So, in the last part we stopped at this problem
Xavi had successfully created his midfield box but that box was two static, the wide players didn't have the famous triangles or any support. Now, let's get to the player who solved that issue.
Joao Felix
Joao Felix is an amazing talent, and a great dribbler. But, more importantly, he solved the issue we mentioned in the last part. Let me explain.
Instead of having the usual, static, midfield box, Barcelona had an inverted left winger in Felix. So, the box had new names.
You might look at this and wonder if it is the same, and you won't be wrong in terms of momentary shape, however, the functions differed. The funny thing you'd least expect this to fix would actually be not the left side of Barcelona's attack, but the right one. The new dynamic allowed Pedri to lean more toward the right, forming a triangle with the right winger, be it Raphinha or Yamal, and Kounde as you might have seen against Atletico Madrid last year this season.
What you get from a player like Felix is a player with limitless imagination who can do just about everything an offensive player can, he is strong enough to hold his own physically, he can shoot, and he can dribble. Those are all positive things, however, they are also negative.
It might sound like a contradiction, but Felix is limitless in his imagination, but only individually. In meaning, you give him the ball in the final third and he knows how to turn and head toward the goal, if you look at the provided picture of the shape, you would know that makes Lewandowski his only passing option with the occasional Pedri coming close to him, his other option is dribbling past three players at least to get to the goal because linking with Balde is never in Felix' dictionary.
Now, on a technical level, Felix is easily among the players you would want in your team if you face that kind of situation, on a tactical level, that's not a situation you would want yourself facing in the first place.
So, do you see why that's a negative as well? In fact, you might see that it is actually more negative than positive. If you don't already see it that way, allow me to convince you through all the package that comes with Felix.
Everyone Hates Felix
Playing well in the middle of the pitch is a necessity that all players need to learn, Arsenal spent 60 million on Havertz for it, United spent similarly on Mount for it, City spent 60 on Nunez for it just as an extra along with Kovacic on the bench. However, Felix is better than all of those dribble-wise, and on the same level passing toward the center-wise, but he doesn't pass to the wide area. The issue with that is the simple fact that teams nowadays don't even give you enough space in the middle. It is the wing where teams go usually to get closer to the goal.
Felix is a defence nightmare on both ends. This is why Simeone didn't like him and why his stay at Chelsea wasn't extended and why he is rarely the starter for his national team. On the offensive side, we already know why, as the guy is a real dribbler, tough to maintain. It is on the defensive side where that is bad.
There are obvious problems why he'd be bad for your team, especially if your team presses high with all players, as is the case with Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, and of course, Barcelona. Felix's work rate is low when pressuring, and he is just not intelligent tactically on the defensive to even guide the little work rate he has. That tactical intelligence is also an issue for the next problem I am about to explain.
Okay, so we established Felix isn't good when pressuring off the ball, but what about when Barcelona has the ball? Well, that's where Felix's tactical intelligence lacks in the defensive sense as well. You might think that is an odd sentence to sway, but allow me to break it down.
There is something called defensive decisions while on the ball. You might not recognize the term but you have seen this before, a player who at a certain point decides to dribble and lose the ball giving the opponent a counterattack is a clear example of a bad defensive decision. Let's bring the board.
So, Barcelona were under attack, they managed to get the ball and pass near the centre of the pitch where Felix was waiting, and the process of switching from the defensive phase to the offensive phase started. The decision in that point can vary depending on what you want from the match, you might need to increase the pace of the game to get a goal or slow it down to maintain an advantage, or maybe just slow it down so the opposite team can calm down.
Players like De Bruyne, Messi, Jeorginho, Kroos, Modric, and Odegaard know what the team needs to do and are versatile and intelligent enough to do it. Felix, as we established above, knows only two ways, dribble or pass to either Pedri or much more likely Lewandowski, if those are marked, Felix would aim to dribble.
So, Felix drops to take the ball as the entire team of Barcelona is pushing
Focus on Felix's position and knowing what you know now, what is the one you wouldn't want to happen? Well, lose the ball, right? A tunnel-visioned Felix who doesn't see Lewa or any player toward the centre open would automatically get to dribbling mode instead of passing to the side, or even back.
There are three reasons you don't want to lose the ball there, 1) Your entire team is pushing forward, 2) the space behind is vast, and more importantly, 3) if Felix loses the ball, the opposite would run toward the centre-back in the middle of the pitch, so nothing can derail them and that is something we saw in many games.
Barcelona's game against Atletico actually didn't have any of the problems I mentioned as Felix connected with Cancelo who was the left-back/wide player just fine, and Barcelona won. However, even when that was fixed a new problem arose, and Barcelona went from defeating Atletico Madrid 1-0 to losing 4-2 at home in a match that highlighted the worst of Xavi Barca's problems. But, more on that in the next part.