Barca's new adjusted attack with a two-striker system
The injuries to CGH and Alexia has seen a change in the way Giraldez wants his attack to function. I took a closer look at how the striker has been affected.
A big thank you to FJ (@AnkaraHansen) for the commentary and advice for this article.
In the last couple of months, there has been a slight shift in Barcelona Femini’s regular attacking structure with a debate over who should be starting: Asisat Oshoala or Geyse Ferreira. The two are Barcelona’s nominal No. 9s and each of them has brought their own variations to the current system. However, this is partly enforced because of the injuries to Alexia Putellas and Caroline Graham Hansen which raises the question: how have these critical injuries affected the attacking structure?
Their standard 4-3-3 system is a guideline for the players’ given starting positions; the attacking setup is constructed with a mix of versatile and specialised attackers. The need for these types of profiles becomes clear once you see the rotations and movements these players take up during their games. The introductions of Geyse and Salma Paralluelo have injected a directness into Barcelona’s attacking methods so far, bringing a counterbalanced movement to the team’s play.
A lot of these movements were provided by Alexia Putellas last season when Jenni Hermoso led the line. The former Barca striker played as a false nine, dropping into pockets of space, dragging players out of position, and opening up the central slot for Putellas to drive through and make late third-player runs. This partly helped the wide players in Caroline Graham Hansen and Mariona Caldentey effectively play a freer role, particularly Mariona who tended to drift inside like clockwork when Putellas made those aforementioned runs. The Fridolina Rolfö left-back experiment was important for providing the width given the inward movements of Mariona, giving Barcelona a different reference point if required.
In contrast, the 2022/23 season saw changes with new personnel being added and a slight tweak in the team’s attacking style. For context, they lost out to Olympique Lyon in the UEFA Women’s Champions League final last season thanks to a concerted effort from Sonia Bompastor to stifle their build-up and in turn disrupt their attacking patterns. Barcelona’s phases of play are all linked and if there’s trouble at the back then it is very likely to affect the general patterns of play going forward.
The injury to CGH was no doubt a major turning point. The Putellas injury already had resulted in a need to change how the midfield operated, but Hansen was the driving force behind the way they created chances. To tackle this issue, the replication of the Putellas role has come in many forms so far through Aitana Bonmati, Claudia Pina, and Patri Guijarro.
This in turn has affected the central striker position. The role of the centre-forward was mainly to facilitate the front line and attacking midfielder, to create space and opportunities for them and find space for themselves in attacking positions in the box. The system with Hansen in the side created a direct source of crosses and goals which allowed Marta Torrejón or Lucy Bronze to play in an interior position, leaving the entire right flank to her. Now, there is a similarity with Salma in the side, but the Spaniard is much more of an inside forward and would benefit from an overlapping presence given her tendencies to play closer to the box next to the central striker.
Jonatan Giraldez attempted to re-create the same dynamic through Ana-Maria Crnogorčević, but her game is more suited to her off-the-ball movement into the box than her on-the-ball skills (heat map below). AMC currently has 7 goals and 4 assists in 908 minutes which bodes well, but the capacity to occupy a flank is much higher with CGH. This has affected both Oshoala and Geyse in bringing vital individual qualities to the team, where their main positioning tasks seem to be relatively similar.
Giraldez has instructed his strikers to take up certain positions in the final third; the 4-3-3 transforms into a hybrid 3-4-1-2/3-3-4 formation with two strikers. This has nominally been with one winger and the striker playing in a split striker position to allow the attacking midfielder to drive forward and make central runs. The other winger and full-back provide extra attacking support. In essence, Giraldez wants numerical superiority to overcome most opposition structures that want to overload Barcelona’s attackers. The most used formation against Barcelona has been the 5-4-1 (22%) this season, so ensuring there are extra attacking reinforcements gives Barcelona the edge.
Now, the split striker formation is important when it comes to the current profiles of strikers. Both Geyse and Oshoala have the capacity to play as ‘position pullers’ – moving players out of position to create space for teammates, but what I’ve found interesting is their general movement to achieve this. It gives Salma space to drift into the interior channels, playing a lot more centrally and thus creating the two-striker system.
Geyse is a centre-forward that prefers to play in the channels vertically, looking to link the midfield and attack together. Coupled with her pace, Geyse is very good in 1 v 1 dribbling situations which means her ability to pick up the ball with her back to goal, turn, and then drive forward is her best asset. You can see Geyse’s movement patterns in her heat map which signifies her activity across the final third.
However, the Brazilian’s core strength is her unheralded ability to create up-back through passing sequences and be able to turn into space to receive a return pass or take up good goal-scoring positions. This creates movements and spaces between the lines that not only bring defenders out of position, but also give her teammates space to drive in to occupy vacant dangerous spaces.
Take this example against Real Sociedad where Barcelona are attacking down the left side. Geyse pulls out to that flank and brings her marker across to open up a big space between the two central defenders for one of the midfielders to exploit. Once Geyse receives the ball, her impressive hold-up play comes into play and she’s able to turn and drive into the box, bringing across more defenders and opening up a central corridor for Aitana to utilise. The ball is then passed to Barcelona’s Number 14 who scores.
This goal by Bruna shows Geyse’s off-ball movement and how that one run across the centre-back opened up enough space for Bruna to cut inside and take on the shot. The gap between the opposition's central defenders was wide enough to shoot and curl it past the defender. It’s these smallest of movements that often create the pivotal chances and that are the triggers for Barcelona’s positional rotations.
Nigerian striker Oshoala has been a mainstay of Barcelona’s attacking repertoire for a number of years now and has been a standout profile amongst Barca’s intricate playmakers. Oshoala’s main competency is her positioning – choosing the right places to be positioned where she can threaten the opposition backline.
Another part of her inclusion in the side is her line-breaking runs behind the defensive line. While the likes of Aitana, Alexia, and co. are constantly moving, Oshoala keeps her movements limited until the opportunity to make runs through the channels gives Barcelona vertical progression and an outlet. The winger that stays in the channels and becomes the second striker gives Barcelona the opening on the other side but this is where Oshoala thrives.
This pulls the opposition's defensive lines out of position to create space and confusion between the players’ marking responsibilities. Because of Barcelona’s constant positional rotations and movement, the players that need to be marked and cover-shadowed become much harder to track, and players like Oshoala can use their explosive pace and movement to be that much more threatening.
Oshoala’s positioning is in line with the Levante Las Planas defensive line, with the rest of the Barca attack a few yards shorter. The importance of the Nigerian’s positioning here is the defence is caught in two minds as to whether they should step up to close them down or hold their line. The two centre-backs on either side of Oshoala already have two Barcelona players in front of them to contend with, which puts the striker in an optimal position to find her best position in the box.
The arguments for either Oshoala or Geyse to start over each other might not be really needed considering how both players offer just enough versatility to play in specific games and even together. While Geyse might be more suited in the current system as is with her link-up play and back-to-goal work, Oshoala on the other hand brings an immense threat in behind the defensive line whilst also providing Barcelona with a focal point. In the current iteration with Salma as the main winger, it makes more sense for the centre-forwards to adjust to her movements given they have the ability to and it gives the Spaniard a platform to thrive on as well.
By that point, rivals have no let-off with whichever striker Barcelona choose, as it is the Catalan team’s ability to seamlessly switch between players and adjust the system when needed that makes them a major force in women’s football.
Photo by Eric Alonso/Getty Images