How do we defend Alba's run? We've seen it a hundred times......
Messi on the right, runs inside with the ball, plays a 1-2 with Rakitic picking the ball left of centre. Alba has read the whole thing seconds ago and is right on the full-back. Messi plays that pass inside the full-back and it's a goal.
You see it, our coaching staff will see it too.
Patterns of play are absolutely drilled in with match preparations based on what ole has discussed about their coaching approach.
If young plays there he might actually deal with it well - he usually has a good handle on positioning and dealing with quicker players. However he will ensure we don’t have a right wing with his hopeless punts so god no.
Dalot has not developed his defensive habits like Shaw has. He’s still relying on using his athleticism and pace to make up ground on the overlap. So he’ll most likely not play as a sole right back in a back 4.
Solution? I think they will go with 5 at the back with the right CB will work on drills with the right wing back (hopefully Dalot) to memorize Barca’s pattern of play and make sure that tap stays shut.
Whichever masterpiece of tactics you come up with you will still never deal with Messi though. We just need to make sure we score more goals which is a lot more doable than stopping Messi