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01 February 2015
What an extraordinary match of football, one that for me was most interesting in the way that it tested the mettle of this Barça side. It’s easy to scoff and say that “It’s only Villarreal,” but this was a team that today suffered only its second road loss and was unbeaten in its last 10 […]
Posted in Analysis, La Liga, Messi, Neymar, Thoughts59 Comments
29 January 2015
A shoe was thrown, a fullback came face to face with a lineman’s flag, a player was arrested on the way to the match, and Barça put a big match away without much of a midfield. Crazy days. Rules are nonsense in certain situations, even as they provide behavioral guidelines in others. The danger, particularly […]
Posted in Analysis, Copa del Rey, Messi, Neymar, Tactics, Thoughts87 Comments
28 January 2015
Do you know how mad you have to be to throw a shoe at someone? Think about it. You’re at work, and something happens. Let’s say someone or thing has been vexing you for most of a workday. What does it take to finally, finally get you to snap and … off comes the shoe. […]
Posted in Analysis, Copa del Rey, La Liga, Messi, Neymar, Thoughts38 Comments
27 January 2015
Well, this is weird. Somehow, FC Barcelona has gone from a team that was a clueless, rambling mess that didn’t stand a chance against the Liga champions Atletico de Madrid, to being a goal up (should have been more) and with a leg in the semifinals. At the same time, an administration is flailing during […]
Posted in Copa del Rey, Elections, Messi, Neymar, Thoughts, Transfers/Transfer Rumors67 Comments
25 January 2015
Throughout the season, I came across the same phrase multiple times. The phrase is “individual brilliance”. Knowing that I don’t have enough knowledge about football and mainly my own team, Barcelona, I decided to ask people about the correct definition of individual brilliance in football. Apparently, individual brilliance is an uncommon case in football in […]
Posted in Barcelona38 Comments
24 January 2015
Credit is a weird thing, because even when it would seem clear to someone where it’s due, worldview can affect a lot. In this vein, a comment in the Atleti post was fascinating and inspiring, so here it is to get things started: Kxevin, its quite unfortunate that you are hell bent on crediting every […]
Posted in Analysis, La Liga, Messi, Neymar, Thoughts42 Comments
23 January 2015
You can learn a lot from a simple match of football. For example, you have to be really, really smart to be dissatisfied with the way that Barça played yesterday as regards the esoteric minutiae of today’s hyper-enlightened fan. Positioning, formations, heat maps … ordinary dullards struggle with looking that deeply, preferring to marvel at […]
Posted in Analysis, Copa del Rey, Messi, Neymar, Thoughts24 Comments
20 January 2015
The reference. Yesterday’s Depor post didn’t deal with Sergio Busquets because he warrants a much deeper look than could be afforded by a paragraph. When many think of Busquets, it is this way: the reference. The player who embodies the way that Barça should play, and would like to play. Some of that is because […]
Posted in Analysis, La Liga, Tactics, Thoughts66 Comments
19 January 2015
Depor is no longer Super Depor. In a trip to an opponent wallowing around the bottom of the table near the relegation places, the visit to La Coruna wasn’t really on anybody’s list of important fixtures, even as it was a huge one for many reasons. Barça’s home form has been formidable and away form […]
Posted in Analysis, La Liga, Messi, Neymar, Tactics, Thoughts14 Comments
16 January 2015
This is weird. Yesterday’s fascinating Copa match came in the wake of a recent conversation that in the here and now of 140-character blasts, self-curated football knowledge bases and the YouTube immediacy of the modern game, a patient, long view is not only unrewarded but unwanted. (As an aside, this piece by Seb Stafford-Bloor on […]
Posted in Analysis, La Liga, Tactics, Thoughts36 Comments
14 January 2015
These days, the State of Messi is absurd. It is the worst part of the entorno as a player becomes, depending on who the person blabbing: — Someone headed to England, just you wait … — Like a bauble nobody deserves, so everyone worries about losing it — An avatar for the Revolution — A […]
Posted in La Liga, Messi, Thoughts, Transfers/Transfer Rumors65 Comments
13 January 2015
Appreciation is an odd thing, as are assessments. Neglected it seems in all of the Barça circus this season is Neymar and his emergence. We all know the details of his signing, even the legal ones: late-night negotiations in Brazil, mystery payments divulged in the club accounts, Jordi Cases, etc, etc. Neymar almost has as […]
Posted in Analysis, La Liga, Neymar, Thoughts10 Comments
