“The problem with Barcelona is that they now have a team without the cohesion of spirit. The jealousy and envy had made its mark within the squad among certain individuals.

“That changed the atmosphere and therefore the style of football.”

Hence, individual runs instead of slick passing and movement, crazy shots instead of working the give-and-go, etc. It wasn’t just one player: not Ronaldinho, or Eto’o, or Henry, or anyone else. It was just that critical mass of egos and talent, of too many guys used to being “the man.”

That situation can work if there is one guy with transcendent talent. Michael Jordan kept those great Chicago Bulls teams in check more than Phil Jackson did. Ronaldinho, in his prime, was that guy. The R10 of this season wasn’t, and that’s when the battle for that “power spot,” if you will, began.

Then came the talk of black sheep, and locker room crap spilling out into the streets and suddenly, Rijkaard’s balancing act wasn’t working any longer.

You’re right about patience, JC. But in the unfortunate world of big-time sports, the players never get fired. It’s always the coach. The pressure on a club such as Barca or the Evil Empire is immense. Capello got fired and he won the freakin’ Liga! It’s crazy, but guys know that when they sign on for the deal.
“That changed the atmosphere and therefore the style of football.”

Linda, your comments about others in the side are reasonable but they’ve been back and the results (performances) aren’t getting any better. Remember, they were also missing for much of last year when Ronaldinho started almost every game and scored a whack of goals which (along with Larsson’s immense contribution) kept us in the title race right to the end. There were times last year when he was obviously struggling with injury but seemed to play week after week. He suffered there only by comparison with his unbelievable displays of the previous seasons.

I agree Kxevin with your comment about when he was ineffective he still drew players. That’s why I can’t understand Rikjaard’s desire to haul him off or leave him on the bench so often. He got the blame for “slowing down the play” when 9 out of 10 times he got the ball tight on the touchline with two players right beside him and he still kept possession (albeit not going anywhere). Is our play any quicker now? I’ve often thought that left wing can’t be R10’s best position anyway. Yes, I watched him play that position unbelievably well but i’d like to see him playing just behind a front two which makes it much harder to mark, puts him closer to Messi and leaves space to fill on the wings rather than filling it in advance which is more predictable.

i just think this comes back to the silly signing of Henry. Given his age he was never going to give us more than 1 season of top performance at best but his signing (although possibly to cover for the fact that both Messi and Eto’o have been unreliable injury wise) I think sent the wrong signs to R10 which, along with him having to watch Henry playing very poorly (not Rikjaard’s fault entirely as he had to play the big new signing) , started doubt in R10’s mind mind and eventually led to this situation. Looking at geniuses ( and he is one) all over football the one thing they have in common is the need to be wanted. They are not noted for mental toughness. The club say that they’ve done all they can for him. I’m not sure how leaving him out when the team is playing so poorly did that but I don’t know enough to comment there.

Last thought. Does Ronnie not deserve some respect for his lack of complaint while this was happening? I never saw him throwing shirts, haven’t heard him criticising his club like many others have done in similar circumstances.

I suppose we’ll have to wait for Rikjaard’s book !

Now if he just comes out and says what his problem is then we could see his perspective…we have just being shown the view that the board and the Catalan press wants us to see…but right now I am pretty much of the opinion that he is going the same road as some other Brazilians have gone…partying away to oblivion..maybe he thinks the Milan lab will help him

Also without question, Ronaldinho mattered to the side. That’s why his lack of dedication was so devastating. Even when he was ineffective, he still drew players.

But Mat and Jim are both correct. He did ditch us, for reasons that I still wish were clearer. And he definitely made a difference, infuriating though he was, in the side. The bicycle was against Atletico. And instead of us getting energized off a goal that was ESPN’s Play of the Week that Monday, we got Kun’ed in a match that was the beginning of the end, really.

That question is going to have to be decisively answered though. AC Milan seems very serious in saying that they are out of the deal. Inter has pulled out because they presumed AC had won. Negotiating tactics? The fact that R10 is partying the nights away, with no interest in even a perfunctory farewell appearance at the Camp Nou, grinning and speaking Italian to teammates, tells a different story.

I’m sure the other shoe will drop in a week or two.

anyone could see he wasnt his old self. he was making himself look bad, frankly. he wasnt worthy of…himself.

i want him back, fit and fired up…but who knows if that will happen. we’ve repeated this discussion on this blog quite a bit.

One factor we haven’t really discussed here is the culpability of the Catalan press. They were the ones hyping this team up beyond all reason at the beginning of the season, even as the club tried to manage expectations. Now they’re the ones jumping up and down, screaming ’sell the whole team’. They’re one of the reasons we have such an impatient fanbase.

(Ferguson or Wenger would have been fired ages ago if they were managing Barca or Madrid, which just goes to show the absurdity of it all.)

Let’s stay real here, Mat. In the league R10 has started 13 games and scored 8 goals.

Eto’o 16 games and 14 goals
Bojan 14 games and 10 goals
Messi 21 games 10 goals

I remember him scoring a great overhead kick (Athletico?) , a last minute penalty for victory despite only coming on a few minutes earlier and starting to show glimpses of running at people as he came back round about the Celtic game- certainly he and Silvinho had quite a few good moves down the left.

He hasn’t played for ages. In the first half of the season when he played most of his games ( lthough not many) Barca and Madrid were roughly even points wise. Since he “ditched us” the team has sunk without trace. If it were his fault they should be playing much better. If the youngsters were as good as everyone is saying we would have won the league – my God, if Messi was as effective as we’ve all been saying he would have turned some games and won them on his own.

It hasn’t happened. The team has been a disgrace since Christmas.

You can’t have it both ways. Either he’s finished as many have been saying and wouldn’t have affected it anyway or he’s a quality player without whom, at least this season, we weren’t able to cope.

I’m not comfortable feeling compelled to defend Ronaldinho as his attitude hasn’t been great this year but from the start of the season it was obvious management had decided he wasn’t going to figure much and i don’t feel this vitriol is deserved.

Feel free to disagree

Btw, i hope Frank will get a great send off (although I won’t see it as Sky Sports seem to have dropped Barcelona coverage for the season). Football fans sometimes have very short memories . . .

I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. You can’t have a boss and not be beholden to someone. The real trick is managing up, so to speak.

ballbeav, I suspect they want to give Fali and Rueda a run-out just to see. Thiago and Assulin are already in, so why risk anything? I suspect that other B teamers might be part of the main squad next year, for Guardiola’s comfort if nothing else.

And you’re right about Rijkaard, Mat. It takes a very special coach to take the egos that Rijkaard had and make them into a cohesive unit. He just wasn’t the man for that job. It will be interesting to see what kind of egos they give Guardiola. He mentions his intent to have “conversations” with Deco and Eto’o. I’d love to be a fly on the wall for those.

“Look, do you want to play here, or do you want to be a prick somewhere else? Your call.”

The biggest thing Guardiola needs is a Man U or Chelsea type squad, where if a guy doesn’t want to play the way he should, there’s someone else champing at the bit for that spot in the starting XI. That’s what we were missing. If Deco doesn’t want to play, who’s replacing him, really? Same at every critical position except striker.

Colin, like Henry, Adebayor has been back and forth. Flamoney, as they’ve dubbed him in Goonerland, has a lot of folks thinking. The game has become all about money, unfortunately. Adebayor went from “Arsenal for life,” to “well, if people call….” to “I want this many pounds per week. Can you pay my ass or not?”

We’ll see where he is next week or more importantly, when transfer season begins.