You’d think we’d have learned by now not to celebrate shit when Villarreal is in town. Last season, we feted the Liga trophy, and they left a turd in the punch bowl with a late goal. This year, we celebrated the 6 cups and again, they had the audacity to come in and out-Barca Barca.

These guys just ain’t broad minded.

And for the record, we should have lost this one. So rather than two points dropped, think of it as one point stolen, because we were outplayed for most of this one, in part because only a few of our lads came to really play, and one of them was my MOTM, Grampa Henry, the guy people love to hate.
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Liga Preview: Barça – Villarreal, Saturday 2pmEST, ESPN Deportes

When David Farragut uttered the famous words in the title, I doubt he was thinking of a small town on the eastern coast of Spain. In fact, since the game of football didn’t properly exist at the time, it’s probable that he was thinking about just the actual naval mines in Mobile Bay that were threatening to destroy the boats he commanded and not anything about the 2009-10 La Liga schedule. Still, maybe somewhere in the recesses of his mind, in the subconscious,—warning, misused big word coming up—in the cerebellum*, there was something that murmured about aureolin underwater doohickeys that shoot explosive projectiles and are somehow related to eleven men dressed in a similar color exclusively use their feet to move an inflated pig’s bladder around a rectangular field as a large crowd of people scream obscenities at them.

Regardless of Commander Farragut’s intentions or future-thoughts while in the midst of an epic battle that would cement his legacy forever—another thing I’m sure he didn’t consider—Villarreal is going to visit the Camp Nou tomorrow in Barça’s return to competitive action after the Christmas break. Or maybe it’s a Kwanzaa break. I don’t know. And that visit is important for several reasons. Obviously the return to league action after several weeks away will be a jolt to Barça’s system, but at least Villarreal are in almost the same boat. Like I said, aaaall year. Continue Reading

Champagne bottles are uncorked, hats fly into the air, balls drop, and so forth, as the partiers scream happily, hugging strangers, kissing loved ones, and generally making merry, as is their wont. It is not a celebration of the new year, though, it is me celebrating my lady’s departure to foreign shores for a week with her sister. Not that I don’t love her dearly, but sometimes Man Week has to happen and this is that week.

It also just happens to be the return to competitive action for our boys in blaugrana, so I must get back on my horse and start to churn out some serious posts. This is going to be a huge month for Barça, so, while I watch gargantuan amounts of college football and consume most of my calories in beer, I will be drumming away on this keyboard to make sure that all of you get your regular fix of BFB style infosome. That’s like infotainment, but it’s way more awesome, obviously. Continue Reading

It’s been a while, guys.  I apologize for my Thong Boy like work rate over the past few months. Anyways, the Deportivo La Coruna and Club World Cup games have been fascinating from a tactical perspective. Pep employed a few new wrinkles into our usual gameplans that deserved their own post so here it is. Let’s start out in Galicia at one of my favorite Spanish cities: A Coruña.

More after the jump…

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We are living in a rare and glorious time, one in which cules who have suffered through lean years, various funkiness and close but no cigar kinds of seasons, can bask in the amazing glow of 6, count ‘em six trophies in less than 12 months.

Staggering. But even in that time, there have been highlights. Here are my Top Ten:

10. Grinderball. Last season was all about flash, dash and champagne football gaudy scorelines and giggles all ’round. This year, we are getting every team’s best match, and we’ve learned to just win, baby. Because sometimes, this game is about the strategy, the not letting the other side score and working out some way, any way, to get a goal. Last season, it was pretty easy to coach. Just turn the horses loose. This year is hard. And still, we win.
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from Graph Jam

As most of you are aware, there’s this guy named Kevin that does the reviews for this here website. And some of you smart readers are even aware that during those reviews, he rates the players in each match. What you probably aren’t aware of is that there’s a bookish nerdboy collecting those ratings and putting them through the ringer and come up with averages, medians, and some analysis. That Peter Parker-esque science geek is, of course, me.

Each week I feed Kevin’s ratings into my number crunching machine, carefully calibrated to understand exactly the emotions involved in these integers. The machine is, of course Excel. And it does fairly simple mathematical operations. The first KRS is here.

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Hmmmm....

So. You have this slice of chocolate cake that you’ve been craving for what seems like the best part of your life. And you have it. And it’s good. So good that you start looking for places to put a ring, or you wonder if you should build a shrine to this piece of cake.

It’s that good.

Then you have a second piece, because if the first piece was that good ….

But it isn’t. And you’ve gone and messed it up. But what the hell does any of this cake bollocks have to do with Barca, and Guardiola?
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After you’ve checked out Kevin’s holiday post, read this here discussion. But not before, do you hear me?

Fifteen games down, sixty percent of the season still remaining. That’s an awful lot of football to be crammed in between now and the middle of May, when the final jornada is played. But let’s talk about the past for a little bit, rather than dwelling entirely on the future. There has been some amazing stuff going on and it’s well worth discussing. Continue Reading

So, when I first started commenting over at The Offside, it was kind of weird. Being a veteran of car-related (Subarus in specific) message boards, and being oh, so tired of the nastiness, I wasn’t sure how I felt about ceasing to lurk …. and “speaking” up.

Then as one post led to another, and another, it struck me that the community here wasn’t anything like a message board. Monikers came and went as interest in the club waxed and waned, but one thing remained constant: Respect.
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