Match Review: Real Sociedad 1 – 4 Barcelona | Key tactical changes that got the Blaugrana fired up. Xavi’s midfield square.

Barcelona have won their first La Liga match of the season thanks to a fantastic 4-1 victory against Real Sociedad at the Cauldron of Anoeta on Sunday night. Robert Lewandowski’s first two La Liga goals and the timely substitution of Ansu Fati got the Blaugrana up and running in a difficult stadium after being held by Rayo Vallecano in a frustrating stalemate last weekend.

It was a wild first half. Xavi set up in an ultra-offensive 3-2-4-1 designed to suffocate the Sociedad attack with tight spaces for counter pressing in the middle of the pitch. Barca got off to an electric start when Robert Lewandowski scored inside the first 44 seconds. It was all thanks to a timely pass by Pedri and with Sociedad pressing high up the pitch, Alejandro Balde made a brilliant solo, lung-bursting run down the left flank and a beautiful assist to Robert Lewandowski for his first competitive goal for the club.

Alexander Isak cancelled that out only a few moments later. Frenkie de Jong was caught in possession and a through ball made its way to the young Swede in the right channel and he was able to lift it over the onrushing Marc-Andre ter Stegen under pressure from Eric Garcia. At this point the insanity was just starting as both teams turned a football match into a transition based up-and-down action with constant counter attacks and big chances for both sides. David Silva and Kubo were key for La Real.

It could be argued that Barça’s attack oriented formation was a bit suicidal defensively from a certain perspective which left them wide open against a fast-moving, dynamic Sociedad attack. But that pushed Sociedad high up in Barca’s half and Barca had the opportunities to show their pace and skill on the counter attacks, an unusual thing, but they did it well considering their speed up front. Somehow no goals came about out of all this action.

Marc-André ter Stegen made two incredible saves in the first half, one of them being an effort from Mikel Merino, while Take Kubo failed to hit the target on the rebound. The second one was when La Real thought they had gone ahead through David Silva’s shot which was diverted wide off the post at the last minute. For Barca, Ferran Torres and Lewandowski each missed a big chance on the other end. There was also a lot of physical play and plenty of fouls, and the crowd only added to the craziness with the constant roars - Anoeta is a tough place.

The end to end feel play didn’t stop initially in the second half although the pace did slow down eventually as Sociedad couldn’t keep up the same pressing intensity while Barça started getting more time on the ball and not allowing the counter attacks.

Real Sociedad had taken the lead on a set piece but an offside flag denied the hosts a goal when Brais Mendez swung a deep free-kick into the box that Robin Le Normand stretched for – he may not have reached it but a host of La Real players in offside positions were too close to Ter Stegen’s line of sight. There were about three fakes before the freekick was taken and Barca were a bit lucky there.

As the pace of the game slowed, the two defenses began looking more organized and Barcelona with their higher technical level started finding more spaces with their passing and movement. Xavi turned to Fati from the bench with just under half an hour left and that was the key substitution of the entire match. The youngster’s sensational backheel half volley played in Ousmane Dembele to fire the Catalans back into the lead. Minutes later, Fati found himself in a perfect position as he received a pass from Pedri in the box and knocked the ball into the path of Lewandowski, who again made no mistake from close range for his second goal of the night.

As the quick fire double killed Sociedad, Imanol substituted off his three best players Isak, David Silva, and Take Kubo. Xavi, going into the final 15 minutes with the advantage, tweaked the system to Barcelona’s usual 4-3-3 to make his team more organized at the back.

Now with more possession and no threat from Real Sociedad, Barcelona kept attacking looking for the game-clinching fourth goal, which came with 10 minutes to go when the roles reversed from the team’s third goal, with Lewandowski turning improvised provider with a backheel flick for Fati to calmly finish. Sociedad tried to get a second goal in the dying moments but Barça stayed organized, and the final whistle brought them all three points at Anoeta.

The squad depth, Barca’s available firepower, and Xavi’s excellent game management made the difference in the second half. A huge away result and a brilliant night for Lewandowski and Ansu Fati.

Let’s have a closer look at how and why the match played out as it did along with player ratings.

Xavi’s square in the center of the field! The hidden double pivot. We’ll come to striker support later, but first the structural support of the block. With 3 at-the-back and 4 in the center, the system is catered to short passes rather than Xavi’s 4-3-3 where Busquets is the single pivot with two high interiors forming a 2-3-5. With the high interiors immobile between the lines, it’s reliant on line breaking passes from Busquets. Frenkie de Jong, on the other hand, uses short passes and progressive runs during the build-up.

In Xavi’s 3-4-3 square, Frenkie was the pivot and was supported by a deep controller for the build-up as there were already two players higher between the lines other than the front three. Initially, the controller was Gavi but then Xavi quickly swapped Pedri into the role. The Dutchman fell asleep in the action that led to the equalizer but he eventually found the rhythm and passed the ball near flawlessly for the rest of the match. He had a 98.4 pass completion rate. With a WhoScored rating of 6.94, he was the decisive factor in holding together the structure of Xavi’s formation and gave Barca the solidity against a brutal Real Sociedad press.

Frenkie’s stats:

62 attempted passes

7 tackles

1 interception

1 clearance

2 key passes

1 cross

3 long balls

1 progressive dribble

Pedri - the controller: With a WhoScored rating of 7.66 he carried the ball well and could always be relied on to transition the team from attack to defense and the other way around. Playing deeper than usual, he played the perfect partner to Frenkie de Jong in the double pivot. The canary’s intelligence put reflection, knowing what to do at all times to keep the ship afloat. He did everything well, bringing calmness in possession with a 91% pass completion rate and directed the play masterfully.

Pedri’s stats:

78 attempted passes

3 tackles

3 interceptions

2 clearances

2 key passes

9 long balls

3 progressive dribbles

Why did Pedri show significant improvement from the last game?

In the game against Rayo Vallecano, Pedri had a total of 33 passes compared to 78 against Real Sociedad and pass completion of 81% vs 91% against Sociedad. The answer lies in the structure of the team and where Pedri is positioned as well as the player profiles he’s teamed up with.

In a 3-4-3, he was initially placed higher up the pitch but quickly instructed by Xavi to swap places with Gavi to play a deeper role in the build-up. This changed everything for him. Playing with a more athletic Frenkie de Jong who can cover space in behind, Pedri had the security to play his game with freedom. It could be argued that Xavi has finally discovered his strongest position which is more Xavi-esque than Iniesta-like. Xavi also flourished when Pep Guardiola gave him the freedom to drop deep with Busquets in a sort of double pivot during the buildups in 2010. The attributes of Iniesta’s positional play will come with more experience. The downside of playing deeper for Pedri were that there were no through balls, but then there weren’t any through balls against Rayo either. This is something missing as through balls were a somewhat significant part of his game the last 2 seasons averaging 0.2 through balls per 90. But everything has a positive side and with deeper play, his long balls have sky rocketed averaging 6 per 90 compared to his seasonal average of 2.

Gavi. Gavi improved his rating to 6.72 from last game’s 6.15. According to Sport, ‘He was lost in the center of the spinal cord and was somewhat finer when linking up with the wings, but there is underperformance in recent days.’

Gavi managed an underwhelming 19 passes against Rayo but improved the numbers to 37 in 85 minutes against Real Sociedad. The numbers need improvement but he did start making runs in the box and made 2 key passes.

Alejandro Balde: Made the breakthrough possible with his driven run forward as Barcelona created 40% of their chances from the left flank. Lacking on the defensive side of the ball, he played as a winger and in the first action he went like a rocket and assisted Lewandowski.

Because of a lack of a proper left back in the system, Real Sociedad attacked from the flanks creating 41% of their chances from Balde’s side and that’s where Ter Stegen came in.

Ter Stegen had a very high rating of 7.42 and has been decisive in both Barcelona matches so far.

Let’s look at the attack!

The predator. Lewandowski at his clinical best to break the deadlock in the opening minute and also put the game to bed later on. He plugged in the first goal to celebrate his birthday. He helped the team with his movements and eventually scored the double. He's a 'killer' and he doesn't need much to score. Barca’s marquee signing assisted Ansu for the fourth goal of the night taking his rating to 8.26 and a MOTM.

In order to see how Xavi set up the attack to favor a striker, we have to go back in history a bit. Around 2012, the concept of the false 9 had been established across Europe. So how exactly did Spanish football shift away from the traditional center forward?

In the 2006 World Cup, Luis Aragones had fielded 3 center forwards in their second round match against France: Raul, David Villa, and Fernando Torres. Spain lost the match as they were not quite accustomed to such strong forwards all at the same time on the pitch. Before this generation, the last time Spain had such prolific scorers were about a century ago during the time of Pichichi.

As Spain was unaccustomed to using such prolific scorers, they eventually moved away from traditional strikers. This was because of the dominance of the false 9 role and everyone can guess who had the most devastatingly effective impact: Leo Messi.

While Dutch football has had the most impact on the way Barcelona and Spain play football, the country’s links with Argentina are important in shaping things the way they stand today. It was in 1947 when the Argentinians thrashed Spain through their technical 'on the ball' style by 13 goals which left an imprint.

It was the short passes and triangles that had the Spaniards mesmerized. Eventually La Liga banned foreign players in 1962 but rather than the Argentinian influence decreasing, it had the opposite effect. That’s because foreign players with Spanish roots were permitted and the Argentinians made most of that loophole.

It started with Alfredo Di Stefano who was signed by Real Madrid, snatched right under Barcelona’s nose in 1953. In Spain, the midfielders weren’t allowed to get involved in creative play and the striker would wait upfront for the ball to come to him. Di Stefano revolutionized all that and he would drop deep, pass the ball, and organize the creative play.

Then there was Maradona who was a master of spontaneity. And then came the GOAT, Leo Messi. At La Masia, when they asked Messi ‘what position do you play?’, he would reply ‘enganche’. That’s the ‘10’, but Barca would play the 4-3-3 which didn’t have a ‘10’.

Even when Barca youth shifted to a 3-4-3 diamond, the natural tip would’ve been Messi but they chose Fabregas to play that role. Messi was always fielded on the wing. It was Tito Villanova who played Messi in a central role for the first time when the Argentine was 15.

Fast forward to the Euro 2008. Aragones was still playing with two strikers. Then came the forced substitution when Villa was injured around the 30th minute and Fabregas replaced him. Spain’s passing was transformed and with it came the single striker Fernando Torres who could play like he did at Liverpool. And with all the passing superiority came the goals and the title.

At Barcelona, it was Guardiola who was getting ready to experiment with Messi in a central role. Although it's widely believed that it happened for the first time at the Bernabeu, the reality is that it happened earlier against Getafe when Barca demolished them with 6 goals. The move was reserved for special occasions. The impact of the roaming false 9 on Spanish football was cemented.

Just like Aragones was forced to make a change and came up with the match winning positional balance, this is what happened with Xavi against Real Sociedad. Busquets red card against Rayo forced Xavi to change from a 4-3-3 to a 3-4-3 square.

In came Ansu Fati as Barca looked for fresh impetus and played at the tip of the square with Gavi. Barca were playing with two 10’s behind the striker, Lewandowski. Fati set up Dembele and Lewandowski with assists to make it 3-1, before sealing the game himself with Lewandowski’s assist. It all hung in the balance till Fati arrived.

While Lewandowski is no stranger to the false 9 as he’s been coached by Guardiola at Bayern, football in some ways is moving back to the striker system with Liverpool, Man City, and Barcelona all moving to a striker based system. However, these strikers are not the strikers of old. They utilize the attributes of a false 9, yet the pairing with a 10 is the differentiator that gets the best out of them as witnessed in the Real Sociedad game.

Ironically, in Lewandowski’s second goal, Barca’s two 10s, Gavi and Fati, were exactly in the same spot, and it’s exactly where Barca needed them.

And not to forget, Raphinha played a role in all three of Barca’s goals. Pre-assists in two of them and movement created space for Lewy’s second.