Wow! Our Man of the Match, Lionel Messi, should decicate more goals to the daughter of his cousin. What a knockout match by our little wizard (eventually), and what a display by our team (again, eventually).
Believe it or not MOTM wasn’t easy. Could it have been Victor Valdes, for his three goal-saving efforts, including an absolutely massive 1-v-1 stop against Nicola Zigic? Yes. Could it have been Thierry Henry, for his injection of whatever in the hell it was that made the difference in the second half? Sure. Could we have broken precedent, and given MOTM to a non-player in Tito Vilanova, who either read the players the riot act, or put Guardiola on speakerphone in the locker room? Why not? Continue Reading
La Diada de Sant Jordi, in Catalan culture, usually comes on April 23. Women are given a gift of roses, and respected men are given books.
In an early variant, we gave Almeria a draw. Rather nice (and charitable) of us, don’t you think? People can chatter all they want about officiating, and dives, and unfair red cards all they like, but the fact of the matter is that we played like crap for most of that match, and still came away with a draw.
Which means what? Lord only knows, from our team that doesn’t seem to be able to find a consistent groove. Continue Reading
This game, this beautiful game of ours that we play oh, so well, is about doing the right things with the ball. Seems simple, right?
It certainly should be, given that we have so many players with such incomparable skill on the ball.
But we spent much of our well-deserved win today doing the wrong things with the ball. And it was easy to tell when we did the right things, because the ball went into the net in a match in which Maulaga didn’t stop us from scoring, as much as we stopped ourselves from scoring. Despite all of the exquisite football that was so much fun to watch, too much of the time it was like noshing on one of the best meals of your life, only to break a tooth on the last bite. Continue Reading
So. Four times I watched this match. Once on a craptastic Web feed at work. Never again, I say. Again bleary-eyed at home last night, whereupon I cost myself a shiteload of sleep, banging out a screed whose vituperation would have been unmatched by any document offered up by modern man.
After the morning viewing, I calmed down a lot. After this evening’s viewing, I was even more calm, because things really weren’t that bad. Continue Reading
Here he is, our Man of the Match, scoring his first goal since the Iniestazo against Chelsea, Andres Iniesta. And truth be told, it was a shot that was far, far more difficult than it appeared on the screen. It needed to apply control, accuracy and body control to take advantage of the open net created by having a French wolf at the doorstep, looking to take advantage of a pretty darned perfect pass from Rafa Marquez.
It was also the early goal that is such a crucial part of our success, because when we score early, the other side has to come out and play. And if we are at all on form, it’s all over but the shouting. Continue Reading
It was bound to happen, say the pundits. Even Pedro! said “We had to lose sometime,” and you know what?
I just don’t buy it.
Most football matches come down to one or two moments, and this one did as well. When Guardiola decided to roll the dice, and pencil in “Jeffren” at right back, the damage was done.
No, I don’t mean to armchair quarterback, but Jeffren is an attacker who has played at right back before, against lower-level opposition, not a Liga side with something to prove at home. Continue Reading
How excellent it was that this glorious moment, captured after the goal that, in effect, put this match away for good, features two of our best players, on a day in which everybody who took to the pitch was very good, and in some cases magnificent.
This was right after the second try that Messi had at feeding Xavi, the successful one, for a butter-smooth goal that came off a counterattack that was kick-started by the man people love to hate these days, Rafa Marquez, who was having one hell of a match. But more about that later. For now …. Continue Reading
So, JMo is right: That was rather a pessimistic liveblog during that second half, and for good reason, right? We couldn’t put the ball in the net, and Sporting Hee-hone was playing with pluck and determination, pressing hard and playing for the equalizer that was going to screw up all of our Saturday.
The year 2008 might well stand as one of the best transfer summers that our beloved club has ever had. We grabbed Gerard Pique, Dani Alves and Seydou Keita, all in that same summer.
And at the time, people giggled as Del Nido rubbed his scaly fins together, saying that we were taken to the cleaners with the 14m for Keita and the 28m (and counting) for Alves. There were a lot of “What did we buy him for,” for the former, and “Boy, did we overpay” for the latter.
Only now, in the light of history and overwhelming success on the part of our club, do those transfer fees now seem a bargain, as both players have been crucial parts of our machine of victory. And today was no exception. Keita slid into the role of defensive midfielder and did an excellent job, and Alves just raised pure hell, with a hand in all three of our goals, one crappy little samba and a performance that earned the enmity of Valladolid’s home faithful.
So what the hell is this picture of Victor Valdes doing up here, right? Continue Reading
As I noted in Isaiah’s most excellent preview, that Copa loss was going to do one of two things: Focus the hell out of us, and woe betide the next opponent, or start a downward spiral of “We can’t catch a break.”
Unfortunately for Sevilla, it was the former, not the latter. We put our foot down today and claimed a nice cushion in the Liga, while returning a favor of sorts to Sevilla. You killed our Copa chances, now we’re going to kill your Liga chances. Bet.
This was far and away the best match that we have played the entire season, even with our 60 million dollar man having a shit sandwich. Continue Reading
