Barça/Osasuna Preview

It's back to La Liga again, and we have some good news and hope for optimism. 

Thierry Henry has been given the all clear to play, which can only work to our benefit. Hopefully the team can capitalise on two good performances in a row last week in order to bring another victory. Osasasuna are a very physical team, and showed against Atletico that they're no pushovers. That being said, if Barça produce a similar performance to last week, then I can't see how Osasuna can cause an upset. Henry's return couldn't come a moment too soon, and it'll be great to see him pulling defenders out of position and working his magic on the flank. He'll be eager to finally open his goal scoring account too.

As for lineups, I imagine as always Valdes will stay at the back, with Puyol at the right and Abidal on the left. Either Chygrynsky or Marquez will partner Pique in the middle (take your pick- both of them concern me just as much as the other!).  

This will be completed with aI standard Toure/Xavi/Iniesta in the middle and then finally Messi/Zlatan/Henry up front. 

That being said, Pep may opt for Pedro, and introduce Henry later in the game, depending on wether he thinks the Frenchman is sharp enough to start.

Predictions? I'll go for a hard fought 2-1 Barça victory, with Zlatan and Messi to do the business. I expect either Chygrynsky or Marquez to get caught out at the back and gift them a goal at some point, such is the way of things at the moment, unfortunately.

I'll be back for the Champions League during the week, until then

Visca el Barça i visca Catalunya!

Copa Del Rey- Match Day 1- Barça vs Cultural Leonesa

First of all, I'd like to start today's blog by taking a moment to laugh at Real Madrid.

Now that we've covered that, let's move on to the game at hand.

As expected, Pep has chosen a squad composed of youth an experience: 

Goalkeepers: Valdes, Pinto
Defenders: Benitez, Chygrynskiy, Marquez, Fontas, Abidal, Maxwell
Midfielders: Toure, Jonathan dos Santos, Busquets, Gai Assulin, Keita
Forwards: Pedro, Jeffren, Bojan, Jonatan Soriano

I'd expect us to line up as follows:

------------------Pinto--------------------

Maxwell--Marquez--Chygrynskiy--Abidal

--------------Busquets--------------------

-------Toure-----------Keita--------------

---Pedro------Bojan------Jeffren---------

A good mix of experience and youth is available. The back line is perhaps a little make shift looking, and maybe Pep will give a few of the younger players a run out instead of Marquez. Abidal can slot in at centre back too, so that's a possibility. In any case, let's hope both Marquez and Chygrynsky finally click and hit some kind of form tonight, as they've looked more than suspect recently, to say the least. It's crucial that Maxwell gets a chance to play, if even out of position, so he can continue his good run of form. Busquets is a no-brainer, and with Toure and Abidal being rested at the weekend, I expect them to start. Jeffren looked extremely promising in pre-season, and thus far hasn't had much playing time, so I expect him to cease the opportunity by the horns. Bojan is self explanatory, he was rampant in the Copa last year, and I expect him to pick up a few goals tonight. Likewise, Pedro is more than capable of causing havoc. 

Like most people, I'm not entirely familiar with Cultural Leonesa, but with no disrespect meant, we should rightly expect Barcelona to go out and dominate this game, and win it comfortably. Pep has came out in the media today and said that he takes all competitions seriously,with this game being no exception. We know from last year that he will hold true to this statement, and frankly I can't see anything but a Barça victory. I'll go for 3-0, with Toure, Jeffren and Bojan to pick up the goals respectively. Expect a few substitutions to give the younger players some game time, if the game is more or less won around half time. 

That's all for now, I'll be back before the weekend in anticipation of the Osasuna game.

Until then, Visca el Barça i visca Catalunya!

All is well in Catalunya

"Crisis in Catalunya" was the headlines in some papers, and the slogan (or thereabouts) muttered by many pundits this week. Crisis? What Crisis?

If ever my prediction was going to finally come true, this was a great time for it to happen! 

Pep Guardiola is the kind of guy that, when you back him into a corner, just responds with twice as much as before. Our poor patch last season had a similar outcome, eventually resulting in the 6-2 thrashing at the burn a cow. Tonight was no exception to the rule. 

The scary thing is , there was only a handful of times tonight when Barça looked like they were playing at 100%, at times only 70% was enough to overwhelm the opposition.

One player who definitely operated at 100% throughout was Seydou Keita. The Malian produced his best game ever in a Barça shirt, and has a hat trick and an assist to show for it. He was dominant everywhere: in the air, in defense, in possession, crossing and shooting.  Undoubtedly the man of that match, he was a good player for us last season, this season however, he has developed into an excellent player. With 5 goals already he's equal to Christiano Ronaldo in the Pichichi, and I imagine he has started less games than the Madrid man too. Regardless, Keita has made a strong case for being one of the first names on the team sheet this season. Pehaps he feels that he needs to put in twice as much work, to make up from his imminent departure for the African Cup of Nations in a couple of months, who knows?

Zlatan also produced another stellar performance tonight, going further to prove both his and Pep's critics wrong. His incredible opening goal from a free kick had been coming for a while (he's been edging closer with them in weeks past), and his second showed the kind of skill he's capable of producing with the ball. Indeed, his backheel to round the Zaragoza defender was also a sight to behold. At his very best, he's reminiscent of Ronaldinho at the top of his game for us in years gone by. Let's hope his form continues too, and he can go on to prove his critics wrong in the Champions League also. Fittingly, Zlatan got a deserved standing ovation upon his substitution, by now having won over the hearts of the Camp Nou faithful.

As if it couldn't get any better, Messi finally got on the score sheet again. He was denied several times early on, and it seemed like it just wasn't going to be his night again. However, in the latter stages of the game, he latched onto a brilliant pass and produced a wonderfully deft flick into the back of the net. This will do wonders for his recently waning confidence, just what the Dr ordered.

Finally, Maxwell produced his first excellent performance for Barça. He looked solid and tenacious at the back, and extremely threatening going forward. Much to my delight, he often looked entirely like a left sided Daniel Alves. Maxwell seems to have finally clicked which is only good for our defensive line, making sure places at the back stay competitive. 

It's perhaps unkind to look at any negatives from the game, but there's a huge elephant in the room which needs addressed. I criticised Marquez last time round ,and I'm afraid I'll have to do it again. Chyrgrynsky looked shaky and slow throughout the game, so Pep's decision to replace Pique, who was generally solid, with Rafa, was a bizarre one. Perhaps Pep thought that, with the game more or less wrapped up, it was the right time to give both Rafa and Dima some crucial playing time, having both just returned from injury. In any case, both were horribly caught for pace, and entirely at fault for the goal. If not for their defensive errors, Barça would have finally claimed a much desired clean sheet (and we know how Pep loves those). They also completely ruined the offside trap on a couple of occasions, one of which resulted in the goal. If we've learned one valuable lesson from tonight, it's that Rafa and Dima cannot play together at the heart of defense, it's simply too risky and against a better team we would be severely punished.

Moving on, the Copa Del Rey is finally back in the midweek. It looks like Toure and Abidal, both of whom were missing tonight, will feature. Expect to see Henry get some playing time if he's fit too, hopefully alongside Bojan. Keita should definitely get the chance to continue on his run of good form  alongside Maxwell. I'll update around Tuesday with my thoughts on the midweek game of course.

Until then, Visca el Barça i visca Catalunya!

Barcelona vs Real Zaragoza preview.

Having licked the wounds of what should be a forgettable week by Barça standards, it's time to look to the future. Contrary to what much of the media are saying right now, I don't think Real Zaragoza could have been given a worse time to play Barça.

Pep Guardiola doesn't take failure lightly, and although he's saying all the right things in the press, getting behind the players and not dwelling on what is ultimately a blip, you can guarantee that he wont be letting the players forget about last week, or get complacent.

Good and bad news on the injury front has emerged : Alves is out for 3 weeks, though as of late his performances haven't been up to scratch, so this might not be a bad thing. Some places are circulating that Henry is nearly back to full fitness, and could make an appearance from the bench. Word on the official Barça site is only that he done some training with a physio this week though, so I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't feature at all. His presence would certainly be a bonus though, I don't think it's coincidental that our dip in form has coincided with his injury.  Millito is once again taking part in training outside of the main group, and continues on his recovery. Great news, when he does return I fully expect him to get a huge welcome from the Camp Nou crowd.

In light of Alves injury, I would like the lineup to be :

--------------Valdes----------------

Puyol--Abidal--Pique--Maxwell

-------------Toure-------------------

------Xavi-----------Iniesta---------

Messi-----Zlatan-----Bojan-------

Perhaps a few decisions there would baffle people, but I'll explain. Abidal is comfortable playing at centre back (he does so for his country) and honestly, I think he'd be a better option than a half-fit and out of form Marquez (as shown by his performance against Kazin, which frankly, the sooner we forget about, the better). Maxwell obviously slips into the left-back position fine, and Puyol showed in the Champions League final that he's still more than capable of playing as a right back. Once again, I'd rather see Bojan given the start than Pedro. If Bojan's given the same time to settle into the game (ie: started) that Pedro has been given, I fully expect his performance to surpass that of Pedrito.

However, I doubt Pep will line up this way, instead I think he'll opt for Marquez at the centre along side Pique, with Abidal retaining his left-back spot, and Puyol playing at the right. He'll go for the same midfield three as me, and then Pedro instead of Bojan, probably.

In any case, one thing I'm sure of is that he'll play as strong a side as possible. I expect a lot of players to be rested during the mid-week Copa Del Rey match. In light of this, I don't expect fringe players like Keita, Busquets , Jeffren, Pinto and the like to start tomorrows game, as they'll get a run out in Wednesday instead. 

My prediction? As I said at the start of my post, I think Zaragoza have been given an unfortunate time to play us. Expect the wrath of Barça to be on full display. I'll go for 3-0, and for us to keep a much needed clean sheet, which hasn't been happening enough lately. I think Pep and the players will want to make a statement tomorrow, and Zaragoza will be the scalp. 

A horrible night, but one that needed to happen.

Tonight's game was probably the poorest Barça display since the opening game of last season. Several key mistakes were made which contributed to an overall terrible performance.

Firstly, the team selection was just plain wrong. Sometimes Pep's confidence in his players backfires, as it was evident that Marquez was not up to the task, and should have been substituted off at half time. Rafa lacked pace, had a poor touch, and didn't show the distribution which he became renowned for. Clearly, he isn't fit, and Puyol should have started instead.

Secondly, I once again assert that Pedro was not the correct choice. Whilst Bojan did make an appearance, he was never given the same time to settle into the game that Pedro was by being started. 

Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, the way in which Barça played, the winning formula which gave us the treble, seemed to be abandoned tonight. Gone was the excellent midfield distributions to the forwards in wide areas, where Messi and his counter-part on the other side could either cut inside, or opt for the pass to the overlapping fullback on the outside. 

Instead, the ball was constantly played through the middle, and the forwards moved in too much, making the midfield cramped and frankly providing some horribly sloppy moments which aren't expected from this team. Often this lead to a perfect counter-attacking opportunity for Rubin, which they capitalised on brilliantly on two occasions. 

Indeed, if not for a stellar performance from Toure Yaya, Rubin could have had double the shots on goal they did. The Ivorian put in an excellent display, solid in possession and determined to win the ball back. The only honorable mentions of the game go to him and Xavi, both of whom seemed to be trying to salvage the result for the team. Iniesta had flashes of brilliance, but again, the congested midfield never helped his cause. Likewise, Ibra's goal was well taken, but was only one moment of brilliance in an otherwise lackluster performance.

This result needed to happen, if ever Pep needed confirmation that he should stick to his winning formula, then he's been given it. Hopefully Henry returns to fitness soon, as I don't think Pep's insistence on playing Pedro is going to work to our benefit. None the less, we must brush ourselves off and move on, learn from a poor performance and get back to winning ways at the weekend.

Rubin Kazan pre-game buildup.

Ah, the Champions League! I quite love the way it provides MORE Barça games to watch only days after La Liga (though I'm sure it's often to the frustration of Pep).

First and foremost, Toure Yaya is correct when he says that this game could be the potential "Banana skin" of the group. I watched Rubin against Inter in Russia, and the home team put in an excellent and, at times, very creative performance. In Dominguez they have found a player who can clearly produce something out of the ordinary, which I'm sure Pep will already be aware of.

That being said, Inter looked relatively uninspired against Rubin, and I don't think that the Russians are capable of coming to the Camp Nou and producing an upset, let alone against a Barça team which is still hurting from their failure to produce the goods at the weekend.

Zlatan took part in full training again this week, so expect him to start. Chygrynsky, Millito and Henry are the only three players not available to Pep. In light of this, my starting lineup would be:

---------------Valdes--------------

Alves---Puyol---Pique---Abidal

--------------Toure---------------

--------Xavi--------Iniesta-------

---Messi---Zlatan----Bojan-----

Once again, I'll opt for Bojan over Pedro. It was evident (at least to me) that Pedro was out of his depth against Valencia at the weekend, with his unwillingness to release the ball early enough being the main flaw I pointed out. I thought Bojan looked excellent when he came on, and his crossing ability was once again on show. With Zlatan in the middle, Bojan's accurate crossing could certainly come in handy, not to mention he's capable of scoring some excellent goals from distance. Messi on the right is a no -brainer, he'll want to get his confidence up again and put the recent media backlash towards him in the past (which, by the way, I think is completely ridiclous). 

As for the rest of the positions, I think I've picked our strongest lineup, and I'm almost certain that's what Pep will go with. We want to win all of our home games without exception, and to do so against Rubin tonight may almost guarantee us top place in the group at a later date.

Expect Pedro, Busquets and Maxwell to make some appearances, most notably to give Zlatan some rest as he's coming off the back of an injury.

I think the game will be pretty open, Rubin don't seem afraid to attack, and this might actually be their downfall. 

Score prediction; 4-0 Barça. Sorry Rubin, but I think you've drawn the short straw, the players will be determined to prove a point after the lackluster performance on Saturday, and Kazan will be the scalp. 

I'll update with post match thoughts and pre-league buildup during the week, until then;

Visca el Barça i visca Catalunya! 

Barça/Valencia : Post match thoughts.

What promised to be a tough match lived up to its reputation, and tiredness from the international break as well as injury worries played their role in the outcome at La Mestalla.

As I suggested during the week, Toure was chosen to anchor the midfield, with Keita playing in the middle and Iniesta playing up front. Zlatan also missed out as I thought would occur, and as I hinted, Pep went for Abidal over Maxwell. Unfortunately however (I believe), Pep chose to deploy Pedro in the middle instead of my favored alternative, Bojan.  

I understand the logic behind Pep's decision; Pedro's on a good run of form lately, but I still think Bojan is far more suited to the central role, and indeed is a far better player overall. This was never more evident than when Pedro failed to release the ball early enough on several occasions last night. Furthermore, I think the occasion itself got to the young striker. Perhaps it's time for him to return to the bench and allow Bojan his time to shine whilst Henry is out. 

A lot of our players were clearly tired, most notably Messi who didn't look his usual sharp self. Valencia undoubtedly had the best opportunities of the match too, but thankfully we have a top quality defender in Puyol, and a keeper who I believe is highly underrated in Valdes, which combined was enough to deny the home team a vital goal. 

In light of the circumstances surrounding the match, a point is still a good result, as we could have easily dropped all three. It's a shame Henry couldn't make it, as he likes scoring against Valencia and is coming off the back of a really solid string of international performances.

None the less, we still sit a point clear at the top, and Real Madrid looked more than fragile on several occasions last night, against a supposedly far weaker opposition. I expect Madrid to drop more points whilst Ronaldo is injured, and I think our 1 point lead will quickly become a 4 point gap.

I'll update sometime during the week on the build-up to the Champions League fixture. 

Until then, Visca el Barça i Visca Catalunya.

Brief injury update

As promised in my previous update, here's a quick roundup of how the injuries seem to have played out.

Henry's injury will keep him out for around 10 days, Pep has commented on this in the press so it's 100% certain he won't play tonight.

Zlatan's injury doesn't seem to be as bad as first believed, but don't expect Pep to risk him if there's any major trouble. In light of this, I expect Pep's forward three will be as follows:

(If Zlatan is fit)

Pedro--Zlatan--Messi

However, if he isn't fit, which I still think to be the case, I expect the following;

Pedro--Bojan--Messi  or, if Messi needs to be rested in the second half; Iniesta--Bojan--Pedro 

(though the latter isn't the ideal forward line for us, so is perhaps slightly dubious).

Of course my preferred forward line would have been Iniesta--Bojan--Messi,  though I'm not sure this is how Pep will go. The reason for my preference of Bojan over Pedro this is simply down to Pedro's inexperience. He's played some great games so far, but this is a particularly important one, and Bojan has showed in the Copa Del Rey final that he can play in the biggest games.

Elsewhere, David Villa done some light training with Valencia during the week. Like I said previously, I expect him to make an appearance at some point, perhaps only as a sub.

Let's hope for a good result tonight!

Valencia build up & injury updates

The international break is now over, and the Barça players have mixed fortunes. Millito and Messi's Argentina finally qualified for the World Cup last night with a nervy win over Uruguay. 

Alves and Brazil are already through, as are Spain of course. Toure Yaya's Ivory Coast have dominated their qualifying group. Ibra's Sweden and Keita's Mali however, have failed to qualify.

None of this is really important for Barça fans of course, except in terms of how it may impact the player morale. In any case, the most important outcome of the international games is undoubtedly the number of injuries picked up and, I warn you now, it's not looking good!

Before we even consider injuries, keep in mind that Messi won't return until Friday, so if Pep could have rested him against Valencia (and he's been known to make such controversial decisions) I'm pretty sure he would have done so. However, it's looking like both Zalatan and Titi Henry have picked up injuries in their respective games. 

No word on the official Barça site at the moment, but various media outlets are reporting that Zlatan has injured his knee. He limped off during the 77th minute of Sweden's qualifier and allegedly went straight to his hotel room after the game. Take the latter comment with a pinch of salt of course as it could have no relation to his injury. Henry on the other hand has apparently aggrivated an old injury during France's game. Hopefully we'll get some updates on both by Friday (if this happens I'll post it here) but it doesn't look good for the trident. If both Zlatan and Henry do miss out then expect Pep to play a tired Messi to try and compensate. After all, to play a front 3 which has not a single first choice striker in our most important league game of the season would be foolish to say the least.

There's good news though, Pique continues to prove he could play as a striker by scoring for Spain yesterday. Iniesta played a blinder for his country, indeed it looked for the first time this season like he had rediscovered last year's form. Puyol and Xavi's injuries didn't turn out to be serious as they trained with the non-international players last week too. In light of this, I expect Pep will line up as follows:

--------------Valdes---------------

Alves---Puyol---Pique---Maxwell

-------------Toure------------------

--------Xavi-------Keita-----------

Messi------Bojan------Iniesta----

I think Abidal will be rested after his international game in favor of Maxwell, though this might be a dubious choice. Pep may opt for Abidal's experience in light of the opposition, but we'll wait and see. Of course, Toure and Busquets is really a 50/50 decision, but I think Toure's experience and physical prowess will gain him the start in this vital game. Iniesta and Keita are interchangeable but I expect both to start. I think Iniesta will start up front simply because of the lack of options in those positions in relation to injuries. Bojan is perhaps the most tentative pick here, but he's really the only fit player we have that can play in the middle. Pedro is of course hitting great from, but is far more useful on the left. The other alternative is that Pedro plays on the right, with Bojan sitting it out and Messi playing in the middle, though I think this is unlikely to happen.

In any case, the injury news from Valencia is clouded to say the least. It looked like Villa was going to miss out, but the buzz on the street is that he could have played for Spain at a push, but because they had already qualified and he was carrying a knock, Del Bosque agreed to leave him at home. As such, people are suggesting Valencia are trying to play mind games and make us think that Villa won't play. They should know by now that you can't play mind games with Pep Guardiola, and he'll be prepared regardless of who plays up front. If Villa doesn't start, I expect him to play a role at some point regardless.

Now for a prediction. In light of Valencia's poor form recently, if you'd asked me last week I'd have said we'd be 4-0 or 4-1 winners. However, taking into account some of the injuries (seemingly) picked up, I think the game will be a tighter affair. I'll go for 2-1 Barça, with Messi and Iniesta to claim the goals. Villa to grab Valencia a consolation goal after coming on in the second half.

Aside from that, the only other news worth mentioning is a story that's been running in the media here recently. The BBC's gossup column in particular has had frequent rumors of a Robinho loan move to Barça in january. Seemingly both Txiki and Alves have spoken in public about him, saying they'd like him to play here. Personally, I'm not sure this would be a good move. It depends if Robinho turns up with a hunger to play and actually does so to the fullest of his ability. I'm not sure he will, though. The last few times I've witnessed him playing for Brazil he looked poor, with little desire and generally a shadow of the potential he showed a couple of years ago. I'm not sure a player who can't even motivate himself to play for his country is the kind of player we need. Of course, this could all be posturing on behalf of Barça, with a little bit of patriotic input from Alves, in any case we'll see how it develops.

Anyway, I'll update here if there's any news on the injury front, apart from that, expect a roundup of the game on Sunday.

Visca el Barça i Visa Catalunya!

Hello, and welcome!

Hey there, thanks for stopping by and checking out my new Barça blog! 

As it's the international break this week, I thought I should let my first entry focus on both how I became a fan of Barça, and what I intend to write about in this blog!

My first memories of the club go back to 1996; Ronaldo was the biggest emerging star in the world, scoring for fun with what seemed like incredible ease. My grandparents returned from a holiday in Spain with a Barça strip for my brother (you know the one, Kappa, with the logos running down the arms!) and a Barça scarf. I was fascinated and grilled my brother, he told me Ronaldo was the best player in the world. As a 6 year old, I assumed that having the best player in the world must mean that Barça were the best club in the world, and that was that!

My interest in football was de-railed for a good while, being put off by the kind of bigotry that surrounds the two main clubs here in Scotland. I could never work out why people found matters off the pitch more important than those on the pitch in relation to their club. It didn't make sense, and frankly left me slightly disenchanted with football in general. This begins to explain why I eventually went on to love Barça; I was detached from any less than savory matters off the pitch as I lived in a different country, and I have fond memories of the club from being a very young child.

I was fortunate enough to meet a lifelong friend one year in Spain. A few years ago he invited me to visit him in Barcelona, and of course I complied!

I instantly fell in love with the city. Its culture, heritage, people, and way of life completely enamored me. I'd also began watching more Barça games; viewing all of the Champions League matches when I could, and loved the way the teams philosophy was so well respected and transcended individuals.

All of these elements combined and, in the light of a full moon, morphed me into a Barça obsessive! Since then I've been unfortunate enough to witness Ronaldinho and Deco's fall from grace, the end of the Rijkard era and much of the pain that occurred therein. I've also been fortunate enough to see the rise of the young pretender, Pep Guardiola, and the treble winning team we all love. I don't think many people could argue that Barça aren't the best club in the world in this moment in time, and the scary thing is, they can still improve!

So there you have it, that's how I became a fan of the club. I could go into more detail, but trust me, it would bore you! Now I'll briefly focus on what I intend to write in this blog:

Every week I'll post my buildup to La Liga, Champions League and Copa Del Rey games, and then post-match analysis of the matches too. I'll also comment on the comings and goings behind the scenes, player quotations and thoughts etc, and what I think this mean for us as fans. Perhaps the crux of the blog will be my unique perspective ; I'll try and illustrate how it feels to be a Barça fan in Scotland (some of the reactions are very strange when you tell someone you support Barça and not Rangers or Celtic, for example) and how this probably shapes my perspective on the club too.

International break this week, so everything's quiet until the Valencia game, which I'll post pre-match thoughts on sometime next week! Until then, heres a video of the great man himself, sporting the kit I thought was oh so cool as a young kid!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFhBJIICxi0

Thanks for reading!