It’s all the way liiiiiveee! LiveBlog time, kids!
By: Kevin | March 22nd, 2009With your gracious host for Week 2, Jeff.
Remember to check in about 20 minutes before the match starts, so that we can get you all approved and stuff.
Rock.
Category: 
Subscribe
|
Print
|
Share
      |
Comments
-
Hell yeah! Actually, I was thinking of the Lakeside old jam, but The Roots will do, as well. And Colin, the question is sort of chicken/egg. Are they being co-opted, or are they co-opting. After The Roots, is Paul Schaffer really good enough any more?
Posted from
United States
-
If those goals are ranked by magnificence, the Malaga goal needs to be No. 1. That goal was just crazy. The look on Guardiola’s face afterward said it all, I think.
You could, however, argue that import has a lot to do with the rankings. And notice how much Messi goes top shelf?
Posted from
United States -
eklavya (mr. corrections):
barça 2 – real madrid 0
madrid was reborn after kicking out schuster and then losing by only 2-0 in camp nou ( with 10 min left the game was still 0-0) … and then Rafa benitez killed them, showed them who they really are in champions league, same thing with ManU. And all that with a much lower budget than Barça or ManU. WE’RE LUCKY LIVERPOOL SIGNED HIM UNTIL 2014 AND HE WON’T GO TO MADRID.
benitez switches style from game to game, pep just doesn’t even know what that is. IT’S ALWAYS THE SAME THING WITH FCB, TACTICAL BOREDOM. The only thing that has changed from Rijkaard’s system is Alves going up every single play and becoming a 4th midfielder, wooow!
to call for his head was an exageration, true. all I said was that without xavi-iniesta in the midfield we’re lost, and pep hasn’t fixed that problem. If they both play everything is fine, BUT he should have tried more variations than the usual keita or guddy bullshit. same old 4-3-3. PEP DOESN’T HAVE ANY SOLUTION FOR THAT PROBLEM, PERIOD… with those players a blind monkey as coach would win la liga. And at least reach CL quarter finals.
Either both xavi-iniesta play or we loose, that’s what pep is doing. Rijkaard had Deco, but Pep kicked him out so there is not a substitute for any of the little guys.
Betis 2 – 2 Barcelona
Barcelona 1 – 2 Espanyol
Lyon 1 – 1 Barcelona
At. Madrid 4 – 3 Barcelona
Mallorca 1 – 1 BarcelonaAnd Madrid only 6 points away from us, thinking they play the same sport as we do.
ANTIMADRID FOR EVER!!
Posted from
United States -
Kxevin, he is good, we have better. he wouldn’t click for us. But i am sure he will always be seen as the best and most complete player in the world, just because we didn’t sign. if we signed then he would have turn to another hleb who needs help.
People can say anything they want, but the club worked on this option smartly, there were other reasons (beside sport needs) to make this buy. But later on it turned unworthy, and expensive.
We got the more experienced, the more “team work” oriented, the more proved for many seasons, the more capable winning back the ball, with the same age. yet he didnt succeed YET, so u can imagine.
Arsenal is something, Barcelona is something else.
Posted from
Germany -
@mku, I gave up on discussing your benitez passions, so I will not cool down your pure emotional evaluation
Just to clear some facts, because we are responsible of the info we promote:
- Its not true that we need Iniesta and Xavi together in every game to win, actually we lost our first game in the league with them both playing, and played the most difficult games (and our best performances so far) without having iniesta in the selection, revue December games and selections.
- Without Xavi and iniesta we are lost? Hm…I wonder how it goes for Liverpool without Gerrard and Torres. Its funny how we are dependent on a different player every month, wasn’t it Messi before? And eto’o when he was injured, and Abidal+Puyol in defense when they are not there, etc…
- Nice choice of barcelona games, but if you please list Liverpool games that helped Man Utd to do the come back as well.
- Pep Changed more than the Alves Impact, but may be you are more used to notice the changes made in front of ur team own keeper more than the other half of the field, benitez way
- How was Benitez performance during his first season with Liver?
- The budget? Transfers targets and policy? hm…I am sure benitez do NOT want us to raise this issue
Posted from
Germany -
So, I’m just linking this for the Iniesta caricature. Sport has it all right.
Posted from
United States -
For sure, Ramzi. At 15 million, it would have been doable. But Arshavin would have been coming off the bench, which wouldn’t have made him all happy and stuff.
Posted from
United States -
Barça is playing in Pasadena too? I just bought tickets to see Inter v Chelsea and will also be buying tickets for AC Milan v LA Galaxy. None of those teams are among my favorites, but I’m a fan of good football, so I’ll go check them out. I wanna be able to say I’ve seen some of these players live, even if they’re not, you know, real matches.
I got to see Barça a few years back and went to the Argentina v Mexico match last year. And, if things work out to plan, I’ll be in Barcelona in October/November of this year and hope to see a match at the Camp Nou. My friend knows someone who can hook us up.
Which reminds me, when do the fixtures get released for next season – in July? or there abouts?
Also – the last few minutes of the Malaga match are on right now:
http://atdhe.net/tv/watch_barcatv.html
Posted from
United States -
Good call Kevin, I wouldn’t be suprised if in a year we are talking about the Late Late Show with your host the Roots! Get on it Ben Silverman!
mku, watch a ton of both Barca and Liverpool, and Pep is way more inovative tactically than Rafa. Rafa sticks to his 4-2-3-1 like it was written down on stone tablets and handed to him on a mountain. Pep moves Messi behind the forwards, lets Messi play the 9, switches Eto’o and Henry, last week switched Eto’o and Xavi, sometimes plays two holding mids, and has the 8 play as a bomber that pushes into the box. Those are just the wrinkles, he’s played four strikers in a game Barca were winning and ran three at the back also. Rafa’s big decisions are Kuyt or Benayoun (and I’d argue he consistenly botches that one) and Alonso or Lucas (and if you get that one wrong = fail).
Posted from
United States -
Mat,
Jonathan Wilson’s book, Inverting the Pyramid (A History of Football Tactics) is essential reading. the only problem i had with it was it didn’t have a very long printing run and it was, at the time anyway, on backorder pretty much everywhere.
Posted from
United States -
I really enjoy this blog….its very open and enlightening
Posted from
United States -
Thanks a lot, BA. I’ve heard of that book. If you’ve read it, is it more to do with English football? It looked like all reviews it had were from English journalists. I’ll try looking it up at my university library before I go shopping. Any other you know of?
Posted from
United States -
MAT, there are sites that you can follow and they offer tactical reciepts, either thru articles, Forums, or you sign up and get emails from them about it(Later I will dig in my email and pick one or two of the most reliable sites and post it for you here), but I dont reccomend that as a start. Not everything written there is a truth you can take for graunted. So in order to be able to evaluate the fact out of fakes, Books , if not elementary studies in coaching (Like the online light courses offered by FA) are a good start to enjoy the game more. And by the way Its even easy to earn Level 1 and Level 2 in football coaching through online courses.
But knowing that its more a hobby, I strongly recommend this book:
Teambuilding: The Road to Success
Rinus MichelsThis is another good book to read:
Soccer Modern Tactics: Italy’s Top Coaches Analyze Game Formations Through 180 Situations
Alessandro ZauliThis one is also useful:
Soccer Tactics: An Analysis of Attack and Defense
Massimo LucchesiThe book BA mentioned is also good and well categorized.
That will not make anyone a coach, but will give a deeper knowledge about the game.
Posted from
Germany -
Wilson goes all over: Brazil, the USSR, England, Italy. he’s certainly not an England cheerleader, and he shares my, at least, adoration of Riquelme. not a lot of Barca-specific material in there but still fascinating stuff.
Posted from
United States -
Wilson goes through a history of tactics, so you see how different formations were designed to counter others or to suit the players of the time. He also writes about example matches which helps show how the tactics are designed to work outside of the chalkboard.
Posted from
United States -
I don’t often say this because I love my Barca, but what the hell are we thinking with L’Affaire Yaya. He makes 2 million per year, and is begging for a raise, in effect saying if he doesn’t get one this summer, he’s outta here.
Now, most of us could do pretty darned well on 2 mil per annum, but it’s the principle of the thing. Anyone who watched Malaga start making hay after he left should understand his value. I’m sure that folks are thinking “Well, we have Keita and Busquets.” Sure. Right. Horses for courses, as far as I’m concerned. Yaya is one of the best DMs in the world, as is as valuable to the side as the likes of Valdes, Eto’o and Henry.
Pay that man. Now!
mku, the only tactical notions that Rijkaard and Guardiola have in common is their adherence to the Barca style, and a number of the same players. Others have cited the tactical wrinkles that Guardiola throws at teams. I’d add that he does things such as 4 forwards, as well.
I think that people can love Benitez without slagging Guardiola. Maybe I’m crazy.
Posted from
United States -
Thanks for the link BA!
Posted from
United States -
“as valuable to the side as Valdes….”
really?
Posted from
United States -
really kevin, “as valuable to valdes”? REALLY?
By that I mean valdes is not so important
Posted from
Kuwait -
As far as the Yaya goes… give him the damn money. He adds so much to our team from his height to his Yayaness and his defense to his attack building. And not to forget the Yaya turn. He should be on double his current wage as a minimum. Man City would pay him four times that. Let them have Keita instead.
On the Benitez thing… he is a good tactician but what he does is nothing new. First of all ‘his’ 4-2-3-1 has been used in Spain by virtually everyone over the last 40years with Athletic Bilbao using it continually to great success for the best part of their entire history.
He is a terrible man-manager unable to get the best out of virtually any player on his books and cannot motivate his teams of clearly superior players against bad teams.His one saving grace is that in Spain most teams use a Director of Football to buy players, because Benitez has one of the worst track records in Europe of buying players. Liverpool have spent an absolute fortune on players to make themselves a decent team in Europe but they have a gigantic amount of mediocre players that he has bought since taking over.
Reina, Alonso, Mascherano & Torres were all successful. No one else was.Posted from
Ireland -
Well i dont think there is any reason to believe that Yaya will not be offered a much better contract at the end of the season. He starts a lot of games so Pep clearly sees his worth. Like Kevin said he is one of the best DM’s in world football and we always play much better with him.
I am sure he will get what he is asking for because I am sure he will not ask for too much. This is a player who could have gone to the money driven EPL and been paid loads. He chose to come to Barca and remain on the same salary as he was at Monaco. He chose to play through a very painful injury last season, he chose to stay this summer when im sure he was offered better contracts from EPL teams. All these facts point to a man who is not driven by money but by ambition. Sure, money plays a part and he deserves his pay raise. Only an idiot would deny him that, neither Pep nor Txiki are idiots so I am not that worried!
Posted from
United Kingdom -
Thanks for the info Ramzi, BA and Colin. It’ll be fun to read these books.
Posted from
United States -
I like a lot of stuff about Benitez (and dislike some other factors). I just don’t have to hate on Pep to prove it. If you think Pep’s 4-3-3 is static then you don’t know what you are watching. It is one of the most dynamic formations in world football today. VERY different from the Rijkaard 4-3-3. The only thing we are constant on is that we never EVER park the bus and ALWAYS attack. If that is boring, well…I don’t know , maybe we should park the bus and play a double pivot now and then to make it “tactically” interesting?
RE: the Yaya Affair.
I think a lot of cules are still very paranoid due to the miserly Nuñez days. This was the man that only let talent of the likes of Maradona, the real Ronaldo, Laudrup, Schuster, and Figo (yeah, he’s a traitorous dog but we probably could have kept him by upping his salry). This is why the Catalan press went ballistic with all the conspiracy theories about Florentino going after Messi and Iniesta. If Nuñez was still in charge, who knows?
However, Laporta is not Nuñez. He will damn well pay. The question is whether he will do something a la Florentino letting Makalele go in order to pursue flashier names. I sure as hell hope not. I feel confident the Yaya will get paid. Txiki and Pep know their shit. If not then I sure can’t blame him for leaving,
Posted from
United States -
@MKU.
Benitez could only ever dream of playing the type of football Pep is playing at Barca. He can keep his double pivot, defensively minded play. I will take Peps style any day of the week. I wouldnt advocate parking the bus if it guaranteed us the league. Pep is producing some the best football Europe has ever seen and you think he is tactically boring? Really? I dunno what your smoking mate, but I would love some!! We have such a fluid system that it is difficult to even lock down a solid formation or a position for our players. Sure, on paper its a 4-3-3 with Henry on the left, Eto’o in the middle and Messi on the right, but once the ball is kicked nothing stays the same. The formation and the position of the players is as fluid and dynamic as any other team in world football.
Posted from
United Kingdom -
maybe it’s late for this comment:
Ok Pep praetorians, pep is fine. We attack and everybody likes it.
All I say is that as always FCB is fragile, we don’t defend very well. We can’t do anything else other than attacking, it makes football look like NBA. If you don’t see our team as fragile compared to Liverpool you know little about football.
Changing tactics is really fun, you gotta love the surprise factor in football games. As a big Spanish football fan I love Luis Aragones to death. Luis showed us the way against Russia in the Eurocup… Spain (with Senna-Xavi-Iniesta-Silva) gave the ball possesion to Russia and won 4-1 counterattacking like hell. SAME THING RAFA DID AGAINST MADRID AND MANU. The surprise factor makes football look a little more like war instead of an amusement park, I love to see the desperation in the rival’s eyes.
Everybody knows how FCB plays, attack and 4-3-3 every single game, but we’re so good it’s hard to stop us. If things go wrong or well after 1st half pep takes out 1 defender or 1 midfielder, all “a posteriori”.
This team, the “pep team” as they call it in Barcelona is just Rijkaard’s with more fragility in the defense and without Deco and the late Roni, wich means more dinamism is attack.
toure-xavi-iniesta / henry-eto’o-messi – PEP
edmilson-xavi-deco / roni-eto’o-giuly – RIJKAARD
????????????????????????????????????????The only thing that has changed, the main thing actually is that both “black sheeps” deco and roni are out, so everybody runs now… plus we have yaya and alves.
take my word… playing with 4-1-2-3 (yaya alone in the back and xavi-iniesta up front not defending) is risky. Playing with Keita up front and not attacking like we usually do, risky and boring.
I remeber 4-2 against Chelsea, Liverpool kicking us out from CL and ManU doing the same thing. They call it memory guys, to be a smoker I have still some left ;o)
So bottom line, Rafa has already kicked us out from CL.
AND WITH LOWER BUDGET PERIOD… compare riera’s 10 million, kuyt 13 millions, mascherano 8 (i think)… MASCHERANO 8!!!!! with alves 32, hleb 15, keita 14, milito 20, caceres 20 more… torres was 36 ok, but henry 24 with only two years left to play.
Let’s hope rock solid teams won’t make us suffer too much in Chamions League.
Posted from
Spain
Read the rest of the comments
Comments are closed
Home 
