Possession 90 per cent of law

The attack is the first line of defence, the defence the first line of attack. SID LOWEon the Barcelona mindset

SUNDAY MORNING, Sant Just Desvern and Pep Guardiola walks into the dressingroom at Barcelona’s new training HQ, armed, as ever, with information. He is mindful, though, not to overwhelm his players with detail, getting straight to the point.

“Everything he does is for a reason, he never says things for the sake of it,” Xavi Hernandez says, and this time is no different: “Theo Walcott,” Guardiola tells his players, “runs 100m in 10.37 seconds.”

And there, in a nutshell, is the danger that awaits Barcelona, one that appears greater after the suspension of the centre-backs Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol.

Guardiola was tight-lipped, but Gabi Milito will start and is likely to be partnered by Rafa Marquez, although shifting Yaya Toure remains a possibility. The way Barcelona play offers Arsenal some hope; an unfamiliar and slower partnership increases it.

The facile argument that Barcelona are weak at the back, however, is false. They have Spain’s best defensive record: Arsenal will have to score at Camp Nou, where Barca have conceded eight league goals. Neither Stuttgart nor Internazionale could do so. Rubin Kazan did. Twice. For Arsenal there is a lesson there.

Parsimony comes through possession. For Guardiola, defending is not building a wall or launching into heroic challenges – although they are capable of doing that – it is keeping the ball. To attack them, you have to have the ball; rarely do Barca allow it.

When they lose the ball, they fight to get it back rapidly – and as high as possible, asphyxiating the opposition.

Last summer Guardiola lectured at a conference. Forget pass-and-move, the title was: Recovering Possession. Rare compromises have been an attacking tactic: in last season’s Copa del Rey final, he ordered Pique to receive on the by-line, making the pitch long, to suck Athletic Bilbao forward and build moves. That brings its own risks.

The attack is the first line of defence, the defence the first line of attack. The back four must build – Barcelona’s first three goals against Athletic Bilbao on Saturday were created by full-backs – and the front three must destroy. Leo Messi has committed as many fouls as Puyol, Pedro and Ibrahimovic have committed more.

Guardiola believes there is nothing more risky than never taking risks. He accepts the risk inherent in the way Barca defend, something of a short blanket syndrome – you can cover your head or your feet but not both at the same time – but the commitment is steadfast. Dani Alves is more attacker than defender; Eric Abidal admits: “I prefer defending, but here you have to attack, too.”

That could prove profitable for Walcott’s pace.

Barca’s approach means taking risks nearer to goal and their high back line leaves space behind. It does not necessarily take a particularly accurate ball to get men behind, especially if they are quick.

And Walcott is quick – “faster than all of our players together”, Guardiola says. But he also insists: “Football is not just about sprinting; you have to be able to do something with the ball, too.”

Barcelona have conceded eight league goals on the break. Others have come with straightforward balls into the space, through the middle and two channels beyond the full-backs. The few chances Barcelona concede tend to be one-on-ones. Walcott’s goal was not especially unusual in its construction, nor was Athletic Bilbao’s on Saturday.

Against Rubin Kazan, the only time Barcelona have conceded at home in Europe, the score was 1-2. Barcelona had 23 shots to Rubin’s three. The first goal was an outrageous long-ranger, the second a break-away when Alejandro Dominguez raced through to play in Gokdeniz Karadeniz.

The vulnerability is heightened by the presence of Marquez. The Mexican is slow, has started just five league games and his appearance as a sub was followed almost immediately by goals conceded against Atletico Madrid and Zaragoza, both on the break. Even without the additional risk of a slower centre-back, it is their Achilles’ heel – insofar as they have one.

There is a flaw in the plan, though. Barcelona were without three of their first-choice back four in last season’s Champions League final in Rome. And once they got hold of the ball and refused to let it go, no one even seemed to notice.