Espanyol 1 - 1 Barcelona: Review (Messi is a Golden God Edition)

By: Isaiah | December 3rd, 2007

The Catalan derby was quite a game. Exciting, good football. The quick and dirty review: It started off brightly for Barcelona with an Iniesta goal in the 6th minute, but Espanyol found their legs in the second half and pushed up the field until they found their goal. After that it was all Barca as they looked for a winner that never ended up arriving thanks to Kameni’s timely interventions. What a player that one is. But Messi, there’s a radiant diety if I’ve ever seen one. He had a fantastic day at the races and the scoreline should have been a bit “embarrassing” for Espanyol except somehow the ball never quite found its way in (see aforementioned Kameni).

The real deal review: Let’s take it from the back on up.

Valdes: There was nothing he could do about Coro’s goal. That one is entirely on the defense. Otherwise, solid performance as usual. I’m beginning to take him a little for granted…

Puyol: A right back by training, a bulldog by nature. What a crazy bastard. He was all over the place, with legs shooting out this way and that, as if he were a midfielder with little need for positional defending. He forced Marquez into a few awkward positions, but was mostly solid. Rarely coherent “Paul from Barcelona” makes his standard appearance on the typically wonderful La Liga Loca’s review of the whole weekend and mentions that Puyol should have been sent off. Maybe so, but that would apply to several of the Pericos too.

Marquez: A fairly decent game, but he gave up a few chances that shouldn’t have been created. All he had to do was stay home, stay with his marker, stay stay stay don’t go off wandering in the no-man’s land between defense and midfield! No, Rafa, no! Bad Rafa! Not an altogether bad game as he came in with some good saving tackles, but had to do so because he was out of position in the first place.

Milito: Just another game of “keep the striker quiet” for Gabi. This time it was Raul Tamudo, who made such a mess of Barca’s defense last time the met at Montjuic. Not that we talk about that game. Ever. What game? Milito was spot on for most of the game, covering for Rafa and Puyol almost every time it was necessary.

Abidal: There were a couple of moments when Abidal was caught slightly out of position, but he tends to make up for those mistakes with his athleticism, which seems to know no bounds. Solid performance from him. Nothing notable, really, either in the positive or negative.

Toure: My man crush is in superhyper full swing after a couple of his moves with the ball made Ray Hudson, and myself, swoon. I’m afraid, though, that goal was in large part his fault because he let Coro go in the middle (by being out on the wing out of position), even though Rafa was was unable to cover and Milito was marking Tamudo. The agony, the agony. I’m sure that he’ll make up for it against Real by shooting a ball so hard it cleaves both Cannavaro and Iker in twain. Woohoo!†

Xavi: Oh the injustice! He finally gets to take a dangerous freekick and hits off the bar at the perfect angle to keep it out and to keep it from being an easy chance for Bojan to poach. Xavi was decent, if not spectacular in any way. I still love him and his quiet contributions to the midfield. He’s the epitome of solidity for years and doesn’t look like changing a bit. The addition of Toure has made it seem like Xavi is wasted in midfield, but that’s just retarded. He picks up the scraps, tracks back, goes forward, allows Iniesta to make sweeping runs into the box and not have to worry about getting back instantly, and apparently he can still take free-kicks. Over the hill, my ass.

Gudjohnsen: Hey, way to look ponderous while gifting the ball to the opposition. What the hell? I’m done with Guddie. No more reviews of his playing.

Iniesta: Goal poacher! Who knew he was going to have his name on the scoreline this much so early in the season? I didn’t, that’s for sure. I love how he’s willing to make forward runs, which he’s always been willing to do, but now he’s able to bring about the runs through his own magic rather than relying entirely upon others to create the openings. Of course, Messi’s run was absurdly good, so Iniesta’s putaway wasn’t created by himself, but he certainly made some bold runs throughout the game. Or at least until Ronnie got on the field and he was relegated to a more defensive role. Iniesta’s good; in fact, he’s surprisingly better than most people give him credit for. It’s what I said last year and it’s what a lot of people are starting to realize. He’s no flash in the pan. Man does the cantera system work. Need proof? Read farther:

Messi: Holy crap. How does someone who you know is going to be fantastic surprise you? His runs were consistent and strong throughout the day and were it not for his left leg failing him at a crucial moment, all three points are in the bag for the blaugrana. He created the goal from nothing and his selfless pass was either pure luck or pure brilliant vision. I don’t know which, but I’ll trust it’s the latter because I want to. Simply put, it’s a joy to watch him. As in, it’s an actual pleasure when Lionel Messi is running around on my screen breaking the laws of physics and causing me to hemorrhage swear words, jealousy, and joy all at once.

Bojan: To be honest, I thought Bojan had an off game, which isn’t surprising considering his lack of physical play (the kid must weight like 120lbs; the Barca site says he’s 65kg, which is about 143lbs, which is just bullshit) and the fact that Espanyol are, in fact, a bunch of hardnosed school yard bullies. They have the “matador” thing down, which you could see in practice when Bojan was upended pretty brutally a couple of times.

THE SUBS

Ronaldinho: Why can’t you score that tap-in? That would have silenced the critics and stop the media criticism about the team’s away form. Sure, sure, Kameni was what Ray Hudson repeatedly described as a jungle cat in his actions and reflexes, but still, where’s the neat spins on the ball you do 30 yards from goal when you need them 2 feet from the net? Magic, please! All-in-all, I thought Ronnie should have started. Honestly. It’s not fair to appraise his play as failure to shine simply because his presence went along with a draw. Ronaldinho should have replaced Guddie, in an effort to give Bojan more space. I thought the change should have been made at halftime, to be honest, because Espanyol’s goal seemed inevitable. A single goal was never going to win that game and Guddie was floundering like a fish out of water for much of his time on the field. Also, the man had 3 chances on goal, though his freekick was headed over before Kameni’s touch and his header was just too weak to trouble any keeper at the professional level.

Zambrotta: Uh. This man was instrumental in winning a World Cup? Seriously? He looks so lost out there…It’s very odd to me to see him so unable to cope with the situations presented to him. Is he injured? Regardless, no goals allowed during his time on the field, so he couldn’t have been too bad. Having him back to full abilities will be instrumental in mounting a title challenge. As it stands, Puyol cannot continue to be the right back; he expends too much energy and doesn’t provide enough service from the wing. Zambrotta at his best can play give-and-go with Messi and break down the defense just that much more. Note that Messi can make diagonal runs into the center when Zambrotta is able to overlap him and pull a defender off of Messi. It’s good for the team when he’s healthy.

Ezquerro: Oh man. We have a lot of injuries. We put on Santi Ezquerro! And he sure did a lot…But who else was going to get out there? No one. I do not ever want to see Ezquerro on the field for Barca again. Eto’o, Henry, and Deco: Please get better!

SOME THOUGHTS

Overall, a good game. I mean, in terms of just enjoying the flowing action of the second half, it’s the best game I’ve seen this season. You know that there’s always going to be some intense tackling when it comes down to it in the Catalan derby, so I wasn’t surprised to see the ref brandishing a few yellows. What I was surprised by was how few there were (3). Even though the match was entertaining, it was clear that Barca were the better team, but just weren’t firing on all cylinders. That’s not really a surprise since they haven’t turned in a comprehensive victory yet this season, what with so many injuries and the FIFA schedule getting in the way.‡

It should be noted that Barca not being able to fire on cylinders can be attributed to the approach take by defenses. Instead of allowing the game to get out of hand, in terms of pace, teams are able to force Barcelona into a scheme where they come at the box from the side (note how many times Messi does this in a game), rather than from directly in front. That is what Deco provides and it is somewhat irrational to expect Ronaldinho, Messi, etc to simply step in and play a different position than they normally do. What’s odd is that Iniesta is rarely used in the central attacking midfielder position, even though Abidal has proven himself capable of protecting the flank far better than Gio van Bronckhorst could last year. It would at least be worth trying; With a forward line of Ronaldinho, Bojan, and Messi supported by Iniesta with Xavi and Toure behind him, you’re giving up an amount of protection at the back, but you’re also giving Xavi room to pass and Iniesta the chance to become a pure provider for a match. If Eto’o and Deco aren’t fit for the Depor game, I don’t see how that can be a worse option than the squad put on the field against Espanyol. Relying heavily on the individual brilliance of Messi disregards the class available around him. Ronaldinho seems to work best with a fast, incisive striker in front of him and while I have no doubt that Bojan will become one, currently he is not up to the physical standards necessary to sustain a full game of bouncing off of defending elbows and knees.

Given the nature of the next few games for Barcelona (Depor, Stuttgart in CL, @Valencia, Real Madrid), the Champions League game should be used as a true tune-up for guys coming back from injury. Despite their recent woes, Valencia is never a joke at the Mestalla and Real Madrid is, well, Real Madrid. Valencia are 6th after some dismal performances and RM are 1st, 4 points up on us right now with a +19 in goal difference to our +16 (33 scored, 14 allowed as opposed to Barca’s 27 scored, 11 allowed). So in order to take the game to both Valencia and RM, having Eto’o and Deco both match fit and connecting well with their teammates is a must. That requires gametime, of which we have precious little, so pushing them a little might not be the worst idea. Henry will be out with his recurring back injury until at least right before El Clasico and possibly won’t return in time to play in what has to be a very appealing game. I’m sure he’s ticked about that.

Definitely more later in the week as more information about injuries and recuperations comes out. I’ll be looking to Barca B at some point, hopefully Wednesday, and will come back with a small(ish) report on that.

† I don’t wish any serious pain or death on either of those two players. Just maybe like intestinal troubles or something.

‡ I love the international game, but there are so many issues as to when it is played and how many games there are that it’s impossible not to mention the strain on clubs that FIFA has. That said, Laporta, et al are extremely incorrect in demanding compensation from international bodies for releasing players, even when those players get injured. As a non European, the strain of Euro 2008 seems a bit excessive. I realize that there are a lot of countries in Europe/UEFA and that having Kazakhstan and San Marino compete is actually pretty cool, but the Copa America works so much better because there is no qualification process and thus doesn’t put undue strain on smaller domestic leagues. Why not play two-legged affairs drawn at random at the beginning and slotted down until the final? Or at least until a round-robin of manageable size is created? I think it’s a thought, anyway.

No highlights today because both YouTube and DailyMotion have been raided by Audiovisual Sport and they’ve taken down all their videos showing the game. Lame jackasses.