Barcelona lacks a plan B. When unable to wear their opponents down, they simply lack inspiration.
On 62 minutes, with Barcelona needing two goals, coach Pep Guardiola decided to bring off €40 million+ man Zlatan Ibrahimovic for a kid - Bojan Krkic - who missed a glorious chance late on. It was a patent admission that his gamble to sign the inconsistent Swede in the summer – losing 34-goal Eto’o in the process – had failed and that analysis was backed up further when centre-back Gerard Pique was employed as a striker.
For all Barcelona’s fluid passing, neat movement and attacking prowess, they lack a Plan B. It is a criticism that has often followed the great attacking sides in the game, especially those who remain faithful to one particular style of play.
However, truly great sides need to be adaptable and when a bus is parked in front of goal, they need to find a way past it. Guardiola’s decision to employ Pique up front bore fruit with the Spaniard’s wonderful goal in the 84th minute, but he had the opportunity to make changes once Inter had been reduced to ten men an hour earlier. After Thiago Motta’s dismissal for what can only be described as a ‘face push’, Guardiola had licence to attack and change his formation, but he chose not to until the break.
Even when it became obvious that Barca goalkeeper Victor Valdes was going to have an easy night, Guardiola still only brought on Maxwell to give the side more width when he replaced Gabriel Milito at left-back. Then, when he did make his second roll of the dice, Ibra was withdrawn and Thierry Henry overlooked for 22-year-old Jeffren Suarez.
What may prove to be Henry’s last appearance on the Barcelona bench could also be viewed as the moment that the Barcelona boardroom discovered Guardiola’s limitations as a coach. He will learn from the experience, yes, but perhaps the realisation that he cannot rely on his two main central strikers will force his hand in the transfer window this summer. The United fans should also reconsider their choice of Guardiola as a possible replacement for Ferguson. Without a doubt, Pep Guardiola was humbled by a far more wily and experienced manager, Jose Mourinho.
Mourinho was well prepared in order to completely nullify Messi and the Barca team as a whole. He exposed all the limitations of the Barca team while playing to his team's strengths. Barca seemed to lack inspiration against a highly disciplined Inter. Inter Milan played with extreme discipline and aggresiveness that was chaneled into them by their coach who had great attention to detail.
Cristian Chivu was deployed on the left of Thiago Motta and Esteban Cambiasso, helping out Javier Zanetti whenever Dani Alves wandered into the area while also keeping an eye on Lionel Messi inside. Samuel Eto'o and Gabriel Milito were frequently seen wider than they usually would in a two-striker set. Meanwhile, Wesley Sneijder was anchored in the middle of the park, acting at times as a withdrawn centre-forward rather than a trequartista, and also tracking back in Xavi's footsteps.
Once again, despite some early trouble when Cambiasso was booked for a foul on Messi who had beaten him in a one-on-one situation, Inter provided a steady dam in front of the central defenders. Rarely did Messi or one of his team-mates threaten to shoot (on one chance, Julio Cesar tipped the ball wide with a great save), and it must be noted how Inter did not concede free-kicks from dangerous positions throughout the game, an encouraging display of discipline.
When Motta - who ironically had warned Inter about the Barcelona players' penchant for theatricals - was sent off for a slap to Busquets' face, the Nerazzurri quickly reorganised. Chivu was moved inside to partner Cambiasso (and was lucky not be shown a red card for a retaliatory foul near the end of the half), Eto'o effectively moved outside to left winger and the result was a 4-4-1-1 with Sneijder and Milito switching responsibilities in the centre and on the right.
The amount of dirty work the three forwards did was later shown in the fact they were all taken off once it became more a matter of keeping men behind the ball than threatening to score, although one can make a case for always keeping at least one man up front to prevent an opponent from pouring forward with all available bodies.
Barcelona never had a real chance to up the tempo and to accelerate, as they like to do, because there was simply no room to do that, and because Inter had possession for such a short amount of time that you could not really take the ball away from them and start a break before they had reorganised.
Forced to carry the ball around the very visible wall that had been erected at the 25-metre line, the home side were frustrated in their attempts to find a direct channel, as they managed to do very late when stand-in striker Pique scored despite the addition of Ivan Cordoba as a third central defender. Reopening play with a pass to the flanks, trying to pull the edges of Inter's defence apart, was not effective, as Maicon and Zanetti were given a lot of help from their team-mates, among them the late subs Sulley Muntari and McDonald Mariga.
*source - soccernet.espn.go.com
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