Liga Preview: Málaga – Barcelona, Sunday 12noon ET, GolTV
It’s the first week of the season, everyone! Time to celebrate! There’s a full 38 matches ahead of us and we’ve got quite the schedule lined up for the next–wait, what? Oh, it’s actually the midway point, we’re just calling it the first match of the season? Why would we do that? Oh, RFEF is completely insane? Right. I’d forgotten about that.
So it’s Málaga now, the new big boys on the block, or so they’d have you think. The odd thing is, I’m not sure why they’re not doing better than they are. Yet I bet against them before the season started, saying they wouldn’t make the Champions League spot so many said they would. They’re rich, they’re talented, and they’ve got a good manager, but they’re not really a team yet. They don’t have an identity you can point to and say “this is how Málaga rolls.” They don’t roll. They’re just Málaga.
Their offseason additions were something you could nod at and say “Shnikies, that’s some good stuff.” Expenditures topped €50m with Santi Cazorla being prized from Villarreal for €19m on one of the final days of the transfer window. They brought in Joaquin and Diego Buonanotte, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Jérémy Toulalan. Sergio Sánchez and Nacho Monreal. Martín Demichelis and Joris Mathijsen. They offloaded a good many players as well, but none of them brought in a red cent. They were positioning themselves behind Qatari oil money (for shame!) for a big run. They were closing the gap between the Big 2 and the have nots with giant strides.
And now, 18 matches in, they’re in 10th with a game in hand over several of their better-ranked rivals. They’re only a point from a Europa League spot, but that point could be hard to come by given the other teams involved. Athletic Bilbao has leapfrogged them and Sevilla looks more than capable of pushing towards Levante’s 4th place spot. Espanyol may be surprising a lot of onlookers, but they’re not half bad and they seem to have hit a vein of form. Levante could be weakening, but they’re hosting last place Zaragoza tomorrow, which should be 3 more points and could put them almost out of reach for Málaga unless the los boquerones can manage something against FCB.
That’s the point, though, isn’t it? Málaga was supposed to be challenging for something, not hoping to get the last seat at the European table. They put up a fight against Real Madrid, but couldn’t close the deal at 2-0 up in the first leg, eventually succumbing 4-2 on aggregate, but that about sums up their season. They haven’t won a league match since November 28 when they beat Villarreal 2-1. Since, they’ve drawn 2 and lost 3, including matches to Real Sociedad and Sporting Gijon. They’re playing like a mid-table club: 10th in goals scored (21) and 10th in goals allowed (24).
The silver lining is that they’re good at home (5W-2D-1L, 13GF 9GA) while Barça continues to have an up-and-down season on the road (3W-4D-1L, 12GF 9GA). That suggests a pretty good, even match is coming our way. They were called Maulaga for a reason the last couple of years, but now they’re trying to play a bit and they’re no longer playing Weligton enough to warrant a real BFB shoutout to the original Pepe. He’s basically a hipster. He was stomping on Messi before stomping on Messi was cool. So he’s a stompster. Okay, I’m going to do it: Boo Weligton!
Everyone scores for Málaga. Cazorla leads the way with 4 goals, but after that, there are 5 players with 2 goals apiece.
Barcelona are traveling with everyone save the injured Fontàs, Villa, and Afelley and Keita who is on ACN duty. Pedro was declared fit and included in the squad, so he’ll be traveling alongside everyone plus the B-teamers Cuenca, Sergi Roberto, and Jonathan dos Santos. I suspect Pedro will be reserved for a substitute role, but that he’ll make an appearance regardless of what the scoreline is. If we’re down or level, he’ll come on to beef up the attack. If we’re winning, he’ll come on to beef up the attack. It’s how things go around these parts. Though, did you realize Pedro only has 1 league goal this year? Well whether you did or not, he only has 1. Crazy!
With Real Madrid hosting Athletic Bilbao, it’s likely that any slip up on Barça’s part will result in an 8-point gap. That can’t be allowed, as Guardiola has noted. No more points can be dropped if the league is to be contested. What I love about that article is that Guardiola notes the danger Málaga presents. Pellegrini is no fool and he’s pushed Barcelona to the brink with a 96 point league haul when he was managing Real Madrid. That’s pretty much the hotness except Barça got 99 points. Crazy, right? Yup. But that’s how things have been going and it’s why Málaga is having such a hard time breaking into the big crowd. It’s quite the gap to bridge.
Play hard, play well, play correctly. Get 3 points. Make the world swoon. Whatever gets you motivated, do it. Get it going. That motor should be purring because if it’s not, there goes La Liga. And remember, it’s only the halfway stage. That’s how messed up this league is.
Official Prediction: 1-2. Bitter game, but we get the necessary points. It’s going to be tough. It’s going to be physical. And it’s going to be Alves and Cesc with the goals.
Coming into this match a lot of Cules were expecting a statement match. With yet another match with Madrid looming midweek there was hope that we would demolish Betis and emphatically cast off our recent anemic form. Couple this with the fact that the team hadn’t conceded in the Camp Nou yet in the league and it seemed harder to come to Barcelona and get a victory than it is to attack Russia in the winter. Unlike the Russians we were at a numerical disadvantage, with only 15 first team players fit for the match. It would have been an injury crisis for any other club, but it was just a typical day for Guardiola who started: Valdes, Puyol, Mascherano, Abidal, Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas, Cuenca, Messi, and Sanchez. It was an obvious 3-4-3, and the easiest formation to guess since, uhh, last match. A couple awards were presented and you could almost hear the Cules salivating as they anticipated a major win.
"Never attack Russia in the winter"
Apparently Betis didn’t get the memo, and like Napoleon’s march on Russia in 1812 they started brightly. Valdes was forced into action early as Abidal failed to pick up his mark and Mascherano lost track of his man running through, giving him a one-on-one. Valdes again showed his importance to the team on the resulting corner, punching out a bullet of a header. Betis looked hungry, they were pressing well, passing well, and creating chances. And the English commentator just called it the “Nou Camp.” Where is that mute button? Time for some Frank Zappa.
Yet for all Betis’ work, Barcelona is the first on the score sheet with what is essentially our first attack. Puyol makes a smart interception and feeds Xavi who begins to dance through the midfield, exchanging passes with Busquets and Iniesta as he moves left and finds Sanchez in space. Meanwhile Fabregas is doing what he does best and making an incisive run across the box. Sanchez again shows his ninja skills with a cleverly disguised pass, Fabregas has his evening cup of Earl Gray before he clips the ball against the far post, and Xavi is lurking to make it 1-0. A deserved goal for Xavi that earned him the right to a cute hop-skip-and-jump celebration with a fist pump thrown in for good measure.
I had barely finished my own, more excessive, celebration before Messi made it 2-0. The entire Betis backline is in full retreat as Iniesta dribbles at them before playing a simple pass to Sanchez who is in acres of space on the left. The Betis right back obviously didn’t learn his lesson about giving Sanchez too much space from the last goal and Sanchez punishes him with a perfect first time cross that Messi finishes easily. Two goals, both of which Sanchez created by maintaining width on the left and catching the Betis backline out of position. 12 minutes into the game and I started to relax.
Unfortunately I wasn’t the only one. Messi put Iniesta in on goal with a long probing pass but Iniesta looks like he is out on a Sunday stroll and the chance is lost. As a side note, Fabregas starts the play making an interception in the right back zone, and ends it making a slide tackle in Betis’ box. Fabregas dropped deep in midfield throughout the game, playing almost as a defensive midfielder at times without the ball. I’d like to see this more often as it fills the hole Busquets leaves when he drops into a back four (and hopefully will cure Fabregas of his “run wherever the ball is” positioning). The ensuing 20 minutes consist mostly of Barcelona maintaining possession deep but not creating many chances. Strangely the reason we struggled to create chances was because we weren’t patient enough in our passing. The team as a whole was too direct in the opponent’s third, constantly trying to play the hero ball when we needed to be besieging their goal (there was also Sanchez comically tripping over the ball when he was through on goal).
AND HOLY JEEZERS BETIS HAVE SCORED. A darting run from Molina through the middle beats Mascherano. Molina drops it back, and while our entire defense stands transfixed a perfect ball finds Castro camped all alone in our box. A very nice goal that we would have been proud of if our boys had scored it, but all of a sudden our Camp Nou clean sheet run is over. And I’m not quite so relaxed anymore. On a tactical note the worry with the 3-4-3 on defense is generally that teams can find space on the wings. With both Puyol and Abidal playing fairly wide throughout the first half the most danger has come when Betis isolate Mascherano against a quick forward and play a through pass – they’ve had several good chances this way. The rest of the half devolves into a ping pong match with both teams having a couple half chances. Overall it feels like an EPL game for a couple minutes there.
FIST PUMPAZO!!
A nervous half time commenced. I kept hoping that the words a wise man once spoke would be true: “Betis always find a way of troubling us, even if we eventually win.”
Alves replaced Cuenca at half time – starting off at right wing where Cuenca supposedly played in the first half. Within six minutes he was dropping in to play right back, forming a 4-3-3, and within seven minutes Betis scored their second goal. Castro had the whole right side of the pitch to himself as Alves had been drawn way too centrally. Castro finds Santa Cruz unmarked at the top of the box and Santa Cruz nestles the ball in the far corner. 2-2.
And for a couple of minutes after the equalizing goal there were doubts. A dread seemed to hang over the stadium, and you could hear whispers from the peanut gallery: “Pep insists on using this formation even though it is weak defensively.” “The team lacks the killer instinct it had in years past.” “This is the type of match where Barcelona concedes the league.” For a moment I thought I could hear a Cule running down Las Ramblas screaming “Franco is coming! Franco is coming!” But there was lots of time left.
Barcelona started crafting some half chances, with Messi putting a weak shot on target and Xavi playing a nice chip that Fabregas blazed over. Abidal in particular was enjoying the change back to a 4-3-3, getting forward and causing havoc on the left. Fabregas and Messi play a cute give and go but Messi blazes over. Speaking of Messi he lost the ball all too often today, especially after Betis scored their second. 60 minutes gone, and there isn’t so much time left. My heart rate is getting alarmingly high.
The players also seem to be losing their cool, as both Messi and Xavi tell the ref exactly what they think about his call. Alves on the right causing trouble now. We are attacking their goal but the clear chances just won’t seem to come. Messi loses the ball again. Alves goes up with the keeper for a header but the ball just won’t go in the goal. ARE YOU TOO GOOD FOR YOUR HOME? I’m breathing hard now. Xavi is awesome. The ref denies Iniesta a penalty after Montero mistakes his shin for the ball in their box. Iniesta says to the ref “Sir, I must kindly disagree” and gets a yellow for his troubles. Damn this game is exciting. Messi drives through the center and gets wrecked by Montero, who sees his second yellow. Being a man up is great and all by why can’t we score?!?!?! Messi loses the ball again. Oh no Betis is attacking again. Pep is yelling. Sanchez gets a ball through from Iniesta but can’t finish. Sanchez glances a header just wide. 15 minutes left and the tension is rising to uncontroGGGGGGOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLL. GOAL GOAL GOAL.
Xavi has been providing dangerous balls for a half hour and he finds Sanchez running laterally through the middle. Sanchez still has it all to do and he finds space against two defenders and powers the ball past Casto. I may be developing a man crush on Sanchez. The final goal and the nail in the Betis’ coffin comes through an excellent attacking run from Abidal where he combines nicely with Messi and keeps the ball alive after the rebound and earns a rare Barcelona penalty. Messi duly finishes it, and the match is over.
The oddest moment of the match
Valdes: B+. Will be disappointed to concede in the Camp Nou, but can’t take blame for either of the goals. Made a couple excellent saves early in the first half. Distribution was solid as always.
Puyol: B. Made some excellent interceptions, but also got caught way out of position at times.
Mascherano: C+. Beaten several times in the first half to give Betis dangerous chances, although he was left isolated. Much better in the second half with Puyol next to him.
Abidal: B. The second game in a row where he cleared the ball out of bounds with alarming regularity. Looked unsure of his role and positioning on the left of the three man defense in the first half. Enjoyed his freedom to get forward in the second and played a huge role in winning the penalty.
Busquets: B+. Spent the first half somewhere between centerback and defensive midfielder, popping up at the right place with unnerving regularity. He reads the game incredibly well. Distributed well and created a couple dangerous moments when he attacked through the middle. Fouled and won fouls. All in all a stereotypical Busquets performance.
Xavi: A. Scored a deserved goal, and controlled the match throughout. Played a bunch of dangerous balls as we searched for the equalizer – they all found their target, but only Sanchez could capitalize. Good match.
Iniesta: B+. He was a wizard out there with the ball at his feet. Played well with Sanchez in the early going. Created a lot of dangerous situations but just seemed unable to connect for the final pass.
Fabregas: B. He kind of reminds me of watching Pedro in his first season. Covered an unbelievable amount of ground. Made some dangerous runs in the box but could also be seen deep in the midfield at times. Some of his passing wasn’t patient enough and he still looks like he isn’t sure where he should be on the field a lot of the time.
Cuenca: C-. Hooked for Alves at half time after an anonymous first half. Contributed almost nothing going forward but worked hard and covered a lot of ground defending the right flank.
Messi: B. Scored two goals and drew a red card, but didn’t have a great game the rest of the time. A solid first half was followed by a second half where he lost the ball too often – whether on the dribble or a pass.
Sanchez: A. Created danger on the left wing the whole first half, and the first two goals as well. Faded a bit in the middle of the match, but emphatically scored the winning goal after a superb run through the middle. We haven’t had a player with his dynamism and versatility of play on the left wing since Henry circa ’08-’09. My MOTM.
Subs
Alves: B. Deserves the blame for Betis’ second goal, as he was ostensibly playing right back but was standing in the center circle. Created danger on the right, including a sumptuous cross for Sanchez right before we took the lead, but nothing quite seemed to come off for him.
Thiago: N/A. Replaced Fabregas in the 83rd minute to maintain possession and did his job without any fuss.
*All grading is done on the curve.
Overall it was an incredibly exciting game. No, Barcelona wasn’t at their best, and this didn’t turn into the statement game that many were expecting or hoping it to be. In fact it’s fair to say that our execution was off all night – maybe just by a little bit, but that small margin is what makes the difference. These matches are the reason I love watching this team – tense all the way through, moments of magic, and it feels unbelievably amazing when the boys in Blaugrana pull it off. Games like these remind the players, and fans, that even in the Camp Nou nothing can be taken for granted – a lesson that we may have forgotten over three years of success. In the end you can’t help but hope our season plays out just like this match – a strong start, a slump in form in the middle, and a blazing finish that secures the win.
We’re looking to cut it back down to 5 points! Visca Barca!
…I don’t jinx my own team, okay?
Betis will no doubt be a tricky opponent–they’ve always given us trouble — but we’re playing in Camp Nou. CAMP NOU. No matter how much fight you put up, you’ll die eventually.
Liga Preview: Barcelona-Real Betis, Saturday Sunday 3:30pm ET, GolTV
They were first for a bit, having won their first 4 matches. They were looking down from lofty heights and thinking about long-term results. They were living up to the hype from last year when they put in a magnificent second leg against Barça and won handily. They were segunda champions. And then: 1 point out of the next 30 and Real Betis fell all the way to 17th, just barely out of the relegation zone. Manager Pepe Mel was supposedly on the hot seat, the team was barely scoring, and the defense was losing its grip. The next match was against Valencia and they were assured of losing.
An own goal appeared to be extinguishing Betis’ season. Extra time came along and suddenly another and then: Ruben Castro scored, the crowd went wild. A point against Valencia at the death. And then: Ruben Castro scored again, a second goal in extra time and one that was worth 2 additional points and pandemonium in the stands. They’ve gone 3 matches without dropping a point. They’re in 10th and looking like the team from the first few weeks. They beat Atleti at the Calderon and Sporting Gijon at home.
So they’re heading to Barcelona now, to play a team that is probably looking to make a strong statement of intent before midweek clasicos. Betis brings along Casto, Fabricio, Juanma, Nacho, Jonathan Pereira, Iriney, Salva Sevilla, Isidoro, Ustaritz, Mario, Dorado, Sergio, Cañas, Jorge Molina, Rubén Castro, Santa Cruz, Matilla, Jefferson Montero.
They play a fairly open and attacking brand of football, which is fun, but hasn’t really paid off with a lot of goals. Only 19 so far this season with Ruben Castro getting 5 of them and Roque Santa Cruz 4. The defense has allowed just 22 goals, however, which is not particularly bad. Barcelona, however, are not your typical team and Betis aren’t particularly good against higher ranked teams.
Barça haven’t allowed a goal at home this year while they’ve scored 39 and are 8W-1D-0L compared to Betis’ 3W-0D-6L away from home. That suggests a pretty high likelihood of a home win, but crazier things have certainly happened. Seydou Keita is now missing for Barça thanks to African Cup of Nations duty. Pedro and Andreu Fontas are also injured, which means that, coupled with Ibi and Villa’s absences, only 15 1st teamers are available. B-teamers Cuenca, Montoya, Sergi Roberto, and Jonathan Dos Santos all trained with the first team and are likely to be included in the final squad list.
I have no particulary rationale behind that lineup other than it is 11 players and resting Puyol for the midweek game is perhaps something Guardiola will do. Otherwise, I have no idea because it depends on whether or not Abidal gets rested in favor of Adriano or not. We’ll have to see. Either way, Official Prediction: 3-0. No goals are allowed in the Camp Nou.
It’s extremely important to get this win as Madrid has already moved back up by 8 points thanks to their come-from-behind victory over Mallorca. No more points can be handed to them if the league is to be won. And winning the league is the point of the season. It’s not the Champions League and it’s not the Copa and it’s not the Club World Cup. It’s La Liga. And these matches are what matter in the long run. Every point is worth the same and now is when we prove our worthiness. So, now we have to do it. Doing it with a clean sheet just makes it seem better, more convincing.
Apologies for the short preview, but these Sunday games are extremely hard to find time for. We’ll have a review for you and then it’s Clasico Week again and I’ll be posting a couple of times before Pep’s Birthday Celebration in the Bernabeu.
I know what you are all feeling. I know because I’m feeling the same way.
Well, actually, I don’t know about you guys, but I feel like doing this:
Those Pericos. How I loathe them.
Just when the perfect opportunity to sit down and roll over nicely presents itself – really, we weren’t even planning on scoring that many goals against them—they have to go and play out of their skins against us in front of their fans.
The bastards.
So Barcelona struts onto the Cornella pitch with a 3-4-3 formation consisting of: Valdes – Puyol, Pique, Abidal – Xavi, Busi, Fabregas, Iniesta – Alves, Messi, and Alexis.
It was the same eleven that started, and won 1-3, in the Bernabeu in December. Iniesta and Alexis were able to shake off their injuries (well, in latter’s case, make a full recovery). There was no Cuenca, or Maxwell, as they didn’t make the bench.
The match started off at a frenetic pace, which suited Espanyol just as well.
Wait…Espanyol?
What?! There’s another team on the field?!
Barcelona with their superhuman tippy tappy from hell tends to make the other team seem like they’re training cones. Turns out they’re actually aren’t.
…Yeah, I’m pretty shocked too.
Hats off to Espanyol. They made things difficult. How difficult? I’ll get to that. But they definitely played out of their skins.
The concept of deserving things – goals, cards, wins, sweat soaked shirts– in football is one regarded with some disdain: you don’t ‘deserve’ things, you earn it. And I’m hard pressed to say that Espanyol didn’t earn their goal.
It was coming, it really was.
Composure, composure, wherefore art thou?
A 3-4-3 is a great formation when executed properly. You can create a boat load of chances, gain numerical superiority in advantageous places on the pitch, and score a lot of goals. However, there is one very important thing you need to make it all work:
Possession.
With possession, you can compose yourself, find a rhythm, dictate the tempo, prevent your 3 man backline from being exposed and just generally cause the other team problems while minimizing yours. It’s why we love it so much, we could marry it.
But if you don’t have it, 3-4-3 is a bit… risky, to say the least.
Barcelona did not have good possession, regardless of what the statistician says.
(They’re probably getting lazy and already have the possession stat before the game’s played, I bet. )
Espanyol came out with a game plan, which was: press the heck out of that team in black and turn this game into a scrimmage. Don’t worry about keeping decent possession or anything impossible like that, just make sure they can’t. Stay narrow, flood the centre, and when you get the ball, don’t worry about scoring on the counter. Just make sure you have more players than them when countering and work from there.
Needless to say: it worked.
Sergio Garcia and Joan Verdu in particular did a great job in drifting in between our lines. Sure, they can’t finish to save a dying puppy, but it seems like Alvaro can.
It’s a cliché but midfields win matches.
The main objective of our midfield is quite simple: keep the ball. From there, they usually establish the team’s rhythm and dictate the match’s tempo.
As mentioned above, the first half was end to end stuff. That was partly down to Espanyol’s press, but our players also had a large effect.
They were far too direct today and played far too fast. And they let themselves get caught up in Espanyol dynamics and didn’t try to settle the match down.
It was weird seeing our team play like they were Speedy Gonzalez on speed. (Don’t doubt my similes, okay. They’re brilliant.)
I didn’t like it.
The Cesc Complexity
I'm really scoring dem headed goals!
I find Cesc Fabregas a very interesting player. He’s not particularly fast, his first touch isn’t the best on the team, but he has a wonderful GPS in his head that probably flashes green arrows every now and again that tells him ‘Hey, Cesc, move that way! You’ll find space there!’ and more often than not he’ll do some kind of damage using that space, whether it be scoring a goal or providing an assist.
Take the goal he scored today in the 15th minute, after being denied minutes before when Messi was adjudged to have used his arm to control the ball (silly refs, don’t they know he’s Argentine?): Xavi shifts the ball to Alves on the right. As Dani prepares for the cross, Messi makes a barreling forward run towards goal, taking a multitude of defenders (read: two) with him. That leaves a small gap – really, I doubt we could even fit Bojan in there (if he were still here) — and Fabregas took advantage, directing a fabulous header into the bottom right corner from just inside the box.
Wonderful goal. He shadows Leo’s runs so, so well.
That being said, he brings a host of other issues both directly and indirectly.
His role in the team is still a weird one. It’s kind of like he’s in a free role, but not really. When he’s playing in an advanced position, he’ll have a positive effect. However, when he’s playing in said advanced position, shadowing Messi’s runs or creating confusion – “anarchy” as Pep calls it, as when the opposition defenders see him they think, “Wait, when you get here? Aren’t you supposed to be in the midfield?”—there’s no one to support Xavi, Iniesta and Busi in the midfield, particularly during counters.
In other words, sure, we have another player up front, but we’re a man short in the midfield of all places.
So not cool. And totally rains on Pep’s total midfield domination parade.
So whenever we lost the ball, our transition defense (ie. When we go from ‘let’s score a billion goals on these mofos’ to ‘ah crap, we lost the ball, all hands on deck!’) suffered. Badly. We didn’t have enough players to defend the Espanyol ones that were streaking forward.
Added to that was Alves playing too far up the pitch in his right wing role. When he’s playing that high, and Cesc is off to scale Mount Shadow Striker, he’s got to make sure he’s careful not to lose possession on his side. Why? Because he’s only got Puyol and Xavi, who probably drifts to the middle, behind to cover. As much as I love ‘em, they’re not exactly the Spanish Usain Bolts. And there’s only so much ground Busi’s Bambi legs can cover. (A lot, to be fair, but still).
Basically Alves shouldn’t lose the ball too often because he’ll be too far up the pitch to run back and cover and leave poor Puyol, Xavi and maybe Busi to cover.
Problem: Alves lost the ball too often, leaving poor Puyol, Xavi, and maybe Busi, to cover.
Yeah, this isn't working.
Second half: Pep tries to make adjustments
Team came out of the second half after getting their Pep talk (pun had to happen, sorry) and they kept possession much better.
And by much better, I mean slightly better than what it was before. Which wasn’t much.
That had to do with the fact Alves was pushed deeper; first to the midfield, then to right back around the 65th minute. When that happened, we switched to a more conventional back 4 and Fabregas moved to the wing. It was necessary as our right flank was being overrun.
We needed to regain some lost composure. Then build a rhythm and get that second goal.
Ultimately, Barcelona couldn’t. Espanyol’s dynamism dictated the game and that was the Pericos’ greatest victory.
Two Schools of Thought: We’re all gonna die! Vs. Relax muchachos, still a long way to go
A good chunk of cules, maybe 90%, ascribe to the former. I’m that rare 10% that believes that giving up on the Liga with 17 games to go is…pretty silly.
Is it a challenge? For sure. But impossible? Not a chance.
Yeah, we’ll drop points, but they will too. A draw here, an Alcorconazo there, et voila! We’re back in it.
This might shock some people but…
We’re still not a finished product. Experimentation is still in effect. Seriously. Just like the first half of the season saw about a billion backlines (something like 9 different ones in La Liga alone) so that we could seamlessly go from a 3 man backline to a 4 man backline with no subs, I think our second half of the season will see us doing more experimenting with our frontline, especially given Villa’s unfortunate injury.
Honestly, I’ve always seen this season as the transition for next season when Alexis is fully integrated, we find out what the heck to do with Fabregas, and Thiago…okay, maybe not Thiago.
Penalties and Barca, like Di Maria and Staying Upright In the Box
The majority of the blame lies with us, but no one blaugrana would mind if referees didn’t stop applying the rules of the game to us. We can be crap and still be allowed to get penalties. Really. First Valencia, then Getafe, and now this game…
Is it because of Qatar Foundation? Or the Coke Zero? Because that’s not our fault. (Okay, maybe the first one, but that’s all RoSELL man. And the cules who voted for it).
And I don’t even like Coke Zero. Aspartame sucks.
Thoughts:
Pep: game-plan didn’t work. Should have set them up different, like you did in the Clasico with Alexis up front, Messi as 10. And personally, I’d have put in Thiago instead of Pedro. He can play LW and still maintain possession. But I know you wanted it. Look how sad you are in this video.
Team: Not the best of games. Too direct, passes more wayward than Liverpool’s sense of justice. They’re human after all. Your punishment: Being in the middle of never-ending rondos, courtesy of the Barca Babies. Then having Carmona and Armando on your team when playing against them. Don’t worry fellow cules, I have a heart; I need it to live after all. Conscience? I have no conscience.
Valdes: Didn’t really have much to do. Some erratic passes and weird positioning at times, but awesome save in the first half when you pushed Verdu’s shot off the post. That, and the save from Sergio Garcia too. Maybe could have done better on the goal, but that was an all around stinker.
Puyol: Lots of heart, full body blocks and some great covering for Alves. That said, Espanyol were prioritizing that right flank and so you were by yourself for a while. Alvaro also broke away from you on the goal. Sad face.
Pique: I liked your defending today. Great interceptions, won a lot in the air, some good tackles and that goal line clearance? Me gusta. Your passing? Could have done without it today to be honest. Missed their mark and tended to gift possession right back. Your form’s improving though. Good news.
Abidal: Mr. Reliable. Espanyol took one look at you and said, “screw attacking this flank.” Your flexibility and ability to play as centre back is one of the reasons why we can seamlessly go from a 3-man back line to a 4 man one. I loved that full body block in the first half on Sergio Garcia too.
Busi: I thought you had a great game. You’re just so smooth. I like your deft passes. You keep it simple, and it’s wonderful to watch. There was this lovely turn you did in the centre of the field in the second half that I could seriously watch all day. There were times where you were in fireman mode too and used those Bambi legs to cover great distances. Under-appreciated.
Xavi: A lot of people are blaming you for not controlling the midfield, but then those people probably don’t get that you’re not the one who’s solely responsible for Midfield Domination ™. When you did have the ball though, you did some good things, like that assist to an assist for our goal. You also misplaced passes on occasion, which is notable only for its oddity.
Iniesta: I missed you. Oh how I missed you. Silkiest player I’ve ever seen. Combinations with Alexis were very nice, and one of our best players in both halves today. A selfish part of me likes that you are sometimes overshadowed a bit, or lumped together with Xavi, because then you can become subject of a cult. A fanatic one.
Cesc: see above. What I’m reminded of when I thought of this game is a Barca youth team coach who said that he felt that Fabregas was making us too ‘English’ and that worried him. Interesting shout and after watching this game, I’m inclined to agree a bit.
Alves: The cross for Cesc’s goal was immaculate. I see Cuenca’s emergence has been keeping you on your toes. Just stop dilly dallying with the ball. Please. I know you’re playing right wing, but if you’re not going to take on a player, which you should have given how narrow Espanyol was, then at least keep the ball moving. The hesitation really isn’t necessary. Disappointed with you today. You need to take ‘Keep It Simple And Moving’ lessons with Busi.
That said, incredibly saddened to hear the monkey chants directed at you. It was very clear on my TV. Shameful.
Messi: Generally, most people will be thinking, “we lost—uh, I mean, drew! Where was Leo!” Those same people tend to forget teams prioritize defending him. There will be games where it’s just too much. And when he’s being defended by so many players, everyone else has less players on them and are more open. His job isn’t just to score and be the hero all the time. Team game, etc.
That being said, it wasn’t a shining example of what he can do. Didn’t have much direct effect as we’re used to seeing, didn’t press as hard as he could have, and was just generally meh. By his standards.
Alexis: Chut de bol, chileno! Shoot! His game was a mixed bag for me. While he was very lively, he tended to be too differential to other players. That, and when he DID decide to shoot, it took about a million years. And he didn’t get it on target either. Bad Alexis. Also, take on players more. You’ve got skills, bro. Use them! His workrate was as great as ever though.
Substitutes:
Pedro (for Alexis): brought on to assist in the scoring of, or actually score, the second goal. Composure on the ball isn’t his strong suit, his wayward shot at the death was a scuffed one, but he could have, and should have, gotten a penalty after Raul Rodriguez’s blatant handball. Ah well.
Keiteeee (for Cesc): Came on just before the goal was scored. Your sub was meant to restore some order in the midfield, and basically hang on to the 0-1 (which is always very risky) but with that equalizer the team was always going to be frantically searching for the winner. Now you’re off to the ACON (African Cup of Nations). You will be missed.
So.
Some food for thought:
– In the post match press conference, our mister was almost in tears. Seriously. He had look forward and up to stop them welling up in his eyes. This Liga matters. They won’t give up until it’s mathematically impossible and neither will I. There was a time where Madrid was 12pts back and still managed to win the title (ugh) and in the 08/09 we had a 12 pt lead in January cut down to 1.
5 points?
The league isn’t over until it’s mathematically impossible. We’ll fight to the end.
Our next match in the Liga is against Real Betis on Sunday (we play Osasuna away on Thursday).
Som-hi, Barca!
– Espanyol started a bunch of homegrown players, men from their academy, did that make a difference, however small it may be? Personally, yes, I think it did.
They hassled, they harangued, they moaned, they stomped – they did anything they could do salvage something in front of their fans. And for themselves. Because, well, they hate us. Sure, it’s been diluted a bit by Iniesta’s Jarque gesture, but the chance to put a wrench in our season is one they clap their hands gleefully at.
And… that’s something I don’t think Madrid have right now to be honest.
Am I the only one who noticed the...body...in the background?
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