Sporting 2, Barca 5, or “Like Getafe, only different.”

By: Kevin | November 26th, 2008

Team victory. People can talk all they want about Messi being the difference today, but as I see it, Messi was a symptom. Yes, his run on the first goal to Henry was excellent, but Henry did a lot of the work there, and that run could well have been made by Iniesta, or even Pedro. The real thing was the team effort today.

Recall the giveaway, then Busquets working to get the ball back and feeding Henry, who began the jailbreak. The interplay between Henry and Messi was exquisite, including the perfectly weighted ball that set Messi loose in the corner. Henry filled the space with a burst, and it was off to the races.

Now, the difference between today and Sunday is a simple one: Like Getafe, Sporting came out very tentative, waiting for the hammer to come down. But today, rather than mucking about with the ball as if this were a team pass around, the knives were out early, with pace, movement and ball pressure. Henry and Messi were the difference makers. Unlike Sunday, there was a guy to make the run, and a guy to fill the space and finish.

More importantly, there was drive and energy.

The starting lineup was a pleasant surprise: Valdes, Alves, Pique, Marquez, Caceres, Busquets, Xavi, Gudjohnsen, Hleb, Messi, Henry.

As predicted, Guardiola gave one of Sunday’s miscreants an immediate chance to make good. The difference in this lineup is that there were people, as I said earlier, to make the runs and the space. More importantly, movement off the ball created perpetual outlets for possession and attacking football, which Sporting seemed rather cowed by. Like Getafe, they were ready to fall. Unlike Getafe, we didn’t let them play their way into the match.

And before I continue with the effusion, there were defensive flaws. We have to improve at clearances. Or I should say, Marquez and Pique have to improve at clearances, particularly Pique, who doesn’t quite seem to get the “turn and clear” therory of defending. He’s always looking to make a play, even when he should just turn and hammer it out.

We concede too often off of the “oops” kind of plays, balls that are deflected right to attackers. Some of that is the fire drill feeling that happens when the defense is penetrated. Some is just the bad luck of the bounce. Either way, if we stop that, we are unbeatable.

Now, for the good. Yes, Sporting were cowed, but the speed and directness with which the ball moved was awesome. A man was always waiting, and the passes moved with pace and precision. Rather than the little stabbed balls that were too easily deflected away by Getafe defenders, these were rocket passes, fast and precise. Runs opened up gaps and passes found the runners. Jump on Getafe the way we jumped on Sporting, and that match is a win, as well. Not a rout, but certainly a win.

But that was then, and this is now. In the now, Messi played the kind of match I want to see him play more often. The awareness of other players, the quickness, the ruthlessness made it easy for everyone to key off him. And again, we nab another quick restart goal, showing the black heart at the core of a champion. Play to the whistle. The ref signalled play and Alves quickly slid it in to Messi, who buried it. It was like stealing one.

The first goal was the prettiest, however, and bears another look. Pique made a silly giveaway, but quickly moved to cover his error, creating the possibility for Busquets, who regained possession. He quickly fed Henry, who began the movement. Defenders don’t know whether to play him for the run or the pass, and they hesitate, a key difference between he and Eto’o. He lays a perfect pass off for Messi, who does one of his now patented (Cat. pat. no. 3,224,666) dive bomb runs into the corner. Henry held his run just enough to let the Sporting players think that Messi would be stranded, then made a quick burst to tap home Messi’s slide rule pass.

Prima facie, that goal was easy. But the work leading up to it was hard.

The second goal was kind of a cluster, really, again with Messi/Henry interplay earning a corner. Gudjohnsen did something, lord knows what, and Pique was there to tap it home. At that point, the game was over, and Sporting began to play like it.

At the start of the second half, Krkic came on for Henry, and proceeded to disappear from view. But in the meantime, a third goal came from that well-worked quick restart, and it was game, set and match, right?

Not so fast.

A shameful call by the official on what was a clear chest by Marquez, resulted in a Sporting free kick. I know that the ESPN announcer gave Valdes a bit of a hard time on that goal, but come on. Valdes didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting at that one. I expect the yellow card to be rescinded by UEFA once the match tape is watched. Terrible, terrible call.

Then, madness ensued as Marquez made a stab header off an attack that Caceres had controlled. It bounded directly to a Sporting attacker, who made the feed that made us pay. Suddenly it was 3-2, and things were looking a little funky, particularly since Pedro had come on for Messi. But make no mistake about it, Captain Chaos forced an error, resulting in an own goal for Sporting, and the two-goal cushion was restored. Again, ball pressure forced the error.

Victor Sanchez needs to watch Pedro’s very purposeful scampering about. Yes, his new nickname is Captain Chaos, because he just gets in the way of stuff, creating through disruption.

Then Gudjohnsen feeds Mr. Invisible, and Krkic gets taken out by the keeper. Straight red card and as the kid was waiting to take the penalty, he looked tighter than a miser’s bum the day before payday. The keeper got a good touch on his penalty kick, but the ball went in and we had our final margin of victory. The rest was playing 11 on 10, trying not to get hurt and going home with the win.

Conclusions to be drawn from this match:

1. My Shakhtar match is meaningless again. Bastards.
2. Krkic still needs some work.
3. The boys are thugs again. Come out, put the boot in and never give a side life.
4. We’ve found a left back replacement. Caceres was awesome. His nickname, by the by, is King of the Sliding Tackle.

Now, player ratings:

Valdes: 7. As I said, good luck stopping that goal. He made an amazing save on the late attack by Sporting, making himself big and doing the reflex thing on a free header. He was a lot sharper than he was on Sunday.

Alves: 7. Oh. Yeah. Strong defense, excellent passing and raising hell with ball pressure and aggressive play up and down the pitch. Sporting’s passivity helped his cause, but he is playing better and better.

Pique: 6. Strong match. I’m still faulting him for his casual play, and lack of positioning skills. You can see times when if he just knew where to put that big body of his, the attack would be killed and it would be a lot easier to gain possession of the ball. But he screws that up, and has to make a more difficult play.

Marquez: 6. He played himself down from a higher rating with a bad spell that resulted in one goal off his stretch header, and another almost attack. But strong positional play, and he was everywhere on the back line. The Kaiser is back, everyone. He was positively Puyol-like, except for the errors.

Caceres: 8. Ah, sweet left back of life I’ve found theee! No, he wasn’t Abidal. But he was a very good replacement. He has plenty of pace, and is a decisive player, who never screws around with the ball. And when he’s beaten, you can see him weighing the slide tackle options, before laying in a ball-winning and controlling beauty. We’ve all been clamoring for this experiment. Glad it was so successful. Excellent match.

Busquets: 8. Hardly put a foot wrong the whole match. Yaya’s recent play clearly put the fear of God in the kid, who was running around, winning balls and heading things away like a man possessed. He still doesn’t have that Yaya “I said give me the ball” thing going, but he was really on today, and was a key in the first goal.

Gudjohnsen: 7. A strong, strong match from the Monument. He was a great outlet, excelling at keeping possession and almost always doing the right thing with the ball. His lob pass to Krkic created the attack that led to the penalty. Every now and again he’ll get a little carried away andn try something fancy, which never works.

Xavi: 6. Good match, but a little quiet today. What he did was very good, but he was almost subliminal at times.

Hleb: 7. This match showed exactly why we signed him. His pace, drive, ball control and passing were critical in the possession game that we played against Sporting. Had key roles in a number of attacks, moved to the ball with speed and committment, and broke up attacks on the defensive end. Nice comeback from Sunday.

Messi: 9. What is there to say. What a match. From the runs and passing to the free kick goal that resulted in that “What? Who? Me?” sheepish grin of his when he knows that he stole one. Henry had to move to the right hand side of the pitch for Messi to realize he was out there, but when Messi did, they were a formidable, dangerous tandem.

Henry: 6. He played himself down from a higher score by becoming invisible after a strong start. He has to learn to impose himself on matches, demanding the ball and coming to get it, the way that Eto’o does. Still, it’s hard to fault his work rate and intelligence. Loved his goal.

Substitutes:

Krkic: 4. Still hasn’t played his way back from Sunday. Better movement and intent, however. I dare anyone to tell me he was out there, until his run into the box to earn the penalty.

Pedro: 7. Captain Chaos, to the rescue! Made strong runs, pressed the ball and made a general nuisance of himself. Great work.

Keita: incomplete. Came in when the match was over, and everyone was just trying to get home without hurting themselves or getting drunk.

Guardiola: 8. Recognized the deficiences of his starting XI from Sunday and fixed the problems. Nice experiment with Caceres at LB, and the subs were well-timed, clearly with the weekend in mind.