Rumour-mania 2009 II

Last month we started to get the first round of rumours which included the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Benzema. Now it is a little bit deeper and new names have shown up. Some rumours start to have some logic background while others are just pure speculations. So let’s look at the new media stories

Eto’o…only he knows. Samuel Eto’o will have to decide this coming summer whether he wants to stay in Nou Camp or not. His contract will expire in 2010 and Barcelona cannot afford to have the best striker in the world leave and not make a reasonable 30 million or more profit. There are those who think that Eto’o will likely score more than 30 goals this year just to leave to another team. Others think that he wants to stay in Barça. But only he knows; Barcelona has already tried to establish some contacts with his manager to set a contract extension deal but Samuel has strongly denied such possibility now due to the fact that he wants to be focused on the team only. This can only mean that he will negotiate a new contract but under his terms. His business card: 118 goals in 5 seasons so far. This season alone he’s scored 21 goals in 21 games.

Cristiano Again. Real Madrid is at the moment like that annoying kid who won’t stop crying until he gets what he wants. Every day there is a new “secret”, yet known, plan to finally bring the so called first, second and third best player of the world Cristiano Ronaldo. The last plan seems to be the one that finally will work. According to Spanish sports newspaper AS Real Madrid got a loan of 50 million euros approved by Santander Bank that will help them pay the high cost of Ronaldo which is expected to be around the 100 millions. Meanwhile, recently signed player Huntelaar is barely playing and hasn’t even scored. Not a good situation for a 20 million euro player. To add just a little more to the rumour party that is currently Real Madrid they just announce that if Florentino Perez is running for presidency again he will more likely bring Ancellotti as his coach for the team. This is not the best scenario for a team that needs to win La Liga and the UEFA Champions League…or are they passively surrendering?

The New Addition to Team Rumour. Recently a new name has been the talk of the month. This time is not Ronaldo or Benzema. Instead this is a new face which can engage Barça and Madrid in a never-ending battle once again. The man is a fantastic player worth 28 million euros and a place in any team in world. I’m talking of course about Frank Ribery. The Frenchman is said to be a bit unhappy at Munich and willing to change air in the near future. Barcelona and Madrid have expressed their desire to add this fantastic player to their line-up. For Barcelona, it would mean to add the final piece of the puzzle to their already fantastic attacking line. Ribery is a wing by nature that does wonders in both of them; at Nou Camp his place will be at the left wing. Madrid on the other hand wants to make an impact and forget about the present season. Recently on loan player Foubert seems to be more of the same low quality players that they have bought so it’s time to open the wallets again and bring some names and pretty game along.

One More Step

It wasn’t until Barcelona played against Sporting at “El Molinon” stadium when we saw what Pep’s team could do. Before that game Barcelona was being hammered by the media after losing their first game against Numancia and then tying 1-1 against Racing at their debut at home. Four months later Barça received the first victim of their assault to La lIga.

Sporting dictates the pace. It wasn’t because they dominated the game nor because they showed a menacing attitude; instead, Sporting showed very little in the first minutes of the game and Barça knew how they had to play. Barça won despite the fact that they didn’t bring the A-game throughout the game; instead, they understood what Sporting came to do and showed that they were not going to need to bring the A-game. When a team is as effective as Barcelona is at this moment even a somehow good performance can be devastating. It is a shame that small teams such as Sporting don’t go to Nou Camp wanting to play but instead trying not to lose by too many goals. If the end result is going to be a lost game anyways they should instead create more danger play face to face to Barcelona. Getafe did it and got a point. Hey that’s something.

Eto’o…21 goals and counting. When the Cameroonian scores the team wins; as simple as that; today he scored at minute 21 after a textbook counter attack lead by Iniesta. Then in minute 40 he scored again. And in the second half he almost scored twice. It’s been 2 seasons since we got somebody in Barcelona scoring 20+ goals. Coincidentally, the last 2 seasons were damned by injuries that did not help at all. Barcelona is walking straight to the title and Messi, Eto’o and Henry are leading the way. In all competitions they’ve scored 102 goals of which more than 60 have been by these 3 players. If injuries give Barcelona a break these team is going to break many more records including the most goals in la Liga in one season which currently stand at 107 goals by Real Madrid.

Top 10 Barça:

1- Messi (last week 1): today he didn’t score but created a lot of dangerous situation and combined well with Alves in the third goal.

2- Alves (last week 3): Amazing performance by Alves tonight. A beautiful goal that not many players can do. He still is my MVP of the year.

3- Eto’o (last week 5): he’s in love with the goal. When he scores Barça is heading to a victory. Don’t be surprise if he reaches the 30+ goal mark

4- Xavi (last week 2): a couple of places behind with respect to last week ranking not because he played bad or something like that but because the top 3 are just too good.

5- Iniesta (last week 4): Iniesta is just the kind of players that do their job and more. He created game and on top of that he’s very good on every one on one play.

6- Henry (last week 6): Can’t complain about anything he’s doing this season. He scores goals, he make passes on goals and is the reference of the team in the left wing.

7- Busquets (last week 10): today he did everything good. He creates game with very precise passes and he also recovers many balls during the game. He was called by the national team. Watch him become a key element of Barça in the future

8- Valdes (last week 8): Victor can be easily a top 5 player but he just doesn’t have too much work to do when the whole team plays good defence. Couldn’t do much in the goal today.

9- Puyol (last week NR): the captain debuts in this top 10 after coming from a minor injury. Didn’t have too much work today.

10- Bojan (last week NR): Bojan didn’t play tonight but he did play against Mallorca last Thursday. He’ll be a reference of this team in the future.

Effortless Victory

Was that a semi-final? That is the question many people who followed the Barcelona VS Mallorca game asked after seeing such a low standard encounter. Being a semi-final of what it used to be the second most prestigious tournament in Spain turned out to be a pseudo- friendly match between these two teams. Let’s be honest, the king’s cup is no longer a desired cup for big clubs such as Barcelona; and it’s even worst for teams in relegation zone in the league as they basically care more for staying in the first division which is perfectly understandable. The script was well written. Barça: Top team in his way to winning the league and with hopes for their 3rd European crown. Mallorca on the other hand is battling to stay in first division and winning this cup will do nothing for that cause. The final result? Teams playing their bench players, fans not showing up to the game.

Barça takes a nap and win. Slow game, poor spectacle with only 2 players giving us a reason to care; I’m talking about Bojan and Iniesta. But I cannot blame Barcelona for napping all the game. Mallorca showed no desired, no ambition to do an effort to at least try to win. Add to that the fact that the referee wanted to be the highlight of the game giving up to 4 yellow cards in the first half of which only 1 was a “maybe”. The good news is that Barça, even when napping, was able to pull a nice result. 2-0 with 2 gorgeous goals was the best reward to the die-heard fans that show up for that game. This lead is important because should the score at Ono Stadi, Mallorca will have to score 4 goals to pass. Barcelona as of now has a foot and half of the other in the final

Good news for Pep. Guardiola had more than one reason to worry at the end of last game in Santander when he learned that he had no defenders available for this weekend game against Sporting. Puyol was out due to an injury; Marquez saw red card as well as Pique; and on top of that, Alves saw the 5th yellow card which cause a suspension of one game. Things could be worse for Barça as one of the reasons for their success attacking is their solid defence. Nonetheless, Puyol seems to be recovered sooner than expected and he might be playing this weekend and the committee of sport decision revocked the 5th yellow of Alves after Barcelona presented reasons to backup that petition. This weekend the defence will be better than expected and sporting is not in very good conditions. A tough game it will be but it is hard to see sporting resisting Barça’s arsenal.

Theodore Messi

Heavenly Sent. By definition, the name Theodore comes from the Greek Theodoros meaning “gift from god”; that is what Messi represents to Barcelona. A gift from God that on the pitch seams almighty and capable to do whatever he wants whenever he wants. He doesn’t need to play 90 minutes to show his class and magic. Today, he started on the bench in “El Sardinero” home stadium of Racing de Santader and Barça had a hard, very hard, time to get into the game. But in minute 59, when Barcelona was losing 1-0, everything changed and like a gift sent from god himself Messi changed the game scoring 2 goals and making us all forget the he’s only human and just 21 years old.

Worst Game of the Year. Despite the fact that Barça won one has to admit that it was a horrible display from the Catalans today. Poor passing, lack of control, no shots on goals in the first half etc. all of this things can be a sign or either relaxation or lack of energy of the team. Also Racing did a good job putting pressure on every line of Barcelona; normally the first line plays almost in the midfield which allows the total control of the game and makes the mesmerizing futbol possible. Today though, Marquez and Pique were almost planning on their own area. Eto’o didn’t appear during the whole game; Busquets played really bad especially passing the ball; Alves barely appear today and made a HORRIBLE foul that should have seen red card. Overall, there is ton of work to do with this team because the league isn’t near yet.

TOP 10 Barça. This is a top ten of the best 10 players at the moment for Barcelona. Starting today, every Sunday I will publish the top 10 players
1- Messi: plays like nobody else in the world. Even when he’s not playing well his presence alone is an advantage for Barça.
2- Xavi: Doesn’t need to have the ball all game but when he does have it he’ll send it where it needs to go
3- Alves: In the season, along with Messi, is my candidate for MVP of the year. However, today he showed very little and as a supporter of fair play I cannot tolerate the criminal foul he made.
4- Iniesta: today he showed very little as the whole team but when he had the ball always ended in a free kick
5- Eto’o: nothing from the Cameroonian today. But remember, he’s still the best striker in Spain
6- Henry: created a bit of danger and from his boots came goal number 1
7- Toure: Yaya is a player that doesn’t show his class or at least is hard to spot but when he’s not in the pitch is very missed
8- Valdes: good display from victor today. He couldn’t do much in the penalty kick but then again he never stops them
9- Abidal: lack of concentration has always been his biggest weakness.
10- Busquets: this kid still is the revelation of the year. Plays like a pro and has the age of a junior team member. Today though, he was horrible in the passes.

Half Time Show

We Reach the Equator.So the first half of La Liga is officially over and the roles of this league seem to be defined very well. Barcelona is as this very moment the team to beat. Statistically in the last 10 years the champions reach the title with an average of 70 points approximately. So this means that all Barcelona has to do is win their game at home and they’ll win the title. However, doing so is not easy task. Futbol is known as the beautiful game but I also consider it the cruellest at time. If Barça relaxes and think that they have done it all they will fail. Each half of La liga can be so opposite from the other that it is unbelievable. Remember last year Espanyol and how Ernesto Valverde had done such a good job on the first half of the season but soon enough they started to get in a negative dynamic to the point that even today that team doesn’t seem to react.

The Keys to Succeed. Guardiola is a man that likes to play the cards close to the chest. Understanding how Barcelona’s performance has been so great cannot be done 100% accurately because there are so many things that Guardiola does that are completely unknown to the public. From what is known one can gather that it is important to do proper pre-season. I remember back in august they were training really hard and as a result of that we see after 19 games a team that seems to have unlimited stamina. Thanks to that preparation which includes specific work outs, custom made diets for each player, tactical work and so on we see guys like Alves and Puyol playing almost every game and being at a top condition. Pep also introduced a new internal code of behaviour to the team that has been applied many times; prove of that is the fine that he set on the team for showing up 3 minutes late to train. Pep is a “futbol-addict’ and he has introduced a good method of managing a team that is giving, up until now, more than excellent results. When one analyses the situation of Real Madrid we can see how there was no connexion between the team, the coach and management. Thanks to that miscommunication they are 12 points behind.

Next Stop: Montjuic. Barcelona will be playing this Wednesday their town rivals. With Pochettino as their new coach there is a little bit of emotion because the white and blue team will want to make a good impression on the coach. On the other hand, there are a lot of chances that the players don’t get the coach’s message so they end up losing. Guardiola has a big advantage that is all players seem to adapt and play well with each other even if they don’t do so frequently. Except Alves,most players don’t play regularly with each other but this is barely noticeable when you see them playing. I expect Iniesta in the main team along with Alves; the rest of the team is an enigma. 5 games separate Barcelona from conquering a cup which they haven’t won in more than 10 years. The final stop is at Mestalla where the final will be played but before that the next stop is Montjuic