Today on my lovely walk to the grocery store, I was able to think about a few things, as I am wont to do while walking. I had been reminded by reading this post at Avoiding the Drop before leaving the house that not all was right in the world and so I mentally revisited the tortuous ground of Spanish league tiebreaker scenarios. This is not a quick and clean set of rules, but RFEF spells them out in Chapter 4, Article 296.2 of their Relgamento General (see page 174):

Si al término del campeonato resultara empate dos clubs, se resolverá por la mayor diferencia de goles a favor, sumados los en pro y en contra según el resultado de los dos partidos jugados entre ellos; si así no se dilucidase, se decidirá también por la mayor diferencia de goles a favor, pero teniendo en cuenta todos los obtenidos y recibidos en el transcurso de la competición; de ser idéntica la diferencia, resultará campeón el que hubiese marcado más tantos.

This translates to:

If at the end of the championship, the result is two clubs drawing, the winner will be the club with a greater goal difference (the sum of goals for and against from the two matches played between them); if there is still no difference, the winner will be the club with the greater goal difference from the whole competition; if the goal difference is identical, the champion will be the club that has scored the most goals.

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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.
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To start with, an apology: No new posts for some two days has the suck. We’re aware of this, and it doesn’t fill our hearts with song. It won’t happen again.

Now, to begin with, an interesting perspective on the Eto’o-Ibrahimovic swap. No, it doesn’t come from a “reputable news source,” but precious little does in this world of ours. The long and short of it is that we came out ahead. Now, I know that this startles some people, who believe that the Ibrahimovic experiment isn’t working and “Lord, how I wish we had Eto’o back.”

But the piece is worth a read.
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So good I have to kiss myself!

We have a few things to discuss, as per some of the very interesting points raised in the aftermath of our rather lackluster victory against Racing, including the qualities of one Sergi Busquets.

But first, some news:

–Aleksandr Hleb says that a resurgent Stuttgart have a “10 percent” shot against us in our upcoming Champions League match. The good thing for us is that we start the tie at their house, which means that if we can steal an away goal or two, we’re sitting pretty for the home leg.

There is, of course, bad news ….
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Money! Yeeeaaah, that's what I want!

The price of success can almost be quantified. Whether justified or not, every player involved in that success, if they have a contract that is anywhere in the realm of being up for renewal, wants more money. Mo, mo, mo, mo.

Dani Alves is no exception. We have fiscal complexities at every turn. Gerard Pique is up for a renewal, and we have to deal with the kids. But also, we have our Brazilian Hummingbird who, dependent upon who you read, is either unsettled or not going anywhere.
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Dammit, Wayne! I said no, dude!

Guess who is 23 years old today? If you guessed Gerard Pique, you guessed right. The central defender, a canterano who returned home last season, also has the distinction of being one of only three players to have won Champions League glory in consecutive seasons, with different clubs.

He’s been capped 13 times, but you can look for many more, as the man whom we have all affectionately dubbed “Piquenbauer” for his dashing forward runs with the ball, is only just learning to become the defender that he is. And who remembers that Piquenbauer’s first Spanish goal was a match-winner, in a Copa tie against Espanyol? Very cool.

So happy birthday, Pique, and many more (in the colors, of course!)
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As many of you know, it’s crunch time for our next generation of La Masia jewels. The contracts of Thiago Alcantara, Jeffren Suarez, Gai Assulin, and Jonathan Dos Santos who happen to be our best prospects at the Barca Athletic level ALL expire this spring. That means they can either resign professional contracts with Barca or leave on a free transfer. As can be expected, the (mostly EPL) vultures are out and circling. With elections being postponed until June, it seems that Guardiola and Txiki will have to force their hands before the new administration takes over. Adding to the tension is the proximity of a free transfer giving our canteranos’ agents a significant upper hand in negotiations. As much as it hurts, we will likely not be able to keep all of our guys. So, let’s have a little discussion about which ones will/should stay and which ones will/should go. Mug shots and profiles of our enfants terrible follow: Continue Reading

Hmmm .... we must improve, but how?

Is it already that time of the season?

–EMD is saying that Guardiola has been asked to choose between Ribery and Silva for our soon-to-be-vacant left wing. Apparently he likes both, but Silva fits the Barca profile better in terms of ball and player movement on the pitch, and being Spanish. Stay tuned for lots more in that shell game. Personally, I’m not sure that my preference sits with either. What say ye?
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Y’all didn’t think that I was just going to leave that sit, did you?

Without further ado, here are the results of the Barca love/hate poll. But first, a word on methodology. Anybody who ran a laundry list of players past the filters, got their first name chosen, the theory being first to mind=most beloved. So there.

Most loved: 3-way tie between Xavi, Iniesta and Messi
Most hated: Marquez, in a landslide
Interesting to note: A few players made both lists: Krkic, Alves. Busquets was second place on the hate list, and Keita even made the hate list, though with caveats.
Most surprising name(s) on the hate list: Alves, Ibrahimovic
Surprising they didn’t get more votes: The Yaya (just one)

Finally: Yes, Hleb made some lists, but those votes didn’t count, since he isn’t a current player. Neener, neener.

I'm sitting .... for now ....

So, it would appear that we have a quandary.

Or do we?

In one corner, we have Pedro!, product of the farm, scorer of goals in six different competitions, with as many goals as our highly paid import Zlatan Ibrahimovic. If he keeps up his current qualities of showing up and scoring goals, we might have to change his nickname to something official, like Action Jackson, or some such.
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