Raphinha is Barcelona's No. 9 | Tactical Deep Dive
Dan and Domagoj do a deep dive on Raphinha's role playing as Barcelona's No. 9 this season. They break down what's made him so dangerous in the middle, how he is redefining his legacy, and what challenges are coming soon for Flick's system. Special Discount for Domagoj's Substack: https://domstacticslab.substack.com/2f443677 0:00 Raphinha's Tactics Pad 19:35 Raphinha's Legacy 29:04 Backline Questions 🎧 Available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere you listen. 💬 Comment with your favorite goal from the match and a nickname for podcast supporters 🔔 Subscribe for more Barcelona breakdowns every matchday Listen to the full podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast ... 📲 Join the BigUp Watchalongs every matchday + play our free fantasy lineup game! 🔵🔴 Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Patreon for ad-free episodes. BlueWireVideo
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Welcome to episode 852 of the Barcelona podcast brought to you by the Blue Wire Podcast Network. I'm Dan Hilton and Domo Christine Chuck is back with me for another edition of Dom's Tactics Lab. Because with Barcelona scoring so many goals, we've got to figure out why. And there are some gentlemen and ladies who are as smart as me, maybe not as smart as Dom, but definitely smarter than me who were dissecting and figuring this out. One of the big reasons why is probably this guy named Rafinia. So he's going to be the main focus that we're talking about today. But of course, football is a team sport and again this is a team. So of course I am joined by the best Barca Substack writer out there where you can find with the best bang for your buck as well. Domoy, thanks for joining me again. >> Thank you so much for having me. This is a pleasure and yes um happy days. I think this has been one of the best starts uh to the season we've had in in a long long time. And yes, largely thanks to Rafa. I have a theory that it's either the mustache or the armband, one of those two things is making Rafa play so well. But no, I mean, all jokes aside, yeah, we'll we'll try our best to dissect what makes this guy tick, I guess, in a sense. and him as the number nine has been one of the things that maybe we've not expected to bang as much as I did. Uh but I'm very very glad that it's working out so far. >> It might also have something to do I mean he just found this out but maybe his team found out a few weeks ago that he was not going to be selected for the 30 player Ballindor short list. That was because I think he only played the 33 matches last season, which he still had 21 goals, eight assists, and two trophies in the 33 matches. But he did get to the World Cup, but he also got hurt at the World Cup. So maybe they punished him for that with the Ballindor short list. Yeah. So Rfinia where two years ago he finished fifth to not even make the 30. Yeah, it feels like a little bit of a snub. I don't know who you take off for it, but yeah, he's already hit the ground running here with eight goals in his first five games being absolutely sensational here. So, Dom, I think usually we do a little preamble, we set the scene, but no, let's dive right into the tactics lab. Here we go. >> Right. So, let's get on with it, Dan. Uh, so what I've done here is I've actually served the board the exactly the way it was last night in Barcelas Champions League game. We got Rafinia down the middle the way that he did play last night. But what what I want to do first here is start with the very basics and kind of talk about what makes this Rafa different from the left winger Rafa. Um, and I'm saying basic things because I do want to show you things that are uh pretty simple. Um, to start with because Rafinha as a player has not really changed as much or not maybe as much as people might think because Rafiniah when he used to be obviously Barcelona's left winger, he was that mostly on paper. He was nothing like a traditional left winger would be. um he was always going to be more of a second striker anyway that kind of operates in this parallel or maybe diagonal line. Start maybe starts wide, starts maybe a bit more narrow but then ends up in the box nonetheless in this kind of a um very straightforward way where he um runs and then collects the ball. And that's the gist of Rafa as a player. He doesn't receive the ball first and then run with it. He runs and then he receives the ball. That's kind of all you need to know about Rafina and his movement and and the thing that makes Rafina what he is. Um now obviously if you were going to draw some sort of a area of influence it will probably be something along this line here obviously he can be someone who is a bit more narrow outside the box but then definitely starts influencing the box as soon as the play kind of moves forward. Now Rafa second striker whatever you want to call him. Now the the big difference I want to show you is his relationship with Lamino and actually the center forward as well. I've put obviously Admy here but but this can be whoever you want to be. It could be Feranto or Leandowski. Just use your imagination uh for this for this scenario right here. Um and what I want to show you is just a a sequence in which Bara get the ball to Lamin. And naturally what happens with Lamin and his gravity and we know this already. um teams will try and double up on Lamine and on on this flank right here. But whenever you have players doubling up a certain attacker, that means a space will appear somewhere else. And Barcelona's goal was always to kind of find Rafina in these or and the striker in in the box obviously. And the main thing that has changed now with Rafa being the left wing and Rafa being the center forward is the distances, right? If you look at Laminia Mal having to access Rafaia all the way on the other side or maybe even having to access Rafinia, the distance is always going to be greater. Yes, the movement is pretty straightforward where Rafina cuts inside maybe in in a transitional moment maybe in in more settled play, but he has to cut cut inside and then and then someone like Lamine has to find him inside the box. And this is obviously something that does work and did work in the past uh where he receives the ball in the box and then it's a it's it's a matter of just finishing the chance. But now what is the the biggest change and we saw this in action with Rafa's first goal last night. The distance between Lamine and Rafinia is much much shorter now. Uh and that's basically just Flick seeing his best goal scorer at the moment, his best creator having a much easier connection to form. Uh and also means that Rafa is not only closer to Lamina Ma, but he's also close to the goal where before he had to do multiple steps, go through multiple steps to get to the box and then finish. Now he's always a touch or two away from being in a clear goal scoring chance. And last night what we saw, we saw this combination where Lamine just had to play a simple pass. I say simple for him it's simple for barside simple uh where he receives receives the ball here takes one touch to kind of get away from his marker and then he does this fake out here where he sends two players into the cleaners. But what I'm trying to to say here is that the distance between Lamin and Rafa has decreased significantly. And that might seem like a very simple change. That's why I'm saying we're starting with basics and simple things. It might seem like a simple change, but Athena being being this close to Lamine and then them then being this close to the goal as well makes all the difference for a player who has built his profile on number one movement and then number two his bow striking and lethality. And when you get that player clo closer or in better positions to interact with your best creators and then on top of that being constantly in this area closer to the goal uh you simply maximize the output that that player can can perform. Um any questions so far? >> I do not have questions. I just have one or two more things to add to this if you want me to complicate it a little bit here. >> Absolutely. Yeah. Do go for it. >> Yeah. So, what's been so interesting to me is not necessarily how versatile this quote unquote new pure permutation of Rafinia and Laminia Maul is, but how it is even succeeded with the different defenses that that they have seen so far this season. Right. The idea that a team could sit in a low block with five at the back the way that Valencia and then Fionor just did, you'd think that yeah, that extra player. I I think it was really interesting that you showed the we'll say double pivot or one of the other midfielders stepping back to Lamini Maul, but that hasn't been the case. And I think that's been the issue for a lot of teams. They're bringing their left center back over along with their left wing back or you ever want to call it or the the the yeah, I want to say left wing back or your left forward stepping down, but instead they keep bringing the left center back over. And what that creates is not necessarily almost so much, but when it was Fermine and especially against Valencia, when it was Ferine for Almo, that half space was just over and over and over, right? Firmeny making that run to that half space which means that behind the ball there we felt like Gordon and Rafathenia they didn't do as much well that's because they were just waiting for the timing of those runs to be available because now they're in 1 v one situations to that point with the center center back and the right center back because of course Canelo or Espar well Espar would also be diving in and same thing with Cancel against Fionoid the the left back for Barca keeps making that overlapping run so that means that either the the center back has to step but often or the midfielder has to track the runner which again Fenord and Valencia have both failed to do. If you don't track the runners coming either the overlapping left back or you failed to track the the runner in Gordon or Admy whoever it is from that left side. We saw Eddie's goal yesterday was scored exactly that way because it was already the defense had shifted to Lamin's side because was also playing close to him as is Fermy Lopez right and I find that really interesting because in the first three matches of the season and I know I'm making you do a lot of movement here on the tactics pad against Elchce Athletic Club and Ryakano who largely played at four at the back we felt like Leini Mal actually hadn't done as much and that Gordon and Rafiniah uh were much more involved and this is a tactics pad for another day. But because Gordon can carry now and you do have a left winger that can legitimately carry in a way that Rafinia wasn't doing last season, right? Because you have a left winger that can actually carry. It is strong siding or you're getting now a numerical advantage on that left side. And I think where Hanzi what Hanzi Flick is doing this season is he's saying okay if teams are going to allow Gordon to carry and they're going to put more emphasis on Lamina Mal despite him either having a major effect on the game or or having to wait for his I mean he has effect on every game but you know there are those moments where again against Bayoid yesterday where you're like oh this guy's cooking you know like he's every five minutes Le's doing something but then those matches like it was Athletic Club where Lamini Mal had those, you know, four moments that he's gonna have in every match, right? And so against athletic club, I found it really interesting that Hanzi Flick, I think, is kind of saying, okay, Rafinia, who likes to shade and begin his movements from the left anyway, if Gordon's going to be making those runs into the box with the ball, and not necessarily with into the into the box, but if he's going to drive with the ball on that side, then that's how we're going to play. I made an illusion to basketball yesterday about stopping the ball when it came to the Eddie Emmy goal. But the other basketball example I'll make and I I mean if you like hockey, you can you can use the same thing here that you give it to the hot hand and you kind of change your attack based on the the hot hand or the hot foot that day and what is working. And I think that is what's made Barcelona, you know, there's a reason why they've scored what are they? It's 22 to to three right now. And there's a reason for that. I think that's because this Barcelona team is just so just so capable of saying, "Okay, it's four at the back. They're putting more emphasis on bring dropping in their midfielder for Lamine and maybe he, you know, Non doesn't have it, but for some reason like they're they're doing a good job closing down that space with certain profiles and matchups where we have this advantage might be on the other side with Gordon and Rafinia, right? And or the left side with the overlapping fullback. So, I'm really finding it interesting that because of and and even you have this set up here because of Rodri and Pedri, and I know that Rodri didn't start the first three matches of the season in La Liga or the first two, but because of Rodri, you do have this ability to through Pedri and Rodri keep the ball, be patient, and wait for the moment when you or the moments when you figure out where is the hole, where is the opportunity to be found, right? like Fenord were really trying not to give up the middle of the field and yet I know you broke down Rafina's first goal but yet his second goal yesterday came because Barcelona were so patient to kind of wait for that opportunity to then have Pedri break through all three lines. There was the the two fours were in front of him, the midfielders were in front of him and the back line was there. And you watch Rafinia check to the ball, fake out that center back because that center back had to worry about Rafinia checking to the ball and then Rafinia just sat on his shoulder and found that space in behind, takes one touch to get himself free and clinically finishes. Right. So Bord had set up yesterday, let's not give up the middle. Let's defend narrow. And yet, and yet because of Pedri and Rodri and their ability to be patient and play the right ball and the right ball very quickly, it also opens up the middle of the field, which I think what that does is it really helps Rafimia not have to play the physical battling with those center back game, if that makes sense. >> Exactly. >> Right. So, >> yeah, it makes sense. >> Yep. >> So, sorry. I know I added a lot a lot a lot, but and you did a wonderful job [laughter] kind of moving with me. >> I was trying to keep up with what you're saying. Yeah, I know. You did a perfect job, but you mentioned a lot of things. Perfect job. >> Yeah. Well, thank you. [laughter] >> Um I did want to mention that yeah, even that Pedri goal um that was actually you made a reference to to hockey and basketball, but I want to actually uh take a step further because the way that Afina moves as a center forward and not as a center forward, the way that he generally moves is actually a move from rugby and it's called a parallel run. And I I mentioned this a couple of times in my I don't know it must have been a couple of years ago that I coined this term parallel run because it comes from rugby where where the offside plays a massive part. I'm not going to go into that a lot because I don't really understand the the the full uh rules of rugby. But essentially what Rafinia does is he runs parallel to the defensive line or the offside line and then he turns into space. He doesn't doesn't explode into he just turns into into space. That means that he waits and runs across this line to accelerate and gain velocity and then when he's at maximum velocity or near that he just turns into space, right? And that is at that moment the player has to fight him with a pass and he receives and then normally he scores, right? And the the reason why that is so undefendable is because it obliterates this offside trap because the defender he can't starts in an on-site position and then just when he reaches top speed that's when he turns into space. Um but the pass needs to be played obviously before he he crosses the offside line. But the defenders cannot keep up with him because the moment he starts the foot race with the actual defender, he's already at almost a maximum speed. Which means that when the moment the defender is starting to accelerate, Rafina is already sprinting at him. And that means that he just simply cannot keep up with him. And a very similar thing happened with that Pedri assist goal where he was kind of as you said he checked in first kind of move the defender with him a little bit and then he so he creates the space by moving the defender and he exploits in himself. It's the same player doing those those two things which is very different from a traditional number nine who has to get the some someone needs to create the space for him and then he exploits it. Rafina does both things by himself and that makes it very confusing for the defenders as well. But one more thing that you mentioned that I really want to touch upon before we move on here that is how does Bara keep adapting to all of these different structures. The the truth is they are but they also aren't because for flick number nine is no longer a a player. It's not only no longer a role. It's it's more of a zone, right? and whoever goes into this zone is the facto number nine for for the team. So that's why when you mentioned Ferman I was like yes exactly. I also like Ferman a bit more in this situation because when Rafina drops deep and he will drop deep Furman is the perfect player to kind of burst forward and take his spot. Now if if Gordon for example wants to drive inside with the ball which which also you mentioned and he does this really really well. What Rafina does, he just kind of moves away from from Gordon, lets Gordon have this space and he relocates somewhere behind them so that he can actually be the one to drive the ball forward and Rafina kind of drags the rest of the defenders with him to create that space for Gordon. If Lamin wants to be a bit more central, Rafina can then drift out wide to the right side. And that's what this central position does to Rafina. That's why he embodies it so well. Yes, he's not an exactly the the the the traditional striker that you would normally have in a team, but he can make these movements that are so complimentary to every other player around him. So, whenever he's changes positions with someone else, he can kind of give that player the complimentary movement to make the most out of it. When you pair that up with this double movement that we explained in the parallel run, this is what makes Rafina so potent. But imagine if you the the the defending team that has to keep track of all of these rotations for 90 minutes. The cognitive load and the science actually which is what I tried to explain in my latest piece which is out now actually is the cognitive load rises so much across 70 or 90 minutes of play of you tracking who is the actual runner, who is the creator and sometimes the runner and the creator are the same player. In Rafa's case, the creative load gets so high that players just crack. They cannot keep their focus for so long. So in theory at least, no matter what you do, no matter which system you deploy, these constant movements and there not being a de facto player that you have to keep track of it, it will eventually break you, right? It will eventually make you slip even for a moment. And Bara have so many different tools to to hurt you. And every single move is so costly because if Rafina checks for the ball and this defender doesn't do anything, what happens? Well, you got Rafa free in this zone. And even though I initially I thought that he wasn't really that good on the half turn, he did show that he can receive the ball in this in from this position and quickly turn and drive with and and then shoot on goal. But then if he does kind of follow Rafina, uh the space just moves behind him and someone else will go and exploit that space. So it's kind of like damned if you do, damned if you don't. And Bars have made so many of their movements this season so costly for the opposition. And I think that's the biggest change because there's no move in theory. There's no move they can do, no solution they can apply that doesn't cost something. And that to me is the is the biggest change. That was the biggest change uh this summer or for this season. It was not a player. It was that this striker role, the number nine became a zone and that zone constantly shifts and moves and is so dynamic and it's alive and that's what makes it so beautiful. >> So in Dom's Tactics Lab, he also did mention