47 responses so far ↓

• layi // Mar 16, 2008 at 22:17

  i can see that i’m the only one that got my predictions right….it was funny the way you people were predicting a clean sheet talkless of a victory, im not sure u people recognise there is a problem with barca…dont get me wrong, though im sad about our form, but im more ready to accept our results nowadays because i know we hav a serious problem, and at the head of the problem is my former(still my hero) hero - rijkaard(sorry to admit…but since we still have the talent , there is always hope…hope we get a cup this season

• blaugranaboy // Mar 16, 2008 at 22:19

  no way, how can u give Henry a 7.5? just for creating teh goal. the rest of the game he was beyond awful. tripping, falling everywhere. jogging around feeling sorry for himself. in my opinion his contribution has a solid 4

• John // Mar 16, 2008 at 22:19

  Another poor performance…. and another poor result! 1 point out of a possible 9…. Laporta start needs to be making provision for next season…. by that I mean Jose…. if we let him slip away it will be a decision that the club will regret for many years…. Rijkaard has done a great job for Braca but we are not the side of two years ago…. changes are needed.. this is not knee jerk it has been going for 18 months….we need a new broom.. I believe JM would bring that and a mentality that is sadly lacking at the moment!

• blaugranaboy // Mar 16, 2008 at 22:21

  ive hardly ever felt so angry and disappointed with the team. i think the crisis question from a few days back is answered now. and though almeria are by no means a bad squad, they play smart and tactical football, but how can a team of superstars, where Henry alone is probably more expensive than the starting 11, not be motivated by the chance to cut the gap to 5 possibly win the league. madrid are constantly giving us chances to catch even overtake them, and we are graciously denying them. the team was a mess. there is no urgency going forward, no ideas, no effort. henry did set up the goal but otherwise looked like a clown. there were some times he ran with the ball and just fell over it or something. it makes me sad to see that, as i watched his great arsenal years. its sad to see greatness reduced to mediocrity. i also feel sort of bad i always single him out. but he seems to epitamize this season, so much promise and talent, but a lack of focus, motivation, and belief. with the exception of puyol, thuram, gudi (suprisingly), and xavi, everyone else was bad to just good enough.

  i use to HATE to the core jose and chelsea. but the more i think about it and the more i see these performances, i see him as the right choice. he will just refresh the team. and be hard on the players who arent performing. i once spoke to benni mccarthy here in South Africa, and he has ONLY good things to say of mourinho, especially his player managment. hopefully he could bring new life into this team. like john says, this isnt some mere dip in form, its approaching two years now. something has to be done.

• Blaugrana // Mar 16, 2008 at 22:35

  What is marquez’s actual injury wats taking him so long edmilson is a total waste of time, he is definetly a summer exit. To me wednsday is a final we lose there than its ova,

• Rafael // Mar 16, 2008 at 22:38

  Mourinho turned down England.. maybe for Barca?

  Who knows, I still have faith in Rijkaard and our squad. Its just frustrating which im sure the players themselves are feeling too!

• Hilal Kanafani // Mar 16, 2008 at 22:40

  Awful, just awful. It almost made me feel sick to watch that performance. I was hoping Rijkaard would try something different since clearly his tactics are not working but once again we are predictable and teams are learning how to play us, mediocre teams that we should be beating. Fine we had a lot of missing players, but that is no excuse. If anybody thinks we are going to win the CL or the cup playing like this they are mad. We will be lucky to get past Shalke with the performance we just produced and to be honest I can’t see us getting past Valencia in the cup either. I cannot see us winning anything this season, there is no heart and no desire in the team. We need a change, a change of tactics and a change of vision and I really think Mourinho is the man. At least if we end the season without any trophies Rijkaard will be out and to be honest I would prefer to not win anything and have him leave then to win the cup and have him stay. I dont think the CL is a realistic goal, unless we go through some sort of miraculous turnaround in the next few weeks Man utd will pick us apart.

• voonte // Mar 16, 2008 at 22:44

  Truly disappointing. With all these injuries, and facing such a strong home team as Almeria, I was expecting a really tough game. But I couldn’t imagine it’d be this weak. Edmilson also had a really bad day.

  “henry did set up the goal but otherwise looked like a clown. there were some times he ran with the ball and just fell over it or something.”

  blaugranaboy, I think you’re way too harsch on Henry. He was one of the few who really wanted something today. And whether Henry is worth more than the starting 11 of Almeria is irrelevant. I understand your disappointment, though.

• layi // Mar 16, 2008 at 22:47

  blaugranaboy, i’ve to admit, i think i’m on starting to thread that path about mourinho…i belive i’m one of the world’s top hater of chelsea and mourinho’s regime but these barca’a performances are so frustrating and irritating…if we had won, u would have heard rijkaard talking about how tough almeria are….take a look at villareal and espanyol who won 2-0 and 2-1 respectively this night, pellegrin was still angry with his defence and valverde was saying his team were lucky..when there is a problem, u need to identify it and stop making excuses….i dont really blame the players becos imagined if u were offered a lot of money to play rubbish, wont you accept if u are not a true catalan, thats the situation for some of the players…the blame is still on rijkaard

• Siim // Mar 16, 2008 at 22:48

  Bad result but there’s also a small positive side - Victor Vazquez got his first minute.

• layi // Mar 16, 2008 at 22:49

  very funny siim

• Nic // Mar 16, 2008 at 22:54

  Siim - I think you have the wrong Victor. It was Victor Sanchez who came on for the last two minutes.
  On the Henry question I’ve often been accused of bias against Henry, and I admit I often find him infuriating. However, today I thought he reacted well to being made substitute and very nearly made the difference after coming on.

• layi // Mar 16, 2008 at 22:56

  nic, u’re toooooooo optimistic and kind for my liking especially with your articles…but i know you need to be a professional so good job

• Youssef Gazia // Mar 16, 2008 at 23:08

  Oh well, im getting used to this crap. What the hell is happening to my team?!
  This is really strange. Real are throwing away the league and Barca are refusing to take it. Strange.

  Visca el Barca..

• blaugranafan // Mar 16, 2008 at 23:18

  Even if Barca pull off a miracle of miracles and win the league by 1 pt on the last day, would anyone still believe they *deserved* the title? Or would anyone truly be happy about winning the title in that fashion…struggling and gasping to the finish line?

  I’m as bullish as anybody about our prospects for the Copa and the CL, but after the inconsistency of this league season, I’m not sure Barca deserve to win the league. We’ve had more than enough chances to prove that we deserve the league, and we’ve thrown away almost all of those chances. That’s not what champions do.

• Hilal // Mar 16, 2008 at 23:25

  I agree with blaugranafan 100%! We do not deserve to win the league and it would set a very bad precedent for our players; being able to win the league yet playing badly.

  “But we played well, despite being enforced by our opponent” Frank Rijkaard in a post match interview today. He thinks we played well and that says it all. He should have come out and said he was shocked at our players and how much they lacked desire to win this game. Can you imagine what Ferguson or Mourinho would have said after a performance like that…..certainly not “we played well”!! No wonder the players don’t think they need to step it up

• Nic // Mar 16, 2008 at 23:25

  Layi - I’m sure I appear optimistic when things go against us but I think when we win I also try to remain cautious. One of the things that always puzzles me about Barça fans is how we move from one extreme to the other so quickly.
  We are in March and we still have a chance for three trophies. Yes, there are some things that need to improve, but that will always be the case. I follow football to enjoy it and it wouldn’t be worth it to me if I got depressed every time we failed to win a game.

• Nic // Mar 16, 2008 at 23:30

  I think you guys are being too harsh. If Milito hadn’t been sent off we would probably have won against a very decent team. I thought we worked very hard today and considering the number of players we were missing it could have been a lot worse.

• Youssef Gazia // Mar 16, 2008 at 23:38

  True nic, but when your 8 pionts behind, 8 POINTS BEHIND, there is no room from slipups against Almeria. Yes, almeria might be a decent team, but what do their quality compare to Barcelona?! The players need to love the shirt that their wearing, they need to step-up to the responisbility. Shame. Real are throwing the league away, and barca are refusing to take it.

  Bring back the good old days Frank!

  Barca o Murte..

• layi // Mar 16, 2008 at 23:40

  thats our job as fans who fill up the player’s pockets - we demand the best all the time or if not they can easily quit when the money is enough

• PHaft // Mar 16, 2008 at 23:48

  Greetings from America.

  I thought the difference tonight (besides those two weak yellow cards sending Milito off) was no Toure Yaya tonight. His coverage in front of the back 4 makes up for our lack of speed in the back 4.

  In many instances tonight the back four looked extremely slow. Even Abidal. Edmilson is already thinking about where he’ll be playing next — he was awful.

  I agree with Nic, I thought Titi was better tonight. Too bad it wasn’t enough.

  I am not calling for Rijkaard’s head, his tactics were ok tonight, but he doesn’t seem to be motivating the players enough.

  I think we need to make a strong push to get Philip Lahm to help speed up the defense and get more overlapping play from the wings. Abidal and Zambrotta don’t seem to be effective enough in this role this season (maybe tactical?)

  Good luck to Barca vs. Valencia in Copa del Rey (hopefully Hildebrand will not be as good as he was in the first game).

  Players I think we need to be rid of:
  Oleguer
  Edmilson
  Dos Santos
  Thuram

  Players I’d like to see us get (realistically):
  Lahm (B. Munchen)
  C. Vela (Osasuna)
  Diego (Werder Bremen)
  Neuer (Schalke 04)
  D. Villa (Valencia)

• Hilal // Mar 16, 2008 at 23:49

  Nic, if it was just this one game i would probably agree with you, but the last 3 games we should and could have won and we got 1 point. That is unacceptable under any circumstances. If Real were actually any good they would have run away with the league ages ago.

• R.Marsh // Mar 17, 2008 at 0:16

  It is indeed dissapointing to see a result like this, however i think it could have been a lot worse seeing injuries we have.Then again you guys fail to mention the fact that the only team Almeria has beaten this season (this year) is Real Madrid (Youssef Gazia ).I just hope we dont lose focus of our goals and that our players can stick to the task at hand.We seem to be playing much better in the Champions League as well as in the Cup.In relation to Rijkaard i just think he has become too predictable to both fans as well as our opponents and he needs to rethink his approach to the League.If not he may well find himself in hot water

• Cule // Mar 17, 2008 at 0:48

  Sadly, it is time to part with Rijkaard and to welcome Jose Mourinho. He is the coming messiah for us and will sort out our troubles. Yes, he’ll be more colourful and, perhaps, controversial, but we are missing something - and I’m not only talking about Messi. We need someone who can lead the team and who will play those who WANT to play for us, with passion and dedication. When Shevchenko wasn’t performing, he was left out. Take your pick of the players not performing at present. Even without Messi and Ronnie, we had players of such quality that we should have won this match, even with the sending off. The drive and passion is gone, the new ideas are gone, the belief is gone. We need a drastic rehaul fo the team or someone with new ideas.

  Please come back to us, Jose!!!!!!

• ronixavi // Mar 17, 2008 at 0:52

  to be honest with you all the sooner the league is over the better and i’m not so sure where the cups are concerned - if we win fair enough but i’m not hopeful! this season seems to be showing barca up as bottlers and not battlers especially when madrid slip up - otherwise a possible conspiracy theory if you consider presumed divisions among the barca dressing room?

• Morzzan // Mar 17, 2008 at 1:01

  wohow…… look who is creeping… VILLAREAL!!!! 2 points.

  I love Real, love this blog, but what the hell is happening to the top 2 of Spain. I think the most suitable to win the SPL is Villareal! Definitely not Real or Barca. Both are not playing to win the league, its as if they are just bored of life and wanna just finish this year somehow. Real look to be in such problems as of late, drives me crazy, sad, and miserable. Barca somehow seem to be doing the same, In my opinion, Madrid and Barca might be seeing changes in the managerial post without any doubt. Im surprised Schuster is actually still there. I think he feels he is still managing Getafe. Barca seem to just, i do not know, let go of the title? If barca wanted to, they could be the team holding an 8 point lead, and if it wasn’t for the drive that was created by Capello from last year, Real would have been in relegation zone.

• Speeka // Mar 17, 2008 at 1:42

  Calm down. Didn’t Almeria beat Madrid 2-0? So a 2-2 draw with a depleted team isnt a bad result.

  Conspiracy theories & Madrid in the relegation zone? Whats next?Flying monkeys? Please!

• Varughese // Mar 17, 2008 at 3:54

  Hello Nic,
  nice positive way to put a terrible game. did we had anything called a team there on pitch. they resembled school boys with their passing. tell me an instance where they completed two consecutive passes properly. the problem is that nobody is ready to accept there is a crisis. we don’t have a plan b. when opponents closed them down quickly they give away ball cheaply. and everyone is trying that against us. don’t say that it is because messi is not available. even with messi we struggled against quality opponents. it looks that madrid cannot win any of their away matches, as a matter of fact we cannot win any.

• Morzzan // Mar 17, 2008 at 4:33

  @ speeka,
  Im not saying Madrid is playing good, its that both are playing some bad football.
  @ Varughese,
  U mallu???

• Varughese // Mar 17, 2008 at 5:19

  yup morzzan

• Varughese // Mar 17, 2008 at 5:21

  Is morinho the solution? I hate to see him here. One thing is certain heis having a big ego of himself, he can’t handle stars and their egos. He may work well with guys like cole and philips. But the moment two stars were added in the form of Ballack and Shevchenko, he screwed it royally…..

• Morzzan // Mar 17, 2008 at 5:50

  Yeah as Varughese pointed out, Mourinho is definitely not the solution. He plays the most boring football on the planet.Barca should try to lure one of their own, legends to coach the existing squad. I donot have a lot of knowledge about the older Barca players, but someone who knows how Barcelona plays would be an amazing option. Some one who can say the phrase, “been there, done that.”
  I still feel there isn’t a need to replace Rijkaard, but I am just talking about my point of view. Yeah, there needs to be a change, but there is no use criticizing Rijkaard, the coach can operate best when he has all his options to his disposal and when some players fail to fit into the system, thats something he cannot help. Like Thierry, he does not fit into the entire system and there is no use saying that the coach has the best players at his disposal. His most effective option is Messi and he is undergoing treatment. I feel this season would have been amazing had both Real and Barca had their full team strength than have most of the team on the medical ward.Robben was amazing in the few games he had in Real and he has hardly played anything. Messi is amazing, everyone knows that. As long as Messi is away, the only thing Barca can do is wait for Dinho to return to his previous self.

• Varughese // Mar 17, 2008 at 6:08

  What Barcelona Lacking is a good winger, who can induce a different style when things go wrong. Don’t go after anyone, get Capel from Sevilla, and start with sylvinho against Valencia; as he looks a better option going upfront and we need to win that.

• Taras // Mar 17, 2008 at 12:33

  Very poor game. I am really depressed. Not because we lost, because the way we played. I know we missed a lot of good players but all players that played against Almeria are still better than anyone from their team. If Almeria coach can beat Barca with those players then we can get him as our coach. It seems like our players lost faith…

• FCB - Canada // Mar 17, 2008 at 15:15

  Meh, at this point it’s hard to get disappointed. These losses and ties are almost expected now. Barca really aren’t deserving of any titles, sad to say. No passion, sloppy passing, and lack of hard work from many individiuals. Well I spoke with my money and cancelled my BarcaTV subscription. Hoping next season will give us better memories.

• Michael Maré // Mar 17, 2008 at 16:05

  Rijkaard needs to rethink how to play the team and how to organise the team properly, I think he needs to find his voice and critisise the player that aren’t pulling their wait, Barca need fresh ideas, so that they can play differently and not be so predictable anymore. I’m not saying get rid of Rijkaard, but I think that when the season is over he should go on a long holiday so that he can clear his mind and come back refreshed and with new ideas that will help Barca to play better and more efficiently.

  Also the players that aren’t performing to their best must leave the club and be replaced by players who are hungry for success and are willing to work for it.

• Shakalero // Mar 17, 2008 at 19:01

  Our defense has not been that great as it was in the first half of the season. I miss Yaya and Marquez. I hope they can come back soon. And what have you heard about Dos Santos? Are they going to sell him?

• Rajab Bader - RealmadridTalk // Mar 17, 2008 at 19:10

  The league is not over yet, Nic Although I’m a Real fan, I can still see that Barca have a good chance to win the league. The key is to win every game and thats what Madrid should do if they want to win it!

• #12 // Mar 17, 2008 at 22:23

  Wow, you guys are ridiculous..Nic am I the only one who shares your point of view??we tie a game under terrible circumstances(10 men,many injuries) and you guys go off talking about selling players and getting a new coach?!?madrid didn’t even win at almeria, we are probably the only team in europe that has a realistic chance of winning 3 trophies,all while missing almost half our starters!please..be realistic guys

• layi // Mar 17, 2008 at 22:59

  thank God, txiki begiristain has spoken out toooo, been waiting for a reaction from him or laporta since they are not blind though it was unlikely it would come out to the public. check it out from goal:
  -Begiristain Furious After Almería Draw
  Txiki Begiristain could not hide his frustration after Barcelona failed to capitalise on Real Madrid’s defeat at the weekend as they were held by Almería.

  * »Comments (9)
  * Print This Story
  * Send To A Friend
  * Contact Us

  Begiristain Furious After Almería Draw
  galleria zoom

  *
  *
  *

  The Blaugrana technical secretary normally reserves his thoughts on matches, but could not contain his anger at the performance in the 2-2 draw on Sunday evening.

  Kalu Uche was allowed to grab an equaliser six minutes from the end after Gaby Milito had been sent off for a second bookable offence midway through the second period.

  “There is the feeling that we have lost control. Inside five minutes we have lost our position,” Begiristain fumed.

  “This team lacks leadership and players that use their experience to impose a different rhythm on the game.”

  Begiristain believes that none of the Barça players took responsibility when it mattered and he felt that only two players came out of the game with any credit.

  “Just because we need to play calmly does not mean we have to play slowly and that is what we were doing,” he continued.

  “The only positive note I have seen in this game is the performance of Bojan (Krkic) and (Andrés) Iniesta.”

  Barça are seven points behind league leaders Real Madrid with ten game of the season remaining after the Blaugrana’s draw and Los Merengues were beaten by Deportivo.

  Lucas Brown, Goal.com

  no need to hide from the truth, barca have already lost a lot of the neutral fans they won in 2006. now is the time to stop the rot

• Shahenshah // Mar 17, 2008 at 23:27

  Oh man this will be a funny story to tell when we win all three competitions.

  Its not over till its over. Dont give up fellas.

• layi // Mar 17, 2008 at 23:39

  even if we lose all three cups, we are still barca fans, cant hide from that fact

• Hilal // Mar 18, 2008 at 0:38

  #12 would you be happy winning the league (or anything else) playing the way we have been playing the last year and a half cos I wouldnt. The game against Almeria was hardly unique. The only reason we are still even in it is because Real keep giving us chances! Chances which we keep throwing back in their faces. How sad it would be to win the league and reward the players for such an awful season. Where is the motivation, the heart, the desire? The fact that we had so many injuries should have made the players on the pitch work twice as hard and I remember when we used to go down to 10 men and play with even more ferocity! These are supposed to be Barcelona players! 2 years ago we would have destroyed Almeria (injuries or not) and probably with ease.. Not because we had better players or because they were worse but because we had that desire and that commitment to winning. That is gone now and it will not come back under Rijkaard. 18 months it has been now that we have all been waiting to see what Rijkaard can do to motivate this team and the answer is now clear….NOTHING. Chance after chance has been squandered, stop hanging onto the past and embrace what could be an even better future!

• Hilal // Mar 18, 2008 at 0:42

  Also realistically i would stop thinking about winning the league and start worrying about staying in second place cos as it stands now Villareal are only 2 points behind us and are in fantastic form. What a sad state of affairs…..

• layi // Mar 18, 2008 at 0:51

  u are as right as right, hilal…i want the real barcelona, not a fake one with a trophy undeserved…always givin excuses

• e10 // Mar 18, 2008 at 4:49

  Another poor game and result.
  When is his going to end ?

• Oliver Fowler // Mar 18, 2008 at 13:22

  All teams have dud games just before the run in proper. Barca will get it together. Sure, this game was a disappointment, but at the season’s end I suspect it will become a distant memory - Barca will win at least one trophy. I suspect that will be the European Cup.

Leave a Comment