FC Barca Blog

That Wasn't An Accident!

Review

I am utterly speechless. It’s so funny how its all sunshine for us, but when it rains, it becomes a freaking downpour! We are currently losing players at the rate of  1 player a day. So far, here is our list: Ibrahimovic, Abidal, The Yaya, Marquez & Messi. Messi was taken off 15 minutes before the end of the match because he was complaining about some pain in his left leg. To all the people who might have a little hope that Messi might be able to make it back in time for Inter, I’m sorry; but I’m going to rain on your parade. According to Dr. Ricard Pruna,( Barcelona’s medical team doctor) Messi will not be able to participate in the crucial tie that will decide our course in this year’s Champions League. To further add to the grief I’m feeling right now, he is also doubtful for El Clasico. Now, I do have some hope that he might return for El Clasico, I really do, but the fact that Guardiola said that the early signs don’t bode well has got me nervous. What’s even more ironic is that he got that smack, kick or whatever you want to call it to the face (image to the left) and he was able to get up and continue playing until the 75th minute!! Speaking of that incident, that was no accident! It really was not an accident. YOU CLEAR THE BALL! YOU DO YOUR BEST TO AVOID THE PLAYER!! YOU DON’T SWITCH TO FREAKING SLOW MOTION MODE. THIS ISN’T THE MATRIX !! The calmest person of us all is Guardiola who says he isn’t worried about the slip up even though it’s before El Clasico. He IS worried, though, about whether or not his players recover, do well on Tuesday and be prepared for El Clasico. Guardiola said something that basically sums up why we didn’t get all three points. He said: “When we took the lead through Dani Alves’ goal, the team simply forgot how to play.”

Now that everything is out of my system, let’s take a second to look at where we stand. We have our most important players out injured, we have a crucial week that will:

1. Decide whether or not we make it into the next stage of the Champions League.
2. Decide whether or not we close the gap (1 point ) on Real Madrid and go top once again by 2 points.
3. Give us the bragging rights amongst Inter Milan and Real Madrid fans.

Now, the league cannot be won or lost in November. Whether they are 15 points above us, or whether we are 15 points above them. El Clasico promises, actually promised, to show us a magical display of football between the stars of both sides. The fact that Messi, Ibra and Ronaldo might not feature in that game takes half the excitement out of it. For people who don’t give a damn about that (like me ) and just want Barcelona to win (like me again ) then there’s a bit of a bright side coming into that match (and I’m not talking about the match with Inter..) This bright side will be revealed in another article because, sadly, this article revolves around one side (and basically 2 defenders) who need to get their sh*t sorted out before they can claim to be the partnership of the future.

Guardiola fielded a lineup that showed how much we were lacking in offence. Valdes, Alves, Pique, Chygnasty, Maxwell, Xavi, Busi, Keita, Iniesta, Pedro, Messi. Now I can understand that Guardiola still prefers to play Iniesta on the left when he has no other cover, but that’s honestly the wrong way to do things. In my (humble) opinion, I think Xavi and Iniesta need to have reunion back in the old midfield where they grew up together, have been through thick and thin together, and; oh let’s not forget, annihilated the biggest teams in the world (including Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and the likes). I would’ve opted for Messi and Pedro on the flanks with Bojan in the central role, buuuut Guardiola had other ideas.

We began the game as usual, but it took us 12 minutes to make the first impact. Pedro, to my liking, is capable of playing on both wings. He is as good with his left leg, as he is with his right and that’s a huge asset to the team. He was sent through by a magnificent through ball, cut inside the box dribbled 3, yes you heard it right, THREE defenders, but the last one made sure to stop him and out it went for a corner kick. It didn’t take long for the next chance to come, at 16 minutes into the game. Messi lofted an awesome ball from outside the penalty box and Keita met it with his head; but only to miss it by that much!! We began the game positively and we were strutting our stuff all over our opponents without real effect until the 28th minute.

Messi was maneuvering in his position (as false striker) when an Athletic defender mistakingly sent the ball back a little bit too long. Messi chased it and pounced on it like a ravaging animal. The defender tackled him and got the ball, Messi fell on the floor but got up in an instant and continued to chase the ball. As that happened, the goalkeeper decided to make a run in an attempt to stop Messi. Messi intelligently kicked the ball away from the keeper as he slid, but it was too long. Instead he made a sublime cross for Xavi to tap into the net, but Xavi didn’t get to it. Athletic’s most important chance came in the first minute of extra time. You would think that with 3 towering players (Busi, Pique and Chygnasty) set pieces wouldn’t be a problem. The attacker left Busi for dead and headed the ball home. For our good fortune, it missed!

The second half started in a similar fashion, a fashion of give and go, but there was only one difference between that start and fist half start. Early chance, early goal and what  a goal it was. Xavi received the ball while under pressure from a defender. What amazes me is that he had the time to see Dani Alves make that run despite the pressure from the defender. Xavi’s last touch of the ball was an awesome through ball that sent Alves through, and all Alves had to do was aim and fire. 54th minute, Bilbao 0 – 1 Barcelona. I personally thought that the game was over because all they could do was open up and make more room for us to score again. That’s probably what the whole team thought and in my opinion, that’s why we drew that game.

What I saw next disgusted me. Because as I said before, we supposedly have 3 tall players on the pitch to stop high balls. Neither one of them could stop this one (it was mainly Chygnasty’s fault) and this is what brings us to the title you all probably were wondering about. Professional fouls are fouls a player makes when he knows that there might be a very dangerous chance for the opposition. The player might get a red card, yes but then again, the ball might not go in at all and the 3 points will be in the bag. The problem that they all faced yesterday was the if and then. If I did THIS then THAT would happen. It resulted in goal for Bilbao, equal sharing of the spoils and now we’re sitting 2nd place. What a night.

Highlights:

The ratings are going to be quick because as I said earlier, I have a stupid maths exam to go and study for, so here goes.

Valdes: 6.

Alves: 6.

Pique: 7.

Chygnasty: 4.

Busi: 5.

Xavi: 8.

Keita: 6.

Iniesta: 5.

Pedro: 7.

Messi: 7.

Bojan: 6.

Henry: Incomplete.

Sorry for the rush, keep checking back for the latest articles here on FCBB.

P.S. I’ll have an article up by tomorrow that should analyse our current position (more on that when you read it )

Until Then ;; Visca el Barca!!