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EuroFootball.com announces the article of a regular portal visitor Dalius M., better known as a zebediejaus, where the recent failures of the Spanish and European champions "Barcelona" football players are analyzed.
Having overcome water and fire, the team did not withstand the trials of bronze, that is - the burden of glory. In the summer, Barcelona leaders, team players, and of course, fans hoped that after winning the Spanish championship for the second time and becoming the Champions League winner, the team would aim for even higher results in the 2006/07 season. The club was expected to win even 7 trophies: Catalonia Cup, Spanish and European Super Cups, Royal Cup, Intercontinental, Champions League, and Spanish Champions Trophy. Although last season there was talk about the leaky defense of "Barça," it was compensated by actively playing midfielders and the famous "El Trio" - Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Messi. With the arrival of experienced players L.Thuram, G.Zambrotta, and E.Gudjohnsen in the team in the summer, it seemed that the defense would finally become more reliable, and the attacking trio would receive support from Saviola and Iceland.
However, hopes were not fulfilled: Messi and Eto'o's injuries, lack of innovation in the game tactics, less active opponent pressing, lack of motivation, or who knows what other problems overshadowed what should have been a successful 2007 season for Barcelona. Using an article from one of the most serious Spanish press "El Mundo deportivo" and numerous discussions on the Eurofootbal.lt forum, I tried to analyze what was missing for "Barça":
1. Players. (No)Motivation Players who have won the championship and the Champions League find it difficult to start the season with the same hunger for victories and fighting spirit. A painful defeat in the early season against Sevilla for the European Super Cup showed that the team was not psychologically prepared during the summer. In the next final for the Spanish Super Cup, the substitution who was dissatisfied, Eto'o, caused a minor scandal. The scandal seemed to be extinguished, but it flared up again in the spring when Eto'o unexpectedly declared in Villafranco that he was dissatisfied with the attitude of his teammates towards training sessions and matches. And how can the combative Cameroonian be satisfied if Ronaldinho instead of matches goes to film and advertise, if the Brazilian only participated in a third of the club's training sessions...
About defensive players and defensive tactics safeties Marquez, Edmilson, Motta, Belletti, Silvinho, Gio, Thuram's mistakes are talked about almost after every match. Last year, mistakes were compensated for by an active offense and the motto "we will score more than we concede." This season, although "Barca" leads in the goals scored/conceded ratio, the leaky defense increasingly determines the draws or defeats of "Barça."
Signs of a "celestial disease" were already noticeable in the autumn, but they were not treated, but rather worsened: only part of the players attended the training sessions at "La Masia," and the leaders did not even bother to inform why they did not arrive or were late. Statements in the press, which are later tried to be watered down, that "by saying, he meant something completely different from what he said." Lack of discipline and will to fight in matches with less talented but much more motivated and much more fighting-oriented opponents...
"Barca" players continue to be stars. But not wanting to become "galactic," they need to think more about football, not about photos, presentations, new contracts, or how good they look on the field. Just a year ago, "bears" were sweeping almost all nominations, and this spring the world is talking about D.Drogba, Kaka, Cr.Ronaldo or D.Alves.
2. Coaches. (No)Leadership Players will no longer have such a soft-hearted coach as Frank Rijkaard. The freedom he gave to the players in 2004 was justified as long as all players had a common goal. The team achieved the goal last summer and used the freedom given by the coach for their own interests. And the coach, who let go of the reins, in the autumn could no longer enhance discipline in the team. Everyone praises F.Rijkaard for his teaching talents, that he knows how to become a father or elder brother, a counselor, listener, or comforter to each player. But in a crisis situation, when a strong word or a short and clear command is needed, or maybe even a curse word that would make one repent, Rijkaard still remains a soft-hearted comforter... because of a defeat.
Players, who without reason skip training sessions (Ronaldinho, Marquez, Deco, Motta), remained unpunished and caused legitimate discontent among the other players. The poor physical form of the team is not just the result of summer commercial tours. Goals are conceded at the end of the matches - a sign that the players work little during training sessions, and with just ten minutes left until the final whistle, "Barca" cannot keep up with the opponents.
In past seasons, the opponents were amazed by total ball control, active pressing already in the opponents' half, short passes with one touch and attacks involving 6-8 players. This year, "Barca" has nothing left to amaze its opponents. Ball control and short passes have turned into "rubbing" the ball in the middle of the field, active pressing has turned into slow running behind a player with the ball. Mass attacks have ended, and now it often happens that Belletti or Messi have no one to pass the ball to. With Ten Cate leaving for Ajax, Rijkaard no longer has an assistant who could outsmart the opponents' coaches. Capello, Benitez, Flores, Mourinho, Schuster, and many other coaches have simply outsmarted the "Barca" coach this year.
The unmotivated, at least changed substitutions, which determined the end of the matches to the detriment of "Barca," are often impossible to explain. Why were Ronaldinho and Messi benched in the matches against "Racing"? Why in the matches against "Getafe" and "Real" did the coach send Oleguer out, from whose unreliability even the "Barca" fans laugh? Can the actions of Rijkaard, motivating that he wants to allow the leaders to rest, justify not letting Messi or Ronaldinho play in the last few but most important matches? Was the coach right to artificially force Saviola, who eagerly desires to fight, to the bench?
You could see the image of Rijkaard, who cannot control the team and helplessly watches the collapse, during the match with "Espanyol," when the coach, overwhelmed with frustration, anger, or other feelings, broke the glass of the reserves' locker room with his fist...
3. Sporting Director. (Not)Saved Money Txiki Begiristan after the defeat against "Getafe" said that it is time to fix mistakes. However, he talked about the players' and the coach's mistakes, completely ignoring his own. The former sports director Sandro Rossel, for a club drowning in debt, managed to buy Ronaldinho, Deco, Marquez, Belletti, and even Eto'o belonging to "Real." But what did Txiki buy in the last three years? Maxi, who rarely goes out on the field even for "Mallorca." Van Bommel, who did not fit in a team already full of excellent midfielders. Gudjohnsen and Ezquerro... It's good that taking advantage of the situation at "Juventus" they managed to get Zambrotta and Thuram. But did these players bring new quality to the team's game? Can the club not afford to acquire Daniel Alves, Huntelaar, Abidal, or the Milito brothers? Is there a lack of money, or... the Sports Director's fault? By showing principledness in the fight with Saviola, so that a contract extension would not have to be signed with him, could Txiki not have shown principles as well and just as much thought about extending contracts with the clearly regressing Belletti, van Bronkhorst, or Silvinho? Rumors about new goals for "Barca" seem to appear every year. And most of the players who were written about, even if they had agreed that they dream of playing for "Barca," ended up moving to other clubs... What will happen this summer? Will Txiki continue to save?
4. Club President. (Im)perfect "Barcelona" President Joan Laporta pulled the club out of deep crisis, took a big risk by appointing Rijkaard as a coach, and defended him for half a year when the club showed no results or a good game. The president's activity was evaluated by the rain of "Barca's" victories and trophies, and the presidential elections held in the summer became an empty formality because there was simply no other candidate for the club's presidency last summer. However, the young and ambitious lawyer Joan Laporta, thanks to Barcelona, became one of the most famous not only in Catalonia, and perhaps felt, as Mourinho put it, "the second man after God." Laporta's striptease at the Barcelona airport, when tightening the control, he was asked to take off his jacket and then the angry president... took off his pants and gave them to the security guard.
What is alarming is the tendency of "galacticating," which is evident in transfer plans. Perez and Abramovich have already proven that for 40 - 60 million, you can buy a superstar in their prime, but they do not bring much benefit to the club. However, Laporta talks for the second year about plans to acquire Thierry Henry, and in the winter, preparations were made for the transfer of Cr.Ronaldo, and even an Arab sheikh was found who promised to allocate 60 million euros for this transfer. Thank God, negotiations are underway with Huntelaar, and not Henry, with Alves and Abidal, and not with Cr.Ronaldo's agents.
Admired by the president, "culés" quietly swallowed the bitterness, that the inscription "Unicef" appeared on the "blaugrana" shirt. Even if it is not a commercial advertisement, the hundred-year tradition of not putting commercial inscriptions on Barcelona jerseys was still violated...
Even worse is that Laporta, following the former "Real" president, organizes commercial tours without consulting the coaching staff. So in the summer, instead of returning after the World Cup so that players could rest and train, they had to travel to the USA and Mexico. This year we hear again about tours in Southeast Asia...
The president allowed himself to interfere in the relationship between the coach and the players. Ronaldinho, or rather, his brother and agent, constantly blackmail the club by talking about "Milan" and the enticements of other clubs, and the president, instead of demanding Ronaldinho to train more actively and play better, walks arm in arm with him and thanks him for not leaving the team. But he is not playing for free and receives one of the highest salaries in the world. When the angered Eto'o publicly spoke out, violating the club's ethical rules, Laporta once again intervened, prohibiting Rijkaard and Txiki from taking action against Eto'o.
After a painful defeat against "Getafe," instead of evaluating the team's players and their attitude towards their work... he talked about the reconstruction of the "Camp Nou," praised the club and management. Laporta raises the players and himself to the clouds. But the 6 washed-out trophies and the last-minute Ispanian Champions Trophy slipping out of his hands show that the fall from the clouds will be painful...
It seems that it's time to return to this sinful land and remember an old Chinese saying: "If you want to hunt the beast, you have to become the beast yourself." And the "bears," overwhelmed by victories, this year turned from beasts into cozy domestic animals...
P. S. For realists and other "anti-Barsa" fans. Do not rejoice and do not rub your hands. Do not say that "bears" are crying and making excuses. I just tried to find the reasons for the failures and analyze them.
"Barca" has a great core of the team: Valdes, Puyol, Zambrotta, Deco, Xavi, Iniesta, Etoo, Messi, Ronaldinho. This means that the team will not need a complete overhaul, the core will remain the same, and only individual positions will be strengthened.
Youth players Dos Santos, Bojan Krkič, Olmo, Valiente, Crosas are rushing onto the field, ready to bring fresh, eager blood. It's a pity that Rijkaard, who believed in the youth at the beginning of his coaching career, now does not allow the young talents to play. Watching the barely moving Giuly on the field, you involuntarily remember the 16-year-old Krkič's raids, and watching Ronaldinho's apathy, you think that the competition of Dos Santos would be a great push for the great Brazilian to show what Dinho can really do.
The club management has stated that they will allocate 50 million euros, and with that money, the full-back, defensive midfielder, and forward position will be strengthened, and a good opportunity for the winger and center-back will also be acquired.
Therefore, the meeting continues, gentlemen who have sworn. Having written off this season as a loss, we must draw the necessary conclusions so that next year we can rejoin the fight for trophies again.
