Reflections On Barça's Preparation For The Season
Wednesday, 03 September 08, 09:32 AM · Comments (21)
With the transfer window now closed perhaps it is time to reflect on the summer signings, the preseason preparation and the possibilities of the first team for the season ahead. Of the new signings only Dani Alves started against Numancia and quite frankly he had a stinker. We did, however, see signs in preseason that the expected "best right side in the world" of Alves and Messi will give us plenty of joy in the future. My worry with Alves is that for all the extra attacking options he offers we will suffer defensively when he gets caught out of position, in this sense he reminds me a bit of Real Madrid's ex-left back Roberto Carlos. The difference is that Madrid, like Sevilla with Alves, played with a double pivot in midfield which offers more cover; hopefully Toure Yaya (or Keita if he's given the role) can regain his form from last season and do a successful covering job, but I fear he will end up with an even bigger workload this season.
Of the other signings it seems that Hleb and Keita will spend a lot of time as substitutes, both players have looked ok so far but they will both have to improve if they are going to make much difference. Piqué and Caceres will do a fair job when they play but I feel both have been signed more with an eye on the future.
We then come to the players we didn't sign: many feel we should have gone for a keeper to replace Valdés but given the impossibility of signing Casillas, Cech or Buffon I really don't know of a keeper who would be a guaranteed improvement. Valdés has generally done a good job since making his debut in 2002 as his record of conceding less than a goal a game for Barça testifies. I do worry, however, about the backup of Pinto and Jorquera, and feel that if Valdés gets injured we will suffer. The positions that really needed reinforcing are left back and left wing: both Abidal and Henry have been disappointing since signing last summer and neither is showing signs so far this season of any improvement. I would like to see Iniesta or Hleb used more on the left, but it seems Pep Guardiola is trying to show faith with Henry. I hope that either Henry responds which I'm afraid I don't think will happen, or that Guardiola will lose his faith and put someone else there.
The preseason preparations started so well with the victories in Scotland, it seemed that guardiola was going to pay a lot more attention to detail than his predecessor Frank Rijkaard, and was also going to work the players harder, hopefully we will the results of this as the season progresses. The team looked good against Fiorentina but then despite big wins in the games in the US there were already worries as the defence conceded some stupid goals. The first game with Wisla Krakow was also good and gave cause for optimism. I missed the Gamper game with Boca Juniors and got back from my holidays to see the disappointing return game with Wisla. This defeat, however, appeared to be just a matter of the players taking it a bit easy as the qualification for the Champions League was pretty much assured, what would we have said if the team had won giving 110% but a key player had got injured in the process. Then came the first league game on Sunday and the disappointment of defeat. We should remember that Numancia played an excellent game in defence and were fortunate enough to score with their only real chance of the game. However, the lack of marking for the goal were again worrying while going forward the team lacked ideas and spent too much time trying to break through the middle of Numancia's packed defence. Hleb offered more width on the right when he came on and Barça created more chances in this time. However, I think we can just put it down to an off-day when none of the team played very well.
Despite good starts in the league from the likes of Atletico Madrid and Sevilla, the favourites are still Real Madrid and Barça. Fortunately for us Madrid started as badly as we did, also after all the talk of buying Cristiano Ronaldo or David Villa they only managed to sign Rafael Van der Vaart while Ruben De La Red and Javi Garcia returned to the club after a season at Getafe and Osasuna, respectively. Losing Robinho was always on the cards but it will still come as a blow to lose him on the last day before the transfer window closes. Barça will be looking to win the next three games at home to Racing, away to Sporting and at home to Betis to get up there with the leaders and hopefully gain an early advantage over main rivals Madrid. Despite the early pessimism amonst culés there are still 37 games to be played and no reason why Barça won't be challenging for the title come the end of May.
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Yes this was a very lovely one coming from this Guy.. By the way who is he.. I just want Valdes to be replaces for a better GK.. Also i think Henry can start by coming In in75 mins pf play for Hleb.. I believe Hleb need more time to show what his got.. I will be happy to see the lineup in our next Game with Hleb starting with Mess and Eto'o upfront. Barca Till I Dieeeeeeeee. 
Dafe i completely agree with to tell you the truth if henry doesnt score a hatrick against racing he should be second choice to henry
good analysis, your spot on with everything. in a way all our preseason buying has been a bit odd. we have spent about 80 million euros but we havent bought any real starting players (besidse alves) and therefore we have seriously overpaid for manybench players. none of our new boys really have that WOW factor, that makes u excited to see them. thats my opinoin anyway. but thats not to say they cannot become great, im happy not to buy names, just as long as they play well and prove worthy for our investment. hleb for one id like to see start on that left hand side and if caceres can play left back, even if its not his natural side, he cant do worse than abidal.
very glad to see the support for valdes too!!! and honestly, who ever up there suggested kameni and neurer, seriously dude think about what u are saying first. how can u buy two young goalkeepers, who start for their team, are being tracked by other clubs, and say, "yeah come to us and be our 2nd keeper and push valdes"??!!! honestly. which other club has two excellent goalkeepers that would start at most other clubs on the bench??? and by the way, jorquera actually looked pretty good few yrs back when he was not injured. he is just fine as 2nd choice.
henry, well, last year i hated him. pure and simple. but ive been counselled to give him a second go. im doing so, so wont be slandering him quite so vigorously yet, but so far, well yeah, he hasnt been great. we could do better, easily! im loving the new man city manager saying he wants to buy him in Jan. we could overprice him, i rate get 20-25 mil euro, that would be magic.
I do agree with ur fantastic article that really described the situation in deed . I don't wanna be aggressive or harsh and judge the team from this early time of the season , i hope that we learn from our mistakes as supporters first and as manager and players second. The team is under pressure of previous failures . lets just wait and encourage them
Spot on with your article, Nic. But I miss your in the end-conclusion - have we come out stronger or weaker since last season? I can't really get my mind right on this one myself.
In my oppinion, our biggest minus is our left flank. Abidal simply sucks. Henry.. hmm.. I'll give hime five games in the league, and then I will judge him again. But let's just say; I'm not optimistic.
@Blaugranaboy: If Henry doesn't pull it of, yeah, let's offload him to money men i England. In that case I would love to see David Silva or Arshavin wearing our jersey.
Visca Barca! - the season has just started
Very well written Nic. You are dead on, on many points anyway. However, we were too 1-Dimensional in our attacking and we allow defenses to bunker down in their own 18, which makes it even harder to score. Of course, the season is very young, so we do have time to get it right. This is exactly how we ended last season. Again, you are wrong in pegging Real Madrid to be on top of the table this season. I have said it and I will repeat it: Real madrid will not win this year for many reasons.
Real Madrid will have to be miracle makers this season to win la Liga. The team neither strengthened nor consolidated. In fact, it has lost steam with the endless saga of Cristiano Ronaldo and the unintended consequence of really upsetting the unbelievable talent that is Robinho, who by the way saved their title ambitions last year with his 2 amazing goals against Recreativo Huelva. There was a failure of leadership at the Santiago Bernabeu during the summer and the consequences of this move will be thoroughly felt this season. They have lost a lot of respect from many teams and football fanatics around the world.We do not foresee Raul scoring 18 goals this year. Ruud Van Nistleroy will have to play the entire season for the team to even earn a spot in Europe. Rafael Van Der Vaart has been a great addition but their current formula has its limitations. Arjen Robben has yelled at enough referees and will be kept on a very short leash.Gabriel Heize is a great liability in the middle for them. He lacks size and is too committal on play. As tested during the first leg of the Supercopa at the Mestalla in Valencia, this squad’s defense tottered under constant assault from Villa, Mata and Silva. Fabio Cannavaro’s absence is truly hurting this team’s ability to control the defensive conversation. We saw Deportivo La Coruna plainly outplay this team, so no way, no how.
21 Comments · Add yours
nice article......i tink ur skils as an analyzer are really increasing with the continuity of this block......i agree with u abt valdes(we cant sign the people supposedly better than him so the best we can do is to give him some competition), agree with most of the other points, i hope alves will be aware of the matches that he neednt go forward too much and those he needs to....
i also believe hleb can play the left side or even move messi there and put hleb on the right, i'm just tired of seeing henry in the 4-3-3....
however, i dont tink there is much pessimism on we the fans part, everybody is aware of our hugely talented our team is, they just want the players to click...even if we lose the first 4 matches, i beliv once d players can click with quardiola also, then we are on our way
I agree wiv u on da Valdes thing but we need better back up for him we should sell Pinto and buy someone like Kameni or Neuer who'll give Valdes competition and work harder meaning he'll play better !!! And push Jorquera down to 3rd choice!!!