It feels like we were anticipating more from Ibrahimovic. He did good enough, but really wasted some chances. Of course, we aren’t laying judgment on the guy after his first forty five minutes playing, but it could have been better.
That said, Ibra was recovering from injury and this was his first match in weeks, and his first match on a new team, where he still needs to find his place and touch; so we’re letting this go. Surely Ibrahimovic will, in future matches, prove his worth on Barca…
Moving on to the match itself; Pep rolled out a starting lineup consisting virtually of B-teamers and substitutes, who didn’t exactly do the job. The players weren’t moving well without the ball and overall positioning was very off, and too many passes were going astray. We were attacking frequently enough, but the attacks weren’t going through. Almost every time our players got near the box, they would lose the ball to the opposition. Again, bad positioning, bad passing.
Only Jeffren was moving right; he was great in the first half, but he had nothing to work with. Bojan was playing selfishly, and Pedro was lost on the left. It seems Pep put him there as an experiment, and it looks like we’ve all learned that right winger is the only place for Pedro. He is wasted on the left; there was none of the magic that we saw in him during the Athletic match where he was phenomenal in Messi’s place.
Although City didn’t attack that much, when they did it was dangerous. Their goal came out of nowhere, without a whisper of defense to speak of; our backline was very un-solid, especially after Puyol came off.
The second half was much better. With the likes of Messi, Ibra, Pique, and Dani coming on, the attack was much more palpable and the defense came to life. Messi played a great match, it’s really a shame that we didn’t score, because we should have. There were a lot of chances, awesome work from Messi in particular, and all in all, we did everything in that second half but score. And can we just mention how un-impressed we are by Thiago? That kid really needs to work on his aim.
Before we conclude, let’s talk about Gai. Having subbed out the ineffective Pedro, Pep put him on as left winger, really not having much of a choice what with Iniesta and Henry both injured. We find him interesting, but strangely immobile. He would stay rooted in the one place on the left wing, wait for the ball to come to him, do some Cristiano-like dribbling past the defenders then pass it in to the box – same repeated scenario almost every time he got the ball, which was surprisingly often. We’re not sure how we feel about it, something tells us he would be better off in midfield.
So Barca lost the Gamper… strangely, we don’t really mind. Perhaps because history has shown that whenever we tore it up in the Gamper Cup, the season that followed wasn’t good; and whenever we didn’t do so well in this Cup, we had a great season.
As a final note, we must make mention in this report on appearances – first of all, Pep: how hot was he last night? Nobody can wear a half-tucked bright white jacket over jeans as well as he can, we’re still raving about how amazing he looked.
Secondly, Pique: He was wearing short sleeves. When was the last time we saw Pique in short sleeves? We don’t even remember. He’s always in the long, even when it’s boiling out and the rest of the team are wearing the short. Perhaps this limited edition Gamper shirt only comes with short sleeves? Speaking of which, we really don’t like that kit. But moving back to Pique: he’s gone beardless too. Why, just why? Doesn’t he realize that he looks about twelve when he’s clean-shaven?
Thirdly: That Bartra fellow from the B-team, he’s cute. His hair reminds us of Marquez’s. We hope he sticks around. And as long as we’re talking about hair, Ibra should really do something with his.
This signing is… relieving, to say the least. Barca have been haggling over the player with his club, Shakhtar, for longer than we are able to keep track of; so were just glad it’s finally over and his signature is secured, for a reported twenty-five million euros.
