Comments on: Athletic Bilbao 0, Barca 1; a.k.a. “A moment of rare beauty.”

By: Colin

Colin — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:37:03 +0000

Good points Andrew. Abidal has stepped up and made the adjustments he needed to, now his ability is showing through. I was a big critic of his down the stretch last season, but I’m really impressed with his professionalism and work rate this year. He looks more fluid out there, and that is down to working hard in the offseason, when some pros were at the beach (ahem, Cronadlo, cough cough).

The team looks good so far, but there are strong tests ahead. When the honeymoon is over and the press is up to their usual nonsense, the team spirit will truly face the test. The good news is that Guardiola knows all about those pressures, I read an old interview with him when he was a player where he talks about the pressures of modern football, and it reads as if he gave the interview yesterday:

http://www.time.com/time/europe/specials/ff/trip3/guardiola.html

He’s a smart cookie, as the grandmom would say.

By: Kxevin

Kxevin — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:46:56 +0000

Timoteo’s point about applying pressure is the biggest thing that I note with la regime Guardiola. Recall his insistence that failure to work hard was a bigger sin for him than anything else. These guys are working.

Last season, it almost seemed as if we were okay with a team having possession, because we knew that we were going to get it back. This year, we want the ball all the time. We’re picking up fouls because of our contesting possession, which I think is a good thing.

Larm, Bojan has a nice, fat contract from the club and the clear understanding that he is a huge part of the side’s plans. I don’t think we have to fret about that. I also think that Guardiola is very communicative about his rotation. Note that Yaya’s discontent isn’t because he isn’t being told about things, but because of his Nike contract and its incentives. Everybody seems to know when they aren’t going to be in the side, and by all accounts, they’re okay with it.

Andrew, what is so encouraging about this stretch is that there have been insane, intense games, big rotations and injuries to work through. Through it all, the club has kept on rolling. After the Numancia setback followed by Racing, it would have been easy to doubt and begin to question. Guardiola seemed to just dig in and say “This is how we have to play.”

You’re right. It is early. But I like the signs. As Pique said in the post-match comments, yesterday is the kind of match that wins titles. It would have been so easy for them to settle for the 0-0.

By: andrew

andrew — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:00:01 +0000

we also got our first clean sheet!!

By: larm

larm — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:57:27 +0000

i didnt get to watch the match, but it anybody else dissapointed with the lack of Bojan these days? i feel like when hes in, there is so much more energy out there. not too mind that at least this season he is one of the few players willing to pop a shot from outside the 18.

so i demand more baby Bojan of pep. Maybe have a Bojan/Hleb rotation as the subs for iniesta/messi. i would hate to see him rot away on the bench, become unhappy at the club and pull a Eto’o and demand to leave.

By: andrew

andrew — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:29:57 +0000

one last thing (sorry to write so much)

was henry playing in xavis role while iniesta drifted to the left and alves was mainly on the right?

By: andrew

andrew — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:28:22 +0000

3 other things:

1) goal.com is full of crap. they are blatantly anti-barca

2) when does abidal go from “he finally had a good game” to just being plain good because he seems he has stepped up now for a while.

3) i think the true test hasnt been applied to pep yet. they are still in a honeymoon period of new coach and trying to impress to get into the starting 11. come the second half of the season and when we have not been winning every single game and perhaps morale is fading, then we will see the “testicular fortitude” of pep and his staff. everybody is still trying extra hard, people will tire and we wont always be winning. perhaps after the part of the season where we have EE, villareal, sevilla and valencia i think it is in a 4 week stretch, thats when the true colors will be shown. dont get me wrong i like pep, but i dont want to get carried away to early

By: andrew

andrew — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:23:02 +0000

i think the only reason people expected messi to fill ronnies shoes was because of the relative fame, and no so much because they are similar players. xavi used to play further back and now he can move forward allowing him to play more in ronnies position.

thats a pity about jeffren, i really liked him, he seemed to be full of energy in the pre-season and i thought he and not pedro would make the grade into the first team.

again, it looks more and more like tevez is going to be looking for a new club, if henry or eto’o is leaving or both at the end of the year which i think a lot of you think at least one of them will, then he would be a great addition to our lineup because of his strength and he can shoot too.

i also think it was not just the lack of xavi and messi yesterday but also the lack of puyol. he may be slowing down but when he came on that defense tightened up. we were using our third captain yesterday because our first 2 were not playing. i think puyols motivating factor and the example he sets on the field inspires our team a lot. as a defensive player myself, i know that its hard work with very little credit. your shouted at if a goal goes through but not really noticed otherwise. puyol deserves some more credit.

By: Timoteo

Timoteo — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:20:04 +0000

I have to say, in the past I have been frustrated with Abidal and his frequent lapses and clumsy tackles but he’s put together a very nice string of games. He was great yesterday other than inciting the wrath of Victor.
It was very surprising seeing the midfield that Pep put out there with Yaya, Keita and Victor. Is Victor supposed to be a playmaking midfielder? It sure looked more like we had 3 holding mids with Keita playing a little higher of the three. This seems a strange choice to me given that Bilbao are one of the few squads that don’t sit back in a defensive shell and try and hit us on the counter, but actually try and maintain their share of possession and build attacks (rather nicely as it turns out, they looked a decent side).
i agree with some comments made earlier, with Xavi out (he truly conducts that midfield, he is sorely missed when he gets a well deserved rest) Iniesta would seem the next best fit for that conducting midfield role. Then the likes of Messi, Bojan or Hleb can take his role on the wing.
I like Alves and think he will show his class over the season, especially when combining with our talented players in short passes, but I think people will come to appreciate that Zambrotta was pretty darn effective in that role too (conveniently forgetting that horrible turnover in the CL last year).
As much as I liked Rijkaard it seems in watching the squad this year that the coaching change is now clearly justified; there seems to be a much happier team on the pitch, the overall work rate of the squad is improved (particularly in applying pressure up the field to get the ball back including Henry and Eto’o), and Pep’s willingness to throw on more attack in games that we are behind or tied.
Anyone have any idea why Bojan appears to be glued to the pine? Yesterday’s game seemed a perfect place to get him some playing time and to add some attack to the lineup.

By: Kxevin

Kxevin — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:16:36 +0000

I did, Eklavya, and I agree. Man, Ibra is on fire these days! And what has happened to Roma? They have the pretty massive suck these days. In ex-Barca/Serie A news, Ronaldinho nabbed a brace yesterday against Sampdoria.

–Apparently, Jeffren Suarez has been given the green light to find his way to Celtic, which seems to be our sort of loan club of choice these days.

–Looks like at least two weeks out for Keita, who has a calf sprain/strain. More will be known after complete looks by the medicos.

–Rijkaard has much love for Guardiola, saying that he’s been doing a “great job” when reached for comment at a (get this) exhibition hoops game between Barcelona and the L.A. Lakers.

–That video is GREAT, Vandm. Nice to see that some things never change (except the height of the opponents he dribbles around). Class, pure class, even at such a tender age.

–Pretty funny story out of Liverpool about them having a chance at a cut-rate deal for Aguero, a year before they got Torres. The price then was about 18 million Euros, but it was deemed a risk by Benitez. I’m still not sure how wrong he was, given the relatively scant success of diminutive strikers in the Premiership.

By: vandm

vandm — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:56:26 +0000

CHECK OUT great video of 5 years old Messi scoring goals!!!

http://www.sports-moments.com/soccer/