BarcelonaBarça are working to strengthen their defensive line this summer. The performance of Samuel Umtiti, currently injured, is virtually nil. Clément Lenglet is not convinced Xavi and Gerard Piqué, right now the most fit central defender in the Barça squad, is 35 years old. With the signing of Chelsea’s Danish Andreas Christensen sealed, the present and future of the Barça defense also go through Eric Garcia and Ronald Araujo, two central defenders with well-differentiated skills but called to make a career at the Camp Nou. While the Martorell defender, trained at Barça and Manchester City, stands out for his good handling of the ball and his tactical reading, the Uruguayan enjoys a physical exuberance and a forcefulness that have led him to be, in the In recent games, the pair that Xavi has chosen to accompany Piqué to the center of the defense. In general terms, however, the two Catalan central defenders who have repeated the most on the defensive side with the egarenc on the bench (and that Eric lost four games due to injury). In some of these matches, it is also true that Araujo acted as an emergency winger.
But although Martorell suffers in melee with fast or stout strikers, the Uruguayan, as was clear again this Thursday against Elche, has many shortcomings in the ball. The former CA Rentistas player was replaced at the break of the thick Barça match against the Turkish team. Before the match, Xavi had praised him at a press conference, highlighting him as the player who was improving the most since he arrived on the bench. But, with an approach very similar to that of Elche, Domènec Torrent’s team was dedicated to letting Araujo advance with the ball by detecting it as the least dangerous piece when building the game. Despite Araujo’s obvious difficulties in this aspect, Xavi considers his renewal as a priority and from the technical body are convinced that he has a lot of room to progress. In fact, they argue that “it’s already progressing.” The Barça coach and his staff are very supportive of individual work, and the Uruguayan is looking to improve “both with videos and fieldwork”.
The same player is aware that with the type of football that Xavi wants to play he has to improve a lot in these matters, and since his landing in the branch, with García Pimienta, who had been interested in evolving in his game with the ball. The question is what is the progress of the plant in terms of these aspects. In a club like Barça, these concepts are worked on from the ground, but the player born in Rivera came to Barcelona to play directly in the branch after having developed as a footballer in his country. “The perfect center would be the combination of Araujo and Eric. If we cloned them, the best in the world would come out, Virgil van Dijk style ”, explains Franc Artiga, who worked as a coach in Barça’s training football for eleven years. With the ball at his feet, Eric is Barça’s most complete center-back. Xavi asks the defenders to be brave, drive the ball and take risks looking for the most advanced players. According to the analysis company Statsbomb, Martorell is the third player in Europe to make the most passes per game towards the last third of the field.
The best central players in Europe on the ball
Relationship between passes and leads to the last third of the field per game
On the other hand, this is where Araujo suffers the most. “Technical issues are more difficult to improve when you reach a more advanced age and the training stage has been passed. But not only do you learn when you are young, you can always improve “, defended Artiga, in line with Xavi. In this sense, the former coach of La Masia refers to goalkeeper Pinto: “He had problems with his footwork and after training he ended up playing really well. I also remember that when Araujo arrived at the branch he even had trouble making short passes. ” His physical strength makes him a valued defender among big Premier League clubs such as Manchester United and Chelsea. of Araujo once every three games.The Uruguayan wins 75% of tickets (the third best record in Europe), while Eric only does so in 28% of cases.
This is where Eric also has room for improvement. During his formative stage he had stood out for his physique, but when he reached the youth category he saw how he had to face strikers who, physically, were already like him or even faster or stronger. Faced with this scenario, the Catalan defender strengthened his strengths, based on tactical intelligence. “When he was little, he would go to see the rival teams to analyze the striker who would be next week,” defends Artiga, who coached him when they both played for Barça. “The management of the defensive aspect also depends on the experience. super gifted central. He is a great scholar of the game, alleviating the lack of physique with his intelligence. He is and will be a key player with the ball for Barça “, says Paul Harsley, head coach of Birmingham and former coach of Eric in the City under-23 team.” Growing up in England, where he plays more direct football, it has given him an experience he would not have had in Spain “, remarks the Briton.
The example of Carles Puyol
Araujo has what Eric is missing and vice versa. Barça’s rivals are trying to take advantage of the Uruguayan’s difficulties by giving him the weight of construction. For leadership, evolution and defensive art, Araujo remembers one of the club’s legends. “The best center-back in Barça’s history has been Puyol, and he also had a lot of problems with the ball coming out. Surely Xavi will know how to enhance the virtues of Araujo and minimize possible mistakes. Puyol, for example, had Xavi close by and it was the midfielder who built the plays. As the team picks up on the identity the coach wants, he will surely be released from this responsibility. The ball will never be the great virtue of Araujo, but it will improve “, concludes Artiga.
