Barça lost two vital points in their visit to San Mames thanks to their failure to score a second goal. Bojan Krkic put Barça ahead in the 35th minute but an own goal from Lilian Thuram in the 79th minute left Barça regretting their lack of fire power. Frank Rijkaard will no doubt be questioned for leaving out Abidal and Milito especially as Athletic’s goal came down the left-hand side.
Rijkaard also decided to play the three pequeños in midfield and after just two minutes the lack of a strong defensive midfielder was evident when Orbaiz was allowed to shoot unchallenged from 25 yards forcing Valdés into a diving save. Barça were imprecise in the early minutes and didn’t come close to Athletic’s goal until the 17th minute when Messi received a throw-in and turned inside before shooting from 25 yards but Aranzubia managed to save.
Athletic had a couple more timid attempts on goal before their best chance of the first half in the 33rd minute: Deco lost the ball in Athletic’s half and Athletic countered down the left, when the cross came in Puyol slipped allowing Aduriz a chance but his shot went over the bar.
Bojan had been ineffective at centre forward and switched positions with Messi. In the 35th minute the switch paid off when Messi chased a long ball from Iniesta through the middle but was beaten to it by Aranzubia, the ball came free to Deco who found Bojan on the right and his left-footed shot went past the keeper into the far corner. San Mames complained that Messi had followed through on Aranzubia but the goal stood.
Barça went in at half time a goal up but they hadn’t played well, Deco was busy but imprecise and Henry was struggling to get into the game on the left. Messi was the most active of the forwards but apart from a couple of good runs failed to connect with the other strikers.
At the start of the second half Messi twice caused problems, first he robbed the ball and fed Bojan who laid the ball off to Henry who shot wide. Then Messi got to the by-line and pulled the ball back to Deco who shot over from ten yards. Valdés had to make a decent save in the 55th minute from Javi Martinez after Xavi gave the ball away, and then on 67 minutes Messi combined with Sylvinho to get to the by-line on the left but there was no-one in the middle to get onto his centre. Iniesta then sent Sylvinho down the left and Puyol shot from his centre but the ball was deflected wide. Barça were to pay for their failure to get a second.
Henry risked a red card in the 75th minute when he swung an arm against Aitor Ocio but the officials didn’t see it. However, four minutes later Sylvinho missed a header allowing Garmendia to cross from the right and as Thuram tried to get in front of Llorente he turned the ball past Valdés who conceded his first league goal of 2008.
Barça were stunned and did very little to find a winner, Messi had one run down the right but his cross was too high for Gudjohnsen, while with five minutes remaining Valdés made another save from Aitor Ramos.
This was not a terrible performance from Barça but the distance to Madrid in the league makes it worse. Rijkaard stated before the game that Barça needed more punch than pretty football and today we saw neither. Deco also made a statement this week about his possible departure if Barça didn’t win anything this season; from his performance today I doubt that any big club would want to buy him. Questions will also be raised again over Thierry Henry who was very disappointing, while despite his goal, Bojan showed he still has a lot to learn. Thuram may be criticised after the own goal but for me he was one of the better players today, of course we’ll never know whether Milito might have done more in the circumstances.
Barça: Valdés 6.5, Zambrotta 5.5, Thuram 6, Puyol 5.5, Sylvinho 5.5; Xavi 5.5 (Edmilson m62, 6), Iniesta 5.5, Deco 5; Messi 6, Bojan 5.5 (Gudjohnsen m79, –), Henry 5
Goals: m35 Bojan 0-1; m79 Thuram o.g. 1-1.
Barça yellows: None
15 responses so far ↓
Frede // Jan 27, 2008 at 22:37
Indeed a terrible performance. I think this one is on Rijkaard. It is idiotic to let especially Milito stay at home when you’re competing for the championship (it has to have a higher priority than the copa del rey!).
At this moment, Real is ahead of Villareal, and if it stays that way, Barca is 9 points behind. Simply to late catch.. It not, 7 points is still a lot to catch, but its possible. Rijkaard tonight proved his total lack of tactical knowledge, and did an even worse performance than the players.
So Franklin Rijkaard: OUT. Something has to happen.
Youssef Gazia // Jan 27, 2008 at 22:42
Sometime I just wonder why I love Barca so much. Why are we so f**king unlucky?
Chin up lads, its over till it over.
Barca o Murte…
Blaugrana // Jan 27, 2008 at 23:16
The noose is sure to tighten around rijkaard’s neck now ,madrid won 3-2 funny how they score quick goals in response,why he didn’t start edmilson i don’t know.deco,zambrota difnit summer exits.henry i never expect much 4rm him so he’s okay,
kuga // Jan 27, 2008 at 23:25
he is worried about not winning any trophies this season so he’s actually prioritizing Copa….wtf??
we r not a mid-table club…
9 points…although its far…i still putting my fate on it..
Nic // Jan 27, 2008 at 23:34
I also couldn’t understand resting players because of cup games. Not even for a home game with Murcia although they went on to win 4-0. Rijkaard has said that Milito had a slight muscle strain so he preferred not to risk him and presumably Abidal was still not 100%. There’ll be no excuse if they don’t win the Copa del Rey.
However there are 17 games to go, Barça have to win in the Bernabeu and if they do it means making up 6 points in the other 16 games. It’s not impossible people - keep the faith!
blaugranafan // Jan 28, 2008 at 1:52
I like Frank, but he should have been axed after the Madrid game. The league situation is getting embarrassing not only for him, but for the board as well for sticking with him. And now the board are in a bind: Lippi and Mourinho are good replacements, but I think the ideal time to install one of them would have been during the winter break. It’s not good to change coaches too close to the knockout rounds of the Champions League, considering we’re still doing well in the competition, but I would still vote for a coaching change now.
Nic’s right, let’s not lose faith, but it’s good to be realistic too. I wonder when the last time a team 9 points back with 17 games to go won the league? And I know that we all love the team and want to be loyal, but there’s a point where you have to stop cutting slack. I’m not impressed with *possibilities* of winning the league and taking one game at a time. We should be dominating this league (what happened to all that bs in the Catalan press about the fantastic four?), but a lot of people seemed to have forgotten their preseason expectations for no good reason. We spent countless millions of Euros in the offseason reloading a team that was already on of Europe’s best on paper, and this is the return we get? Let’s not keep accepting excuses and philosophical post-game comments about other teams leaving no space or away pitches being difficult places to play.
Rafael // Jan 28, 2008 at 6:54
9pts.. I think it is out of reach already.
Madrid were on fire.
RW_Chris // Jan 28, 2008 at 11:30
Am I the only one who doesn’t understand why Deco is currently in the team?
I think he’ll be off in the summer and based on recent performances should be left on the bench.
Xavi, Iniesta and Toure should be the 1st choice midfield with either Edmilson/Marquez standing in until Toure is back from ANC.
Deco is constantly giving the ball away, usually in dangerous positions and offers no real attacking threat. Sorry Dec, but you’re not the player you were…far from it.
varughese // Jan 28, 2008 at 12:34
Wrote something about our chances, Have a look
http://vkr-fcbarcelona.blogspot.com/2008/01/accepting-inevitable.html
Nic // Jan 28, 2008 at 12:56
RW-Chris - I agree Deco has been poor recently, I would have preferred Gudjohnsen in the starting XI as I suggested in my preview. It’s a shame about Deco because before his injury he seemed to be getting back to his best. If he doesn’t improve then offers will have to be considered in the summer.
On Rijkaard I am also worried. He doesn’t seem to know how to get the team to react and his tactics and rotations are questionable. However, I don’t agree with changing the coach mid-season except in very bad circumstances, and I don’t believe Barça are as bad as some are now saying. After 21 games last season we had fewer points than we have now, the problem is that Madrid keep winning and we are all frustrated by this. I still feel we have a decent chance to win the Champions League this season if Eto’o and Messi can steer clear of injuries. Changing the coach now would more than likely be detrimental to our chances. How many people would have liked to see Koeman as coach and look at the mess Valencia are in now. Newcastle sacked their coach and brought in Keegan, result is no goals in two games. A coach needs time to turn things around, and the best time for that is the summer. Until then we should back Rijkaard: who knows he could still go down in history for winning two Champions Leagues with Barça. Remember that Mourinho didn’t win it in three seasons at Chelsea with all Abromovich’s millions to help him.
Titi186 // Jan 28, 2008 at 13:05
I agree. It is NOT over untill its over.
Defense: Decent apart from the goal. Perhaps Abidal should of played as the cross which let to the unfortunte own goal should have been closed down more quickly.
Midfeild: In my opinion, Rikjard - or even another manager - will only get the best out of Thierry Henry, Eto’o and Bojan in a 4-4-2. This 4-3-3 formation is good when it had Ronnie at his best as it allowed Messi and Ronnie to have the fullbacks one on one which inevitably led to goals. However, only Messi is capable of this now and the opposition just puts two people on Messi and he is out of the game which leaves our right flank ineffective, and starves out strikeforce of service. 4-4-2 is the way forward for Barca.
Attack: Well, Messi was our best player which isnt saying much is it. He made a couple of runs however with nearly 4 people marking him these runs ended up going backward as the movement from the other players was not good enough. Henry never got any service and didnt have a good game atall so was barely seen. Bojan scored but it was lucky he got the ball but composed finish nevertheless. Even with Eto’o back I still think that it has to be 4-4-2, although with a front three of TH14-E9-BJ27 the front three seem to operate 10 yards closer to goal as they all have the same all out attack mentality.
Individuals: I suppose they were all bad but the one who was the most blatently bad and has been for a while is Deco who is becoming a sulk and a waste. Constantly injured but more importantly constantly giving the ball away. At least R10 comes on with a smile and tries. Deco seems like his mind is somewhere else. Im not being nasty Im just making a very obvious observation. He seems reluctant to link up with the new guard (Henry and Bojan) and only seems to look to Messi which makes Barca more and more predictable for the opposition.
Manager: Starting without a defensive midfeilder was a mistake in my opinion. However the worst mistake is still with the formation. 4-4-2 is very effective away from home as the midfeiled are not so isolated indivisually and the forwards have more freedom. Rijkard is the best young manager in the world with a CLeague and La Liga title already under his belt. But he is still a bit naive if he thinks having the best players will bring you automatic success. Having a strikeforce of Messi, Henry and Bojan should be the best but 2 goals in 4 games shows the problem is with the manager and his tactics.
Nic // Jan 28, 2008 at 13:43
Hi Titi,
As you well know I’ve done the 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 argument before, and I insist the key to 4-3-3 is Eto’o, if anyone hasn’t read it or doubts my analysis have another look at this article written in November - http://fcbnews.com/why-barca-suffer-away-from-home/ - in it I put some stats about Barça away from home with and without Eto’o. When Eto’o returned to the team we saw two wins at Valencia and Mallorca, Eto’0 then leaves for the African Cup and what happens? We start drawing again.
Youssef Gazia // Jan 28, 2008 at 13:48
I disagree with sacking Rikkard. Take a look at Arsene Wegner for example, he has’nt won any major trophy for about 4 years and they still hold on to him. As i have stated before in my previous comments, change needs to come from WITHIN.
p.s. i think we have a decent chance at the Champions League.
Visca Barca…
FCB - Canada // Jan 28, 2008 at 18:01
In order for Barca to win, the club needs to send 10 million euros worth of cases to every team that plays and beats Real Madrid.
Ok seriously while I have already conceded that they have lost the title it would be nice to see them play some very attractive and entertaining football for the remaining games. But that probably wont happen until all the players are back from injury and other competitions.
It will be interesting to see how they do vs Villareal. Will they pick up their chins and bounce back or not. It’s going to be a great game that’s for sure! Ronnie will be back!
blaugranafan // Jan 29, 2008 at 2:06
I’m not sure that comparisons of our current points total with points from last year are that informative, precisely because of the reason Nic stated: Madrid keep winning. Comparing our current performance with our performance last year is revealing only if we know that Madrid will definitely end up with 76 points like they did last year. But we don’t know that; the only figure that matters when it comes to the league then is the 9 pt gap we are now facing.
Re: Keegan, yeah, that didn’t quite work out
But then again, Juande Ramos seems have to done a more than adequate job with the Spurs. I’m sure there are plenty of examples of both coaches that worked out and those that didn’t work out so well; we can go back and forth on this for a long time, but yes, I agree mid-season coaching changes should be avoided if at all possible.
Re: Youssef’s remark about Wenger–Yeah, Arsenal stuck by him for a number of fallow years, but he’s done more for the club than any other manager. I think, also, that despite Aresenal’s size, the performance expectations at Arsenal are not as high as they are at Barca. Barca are a true powerhouse and a club that is reasonably expected to win their domestic league and are odds-on favorites for the CL. Arsenal are still a club that shoot for a top 4 spot.
I 100% agree with you that the change has to come from within, though. But my fear is that Rijkaard (or certain players) are incapable of effecting that kind of change.
Looking forward to Ronnie coming back! NO EXCUSES FOR RIJKAARD IF WE DO NOT BEAT VILLAREAL AT HOME.
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