Barcelona vs. Elche: Tactical Preview of Copa del Rey Game
Barcelona's attempt to overhaul Real Madrid and prize the Copa del Rey title from their fingers starts here, at home to Elche—the side rooted to the bottom of the Liga table.
The first leg, set to take place at Camp Nou on Thursday, is a veritable banana skin given Barca's current, verging-on-a-crisis situation. Let's take a tactical look at how this one will play out.
Barca Setup
With Atletico Madrid looming on January 11, this Barcelona XI will be decidedly second-string. It's very difficult to work out who will play given Luis Enrique's rotation policy is pretty firm too, so for anyone, this is a bit of a stab in the dark.
Jordi Masip will fight Marc-Andre ter Stegen for a spot in goal, while Jeremy Mathieu, Martin Montoya and Marc Bartra all look set for a role. Youth and experience is set to mix in midfield, with perhaps Xavi steering an inexperienced ship. Sergi Samper, Rafinha and Munir El Haddadi are all in with a shout.
The basic shape, as ever, will be a 4-3-3, but hopefully "Lucho" will sprinkle some more experienced starters into the XI to try to kill off the game. Luis Suarez could use another goal.
Elche Setup
Fresh off a surprising 2-2 draw with Villarreal, in which Elche went two goals down but recovered in style, Fran Escriba will be reluctant to change too much.
The 4-2-3-1 / 4-4-1-1 shape looks set to remain, with the impressive Jonathas up front, and Escriba will hope he can bring Pedro Mosquera into the holding-midfield department should he be available. One of Mario Pasalic or Adrian would drop out.
Rodrigues, Victor Rodriguez and Faycal Fajr played just behind the striker against Villarreal and may have done enough to get another run-out.
Key Point 1: Breaking Down Deep-Set Formation Issues
Barca have had consistent issues this season breaking down deep-set formations and low-blocks, and the bad news is that's exactly what Elche will bring to the table. It's a less organised version of what some can muster, but it's frustrating all the same.
A look back across la Blaugrana's dropped points this season (Real Sociedad, Celta Vigo, Getafe) prove they do, at times, run out of ideas, though they appear to hit the woodwork an inordinate amount of times on average too.
It's not a new issue that Barca get bottle-necked outside the opponent's box, but what could change is the reaction: Rather than just blindly strum away, hoping but not expecting against another stubborn team, a temporary switch in formation could see Lucho free up more players in more space.
A 4-2-3-1 look with a No. 10 in behind a striker and two proper wide players to stretch the pitch would be ideal, or even a three-man defensive line in full could push the wing-backs higher and retain a two-man presence.
Enrique needs to tinker a little more on the pitch and during the game, rather than just with his XIs.
Key Point 2: Jonathas vs. the World
Jonathas has been a rare bright spark in a difficult Elche season. The bottom-dwellers have found goals exceptionally hard to come by for two main reasons: Firstly, manager Fran Escriba is tactically sound but understandably cautious, and second, they lack a creator of any kind.
But Jonathas is a striker who can sniff out chances for himself—a la Carlos Bacca—and his goal tally of seven in the league so far is impressive given the dearth of service available to him.
Against Barcelona, and in fact against any team, it comes down to whether or not Jonathas can carve out his own chances and carry the offensive load. La Blaugrana will hold a high line susceptible to an accurate early ball, and hitting the space behind the full-backs early is always an avenue for success against the Catalan club.
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