There is nothing worse for Barcelona than to have Busquets out of position. Martino shifted him to put Song in his place. Barça had been losing out in positional play; so the manager, knowing how well Real Sociedad manager Arrasate approaches things, decided to invent something new and take Sociedad by surprise. In doing so, however, he managed nothing more than the defeat of his own side.
Martino's line-up produced a match of moves rather than open play. The trio of Iniesta, Neymar and Messi, who can each one single-handedly win a match, were hemmed in by all the tall men Sociedad had available in order to avoid being struck from a dead-ball situation. Changing roles was the beginning of the end. With players having all lost their personal North, Barcelona was left without the automatic reflexes that make the side's matches into a string of constant possession.
This Barcelona team only knows how to play the same game, and therefore any changes have to materialise extremely slowly. If the subtlety of the play derives from possession of the ball, then they cannot change anything too much. But if the idea is to pass up on the play, then this risk will lead to disaster.
The defeat of Barcelona should not conceal the quality of Real Sociedad. The Vela/Griezmann duo would make anybody jump in the air, and Canales is an excellent third man. They know where the moves are going to come about, where the rival's weaknesses are, and don't stop believing they can put the ball in the back of the net. Real Sociedad, playing 1-4-3-3 (the third different system operated by Jagoba Arrasate in three matches against Barça), defended by attacking, leaving Barça without possession. And it is well known that Barça has no ideas how to sit back and defend.
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