How to Build a Better Team (and have fun doing it!), part 1

By: Isaiah | May 19th, 2008

Now, I will admit right here that I considered titling this post “Defense Against the Dark Arts” or some such nerdical nonsense, but changed my mind in order to protect my good name. Then, obviously, I went ahead and made a Harry Potter reference by posting the picture above. Great. And yeah, for the record, I do like the Potter series, but no, I’ve never written any fan fiction. So stop planning your comments around which powerful ancient wizard Yaya Toure reminds you of.

Onward and upward, since that’s the only direction to go after that start…

There is a lot of nonsense to filter through to figure out something about where the club is headed at the end of this season. The final points tally is in and the only thing left is the May 26 friendly date with Al Ittihad in Jeddah, so let’s go ahead and start to sift through what most are calling the “wreckage” of this season.

Third place with 67 points with a final record of 19W-10D-9L, 76GF 46GA (+33GD). What is considered egregious is finishing 15 points behind Real Madrid and losing to them twice in a single year. Whether or not RM captures a crown in so doing, there is going to be hell to pay in the Camp Nou. For the moment, however, let’s examine the season as a whole, compared to several recent season.

2007/2008: 67pts 19W-10D-9L, 76GF 46GA (+33GD)
2006/2007: 76pts 22W-10D-6L, 78GF 33GA (+45GD)
2005/2006: 82pts 25W-7D-6L, 80GF, 35GA (+45GD)

So a series of declining years is a fairly obvious trend. It’s hard to argue with the bare numbers if you’ve only got eyes for the highest prize. Looking beyond just the declining point totals, there’s the question of overall league parity that crops up. Obviously Levante and Murcia, clocking in at 26 and 30 points, respectively, were not up to snuff and can be considered fairly terrible by most standards, but otherwise the point totals for the rest of the teams are fairly constant.

42-43-43-44-46-46-48-48-49-50-52-56-57-61-64-67-74-82. The largest gap in points earned is between the 1st and 2nd place teams (8pts), so it’s hard to imagine more parity than that in this day and age. One could equally argue that this means the top teams in La Liga are merely not as good and that the mediocrity rises to the surfaces far more easily. I am personally on the side of La Liga being better than other leagues based on personal preference for style and talent, but it stands to reason that, for the moment, England can be considered a stronger league because of European success (Derby’s 11 point haul in the EPL is an aberration, I think, but ManU only garnered 5 more points than did Real Madrid – put 13th place Getafe up against 13th place Middlesbrough and there will be, I think, few takers for the Boro to win).

The point of all that is merely to point out that what many cules have considered to be a fairly horrendous season was not necessarily that awful. Certainly is forgettable in many ways, but finishing third in the league should never be considered the end of days, especially not if it’s followed by a semifinal appearance in both the Copa and the Champions League. Still, most of the games this year left a bitter taste in my mouth and I can’t argue with that. So what’s to be done?

The first thing to consider is the defense, which will be the focus of this part. Three major signings were brought in to reinforce the back (Milito, Abidal, and Toure), yet this year’s team allowed 13 more goals than both last year’s team and the year before’s. This can be attributed both to the settling-in period required by all new signings as well as the myriad of injuries sustained by the squad. However, the issue becomes one of depth, especially now that Milito is out, so merely pushing on into next season and hoping the team gels isn’t really going to cut it as it might have before that pesky ACL operation on Gabi. According to those who watched the Murcia match, Fali* acquitted himself well on the right side, so could serve as a successful backup for the coming years, even if he’s not fully capable of stepping into the very large shoes voided by those above him. Also from the youth ranks is Marc Valiente, but no one seems to be the least bit impressed with him and I’ll admit I’ve never seen him play.

So it’s on to the transfer market to see who there is to see. Word has it that after the Champions League final (Wednesday), Gerard Piqué, a former Barcelona B member, will return to the fold and star somewhere on our back line. This (alleged) 5million euro addition could further bolster the ranks of a team currently relying on Oleguer to back up Zambrotta. What we know is that the team missed out on Ezequiel Garay, so that’s one less decently-priced player out on the market. What’s with Real Madrid suddenly getting smart and not buying mega players?

I guess some measure of sense has entered that thick head of Calderon’s, which is scary stuff if Laporta is going to turn to galacticoism into a Barcelona system. The truth of the matter is, though, that I tend to agree with Kevin’s statement that only one major name is being bandy about with any sincerity at the moment. And since we’re sticking to defense, we might as well flesh it out: Dani Alves in blaugrana? Sounds pretty hot, but only if the price is right.

The reason I say that is because spending extravagant amounts of money in order to bring in big names (synonymous with big egos, generally speaking), is a terrible idea. It’s not necessarily that buying big names doesn’t bring you championships (Real Madrid with Zidane; Chelsea with, well, basically everyone on their books; and now ManU with Tevez have won championships with recent purchases – and either Chelsea or ManU will go home with a CL trophy), it’s just that I’ve always liked Barcelona because of its ability to use the youth system, rather than the transfer market, to bolster its squad.

How much will Dani Alves cost and how much will he return to us? Is it worth getting a world-class athlete for 30million euros? Didn’t we, as Barcelona fans, deride Real Madrid for buying Pepe for 30million euros? I sure did and though you sort of eat your words when that player helps earn a championship (and was man-of-the-match in your eyes at the Camp Nou), I can’t help feeling a bit hypocritical for even considering putting that much cash on the table for a single player. While Alves is certainly an extraordinary player, will he solve the problems we have on the right side to the point where he’s worth sacrificing the GDP of a small nation?**

But the real question is, how will anyone factor into Guardiola’s new system? Will we return to a flat 4-4-2? Will we stick to the 4-3-3? Move to the Kevin-inspired 4-2-4? It’s highly, highly unlikely that a 3-4-3 or a 3-5-2 would be implemented, so we’ll just stick with the 4-4-2 or a hybrid of some sort, just to get an idea of what we’re talking about.

So who do we have and where do they fit in the scheme? Well, here are our uninjured defenders along with some personal stats:

Probably staying
Rafa Marquez: 5’11” 29 years old
Carles Puyol: 5’10” 30 years old
Eric Abidal: 6’1” 28 years old (29 in July)
Sylvinho: 5’8” 34 years old
Oleguer: 6’1” 28 years old

Probably leaving
Gianluca Zambrotta: 5’11” 31 years old
Lilian Thuram: 5’11” 36 years old

Without reinforcements, the probable losses of Zambrotta and Thuram are impossible to overcome. Put in Fali and we’ve got ourselves at least another body, but how good will he be in first full team year? Probably not that good, really, but that’s to be expected since he’s just 22 and defenders generally take a bit longer to develop than offensive players. Regardless, we’re short, we’re old, and we’re few at the back. So that means someone has to come in. I’m against spending 40million euros on defenders if we only get three, but if we can get 4 or even 5 solid role players, I’m all for it. It’s not more superstars that bring home the bacon, but rather role players.

We do need a starting right defender and a solid backup for the center, but that doesn’t require that much money. Even factoring in Piqué’s alleged 5million euro transfer from ManU, we’re talking some serious money for a right defender. If Dani Alves can come for less than 25million euros, we’re probably getting a bargain in today’s inflated transfer market, but you never know whether or not del Nido will “play nice” and personally I don’t see why he would since we’re attempting to take two of his best players.

With our left side covered for at least another year both in terms of starter and sub (assuming Sylvinho sticks around and there was little this past season to suggest that he isn’t up for it as a sub), so we need to focus on the middle and right side of defense. These are our most pressing issues and solving them will bolster our attempts to further integrate the youngsters up front as well as promote some of the other ones (Gai Assulin and Thiago). If we’re going to go on a spending spree, it should be on solid defenders with a future. No stopgaps, no one coming through for one year. Rather, players who are going to give it their all and for several years. Growth must be allowed, so perhaps some chances should be taken (Pique could be considered a chance, I guess)

No doubt those at the top have studied a little more tape than I have, so I’ll leave a lot of the scouting to them, but when there are names bandied about, I’ll have my say about them.

Coming soon: Midfield, then Forwards. And yeah, I’m leaving the Eto’o/Henry debate for last on purpose.

*Whose real name is Rafael Romero Serrano, apparently.

**If there’s a country on earth with a GDP of 30million euros, that is a very, very poor country. However, if the GDP is 30million euros per capita…holy flying spaghetti monster!

PS. So, just to be clear, the “Defense Against the Dark Arts” reference was an allusion both to Real Madrid and the concept of galactico-ism. Just in case that wasn’t clear.