Michael Cox at Zonal Marking has laid out his tactical preview of Saturday’s contest. His conclusion: Iniesta’s performance will be the key to the match. Of course, he had much more to say; read on for details!
Cox has emerged as one of the most astute tactical analysts of the game, and Zonal Marking has featured an extensive retrospective on the 2009 encounter between Barcelona and United, in addition to a preview of the match to come. In that preview, Cox lays out what he believes are the keys to victory.
What will the United attack force look like? Will Javier Hernandez start the match, or will he be initially sacrificed for a more complete midfield?
Will United press Barcelona high up the pitch? Effective pressing might unsettle the Catalan midfield. It might also leave space between the lines for the Barcelona attackers to run into.
How much attacking freedom will Guardiola give his fullbacks? The duels between Park Ji-Sung and Dani Alves, and Antonio Valencia and Eric Abidal [should he start] will be key.
Will Andres Iniesta shine in this match? In the 2009 final, Iniesta was much more than Michael Carrick could handle, and the United midfielder may find himself in even deeper trouble on Saturday. As Cox concludes: “The key man in this game is Iniesta. He was superb in 2009 – Rooney called him ‘the best player in the world’ after that match. Iniesta is in the nice position of being up against Michael Carrick. No offence intended to Carrick, but if he is deployed as United’s deepest midfielder, he’ll be asked to keep it tight between the lines to prevent Messi getting space, and possibly told to try and intercept any passes intended for the Barcelona No 10 too. Therefore, whilst Carrick would naturally be closing down Iniesta, he might not be able to. What happens if Iniesta moves deeper? Or moves to the left? Assuming United’s right-back is focused on dealing with Barcelona’s left-winger, it’s difficult to see how Iniesta wouldn’t go free and be allowed too much time on the ball.”
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