Barca 0, Getafe 0, or “Satan is a Goalpost”

By: Kevin | April 6th, 2008

Could someone just kill me now? I mean, right now. Lord, since you clearly don’t wear the blaugrana, I only ask that you smite me, that I might never have to witness such a display ever again in my life.

And I don’t think that’s too much to ask.

We don’t even get the joy of being second place, by virtue of Villarreal’s better head-to-head records against us, so what do we have? Is a tie really like kissing your sister? No. Hell no.

We did everything right a lot of the time. You only had to look at the sweating faces to see the industry, the effort that we brought to this match. Rijkaard came out with Valdes, Zambrotta, Sylvinho (for Abidal), Puyol, Milito, Yaya, Iniesta, Xavi, Eto’o, Henry and Krkic. The offensive mindset was apparent in the selection of Sylvinho, for his passes and forward movement rather than Abidal with his defensive pace.

I recall yelling at the television, “Quit trying to pass the damn ball into the net and take a shot.” They didn’t listen. To be fair, Getafe had some astounding luck. Abbondanzieri makes an astounding reflex save against Gabi Milito, off of a beautifully worked play. But if you shoot it right at the keeper, what do you think is going to happen? Then Eto’o bangs it off the post in a shot that he took for-freakin’-ever to get off. Dos Santos hits the post. Xavi hits the post.

And what can you say?

We end the weekend as we came in, seven points back and still in third place. We had to win this game. But there were a lot of games that we had to win. Put this much effort in against Almeria or Betis, and we’re looking beautiful right now. I can’t believe that I’m saying this, but we still have a chance at the Title Nobody Wants. Pretty scary.

A lot of the time, we were like “Dancing With the Stars,” a little too fond of holding the ball and our own fancy footwork, giving the Getafe defenders plenty of time to get in position, or gather ’round to take the ball back. The cross-pitch pass to switch play and open up a tired defense was rare, verging on non-existent. And Eto’o sucks ass as a playmaker. There. I said it. Crappy passes, crappy crosses, crappy shots. Just a big ol’ festering pile of crap. I’m sure people will gather to defend Eto’o, and (insert your deity of choice) love you all. But if he can’t play as a central attacker, then he shouldn’t play. It’s just that simple.

But the rest is good news.

Dos Santos clearly reads this blog. The drive, pace and energy he brought to the side were amazing. That juke move that he does was as sharp as it has ever been, but of course….HE HIT THE POST!!!! It was just one of those days.

There isn’t a lot to say about this one, really. We played great, but lacked that final, finishing touch. Anyone who says that luck doesn’t play a part in professional sports is smoking something intoxicating. Yes, it’s also sharper finishing. If Milito hesitates to let Abbondanzieri make a move, instead of taking the snap shot. If Eto’o makes a better finish, since the keeper was beaten. If Xavi realizes that he had more time than he thought he had. If Dos Santos doesn’t cut it as fine. But hey, it all happened, and at least we didn’t lose ground.

The Camp Nou fans were jeering, and I’m not sure that they should have been. The lads played their hearts out. It just wasn’t to be.

(Stay tuned for an earth-shattering moment.)

And now, player ratings.

Valdes. 5. Nice, solid game. No drama, just excellent keeping. He was only tested once, and passed with flying colors.
Zambrotta. 3. Was that his giveaway that led to what should have been a Getafe goal? And that penalty attempt was cheesy and low-rent. Seemed a step slow the whole match.
Sylvinho. 4. He’s played better, but was solid when he wasn’t invisible, which was most of the time.
Puyol. 10. Yes, you read right. 10. Read it and weep, argue all you want but I will not be swayed. He hasn’t played a better match all season. He was more Yaya than Yaya, more Milito than Milito, more Puyol than….well, you get it. He was everywhere, stopping every attack, always in the right place at the right time. He read the game perfectly, always ending up where the ball was. Effort, energy and every time they showed his face, you could see the intensity and focus. It was a lion’s performance, a captain throwing down the gauntlet and demanding that his teammates measure up. They didn’t, but many of them tried. Spectacular!
Milito. 3. No, you don’t get many scoring chances. But they go better if you don’t hit them at the keeper. Ditto for Sylvinho, in that he was solid when he wasn’t invisible.
Yaya. 4. He looked a little clunky today. The industry was there, but he fell into the dithering mode, with too many lateral and back passes. Yes, the man crush is still intact, however.
Iniesta. 4. Strong effort, but too many stretches of invisibility. When he’s charging forward, creating another option with his runs and passes, we’re pretty hard to beat.
Xavi. 4. Good passes and movement, but a little slow on the draw. Pressing too hard.
Eto’o. 2. In his role as wing playmaker, he was shit. In looking at my notes, I see “Yet another bad cross from Eto’o.” That sums it up.
Henry. 3. Even with that beautiful turn to set up what should have been an Eto’o goal, he just wasn’t incisive enough. There was a stretch where he could have moved to middle and became the striker he clearly wants to be, and didn’t.
Krkic. 7. The kid was crazy again today. Great play, (mostly) good decisions and passes that should have received greater reward.

Substitutes:
Marquez (for Milito): 3. Didn’t do much, didn’t screw up, either.
Dos Santos (for Eto’o): 7. I’ve said it above, and I’ll say it again: What a match he played today. Nonsense-free, movement, passing, industry, even tracking back on defense. Now that’s what I’m talking about.
Gudjohnsen (for Yaya): 3. Didn’t do much except miss a gilt-edged (note, editors at Goal.com….not guilt-edged) scoring chance to save our bacon for the second match. Yes, the Betis chance was very difficult even for a pure striker, and today’s was just part of the luck of the day. But still. Much better performance for him, though.