Barcelona 1 - 0 Osasuna: Holy Bejesus Hay Liga Edition

By: Isaiah | February 4th, 2008

Going from a bored, downtrodden fan wishing his team would show some life to a beaming, screaming, semi-intoxicated imbecile with a blaugrana shirt on takes approximately half of a second. That’s the time, by my official stopwatch, between when I realized the ball was going to fall to Xavi and when Xavi pegged a picture-perfect first-time life-league-and-happiness-saver into the back of the net. It was 0-0, the door opened by Real Madrid’s 2-0 away loss to Almeria was being slammed shut — repeatedly, on my head — and suddenly it was as if heaven opened up and instead of the monsoon that hit the Camp Nou, it was all bunnies and fairytales.

Xavi! Xavi! Golazo de Xavi! I don’t know how many times I yelled Xavi while the team piled on top of him and the stadium was, I’m sure, screaming the same thing. Are the Madrid faithful shaken? Probably not, but the Barcelona faithful are starting to come around again and for some reason it feels like the dawning of a new moment, a new race, a new team with the ambition, the drive to put away a frustrating day. We were beautiful in our attack in the first half and insufferable in the second. Changes that needed to be made weren’t made, players were played out of position, and the team got frustrated, but in the end it was 3 points closer to the leaders. Oh boy oh boy oh boy! Despite the glaring deficiencies in the second half display, the squad came together and were actually joyful that they had scored, a sight I hadn’t seen for quite a while (since Bojan scored for the first time in the Camp Nou and Henry tried to have a baby with him…er, at least he was really happy anyway) and since it was the whole team, it seems like this is, indeed, something we can take advantage of next week at Sevilla. And we’ll need it too. Luis Fabiano can’t stop scoring, after all.

On to the game, to discussing it, a little bit:

The first half was a doozy of a display and could have been 3-0 had it not been for some timely defending by Osasuna (and nothing should be taken away from their gritty display) and, of course, for the downpour that worked against Barcelona’s prefered style of play. Apparently it tired Messi out, but he and Bojan were lively, if somewhat inconsequential in the end. The thing that kills me, that will continue to kill me until we’re winning 3-0 with the tactic, is putting Messi in the middle as a central striker. Why not just give up right from the start? A team that builds along the wing more effectively should not be forced to build through the middle with a solitary striker going it alone. That’s what wing play is for, to give the striker additional support. But of course we aren’t doing that because that’s now how our players are designed. Attack directly, Rijkaard says, as he gives no tactical support, no way through a tightly packed defense that knows exactly what you’re doing.

The difference between this game and the Villarreal game is exactly why Messi should be used exclusively as a wing player who cuts in, rather than a central player who cuts out. Messi is better going towards goal than away from it, better with the ball at his feet than in the air waiting to meet it with a header, and better as a close-range passer than at crossing in the air to targets, especially when the targets are not good at heading either. So why put him in the middle where he’ll be the recipient of silly, useless crosses that physically abuse him (going toe-to-toe in the air with a big central defender is not my idea of a fun day at the park)?

Exactly the same goes for Ronaldinho, to be honest. He was just sort of stuck up there and left to rot. That he almost got on the end of some balls was a testament to his renewed interest in giving to the Barcelona cause and I think I’m now firmly and completely set in stone about him. I want him to stay until he’s an old man unable to run. That may be only two or three years, but I definitely want him to stay until the end of his contract. The thing is, I want this only if he’s played in the positions that make him formidable. Either left forward, where Henry is currently holding slow-mo court, or as an attacking midfield playmaker, where Deco is currently holding star-gazing lessons. The point is, really, that playing either Messi or Ronaldinho as a central striker fails to take advantage of their natural gifts (vision, agility) far more than it would to put Henry in the middle. Let’s look at the facts of it: Messi is 5′7″ max, Ronaldinho is 6′0″ max, and Henry is 6′2″ min. Okay. Ronaldinho and Messi cross the ball very well, especially Ronnie. Henry is a potent goal poacher. Ronnie and Messi have the ability to run at opponents and create from cramped midfield positions. Henry cannot. Henry can create space in the box with his physical presence. Ronaldinho and Messi cannot. Hmm. Seems a tough call on who to start in the middle…And yes, I understand that Henry is not the optimal central striker, but he is certainly our best bet out of the three in question. Then there’s Bojan, the true striker of the lot. He’s 5′7, weighs about twice as much when his shirt is wet, and is friggin 17. He’s not going to go up against a Dragutinovic or an Ayala and come away with anything other than a few bruises to both his body and his ego. And we certainly don’t need either of those to appear on the kid.

We’ve got to be smarter about these games, be more aggressive, and impose our will on the opposition. We can’t just kick the ball around and think about how great it’ll be when Messi turns on the jets, gets in the box, and either scores or is taken down for a penalty. We need to win games outright, 3-0, without a doubt, without anything but a song and dance and good old time. When was the last time we score more than once? Obviously I can tell you when: 4-0 @Murcia on January 13. 6 games since then and 4 goals to show for it. 2 goalless draws, 3 1-0 victories, and a 1-1 draw. Yippee…Two goals by Henry, both with his head, incidentally. No, not incidentally: that’s my whole freaking point about putting Henry in the middle. He does damage, he creates space, he scores goals. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why we play this splendid game. To see a little sphere go into a net. A lot. Or at least into the opponent’s net.

So it was another game of statistical annihilation and actual competition. Silly, to say the least, that a team with 70% of the possession, double the shots and double the shots on goal, and a world class talent pool, could only manage to pull off a 1-0 victory. Credit to Ricardo for his work between the sticks, but he should have had several more shots drilled through him rather than at him. There were so many chances, so many holes in Osasuna’s defense it was almost like they’re a team battling relegation rather than…oh wait they are. And yet we turned in a piddling 1-0 victory. Madrid 2-0 loss to Almeria looks decent in comparison, really. I mean, losing is worse than winning, obviously, but at least Madrid lost to a capable side.

The starting lineup was what I thought was the right move. Keeping Ronnie on the bench is a bit surprising, but there has been some serious chemistry between Bojan and Messi, so why break that up, especially if you’re unwilling to put Henry in the middle. I realize that having Eto’o would settle the question entirely, but we don’t have him and may not for a few more weeks (Cameroon - Tunisia is going to extra time as I write this), so let’s not just sleepwalk through the next few games, eh? The rest of the squad was right on. Thuram on for Puyol, keep Zambrotta on the path to recovery, and Abidal, who has been off his offensive game, is a manmountain next to the other defensive Bill Brasky: Gabi Milito. That backline is looking surefooted as all get out. Marquez is the best replacement for Toure (some would say the best starter period, but I disagree, a point I will defend in a later post about tactics). I’ve already outlined my disgust with the front line, but the midfield was just as it should be. Xavi didn’t deserve a start and probably didn’t deserve to sub on, but thank God he did, eh?

The subs brought on were interesting, though. Gio for Henry, Ronnie for Messi, and Xavi for Deco. So you remove our powerful forward, who was having a slow game and the commentators thought he was injured (so that’s a fair sub), but why would’t you bring on another midfield passer? We were cutting them to shreds in the midfield until we got tired, ran out of room due to the lack of pace that comes with getting tired, and were unable to link up directly often enough. Guddie should have been brought on for Henry, in order to let Messi and Bojan work their magic up front. I don’t mind the tactic of using Gio on the left — he’s better on the left than on the right for Barcelona because of Messi — but I do mind it if the middle of the field is sacrificed in order to get him some runs down the flanks. I know I advocate the flanks as the way to go. See above: “A team that builds along the wing more effectively should not be forced to build through the middle with a solitary striker going it alone.” But I’m not suggesting building through the middle, but rather, using the middle. Guddie does a good job of slicing the ball out wide for Messi and company to take on defenders 1v1 and then the rest of the team does a good job of getting in the middle to kill balls that squirm free or rebound or are passed, or whatever.

So I can live with the Gio for Henry substitution, but not the continued presence of Messi in the middle. That requires something else, another tactical switch that would put Bojan in the middle, despite his lack of size. Messi should live exclusively on the wing until he gets the ball. Then let the grand orchestra begin. Once Henry came off, Ronnie’s larger physical presence was a good idea, but again, what about Gudjohnsen on for Bojan? That would have solved the issues of size in the middle, if not the speed question. However, in a situation where rain is abundant and the pace is much slower because of it, the speed isn’t as important as the space taken up by the striker. I suppose that’s a pretty good argument for English-style long ball during the long “winter” months.

Anyway, Xavi on for Deco was the final straw for me and I declared the game over at 0-0. Little did I know that Gio would pull it together long enough to get Iniesta a decent shot attempt, a defender would hack at the ball, sending it towards the middle of the field, and Xavi would be there to lay down there to lay down the hammer. It’s hard to argue with success, but I would like to have seen a more successful first 88 minutes rather than being left to think about what great things could have been. We won, yes, but we won thanks to lady luck and while it’s great right now, the next time she will look the other way as our asses are handed to us by Luis Fabiano in the Sanchez Pizjuan. So let’s get some tactics right, some goals, and some real celebrating…

By the way, I didn’t think Xavi was anything special during his 8 minutes on the field. SportM gave him a 9 out of 10 for his goal, but that’s just idiotic. They gave Messi a 9 against Villarreal and I think Messi was a little more influential and skillful in that game than Xavi was in this one. Xavi did score and that’s awesome, but the goal was not of his making, so he shouldn’t get creative credit for it. I’m in love with the fact that we’re back in this league, that there are 6 points between ourselves and Madrid, that we’re goint to narrow it to at least 3 by the time the second installment of El Clasico comes around, and then we’re going to have a Messi and Eto’o happyfun rainbow romp in the Bernabeu to tie it up, then we’re going to end the season even on points with them with a better head-to-head record and we’ll take the title the way they took it from us: the little bitch way. And I’m going to celebrate that into the wee hours of the morning cause I’m a jerk like that.

And if we don’t win the league…well shit, we tried. And we didn’t spend 30million euros on Pepe doing it. Zing!