just not slick on the ball . the trouble with napoli is that barcelona could sense the danger and could take evasive action .
the reason i am disappointed by gattusso is that the way barcelona operate . they are just messi and messi . the game just flows through him . griezman played in this game and i was reminded of oscar in the brazilian team who use to play around neymar . his job was to fill in the blanks . he will go wide if neymar comes inside and if he stays wide then he stays in his midfield position . the reason barcelona lost the la liga this season was that they just couldnt offer anything new . it was just messi and messi . he operates from the right side and there is no left side offense from barcelona . there is no offensive build up from the left side . if messi needs to be effective then barcelona need to play like the way they played for their 2nd . barca build up from the left which left messi in a 1 on 1 situation with his opposite number. that is what they did when they won the treble when neymar was there .
i think messi is mid 30's and i think he should have a game sense and he needs to let others share the ball and let them combine . there were two instances in the game in the first half where on semedo and de jong made the runs deep in napoli's half . but they halted there runs just because first reason messi wasnt there and the second reason being that barcelona are not coached to exploit such situations . whenever you see somebody free up then you need to coach then as to how you can exploit that position . how do you exploit spaces and who will make runs and support the runner and how will they do it . yes i know that messi is one of the best players and this little man is the best passer of the ball and most importantly even if he surrounded by two players then he knows how to work the space between those players and how to negotiate with them but then he too should realize that football is a team game and if needs to be effective then he needs his teammates to be effective . most importantly barcelona dont let anybody from the midfield to get beyond suarez and messi .secondly they need to let griezman and suarez combine which in turn will only help messi .
i was disappointed by gattuso because let me tell you i dont know what he was telling to his players or what his instructions was he passing .most importantly what he should had realised at the half time ( which he should had realized earlier . had he done that we would had a better game ) that the game that he had set up the team wasnt working . secondly he hasnt got any height in the box . he should have had bought milik earlier than later . the impact he had on the game could be seen .there was a target man in the box at the end of the cross because of which the fullbacks couldnt cross the ball and when they tried to work the ball inside they were not getting successful . i was diappointed in gattusso for not changing earlier which he should had done .
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