What makes Barcelona so good?

[MikeF]

work rate coupled with that makes them as good as they are though

i know a lot of team with a better work rate than barca

without class they can put their workrate into their ass

Care to share them with us then?

 

[Fame Monster]

Xavi.

Incredible talent, incredible work-rate.

 

[Mancio]

i know a lot of team with a better work rate than barca

without class they can put their workrate into their ass

Care to share them with us then?

i'll answer to you with a question. how many english team do you know that have a worst work rate than barca ??

i believe in England there are at least 50 teams who have a better workrate.

 

[FantasyIreland]

i'll answer to you with a question. how many english team do you know that have a worst work rate than barca ??

i believe in England there are at least 50 teams who have a better workrate.

Well we aint one of em.....

 

[MikeF]

Care to share them with us then?

i'll answer to you with a question. how many english team do you know that have a worst work rate than barca ??

i believe in England there are at least 50 teams who have a better workrate.

How the bloody hell can you answer my question with a question in itself?

I agree, Stoke are miles better than Barca

 

[Tez Tosterone]

Care to share them with us then?

i'll answer to you with a question. how many english team do you know that have a worst work rate than barca ??

i believe in England there are at least 50 teams who have a better workrate.

Often workrate is confused with athleticism and muscularity - though not always.

Andy Gray famously once said that Barca would struggle in the EPL with sides like Stoke, citing Rory Delap's throw- ins.

Therein lies the fallacy about how absolutely wonderful our Premier League is. We have a lot to learn at club level about preparing young players to develop skills that will one day get anywhere near sniffing distance of the World Cup trophy.

Agreed?

 

[Unknown_Genius]

A fantastic youth system. There is just none comparable to Barcelona's.

 

[sweep]

The most obvious thing they do better is the fluid off the ball movement, any Barca player with the ball is likely to have short pass options in the direction he's facing.

 

[MCFC BOB]

Xavi.

Incredible talent, incredible work-rate.

This.

Valdes, Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi... what a spine that is.

 

[avoidconfusion]

Sounds like a stupid question I know, but hang on for a second.

I watched the game against Arsenal, and like everyone (with exception for the occasional blind Arsenal fan) was blown away by just how good of a football team that is. Their game against Real Madrid was of the same quality.

Arsenal is a very very good team, one of the best in Europe, and they could not keep the ball for more than a few passes.

My question to all of you is: how do they do it?
And I'm not looking for answers such as "becasue they have this and that player", but more of an analytical take on it if you could. If your answer still is "because they have Xavi and Iniesta", well then exactly what is it they do?

If it is possible to narrow it down to a system or pattern, could it not then be successfully used by another team?


I'm not a Barca fan, but they do play the most beautiful game I have ever seen, in almost 40 years of watching European football. Yet the manage to not only play with style, they score a lot of goals and concede very few.

I'm not good at analysing teams like this, but for me the most significant aspect of their play is that they very rarely give the ball away, which makes it very frustrating for opponents, breaking them down mentally. So, what do they do in order to keep the ball?

All their players want to play for the team and give their all for it.