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Article about Barcelona.

It's not exactly rocket science when you have a brand name, great climate, pay the most money and end up with the best players in the world.

Thing is it doesn't last forever and in another couple of yrs when Puyol, Xavi and Iniesta are passed their best and Messi moves on because 'he want's to experience other leagues' it will be somebodys else's turn.

Does anybody really think as that article tries to percieve that Guardiola is the messia and all of a sudden invented pressing football, he came in at the right time coincidentally when Barca's players were also at the right age at the right time.
if he's so good he wouldn't have got beaten by a pretty poor Chelsea side this week or if we're talking Chelsea relied on a dodgey ref decision a couple of yrs back to cheat Chelsea out of a Champs league final spot which they eventually won.

I'm mentioning Chelsea as they have shown over and over how to beat them, it's not hard as all you need do is just out muscle them as they are lightweights, uefa and their ref's won't let it happen though so for the time being let's enjoy the fabulous football they bring and woe betide anybody that dare have a go at them.

Don't get me wrong as Barcelona are a great footballing team but great footballing teams of old also had a great physical presence which is the part of the game i used to love, take that away and it's not hard to see why these little magicians are doing so well.
We've always had them but it's just that they have never been so well protected, it won't last though as there are far more exciting non contact sports than football.
 
I understand what you're saying but it's interesting what the article says about possession. I remember the German team in South Africa;how they kept the ball and passed it around.They really were a pleasure to watch.
 
slick said:
We've always had them but it's just that they have never been so well protected, it won't last though as there are far more exciting non contact sports than football.
Click to expand...

Great point Slick. Once upon a time a little shit the size of Messi would have been kicked out of the game and he would be today if the ref's weren't so afraid of being the one to become famous because the little wizard was actually allowed to be tackled in one of their games. I'm not saying he's not tough, he is. The way he gets up when he does actually take a kick is admirable, as his his attitude (usually) towards being brought down. A player of his size not only had to have skill in the past but he had to be built of pure muscle as well. The obvious comparison is Diago who was as hard as as the side of a garage but in today's game wouldn't have to employ his brute strength as much as his much proven ability to dive and roll around like a cunt.

The article is a cocktail of the blindingly obvious and utter bollocks. For example...

Barcelona start pressing (hunting for the ball) the instant they lose possession. That is the perfect time to press because the opposing player who has just won the ball is vulnerable. He has had to take his eyes off the game to make his tackle or interception, and he has expended energy. That means he is unsighted, and probably tired. He usually needs two or three seconds to regain his vision of the field. So Barcelona try to dispossess him before he can give the ball to a better-placed teammate.

Really? He is unsighted and probably tired? He probably needs two or three seconds to regain his vision of the field? What a steaming pile of shit. So a defender steps forward to intercept a pass between three attacking players who have sprinted half the length of the field at full pace to get to him and somehow he is the one who is short on energy? He's standing watching the play move towards him and has full view of everyone on the pitch apart from his own keeper but he is "unsighted"?

The Barcelona player who lost the ball leads the hunt to regain it. But he never hunts alone. His teammates near the ball join him. If only one or two Barça players are pressing, it’s too easy for the opponent to pass around them.

As you say Slick, we seem to be being told that this is something that Guardiola made up in the bath one night. I'm sure there's a phrase in football that commentators use called "hunting in packs". And I'm pretty sure that it's been going on since before Pep's bath night.

Once Barcelona have built their compact wall, they wait for the right moment to start pressing again. They don’t choose the moment on instinct. Rather, there are very precise prompts that tell them when to press. One is if an opponent controls the ball badly. If the ball bounces off his foot, he will need to look downwards to locate it, and at that moment he loses his overview of the pitch. That’s when the nearest Barcelona players start hounding him.

An example of the blindingly obvious. Is there anyone who's every played the game at any level whatsoever who's not aware of that? In fact I'd argue that it probably is instinctive. Given the choice of making your move when a player has the ball under complete control or when he'd either miscontrolled it or run it slightly too far ahead of himself, you'd have to be pretty damn stupid not to see which one would give you the best chance of getting the ball.

I'll be quite happy if I never get to read anything that this bloke writes again.
 
Yet Spain are the World Champions..I'd like to know how they managed it.
 
It's a bit of a secret Steve but they did it by generally scoring more goals than the opposition did whenever they could. It was an idea conceived by Luis Arogones about eight years ago and a plan that they've stuck with ever since.

Keep it to yourself though.
 
Steve,since youve asked a football question can I ask whether you have ever placed a bet on soccer?I now know youre a grammar school boy....so,from my own experience of grammar school,I know that 80% had no interest in soccer-nay 90%!

if not,why not

cheers
 
Well Gandhi,I don't bet,I suppose because I never grew up in a betting family.
 
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