The new 2020/21 LaLiga season is upon us and for Barcelona, it also marks the beginning of a new era. Ronald Koeman is the new Blaugrana coach and he hopes to propel the Catalans back ahead of Real Madrid, where they belong.
And while the campaign may still be young, a new hero is emerging from their ranks – Ansu Fati. The young La Masia prodigy has been a key figure in their fixtures so far and it really seems Koeman is getting the best out of him.
This tactical analysis will serve as a scout report on Fati and his role in Koemans system and tactics. The analysis will touch upon his main relationships on the pitch and the overall structure hes playing in.
The role of a winger
Before dissecting Fati and his specific role in Barcelonas new tactics, we have to explain what exactly is expected of a winger in a 4-2-3-1 system. With Koemans introduction, the Catalans abandoned their traditional 4-3-3 setup. Generally speaking, we can differentiate between two main types of wingers in such a setup: natural/ wide wingers or inverted wingers.
Koeman, as we already know from his previous stints, is a fan of the latter. Essentially, inverted wingers will be positioned on the opposite side of their strong foot so they can cut inside and advance through the half-space. While Fati is a mix of both versions, he has been used as an inverted winger so far.
In the build-up phase of a more general 4-2-3-1 system, the wingers main connections are formed with his respective full-back and the ball-bear centre-midfielder. As the ball moves higher up the pitch, he can also connect with the attacking midfielder and the centre-forward, as can be seen below.
Of course, his main role lies higher up the pitch but by dropping deeper – mostly down to the centre of the pitch – the winger can help establish numerical superiority/ equality together with the double-pivot and help progress the ball.
But once the play is shifted towards the final third, the structure itself will change. And this is also where we start to see clear differences between the inverted and the natural wingers. The graph below depicts a general attacking setup of a 4-2-3-1 system that is approaching the box in an attacking formation.
We are focusing on the lef
