should they stay or should they go?

All signs point to major changes in the Barcelona squad next season. My (massively long, as it turns out) two cents on who should be staying and who needs to be ushered out the door below.

Keep in mind, though, that I haven't taken any economic considerations (e.g. selling X will get us some cash to spend on Y) into account.

Defence

Victor Valdes - had some blunders, but overall a decent season. The problems in defence cannot be entirely attributed to him. Keep.

Albert Jorquera - unfortunate to have missed so much of the season through an ACL injury. To be honest, though, he only ever plays cup matches and has never given Valdes a run for his money. Has signed a recent extension though, so barring any surprises he'll be staying.

Jose Manuel Pinto - Haven't played too many games, but has looked decent when he has been given opportunities, and his impressive record in the Primera before he came to Barca has convinced me that he deserves a chance. But with Jorquera having signed an extension not too long ago, I'm fairly sure he will get sent back to Celta.

Gabi Milito - his ACL injury was a massive blow. Started the season brightly and quickly cemented a leadership role in the team. His form dipped towards the end of the season, but in my opinion he was a solid purchase. Keep. (Get well soon, Gabi!)

Rafael Marquez - Rafa is that endangered species, the cultured centerback who can put in the tackles and pick out a pass. When he's on, he's brilliant. But he's been injured far too much in the last two seasons, and - more importantly - his commitment to the cause has been lacking. (Staying in Madrid to party after the Clasico defeat? Last nail in the coffin.) Sell, much as it pains me, and much as we'll struggle to replace him.

Carles Puyol - Poor old Captain Caveman. As Rijkaard once said, he's often the only man shouting in the desert in this Barca side in recent years. His commitment is unquestionable, and this team cannot do without him. Keep - or there will be rioting in the streets.

Gianluca Zambrotta - has never really hit the heights that he once reached for Juventus and Italy. It's a shame, really, because he is clearly a classy defender who can also go forward intelligently. I would love for him to stay, but all signs point toward him leaving to go back to Italy.

Sylvinho - couldn't get into the team at the start of the season when Abidal was on form, but when he did play he did a decent job. A positive influence on the younger players off the pitch as well, so I'm pleased to hear that he is negotiating a contract extension.

Lilian Thuram - still undeniably classy, but his legs have clearly gone. I would like him to stay if only because of the positive influence he has within the dressing room, much like Henrik Larsson did, but it doesn't seem possible. Will most likely be allowed to walk away.

Eric Abidal - started the season so well and ended it so badly. I'm not quite sure what happened, to be honest. He's clearly a great athlete and a wonderful player when on form, but his head went walkabout during the second half of the season. Keep - let's just hope he can get himself back on track.

Oleguer Presas - has had a horrible season, much of it disrupted by various injuries. Most fans seem to be in favour of booting him out the door, but I think he's a handy guy to have around, even if he gives me hives when he plays at right-back. Remember, he played quite a lot at center-back a couple of seasons back and that worked out okay. No idea what's going to happen to him. It's not like we'd get decent money if we sold him, and I doubt he's on much in terms of wages, so we might as well keep him around. (I confess, part of me is saying this because I want to see the book group him and Guardiola would inevitably end up forming.)

Midfield

Xavi Hernandez - this season was vice-captain Xavi's tenth at Barca. He is now the player who has appeared the most times for Barca in European competition, and inching up the all-time appearances list as well, having overtaken Pep Guardiola. One more personal record - he has scored 9 goals this season, many of them crucial. Aside from that, his passing was as dependable as ever, although he did not always manage to escape the malaise when the team were slumping. Keep, of course.

Eidur Gudjohnsen - hasn't played as much as he would have liked, and when he has played his performances have been uneven. Has shown his potential as a midfielder in some games, but in others he still looks to be on a different wave length to his team mates. Surely unhappy with being on the bench so often, a good offer would probably persuade him to leave. I'll miss him, but - sell.

Andres Iniesta - one of the most underrated players in all of Europe. I said in my review of last season that he'd come of age then. Well, if last season was his coming of age, then this season has seen him add to his already extensive set of skills and step up as one of the quiet leaders of the team while others floundered. (A minor complaint, but I do wish he'd cut out the blatant diving. It's unbecoming of a player as good as he is.) He's only 24, but has already racked up an astonishing 200 appearances for the club. Keep - he's going to be a club legend.

Edmilson - Poor old Edmilson. I can clearly remember him being a decent holding midfielder who specialised in man-marking creative players out of the game, not too long ago. A series of injuries have meant that he only played a few games this season, and that when he has played he has generally been awful. That combined with a certain ill-timed outburst this season means that he is sure to be off-loaded. Sell.

Deco - ah, Deco. He has always inspired adoration and frustration from me in equal measure. Injury problems have dogged him this season, but when he has been fully fit he has generally played well, and Barca have no other players who can do what he can. But at the same time his off-field problems have been well-documented. The booking that he picked up in the game against Valencia (most likely deliberate), forcing him to miss the Clasico was probably the last nail in his coffin. I would like for him to stay, if only because I can't see how we're going to replace him, but he's clearly going to leave. It's a shame that it has to be on such a bad note, after all he's done for Barca during the good times.

Toure Yaya - a brilliant first season where he won over the fans with his tremendous power, skill, work rate, and above all his commitment to the cause. Not going anywhere unless the Powers That Be have a sudden attack of insanity.

Forward

Santiago Ezquerro - also known as '...who?' Poor Santi. His move to Barca pretty much halted his career in its tracks, although he did get some nice silverware, a decent salary and a lot of free time in return. It's probably best for all parties involved that Santi finds a club where he's not stuck behind a 17-year-old in the pecking order. Sell.

Giovani Dos Santos - a tricky one, this. He's clearly extremely talented, and capable of being a team player. On the other hand, he's a habitual diver (and terrible at it, too, which makes it even more embarrassing), can be frustratingly individualistic, and is reportedly well on the way to diva-dom even before he's gotten good enough or famous enough to earn the attitude. His flirtations with other clubs is also unbecoming for a young player, especially one who comes from the cantera. I'd like to give him another season to impress, but if he's set on the cash being offered elsewhere, then that's just too bad.

Bojan Krkic - phenomenal. Least we all forget, he's just 17 years old. Ten goals and countless fearless performances have made him an idol of the fans, and rightly so. I am wary of too much pressure being put on his shoulders too soon, though. It is entirely unreasonable to expect someone so young and inexperienced to carry the front-line, and we all need to remember that before we criticize him. The only problem I can see is that he's a bit too lightweight right now so defenders can just bully him off the ball. Hopefully there's still a growth spurt in him somewhere - the bulking up can be done easily enough. Do I even need to say it? - Keep.

Leo Messi - worryingly, another injury-ravaged season for poor Leo. He was absolutely amazing from about September to December, when he got injured. We only got to see his brilliance in patches after that. Looked increasingly depressed as the end of the season approached even as he battled on determinedly while many around him faltered or simply gave up - and who can blame him, especially since he's so close to Ronaldinho, Deco and Frank Rijkaard, all of whom are leaving? Keep - unless the board likes the idea of being chased out of the city by an angry mob.

Samuel Eto'o - yet another unfortunately injury-ravaged season for Sammy. That, added to the after-effects of the African Cup of Nations, meant that he really lost form towards the end of the season, but even so his strike rate - 16 goals in 16 league games - is pretty amazing. The way he missed the Clasico, though, really made me angry (even though he's one of my favourite players) and lowered his standing amongst the fans considerably. On the other hand, he's still only 27, and I have faith that he can recover his form. Remember, he scored 71 goals in 100 appearances with us. While his sale would raise some money, how much would it take to buy a striker who could boast the same efficiency? Keep - at least for one more season.

Thierry Henry - while Henry has gotten a lot of abuse for his perceived inadequacies this season, I have actually grown from a sort of half-mocking fondness to quite liking him. His professionalism and refusal to get involved in dressing room infighting in particular has been commendable. (Also, this is not often said, but he sure works far harder in defence than Ronaldinho did.) Sure, some of his comments have been perceived as whining, but think about it - he's new to the league, he's unexpectedly (due to the injury to Eto'o) had to play far more games than his dodgy back is supposed to be able to handle, and he's had to adapt to Barca's way of playing. 19 goals in 39 appearances isn't actually that bad a return, in the end, and he showed some signs of finally starting to adapt towards the end of the season. I think he deserves another chance.

Ronaldinho - I've changed my mind about Ronnie so many times this season. Every time I think 'that's it, that's enough' he comes back and produces something on the pitch to make me think otherwise. I'm sure a lot of Barca fans feel the same way, if the home crowd at the Camp Nou are any indication. But finally, I think that really is enough. No one can deny what he's done for the club, and no one can deny that he's still potentially one of the greatest players ever, but I think the time for an intervention at Barca has passed. If he is to rescue his career, it will have to be somewhere else. It's sad that yet another Brazilian superstar has to exit by the back door (Romario, Ronaldo, Rivaldo...), but I simply can't see any other way. I'll write a longer tribute to his time at the club when the transfer goes through, but it certainly feels like I've already been saying goodbye to Ronnie for months, if not years.



By the way, most of the spine of the 04-06 side are up for contract renewals next season. Just something to think about.

And it might be a good idea to upgrade Messi's contract, too. He's not going around asking for a contract that matches his present status because he is Cule through and through and because he's not a jerk, but given that his present contract was signed before he became a regular starter, it probably needs an update.

Speaking of which, the board better have a professional contract drafted and ready to be signed by Bojan as soon as he turns 18. No one is snatching him away.

Even by the most conservative estimates (and taking into account possible new promotions from the B team) we are going to need at least 6 or 7 new players. This is going to be an interesting transfer window, that's for sure.

Barca roundup: the 'I'm not dead!' edition

Exams are over (hooray!) and I'm back, although currently preoccupied with...well, life in general. To be honest, I've just been thinking a lot, and there's a couple of posts I want to make about coaching styles, quotas in European leagues, and all that. But it's Barca that's really been frustrating me. Anyway, news first.

international round-up

France, Italy, Spain and Portugal have all qualified for Euro 2008, meaning that there will potentially be 8 Barca players at the tournament.

Thierry Henry scored in France's game with Ukraine (2-2), which was a bit of a formality given Italy's earlier victory over Scotland.

All three Barca players played in Spain's excellent 3-0 win over Sweden, with Xavi and Iniesta in particular praised for their great performances. Iniesta scored Spain's second and Xavi was once again applauded off the pitch at the Bernabeu. (By the way, though I still dislike Aragones, congratulations to Spain for qualifying in such style in the end. What a group of young talent.)

Iniesta and Xavi also started in Spain's 1-0 win over Northern Ireland, in which the entire first-string defence (including Puyol) was rested, with captain Xavi scoring the deflected winner.

Zambrotta played in Italy's crucial 1-2 victory against Scotland but was kindly rested in the last game against the Faroe Islands.

Eidur Gudjohnsen played in Iceland's 3-0 defeat at the hands of the footballing giants of Liechtenstein.

Bojan Krkic scored once again and played well in the Spanish U21 side's 3-0 victory over Poland. Remember, the kid's still only 17. Astonishing talent.

Speaking of which, Leo Messi and Gabi Milito both played the full 90 mintues in Argentina's 3-0 victory over Bolivia and 1-2 defeat against Columbia. Messi played well in both games, scoring a great opener against Columbia while the team were down to 10 men. Milito struggled in the Columbia game once Tevez was sent off, but played fairly well against Bolivia.

Ronaldinho played the full 90 minutes in Brazil's 1-1 draw with Peru but only 60 minutes of their 2-1 victory over Uruguay, in which both he and Robinho were apparently booed by the Brazilian fans when substituted. Geez, Ronnie really can't get a break anywhere.

injury update

Good news: Deco's back and running, but he still needs time to heal and get fit. Even better news: Samuel Eto'o has started training with a ball again.

other (mostly cheerful) news

Congratulations to Andres Iniesta, who recently celebrated his 5 year anniversary in the first team squad by telling the press that he'd like to retire at Barca. I believe you, Andres.

Congratulations also to Victor Valdes for now holding the record for the longest time a Barca goalie has gone without conceding in Europe at 466 minutes and counting. Barca have yet to concede in the Champions League this season, and this added to the clean sheet kept (fortuitously, it must be said) against Liverpool last season in the return leg means that Valdes has broke the previous record which was 406 minutes and has stood for more than 30 years. (It's a bit of a reflection on how leaky defences, especially in Europe, are a Barca tradition to be honest.)

Frank Rijkaard made some interesting observations regarding Leo Messi recently, the most interesting of which is this: he believes that Messi will move to an attacking midfield position in the future. Rijkaard also talked about the progress Messi has made in the past few seasons, mainly in tactical discipline and awareness.

Lilian Thuram recently spoke to the 60 kids at La Masia on his experiences. He emphasised the importance of education, reminded the kids to always ask 'why', and urged them to focus on Iniesta as an example to be followed, both as as player and as a person.

less cheerful news aka perpetual state of 'crisis'

As much as I am angered by the attempts of the press - and I'm not even talking the Madrid press, just the Barca rags - to fan the flames of a supposed 'crisis' which leaves Barca a massive 4 points off the league leaders, at least some members are still trying to do their job. El Pais has a good summary of the latest goings on, which mostly concern the ever-honest Edmilson opening his big mouth once again and leading to the press going off on a merry round of speculation about who he meant by the 'black sheep' of the Barca family.

Out of the players who have come out and defended Rijkaard recently - Puyol, Messi, Eto'o to name a couple - Puyol was most scathing in his assessment of the players' own responsibility, and Messi was the most forthright in telling the press to back off in their attempts to bait Rijkaard.

Now, I'm very fond of Frank Rijkaard. I think he's a class act who has the rare poise needed to deal with the hysteria that often surrounds Barca, and someone who really understands players. For example, Bojan Krkic spoke a little while ago about how Rijkaard always knows what to say and when and how to say it.

One of the qualities I most admire in Rijkaard is his unflinching acceptance of blame for every setback and defeat. However, admiring it doesn't mean I agree with it. As Puyol said, it's wrong to blame the manager entirely given the culpability of the players in the performance.

(On the subject of away form, I'd like to note that Barca didn't win away for about 4 months last season, or in other words for most of the time that Samuel Eto'o was out injured. And I'd also like to note that Barca were level on points with Real Madrid, the champions, at the end of the season.)

As a Barca fan, I'm used to the hysteria that surrounds every defeat and every setback. But you know what made me really angry? The Barcelona media's Mourinho stunt. I find it really hard to believe that a large majority of Barca fans would want Mourinho to replace Rijkaard. Leaving aside the animosity, we all know that the Camp Nou is capable of turning its collective nose up at trophies if they're not won in sufficient style. (As if Mourinho hasn't had enough of that demand with Roman at Chelsea.) Also: how personally insulting is it to Rijkaard to suggest such a thing, given the evens of the past 3 seasons?


More on the away form issue later.

Barca news ahead of the Villarreal game

Club football is back with a bang with some interesting games in Spain this weekend and the return of the Champions League midweek, amidst the sound of club coaches grumbling about their charges returning injured (poor Arjen Robben) or tired.

Internationals

Gabi Milito and Leo Messi scored the goals for Argentina as they beat Venezuela away to top the qualifying table with 6 points. Hasta El Gol Siempre has a match report, and I definitely recommend checking out Messi's goal.

Congratulations to Thierry Henry who broke Michel Platini's record to become the leading scorer in France's history. He scored both goals as France made hard work out of beating Lithuania by dominating but not breaking the deadlock until late on. The second in particular was very nice. Eric Abidal and Lilian Thuram also played.

Spain played a (brilliantly timed) friendly against Finland which was described by the press as a training match. (It was a 0-0 draw, naturally.) Puyol, Iniesta and Xavi all played 45 minutes.

Deco played 90 minutes yet again for Portugal as they beat Kazakhstan 2-1 in a victory which was reportedly more laboured than the 2-0 win over Azerbaijan. (If Portugal somehow contrive to miss out from a group featuring such luminaries, then there should be an inquest. Happily, they appear to now be on course.)

Eidur Gudjohnsen played for Iceland as they went down 3-0 (!) to Liechtenstein. Oh dear.

Ronaldinho played and scored in Brazil's 5-0 victory over Ecuador in the Maracana stadium. This was a much needed result for them after the way they played against Columbia, and apparently Ronnie is starting to look a bit better.

Giovani Dos Santos played the first 45 minutes for Mexico as they went down 2-3 to Guatemala. To be fair to him, Mexico only began to collapse in the second half, although I've heard conflicting things about his performance.

Villarreal v Barca

The big story of this game is the reunion of old Arsenal and France pals Robert Pires and Thierry Henry. So we've got Pires being encouraging and positive about Henry, as he's been since the beginning, while warning team mates to watch out for that Messi guy too. The official site has an article detailing the past history between the two, and UEFA.com's preview also focuses on them.

Problem: Ronaldinho didn't even make the Friday training sesson, so he's obviously in no condition to play 90 minutes on Saturday. Worryingly, his natural substitute Giovani doesn't get back until Friday either, although he did make training. If Yaya Toure were fit, the easy solution would be to play Iniesta in Ronnie's left-wing position, but he's not, so that won't work either. Ronnie has been left out of the squad, which is probably a wise decision, given that it will keep him fresh for the Rangers game, but I'm not sure what the alternatives are going to be in this game.

Villarreal were the last side to defeat Barca, the 2-0 result in El Madrigal perfectly summing up the malaise of last season. Ironically, that game sent Villarreal on their amazing winning run which lasted for 8 matches - straight to the end of the season. To be fair, Frank Rijkaard's Barca has often found Villarreal away a difficult game to deal with. I have painfully vivid memories of the 3-0 thrashing in the 04-05 season orchestrated by one Juan Roman Riquelme.

Other news

Barcelona have drawn CD Alcoyano of the Spanish third division in the Copa del Rey. The official website also has this great story about a Barca B game against Alcoyano: In the 2005/06 season, Alcoyano and Barça B took part in a bizarre match that saw Barça B travel to Alcoy on no less than three occasions to complete the 90 minutes. First the Barça B party had to return from Alcoy after the match was suspended due to heavy snowfall. At the second attempt the match was once again suspended in the 50th minute after a technical fault left the El Collao stadium without electricity. It was a case of third time lucky for Alcoyano, who finally won the match 2-0.

Samuel Eto'o is now a Spanish citizen, which means that the only non-EU player on the roster is Yaya Toure.

There's an interesting interview with Thierry Henry from the New York Times, where he talks about his charity work, the differences between Spain and England, and his love for Basketball amongst other things.

Update on Giovani's contract situation: the boy himself says that negotiations will probably be completed in November or December, if things go according to plan.

Txiki gave a recent interview in which he said that the club were looking to give Messi and probably Iniesta a better contract. Messi's dad and agent Jorge has come out and said that they're not actually too bothered about a new, better contract, which is about the first time I've heard that from an agent.

Barca news round-up: from the sublime to the slightly ridiculous

It has gotten to a certain point in both my study semester and the season that my workload means I'm no longer able to keep up with all that goes on in La Liga. So no more general news round-up posts until I get the time again. There will be a couple of posts about transfers in general before the season starts, but I'm reverting to mostly talking about Barca, Argentina and sometimes Villarreal. Well, and Real. It is an interesting season from their perspective. So, onto the Barca news.

The first item is unfortunately an unhappy one, as a good man central to the history and development of Barca for many, many years has died. Honorary Vice President Nicolau Casaus, who was vice president of the club in the time of Nunez's long reign at the club, led an extraordinary life, much of it dedicated to the club he loved. He worked tirelessly to expand the network of supporters clubs exponentially in his time, and was the man who bought one Diego Maradona to the Camp Nou. His life story is well worth reading if you're at all interested in Barca. His time at the club was before I became a supporter and I was amazed and very impressed at the kind of life he'd led.

A great man by all accounts, and (as the Spanish King wrote in his telegram) a great ambassandor for the club, since he was a 'gentleman' who aptyl demonstrated the ideal face of the relationship Barca would like to have with wider society.

a few words on the tour

The positives and negatives of touring have been discussed to death by now, and I won't rehash all the arguments here. My own position is that I broadly agree with Lilian Thuram: commerical tours - let's not mince words here, that's their major function - are a necessary evil. They also serve a more positive function, with the charity work done by the club while on tour (yes, all the song and dance is a bit much, but at least it's doing some good) and the Catalunya tourism board apparently making use of the occasions to promote the region.

(Sidenote: I understand when people say that our conceit and self-righteous posturing annoys them. That's fair enough. But is it actually better to do nothing at all or to at least try to do something good, even if it's done in an obnoxious way, and perhaps not always with the purest of intentions? Reasonable people can disagree on this one. Sure, sometimes it can go too far, especially when Laporta opens his mouth, and seem like a parody of itself, but I personally find it difficult to cope with the idea that it's somehow bad to aspire to something. Anyway, rant over.)

Now, let me detach that chip from my shoulder. Ahem. Back to the original point: I can tolerate the idea of a tour this time around, because only a few of our players had an international tournament during the summer, but what I hear about next season does not make me happy, given that Euro 08 will affect almost as many of our players as the World Cup did. We'll see what happens, but my patience with the board is quickly running out over this issue, and I'm not the only one.

By the way, the Chinese press reports that none of the boys were caught out clubbing in Hong Kong, even with the extra time granted to them by the rescheduling of the game. If true, good for them.

Further positives, this time relating to the mini-tour of Scotland: according to at least 2 articles I read, our PR staff are excellent, and our players (Zambrotta and Thuram in this case) were courteous interviewees. These may seem trivial to you, but as I've said before, these things are important to clubs like Barca and Real, and it's always reassuring when I read that the club is run in an organised and sane manner, which is the memory of the chaos of the Gaspart years haunting me as much as anything else.

On the football front, the most widely-reported aspect of the tour has to be the emergence of Gio Dos Santos, who is so far top scorer of the pre-season with 4 and has impressed everytime he came on. He's undoubtedly talented, and I for one have been convinced that he's ready for rationed appearances in La Liga and perhaps starting roles in Cup games. It's funny how having Gio and the even younger Krkic on the first team has changed the role of Messi, who was used to being the youngest. He's now a role model and something to aspire to at the age of 20, which is a bit bizarre. About as bizarre as every up and coming young Argentinian player being labelled the 'next Messi', in fact. By the way, I hear that Gio's younger brother Jonathan is a pretty promising midfielder himself.

Besides the fact that the new legislation UEFA have bought in will increasingly force clubs to use more home-grown players (not a regulation Barca will have trouble with, given the number of canteranos in our current squad), it's nice to see players come through the system and succeed at the club. Barca has long been a proven source of midfield talent of a particular type - in fact, we produce so many that we end up 'exporting' some of our best, and we've had a few excellent defenders come through, but only now has La Masia really started producing world-class forwards.

Speaking of youth, our new 3rd choice goalkeeper Oier Olazabal was handed his debut in Beijing. The 17-year-old Basque player, who will spend the season with the B team, was surprised to be told that he would be playing against Guoan, and giving instructions to veteran defender Lilian Thuram, who is twice his age, which apparently prompted some good-natured teasing of the venerable Frenchman by the other players.

squad news

First, a quick tour-related comment: I feel quite bad for Henry, who is still coming back from injury and hasn't really hit form. The press have already started criticising him for not being sharp enough - no amount of reputation is going to protect him here. But guess who's coming to his defence and talking up his contributions so far? That's right, his longtime friend Sammy Eto'o. Not quite what the more cynical amongst us expected when the transfer went through.

With the conclusion of the tour, Rijkaard finally has all his players in the same place, including the 3 Ms (Messi, Marquez and Milito) who were in the Copa America and therefore came back from holiday later, and Deco, who has returned from the extra holiday the club gave him to go to Brazil and see his newborn son.

This is the squad of 25 that Rijkaard has at his disposal right now:

Valdes, Jorquera, Belletti, Zambrotta, Oleguer, Milito, Marquez, Olmo, Thuram, Sylvinho, Abidal, Motta, Toure, Xavi, Deco, Iniesta, Crosas, Dos Santos, Messi, Gudjohnsen, Ezquerro, Maxi, Henry, Eto'o and Ronaldinho.

That list excludes long-term injury victims Edmilson and Puyol, not to mention Bojan Krkic, off on international duty for the Spanish U17s, and includes short-term injury victims Sylvinho and Gudjohnsen. It also includes two youth team players who will go back to Pep Guardiola's B side when the season starts in Marc Crosas (reportedly a target for Liverpool) and frequent backup defender Jesus Olmo. The club are trying to offload 4 of the players on the list (Gudjohnsen, Maxi, Ezquerro and Motta), 3 of which are forwards, which is perhaps understandable given that we currently have 9 of them. That's a ridiculous number, even for a team that plays 4-3-3, especially given the fact that Rijkaard doesn't like big squads.

For interests' sake, this was the line-up for the 11-a-side game in training:

Valdes; Zambrotta, Oleguer, Thuram, Abidal; Toure, Xavi, Iniesta; Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Henry

vs

Jorquera; Belletti, Marquez, Milito, Crosas; Motta, Deco, Ezquerro; Messi, Maxi, Gio.

The hilarious thing is that the second rag-tag side with no leftback and some players played completely out of position won the game 1-0, via a penalty converted by Messi from Oleguer - who else, bless him - tripping Gio.

transfers

Given Txiki's previous statements, this week is vital in terms of the 4 aftementioned players who the club are trying to usher out the door. The Spanish press reckons that deals for Motta (with AC Milan) and Gudjohnsen (with West Ham) aren't too far off, and Ezquerro has a couple of suitors himself, but although Maxi's agent assures us he is actually trying to find a team for his client, that is seen as the most difficult transfer.

This might be illustrative of the limbo the 3 forwards find themselves in.

Current list of forwards: Henry, Eto'o, Gudjohnsen, Maxi, Ronaldinho, Ezquerro, Messi, Dos Santos, Krkic

Current order of preference for center forward (1): Henry --> Eto'o --> Ronaldinho --> Gudjohnsen --> Messi --> Krkic --> Dos Santos --> Ezquerro --> Maxi

Current order of preference for wing forward (2): Ronaldinho --> Messi --> Eto'o --> Dos Santos --> Henry --> Ezquerro --> Krkic --> Gudjohnsen --> Maxi

The reason Henry is so high on that first list and so low on the second is that he's proven to be - how shall I put this - not very good when played as a wing forward. His performances as center forward have been much more convincing. On the other hand, Eto'o is pretty good on the wing, even if I personally prefer him in a more central position.

Gudjohnsen might not be too far down the pecking order when Rijkaard needs a big target man, but he's really not suited to the wing positions. Krkic is more of a center forward than Dos Santos, who is more suited to the wing. Ezquerro is also better played on the wing, although he can play in the center. Maxi just had an unimpressive season on loan and is unbelievably out of favour.

(I once saw someone on a Barca forum do a list like the above during our double-winning season in order to (jokingly) demonstrate how far down the pecking order Maxi was. It had Valdes and Jorquera (our two 'keepers, for those who don't know) ahead of him in the 'wing-forward' list. Says it all, really.)

Krkic is 16, and Dos Santos is 18. Understandably, nobody likes being stuck behind kids ten years younger. Just ask Ludovic Giuly, who spoke out about the 'unhealthy competition' at Barca from the safety of Rome. (I sympathized with your plight, Ludo, I really did, but did you expect any coach in the world to play you ahead of Messi when he was on the sort of form he had in the last couple of months of last season?)


Lastly, I'd like to draw your attention to this photo. That's Rijkaard's son Michele in the Abidal shirt. As El Mundo Deportivo wrote jokingly, we're not too sure what kind of line-up Frankie will put out, but we know who his son would have starting at left-back.

Posts forthcoming within the next week or so: a word about Barca's new boys, and more about how we're going to line up this season. My full squad preview for the season ahead is still in the works.

Edited: for starting line-up of the practise game and a photo.

Barca 06-07 wrap-up: player by player (1)

I've had to break this up into 3 posts since it's gotten so long. So here's my evaluations of our first team squad of 22, plus the technical staff and club management. I'll do another post looking ahead to the Barca squad of next season once all the transfer business is done.

Goalkeepers

Name: Víctor Valdés Arribas
Age: 25
Evaluation: Great season from our young 'keeper. Those of you who only saw his rather hapless performance against Liverpool at Camp Nou might be surprised, but he single-handedly kept Barca in it many times this season with spectacular reflex saves and the ability to truly dominate the penalty area. Saved a couple of penalty kicks, too. I've been the first to criticise him before when he was so error-prone as to seem like a liability to the team, but he's really done very well this season. One of Barca's best performing players in a lackluster season.
Probability of transfer: No way. Safe and secure.

Name: Albert Jorquera Fortià
Age: 28
Evaluation: With Valdes so well established, the only games Jorquera played this season were in the Copa del Rey, where I'm sorry to say he did not reassure in the same way as Valdes. Technically Jorquera is fine, but he's slower than Valdes and hardly ever leaves the penalty area. Not to blame for Barca's missteps in the Copa, but not entirely impressive either.
Probability of transfer: Low. Unless Barca sign a talented young keeper, which doesn't look very likely, Jorquera will be staying. Just extended his contract this season.

Defenders

Name: Juliano Haus Belletti
Age: 31
Evaluation: Belletti has been hampered by repeated injury layoffs this season, as well as there being 2 competitors for his rightback position. He's looked impressive going forward in the few matches he did play, and rather shaky defensively.
Probability of transfer: High. Belletti is reportedly not satisfied with the amount of playing time he had this season, and with Zambrotta establishing himself as first choice, that's only set to continue.

Name: Giovanni 'Gio' Christiaan van Bronckhorst
Age: 32
Evaluation: One of the features of Gio's years at Barca have been the consistency of his performances. We know what he can do, and that's combine well in attack with Ronaldinho, whip in a decent ball from defence and make well-timed runs forward, and what he can't, demonstrated whenever he gets caught upfield when the opposition breaks. This season has been no different.
Probability of transfer: already gone, unfortunately. I was quite surprised - if any of the leftbacks left, I'd expected it to be Sylvinho. He'll be remembered fondly for his contributions not only during the good times, but in turning the barren years into fruitful ones.

Name: Silvio 'Sylvinho' Mendes Campos Junior
Age: 33
Evaluation: One of the wise elders of the dressing room - perhaps one of the main reasons why he has been retained for another season - Sylvinho was unfortunately hampered by injury problems this season. When he did play, he displayed his usual efficiency going forward and was sometimes exposed defensively. Still quite a bit of pace running up and down the left wing despite his age, and combines well with the attacking players.
Probability of transfer: Almost none, now that Gio has left. He'll be Abidal's backup next season, and in all probability will play quite a bit if he can avoid injury.

Name: Gianluca Zambrotta
Age: 30
Evaluation: Zambrotta had a tough time adjusting to the Spanish league at first, but even then his class was apparent. In the latter half of the season his displays in attack and defence improved, and with that came the goals. Not bad at all for his debut season with the club.
Probability of transfer: none, despite several Italian clubs vocally wishing otherwise. Zambrotta is trusted by Frank Rijkaard and expected to be first choice rightback next season.

Name: Carles Puyol Saforcada (c)
Age: 29
Evaluation: If every player were like Puyol, we wouldn't have any internal problems. Simple as that. He represents what Barcelona is all about, and as Sylvinho once said, he's this squad's soul. Always a model of dedication and leadership both on and off the field, through both the good and the bad times. (Anybody remember when Barca were 'Puyol and ten other blokes' back in the pre-Rijkaard days?)

El capitan hasn't had a good season, fraught with both personal tragedy and injury problems leading to a loss of form. He had some outstanding games towards the end of the season and always looked the most composed and least error-prone player in an often shaky defence.
Probability of transfer: There was a time when the club contemplated selling Puyol because we were that broke and desperate for the funds he'd generate. As we are not in the middle of such a crisis any longer, Puyol will not be sold. He's indispensible.

Name: Rafael Márquez Álvarez
Age: 28
Evaluation: It's been a season to forget for Rafa. His defensive partnership with Puyol saw Barca to the glories of the 04-05 and 05-06 season, and he had a decent World Cup as well, but this season saw him in appalling form. Such were the levels of ineptitude he displayed at centerback, compounding the already error-prone defence that he was eventually dropped in favour of Lilian Thuram. He played some games as a holding midfielder in Barca's brief flirtation with 3-4-3 and was largely anonymous. (Thankfully, he seems to be back to his normally impeccable self now.)
Probability of transfer: minimal. There was some speculation, but Puyol's injury dashed that.

Name: Ruddy Lilian Thuram-Ulien
Age: 35
Evaluation: The veteran Frenchman earned the respect of the fans early on in the season with his positioning sense and skill and he eventually worked his way into the starting line-up. Unfortunately, his lack of pace was brutally exposed many times, most notably in both games against Real Madrid. It's not entirely his fault, of course, given the lack of cover most of the time, and his footballing intelligence was still much appreciated. Hits a good ball out of defence.
Probability of transfer: minimal. Thuram looks after himself, but at the age of 35 it's difficult to see him moving on at this point. Will most probably play out his two year deal with Barca.

Name: Oleguer Presas Renom
Age: 27
Evaluation: I get nervous everytime Oleguer plays a game at rightback. He's a decent centerback in a 4 man backline, especially when partnering Puyol, but his lack of pace and attacking threat going forward are brutally exposed on the wing. To be fair, he had quite a few decent games when playing rightback this season - it was when he was playing as a part of a 3 man backline that he looked most shaky. The most notable of these performances came against Real Madrid at the Camp Nou, where he was sent off before halftime.

The strange thing about Oleguer is that I remember people talking about him as a fairly good centerback and decent rightback just a few seasons ago. Perhaps he's just not had a good season. The other possibility, which a lot of Barca fans subscribe to, is that he's simply not very good. I would suggest that's a bit uncharitable.
Probability of transfer: none. He's the most likely backup to Zambrotta, especially since Belletti is leaving. Also, Oleguer loves Barca and wouldn't want to leave unless he was absolutely not getting a look-in.


Next up, midfielders.

La Liga news round-up

The Spanish teams may have been slow starters in the transfer market because the league finished late, but they've sure moved fast since then. It is the policy of this blog to discourage baseless speculation - by which I mean anything that doesn't have quotes from a club official attached to it - so you won't find any of that in my news round-ups. So let's see what's actually been going on in La Liga.

Atletico Madrid have repeated their line that whether Fernando Torres goes or stays is entirely up to him and said that they are preparing themselves for life without him. Towards that end, they confirmed that they have an interest in Villarreal's Diego Forlan, currently suffering with the rest of the Uruguay NT in the Copa America.

The Madrid club's own fans don't seem too pleased at the prospect of selling their club captain, though. Fair enough.

Staying with Atletico, (very) occasional Argentinean international Luciano Galletti has sealed a move to Greek side Olympiakos, pending agreement from his former club Zaragoza. He's not had a good season, having stepped in for Maxi Rodriguez when he sustained his knee injury, but those are some big shoes to fill.

Over in Real Betis, Argentine Hector Cuper has been named their new coach. Cuper has had extensive experience in La Liga before with Real Mallorca and Valencia. Good luck to him, because that's definitely not an easy job.

Speaking of difficult jobs, there's been nothing official yet, so I won't say anything about the Real Madrid Capello-Schuster dilemma and just direct you to the excellent All In White for the latest on who will be coaching Real next season.

Update: annnnnd there's been an official announcement. He's gone, but Getafe have denied reports that Schuster will succeed him. I have to agree with Gonzalo's take on this. I completely understand that Real Madrid, being Real Madrid, have to strive for more than just winning games. Barca are the same way, after all. But having said that, an institution like Real probably shouldn't be seen to be firing coaches who achieve their targets and so lacking in stability (Beckham's 'I would like to thank my 6 coaches...' comes to mind). Although, if the plan was to bring Capello in, have him trim the team down to size, then dump him for a more exciting coach, well, the board were certainly very smart. They've achieved their aim.

From a Chelsea site of all places there's an interesting post discussing the recent study of the levels of fan support for each team in Spain. It makes some really interesting points by comparing the situation in La Liga to the Premiership. The one I find most fascinating and in need of more analysis is the fact that while fan support is far more spread out in the Premiership, the Champions League entrants from Spain are far more variable than the equivalent 4 teams from England.

I only just discovered the excellent Inside Arsenal through the Henry transfer. This post in particular touches on a topic that I feel is unjustly neglected by comparing the youth systems of different leagues. Earlier in the 06-07 season, the debate which was stirred up by Rafa Benitez and Jose Mourinho's suggestion that youth teams should be allowed to compete in lower leagues was abortive at best, as it was entirely eclipsed by the usual war of words between bigger, richer clubs who are seen as arrogant and smaller clubs who are seen as bitter. I personally feel that youth development is an incredibly important aspect of a club's operation and of the national team's success, so it's good to see intelligent discussion on the topic.

(I've been trying to compile a post about the Barca youth system for ages, but finding information in English is a struggle. Expect to see that post eventually, though.)

Lastly, I've been looking forward to these. Here's Sid Lowe's always entertaining awards of the Liga season, and as usual I broadly agree with his choices (having made quite a few similar ones in my own season review). While we're on the subject, here's ESPN Soccernet's Phil Ball's team of the season, and La Liga Loca's.

Barca news

Barcelona have been authorized by Roma to speak with Christian Chivu and his agent about personal terms, indicating that the two clubs have come close to an agreement regarding the player, where there was a reported difference in the two sides' valuations.

While we're on the subject of Barca, AC Milan seem to have finally gotten the message that neither Ronaldinho nor Eto'o are up for sale after months of our club officials hitting them repeatedly with the clue bat. Good for them.

Less satisfying to hear is Ludovic Giuly's agent 'slamming' Barca for slapping a 5 million euro price tag on his client's head. (Not literally, because then I'd understand his outrage.) It is his opinion that Giuly should be allowed to leave on a free transfer. I really like Giuly, and if he has to leave, I would want the parting to be an amiable one, so this is a real shame. It is understandable that the club would want a few million euros for him, though. Surely he's worth that much? Far lesser players are going for outrageous prices left and right, after all.

On a slightly different note, while the majority of footballers would probably rather be lying on a sunswept beach, the great Lilian Thuram spends his holidays giving talks on violence while touring West Africa as an United Nations goodwill ambassador. This is why he is one of the most awesome people ever.

Lastly, this post echoes my own fears regarding the Thierry Henry transfer perfectly. I would say that it probably isn't necessary to deploy Henry on the wing to accommodate all four players (you could have Henry partnering Eto'o, with Ronaldinho on one wing and Messi on another, for example), but I'm really not sure how Rijkaard is planning to play this, so we'll just have to hope that our worst fears don't come to pass.

Barca transfer updates

This is why I dislike international breaks. Don't get me wrong, I love international football, especially big tournaments, but when the season's still going on it means that the hacks get really silly with their transfer rumour-mongering.

Some quick transfer news: Frank(ie) Rijkaard has once again stated that 1) he would like Ronaldinho to stay and 2) he will reject any offers from Milan to stay with Barca, as long as the club still want him. Needless to say, this makes me happy.

Same message from Roberto de Assis, it seems, who emphasised that he had not spoke to any other clubs about Ronaldinho. Poor guy can't even meet with the employers of other players he represents (Ricardo Oliveria, amongst others, mostly Brazilian) without a hundred Italian and Spanish hacks latching on to it.

Next up, Edmilson has spoken out on the (logical) rumours of his departure, given his recent loss of form, his position and advancing age.

"Rijkaard trusts me, not only on the pitch, but also in the dressing room," said the Brazilian. "I do not know if they are truly looking for someone [a defensive midfielder], because everyday I hear that five or six are to leave, and could count thirty who will join.

"However, if I do not continue [here], I will leave calmly, because I have won many trophies and given everything."

Basically, he'll stay if he can be useful, which suits me just fine. I still say we need another defensive midfielder, though. Preferably someone world class, and proven in La Liga.

Lilian Thuram seems to have softened his rhetoric somewhat, and is maintaining the same line as Edmilson: if he's used regularly, he'll stay. I daresay that won't be a problem for as long as he's in better form than Marquez, but beyond that, I just don't know. It would be lovely if he could retire in Barca, though.

"I hope that I will play for Barcelona next season. I will move elsewhere if the club tell me there are no possibilities for me [to play regularly]. If they count on me, there are no reasons to leave the club...First of all I think of staying at Barcelona and playing more often."

Speaking of which, apparently Juve want Marquez. He's really out of form, people. Doesn't the Old Lady's representatives watch La Liga or the Champions League?

Other Barca rumours: Jorge Andrade, the Depor defender; David Albelda, defensive midfielder and captain of Valencia (again); Eric Abidal's agent is still flogging him to us (no reported interest on our part yet, which is just as well given his lost of form this season); Dani Alves has also been flogged to Barca, who are interested but baulked at the price tag; and Saviola has been linked repeatedly to Spurs.

picking over the wreck that was Bremen-Barca

I know this is incredibly late, but I only got to see the match yesterday. It is an interesting time for Barca, which is why I bothered with the long analysis at all, given that the match is now more than a week old.

Without futher ado:

Werder Bremen (4-1-3-2): Wiese; Fritz, Mertesacker, Naldo, Schulz; Baumann; Frings, Borowski, Diego; Hunt (Owomoyela 91'), Klose

FC Barcelona (4-3-3): Valdés; Oleguer, Thuram, Puyol, Sylvinho (Zambrotta 82') ; Motta, Iniesta, Deco; Giuly (Messi 65'), Eto'o (Gudjohnson 65'), Ronaldinho

Goals:
1-0 Puyol o.g. (56')
1-1 Messi (89')

The Match

Barca were disastrous for the first 15 minutes. Just incredibly poor, no coherence, inability to string two passes together, Motta, Iniesta and Giuly invisible against Bremen's physical approach.

Both Ronaldinho and Deco said after the match that Barca's troubles stemmed from lacking a man in midfield, and I think that's evident from the match itself. As Ronaldinho dropped back into a midfield position the team improved greatly, got lots more possession and started getting shots on goal. Before that we were just getting out-hustled and out-manned in the middle of the park, which is just not something that happens to Barcelona. That said, Motta, Iniesta and Giuly were still not getting involved enough. I expect that kind of thing out of Giuly because he just has a game like that once in a while, but not people like Iniesta and Motta who have aspirations of becoming starters ahead of very good players in Edmilson and Xavi. To be fair, Iniesta improved as the game went on, but that's not going to change his supersub status. Motta is a whole other kettle of fish I will discuss later.

Nice to see the edge come into Barca's game after the own goal, although I wish it could have been there from the very beginning. After that it became more of an even game, with Barca picking up greater steam after each of the substitutions. Messi immediately made the right wing threatening again and in fact lifted the whole offence to a better level. Zambrotta's entrance meant that Barca's ability to recover lost possession got much better immediately, which was invaluable leading up to the goal. In the end, Deco and Messi combined to rescue a point for Barcelona with a typically Barca move.

I disagree strongly with those who say that Barca were outclassed all over the park. If they were, why was Bremen's only goal scored by Puyol? Hunt had a great game in every other aspect, but his finishing was pretty bad. So many chances wasted with speculative efforts from range. Klose on the other hand couldn't be blamed for not scoring since he wasn't even fully fit and was a bit unlucky as well. I agree that Barca's midfield were beaten by Bremen's, and all credit to them, especially Frings and Diego, but the two teams were in no way a class apart from each other. That said, Barca will need to get into form quickly if they even want to get out of the group.

Barca

Forwards

I'm going to miss Eto'o a lot, no matter how well his replacements do. Did you see that run he made on about the 22nd minute mark? Intercepted the ball from a Bremen corner, ran the whole length of the pitch lightning quick and was only stopped by Frings' interception just outside the box. This is why I love him as a player. The forward line as a whole were ineffective before the double substitution, but Eto'o worked as hard as ever before he had to go off. Get well soon, Sammy.

Gudjohnsen looked a little shaky, but comparisons with Eto'o are never flattering and he did the best he could, making some good passes and holding off defenders well. His ability to penetrate a good defence by himself is something I'm not yet convinced by, but we'll see.

Ronaldinho was ordinary. I think that's the best way to describe his performance. He improved after Messi and Gudjohnsen came on, but if Sylvinho wasn't the nice guy we all know he is, he could have smacked Ronnie for wasting the nth great pass/cross from him. I won't slam him, because he always starts slowly and maybe things will improve soon, but it is worrying.

Like I mentioned above, Giuly had one of those games. Undoubtedly a great player, he's nevertheless prone to unstable form - one moment he's scoring the goal that sends Barca to the Champions League final, the next he's unable to get a touch of the ball all game. Not his fault, especially against such a big, physical team, and not exactly worrying given how good his replacement is.

Stand up Leo Messi, or as some Barca fans cheekily call him, the 'Messi-ah'. Visitors to this blog will have seen my rambling rebukes of what some in the media have called his loss of form. Like Rijkaard said, though, one flat match does not a loss of form make. Cutting through all the arguments about his deficiencies in front of goal, his age and physical strength, I believe that what counts is the fact that Messi always delivers when Barca needs him to. Case in point: scoring the vital game-tying goal.

Midfielders

I thought Deco was the best of the midfielders, which - it has to be said - is not a great achievement in this match. He did the best he could while being constantly harried by 3, 4 Bremen players and coped better than Iniesta with the physical aspects of the game. Tracked back to help defend well, as always, and was rewarded for his labours by making the Barca goal with a great pass. For those who wonder why Deco is never rotated (including yours truly), I guess we have the answer. Truly a born winner, and Barca are lucky to have him.

If my assessment of Iniesta above in the match report sounded harsh, rest assured he's actually one of my favourite Barca players. Great runs through the middle of the pitch, good passing vision, spirited hard work and a nice shooting touch combines to make him a potentially fearsome player. He is, however, young and still growing. The defensive aspect of his game needs work, since the great effort he puts in doesn't always pay off. He also needs lessons from Deco on how to cope with being kicked around - not by diving, god forbid; that's the one thing I dislike about Deco, and hopefully he won't pass it on to the young guys. Right now Iniesta does great work regularly as an impact sub, but I do have to question Rijkaard's decision to start him against a team like Bremen. Maybe Xavi was tired out from the difficult game against Valencia or nursing a knock. Otherwise I can't see his reasoning.

On to the complicated problem of Thiago Motta. For those of you who don't frequent Barca fan forums, Motta is a regular hate-figure for Barca supporters along with Oleguer, who I'll discuss below. I'm usually reluctant to join in with what I see as unfair blame being heaped on the poor guy, but in this case...well. He's actually not a bad passer of the ball, but defensively rather worrying. In that aspect I would rate him ahead of Iniesta and Xavi but still not good enough for a defensive midfielder. It is said that Rijkaard rates Motta because he sees the young Brazilian as a player in his own image, but I really don't see it - yet. He is far from effective as a midfield destroyer in current form. I'm not saying he doesn't put in the effort. The problem is that his tackling is often so untidy and badly timed that it leads to either comedy defending or him being booked. That said, I'd like to see a midfield of Deco-Motta-Edmilson against Chelsea again, if possible, since to me Motta does provide a combination of defensive muscle and forward movement that meshes well with Deco and Edmilson's game against a side like Chelsea.

Defenders

Sylvinho played a blinder offensively, I thought, and the lack of product was more due to the forwards (particularly Ronaldinho) not being able to do anything with his wonderful crosses and throughballs than anything else. He faded towards the end of the game and the decision to bring on Zambrotta was the correct one, but that doesn't affect the overall strength of his performance. Not too many problems in defence, which was a pleasant surprise.

As for the great Lilian Thuram - what can I say? Yet another commanding performance from the ageless Frenchman. Let almost nothing past him, great tackling and marking, domination in the air - the best of the Barca defenders, to me, even with the errors he did make. I've just been amazed by his defensive style. He's played 3 games for Barca this season and you can count the number of times he's been called for a foul on the fingers of one hand. Motta should take lessons in how to time your tackles from this guy. Definitely the new Larsson, since he also began with lowered expectations from the fans because of his age and has gone on to win their affection with his attitude and general excellence.

Poor Puyol. The great folks at a pretty move call him the Armoured Saint, which I love because it's a great reflection of just how committed, genuine and hardworking he is, and how much the fans adore him for it. He looked so crushed with the own goal. As much as Bremen deserved a goal, Puyol certainly didn't deserve that. What a comedown after scoring his first goal in European competition against Levski Sofia. Other than that, he was fairly solid in central defence. Late on a couple of Bremen moves, but made up for it by working his ass off, as usual. No Barca supporter would have blamed him even if his own goal had cost the team all the points, which to me says it all, really.

I don't like to criticize Oleguer because he gets so much stick from the fans as it is, but if you look at Bremen's attacks, the most threatening ones came through the right, and he failed to close that wing down. That said, he grew into the game as it went on and made some great interceptions in the last 10 minutes or so. My guess is that having not played a full game since the beginning of the season, he needed sometime to get back to match sharpness, and throwing him in at the deep end wasn't a good way to do that. To me, he's a center-back, not a right-back. Barca have 2 actual right-backs in Belletti and Zambrotta, and while Belletti is defensively questionable that shouldn't mean poor Oleguer gets to play out of position and get blamed for everything that goes wrong.

Lastly, pride of place goes to Valdes, who did very well coping with being put under constant pressure, especially in the first half, a position he's not exactly used to. Some great saves, and generally an assured performance. I remember watching El Clasico from November of last year and swearing at the TV as he flapped at Madrid's ineffective crosses and mishit shots. Thankfully, he's improved since then. Perhaps Valdes should be given the benefit of the doubt now, especially after doing so well in the Champions League final.

Rijkaard

I do not understand why this man is constantly belittled by the fans. I do not understand why even now some fans want him replaced with a 'big name'. Maybe he doesn't shout enough? To me, Barca's recent successes could not have come without him. He's admirably forthright, level-headed and very, very good at man-management. Sure, some of his starting choices might seem a little inexplicable, even to a fan of the man like me, but his substitutions are usually pretty much spot-on. Those who were bitching about the starting line-up after the game might want to recall that the team had just played a gruelling match against Valencia a couple of days ago in which half the team got the stuffing kicked out of them. Hence the rotations. Anyway, enough of that, another rant for another day.

Team

Not impressive, frankly. I know that Barca's style can be hampered by teams who snap at their heels all over the pitch, but that should not be an excuse for a team with title aspirations. Almost every team will try to stop Barca playing their game that way, and we should be dealing with that. That said, it is a good sign that the team is able to continue playing in the same style even when a goal down and come back strongly. Everyone is working hard and doing their best. Considering that it took Barca until mid-October of last year to really start playing well, I'm not panicking just yet.

However, the loss of Eto'o is massive. My initial reaction was one of complete despair. I felt like we could kiss all the titles goodbye. But if the team can click with either one of his replacements - both quality players in their own right - then all hope is not lost. Let's just see what happens over the next month.

Bremen

Klose is a great forward who I quite like, but there's just one thing I can't stand about him. It's the way he always looks like he's going to injure the goalkeeper crashing into him going up for 50/50 balls in the box. Remember that knee in the ribs of Argentinean goalkeeper Abbondanzieri which meant he had to go off with an injury in the World Cup quarterfinals? I do, because I'm convinced that started the chain of events which led to Argentina losing the game. My heart stopped everytime him and Valdes crashed into each other. Thank God nothing bad happened. Anyhow, that's enough bias from me.

That Naldo, though, what a great defender. So fast and good with his positioning as well - I haven't see a defender keep up with Eto'o so well for a while, and he completely shut Ronaldinho down when the Brazilian went up against him.

Frings and Diego both had great games, and I've already talked about Hunt. Borowski was less involved, but the point about Bremen's performance isn't who did what - they performed well as a team. Everything clicked together, everyone gave their all. If they can continue playing like this, they'll trouble Chelsea when they come to visit, which makes it even more important for Barca to win their other games against Levski and Bremen and try for a result against Chelsea.

A note about commentary

The ESPN commentators were better than some of the guys they had for the World Cup, but God - did a player have to kill someone to get booked in the eyes of these guys? Or do they just watch a lot of Premiership games? I mean, yes, the ref did stop play a bit too much, but those Bremen midfielders play rough, and guys like Motta aren't exactly gentle defenders either.

Also, I get so fed up with commentators who keep saying that Barca need to basically abandon their style of play because otherwise they're never going to score. There was a hilarious moment in the ESPN broadcast of the Champions League final of last season when one of the commentators was busy insisting that Barca needed to stop playing their passing game and try hoofing long balls into the box to break Arsenal down when Eto'o completed a lightning fast passing move by scoring the levelling goal. At the beginning of the Premiership season I felt bad for Arsenal for precisely this reason - everyone was saying the same thing about them, except they did actually have a scoring problem. For both teams, though, that style is part of their identity. To insist that a team like Barca need to use long-ball tactics to score goals is to miss the point.


Finally, great stadium atmosphere at Bremen, I have to say. Now if only we can pack the Camp Nou and give the German team a similar reception when they visit. Actually, before that, we have to 'welcome' Chelsea, but I'm sure that won't be a problem for the faithful at all. Reproduce the atmosphere of last season's semi-final home leg against AC Milan and Camp Nou will really live up to its reputation.

Up next, my take on round 5 of La Liga.

Musings on the second round la liga games

Atletico Madrid 0-1 Valencia

...what did I say about Fernando Torres in my last post? Add to the against column 'not very good as a captain', since captains are supposed to stop their players from starting stupid arguments with the referee instead of indulging in the stupidity he should be keeping others from.

Now that I've said that, though, he's probably going to score a hat-trick when Spain play Argentina in October.

In current form he's certainly a better central striker than Raul, but I'm not convinced he's worth pushing David Villa out to the wings for - especially after Villa scored what turned out to be the winning goal for Valencia.

Sergio Aguero made his competitive debut at home and looked good, prompting more media pressure on the Atletico coach to play him instead of Mista with Torres. He had a couple of good efforts cleared off the line by fellow Argentinean, the generally scary and very impressive Roberto Ayala, one of my favourite defenders.

Objectively it's probably a good idea to ease Aguero into La Liga with the substitute appearances he's been making instead of throwing him in at the deep end, given the past history of other Argentinean stars not settling down in Spain in their first season. That said, though, given Torres' suspension for the next game, maybe we will finally see Aguero play the full 90. He needs to be playing regularly if he wants to make the next Argentinean NT, at least according to Basile's loud disclaimer that he would not be picking players based on reputation.

There has been speculation that the remark was aimed towards the well-known youngsters - like Tevez, for example, or more pointedly the insanely popular Messi. Which brings me onto the next match.


Barcelona 3-0 Osasuna

I was very, very relieved that Barca won this match and won it comfortably. Getting the three points in the last round was not enough to silence the circling vultures otherwise known as the sporting press, but this will surely help. Poor Osasuna though, what a rough start to the season after losing their very impressive coach (who guided them to a fourth place finish last season) to the aftementioned Atletico. First being dumped out of the Champions League by Hamburg, then losing their first two matches.

This was an important win for Barca, especially with the first Champions League game in the undisputed group of death coming up. The team played well in the first half, but eased off in the second - fair enough, given that they were up by 3 goals and Osasuna only had 2 or 3 good chances for the whole match.

For Barca, scoring the first break-through goal seems to be the vital thing. After that things become much easier, since the other team have to come out looking for an equaliser instead of just parking the bus. Before that first goal comes it can be very frustrating not being able to penetrate despite having overwhelming amounts of possession. Case in point is the same fixture last season, where Barca couldn't score until the second half and eventually came away 3-0 winners, the first goal freeing them up to play their usual game. Fortunately, then, the opening goal for Barca came after just 90 seconds this time.

Eto'o had a great match, scoring two lovely goals and setting up the third for Messi. I love watching him - he's obviously a bit barking mad, but what a player. Blazingly fast, lethal in front of goal, and industrious too - even if his attempts at defending aren't the most impressive, at least he tries hard. Ronaldinho turned in a workman like performance with the occasional flourish, as did Messi, Deco and Xavi.

Further special mention must be made of the Argentinean wonderkid, though. The Chinese commentator on CCTV5 had barely finished doubting his touch in front of goal when he scored what one site described as a 'cheeky' goal by drilling the ball precisely between the legs of the 'keeper. Frequently dogged by doubts from the chattering classes ever since his debut for Barca, first on whether he was too young to be a starter, too physically weak, too inexperienced for the big stage, and lately, after all that has been dispelled, about his shooting ability. Admittedly 6 goals in La Liga last season isn't very impressive, but factoring in the minutes he actually got to play in between being injured and being disqualified it's not all that bad. Before his long injury lay-off against Chelsea he had even been on a bit of a scoring streak, with 5 goals in 4 games. Still, his finishing was pretty suspect, netting difficult chances but blowing some easy ones.

Messi is 2 for 2 so far this season, above and beyond any expectations I had. Barca doesn't rely on him to supply goals, especially when Eto'o is around, but it would be very good for the team if he could start scoring not only pretty goals but mundane ones as well.

Moving on, the defence deserves some scrutiny for this match. Puyol was rested for the first time in forever, which would have been a momentous decision by Rijkaard, since we lost the last 5 games we played without him. I say would have been, because it actually was made a lot easier by the presence of venerable French defender Lilian Thuram. Puyol had given his all - as usual - in Spain's match against Northern Ireland, picked up a few knocks and was exhausted. He had also played somewhat poorly if reports are to be believed.

Confession time: I really like Thuram, for his wire-frame-glasses-wearing, eloquent, conscientious persona as much as for his excellence on the field. He played the full 90 minutes alongside French-speaking Rafa Marquez in central midfield against Osasuna and gave a wonderful performance, repelling pretty much everything thrown at him and even throwing in a couple of flair moves. Case in point: a well-timed, clean tackle to rob Raul Garcia on the edge of the box, and then a backheel clearance. You'd never believe he's 34 years old.

Zambrotta, the younger and more recently world-cup-winning of the former Juventus pair, also played well, occasionally chipping in to the attack. Of the two, he's more liable to give away freekicks, sometimes needlessly. Poor guy needs to adapt to the Spanish definition of what a foul is after giving away the freekick that led to the equalizing goal in the last game against Celta. Works brilliantly with Thuram, though, as you'd expect. Barca fans are eagerly awaiting the formation of an attacking partnership with Messi down the right, and the early signs look good, even if they don't even speak the same language yet.

Marquez had his usual solid game, working well with Thuram (helpful that they have a common language, at least) and contributing dangerous passes into the midfield and the attack. Sylvinho was very impressive offensively with great runs down the left and defensively unperturbed by poor Soldado, Osasuna's lone striker up front. I don't know how Rijkaard is going to rotate him with Gio in this form. Valdes...was Valdes. Good reflex saves, but never feels quite assured when there are crosses to be dealt with and inconsistent with his distribution.

It's all systems go, looks like, for the Champions League game versus Levski Sofia.


Other results that caught my interest

Getafe won again against Racing Santander (1-0) - Bernard Schuster is a true miracle worker. Tiny budget, players picked from the second division? No problem. Signing hard-to-spell Argentinean NT goalkeeper 'Pato' Abbondanzieri (I just had to go and look it up) was a great move. Contrary to reputation, he's actually very, very good. Adept with crosses, excellent distributor, calm under pressure and has an incredible record with penalty shootouts - not that Getafe are going to need that last much.

Real Madrid thrashed newly promoted Levante (1-4), who were fresh from a beating by Sevilla in the last round. Ruud van Nistelrooy had a hat-trick, despite missing a penalty. A good day for Real after the bore-draw that was their last round match with Villarreal.

Speaking of which, the Yellow Submarines somehow contrived to lose to Recreativo (0-1). They really need to pick themselves up soon if they want to go back to Europe next year, because the competition looks pretty fierce.

Sevilla, one of the competition, won again (1-3) against Real Sociedad. They're really looking good after thrashing off-colour Barca 3-0 in the European Super Cup and winning their first two games comfortably. And all that after losing 3-0 in pre-season to Manchester United, which...I won't comment on.

Zaragoza won 3-0 against Espanyol, in a game which contained nearly as many Argentineans as an Internationale or Villarreal training session. Zaragoza won despite having defender Ponzio sent off fairly early on. Pablo Aimar scored the opener, and their other big signing Andres D'Alessandro also played well. Their second was scored by striker Diego Milito. Espanyol's best chance in the second half - in which they too had a man sent off - came from Pablo Zabaleta, one of my favourite young players. I mention the above names because they're all Argentinean.