Barcelona vs Zaragoza (Redemption!)

By: Cameron | October 23rd, 2009

My world is crushed. Everything I believed in is finished. How could this happen? We were led to believe that something this obscene, accursed and unfathomable could never happen, and yet. . .it did. I’ll never forget where I was in the 90th minute when Daniel Alves went chasing nothing, and came up limping. Our Galloping Gremlin. His body unable to handle the shock that is losing 2-1 to Rubin Kazan. Even Pep Guardiola, ever at his stoic best summed it up as such, “He’s a player who we thought was indestructible, but the human body always has a limit.” Sans a late season injury and one minor knock at the beginning of last season, Daniel Alves has never had an injury in his professional career. To have such a life altering event happen to me at this time, I cannot be reconciled.

This, sensation…I’ve never felt it before…it feels like the exact opposite of pleasure.

Unless. . .

WE START OLEGUER THIS WEEKEND!
Oleguer_641673

And he will do the Oleguerinha. The skills. The death defying tackles. The goals. Maddening. Alas, he plays for Ajax now, and is too busy winning games for them. But that’s okay, because we play Zaragoza this weekend and look to rectify the mistakes of our yesterday. Thierry Henry, the aforementioned Alves, Milito, Chygrynskiy are all recovering from their respective injuries.

Since we played all of our big guns against Rubin Kazan and lost. I would go deeper into this, but it has already been excellently covered and any further commentary will be nothing but repetitiveness in a less glamorous display. Kind of like watching Barcelona play, and then tuning in the next day to watch an Arsenal game.

I’m sure Pep, who has been greatly humbled this past week is out to prove everyone that he is going to show us all how to get it done. La Liga, to some, is more important than the Champions League (I don’t know which one Pep holds in higher regard). Me thinks he has yet to fully grasp that the eleven starters on the field he puts out there are not the same players that FIFA 10 may have you believe, even though on some occasions we may put up FIFA type scores. And although those much cursed FIFA internationals are over, the lads are still feeling the affects of them, having only been back with the squad a week. I like to keep my previews short, so I shall delve right into the nitty gritty of the fixture.

Pep will play all of the big guns, but I, like Ramzi, think that Xavi needs a rest. He has been nearly absent, showing signs of fatigue. And if Alves’s overuse (granted, we all thought he could be abused physically and take it) is any indication, without some R&R&R (rest, relaxation and rotation) of our biggest stars, we’re going to need a nurse on a more consistent basis. Alas, I can hope Pep will use all of his resources available (Keita, midweek anyone?) to put a dent in the “oh-no-we-haven’t-won-in-two-games-the-world-is-coming-to-an-end” swirls that the media is having a circle jerk about. Alas, my predicted line-up for this weekend:

Valdes
Puyol – Marquez – Pique – Maxwell
Toure
Iniesta – Keita
Messi – Ibra – Bojan

Alves is out with injury of course, which means that our stalwart behemoth of Catalonia will occupy this right flank with his various forays up the pitch. This leaves the woefully out-of-form Marquez in the Middle with DJ Pique! in the center, and for our attacking options, of which we will need in the absence of Alves, Maxwell to start to give Abidal a break. Also, we hardly saw any attacks develop from the left against Kazan, without the dependability of Henry in making those runs we falter easily, and without Abidal’s uncanny ability to disrupt counter-attacks we would be in deep shit a lot more often from that side. Puyol is adequate in getting forward, so this will provide some nice balance for us.

The steady hand, or fist of Yaya will control the middle as always, allowing for Iniesta and Keita to attack! to their heart’s content. Keita especially we’ll need to get in the mixer in the box, as his delayed runs are most effective, especially with the opposition always looking at Ibra and Messi. He also brings that grit, rough and tumble attitude to the midfield, something we’ll need for the physical play Zaragoza are sure to bring. This is also a chance to give Ghostface an opportunity to play Xavi’s role of distributor and facilitator. I know I know, he’s the slashing darting one, and he will do that, but he will do so will great effectiveness me thinks.

Get Bojan, our wee lad some action. He needs to be consistently involved for him to have confidence, which we have already seen to be occasionally lacking. Motivation from the competition of Pedro and Jeffren makes me think Bojan will put in an inspired performance if given an opportunity, a goal? We shall see. Big Bird in the middle will do his thing, as will Messi. Messi to be taken out in the second half though in favor of Pedro, so he can get some rest, as he has looked jaded recently as well. This will happen of course, after he scores a goal similar to this one:

Our opponents, Real Zaragoza sit currently 13th in the table. Their marquee signing of the summer, Jermaine Pennant is also going our chief concern defensively. I have always rated him to be a good player and look for him to give us some trouble down the wings, especially with Maxwell’s, well, how shall we say. . .problems defending? DJ Pique best be on his toes ready to help at a moment’s notice. Also, a member of the old guard, Roberto Ayala (yes he’s still around) is keeping watch over his team that he captains, and Javier Arzimendi, the 6 foot 3 inch counter-part to Ewerthon (I like this guy, but he usually comes off the bench, had to get a mention in) will be ever dangerous from corners, and he also drifts out wide, only to dart back inside, a potential area of concern for us. DJ Pique’s great positional awareness though I’m confident can neutralize Arzimendi. We can look to a starting XI for Zaragoza to look something like this:

Carrizo
Pulido – Ayala – Pavon – Paredes
Pennant – Gabi – Aguilar – Babic
Arzimendi – Ewerthon

Ponzio picked up a red card in the 2-2 draw against Racing Santander, and thus will be unavailable. Racing also like to empoly a 4-5-1 with two holding midfielders, so that is also a formation we may see used this weekend. I think both are equally likely, but 4-4-2 being the standard formation of the world, I went ahead with this here one.

All in all, I expect us to carry the day, with goals from Bojan, Keita and Messi. A 3-1 margin is in order I believe, and we’ll get the proverbial monkeys off our backs for the time being. Most everyone will get a much deserved rest as well during the week with the Copa del Rey starting, so there is some promising news to look forward. Visca Barça!