Celtic 2 – 3 Barcelona: Review (All Hail Boruc Edition)

By: Isaiah | February 21st, 2008

I watched the game with wild anticipation, thinking that at any moment the Blaugrana tide would finally crush Celtic’s defenses and the rout would be on. I was, of course, wrong about that, but only because of two defensive mistakes by Barcelona that Celtic were able to take advantage of. ~~Of which they were capable of taking advantage.~~ Kudos to their front line and the bravery of their defense, but Man of the Match was Artur Boruc. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Boruc was the reason that Barcelona did not win 5-0.

You made call me an idiot for saying this, but he allowed Celtic to score both of their goals. Barcelona was pressing, pressing, pressing, and Boruc kept saving, so Barcelona pressed further up, allowing Celtic to suddenly spring an attack; and yes, I know that both goals were sloppy defending, but runs were made at the defense for about 30 yards each time. This wasn’t possible at any other point for Celtic because they weren’t given that sort of time on the ball. The goals probably also wouldn’t have happened had Zambrotta been on the field, though not because he’s better than Puyol, but because Puyol would have been in the middle, where he would have adhered to Vennegoor of Hesselink better than Marquez and also because he would have partnered Milito far better. And that is not to disparage Marquez or his performance, but merely to note that the chemistry is better between Puyol and Milito.

But to the positives: 2-3! YAY! Two goals by Messiah, a wonderous spectacular bombastic fantastic go. la. zo. from Henry. Yowza what a strike. Celtic was all “They have set us up the bomb.” And how. The third goal was sort of fluke-ish except that the rest of the game was so thoroughly dominated by Barca that not only did the team deserve it, they earned it by repeatedly slamming the ball into the box and making good runs through the center of defense. That the ball was badly cleared by Celtic is obvious (I believe it bounced off Robson), but to credit only a Celtic mistake would discount Eto’o’s and Messi’s workrate in getting the ball so deep in the box in the first place. It would be foolhardy to think that Celtic created the goal entirely on their own (I’m not sure who would ever suggest such a silly thing, but I’m cutting that argument off at the knees like I’m O-Ren Ishii).

This game was the best I have seen Barca play for almost two full years. The best was the Atletico asscrushing we did at the Calderon last year, of course, but this one was so much fun to watch (except for those two goals). Ronaldinho was the man. I mean, he was the best player on the field for almost the entire time he was out there. His vision, pace, and accuracy were stunning, especially compared to his previous year or so of phoning it in. I’m reign in my expectations for the future and just be happy that he turned in a good performance, that he was a joy to watch rather than a frustration. I am in such a good mood about Barcelona right now because it’s Ronnie fever again for me, even with the Messiah proving he’s worth his weight not in gold but in goddamned platinum covered diamonds and Toure shining like the supernova he is. Honestly, Nakamura who? That guy had about 30 seconds of possession the whole game thanks to the midfield, which was uptempo for 90 minutes in a refreshing bout of energetic playing. Hopefully we can keep this up for the rest of the season instead of assuming we’re going to beat other teams.

I have a serious question: was it Rijkaard or Neeskens making the tactical decisions during the game. Supposedly Rijkaard was not allowed to have any contact with the staff and players during the game, so if we assume that Frankie was a good little boy and did as he was told, Neeskens is responsible for the moronic substitutions. I really liked it when the two best midfield players were taken off. That was brilliant. Ronnie and Deco were playing superbly and deserved to remain on the field. Especially Ronnie. He finally has a wonderful game and you sub him? What kind of message is that? The thing that Rijkaard is best at is managing players who are playing well. He doesn’t ruffle feathers when a player is having a good game. He just leaves the player out there and lets them have their day. I wanted to see Eto’o replace Henry, despite Titi’s goal because, other than that moment of brilliance, he wasn’t having a particularly good day. And I wanted to see an in-form Ronaldinho playing with Eto’o and Messi. Remember, the three of them have played together a total of 22 times or something like that (I don’t have the real statistic, but that’s in the ballpark) and they need more together-time to make them the devastating killing they obviously can be.

To me, Rijkaard’s insistence on Henry being the starter is just an upgraded version of his love for Oleguer. Obviously Henry is a class player (his goal is proof positive) while Oleguer is not up to Barcelona’s very high standards, but Henry is also not quite right for our system. And while that opinion is not shared by all blaugrana fans (or even all the commenters here on this blog), I think that Henry has not convinced enough on the left wing to replace either Ronaldinho or Eto’o in the starting lineup. The styles that are on display when Eto’o and Ronnie are at their best are just fantastic. They work together so well, so positively, with so many fewer backpasses that defenses begin to over overload and then there’s Messi on the other side to deal with. Henry rarely pulls away more than one defender and has yet to figure out how to slash in towards goal at the right angle for Ronnie’s passes to really do any damage. Eto’o is capable of and willing to play anywhere, whereas Henry sticks to the left side and sometimes enters the middle. Sure, he’s good on the left, but he should be more versatile and that lack of versatility is why he should be on the bench as a supersub instead of Eto’o. I do think that once Eto’o is fully recovered from ACN duty and his slight injury, he’ll be the starter. I just don’t want to see Henry, Eto’o, and Messi as the starting front three if Ronnie is going to play like he has for the last two games.

Let’s get Zambrotta back healthy and then use Marquez sparingly — not because I think Marquez is bad, and really, far from it because he’s been a monster recently — so that we can solidify our backline, get Toure more involved in the passing game (he needs more confidence in his passes, like he had before) and keep pushing for Iniesta and Deco to be our starting duo in midfield if they’re going to play like they did last night. Certainly we’ll have to adapt a little bit due to fatigue, injuries, and form, but we seem to be pulling together at the right time and I want to see this trend continue. I don’t want Deco pulled when he’s having a good game because that means he’s going to become pissy as all get out and destroy the team’s unity.

I think someone mentioned this in the comments to the previous post, but why does Deco feel the need to pick up yellow cards? He can be such an ass sometimes. Yeah, Celtic were pushing the ball way to far up field, but you don’t stick your foot out like that because it’s an automatic yellow. Do yellows bring him pleasure? And during such a good performance he goes all Tom Cruise on the situation, making it harder for him to get through the next few games without a suspension. Sweet move, Deco! Maybe he’s just trying to get Xavi more playing time…what a great teammate.

Speaking of, Xavi was just sorta there during his time on the field. It’s like he can’t deal with Toure’s permanent presence in the middle of the field and so he gets discombobulated. His passing was fine last night, he was solid, but he just doesn’t look comfortable with Toure doing all the hardman work. That’s why Deco and Iniesta are better midfield partners for Toure. If you’re going to have someone kill all attacks up the middle with his presence, then you have more space in the midfield to operate creatively, which is what happened last night. And I loved it. I don’t know about the rest of you, but if we can shut down the wings (Zambrotta and Abidal) and the center (Toure backed by Milito and ~~Superman~~ Puyol), then what possible use do we have for Xavi? I know that he’s an integral part of the heart of Barca, but footballistically, why should be do anything other than use him as a backup? When he’s on, he’s a fantastic player in that subtle way, collecting loose balls and making smart passes that begin attacking moves, but if Toure is providing many of those passes and also shoring up the defense, Xavi becomes superfluous in the starting lineup. I do want to stress that, though: the starting lineup. He is a great player off the bench and certainly provides energy and heart, but he does not currently seem capable of giving the team anything the rest of the team cannot give. Especially not if the old Deco and the old Ronnie are back to their stunning best.

So I’m advocating taking out Marquez and Xavi; absolutely I am, but I realize there would be negatives included in such a move. First off, Marquez’s long passes to Ronnie on the wing were, to say the least, unreal. I had forgotten telepathic those two are and how well Marquez can pass, but still, those moves are started pretty well by Iniesta through the middle. And Marquez only ever seems to pass to Ronnie…never to Messi on the opposite wing. That seems strange to me, but I’ve noticed it over the course of several games.

Can Messi be more involved, please? For the first 20 minutes against Celtic, Messi touched the ball like twice. And he scored on one of those. That’s why we get him the ball, though he could have had more goals than two had his control not failed him a couple of times inside the box. The ball went to the left side until late and then we scored from that side, got several attempts on goal (header by Milito, for one); why try to break down a team entirely from one side when you could easily just do it from both sides, causing them to spread out more, thus giving our players, who are excellent with the ball at their feet and space around their markers, more of an advantage. I don’t get it, but maybe I’m missing something — like how running the ball in the NFL can seem to be silly when you’re getting 2 or 3 yards at a time and then in the 4th quarter you suddenly start getting 8 or 9 because the defensive line is worn down; maybe that’s the idea, to wear down a particular side. And yes, the right side of defense was manned by a 19-year old who gave Henry way, way too much space and he made him pay, but the other two goals actually came from the other side. Part of that is because that’s where Messi was, but it’s also partly because goddammit that’s where Messi was. It all seems so simple from my armchair! I should be the coach, the president — I would win in Iraq, I have the plan, it’s so simple!* But in all honesty and seriousness, what the hell was with not getting the ball out to Messi more? When Ronnie had the ball, that’s the first place he looked, so why wasn’t Marquez looking over there too, just as an extra option. Obviously he can pass the ball 18 miles, so the distance wasn’t the issue…

So now we’re 5 points behind the Zerg Overmind (that’s the nerdiest reference yet!), we have one foot in the next round of the CL (we can lose 0-1 and 1-2 and still advance!) and we’re looking at Valencia next week in the Copa. Holy smokes in a barrel of monkeys, Batman! And not just that, but March Madness is quickly approaching (exactly 1 month from now!)…aaaah my brain is overloading! We can do this! We can win, we can be the greatest team ever! I love optimism!

*The plan is bacon. Who doesn’t love bacon? It brings families and enemies together…Whaddya mean unclean animal? You mean to tell me all those bacon cluster bombs were wasted on the population!?