Barça’s options in the Clásico without Pedri

Drastic change of plans for Xavi. The technician of barca I was hoping to have Pedro for the Clásico this Sunday against Real Madrid at the Camp Nou. The canary is a serious doubt, as MD has alerted, noticing bad feelings during today’s training session that have prevented him from completing the session, retiring hastily. The Terrassa coach will now have to modify the approach of him and the eleven, in which there was a chance that he would play from the start despite coming out of injury.

1

TACTICAL DRAWING

Four midfielders or leave it at three

The first thing you will need to do is choose the system. Whether to play with four midfielders or with the usual 4-3-3, with which he would save a half. The coach’s initial idea was to place Pedri as an interior player and insert Gavi on the far left.

2

GAVI, THE ‘SUBSTITUTE’

He would go from extreme to his interior position

Now, without the canary, the coach has the alternative of moving Gavi to the interior position accompanying Busquets and De Jong and resorting to a striker, because he has plenty, to cover the left winger.

3

CONTINUE WITH FOUR MIDFIELDS

Sergi Roberto or Kessie, inside

The other option would be to keep Gavi on the wing and use one of the midfielders on the inside, like Sergi Roberto, whose natural position is on the left inside, or like Kessie, who has had many minutes in Pedri’s absence.

4

PLAY WITH THREE FORWARDS

Ansu and Ferran, the choice for the band

Playing with three forwards, Xavi has material. Raphinha, who has scored goals in the last two LaLiga games, and Lewandowski are permanent and for the other extreme, the coach should choose between Ansu Fati or Ferran Torres. Neither of them is having continuity and regularity, to the point that they have not trained in the first list of coach De la Fuente.

5

PAUL TOWER

A letter that Xavi does not resort to

He also has a less usual but more natural possibility, such as using Pablo Torre, with an offensive style similar to Pedri’s, also a coach, but who is not having minutes this first season. It is not a resource or a solution that he has used regularly.
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6

EXPERIMENTAL SOLUTION

Eric García in the middle and Gavi as a winger

And finally there is an experimental one, which Xavi has not used since he arrived, but which has been present in Barça’s technical comments for a long time. It would be to move Eric García to the center of the field, either forming a double pivot or to allow Gavi to continue on the left wing, strengthening the defensive system.

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