Valencia pressed from the off creating a spate of decent chances and Barcelona rode their luck in the first half with Pinto fortunate to stay on the pitch. The visitor’s volatile goal keeper had raced to cut-off Soldado and he appeared to handle outside the box preventing what could’ve been deemed a goal scoring opportunity but much to the chagrin of the packed home crowd, the referee waved play on. The Catalans found their groove in the second 45 and it was Valencia’s turn to play from the ropes. Miguel felled Thiago in the box and Messi was tasked with converting the resulting penalty kick. Diego Alves who has a very impressive penalty saving record flung himself to the left to parry away the little maestro’s 56th minute spot-kick. This was an eventful game of two halves- more accurately- a fantastic eventful game of two halves. Starting line-ups Valencia started the game in a 4-4-1-1 shape with Diego Alves in goal, a back four of Rami, Ruiz Alba and Miguel. Albelda and Banega started in central midfield flanked by Piatti and Mathieu. Jonas played just behind Soldado upfront. Barcelona started the game in a 4-3-3 shape that had Pinto in goal, a back four of Puyol, Pique, Mascherano and Abidal. Busquets, Thiago and Fabregas played in midfield while Cuenca, Sanchez and Messi started upfront. Valencia pressing Barcelona as is customary, had majority of the possession but I haven’t seen a side press the Blaugranas this season better than this team and their calm on the ball under what was sometimes frantic pressure from the visitors was admirable. Unai emery’s team has a very impressive record at the Mestella this season with only 2 losses a handful of draws one of which came against Guardiola’s men in the league. In that game, Valencia exploited the 3-4-3 Guardiola had...

My first thought after watching this game was that Paul Scholes will definitely be the first name on the team sheet for United’s next game which happens to be at Stamford Bridge. My second thought- maybe not, after all United’s still managed by Fergie who can be notoriously unpredictable- he did substitute Scholes against Liverpool despite a stellar performance. The point here is that Scholes was brilliant on the night and his majestic range of passing, vision and game reading provided the edge for United. Stoke has a reputation as A-list destroyers and as merited as that tag is, it doesn’t usually happen for them as much away from home as it does at the Britannia stadium. Man-City lost to Everton and with Man United level on points, you can seat back in a reclining chair and buckle up because it’s now game-on in the race to the finish line. Starting line-ups Manchester United started the game in a 4-4-1-1 formation with Ben Amos in goal, a back four of Smalling, Evans, Ferdinand and Evra. Scholes and Carrick played in central midfield flanked by Park and Valencia while Berbatov started just behind Hernandes upfront. Stoke also started the game in a 4-4-1-1 shape with Sorenson in goal, aback four of Wilkinson, Huth, Shawcross and Wilson. Palacios and Whitehead started in central midfield flanked by Pennant and Whitehead while Jones started just behind Crouch upfront. Early exchanges Stoke came with a simple game plan, the sort that many of the lesser opponents (no disrespect to Stoke) employ at Old Trafford- defend deep, remain compact and play on the break. They did that well early on in the game and by the quarter-hour mark for example United had out-possessed them without necessarily getting in behind their defence, in fact United didn’t have a single shot on target at that...

A good week got even better for the Anfield outfit and even though Dalglish and his team might have shuddered at the thought of playing both Manchester clubs in the space of four days, they came out on top in both ties. After eliminating the top two sides in England in a season where the prospect of ending trophy-less is ever so real as much for both Manchester clubs as it is for anyone else, the Kop army might just start to believe again. Liverpool didn’t play like they’d done midweek, in fact they looked out of sorts, panic-stricken and a tad bit leggy for long spells especially in the first half as Paul Scholes pulled the strings in midfield for Man United. That didn’t stop them from taking the lead albeit against the run of play through a Daniel Agher header that illuminated De Gea’s aerial frailties once more. Starting lineups and formations Liverpool started the game in a 4-5-1 shape that had Reina in goal, a back four of Kelly, Skrtel, Agher and Enrique. Carragher, Gerard and Henderson started in midfield while Downing, Carroll and Maxi played upfront. Manchester United started in a 4-5-1 shape with De gea in goal, a back four of Rafael, Evans, Smalling and Evra. Carrick, Scholes and Giggs played in midfield with Valencia, Park and Wellbeck occupying the forward berths. Mirroring the opposition’s shape Kenny Dalglish’s tendency to mirror the opposition’s formation in these big ties is well documented on this site and once again, he stuck to that notion. Charlie Adam was over-looked for a stellar defensive performer in Carragher and this tactic was probably made on the presumption of Rooney’s involvement. Had that been the case, we would have seen Carragher playing deeper and deeper as Rooney pushes forward to form a 3 man central defence. Instead, since...

A couple of months ago, I wrote a how to beat Barcelona series and I suggested the 4-2-3-1 as the best possible formation to get the better of Barcelona. Well, at that time it was, but those days are long gone and one man’s introduction is responsible for that change, his name-Cesc Fabregas. I got a couple of negative comments when I suggested that Fabregas was not going back to Barcelona to replace the ageing Xavi because they do not play in the same position. Xavi likes to control the game from deep while Fab prefers a more forward position, infact Xavi despite having the most passes in the champion’s league this season has only had 18% of them as forward passes with a staggering 82% going backward or horizontal (statistics courtesy of opa stats). It’s that sort of stat that got me convinced that Guardiola didn’t view Fabregas as a natural replacement for Xavi. Anyhow, the Blaugrana’s boss has managed to fit all his midfielders in one formation and that tactical transition is the very reason Barcelona is struggling in the league (It’s hard enough to win a league trophy when a team is in a tactical transition never-mind the fact that the closest title challenger is as good as Real Madrid). Ironically, it’s the very same reason they are triumphing over Real Madrid in the clasicos. Formation Variations Guardiola has played so far Now, we are going to zero-in on the biggest games of the season so far; the two Clasicos, the Champions league tie away to AC Milan and the World Club Cup final. Last season, Barcelona played a fairly straight-forward 4-3-3 and even though Mourinho is being castigated by the press suggesting that he learned nothing from last season’s Classicos, the dynamics have changed, it’s like the rules have been altered...

Wanted: a worthy rival for a decent clásico. Ask here for details. The galling banner mocking Madridstas might have been justified at the start of the game but after 90 minutes a worthy rival had been found. Marca had written about a rift between Mourinho and senior players and the stage seemed set for a drubbing. Mired in controversy, the special one was booed at the Bernabeu over the weekend in the latter stages of the game against Athletic Bilbao by a large portion of the home crowd. This Clasico couldn’t come at a worse time for Madrid but sometimes the old adage holds true; the best thing to do after getting thrown off a horse is to get back on right away. Suggestions of this being a Wile E coyote v the Road Runner were rife, simply put, so close yet so far- the metaphor might have been a tad bit amusing , and yet there’s some truth to it. After a spirited 40 minutes, Mourinho’s side fell behind to two goals from Pedro and Alves and it all looked doom and gloom from that point on. However, Barcelona took their foot off the gas and Mourinho’s side crept back into the tie. Ultimately the Bernabeu outfit was knocked out of the competition. Starting line-ups and formations Real Madrid started the game in a 4-4-2ish shape with Iker Casillas in goal, a back four of Arbeloa, Ramos, Pepe and Coentrao. Diarra, Alonso, Kaka and Ozil started in midfield with Ronaldo and Higuain upfront. Barcelona played a 4-2-3-1ish shape with Pinto in goal, a back four of Pique, Puyol, Abidal and Alves. Busquets, Iniesta and Xavi played in midfield while Messi, Fabregas and Sanchez played upfront. Real Pressing Real Madrid started the game in the manner we’ve gotten accustomed to seeing this season, pressing high up the pitch...

I think it’s fair to say that Mancini’s men have had to endure a tougher January fixture list than any team across Europe and while they’ve dropped the ball in cup competitions, they’ve managed to come out unscathed in the league. Emmanuel Adebayor was unavailable for selection because he is still on Manchester City’s payroll. Mancini on the other hand was without the African contingent and Vincent Kompany which gave Savic the opportunity to prove that the blunder he made against Liverpool was a one-off. By the end of the game though, he’d provided his critics with more ammunition. Starting line-ups and formations Manchester City started the game in a 4-2-2-2 shape that had Hart in goal, a back four of Richards, Savic, Lescott and Clichy. Barry and Milner played behind Silva and Nasri in midfield while Aguero and Dzeko started upfront. Tottenham started the game in a 4-2-3-1 shape that had Friedel in goal, a back four of Walker, Kaboul, King and Ekotto. Modric and Parker played in central midfield with Van der Vaart ahead of them. Lennon and Bale played on the flanks while Defoe was the furthest forward. First half The first half proved to be a workman like affair rather a stellar one, not because the teams were not playing good soccer but simply because both teams try to use the same strategy in games and in turn they ended up cancelling each other out. These sides try to dominate possession early on and press high up the pitch thereby forcing the opposition to play deeper and deeper. While City tried to press high up the pitch, Spurs pressed right back and the possession was shared between the sides with neither team dominating proceedings. That said, City got the marginal advantage in this back and forth battle with more shots on goal and a...