Why 4-3-3 Should Be the Go-to Formation for Luis Enrique's Barcelona in 2015/16

Luis Enrique's Barcelona climbed to the summit of European football in 2014/15 but will find it much harder to stay atop their contemporaries in 2015/16.

There is a reason why no team has yet to defend the Champions League in its current form, and that includes a Manchester United team with Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Cristiano Ronaldo and Pep Guardiola's Blaugrana vintage.

The manager is unlikely to want to change things too much given the sheer amount of success brought by the team during the last campaign including an unprecedented 50 wins from 60 games played.

Aside from the odd tactical switch forced upon Enrique—Pedro in a wing-back role against Paris Saint-Germain springs to mind—the typical Barca 4-3-3 template served him well.

So why bother looking to reinvent the wheel if it isn't necessary? To coin the age-old phrase "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

The Catalans have relied on this type of formation since the days of Johan Cruyff and it is a style that is more suited to teams who wish to play a possession game, as Barca do.

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Athletic wing-backs are a necessity, given that Barca's variant heavily relies on the consistent shuttling of Jordi Alba and Dani Alves down the flanks.

Thus, space is created as defensive opponents are pulled wider than they would like. In doing so, the interchangeable front three of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez are able to wreak havoc at will.

It can often leave the defence a little light, but Sergio Busquets can always drop into a back three should the need arise. Such is the fitness of both wing-backs that Barca aren't normally outnumbered at the back for long.

Clearly that ability to get up and down effectively is a prerequisite for Enrique. Allowing him to maximise the potential of the shape as required.

We saw during the last campaign how well the formation worked when Barca played on the counter-attack too. The ability to stretch defences was notable with both Alba and Alves plus Ivan Rakitic particularly to the fore.

Indeed, the Croatian's presence in the system was just as vitally important to its success in a counter-attacking sense. 

Think of his arrival late in the box against Manchester City to score the goal to take the Champions League tie away from the Citizens, or a similar undetected run to open the scoring against Juventus in the Champions League final by way of examples.

It brought a different dimension to the system that had relied upon Xavi Hernandez's pass and move to that point. 

Barca still lean heavily on their short, sharp passing game and making as many triangles up and down the pitch as possible.

The difference now is that the Catalans can be so much more vertical in possession, as Rakitic and Rafinha look to power forward and release at the earliest opportunity. "Quick turnover ball," to borrow parlance from our rugby cousins.

The system allows for a main striker and two wingers, although you would be hard-pressed to describe Neymar and Lionel Messi as wingers in the traditional sense.

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@YouMataToMe @Higginbotham05 @ManUtd 4-3-3 with opposite footed wingers is better, Barcelona for example

— SchweinFlu (@ChristopherMUFC) July 8, 2015"

Both the Brazilian and Argentine captains play as "inverted" wingers, cutting inside when necessary. Such movement allows for the overlap of the wing-backs, and it is this precise movement that then creates the space centrally and why Luis Suarez benefited so much during the latter part of the last campaign.

Further, both Neymar and Messi will loop back into midfield as necessary thereby creating confusion among opposition defences who need to decide in a split second whether to follow their marked player leaving space in behind, or "stay at home" and risk giving either player room to work in.

Not only that but the extra body or two in midfield allow the Blaugrana to hunt in packs as they used to do with aplomb under Guardiola.

It is that work ethic and the expert adaptation to it by Rakitic that allows the system to flourish again, after perhaps becoming a millstone around the neck of the side.

Gerard Pique famously once noted, per La Gazetta Dello Sport, via Stefan Coerts of Goal.com:

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We occasionally tended to exaggerate our possession based stye of play to the point where we were slaves of our own philosophy. 

[...] If you are under pressure, there's nothing wrong with a long ball every now and then. That changes the game and could give you some rest and oxygen. You have to keep improving and developing in football or you will become predictable.

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Improving and developing the system and utilising playing staff that are prepared to put a shift in week in and week out is precisely why Luis Enrique's variant has been so successful.

Nando Vila of Fusion noted the reasons why Real Madrid's own 4-3-3 hasn't been up to the mark when compared to their arch rivals:

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Ronaldo and Bale are two of the world’s most explosive players. They are strong, fast, and have great ability when it comes to attacking teams in the open field, with space to run and stretch their legs. 

They’re two players whose instincts tell them to run forward whenever possible, their minds is set one thing: scoring goals. And they’re both actually really good at that, especially Ronaldo.

What they are not good at is drifting backwards to help teammates in the link up play as the team tries to bring the ball out of the back.

Gareth Bale is especially bad at this, while Ronaldo is average at best. This puts huge pressure on the midfielders to cover an enormous amount of space in transition.

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Transitionally, from defence to attack, is where Barca have got much sharper since Enrique took the top job. And it has reaped appropriate dividends.

But the system in its entirety is moribund if each member of the team isn't following the minutiae and specifics of his role to the letter.

Enrique doesn't appear to suffer fools gladly, therefore you would expect to only see those players willing to sacrifice themselves for the team in the starting XI. There is simply no time for passengers.

Barca are fortunate in that they have players of sufficient intelligence to be able to adapt to other systems if required, but when a particular methodology has brought home a second treble and in such style, it would be folly to play any other way.