Finally, we have a new manager!

Barcelona have announced Gerardo “Tata” Martino as their new manager, after Tito Vilanova stepped down due to a relapse of his cancer. The Argentine, who managed Newell’s Old Boys last season, was incredibly successful in Paraguay (with the NT and the league) and Argentina. Most recently, he lead the Rosario outfit to the Copa Libertadores semi-final and won them the league as well.

The main problem, with pundits and some fans alike, is that he lacks European experience. Yet, the club and all his mentors and inspirations believe he will be incredibly successful with Barca. Many described Barca as the ‘Dream Team’ Tata needed in order to execute his tactics and gain incredible success. But the questions cules ask is, “Who is Tata?”

Simply put: Rosario legend. Bielsista. Constantly evolving. Disciplinarian.

I am no expert in Argentinean football, but have followed Bielsa quite a bit and have always loved his style of football. Even Guardiola openly admitted to taking advice and learning from Bielsa before joining Barcelona as manager. Martino has been Bielsa’s disciple for years and has followed keenly. His stints as Paraguay manager has been an evidence of that.

His aim is simple: pass, pass, pass, score when you have possession, or: press, press, press, regain when you lose possession. Isn’t that exactly what Barcelona were missing last season? Our dismal CL performances and defensive errors due to lack of pressing was clearly visible against, most notably, Bayern and PSG (against whom we barely scraped through). But, how are Martino’s tactics going to improve any of it?

Like Cruyff, Bielsa, Guardiola, Tito, Martino also loves starting the play from the back. He is a strong believer in involving everyone from the goalkeeper to the forward, in the build-up play. Being a Bielsista, he follows a bit of his Verticalidad, but with minor improvements. Bielsa follows a strict rule of coaching and strives to adapt. But Martino, has his way of coaching but can blend it in effectively with other styles as well.

What is the Verticalidad? The Verticalidad, meaning Verticality, is Bielsa’s method of coaching wherein each player in possession should have atleast 2 options in front of him to pass vertically. If we directly overlap his style of play at Newell’s on our current Barca team, the play will always have Sergio Busquets, our box-to-box midfielder at the helm.

He tracks back to be an deep-lying defensive midfielder or a pseudo-defender. This allows Alves and Alba to make their forward bursts during attacks. Busquets has the option to pass the ball, either to Xavi, Iniesta, a splitting pass directly to Messi (highly difficult, though) or to either of the advancing full-backs.

While attacking the team moves together as a unit. With Pique and Mascherano shifting roles as DMs, Busquets and Xavi as CM, Iniesta as AM, Alves and Alba as wide midfielders, Messi as CF and Neymar and Alexis (Lex, henceforth) as out and out wingers. The team presses the opponent into their own half seldom allowing them to enter our half. Even if they do, the wing-backs track back, along with the defenders. Busquets continues pressing while Xavi and Iniesta return to their positions. The wingers, Neymar and Lex, become wide midfielders and Messi remains as the lone forward, effectively switching from a 4-3-3 to a 4-1-4-1.

This would increase the team width and allow Lex and Neymar to unleash their full potential on the wings along with utilizing the pace of all 3 of our forwards to deal a lethal blow to the opponent. If I were the opposition goalkeeper, Id lose half my confidence and morale just seeing Messi, Neymar and Lex, backed by Xavi, Iniesta, Alves and Alba, rushing towards my goal!

An alternative to the above mentioned tactic could be using Cesc instead of Neymar/Lex, if we need to play a slower and more possession-oriented game. Considering Cesc can act as an attacking midfielder, and has thrived more at that position, we could effectively use him as an AM and let Messi and Lex/Neymar handle the wings. This would allow them the luxury to cut in and rush at goal without worrying too much about disrupting the team’s balance.

Cesc, Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets can attack and retreat as a quadrilateral unit, allowing the team maximum pressing without giving the opponent too much space. Since now we have two pacy and skilled wingers, who can act as inside forwards, the full-backs need not make those tiring runs from one end of the pitch to the other. They can easily just shift to wide midfielders and assist the midfield quadrilateral in dishing out enough chances to the two inside forwards.

This would save a lot of the team’s energy, while ensuring a high level of pressing and Verticality. The main concern being that this Tata’s way of playing demands a high level of physical and mental strength and a really REALLY deep squad. Otherwise, we’d lead the league for the first 8 months and lose out on the title by 8 points due to tired legs in the final stages.

But one thing is certain from all that I have read about Martino’s technique: our defensive record will improve. That is the main concern we’ve had. Along with that, we will play fluid, attacking football, much like Pep’s but just with a little more tinkering and organization.

Honestly, we can speculate all that we want but in the end.. it doesn’t even matter! Martino will play the way he thinks right and rightfully so. All we cules can do is give him our 100% support to ensure he gives in his cent percent. All said and done, I am massively excited about the new look Barcelona is going to get this season and the way we’re going to play football. Can’t wait for the new season to begin already!

Benvingut Tata! Visca Baca!