So, is this a change in style? Is tiki-taka dead for Barca? Is it too soon? Discuss!

That's what happens when a pub footballer like Song initiates all the attacks.

They average the 2nd most possession in the league behind Barca, so maybe its not that big of a surprise it came from Rayo who are a decent side even though they have lost 4 games in a row.

Paco Jemez

Albiceleste wrote:They average the 2nd most possession in the league behind Barca, so maybe its not that big of a surprise it came from Rayo who are a decent side even though they have lost 4 games in a row.

That is true, but barca played against very tough opposition in la liga and in europe for 5 years and never conceded possession. So I don't see how Rayo would have done it if not for Barca themselves changing something.

Damn, I'm a bit bummed out, lol. I mean we still won 4-0 but damn.

what was the possession stats?

The last time was against Bremen in 06 from what I remember. We actually had more possession than them in 2012, in the Copa 2nd leg, but only in the 2nd half. Don't know if that counts.

Well , the team is playing like back in ronaldinho's era more than Pep's one.
tiki-taka 2008-2012 ( *2009 and 2011 mainly) is not something we are going to see again anytime soon except in some games. So let's not try to replicate that because it won't work for obvious reasons.

The team today played well but it was quite disordered when you're used to tiki-taka.

I am sure Valencia managed more possession than Barcelona 3 years ago

damn, just saw the stats, imo the barca defence is not good enough to play this way. lol imagin barca playing this way against bayern? would probably be 8-0 to bayern. why is the philosophy being changed after just one bad year? stupid.

REWB wrote:damn, just saw the stats, imo the barca defence is not good enough to play this way. lol imagin barca playing this way against bayern? would probably be 8-0 to bayern.  why is the philosophy being changed after just one bad year? stupid.

What I'm hearing is that Martino wants our team to learn how to counter attack as well, so he is going to do this quite some more against scrub teams. Defend in our own half, and then counter quickly trough the midfield up to neymar, messi, pedro. You'll get allot of 3v3 situations because the opposite team is so far up our pitch. In every match, even if we have 60/70% possession, there is going to be a time when we get pushed back. This is normal, natural, it happened in our CL season as well. Every team gets their 15/25 minutes pressure on us. In that space of time we need to know how to counter attack so we can score in as well. Nothing wrong with it.

On a sidenote: Messi and Neymar are totally in for counter attacking, they are so fast and make runs to track defenders out of position for Pedro, Sanchez, whatever. It can be pretty 'beast'. Look against Ajax, Alexis did a absolutely beast run to get defenders out of the way for messi

REWB wrote:damn, just saw the stats, imo the barca defence is not good enough to play this way. lol imagin barca playing this way against bayern? would probably be 8-0 to bayern.  why is the philosophy being changed after just one bad year? stupid.

You can't say that based on one game where Busquets and Iniesta weren't on the pitch.

And i'd rather Tata to experiment against Rayo than strongers teams.

This is always going to happpen with the shift and change going on into less pure possession minded and to be more flexible and direct ad efficient, which is more effective and more goals to win more games, I dont mind this at all

Here's some stats:

-Last night, Barcelona had only 49% vs Rayo.

- Last time Barcelona had less possession than their opponent in an official game (45% vs Real Madrid on 7 May 2008 with Rijkaard).

- Record Barcelona in the 316 official games between the games vs Madrid 2008 and Rayo 2013:
228W, 58D, 30L.
Goals: 822-262.
Trophies: 16

- Barcelona passes this season: 774 - 721 - 728 - 764 - 688 - 706 - 666 - 417 #fcblive [via @barcastat]

You can always tell the recent Barcelona fans. I have been watching them since 1987, no one gives a **** about possession statistics. Guardiola has gone which means your style will change. The man that made your team like that has gone, deal with it ffs. Barcelona still maintain their attacking impetus ffs, which at the end of the day is their underlying philosphy, not possession! Whatever that means.

But we didn't attack more than Rayo yesterday either...

free_cat wrote:But we didn't attack more than Rayo yesterday either...

He is changing the team man, give him time... you still won 4-0.

Free, last year we all wanted a plan B. Now, Martino is making sure plan B is working when we need it. I dont want us seeing get pushed back in some CL match, without knowing how to defend well in such situations and without us know how we can do the best counter attacks. With Neymar, Messi and Pedro we should be fast enough to let teams push up and hit them hard when needed

Good bye old master.

I think it's fantastic. Always hated Tikataka... Now we can see Messi/Neymar/Fabregas playing on the break. Very entertaining (for the neutral)