Barcelona Football Blog Posts

August 18, 2009 / / Gamper Trophy

News you can use from Barca-land

mes shirt

As promised, here’s a news update from the club we all love sooooooo (damn, that’s a lotta o’s) much.

—Pep Guardiola, sez Sport, wants no more signings if they can’t be Barca quality. Apparently his top two targets are still Fabregas and Chygrynskiy. If they can’t come, he’s willing to stick with what we have. No shame in that, right? Know that the latter is cup-tied, and the former is common sense-tied, as in Wenger would be out of his mind to sell him.

–With this is mind, the kids practiced with the big boys for the Gamper match. Names worth noting from the list, as in people we are certainly going to see this season in Camp Nou, are Fontas, Muniesa, Jeffren, Dos Santos, Thiago and Assulin.

Read the postNews you can use from Barca-land
August 17, 2009 / / Barcelona

“¡Corred, cabrones, corred!” (Run, you bastards, run!) a.k.a Ball Pressure Part I

Pep-Guardiola 2

That’s a great quote. It’s also slightly contradictory in a sense which you will see in a little bit. Who said it is pretty obvious given the photo.

This last June, persons outside of the Barcelona staff got their best glimpse yet at Guardiola the coach. The setting was the arid-but-beautiful island of Lazarote, in the Canary Islands. The occasion was an annual coaching clinic organized by legendary ex-Barcelona handball player and coach, Valero Rivera. Our man Pep stole the show with a charismatic presentation that was officially titled “Pressuring the Ball”. However, the title given by Sport to their recap of it was in my opinion much more fitting. Thus, I stole it: “¡Corred, cabrones, corred!”. The Spanish language coverage of this presentation provided numerous quotes from Pep that combine to form an accurate picture from the man himself of how he approaches and views ball pressure from a coaching and management standpoint. Consider those quotes from his presentation (which hardly got any English language coverage) as the inspiration for this post.

That’s where I want to start. This week will be all about Ibra and his debut, and an Ibra post is certainly in the works. But this, the first of a two-parter on the intricacies of ball pressure, will give us an idea of what awaits, and will be expected of our BAS (Big Ass Swede) as well as insight into one of the tenets of our style. Something that at first glance seems like a simple thing (e.g. “just all go after the guy with the ball”) but in reality is much more complicated from the tactical and intangible or motivational aspects.

Read the post“¡Corred, cabrones, corred!” (Run, you bastards, run!) a.k.a Ball Pressure Part I
August 16, 2009 / / Barcelona

Athletic Bilbao 1, Barca 2, a.k.a. “Gaze all ye, in wonder at P!”

P!

The face….the steely gaze that says “I will score”….the magic.

Ladies and gents, it was all about He Who Was Formerly Pedrito today, as he and Xavi combined to bail out what was really a desultory side today, with a few exceptions. Yes, it was the first, away leg of the SuperCopa but really, it was still pre-season for us and boy, did it show.

Guardiola rolled out a starting XI of: Valdes, Alves, Pique, Puyol, Abidal, The Yaya, Keita, Xavi, Pedro!, Henry and Krkic. It was a semi-serious lineup that said “Hey, I’d love it if we could win this thing, but a draw would rock my world, as well.”

And things started out great, with lots of possession that, truth to tell, was a lot of the wrong kind of possession. Rather than triangles that dance about with evil intent, we got a lot of clunnky passing and the lads poncing about as though it was a practice session. Which is fine, because as I said, we should still be able to beat Bilbao with that side.

And so it came to pass.

There were a few things worthy of note in this match:

Read the postAthletic Bilbao 1, Barca 2, a.k.a. “Gaze all ye, in wonder at P!”
August 16, 2009 / / Liveblog

Athletic – Barça Liveblog

August 15, 2009 / / Preview

Super Copa Preview: Athletic Bilbao – Barcelona; Sunday 4pm EST

First things first: it appears that there will be no TV coverage in the US of this match. Which is about as absurd as you get. I thought all the TV rights stuff had been resolved. It’s just that, well, no one expects a Spanish Inquisition. At best, we’ll be able to watch the game via a rojadirecta stream. I do not know if it is GolTV’s fault that they’re showing a Coppa Italia game between Napoli and Salernitana or if they’re doing so because they can’t show the Spanish Super Copa. Either way, I’m pissed.

Furthermore, it looks like Messi is set to miss the match, meaning our starting lineup will be missing at least two of its typical three starters (despite his never having played a match, I think that Ibrahimovic can be listed as a typical starter based on the fact that he’ll be starting the majority of the games when he his healthy). If you believe EMD, Henry is set to play, but I hope that he isn’t forced into the match as a desperation move. This is a two-legged affair and we should have all of our starters back for the second match (with the possible exception of Iniesta), meaning that we can afford to get them healthy for the season now.

Read the postSuper Copa Preview: Athletic Bilbao – Barcelona; Sunday 4pm EST
August 15, 2009 / / Barcelona

Víctor Sánchez Transfers to Xerez

August 10, 2009 / / Barcelona

Welcome to Barcelona Football Blog

Hey everyone and welcome to my latest creation: Barcelona Football Blog. Kevin and I are both moving over from TheOffside, but we’re going to maintain our typical standard of content (I think I heard some of you sighing there) along with a little greater output. I’m excited to be a part of a project that, while not containing any new contributing writers (as of now), looks to dedicate an entire site to FC Barcelona. Behind-the-scenes is our IT man, Tarun, who will be aiding us in a variety of different ways. You’ll see his work every day, but you’ll never really notice it. Our other new contributor is Hector, a regular commenter on our old site who has made the shift to become our tactical liaison. We’re excited to have both of these superstars on our team.

In the coming days and weeks, we’ll be setting a few ads around the site in order to obtain a level of revenue sufficient for us to provide donations to charities. We’re talking about chump change in a lot of ways, but with every visit and every click, we’ll be able to provide better services for those around the world who are in need — this is what, to me, FC Barcelona stands for in many ways and it is an honor and a privilege to be involved in anything that attempts to make our world stronger while also providing scintillating football and good commentary.

Read the postWelcome to Barcelona Football Blog