We had a few doubts during November but we finish the month unbeaten with four victories and two draws, we are top of La Liga and our Champions League group while also qualifying for the next round of the Copa del Rey (which is something not all the big teams in Spain can say!). The draw in Kazan does not look so bad now and the only other points we lost this month were against an inspired Athletic Bilbao in San Mames.

Much of our success this month was down to the performance of our defence as we only conceded three goals in six games. This is reflected in this month's winner who is none other than our heroic captain Carles Puyol. In the three most important games this month against Rubin Kazan, Inter Milan...

Let's be honest, it wasn't our best month ever. However, we could also say we only lost one game (to Rubin Kazan) in six and of the three main leagues in Europe - Spain, England and Italy - we are the only team to remain unbeaten in our domestic league. Whatever the case, when I look back at the six games from this month there are very few individual performances that stand out. After some careful consideration I have decided that the Fcbnews October Player Of The Month has to go to Seydou Keita. His hat-trick against Zaragoza was the best individual performance of the month and that was backed up by another goal on Saturday against Osasuna which also makes Keita the top scorer of the month.

The award very nearly went...

Before talking about the Copa del Rey a quick mention of the awards some of our players collected this week. First Victor Valdés picked up his Zamora trophy from Marca for being the goalkeeper who conceded fewest goals in the 2008/09 season. Valdés only conceded 31 goals in the 35 games he played, this is the second time he has one the Zamora, the first time being in the 2004/05 season. Valdés may have his critics but there are not that many goalkeepers who can boast an average of under one goal conceded per game. Valdés has a career record of 233 league appearances with only 204 goals conceded (0.8755 goals a game); just to compare, the "great" Iker...

Uefa have named six Barça players among the twelve nominees for awards for last season's Champions League. Nice to see Valdés in there, personally I'd give him the best keeper award as neither Cech nor Van der Sar impressed that much. There are four categories: best goalkeeper, best defender, best midfielder and best attacker. The winners will be announced at the draw for the first round of this season's Champions League on August 27, and the nominees are:

 Best Goalkeeper:

Petr Cech (Chelsea FC)
Víctor Valdés (FC Barcelona)
Edwin Van der Sar (Manchester...

After some weeks of speculation Victor Valdés has signed a new five-year contract which will see him remain at Barça until June 2014. Valdés will earn €5 million a year with the possibility of another €2 million in bonuses for various objectives achieved, while the get-out clause in his contract has gone up from €100 million to €150 million.

Valdés will no doubt always have his fans and his critics, but I for one am delighted he is staying. He may not be the best in the world but bringing in a new goalkeeper can always be risky as is clear if we look back over the last few years at keepers such as Vitor Baia, Lopetegui or Bonano who all struggled under the pressure of keeping goal at Camp Nou. Valdés has proved he can...

I have to say I am a bit disappointed with the results of the latest poll on this blog. Asked whether you wanted to see Victor Valdés as Barça goalkeeper next season, 61% have replied "no". I know the poll gave no options for ifs or maybes but the result is surprising especially considering that Valdés has not conceded a league goal in 542 minutes, a run stretching back to March 1 when Atletico Madrid's Agüero scored near the end of the 4-3 defeat.

Of course the defence has a lot to do with the fact that we have now kept 14 clean sheets and only conceded 24 goals in 31 league matches this season, but I believe Valdés has played his part in our success. He can definitely be credited for the saves that helped us to...

December has been another great month for Barça with wins over Valencia, Madrid and Villarreal, only the defeat at home to Shakhtar spoilt it but then again that game didn't really count for anything. Having now checked the points totted up by each player you can imagine my surprise to find that the December player of the month is none other than Thierry Henry. Regular readers will know I have not been Henry's biggest fan since his arrival at Camp Nou but his improvement this season has been notable, he started this month with a hat-trick against Valencia and yesterday he grabbed the vital winner at Villarreal and was for many people the man of the match. In an interview last week...

Last week I wrote a piece in praise of Leo Messi, Samuel Eto'o and Thierry Henry. However, it could be argued that the form of Barça's defence is just as important if not more so to this season's success. Victor Valdés has only been beaten nine times in fifteen league games which makes Barça's the best defence in La Liga so far this season.

At the start of the season there were still a few problems at the back especially when it came to defending at set pieces.  The first clean sheet in the league wasn't achieved until the 0-1 win at Athletic Bilbao in the seventh jornada. Since then we have managed another six clean sheets in La Liga and have now only...

Yesterday it was Victor Valdés who missed training, and this morning it was Rafa Marquez and Thierry Henry, all suffering from pharyngitis. It sounds bad, but in fact it's just a sore throat. Valdés was back in training today and Marquez was ok for the evening session today though Henry had not recovered and is now considered as doubtful for Sunday's game at Sporting Gijon. The main worry here is whether anyone else will go down tomorrow with the same bug.

There's been talk in the local papers this week about how little Bojan has played so far this season, especially as the departure of Ronaldinho and Giovani Dos Santos should mean there is less competition for places as only Hleb of the new signings can play...