Gamper PostGame aka: don’t let the score fool you

By: Iggy | August 20th, 2009

First off, lets get the bitter taste out of our collective mouth: we lost, 1-0. Yes we outplayed them, yes we controlled midfield throughout, yes we looked good, no we did not score. With that said, it was a good showing from our B-Team. Guardiola had said that he would treat this game as a preparation for the second leg of the Supercopa and frankly, it showed. With a starting lineup of:

—————Pinto————–
Montoya–ElCapitan–Fontas–MaxwellHouse
—BigYa—Busi2.0—GuddyBear—
–Mr.Pedro–WonderBoy–Jeffren–

The early going was…well I didn’t get a live stream untill about 10 minutes into the game so I don’t really know now do I? But after that it was pretty obvious that this lineup was more than capable of handling Man. City (that’s an unfortunate abbreviation for them so I’ll just run with it). If Man. City honestly plans to break the Big Four’s hold on the Champions League spots I have to say I’m pretty happy with the way we handled them. Busi2.0, BigYa, and GuddyBear controlled the midfield and Montoya, ElCapitan, Fontas, and MaxwellHouse were solid at the back. The goal came on an isolated play where (I hate to say this) ElCapitan was caught out of position and not only kept Petrov onside but left the lane for the pass open. After that it’s easy to criticize Pinto for getting beat on the near post but if we’re honest with ourselves it was a 1 on 1 and you have to expect the striker to win those every time. How many times have we yelled at our TV/laptop when one of our forwards missed a 1 on 1? The answer is a few, but much more often we get the goal. Aside from that one isolated play we dominated, created chances, and were simply unable to finish. Puyol was subbed out shortly after the play (no injury was apparent) and in came Bartra. From there it was a Barcelona monologue with no punchline. Jeffren made great runs up the right side, Montoya pushed up well considering his lack of experience and BigYa proved that he can play the forward mid role extremely well. This continued until the end of the first half. Really, that was pretty much it, a bunch of yelling at the screen of “How did that not go in!!!” over and over again (really Mr.Pedro, how did that not go in?).

By the end of the first half it really felt like a matter of time until we scored, then came the subs. Not content with just introducing Ibracadabra and Messi for Mr.Pedro and WonderBoy, LordPep changed the ENTIRE midfield line subbing out Busi2.0, BigYa, and GuddyBear for Jonny2Saints, Tiago, and Keita, and put Alves in for Montoya. The change was immediate, Keita played well but he isn’t the kind of player who will control midfield, rather he lets other players shine and Jonny2Saints and Tiago are good, but they’re not good enough yet. If either one of them plays and the other is replace by EngineMan (who did not play at all)/BigYa/Ghostface then we can probably keep control, but those three together didn’t cut it as a unit. Messi immediately showed why he is the best player in the world (suck it ThongBoy*) and Man. City quickly realized the only way they would stop him was by playing dirty…so they did. Ibracadabra looked scared, I know it’s his first game and I’m not going to be too critical (I felt out of place the first day I worked as a pizza guy, I can’t blame him). Alves ran, and ran, and ran, and ran etc. The first few minutes of the second half seemed dead and we lost all sense of urgency in the midfield but we still never saw Man. City do anything. And so it went, painfully dragging on as the ball refused to enter the net. Pique and Henrique eventually came in for Fontas and Bartra and Gai Assulin came in for Jeffren. We controlled, and controlled, created chances, hit the woodwork twice (Jonny2Saints has a rocket of a shot), had a 1 on 1 denied (Given shut down Ibra) and ended up losing a game that we really should’ve won.

Player Scores:
Pinto 6 bored The man barely had to do anything and there really wasn’t anything he could do about the goal

Montoya 6.5 effective He’s not Alves, and he knows it. Stayed back well and made good decisions the few times that he pushed up

ElCapitan 5.5 unlucky We all know he’s good, intense, strong, etc. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that the goal was mostly his fault. If he’d stayed in the whole game I’m sure he would’ve made up for it.

Fontas 7 calm He plays like he’s been on the first team forever, always kept the line, tackled well and moved the ball smartly. Look forward to seeing him in the Cup and a few La Liga games.

Maxwell 7.5 success Plays like an Alves on the left. Pushed up incredibly well, got back in time to cover his side and was pretty much a monster on his side of the field. Txiki got this one right.

Busi2.0 7.5 controlled Never did anything too flashy, never risked more than he had to. Excellent defensive presence.

BigYa 7.5 the best Proved that he can play anywhere in the midfield. BigYa passed the ball with grace and speed showing us once again how lucky we are to have him here.

GuddyBear 5 MIA We’ve seen him play better, we’ve seen him play worse, this time, we barely saw him at all.

Mr.Pedro 5.5 selfish Tried too hard to make something happen every time he had the ball. We expect more from him seeing as he’s gonna be our super sup for the wingers throughout the season.

WonderBoy 6.5 weak Weak meaning not strong, he didn’t play poorly, he was just muscled off of the ball too much when he tried to hold it. He was better about that a few seasons ago, look for LordPep to give him a few more pointers before we see him in La Liga.

Jeffren 7 fast No really, he’s fast, and he’s good. On a day that Mr.Pedro and WonderBoy underperformed, Jeffren showed that he’s capable of leading the front three.

Bartra 6.5 played his part Didn’t have too much work considering Man. City didn’t attack. But he did what he had to rather well.

Alves 6.5 the lung Covered his flank of the field, pushed up, and crossed. Though the last of those he did with less accuracy than we’re used to.

Tiago 6 skilled Passed the ball well but still needs some experience before we can see him take control of the midfield.

Jonny2Saints 6.5 sniper Hit the woodwork on a rocket of a shot. He knows he can score them from there too, look for him to make a few appearence in La Liga and be a Cup regular.

Keita 6.5 invisible He knows his role is to make the other mids lives easier and he plays his part well, if only we could get him more involved in the attack.

Messi 7 good Played incredibly well at the beginning of the 2nd half but as the hits came he got a little off of his game. It would have been an 8 for any other player.

Ibracadabra 7 scared It was his first game with Barcelona and it showed. He looked a little uncomfortable and made a few mistakes. With that said, he already understands the basics of our passing and movement system, he’ll be unstoppable once we reach September.

Muniesa 6.5 unlucky Had the unlucky role of replacing Maxwell and playing more defensively when Man. City had no intention of testing him.

Henrique 6.5 expendable He played alright, but we have Muniesa, Fontas, and Bartra with us who can play his position as well or better than him and have been raised with Blaugrana blood.

Pique 6.5 chill Knew that he had to lead the back line in terms of positioning and pressure, and did it well. It wasn’t exactly difficult though.

Gai Assulin 5.5 disappointing Lost the ball the first few times he had it, and didn’t really generate any offensive plays on his side. Another season on the B team, or maybe a loan should make him a much better player who can succeed here.

Hasta la Victoria! Barça!!