Sport gets positive, or “every cloud has a silver lining”
By: Kevin | September 15th, 2008
That’s right, everyone. Sport is taking some time out to be all posititive and stuff. This “10 reasons to still believe” is funny, because we’ve already said all this stuff!
So we can add Sport to the list of People Who Read This Blog. By the by, their coverage of Formula One is funny. It’s always “someone won, and it wasn’t Alonso.” There’s also an interesting piece on the Henry issue, and the psychology thereof. Essentially, is Henry getting a bum rap, and is he bummed because of all the criticism?
He thinks he’s getting ripped on because of his salary, and transfer fee. In part, he’s right. But that’s another post. Here are 10 Reasons To Believe, courtesy of Sport.es.
1. Guardiola transmits great desire and absolute confidence
2. Messi is the best player in the world and he’s totally involved
3. Xavi was the best player of the Euros
4. The transfer of Alves guarantees a powerful right wing
5. The team is united, motivated and shows discipline
6. The use of youth players shows that Guardiola has an eye toward the long term
7. Eto’o is a born goalscorer and will be decisive this season
8. The team needs more time with the new system
9. The fans are behind the manager and team and confident of a quick change in the results (Genis can speak to this one, on the ground, so to speak)
10. After two matches, we have already had all the bad luck a team can have in one season.
(More thoughts)
They’re dead wrong on No. 10. More can still happen. I sure hope that it doesn’t, but….
And fans whistling and waving white flags, two matches into the season, makes me wonder about the optimism present in No. 9. There were lots of empty seats, as well, which wasn’t cool for the first home match. Yes it was raining, but still. It’s the first home match.
I like all the rest, mostly because we’ve said them already.
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As most of you, or so I suppose, I agree more or less strongly with these reasons except the last one. I’m a rational person, but, man, sometimes the thought of voodoo being real has crossed my mind…
Posted from
Spain
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That was my first thought too Genis: #10 is just tempting fate…
Posted from
United States -
Meaning reason #10, not Messi
Posted from
United States -
Well i may have my own reasons to add, One of it is that pep seems to use a full squad rotation, including youngsters, Now I know i raised concerns over putting responsibilities on pedro and the other greens, but on the other hand, that rotation may prove its worth in the last 100 Meter of the season marathon.
At least, The last two reasons are not convincing for me, The barcelona fans are too spoiled to be patient, and to demanding to be supportive so i am not sure about this one, and regarding luck, I dont believe in luck either, u create your own luck, yesterday guti scored by “luck” when he took his shot and the ball was drifted by a defender before kissing the net, when our guys start to take the open shots they have to, then they will be as lucky too.
Posted from
Germany -
1. yes. 2. yes. 3. yes. 4. yes. 5. not on the pitch they don’t. 6. eye toward the future, fine, but how about the present? 7. we’ll see about that, we certainly haven’t seen it thus far. 8. maybe. 9. i sense some disguntlement (not a word), but i’ll take your word for it. 10. wishful thinking.
so basically it’s a solid 5-point list, but most of those points are based around individual performances. this list doesn’t give me a lot of hope.
Posted from
United States -
At the risk of sounding like a psychoanalyst myself, (Note: I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night) I will offer little nuggets of wisdom on the subject.
While a lot of us, (myself included) have questioned ‘a’ player or two in the starting XI, or their proper place on the pitch (i.e. Henry) the fact remains that this is not the reason the club seems to be stuck in a rut at this time. One player doesn’t dictate the success or failure of the club, nor should it affect its overall execution, or lack thereof.
My personal belief is that some of the players must be starting to believe if they are indeed “cursed”, as if waiting for a black cat to run on onto the pitch at any second. Sure they are professionals but they are also human and thus, have the same human emotions as the rest of us do.
Keeping this in mind, and borrowing a quote from George Bush Sr. my advice to Pep would be to “Stay the course” and ride out the storm with his starting XI. In more concrete terms stick with a starting XI and don’t tinker with it, at least for the time being. While rigidness may seem like “complacency” to some, (especially the media and the fans alike), making swift changes can also lead to “indecision” and further self doubt. By sticking to a plan Pep’s telling his team, “Boys, this is it, we are going to sink or swim together. We are going to continue with the same plan as outlined and we are going to move forward full speed ahead and not look back.”
For all the “Monday morning” prognosticators among us the fact remains that no one knows the pulse of this team better than Pep. Sometimes you just have to go on a “gut” feeling, even if it’s totally contradictory to what everyone else is saying or expecting you should do. Pep needs to make a firm stand on his lineup and his alignment.
People have the misguided notion that a tactical change can make all the difference in the world between winning and losing. I chose to believe that regardless of what “formation” you play, it means absolutely nothing if the core philosophy to the match is not the same, game in and game out!
The task at hand for Pep is to change the “approach” but not the overall “philosophy” of the club. Meaning, keeping the same “offensive” minded philosophy but change the “approach” from a ball possesion, build-up style of playing, to a more “direct”, quick strike threat. Not allowing the opposition to settle in defensively.
I know what some of you are already going to say. “How can we play the long balls if we have no long ball threat currently on the club?” My response is how many clubs in the world have that so called, “ideal” target man? Manchester United didn’t have one last season and they won their league title and hoisted the Champions League trophy.
If there are any changes to be made, outside of the overall “approach” to the game, it should be in “positioning” players to best maximize not only their skills, but the style of play you wish to play. Play Eto’o closer to the box if necessary and lauch some long balls in. Even if the exercise may seem pointless to some, at least you are establishing a threat, and not playing into conventional wisdom and into the opponents hands.
So in conclusion my personal opinion is that Pep should stick to a firm starting XI (at least for now), and stick with the same formation game in game out if only to stabilize the club and build some continuity among the players. The only changes made should be to how the club approaches each match, changing the overall style of play (more direct) but not the result (constant attacking football).
It wouldn’t hurt if Pep chose to practice with his starting XI against ALL the reserves all playing on their own half of the pitch, “simulating” actual game situations. If would be even better if Pep had 12 or 13 players playing on defense rather than the standard 10, just to make things harder in practice and hopefully easier for the club when it comes to facing their next opponent.
Posted from
United States -
i still say we ought to, for a few games, sit Eto’o’s ass on the bench and let Henry try his luck as a central striker, if he hasn’t forgotten already. we pay 30m for him, play him out of position, he plays badly, we get angry, we sell him at a loss. that sounds totally incompetent. maybe Henry in the center could have broken through the Numancia or Racing defenses? we’ll never know.
Posted from
United States -
Could it be true? Balotelli was on trial with barcelona before he signed to inter, barcelona didnt c him worth a contract? how ironic…
Posted from
Germany -
I kind of see your point BA. It’s almost a certainty that neither Eto’o or Henry will be back with the club next season, so what’s the harm in starting Henry at the central striker position? The problem arises in that A.) Do you necessarily want to make an “example” of Eto’o when others have also failed to perform up to expectations? B.)Singling out Eto’o is only going to make the “conspiracy theorists” pop up from the woodwork once again claiming that is is more of a “personal” rather than “personnel” move, going back to Pep’s previous statements this summer that Eto’o was not part of the team’s plans. And of course C.) Such a move would piss off Eto’o to no end, and although he could be moved on the cheap next summer, do you really want to have to put up with his fury for the rest of the season? I thought the point was Pep wanting to have a calm and harmonious locker room? Not a one-man tornado wiping out everything in its path?
I don’t mean to let Eto’o’s “feelings” get in the way, and true, benching him for underperforming would seem like an acceptable and appropiate thing to do. Perhaps it might even instill a bit of “fear” among the other players that no one is immune or exempt from being benched either. I just don’t know if Eto’o’s “the” one you want to make an example off right now. Not when things are as “tumultuous” as they are right now. Why take the chance of rocking the boat even more?
Part of being a good manager is willing to embrace change but at the same time giving your plan a chance to succeed as well. I think it’s still premature to bench anyone at this point and time. It could just as well backfire in Pep’s face and then he could lose a great deal of credibility and trust among his players. If Eto’o continues to unimpress then yes, he deserves to be benched just like any other player should. But I believe Pep would be making a rash (in the heat of the moment) decision if he were to contemplate such a move at this point. Like I said, remain calm in the face of adversity, and stay the course. And just as important allow Pep an honest chance to make any necessary adjustments while following along his plan. I know it calls for a great deal of faith, but “we” just have to trust that Pep knows what he’s doing.
Posted from
United States -
i have a suggestion and i would like to hear soem of your views on it.
from watching marquez in the pre-season and for the last couple of years, i have noticed that he is actually very good at playing long passes through to the front line. perhaps we could play marquez in a midfield position as some kind of defensive midfielder, not sure what to do with yaya then though, but i think he may be more valuable there than as a defender.
i think the problem with playing the same starting 11 every single game is that what will happen when someone is injured as will inevitably happen example: hleb.
not playing players for a while makes them feel underappreciated. playing players like busquets and pedro not only gives them experience but also confidence, that will be needed when they are called up to play.
squad rotation ensures that everyone can play with everyone anytime. sure now it doesnt look great because its early days and players and still learning everyones new style because there are 7 new players in the first team. like i read in a pep interview or somewhere, is that we will see the results in the second half of the season. remember last season where the first half was alright but the second half was terrible.
as far as benching players goes, is that not what just happened with henry? i remember a few weeks ago a few of us were of the opinion that benching the stars would remind them that they are not infallible and have to work just as hard to keep there place on the team as everyone else. look at the dedication we saw from busquets andd pedro when they got on the field. they had something to prove.
i am surprisiingly confident about the team. johan cruyff said in an interview that the performance against racing was excellent in the second half and he was very impressed. he knows what he is talking about.
perhaps eto’o is not the man to play when we are playing against team that will sit back and defend which can be expected against lesser teams, especially when playing at the camp nou. but there will be many games this season, later in champs league and when we play real madrid, valencia, sevilla, villareal etc who will not sit back and will defend leaving the back line more open for a hitman like eto’o to get in there. so perhaps henry is better for the role when teams are defending in numbers and eto’o when they arent.
we have only played against two lowly teams who employed more or less the same tactics. we have tried two different squads in the games, plus you could say a third squad which was used in the second half of the racing game. this third squad was deadly. tono is a great keeper, and we can consider ourselves “unlucky” that he played so well and pep also said that goalscoring is the one thing you cannot coach. barca played a great second half and if we see more of that they are only going to get better.
for these reasons i have a lot of faith in the team for this season, ans i think the pressure and desire for silverware this year will drive them to glory at least in one competition. i say play eto’o against sporting and henry against gijon.
Posted from
United States -
That was me, talking about benching the stars, Andrew, and you’re right about the effort that we saw from Hleb, Busquets and Pedro.
BA makes sense, but it will never happen. The Eto’o roots are too deep and the dislike of Henry too entrenched. Probably has a lot to do with why, despite the promises made by Guardiola in pre-season (also mentioned in the Sport piece), Henry hasn’t gone near central striker slot.
Platooning Henry and Eto’o also has value in that it gets Hleb on the pitch, which can’t happen if both are in the lineup. I still think that a dual-striker attack would rock the house, but that would mean that Eto’o would have to stay home more, as in “in the box,” and Henry would have to man the hell up.
I think that both can do what they need to in order to make that happen.
The principal value of Henry is the fear factor. Hleb on the left doesn’t automatically draw three defenders, as Henry does. That fear creates space. Imagine a front line of Henry/Eto’o/Messi, with a midfield of Xavi/Keita (or Yaya, dependent upon opponent)/Hleb.
Posted from
United States -
Andrew, first regarding Marques, actually he is a Defensive midfielder by nature and he never disappoint there whenever he play, may be little bit slow, but his position require no pace. but i think at least for the first half of the season, he is more needed as a defender till the new guys adapt and get the needed experience to take their places in defense. so having yaya and keita and the new busquets is more than enough for DM, and regarding long passes, it will prove its worth in open games and he can do it from his position as CB, but against teams with 10 players behind the ball, long passes will not work better than the crosses.
Regarding the team as a whole, it may sound wierd but i am really excited about the season, i believe its barcelona season for la liga, not the CL may too early to target this season after all the changes in squad, but barcelona certainly have the depth and quality to have a good season.
what cruyff, i think aside the moral boost he is trying to blow in the players chests, he basicly mean the rotation will help to build a team with great depth for the later stages of the season (and thats why in a previous comment here i considered rotation as one of the reasons to be optimistic) nowadays the question is not if u rotate or not, rotation is a must, whats important is to create the right strategy for your rotation, and in this detail, pep didn’t convince me in the first two games, but its good that the team lost early so it help the team to learn and improve rather than achieving foxy winning where the team don’t figure out the lessons to be learned till late.
regarding the teams we will play against, I can tell u 15 out of the 19 teams we will play against in the league will play with 10 men behind the balls, and those are the games that will decide the title even more the games against direct competitors, so so the challenge for pep is to solve this problem, and when the team start to win those games, may be the teams will start to consider changing there tactics against barcelona, but till then it will be the same boring scenario keep going week after week.
Posted from
Germany -
Holy crap, I argued both sides of that one, didn’t I? OK. My ideal lineup would be that front line of Henry/Eto’o/Messi, with Messi playing just off of Henry and Eto’o, because Messi is more effective on the move. But all three would find themselves in the box far more often than they are at present.
Hleb and Iniesta are interchangable on the left, with my slight preference for Hleb. A right winger isn’t all that critical because of how Alves plays.
Posted from
United States -
That will definitely work Kxevin, well…nothing definite in football but that sound good, specialy that both eto and henry move to channels sometimes opening the defense for messi penetration from deep.
And u know what i will say next don’t u?yea shooting from outside the area!Posted from
Germany -
you are right, shooting from outside area = good.
but thought i would add this — i think that we have taken more shots, and allowed less shots, than any team in the league through two games. i dare any one to look up and try to disprove me. i think if we keep that up, the wins will come for sure.
Posted from
United States -
i think it was 1 goal from 40 shots in 2 games.
Posted from
United States -
Andrew shooting from outside the area need set up, this is what the team is lacking, there are no movements that create needed space for the open shots U r from USA so who am I to hint on the basketball tactics that football apply with some customizations, yea its not only a basketball thing, I’ve never seen messi opening to the flank dragging the right backward and a midielder with him opening a space for alves to cut in and take his shots(and he is so damn good in that) pst, Navas did it well before, I never saw messi moving in with the ball from right toward left taking the defensive focus on him before playing the ball backward to yaya/kieta coming from behind having enough time to deside where exactly wana place his shot, I never seen messi penetrating from the middle forcing the deffence line to bounce back (assisted by eto/henry prearranged movements) then when reaching the dead end playing the ball in the space created on the edge of the area to be bombed to the net! and that’s only messi as an example of how his unfruitful dribbling sometimes could be turned to what will become a vital option to help the team, and certainly when the team play one touch game from foot to foot without what i mentioned before the “LOOK HOW GOOD I AM!I CAN DRIBBLE THEM ALL” that will make defense dizzy and start to crack and will make shooting more accurate.
But guess what! I actually don’t want them to shoot so they score! Well if they did then that’s an added value, but when they start the game raining shots from outside the area, that will force the defense to open up trying to prevent yaya/xavi/kieta/alves from shooting and that will create more space for eto and henry in the box, so instead of shooting the ball, Xavi can make a fake shooting move and play an assist to the area instead - as an example.
You know whats the wrong with the 40 shots you mentioned? It wasn’t based on a system, most of it were panic shots in the last 15 minutes of the game, remember those iniesta attempts last game? I believe taking 10 shots in the first 15 minutes when the players are still calm enough to focus, will be much better than 30 attempts in the last 20 minutes, and by the way, 40 shots in 2 games are not too much taking in consideration the scenario of the games, do you know how many crosses the team made in the last game?though it was obviously fruitless and less threatening than shooting from outside.
Posted from
Germany
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