We're sure that we are part of a vast majority that was expecting alot from this match - be it in the form of goals, thrills, or on and off pitch tussles. It was the opening match of our Champions League title-defending campaign; it was Barca and Inter coming head to head after switching their star strikers; it was Eto'o and Ibrahimovic put to the test with thier new teams against the old, after having replaced one another; it was the facing off of two mega-hot and super-awesome coaches who are continuously compared to one another... and it was a complete bore-fest.We were disappointed by this match, and in particular with Zlatan Ibrahimovic. It seems to us that facing his former team was a much bigger deal than Zla made it out to be, with all his talk about returning to the San Siro psyched for Barca to win.
He was completely unimpressive, unusually immobile and hardly seemed to budge from his spot all match long, just waiting around for someone to give him the ball; which always ended up with him losing possession or shooting wide of the goal, that is if he didn't miss the pass altogether.
It didn't help that the Inter players decided to go all Chelsea on us and camp out collectively in and around the penalty area, and our boys hardly had any space to breathe let alone go for the goal. When they got near the box they were always slowed by the defense of eight and nine; chance after chance gone with the wind.
It's annoying that the opposition chose to take that course rather than come out and attack like men, but there's nothing we can do other than cope with it. Which we didn't. Sure, we kept them away from the ball and our goal, but we should have made it to theirs.
We should have been able to get past their defense, regardless how thick. But we didn't. And that's because with Zlatan completely out of it and Henry looking quite lifeless, Messi was attacking more or less on his own and trying to dribble his way through Inter's nine-man-defense, which too often ended up with them taking the ball. Scrapped together, the three formed an attack that tried to go forward but always got pushed back.
Individually, several of our players stood out: Messi did everything he could and more; Xavi was incredible, with him and Dani trying their utmost to link things together; Pique was in full defensive control; Victor was fast and sharp.
But as a whole, the team was looking rather lost when it came to moving without the ball. The (exceptionally slow) passes that were made kept going astray or to the opposition rather than to our players, because their positioning was awful: they were moving slowly, into all the wrong spaces, or simply not at all.
It's not a prominent trait of Barca, nor do we want it to become one. The players need to get their act together, work together more and balance things out; hopefully they'll do things better next time.
I think this match report is unreasonbly harsh and short-sighted. The season has barely started and the engine takes time to heat up. Inter most likely has one of the five best line-ups we'll encounter this season and we totally owned the second half - on their home turf, to boot. Sure, no goals, but they will come.
ReplyDeleteI'd say everyone did what they should in most cases. Sure, Henry can do better, Keita could have gone deep more often and Ibra still hasn't found his role. Nothing to be alarmed about. A fit Iniesta would have made our dominance even greater.
As for this disappointment with Ibra, I'm surprised no one notices his most important contribution. In the second leg v Chelsea in the semis last year, our midfielders were put under constant pressure, while immobilizing our attackers. Inter were too anxious about Ibra to pressure high, which meant our classy midfield could control the pitch. When we learn to take better advantage of this, we will be deadly, both from midfield and attack.
couldn't agree more ... I can't see how you take so many bad things out of the game, we dominated the italian champions completely and we actually had some clear oppurtunities too, with zlatan missing twice and keita once, messi had two good shots, too. As Xavi says, if Barca would have won 1-0 or 2-0, which easily could have happenend, everyone would be talking about a wonderful barca.
ReplyDeletenah i think the boys did a great job considering mourinho's anti football tactics. things will be different at the camp nou where they would have to play a more open game. we'll see what they've got.
ReplyDeletecheer up :)
gotta agree with the guys. this match report is not up to scratch. i wont't go into the details. for me, ibra was not a disaster. he can certainly stil improve n find his shooting boots but he's already making his presence felt. he's making better runs and his understanding of the barca system is getting better and better, and it showed clearly.
ReplyDeleteBoth are right.
ReplyDeleteBarca were the better team.
But they are capable of even better and
Yes its start of the season.
To each its own guys.Chill
AnonMan
A little too harsh on Ibra, if anything, I was disappointed with Henry's performance. Ibra was man marked by two defenders, and the fact that Inter parked their bus in front of goal, didn't help much either. Besides, the fact that we dominated and Messi and Ibra finding one another is promising...
ReplyDelete