Barcelona – The Catalan Blaugrana Giants- Part 1.

1^st up!!!!

I think I’m gonna tackle a tough one first.

No. I’m not going to talk about Barcelona cheating.

1. Tito Vilanova

Vilanova has been the manager of Barcelona since 2012, having been the assistant manager since 2008.

As Barca are currently:

·         13 points clear in the league , with the end of the season in sight

·         In the ¼ finals (last 8) of the UEFA Champions League

·         Still annihilating unfortunate teams after a tiny blip in form.

Only a psycho, such as this man, 

would think of sacking good ol’ Tito.

But, after the aforementioned ‘blip’, some people suggest that his ongoing cancer treatment is affecting his ability to manage the team.  Club president Sandro Rosell reassured our Tito though.

2. Victor Valdes

Whenever I chat to a football fan about a Barcelona match in which they conceded a few goals and looked dodgy defensively, Valdes (or Pinto to a lesser degree) is often the target. Oh no, God forbid that Puyol is more injury prone than Kieron Dyer,  about 50, and sometimes gets done like this 

OUCH! (Gif from www.101GreatGoals.com)

Add to that Pique’s recent distractions and poor form and  I think it’s safe to say poor Valdes may be a scapegoat.

I believe Valdes  is a good keeper who is unlucky in getting compared to Casillas and also must either have stupid levels of concentration or be doped up to stay awake when Barca go on a possession spree e.g . 83% vs Tenerife (May 2010). Ridiculous.

 If you have time, come back some other time for part 2.

Hi football fans

From Olly at Redcafe.net
As I write this from (insanely) sunny Ghana, there are 4 things within the world of football that I think are sticking out.

These are all to do with the factors in a football team’s performance on the pitch.

I would like to focus on:

1.         The crazy trend of sacking managers. e.g. Blackburn have had 5 managers this season.
2.         The perhaps unfair view of armchair critics on players e.g. Heskey
3.     The rise of the ‘One man team’ debate. e.g. RVP, Suarez, Messi etc.
4.     The squad’s responsibility vs the manager’s responsibility. e.g. Ghana/ Kwesi Appiah AfCON 2013.

Now, I will try to analyse individual football matches while also looking at specific clubs. I say 'try' cause I’m depending on the availability of good internet which relies on Ghanaian mobile networks (btw Vodafone you are rubbish) which in turn relies on whether they are being incompetent or not.

As you can imagine, this is pretty shaky ground so I’m sure you’ll forgive me if I fail to deliver.