Numancia 1, Barca 0, a.k.a. “I think, therefore I am….NOT!”

By: Kevin | August 31st, 2008

Holy crap! Who knew that Guardiola and Rijkaard exchanged the Barca playbook? Or wait a minute….GolTV fooled us, and showed a match from last season, with the current away strip PhotoShopped onto the players.

No, wait….it was all a dream. I’ll wake up and it will be just before match time, and I will witness a dazzling display by that team that looked so dynamic against mostly crappy pre-season opposition, but that still filled us all with so much hope. So many changes….it’s go time!

Nope. I am awake. That was the match, and it was terrible.

This smelled like a loss from the instant they took the pitch, really. There was none of the movement, none of the precision, none of the one-touch football or effort that so characterized our lads during their glorious, dazzling pre-season. This was a bunch of guys standing around, waiting for the ball and moving only when they were sure it was going to come to them.

Even worse, the lads looked scared. The faces said “This is last season all over again.” It’s not a look you want to see first match into a new campaign.

And before I drip bile over everything, let’s give Numancia credit: Those guys worked like dogs. They knew what they had to do, and did it. The goal was an unexpected benefit, really, for a side that came out playing for a draw. The goal just made them fight all the harder. There was one-way traffic toward the Numancia net, but hard work saw them through. Hats off to them.

And well, I got most of the predictions right in my preview. The starting XI was Valdes, Alves, Marquez, Puyol, Abidal, Yaya, Xavi, Iniesta, Henry, Eto’o, Messi. That part was right.

And Numancia scored early, as I predicted, a goal based off hard work. Alves let a clunky touch go, and there was some confusion in the box when the initial cross came in, so Marquez, Puyol and Abidal were all at the exact same spot, which meant that a chasing-back Iniesta was forced to try to stop the shooter, who buried the shot.

As with last season, a scrambling defense led to an easy putaway. And now, Numancia had to do only what they had been doing all match, which was capitalize on our lads, who didn’t seem to really want to score, or know what to do with the ball.

I messed up on the biggest part, however: No goals for us.

Here’s what the match report from FC Barcelona.com had to say: Although there were no gaps and so little space in and around the Numancia area, Barca continued to play in the same way and hope that something would go for them or that a moment of magic would finally see them able to draw level.

“Hey, these aren’t the Red Bulls or Chivas,” the lads’ faces seemed to say. “This match actually counts for something. Now what, coach?” And coach had no answers, except to say “The damn people I wanted to buy that would have given us tactical flexibility were vetoed by the board, a recalcitrant striker and the cules. So live it up, boys. It’s going to be a long season.”

So we played an exceptional lateral game, with lots of meaningless possession. We’ve all been there, done that, right? It’s like in American basketball, when a team is facing a team that can only score in the paint. The answer is to play a zone and say “Hey, beat us from the outside, or you don’t win.”

What I say is shoot. Shoot the damn ball. Long-range shooting practice should be on the agenda for the coming weeks. Blast a shot and crash the box. If the keeper spills it, maybe somebody picks up the garbage. And long shooting is a skill. Nigeria had it in the Olympics. It’s one we need to work on, because passing the ball into the net just isn’t going to work.

Another problem is support. In the preseason, everybody was attacking the box. In this match our attackers, Henry, Eto’o and Messi were playing 3 against 9 or 10, with no support from anyone else. No real width, no runs into the box by midfielders, no incisive passing, just little stabbed balls that were easy for Numancia players to just stick a leg out and deflect away. No real shots or legitimate scoring chances, either. Yes, shots hit the post, but come on. We all know those weren’t going in. Why?

Because teams have figured out: Same players mostly, so same game plan. Pack the box, let them have their possession, get them on the counter. Yes, we have Alves, king of the crosses. Who does he cross to, when Messi is in effect headless, Eto’o is screwing around outside the box and Henry is standing in place on left wing, waiting to do the one move he seems to have these days? And so it goes.

This was a team loss, from technical staff on down. The only blameless player in this one is Valdes, who could have done nothing to stop that shot. Other than that, everyone was tossing the ball into the box with little intent or purpose, as if they were figuring that we did sign that “9″ that Guardiola was clamoring for, that guy who can take a pass, hold defenders off and do the business. But he wasn’t there, so the Numancia keeper would take the ball from that phantom dude, sashay about to kill some time, then launch his free kick waaaaay down the pitch. We would get the ball, leisurely bring it up, and start the whole silly process all over again.

I’ll say it again: Without tactical flexibility, this is going to be a loooong season. There are two ways to open up the kind of game plan that we are going to see week after week: 1. One-touch, flowing football of the kind that was easy to play against Chivas or Red Bulls, but not so easy against real players; 2. A big, strong striker who can plant himself in the box, take a pass lofted over a packed defense and do the bull thing.

No. 2 is not an option, so No. 1 it is, right?

Maybe next match.

And with that, the player ratings:

Valdes: 4. Blameless, really. No harm, no foul. Didn’t touch the ball all that much because Numancia were really only interested in keeping us from scoring.
Puyol: 3. Did his job, should have done a better job at marshalling the back line on that goal. That’s what captains do.
Marquez 3. Pulsated with adequacy.
Abidal: 3. (see Marquez rating)
Alves: 2. His bad first touch led to the goal, and when he wasn’t doing that he was spraying balls all over the pitch.
Yaya: 3. He needed to be more than his usual, as the GolTV announcer so accurately said. As long as they are going to drop back, bring the ball up and become an extra attacker.
Iniesta: 3. Rumor was that he was on the pitch. Except for flashes, it was just a rumor, however.
Xavi: 3. Can you see a numerical trend here? Where was the slashing, attacking Xavi that we’ve been seeing of late? That imposter was just putzing around with the ball.
Eto’o: 2. If you’re a striker, strike the damn ball. Don’t run at defenders, losing the ball at your feet. Don’t sky shots, or cock up the great chance you had, on the cross from Hleb. Repeat after me: You are not a midfielder. You are not a midfielder.
Henry: 2. Looky here. I’ve been defending you all these months and this is how you repay me? With shots into the side of the net that you should have crossed to waiting teammates? Nice work.
Messi: 2. Hallelujah, the King is back, right? Sporting the vaunted, sacred No. 10. Perhaps he thought that would give him magical powers that would make the three defenders in front of him vanish, or allow his stabbed passes to work their way through a sea of legs. “Hey, why does the ball keep bouncing away,” his face seemed to say. Imagine that.

Substitutes:

Hleb: 2. Made a nice cross, then didn’t do much.
Krkic: 3. Nice to know that he makes sure his hair is in place. Still not the business in La Liga yet, not against defense in depth.
Keita: 4. He tried, at least.

A very disturbing p.s.: Two losses in a row, both by 1-0 scorelines, both characterized by lethargy and inability to really generate any legit scoring chances, both against teams defending in depth in a calm, disciplined, hard-working manner. It’s only one match in, so no real worries yet, but a boy does start to wonder.