Barca play brilliant football. I can't EVER remember seeing a team play better football in my life (though in the days of Football Italia on C4, when AC Milan were free to view, and Van Basten, who I still think is the best striker I've even seen - I rem he scored a diving header from the edge of the box, the ball about waist high and it ended in the top corner - Gulliet, Reykard, Baresi etc were also magic to watch. But the football was not quite as 'pure'. Barca pass and move the way you dreamed about when you were a kid. And in Messi, the best player I've ever had the pleasure to watch.
But teams are learning how to play them, and win. Inter, Chelsea, Real - they all beat Barca the same way, in big matches. They sit back, are strong and defend deep, and score fast on the break or at set pieces. Real eased to the title this season.
It's not pretty watching those teams play Barca in this way -- but at the same time, it always strikes me as unusual that Barca have NO other way to play, no plan B. They keep coming in waves, side to side, looking for the gap. And if Messi is off form, IMO it can be a tipping factor.
With how Real did this season, will be interesting to see what Barca do over the summer, whether they'll look to change/tinker with the style of play in any way.
Also, a style of play will only get you so far. You need the very best players to be successful (win things) playing this way. Because for me, other areas of Barca's game, like strength, power, are lower priority - so you have to be bloody sure you're so good at that passing game that it mitigates/outweighs those areas you're weaker in.
It's a bit of a leap to move onto Swansea, and LFC - but here goes. Rogers can introduce a new style of play with a focus on pass and move (Barca type stuff). But unlike at Swansea, teams will come to Anfield and sit back and say 'go on, have a go, break us down', whereas last season teams would have gone to Swansea and had more of a go, had an expectation to get a result, attacked more, giving Rogers boys more room to play their game. Also, to win regularly/consistently, we'd need to have quality players to play this sytle 'well enough' to make it worth our while. Do we have them now? Possibly. Can they adapt? Maybe. Some you can see would be OK, others not so easy to see it.
Either way, still think it's the best way to play football. If we can somehow combine the pass and move style with a defensive strength and set piece power, we should be grand