Tactics: Key Difference Between Luis Enrique’s Barcelona and Pep Guardiola’s Team

I talked some basics about positions in Barcelona’s system, and with that out of the way, I’d like to talk about how current coach Luis Enrique and Pep Guardiola, former coach, differ.

What’s interesting is there is actually a lot of overlap between the two. It’s easy to get lost in the contrasts and miss the larger picture, which is much more balanced.

It’s also easy to assume Guardiola is the “default Barcelona style” which isn’t true. Such an idea actually does him a disservice. If all Pep had to do was resort to autopilot, that’s not much of an accomplishment. It’s worth giving him credit as an innovator.

Now, both coaches tended to use a 4-3-3 system while at Barcelona. People correctly…