When Tito Vilanova replaced Pep Guardiola as Barcelona’s first team manager, he was expected by most to merely pick up where Guardiola had left off. It was assumed that Barcelona would keep their very same identity, with little to no change in their principles and style of play. With the players in the squad and fabulous youth system, the manager made little difference at Barcelona, some said.
But Tito Vilanova’s first few months as a manager have completely disspelled this notion; while they may have been subtle, there have been changes and the personal mark of the new manager can be clearly seen in a lot of aspects. The squad is pretty much identical (with Alba and Song as the only new additions), as is the basic way of playing football – Barcelona’s famous tiki taka style. But by watching any of the matches Barcelona played this year, it is evident that this is not the exact same team that dominated football under Pep Guardiola for four seasons.
One of the changes some people have noticed is that Barcelona have been playing many more long balls under Tito Vilanova, especially ValdAi??s and the defenders. While short intricate passing remains the club’s identity on the football pitch, long balls haven’t been frowned upon this season as much as under Pep Guardiola. But that’s a relatively minor change, and not that can be said to affect the team’s identity in a very significant way. The most important changes Tito has brough is revealed in the way Barcelona have grinded out some wins in the final minutes when all seemed lost (for instance against Granada and Sevilla).
Pep Guardiola was a fantastic manager, but also a very stubborn idealist. He
The football on display doesn’t catpure the imagination as Pep Guardiola’s side this, it’s definitely not as magnificently flawless and beautiful. But Tito Vilanova’s version of Barcelona has shown a quality that Pep Guardiola’s somewhat lacked: the ability to win ugly, to grind out matches. In fact, the win at the Snachez Pijuan was the first time in the club’s history that Barcelona won a match after being down at the 88th minute. Tito Vilanova’s Barcelona doesn’t feel as peerless and untouchable as Guardiola, they don’t suffocate every opponent like they used to – this was especially evident in the three El ClA?sicos of this season – but they know what they need to do to win. It’s basically a less exuberant yet more experienced and ruthless Barcelona. The opponents don’t feel as suffocated as before, but they still usually end up on the losing side.
Tito Vilanova must take a lot of the credit here for his boldness during matches and the belief/fighting spirit he has instilled. He has fully abandoned the 3-4-3 often used by Guardiola as a primary tactic last season, but shown more willingless to change his default 4-3-3 during matches when the situation demands it – in clear contrast with Guardiola, whose changes happened mostly in the final 15 minutes and didn’t bring anything new tactically.
It is clear that the quality of the football has gone down a few notches, but the truth is that Barcelona seem poised to win yet another La Liga trophy and compete for the Champions League. This is not the magical Barcelona of Pep Guardiola, but the Tito Vilanova version of Barcelona is quite fearsome itself and promises to try and retain its domination over Spanish and European football.
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