Barca 3, Espanyol 2, a.k.a. “Lie down with dogs….”

By: Kevin | January 29th, 2009

I know, I know. But this is probably going to be Pique’s only opportunity this season to be featured in the match report, shown here in ecstasy after he struck what turned out to be the match winner, off a perfect pass from (who else?) Dani Alves.

This was a game that shouldn’t have been what it was and frankly, wasn’t what it was. Yes, it was 3-2, but it really wasn’t that close. Both goals came off mistakes, and once people stopped making them, Espanyol really never looked like scoring on their own.

Guardiola fielded a complex lineup, featuring: Pinto, Alves, Puyol, Pique, Sylvinho, Xavi, Busquets, Gudjohnsen, Messi, Hleb and Krkic. There were issues, but it should have done the business against an Espanyol B side that looked to park the bus and hope for penalties.

Espanyol even started the match strong, getting in the lads’ faces, taking advantage of the insufferable need to play with the blinkin’ ball, and disrupting play. And if they couldn’t disrupt play, they fouled, to the tune of 15 (should have been more) first-half fouls. But you know what? It worked. The sleek, elegant attack that has confounded side after side in La Liga, was duller than a bowling ball in a knife fight.

We certainly helped Espanyol by playing down to their level and making it easy for them. Everyone was holding the ball too long, making it simple for their defenders to dash up, put the boot in then look innocently at the ref, who was inclined to let them play. It blunted Messi, hamstrung Xavi and, without that second option up front, it was up to a live-wire Krkic to raise some hell.

Then, off a Xavi kick, goal Gudjohnsen….NOT. He was offsides, clearly and unequivocally. And as he touched the ball in, the goal was justly waved off.

But Espanyol never really looked like scoring off the run of play, and we didn’t have any real chances until a bit of weirdness was embodied in a long, hard shot from Sylvinho that was spilled by the keeper. Krkic was right there at the doorstep like a good lil’ striker, to knock it home. Suddenly it was 1-0, and things were a little less nervous, but still….one stinkin’ goal and Espanyol were through. And it was only a fluke goal, rather than excellence of play, that got the score notched. Why the keeper spilled that ball, only he knows. But he did, and that was that because frankly, we didn’t really look like scoring off the run of play, either.

There were chances to be sure, as Alves dropped a ball on Xavi’s head, but he struck it where it could be dealt with. Gudjohnsen received another great pass from you-know-who, but couldn’t really do anything with it. And sometimes, it’s better to be lucky than good.

In the second half things looked a little smoother as Espanyol had to at least pretend to play to win, as they ventured forth from their end. And a couple of clearance blunders later, Xavi slotted through a perfect pass for Krkic, whose chip over the keeper was deft, elegant and a world-class finish by a player who had by far his best match of the season.

It was that second goal that should have provided the comfort, and when Alves dropped another perfect pass on another player’s head, this time Pique, the 3-0 margin should have made this a laugher.

Then we lost interest. Suddenly, all of those 50-50 balls were being won by Espanyol, and the clearances weren’t as sharp. Then Busquets missed sticking a leg out, and still doesn’t know how to give up his body. A scuffed shot bounced off the head of Puyol and past Pinto, who had the stop made. Suddenly it was 3-1, but there was still the comfort level, right?

Wrong. Espanyol had new life and we gave it to them with sloppy, borderline lazy play, like a team that knew it had the match in the bag. Then on a break, a player dances past Pique, lines up the shot and….Pinto must have tried to miss that one. It was shot right at him. Definitely hard, with hardly any bend. How it got through his hands….well….he and the Espanyol keeper can have a pity party, as both gave up goals that should have been stopped.

And it was 3-2 now, but curiously, I still wasn’t nervous. There were decent chances for the fourth goal, but it wasn’t really needed, and we were through into the semis against Mallorca. And what have we learned?

1. We should expect that kind of play henceforth. Numancia did it, Espanyol did it, Racing are sure as hell going to do it, with a much better side.

2. Something is missing with the makeshift sides that Guardiola puts out there.

3. I’m crazy, as BA noted. Hleb was atrocious, but more on that later.

4. Champions League is going to be this type of play, squared. We’d better be ready.

This is a short one because the more I type, the madder I get. This should have been a demolition. We let them back into the match with errors and wallowing in their mud pit. One-touch football is how we shred teams. Whenever we play with the ball, and everybody was holding it too damned much, teams can work it loose and cause trouble. A better side than Espanyol would have won tonight.

But it is indeed better to be lucky than good. And with that….

Team: 5. A collective letdown gave Espanyol life, with which they could have killed us had they been a better side. The slickness, movement and passing just weren’t there, and the defense, when pressured, tends to kind of do the fire drill thing too often.

Guardiola: 6. Made the right subs, but stuck with Hleb for entirely too long. He should know by now, even though I predicted otherwise, that Hleb and Gudjohnsen on the pitch at the same time would amount to no good.

Pinto: 5. He didn’t have a ton to do, but what he did was shaky. He simply has to stop that second goal. It’s right at him. All he had to do was stand there and put his hands up. He couldn’t have done a darned thing about that first goal, however.

Alves: 6. Great, great passing but loses points on funky defense and an absurd need to get frilly with the ball instead of just clearing it the hell out of the back. Against a better side, we pay. He was very erratic today.

Puyol: 5. Did some good work, should have known better on the own goal. I hope he isn’t really injured, because we will need Captain Caveman.

Pique: 8. Looks like the new Pique isn’t a fluke. Anything that’s in the air near his head, he wins. Much stronger play at the back, and he nailed the winning goal. Now he’s starting to make sense. He was too casual on the shot that Pinto flubbed, however, and let the guy dance around him.

Sylvinho: 5. Out of position with distressing regularity. Would come up then didn’t have the pace to get back, which is The Abidal Difference. Got lucky on the goal. Mostly solid.

Xavi: 6. Mostly quiet, with some great moments. His free kicks have kinda had the stank this season. Great ball to Krkic, and a number of nice controlling moves. But he’s been a lot better.

Busquets: 8. The kid’s in the house. He draws fouls like crazy, and will eventually learn to stop trying to draw them, which detracts from the magic of his gift, which is quick feet and slick ball control. Defenders have no choice but to foul him. From distribution to positional play, a very fine match.

Gudjohnsen: 5. Not bad. Not good, but not bad, eidur (sorry, it was too easy). Every time he’d do something good, he’d screw up and lose those very points back. But he made some very nice runs and occupied space in his own, monumental way. For a while I thought that he was going to be even better than he was. He started out gangbusters.

Messi: 6. He’s been better, and he allowed Espanyol to take him out of the match for far too long. When he got his dander up he was the Messi that we know and love, and opponents fear. But nowhere near enough for my liking.

Hleb: 1. Absolutely terrible, comprehensive pustulence. He hovered between 1 and 0 for a long, long time before just pulling out a point, with some movement and ball control. He was mercifully pulled by Guardiola. I’m not ready to give up on him, because everybody was ready to give up on Henry last season, and now look. But the Byelorussian fat lady is warming up.

Krkic: 8. Far, far and away his best match of the season. The Krkic of a week ago doesn’t score that easy putaway, because he’s dancing around outside the box or some such. He acted like a striker today, to great effect. And that second goal was suh-weet. Perhaps this will go far toward getting the confidence back that he had last season. Great movement, too.

Substitutes

Iniesta (for Hleb): 6. Some good, some quiet. Helped with possession, which was crucial in controlling things late, but has a tendency to get all ghost-like and disappear. If he ever finds the range to goal, they will start pouring in like gangbusters.

Caceres (for Puyol): 5. Little bit of this, little bit of that. Not great, not bad, just solid.

Eto’o (for Krkic): 4. This substitution turned out to be a bad move. Sure, Eto’o probably struck a bit of fear into the Espanyol hearts, but Krkic was far more dangerous.

And that’s what I know.