PEDRI’S POSITION | GETAFE 0-0 BARCELONA | TACTICAL ANALYSIS | BORDALÁS VS XAVI

Goalless draw between Getafe and Barcelona in a match with 2 keys. The first was Pedri’s position. This is the first play of the game in which we see how Maksimovic jumps on Oriol Romeu, appearing Pedri behind.

During the first minutes of the game, the Barça player received between the lines, with no midfielder covering him and the center-backs didn’t get out of position.

The other threat due to Pedri’s position was Raphinha. The Barcelona winger attacked space, leaving Gastón Álvarez in numerical inferiority.

Bordalás’ solution was to move Maksimovic to the defensive line, playing deeper as a center-back. Getafe switched to a 6-3-1 and Xavi didn’t adapt to this shape.

Barcelona continued with 5 players in the build-up vs 1 from Getafe. The only solution to progress from this structure was with a center-back carrying the ball and looking for a combination, like in this play in which Oriol Romeu had a great chance.

In the second half Pedri dropped to receive, although Getafe, being so compact, forced Barcelona to be very precise. A possible solution to counter this block was to attack the gap between full-back and center-back, something that Barça didn’t try.

Xavi’s decisions didn’t help the team, replacing all the midfielders with attacking players, losing the control of the game, something that has already happened to Xavi in other games.

With these substitutions, Barcelona defended much worse, conceding more transitions like this one in the last play of the game.

Getafe’s aggressiveness was also important but the main problem was Xavi’s decisions. Barcelona needs to improve as soon as possible if they want to have a good start to the season.