There seems to be a new custom in football where if you laud the team you just lost too, your loss will seem less of your fault, and more because of the other team's brilliance. Such is the case with this current unbeatable Manchester United team. This tactic has already been embraced by Harry Redknapp, David Moyes, Nicolas Anelka, and Arsene Wenger among others. In fact the only manager who does not seem to be heaping praise on Sir Alex and the current United side is Big Sam, yet his full strength Blackburn side ended up losing to a weakened United side, so maybe he should jump on the band wagon. It is hard to disagree with everyone claiming United have already secured the title, though keep in mind similiar praise was being heaped on Barcelona just a month ago.
Because of their recent slump in form, and Real Madrid's impeccability, Barcelona have now let a 12 point lead slip to a measily 4 points. It is hard to say what threw them off of their stride seeing as all of their stars are healthy and in relatively good form. Possibly Eto'o's prolific goal scoring drying up a bit over the last month. But if I had to put money on it, the problem in my mind is Victor Valdes. I never understood how such a strong team could have such a weak goalie. When you look at Real Madrid, it is easy to attribute their consistancy with the amazing performances from Casillas week in and week out. Yet Barcelona seem to lack that solidity at the back, which for Real Madrid embues the rest of the team with confidence. It is rather shocking if you look at the defense in front of Valdes, the small quantity of saves he has per-game, and the number of goals he lets in that he is still the first choice keeper at Barcelona. With the Madrid derby this weekend, Barcelona might be able to re-extend their lead to 7 points. But I don't see any indications of Barcelona coming out of this slump or Real Madrid entering one without changes to the goal keeping personnel.
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ReplyDeleteLooking at the momentous part of Barcelona's season, which is pretty much the entire thing if you disregard the last few games, many of the wins have not just been wins but blow-outs. Which is why I am not surprised to see this dip in performance. A lot of the players are tiring out. For Eto'o, this means his scoring has slowed down. Puyol is just coming off an injury. His absence on defense in addition to his role as captain on the team certainly disrupted the back line. That said, it would be fabulous if Valdes could get his shit together. The least he could do is look more like Iker. And the injury to Abidal should not go unnoticed - another blow to the defense. Although Iniesta has been sidelined for the better part of the season, his influence on the team as a play maker is largely underrated. Until now, the Barca squad had been fairly lucky with injuries but the price of their initial success is now taking its toll, physically and mentally.
ReplyDeleteevery team will have a poor run of games, barcelona no exception
ReplyDeletevictor valdez is catalonian, hence no replacement gk. nevertheless, blaming him for a poor string of results is a weak excuse, considering how well they had been doing previously
btw hleb is useless
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Jon said, that every team has a poor run. I don't really think you can attribute barca's poor run to anything in particular, because a team like Barca should be deep enough to deal with a few injuries, just look at man u. Speaking of man u, they had their poor run of form at the beginning of the season, which just goes to show that much like jon said, even the greatest teams have rough patches. All that said, I still expect barca to win la liga—they are miles better than anyone else in the league
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