Xavier Sala Martin who is the President of Barça’s economic commission made some highly revealing statements this morning on Radio Catalunya. Sala Matin suggested that some players are not really injured but that they have been separated and isolated from the team. He mentioned no names but suggested they were players who liked “to go out on the town” and were therefore accustomed to training less than their teammates.
Of the players who are currently ‘injured’ the most obvious targets for this claim are Ronaldinho and Deco. It is strange, certainly, that last week both players were said to have trained with their teammates and then the following day they were both said to be injured again. Whatever the case, Sala Martin’s statement will no doubt cause a great deal of debate. Some will say that at last the club has done something with the poorly disciplined players and perhaps the improved attitude of the players on Sunday (despite the poor result) was a result of this decision: it is very difficult to expect team spirit and unity to be high when the highest paid players are not pulling their weight.
Supporters of Ronaldinho will say it is the final straw of an endless campaign against the Brazilian. If he went out partying during his fantastic first three seasons at Barça, why shouldn’t he do the same now? Players need to let off steam and can’t be treated like children.
In my opinion there is an obvious difference between partying after a victory and partying every day when you have lost your form and the team is not winning. The stories and rumours have been bubbling under for a long time now and it now seems that the club has had enough of being accused of going soft on these players. I think the decision probably had to be taken but I’m not sure about the club’s way of communicating the decision. Does Laporta know Sala Martin was going to speak out? Why were the club’s doctors put under suspicion over the injuries? On Sunday Laporta speech was clearly aimed at part of the press and yet now the club is almost saying the press was right all along. It’s all been a bit of a mess, but hopefully the players will respond as a unit now. No doubt there will be some replies very soon to Sala Martin’s suggestions.
16 responses so far ↓
Diatus // Apr 9, 2008 at 15:29
This guy doesn’t look very smart to me. So, taking this claim with a grain of salt!!!
Who cares anyway…their incompetence has broken my heart on so many sundays this year that it doesn’t even matter anymore. I am looking forward to Jose Mor…, Henry being gone ( even I, played better than him during my college career), Ronhaldino being gone, Deco being gone, Frank being gone…these people have shown no heart…and that Gio Dos…is very overrated…sell him too. Go after young imaginative players(ie Walcott , Benzema, Matti Fernandez) and rebuild from scratch…oh I forget, Thuram should go too, he is old and has lost his edge….AAAAHhAgggwjh
They make me sick!
Winterhunt // Apr 9, 2008 at 15:33
Can’t say it’s surprising…… Frank obviously lost cobtrol of this team long ago….. Once again, Bring on The Translator!!!!!!!!!
2 interesting items
http://fcbtransfers.blogspot.com/2008/04/mourinho-preparing-to-take-over.html
Jose Mourinho’s Bio from Wikipedia….
Sound like a familiar situation?
He was then hand-picked in January 2002 by Porto (FCP) to replace Octávio Machado as the manager of the badly-motivated and unhappy team, which was already out of contention for the league title and was on the verge of not qualifying for any European competition. Mourinho guided the team to third place that year after a strong 15-game run (WDL 11-2-2) and gave the promise of “making FCP champions next year”.
He quickly identified several key players whom he saw as the backbone of what he believed would be a perfect FCP team: Baía, Ricardo Carvalho, Costinha, Deco, Dmitri Alenichev and Postiga. He recalled captain Jorge Costa after a six-month loan to Charlton Athletic (after a dispute with Machado). The signings from other clubs included Nuno Valente and Derlei from Leiria, Paulo Ferreira from Vitória Setúbal, Pedro Emanuel from Boavista FC, and Edgaras Jankauskas and Maniche who had been out of contract at Benfica, the latter after a season in the reserve.
During the pre-season, Mourinho put on the club website detailed reports on the team training. The reports were filled with formal vocabulary, as, for instance, he referred to a 20km jog as an extended aerobic exercise. While they attracted scorn for the pretentiousness, others praised the innovation and the scientific approach to the old-fashioned training methods practised in Portugal. One of the key aspects in Mourinho-era FCP was the pressurising play, which started at the offensive line, dubbed “pressão alta” (”high pressure”). The physical and combative abilities of defenders and midfielders such as Derlei, Maniche and Deco allowed FCP to apply pressure from the offensive lines and forced the opponents either to concede the ball or try longer passes.
In 2003, Mourinho won his first Superliga with a 27-5-2 WDL record, 11 points clear of Benfica, the team he quit two years earlier. The total of 86 points out of the possible maximum of 102 was a Portuguese record since the rule of three points per win was introduced, beating the previous record of 85 points set by FCP in their 1996–97 season. Mourinho also won the Portuguese Cup (against former club Leiria) and the UEFA Cup final against Celtic in Seville, both in May 2003.
The following season witnessed further successes beginning by winning the one match SuperCup Cândido de Oliveira, beating Leiria 1-0; however the UEFA Super Cup was lost 1-0 to AC Milan, Andrei Shevchenko scoring the solitary goal. As while perhaps not playing as impressively, FCP scooped their 20th Super Liga title. The club pulled off a perfect home record, an eight-point advantage, and an unbeaten run that only ended against Gil Vicente FC. They secured the title five weeks before the end of the season, while heavily involved in the Champions League at the same time. FCP lost the Portuguese Cup final to Benfica in May 2004, but two weeks later Mourinho won the ultimate prize: the Champions League, with an emphatic 3–0 win over Monaco in the Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. The club had eliminated Manchester United, Olympique Lyonnais and Deportivo de La Coruña and saw only one defeat against Real Madrid in the group round .
BARCA 4 LYF // Apr 9, 2008 at 16:04
Diatus you make me sick!
Nic // Apr 9, 2008 at 16:07
Barca4Lyf - your previous comment has been deleted. Please refrain from such suggestions or you may find yourself banned from this site. I will not tolerate racism, sexism or homophobia. Thank you.
Diatus // Apr 9, 2008 at 16:23
Hey Barca 4Lyf- be civilized please!!! We all love this team in our hearts and souls but great change needs to take place. Use your intellect for God’s sake. We’ve squandered so many opportunities to truly contend this year that even my wife (who,btw, is a die-hard,Madrid-born, Real Madrid fan with Raul book stoppers) feels bad for us. get a grip please, fundamental change needs to take place. We might have a lot of money in the bank but we are not one of Europe’s greatest clubs TODAY. We could hang with Manchester U, Arsenal, AC Milan or even Liverpool. Barcelona is not what it used to be. Frank, did not manage well and bad managers should be retrained or terminated. Punto Final Amigo!!!!
Diatus // Apr 9, 2008 at 16:45
Thanks Winterhunt for the details. It just goes to show that METHOD works more often than pure reliance on raw talent. This might surprise some but Spain’s la liga is greatly improving. The difference between teams in la liga has disappeared, in most cases. Teams can win or lose on any given Sunday or Saturday.This is due to a greater reliance of METHOD football, which never assumes that the basic fundamentals of the game are satisfied before adding on to it. We’ve seen former nobodys qualitatively grow (ie. Racing Santander, Getafe, Bilbao, Betis, Almeria, etc.). These teams play solid defense and Spain is finally catching on to a long practiced tradition in England and Germany, especially. As a result, the Spanish national team has greatly benefited from it and it is my belief that they have an inside track to Euro 08, with or without Raul Gonzalez (if you has ask me, I think Raul Tamudo is the authentic Raul anyway!!!). Barcelona has forgotten about these fundamentals. You can hinge a team’s entire defensive responsibility on one or two players (Yaya Toure and Gabi Milito). When Abidal commits forward Iniesta and Xavi do not cover as well as they should. Opposing defenses are able to play in square balls to their playmakers in the midfield because our forwards are not applying the required high pressure to make it difficult for them to play out of the back and that is exactely where turnovers asre forced, thus opportunities created. The greatest defensive asset of any team is not its full backs or half backs or goalkeeper…it is the said team’s forwards. They said the tempo, they dictate the rythm and define the effort for the rest of the team and this is football 101!!!!
blaugranaboy // Apr 9, 2008 at 17:09
WOW, BIG SUPRISRE Senor Sala Martin…. this guy is just saying what everyone has known for ages. If the club isnt planning on changing managment (which im not advocating entirely) and brining in a disciplinarian to end these unacceptable antics, then just cash in on Roni and Deco now. the club has no more responsibility or allegance to them anymore after their absolutely disrespectful and unprofessional behavior.
Diatus // Apr 9, 2008 at 17:10
Yes, blaugranaboy, well said…cash said and cut our losses!!!
Diatus // Apr 9, 2008 at 17:11
whya re you not advocating for entire managerial shift blau?
Shahenshah // Apr 9, 2008 at 18:16
What?! Gio is not over-rated. Give him some more patience than Ronaldinho. This kid has potential.
Even Walcott took ages to show the skill he has now.
Diatus // Apr 9, 2008 at 19:43
Shahenshah, I will refrain from saying Gio is over-rated…just a bit disgusted, I hope you understand. I take your point though
blaugranafan // Apr 10, 2008 at 3:24
For the record, Xavier Sala-i-Martin is a famous growth economist teaching at Columbia University. He was recently given a prize for being the best economist in Spain and Latin America. He’s a pretty smart guy.
Shahenshah // Apr 10, 2008 at 4:01
i hear ya diatus
Nic // Apr 10, 2008 at 10:41
Also just for the record - Txiki Begiristain said there is no truth that players are separated from the team. Aren’t Sala Martin and Txiki supposed to be on the same team?
Varughese // Apr 10, 2008 at 12:36
Diatus:
On what basis are you suggesting Dos Santos is overrated. He is much better than Walcott. Just because our team is in shatters you cannot expect him to start performing like a seasoned player.
Diatus // Apr 10, 2008 at 17:48
ok guys, I take your point…Geo is not over-rated…Hey Varu, my expectations were so high for him due to the simple fact that he pretty much played his heart out during preseason and scored a goal in almost every game he played in and sometimes 2 goals…but since that we got very little from the bambino.
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