Give me more Yaya
By: Isaiah | September 22nd, 2008
Dear Josep Guardiola,
I love what’s happening with the squad and I love the results we’ve had the last two outings; your obvious knowledge of tactics and player motivation are both endearing and refreshing; and I highly respect all that you have given to this club throughout your many years in blaugrana, but as the honorary president of the Isaiah’s ManCrush On Yaya Toure Club, I demand more Yaya.
Thank you for your time,
Isaiah
Category: Barcelona
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BA: i like to think pep is using the b-teamers to confuse other managers. with all these crazy changes in the squad (compared to last season) it makes it hard to figure out which type of squad is gonna show up. will it be the untested mix of veterens and youth, or will it be a team of vets. either way i like it. as long he as knows what type of squad to bring to each match its fine by me.
besides bojan and dos santos, hardly any young players from the youth academy got playing time last year(that i remember at least). its nice to see the future of the team actually becoming part of the team.
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Um….VERY funny picture over on Pep’s Place:
http://fcbtransfers.blogspot.com/2008/09/atmosphere-is-always-good-after-win.html
Isaiah, I don’t recall that Guardiola tried to get rid of Yaya. I know that some rumors about that cropped up, that were quickly quashed by Laporta and Guardiola. If they were really serious about him, it’s common knowledge that he was coveted by Wenger. It would have been easy enough to do a Yaya+cash thing to prise Adebayor loose.
Genis, maybe “killing time” was a bad word choice. “Optimistically using them to save wear and tear on the big boys” is a better thought. It also builds overall squad depth, which is never a bad thing. If someone goes down before a critical match, you’d rather have Busquets ready to go with real match time under his belt, rather than sitting there like a deer in the headlamps.
Yaya is fine. His media comments have reflected as much. Krkic understands that he is for the future, not the present. Krkic is young, but not on crack, which is about the only thing that might induce him to think that he should be starting ahead of Henry and Eto’o. He hasn’t earned that right yet.
Larm’s observation about last season is correct. I’m convinced it’s why things finished so poorly. Everybody was exhausted. Let’s hope this season is different.
I’m trusting that Guardiola knows what he’s doing. He knows the talent that he has, he knows the players that he has and how they need to be worked into the rotation. Team unity, right now, is excellent, and things aren’t exactly going well yet. This is a very encouraging sign.
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Very interesting remarks so far on the Yaya/Busquets comparisons…but aren’t we missing the big picture here? Busquets has one good game and all of a sudden he’s seen as the next best thing since sliced bread. I give the lad credit he played very well but it was only one game.
Yaya more than proved his worth over an entire season and he provides a “spine” to this team (somewhat like Senna does for Villareal) that without his inclusion the club just doesn’t seem as “steady” or balanced.
Busquets might look like a short-term “revelation” for now but let’s not put undo pressure and expectations on the lad. Allow him to develop slowly, throwing in the mix every now and then just to make sure he doesn’t loose confidence or get rusty. But (in my personal opinion) Barcelona NEEDS Yaya in order to have any meaningfull long term success. He is a critical component of this club. Is there any doubt that he was Barcelona’s most consistent performer last season? I have no doubt that once we get to the meat and potatoes part of the season Yaya’s going on the pitch closing down opponents threats down the middle.
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Oh. Isaiah is right in that Busquets didn’t have as good a match against Gijon as he did against Racing. I think my rating reflected that. If not, I screwed up.
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And speaking of Dos Santos, wonder how he likes playing for the Premiership bottom dwellers? Also on the ex-Barca front, Deco picked up a knock in the Man U warmups, and Gordinho is still kinda statue-like out there. That’s looking like a better and better deal.
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Genis, it could just be my contrary nature that is keeping me from getting overly excited at this stage in the game. In the way that I’ve found myself somehow capable of suppressing all those exciting and euphoric feelings during Kansas basketball season (until the games start, of course, then it’s mental pandemonium), I’m beginning to push away my optimism for Barça in favor of something that protects me from the brutal letdowns that have characterized all but a few moments of my sports fandom. Obviously that feeling comes off as negativity, but is, in fact, ridiculous optimism hidden by thoughts of other things.
While I’m obviously a stats lover, I find a lot of soccer’s statistics to be misleading in that they don’t necessarily suggest what happened. “48 good passes of a total of 50, 9 steals, 5 faults received, one fault made.” Does that suggest that he was in the right position most of the time or that he was passing vertically rather than horizontally? Not really. It would be nice to get a total view of these things and I’ve been thinking about how to design a spreadsheet to keep track of these crazy stats, almost like a WHIP calculator, but for soccer.
The stat I’m most interested in right now is the idea of a win percentage. That is, if a given player plays, how often does the team win? If a given lineup plays, how often does the team win? And from there break it down by goals scored, goals allowed, etc. Using that you could discern the best lineup on paper.
Does anyone have ridiculous excel skills to design a statistical analysis sheet? I’m always willing to supply the data entry for this sort of thing, though the more automation, the better (I can’t write macros!)
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Cojonudo, in my world, Busquets may be better than sliced bread, but Yaya IS BREAD, which is a much cooler invention.
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The title of this post should be “Isaiah goes gaga for yaya”
I think Pep’s true plan/idea for the team will come when we play EE/RM and the other big boys in La Liga and later in CL. I don’t mind Sliced Bread or Pedr(it)o playing when its Gijon or the like b/c it will a) give them confidence and b) make them feel part of the team and its successes. However, when it’s time to man up, I expect to see Yaya and the other first teamers.
Isaiah, the stat you propose sounds similar to what they use in hockey (which coincidentally doesn’t use that many decimal places).
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I’ve always looked down on hockey for the lack of decimals.
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Isaiah, I don’t understand very well the meaning of your first paragraph since my English is not that good (and you don’t wanna know how difficult it is for me to put my thoughts into English, and the time it takes to look at dictionaries and re-read everything I write at least three times!). So I’ll make some guesses:
a) If you’re saying that you’re feeling pessimistic (”I’m beginning to push away my optimism for Barça”… Hey, I’m beginning to enjoy quoting you
), I can only tell you: But, why, man? We can ONLY be optimistic! What reasons are there to be pessimistic? Take the Yaya-Busi thing, for example: To know that if Yaya can’t play for any reason we have someone as Busi as his backup can only be a reason for optimism! How could anyone think otherwise? Worse still, how could anyone feel pessimistic about it? Mmmm…b) Another quote: “…something that protects me from the brutal letdowns that have characterized all but a few moments of my sports fandom”. Are you talking about Barça or about some Kansas basketball team? If you’re talking about Barça, believe me: you’ve lived the best period in all his 109 years of history! And you know my history as a soci too: After having to wait 14 years to win a liga and 11 more to win the next, these last years, since the birth of the Dream Team, have been GLORIOUS! That makes me think that you’re still younger than I thought: Here in Catalonia, you only see that kind of pessimism about Barça in *children* (take that
!) spoiled by the Ronaldinho years…If I’ve missed entirely the meaning of a) and/or b), just forget about the one(s) which apply.
c) The stats issue: You know, for my generation, and here in this country of mine, stats applied to sports have always been “one of those things americans are fond of”. They were introduced here via basketball and, frankly, I think that they make sense for that sport. But not that many years ago they began to appear in football also. And, as you say, they are quite meaningless. Take possession, for example. Or the number of good/bad passes: When I noticed those stats for Busquets, I also noticed that those of Xavi were *quantitatively* worse although he made almost a perfect match…
But, hey: 48 good passes of a total of 50, 9 steals, 5 faults received, one fault made is not bad at all, isn’t it?
From here.
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Genis, I still cant understand exactly what is the wrong thing you are complaining about, you said “If you would ask me to whom I would entrust the DM position in a tough match against the great ones, I’d answer without any hesitation that Yaya is the man!”
and we say, buqi is a great talent who will create a good rotation with Yaya and keita, the thing is they are not rotating now because its a good period now to give the younger more chance on the field to polish him so he is ready for the serious work later on, whats the deal?Note regarding supportive barcelona fans, u already know that lot were whispering that he is in the team because of his father, the more I am glad he proved them wrong, the more i know they are waiting him to slip with their knives under their belts. When it happen, i hope I will find you arround to help me defending him.
I believe though we can be critical but we must not be passively critical attacking players, whether youth or experiences, whether catalonian or not, their must not be a seven stars player and a servant, may be thats one of the reasons I am not a Soci, because there are two levels of socis (if not legally, by practice), and I will never be a second level member in anything so i support from outside, but thats another story i guess.
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Isaiah, are you a Cubbies fan? Because if so, then Genis, his quote of “…something that protects me from the brutal letdowns that have characterized all but a few moments of my sports fandom” makes sense. Equally so if Isaiah were a pre-2004 non-bandwagon jumping RedSox fan. These two teams have had for the longest time monstrous “curses” overhanging them, heightened all the more by heartbreak after heartbreak. The Red Sox have since broken the Curse of the Bambino, and the Cubs hope to break theirs this year.
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Genis, as a psychologist, perhaps you have insight on the whole idea of how fans react to certain things. I was referring to the University of Kansas men’s basketball team (my first and truest love, I have to admit), who finally won a championship this past year after 20 years without one (though many conference championships, which are fun). I don’t remember the one 20 years ago (Danny Manning and the Miracles!) because I was too young, so, in my real life experience, there’s only ever been one championship.
Thus, every basketball season has been a disappointment, usually ending early on, when the team implodes early in the tournament (played at the end of the regular season, much like the tournaments at the end of Apertura and Clausura leagues). Coming into my Barça fandom towards the end of 2001, I didn’t know what to expect out of the games, the team, the leagues. I watched mainly Champions League at first since that’s what was on TV, but soon I began to follow the league itself and by the middle of college, I was following the day-in and day-out stuff as much as I was paying attention to American football.
I know that Barcelona has been super successful recently and I didn’t mean that I expect to win championships. Not at all. Rather, what I meant is from a psychological point of view, I’m willing to forgo the highs of optimism in order to avoid the lows of pessimism when the season comes crashing down.
Like Kansas throughout the years, we have a spectacular team that could easily win a championship, but often does not. And when you’re so high on the optimism, it’s easy to come crashing down very roughly. So instead, I try not to be optimistic, despite everything pointing towards the fact that I should be optimistic. You protect yourself after a while, you know? Roughly two decades of perennial failures will force you to do so.
Not that I don’t get giddy and wild every time the team comes on; the knowledge that a game is about to start is like caffeine to my system and all that guardedness goes out the door.
Feel free to psychoanalyze that, of course. Ha.
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RUV, no, I’m not a baseball fan, but, for some reason, I am drawn inextricably towards the Cubs…(by association with various Chicago natives, especially a housemate in college). In fact, I’m going to see the Cubs tonight at Shea; my first Cubs experience.
I used to have that soft spot in my heart for the Sox, but then they won and became horrible fans, so now I don’t like them anymore. Perhaps I’m allergic to winning?
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No, not allergic to winning… I totally agree that Sox fans (and those who have unabashedly jumped on the bandwagon) have become insufferable.
Have fun at Shea. You really must try to catch a game at Wrigley… good times, good times.
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He, he… I *despise* psychoanalysis completely, Isaiah. It was historically important a century ago but later it became a kind of cult, forever trapped into its limited description of the human being.
But should you ever ask me a simple advice, mainly as a seasoned soci, but also as a psychologist, I could only tell you my personal approach to this issue, which has been very satisfactory so far: When all goes well, I let myself be carried away and I enjoy the good times because I *know*, for certain, that they will end. And more so at my age: if all goes well and I don’t leave too soon, I expect to live two, three, perhaps even four good cycles. OTOH, when things go wrong, I distance myself a little from this enjoyable self-deceit and I keep in mind that it’s not THAT important, that there are other things, that football is the new opium for the masses, the roman circus of our era. BUT it hurts; a little, yes, but it hurts. Fortunately, I also *know* that the bad times will come to an end and a new good cycle will begin. Sounds easy? It is! Some call it “Controlled Folly”.
And Isaiah, you *have* to tell me how old you are, because now I see you again as a teenager
! When I read “And when you’re so high on the optimism, it’s easy to come crashing down very roughly. So instead, I try not to be optimistic, despite everything pointing towards the fact that I should be optimistic. You protect yourself after a while, you know?”, do you know what came to my mind? The song “I’m a rock” by Simon and Garfunkel… “If you’d never loved you never would have cried… I am a rock, I am an island. And a rock feels no pain. And an island never cries”. That’s what I listened when *I* was a teenager feeling blue because of some girl…You analize that!
From the usual place.
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Ramzi, just in case you still read this, I’ll repost an abridged version of a previous post to make clear what I “complained” about:
“… my point was that some comments I’ve read here [are *downplaying* Busi's performance], perhaps because their authors see Busi … as a threat to Yaya… I think that [Busi] doesn’t deserve AT ALL [those] comments…”
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I’m 24, Genis. Neither old nor young, just happy with my age. I would love to get more carried away in the happy times and let it all roll off in the bad times, but that never seems to work for me. I live with both sides of the coin, for good or bad, which I think is fine.
My Barcelona fandom is growing inside me every day, which is so much fun. Going to Nevada Smiths helps me to give voice to that love, to find a group of impassioned fans that you can use to express that which is inside yourself anyway.
I bleed blue and red, it’s just Jayhawk blue and red, though tinged further and further with blaugrana shades…
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I think that Guardiola is playing around with the line ups in the games the games we “should” win. But will go with a more veteran lineup in games like the upcoming Espayol match. I was telling my friend how good Busquets did the last 2 games. I like him but I also want more Yaaaaaaaayaaaaaaaaaa! Someone mentioned that Guardiola plays him because he reminds Pep of himself (some GolTV guy in Spanish)
Man, you guys are so fun to read?
Am I the youngest? 23
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not the youngest
that’s definitely mePosted from
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Amen to that, Isaiah!
And you know what? Dani Garriga, the vicepresident of the Penya Nevada Smiths, is a very close friend of one of my niece’s husband. He was his best man in their wedding, in 2004, and they made their wedding reception right here, at my house in the woods of El Montseny… I didn’t know about him or la penya at that time, so I don’t remember him. But sure he’ll remember the reception: it was outdoors, and while we were all eating at the tables under the tents, with all the waiters coming and going, a storm came out of nowhere and it rained very hard, a real deluge, about 32 mm in half an hour with a lot of wind! We all got really soaked… Then, at the end, the cars, that were parked in a nearby meadow, began to skid… So the groom, one of his brothers and me set ourselves to push the first one… I was in the middle, right after the car, but they were behind the rear wheels… As you can imagine, their tuxedos ended covered with an inch of mud…
Sure Dani will remember!
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By the by Isaiah, I was the one who wrote “You can’t spell Yaya without Yay”… one of my prouder moments.
Yaya is awesome and is the best DM in the world, given the right occassion and opposition. Busquets is one for the future and is good backup currently.Interesting stats Genis. 48 from 50 passes is impressive. I don’t know how much that means though. Comparing Busquets passing to Xavi’s isn’t accurate or fair on Sergio. You could say the fact that Busquets getting 48 out of 50 passes is better than Xavi’s 50 out of 65 but Xavi had 4 assists. Not the be knocking the lad but which means more?
5 fouls conceded is the interesting one. As I said, not enough one touch passing. Not even necessarily first time passing but he should at least control it and pass it. The reason he got fouled a fair bit is because he would control it, look one way, turn and then a tackle would come in. HE WILL LEARN. He has immense potential.More importantly, he has a better dress sense than his father. Carles was unlucky that Zubi was ahead of him for long long but he certainly looked kinda foolish to a kid like me. I was 7 when I started following Barca and Busquets was backup to Zubi at that stage.
Hristo Stoichkov was my first hero…Posted from
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While we are commenting on age, I’m 22 years young…
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Well, Isaiah, Ciaran, Tomatito, Ajani… I could be your Grandpa! So show me some respect, will you?
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respect genis, the resident awesome one in the house.
haha and considering my dad could be my grandpa, don’t feel too old
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United States
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