School Boy Stuff; Almeria-2,Barcelona-2

With the ever increasing injury list, Barcelona's visit to Almeria was not a easy one. But even in my wildest dream I never thought that we will come from there being the second best team. Our team resembled some high school team with their passing, actually that would be an insult to high school team. They had an opportunity to cut the lead to five points, in the end I will say we were pretty lucky to cut the lead to 7points. A repeat of the same performance, Valencia will murder us on Thursday.

Barcelona decided to keep Henry on the bench and started with Bojan, Eto and Iniesta upfront. Gudjonsen started in midfield and for me was a pretty consistent fellow. Puyol filled in as Right Back and Milito and Thuram joined in the middle. Almeria started the game much brighter than Barcelona; they had few futile runs before Barcelona converted from their first real attack. In the 19th minute Bojan put Barcelona ahead after Diego Lopez, the Almeria keeper only could push an Iniesta shot onto Bojan. Iniesta received a ball from Abidal and cut inside two defenders to test the goal keeper, it was the keeper's mistake which gave away the goal. In the 32nd minute Almeria equalised from a corner when Abidal forgot to mark Pulido. In the 35th minute Valdes had to be on his toes to save another Almeria shot. In the 42nd minute Bojan's effort was saved by Diego Lopez. The second half also started the same fashion with Almeria in complete control. Henry was introduced shortly and that seemed to settle the team a bit. In the 57th minute Henry run from the left produced the second goal when he found Eto in the middle. In the 63rd minute Henry effort saved by Lopez after a wonderful pass from Bojan. In the 71st minute Milito was sent off for a second yellow card when he lunged on the defender. The way Barcelona was defending it was a disaster waiting to happen. Then in the 85th minute, Almeria grabbed the well deserving equaliser from another corner.

Barcelona played terribly. It looks like Madrid cannot win any of their away matches now, but we can't win any actually. Every team comes with a plan against Barcelona, to choke them for space by defending upfront. It’s not a new thing but the disturbing fact is that we can't find a way out of it. We don't have a plan B; we don't have a player who has a different style. We are lacking a winger kind of player who can simply run past defenders and cross from the sides. That would have drawn defenders from the centre. It was terrible to see Almeria defenders expecting every time Barcelona players to cut to the centre, they could have used the wings a little better. One more thing Sylvinho looks a better player than Abidal while going forward and considering the fact that Barcelona need to win at Valencia he needs to start.

To Cheer You All Up

To all those Barcelona fans who are very much disappointed to see yesterday's performance, this is to cheer you up. We can hope the best. Hope this encourages the players too.

Black Sunday; Barcelona-1,Villareal-2

This match was billed as a dedication to Lionel Messi; don't be surprised if Messi hesitates to accept this dedication. With yesterday’s performance Barcelona find themselves a huge eight points adrift of the leaders. Two weeks before we were just two points away and now its again we have to wait for Madrid to slip, really badly. Will Madrid do the favour a second time, is doubtful. Two weeks before we were celebrating the fact that Madrid were unable to win their away games in the league, now we suddenly have a problem of our own. In recent weeks our defense has conceded more goals than any of the top flight clubs in Europe. Unless Rijkaard address the entire problem as early as possible, we might be out of Copa Del Rey pretty soon.

Barcelona started the match with Ronaldinho on the right and Henry on the left. Iniesta, who was Barcelona's best player, joined Xavi in the middle. With Puyol suspended and Marquez injured, Barcelona had the combination of Milito and Thuram who both had a forgettable night. In the third minute Abidal created an early chance for Eto, but his attempt on goal was a very weak one. In the 26th minute Abidal found Henry in the box, who did well to lose his marker but to shoot high. Then in the 30th minute Franco's individual play won Villarreal a penalty when Valdes brought him down in the box. Marcos Senna converted to take Villarreal one up in the match. The lead should have doubled in the 38th minute after another excellent Franco run into the box, but the defense somehow cleared the ball.
Just after the break, Barcelona should have equalised when a wonderful ball from Ronaldinho found Eto but Eto was very indecisive and gave time for defense to close him down. Then in 65th minute Bojan came in for Henry, Barcelona looked like settling into a decent formation for the first time in the game. In the 67th minute after a beautiful one two with Ronaldinho, Iniesta rushed past defenders into the box from the left and place the ball into Xavi's path, who converted it with ease. For sometime Barcelona gave signs that they might convert one more, but then in 80th minute Tomasson scored after a neat exchange of passes by Villarreal players. That goal was a defensive disaster with nobody feeling the need to close down players. In the 89th minute Ronaldinho free kick hit the cross bar, that should have summed up Barcelona's night.

Its time Rijkaard looked into the problem of our defense. It would be better going back to the tactics that saw us past Villarreal and Sevilla in Copa Del Rey. It is also necessary that Rijkaard understands that he can only have either one of Henry or Ronaldinho in his side. They both prefer to play in a wide left position; Iniesta could play in front right, with Gudjonsen getting his dues in the centre. He is a very decent player. Have we lost the championship? I don't know.

Xavi Goal