BARCA MUST BE CRAZY IF THEY'RE SERIOUS ABOUT AVB

BARCA MUST BE CRAZY IF THEY'RE SERIOUS ABOUT AVB

D. Ray Morton, 28th February.

Barcelona have a tendency to be impatient when it comes to falling behind in the title race. Only three points behind leaders Real Madrid, manager Gerardo "Tata" Martino finds himself the object of criticism again after a sorry defeat at the hands of Real Sociedad last weekend which spoiled the joy of beating Manchester City away from home several days earlier. The feeling around Camp Nou is that should Tata fail to secure either the Liga BBVA crown or the Champions League, he will get the axe due to the perception that their playing style has lost a lot of its flair.

Style comes first for Barca which is why it's surprising that Andre Villas Boas' name has been added to the list of nominees likely to take over from Martino. Having managed three major teams so far in his career, his successes have very much epitomised the proverbial mixed bag and each successive job he did was progressively worse. Successful at Porto, his time at Chelsea may have been ended prematurely but it seemed he never won over the dressing room and was written off as a Jose Mourinho "Lite". At Tottenham, his first season was steady, amassing a best Premier League points total for the club but into his second campaign, things turned sour.

Spurs played some of the most turgid, dour football seen at the club in a long time at the start of this season. Many peoples' tips as Premier League dark horses with an outside chance of even mounting a title charge, the North London club struggled to find themselves on the scoresheet and suffered heavy, embarrassing defeats at the hands of Liverpool and Manchester City. Usually setting his team up in a 4-3-3 formation with an unusually high defence line, Spurs were an absolute mess. Their new summer signings failed to make any immediate impact and the result was a team struggling for confidence with no structure or gameplan capable of dismantling even mediocre opponents.

AVB has very much sprinkled his myth around England and has paid the price. Lever arch folders full of tactical instructions, arrows and multi-coloured dots look impressive during the job interview but this was very much against the "Tottenham way" which usually promoted fluidity and creative freedom. Street football rather than bogging players down with overloaded specifics. How AVB's plans could impact Barcelona is anyone's guess but I would not be confident about his chances of achieving success.

Barca, too, play a 4-3-3 with a high line but their attacking players are essentially allowed to invent for themselves. Perhaps AVB's tactics could be effective considering the Catalan club offer better passers of the ball in their squad but one wonders why then Boas filled his midfield earlier this season with immobile destructive bully boy players like Sandro, Moussa Dembele and Etienne Capoue rather than anyone in that Luka Modric/Xavi mould.

Of course, this could just be bored speculation in a slow news week for the press considering they have not had a midweek fixture and only face Almeria at home on Sunday with the main La Liga focus being on Atletico vs Real in the Madrid derby earlier that same day. Quiet news weeks can over-stimulate the imagination, and appointing AVB as Barcelona's next manager should only stay in the realm of nonsensical daydreams.