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Cádiz 1-1 Barcelona, La Liga: Tactical Analysis

It was another sleep-inducing two hours of really bad attacking football and two more points dropped for Barcelona against Cádiz, and Ronald Koeman managed to get himself sent off in what was almost a poetic way to cap off a night where Koeman’s mediocrity was at its full display.

Cádiz started the game in a 4-4-1-1 defensive shape, marking mostly in a low block for most of the match and for the most part not pressing Barça in their buildup. There was a mix of zone and man-marking depending on which Barça player had the ball — Memphis Depay, Frenkie De Jong and Gavi were always closely followed by whichever Cádiz player was nearest to them — and Rubén Sobrino was tasked with shadowing Sergio Busquets so he wouldn’t receive the ball in the buildup phase.