Why Andres Iniesta Is The Best Midfielder In The World

Crowned as the Best Player In Europe in the 2011/12 season by football governing body, UEFA, Iniesta has ended his long wait for an individual award. He has been overlooked time and time again by the duo of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. This piece is an insight into my opinion on why I think Iniesta should be regarded by all as the world’s best midfielder, above the likes of Xavi and Andrea Pirlo.

Dribbling

Aside from Lionel Messi and, there is no finer dribbler in the world than Iniesta. Once Andres has you locked in a 1-on-1, there is no escape. He will weave inside and out, trying to knock you off balance so that he can capitalize on your mistake. And when he is running at speed at you, the only option is to bring him down, if you can. He will pass you with his infamous and signature move ‘ La Croqueta ‘, a simple, but yet incredibly effective skill where he just drags the ball from one foot to another. Not exactly a swift combination of step overs or a perfectly timed roulette, but the success rate is very high. His agility and balance on the ball is unrivalled. He will run at a crowd of players and will come out with the ball. As Italy and Croatia found out.

Consistency And Big Game Mentality

When was the last time Iniesta had a bad game? A match where he was so poor, that you would notice. I can’t think of one. Andres always produces a 7 – 10 / 10 performances, no matter what the result. And when the game really matters to the not only the club, but the city, or even country, it is then when El Cerebro comes alive.

UEFA Champions League Semi Final 2009 vs Chelsea – Produces an outstanding first time strike from outside the box to send Barcelona to the final.

UEFA Champions League Final 2009 vs Manchester United – Starring in the middle on the park alongside Xavi, Andres grabs a sublime assist for Samuel Eto’o to open the scoring and draws many plaudits for his outstanding performance. Wayne Rooney declared after the game that “Iniesta is the best player in the world”.

World Cup Final vs Netherlands – Scores the winner in extra time to settle score and crown Spain as the world champions.

El Clasico 2010/11 La Liga Nou Camp – Grabs the remarkable assist for Xavi’s opener and works in sync with Messi and Xavi for the whole game, resulting in a 5-0 win.

UEFA Champions League Last 16 vs Arsenal – Produces a moment of brilliance as he dances between defenders on the outskirts of the box and makes an inch perfect chipped pass through the gap between Gael Clichy and Samir Nasri for Lionel Messi to open the scoring. He emulates the same move again to allow Xavi to put the Blaugrana in front.

El Clasico 2010/11 UEFA Champions League Nou Camp - Makes a sensational pass for Pedro who coolly slots the ball home.

El Clasico 2011/12 La Liga Santiago Bernabeu - A Man of the Match performance from Andres sees Barcelona kill off their rival in a 3-1 victory.

UEFA Champions League 2011/12 - Voted Player Of The Tournament despite Barcelona not reaching the final

UEFA Euro 2012 - Voted Player Of The Tournament once again, beating Andrea Pirlo to the award.

Spanish Supercup 2012 vs Real Madrid First Leg, Nou Camp - A majestic performance capped with an outrageous assist for Xavi to seemingly end the tie.

Vision

This video speaks for itself.

Ball Control

You must be wondering right now. " Ball control, what's so special? ". Ball control is very vital in the modern game. Your first touch decides how much time you have on the ball. A good touch and you have plenty of time to make a decision. But a bad touch and you find yourself with little time to make a decision. Iniesta has the technique to change the angle of an attack, giving defenders a serious problem. The ball seems glued to his feet, as if he has a magnet in his boot. He just never seems to be rushed on the ball and always has time on the ball.

Barcelona Tactics Revealed

Ever wondered what makes the Catalan giants the team they are? Have you ever wanted to see beyond the usual ' pass, pass, pass ' assumption? And find out why Yaya Toure, the Premier League's Xavi, was sold to accommodate a 21 year old Sergio Busquets? Well, wonder no more. I am here to explain how the magnificent Barcelona system works. Every small detail will be covered in this article. From their famous passing game to a libero. Here we go :

Formation

Since Guardiola's arrival in 2008, the Barca structure has been under a lot of change. Team selection, positions, and formations. Here's what the Barcelona team looked like before Pep stepped in :

The attack was spear headed by the famed Holy Trinity : Samuel Eto'o, Thierry Henry, and Lionel Messi. Three of the most deadly forwards on the planet, on the same wavelength, cue defensive destruction.

The midfield was made up of two maestro's in Andres Iniesta and Xavi who will dictate the tempo of the game and will construct attacks. While Yaya Toure will cover the defensive duties as the holding midfielder.

The defence was made up of one of the most under rated players ever to play the game, Gianluca Zambrotta, new signing, Gabriel Milito, patriot, Carles Puyol, and steady eddie, Eric Abidal.

Barcelona finished in 3rd place that season, behind winners, Real Madrid and Villareal in second. 18 points off the title and 10 off second place. Something needed to change.

So Frank Rijkaard was replaced by Barcelona B coach, Josep Guardiola, a club legend who amassed 263 appearances for the club in his 11 years of services in the pivote role in front of the defence.

And this was what he did :

Lionel Messi was relieved of his duties as a right winger, who would cut in to shoot or cross, and was give the false 9 role or the free role. He would not be glued to the last defender and wait for a player to sent him through a la Inzaghi, but he would come in deep to collect the ball and play in other players. This caused havoc for defenders. They couldn't mark him because if they did, they would leave a huge gap in defence for Eto'o, Henry or any of the central midfielders to exploit. They were powerless to stop him.

Gerard Pique was bought back from Manchester United and as Gerard had the philosophy of Barcelona already drilled into him at his time in La Masia, it would be a breeze to enter the first team.

Sergio Busquets was promoted from the B team to the first team, replacing Yaya Toure in midfield and given the pivote role.

And we all know what happened next.

Keep Possession

" The one who has the ball is the master of the game "

- Xavi Hernandez

Sensei Xavi is right. There are two purposes to keeping possession for long periods of time : Attacking and Defending.

Attacking

• When you have the ball, you can dictate the tempo of the game.
• You can tire the opposition by making them run all over the park for long periods of time. This leads to lapses in concentration due to physical and mental exhaustion, which leads to goals.

Defending

• If you have the ball, the opponent cannot attack.

Since Pep Guardiola's arrival in 2008, Barcelona has never had less than 50% of possession in a game

High Pressure

Barcelona apply high and intense pressure to get the ball back from the opposition.

• This destroys the opposition physically and mentally. They break their backs to get the ball off Barca, and when they do, they find themselves surrounded by two players hounding them in possession.
• If the ball is won in the opposition's half, then you are around 20m to goal. Instant danger. Winning the ball in your own half. No danger.
• But only pressure them into mistakes. Do not give away silly fouls.

Guardiola installed a rule into his players : the 6 second rule

When they lose possession, they have 6 seconds to get it back. If they don't get it back, they regain their positions.

High Defensive Line

Barcelona aim to play their football inside the opposition's half in every game. Playing a high defensive line :

• Pushes everyone further forward, literally the whole team is in the opponent's half, which compresses the space in which the opponent can play in.
• Offside trap, when Barcelona put intense pressure on defenders, since they are technically deficient, their only option is to knock it out to the frontman. With that high defensive line, 8 out of 10 times the striker will be caught offside.

Look back at the 6 second rule picture and look at how high the defensive line is. At 3 seconds, there is only 1 player in their own half. At 4 seconds, there is 2.

Triangle Passing

Here is an example of Barcelona's triangular passing against Arsenal :

Look at Xavi coming deeper to create another triangle and offer himself as an outlet

There are now more triangles and the players can combine again to get themselves out of the situation

Creating Space

Players have to drift to draw their marker out. This opens up another passing option and another lane.

Example :

Once Xavi has picked up the ball, he instantly moves in the free space in the middle of the park. Pedro makes a quick look to his left to examine the situation around him and sees Dani Alves unmarked on the right side.

Pedro moves in deeper to draw left back Gael Clichy out of position and open up space for Alves to run into.

To this day, I have no idea how Zlatan Ibrahimovic missed that chance. just look at Arsenal's defence's shape,

Libero

Busquets plays a very important role on the pitch. You may not notice, but Busquets is the instigator

Take a look here :

Busquets has dropped from CDM to SW. Here's why :

• Notice how Gerard Pique is already pulling off wide. He is covering for Dani Alves who has read the situation as is already pushing upfield. The reason why Dani Alves is allowed to push up so far upfield is because he has Pique covering him. And Pique has Busquets covering him.

False 9

Messi is not a striker. Messi is not a winger. Messi is not a midfielder. Messi has no set position. That's what makes him so hard to mark he will roam the field, daring defenders to come out of position and mark him. And before you know it the ball is in the back of the net.

Example

Zlatan Ibrahimovic Goal Vs Arsenal

Messi takes a quick look over his shoulder and sees Zlatan making a run in behind him.

 Messi takes two steps forward. TWO STEPS FORWARD. And draws Vermaelen out of his position and creates a gap behind him. Xavi sends a lofted ball over the defence to release Zlatan.

Zlatan now has a lot of time and space to make a decision of where to shoot.

TWO STEPS CREATED ALL OF THIS








Hopefully this piece gave you a greater understanding into the world of Barcelona. Feel free to leave a comment below on what my next post should be. I write for you.