Liga Pundits articles

[puta madrid]

including juventus ... poor bastards

[Beast]

And so fucking true to I wouldn't put it past madrid to get at a few getafe players to do that. Those players are worse than scum in my eyes. And a reason why madrid and manure are the 2 most hated clubs in the world.

Madrid & Man U are the two most popular teams in the world... so i don't know from where u get your info from unless the world starts & ends with Liverpool

however i can't say the same about Liverpool in terms of popularity at all
Most people i saw switch the channel when Liverpool are playing tbh

[Esteve]

Must say, Pool don't play the best brand of football but they do have a great loyal following.

[Snyde]

Well (I read somewhere) Pool are most supported club in Asia...

Also ManU and Madrid are two clubs that are hated by fans of most other clubs, not so with many other clubs like Barca, Pool, Juve etc.

[Beast]

A tale of two gaffers
By Eduardo Alvarez

Pep Guardiola and Juande Ramos represent two different paths to become a top level gaffer: the former elite player who puts into practice what he learned during his playing career, and the self-made coach that builds his own career growing with each new job.

The articulate and fashionable Pep, born in a small town 70km away from Barcelona, looked like a top footballer since he was a kid and came through the Barcelona ranks, joining the first team in 1990. Between that year and 2001 he got to share shower, trips and hotel rooms with several of the most influential players of the nineties, such as Romário de Souza, Hristo Stoitchkov and Luis Figo, and learnt the gaffer job by watching Johan Cruyff, Sir Bobby Robson and Louis Van Gaal ply their trade for Barcelona.

"Why don't I give orders to my players during matches? Guardiola is closer to them and does it better than I do" said Cruyff after one Barcelona - Espanyol derby in 1993. At that early stage it was already clear that Pep would become a coach sooner or later.

His spectacular career as a player (6 Ligas, 2 Copas del Rey, the last European Cup in 1992, 1 Cup Winners' Cup) had a lacklustre ending, with stints at Italy's Brescia, Qatar's Al-Ahli and Mexico's Dorados. Guardiola, always an idol for the Barcelona faithful, decided to start his coaching career managing the B team of his beloved club in 2007.

Juande Ramos was born in the tiny Pedro Muñoz (Ciudad Real), but moved with his family to Elche (Alicante) at age 8, always far away from the main football centres. His mediocre career as a player for various teams in the Spanish lower divisions was cut short by a serious knee injury, which made him retire at the early age of 28.

His coaching career started shortly thereafter, managing the youth team of his first club as a player, Elche CF. Juande's early years in coaching show a trend that stayed with him until today: he never stayed longer than a couple of years in any of the thirteen clubs he coached, even though he was seldom fired. These pilgrimages from club to club saw Juande lead the Barcelona B team as well, back in 1996.

Like many other gaffers, Juande and Pep got their current jobs with a classic mission: save their respective presidents' bottom. Joan Laporta, Barcelona's supremo, needed a local icon to calm the socios and put order and discipline in a team that had gone from heaven to hell in just a couple of years. Guardiola, although allegedly inexperienced, seemed like the perfect fit.

Ramón Calderón was in a very similar position when decided to fire Bernd Schuster and bring Ruthless Juande back from his forced vacation in London. Whatever the outcome of this season is, both Pep and Juande have done a tremendous job applying very different styles.

Thousands of words have been written about Guardiola's coaching method and the original Dream Team's influence on him. So far, it appears as if Pep has taken Cruyff's approach one step further. The unquestionable achievements of that Barcelona team, winning four leagues in a row and Barça's first European Cup, and their offensive style, undoubtedly Guardiola's inspiration, should not let us forget that they were an average defensive side, and that their domination of the Spanish Liga was not as comprehensive as some may think.

They suffered in the "goals against" category every season, and experienced severe beatings against more limited teams on paper, such as Atlético, Zaragoza or Valencia. It is hard to forget a 6-3 defeat at Zaragoza, which triggered an amazing reaction that saw Barcelona come back to win the league in 1994. Their 4-0 humiliation in the Champions League Final against Milan is also worth mentioning.

The original Dream Team only dominated clearly the Liga table when they won the 1991 title with a ten-point advantage. The following three seasons they triumphed in the very last match, and simply because their rivals (Real Madrid twice and Deportivo once) were unable to win their last encounter (white cases flying around, or so they say). Hardly what you would call uncontested domination.

It is still too early to compare the current Barcelona to those winning Cruyff teams, we will need more time with Pep at the helm. However, judging by what we have seen so far, Guardiola's approach seems superior. Even though the back four is also the weak link of this Barcelona, the team as a whole defends much better than those 90-94 sides.

Their pressure starts up front, with Eto'o, Messi and Henry working much harder than Romário, Michael Laudrup and Stoitchkov used to. Keita and Busquets cover far more pitch than Guillermo Amor and Eusebio Sacristán did back in their time. As a result, Víctor Valdés had spent 675 minutes unbeaten until his hesitant performance in Valencia, an outworldly number for Andoni Zubizarreta.

If that was not enough, Guardiola has bettered the original Dream Team's attacking efficacy: the current Barcelona side scores more than any of those Barcelonas, therefore Guardiola is in pace to beat Johan "Lollipop" Cruyff at his own game. Pep has everything to deliver: a young team, plenty of homegrown talent, top-class foreigners and support from the club.

However, Juande is already doing the seemingly impossible to prevent that from happening. Mr Ramos' style, like that of self-made gaffers, lacks a clear influence from a previous coach or club. His early managing experiences, all of them for small, budget-constrained teams, taught him to work with what he had, defining a pragmatic approach that he implements on each team he coaches.

Juande always starts by building a consistent defence and preparing his teams to suffer as much as any other from the physical standpoint. Offence comes later. Only when he got to Sevilla in 2005 we were able to see a full blown Juande team playing offensively at amazing pace.

His pragmatism was clear once more when he left the sevillistas, the side that made him famous, for Tottenham in week eight of the 2007-08 season. Money had spoken higher, something that was bitterly remembered on Sunday by the Sevilla faithful. Mr. Ramos got a very harsh reception, including hundreds of fake one-dollar notes with his face and the inscription "Juande Dollar".

His team was coming from a nail-bitter win over Getafe in midweek, in a match that could be included in the Fabio Capello memorial of heart-attack endings. However, the merengues looked as good as they have all season against a free-falling Sevilla side. Juande's side came back from 1-0 down, and the additions to the team, especially Metzelder covering for Mr. Pepe Hyde, played superbly. Raúl, who strongly supported Ramos' hiring, deserves his own mention, as he finally delivered in a do-or-die match this season with a sensational hat-trick.

Coming from such different backgrounds, Pep and Juande have taken their teams to an unprecedented level in La Liga. Guardiola leads the best Barcelona ever, while Ramos has been able to steer the white ship under institutional chaos and fully recovered their winning spirit. Only four points separate both teams and their gaffers now. Get ready for a nerve-wrecking, passionate, mouth-watering derby between Real Madrid and Barcelona, between the self-made Juande and the talented Pep.

-------------------------
very good article ...and in time just before the Classico

[Warik]

Great article...

[Beast]

Indeed Warik .. didn't know to post it here or in the Classico thread..

[Snyde]

Posted Tim's article here by mistake.... :tongue:

[Beast]

Snyde this is Tim Stannard article not Sid Lowe

[Beast]

Here is Sid Article this week

Barcelona's lead over dogged pursuers Real Madrid is down to just four points with five games left

After this weekend Real Madrid are finally in touching distance of the leaders. As their No1 fanatic Tomás Roncero might put it, reaching for his megaphone: 'Come out Barça – you're surrounded!'
They're Lord Baltimore, Joe Lefours and the Bolivian cavalry all rolled into one, the LAPD crawling down Interstate 405, Detective Hal Slocumb without the sympathy, Marshal Samuel Gerard pursuing Dr Richard Kimble. Only they've got no intention of letting go. The pursuit is relentless; every time you turn round they're there, a car in your rear-view mirror, a footstep passing agonisingly close to your hiding place, a burst of hot, stagnant breath on your neck. They are, the joke goes, a Zombie: they're horrible to look at but they keep on coming and the bastards just won't die.
Like Wile E Coyote, it doesn't matter how often the pulleys, levers and precariously balanced weights fail, Real Madrid simply never get the message. Barcelona sprint about beep-beeping but Madrid come back for more every single week, expending all the effort for nothing. Unlike Wile E Coyote, however, it might not be for nothing. Now, at long, long last the chase looks worthwhile. The persistence has a point after Barcelona drew 2–2 with Valencia on Saturday and Madrid defeated Sevilla 4–2 yesterday. For the first time, Madrid can almost touch their prey. AS's Mad Madridista Tomás Roncero is reaching for his megaphone: "Barça, come out," he crackles, "you're surrounded!"
Madrid have been pursuing Barcelona for 19 weeks. In Juande Ramos's first game, they were beaten 2–0 at Camp Nou . A single slip and it was over. Since then they've won 18 and drawn one in 19. And yet even that appeared not to be enough. "¡Resistir es vencer!" ("To resist is to win!") was the battle cry of Dr Juan Negrín, president of the republic during the Spanish civil war. Tragically, he was wrong; Madrid resisted but with Britain selling out, defeat was inevitable. Real Madrid resisted too but defeat looked just as certain.
With Madrid winning, everyone talked about the pressure on Barcelona; the Catalan crappingyourselfometer was, they said, kicking into gear, spinning madly beyond 5,000 crapahertz. But the truth was different: there was little sign of fear. Barcelona kept winning too and, though no one mentioned it, the pressure was mounting on Madrid as well. They were chasing and chasing and chasing, always teetering on the edge of the abyss, and somehow surviving, but they couldn't catch up. And all the while the finish line got closer. Madrid heroically pursued Barcelona south through Texas but the Mexican border drew ever nearer.
Madrid won six out of six after the clásico but so did Barcelona; the lead remained an unassailable 12 points. Barcelona then slipped up three weeks running – they drew 2–2 with Betis then lost to Espanyol and Atlético Madrid – to bring the lead down to four. But as soon as everyone declared it game-on, Barcelona won and Madrid drew with Atlético, to stretch their lead to six – plus head-to-head goal difference. Madrid fought back, winning seven straight but Barcelona matched them stride for stride, despite their Champions League and Copa del Rey commitments. It was as if they were running a marathon against Madrid, occasionally popping out to compete in the 400 metres and popping back again, their lead still intact.
Intact, no. Improved. It remained six points but there were 21 fewer points to play for. Wesley Sneijder expressed Madrid's impotence, rolling his eyes and muttering "Barça just aren't losing, there's nothing we can do" while those who wanted to listen heard Ramos repeat that the psychological cost was becoming a burden.
Until, that is, this morning. This morning, things look rather different after Madrid managed to draw closer for the first time in eight weeks. "Speeding like a bullet towards the title," screams Marca, while AS risks a smart-arsed remark from Clare Balding by declaring that Madrid have "the teeth of champions". The Catalan papers, meanwhile, shut their eyes, put their fingers in their ears and went "lalalalalalalalaIamnotlisteninglalalalalala", refusing even to look at the league. El Mundo Deportivo's cover declared "First, Chelsea" while Sport cheers: "¡Viva la Champions League!"
Thirty matches in eight days were supposed to clarify everything. Instead, the reverse has happened. This morning, just four points separate five teams – Sporting, Getafe, Espanyol, Osasuna and Betis – as they fight to avoid the final relegation place. Just seven points separate six teams – Sevilla, Valencia, Villarreal, Atlético, Málaga and Deportivo – battling for those Champions League and Uefa Cup spots. And, above all, just four points separate the top two.
It wasn't supposed to be this way. Although Barcelona dropped points against an impressive Valencia, Thierry Henry's late goal rescuing a 2–2 draw, Madrid were going to the Sánchez Pizjuán, where they hadn't won in six years. They were without Pepe and Arjen Robben; their paranoid press whined that Sevilla had saved themselves against Barcelona; and even the €130 tickets sold out, the atmosphere as hostile as hell to welcome the man who ditched Sevilla for Spurs. Never mind that Ramos gave Sevilla their most successful years ever or that president José María del Nido is equally guilty of his departure, fans waited with chants of Judas, banners declaring him a pesetero (money-grabber), and wads of Juan Dollar bills bearing the slogan "So poor all you have is money". Worse still, Sevilla absolutely battered Madrid for 25 minutes. They were 1–0 up and should have been at least two or three goals to the good. The pursuit was pointless. Again.
But then Raúl scored in the last minute of the first half and Sevilla collapsed. Madrid took control and, genuinely playing well, added three more: two for Raúl – the second a fantastic finish – to complete his first ever hat-trick not against Valladolid plus another, in the final minute, from Marcelo to destroy any hopes that Diego Capel's late goal had given Sevilla. Or of course Barcelona.
Barça's lead is down to just four points with five games left and for the first time in their pursuit, cutting it further is in Madrid's hands: Saturday night is the clásico at the Bernabéu, just four days after Barcelona face Chelsea once and four days before they face Chelsea again. For months, Madrid have been building for this moment, more in hope than expectation. Now it's actually real. Barcelona are surrounded, fingers hover over triggers. At last, the opportunity Madrid waited for. At last, the opportunity Barça waited for too; the chance to finally blow that Zombie to kingdom come. The pursuit is over, it's time for a Mexican stand-off, the last stand. But will Barcelona get gunned down like Butch Cassidy in San Vicente or walk triumphantly away like Clarence Worley in a Los Angeles hotel?
Results and Week 33 Talking Points.
Pepe, evil criminal or freedom fighter falling victim to the system? It kind of depends who you believe. The Catalan comic Sport ran a cartoon of him booting Leo Messi's head off with a huge smile on his face under the slogan: "Will we have to see this before he gets a ban?". He's been given 10 games you stupid sods! Meanwhile, Vicente Boluda, a man who really should have learned to just shut his gob, described the punishment as "savage", even though Pepe has the smallest possible number of games in each of the four categories that make up his ban.
Athletic versus Racing ended up nine against eight after referee Bernardino González Vázquez whipped out 18 cards, sending five from the pitch and another man from the bench. And it wasn't even a particularly dirty match. He has now shown a truly magnificent 39 yellows and eight reds in his last three games.
This column is seriously contemplating turning to religion now. Espanyol are out of the relegation zone, with three wins in a week. Since visiting the Morenata, Mauricio Pochettino's side have now won four and drawn one in five matches. That's four wins in five, when before that it was four wins in 28. According to Estudio Estadio last night it was the first time they had been out of the relegation zone in four months; according to Estudio Estadio five minutes later, it was the first time they had been out of the relegation zone since 1 March. They were right the first time (which is at least one better than normal, when they're not right at all): it's the first time since mid-December. The team replacing them in the bottom three are Sporting Gijón, who have not won in six.
That penalty looks even more ridiculous now. Getafe are just one point clear of the relegation zone. Against Villarreal they got a penalty. Manu took it this time and took it properly. He scored. But it still wasn't enough to prevent defeat. Coach Víctor Muñoz must be especially unhappy with Casquero. He's just been sacked.
Results:
Málaga 1–1 Deportivo, Almería 2–1 Numancia, Valencia 2–2 Barcelona, Getafe 1–2 Villarreal, Recreativo 2–4 Mallorca, Valladolid 0–0 Osasuna, Athletic 2–1 Racing, Espanyol 2–0 Betis, Sevilla 2–4 Real Madrid, Atlético 3 – 1 Sporting

[Beast]

La Liga’s Good Day, Bad Day - Round 33

GOOD DAY

Real Madrid

Blimey. Madrid could actually win this, a concept La Liga Loca poo-pooed just this weekend with its prediction of a defeat for Juande Ramos’ men.

And this could send Barcelona fans into therapy for decades, not to mention the mental implosion that will take place at Sport, whose offices may simply fold into a shiny singularity like the house in ‘Poltergeist’.

For half an hour, it looked as if Sevilla would be getting their bloodthirsty revenge on their Spurs-swapping boss, the man the crowd waved fake Juande Dollar bills at before the game.

At 1-0 up and playing with the kind of cojones that had been lacking in the matches against Getafe, Valencia and Barcelona, the Andalusian side had Madrid mired in the mud.

But, once again, Real hung on for dear life and grabbed yet another goal just before half-time, the first strike in Raúl’s hat-trick (in a game where he only had three blinkin’ touches).

The show now moves to the Bernabeu next Saturday. A win for Madrid and it’s a 50/50 tight tussle for the title. Real have nasty-looking away matches in Mestalla and el Madrigal, but Barcelona have some business to attend to in a couple of other competitions.

This could be fun.

Barcelona

La Liga Loca is in full on sitting-on-the-fence, cowardly, pleasing all of the people, all of the time, mode on Monday by placing Barcelona in the ‘Good Day’ section too.

As Mundo Deportivo shouted on Sunday’s front page, Pep’s Dream Boys picked up ‘a huge point’ in Mestalla. Sport called the 2-2 a ‘draw that felt like a victory’.

Valencia matched Barcelona’s pace and passing precision for 90 minutes and perhaps deserved the win, especially after the referee ignored Carles Puyol crashing into David Villa, who may perhaps have gone down a little too theatrically.

But the game was exactly the kind of nose-bloodying, sweaty affair that Barcelona needed ahead of the visit of Chelsea on Tuesday night. A proper team, giving them a proper match, unlike sorry Sevilla.

Valencia

It’s amazing what getting paid can do for the motivation of a side.

When the Valencia players’ Porsche repayments were in peril, the men from Mestalla more-or-less downed their footballing tools, despite narked denials that this was the case.

But since the announcement that the club had got their hands on some loot to deal with the deficit, the squad has been firing on all cylinders with five wins from six, a run that has closed the gap on third-placed Sevilla to just one point.

Saturday’s display against Barcelona showed why a whole bunch of us stick our necks out every year and tip Valencia for the title, only to regret it about a fortnight later.

Alvaro Negredo

Not just a goal-scoring Goliath but an assist-maker extraordinaire too. The striker’s double dose of mazy runs led to Almería’s two goals in their victory against Numancia that almost certainly sees them safe for another season.

Espanyol

Another green shoot of hope has been handed to Paul from Barcelona and his beloved Pericos. But will it snap, only to see his dreams dashed on the rapids of... er... reality...?

“A ‘I bet it's going to pee it down during the match’ type of day drew a 30,000 crowd and a fair few from Betis, about 1,500. There's a big Betis Peña in Barcelona and they were out in force.

"So it was mullets a go-go at the start which saw Espanyol take the lead after only four minutes through Luis 'I'll show that Stannard bloke who's rubbish' García.

"With the mercurial De la Peña having a blinder, it was all Espanyol who could and should have scored more. Betis had a penalty appeal turned down when serial whiner Oliveira took a nosedive.

"A different Betis came out for the second half - not literally culés, that would be ridiculous - but a more attacking formation.

"With Espanyol's defence having their best game as a unit in a long time, Betis never really looked like scoring and it was no surprise when Roman put Espanyol two up with a few minutes left.

"Overall, a great performance by Espanyol who never looked like losing against a very average team who seemed toothless - again not literally - in attack despite a feted front line.

"Or were Espanyol's defence so good on the day it made them look bad?

"Stray cats - 0. Working video screens - 0. As Espanyol are leaving Montjuic the council is not bothering to repair anything.”

Paul, Barcelona

Mallorca

The 2-4 win for Mallorca may not have raised too many eyebrows around the world, but it was a whopping win for Mallorca.

With Sevilla, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Villarreal making up four out of five of their last games of the season, the Balearic battlers had to pick up three points against Recre to move them onto 42 before a title-chasing tornado heads in their direction.

Athletic Bilbao

A midweek victory and one more on Sunday against Racing Santander puts the Basque club another step towards the security needed before their Copa del Rey clash with Barcelona.

But that’s not what’s making news in the Spanish press on Monday. Oh no. Instead it’s the dreadful refereeing performance by Gonzalo Vásquez who brought out a record-breaking 18 cards (including five reds) in a match that El País said “didn’t have a nasty knock, nor a kick at a knee, nor an insult, nor a late tackle.”

It needed something special to break the man in the middle’s own personal milestone set in last weekend’s Valencia vs Sevilla clash, when he showed 15 yellows and two reds, but hats off to Gonzalo as he managed it in Bilbao.

Atlético Madrid

AS noted soberly that a win was badly needed by Atleti to prevent some kind of Bastille-storming scenario, but that’s exactly what they managed with a comfortable 3-1 win over Sporting.

But this did not stop the fans from fuming after the capitulation against Racing, just three days previously.

The rojiblanco players were booed during the warm-up, booed when their names were read out and booed during the game, as well as olé-cheering when the defenders managed to successfully pass to each other.

But sharing the Calderón ire was club president Enrique Cerezo, who tutted after the match that “when I go to a ground, I go see a game of football, not listen to the shouts of a section of the public.”

La Liga Loca says go to a different ground next time then, you clown.

BAD DAY

Victor Valdés

The Barcelona keeper was flapping so much on Saturday night he nearly took off. And you can bet yer bunnies that Chelsea were taking notes.

Sporting

It’s now six defeats in a row for Sporting, the last of which being the 3-1 defeat in the Vicente Calderón. “We’re on a super bad run,” noted the growling manager Manolo Preciado.

Numancia, Recreativo

It looks like at least two of the relegation spots have been fixed after a double dose of defeat for the down-in-the-dumps duo.

Numancia came a cropper against Almería to leave them on 28 points, while Recreativo suffered a disastrous home defeat to Mallorca which now requires the Huelvan side to pick up four wins from five to stay up.

“We know what it takes to win in this division,” said Recreativo boss Lucas Alcaraz, announcing that his team had not given up all hope just yet.

Sevilla

The club had done their very bestest to ensure a victory for the side off the pitch, but could do little to guarantee a win on it.

Local bars had been encouraged to charge just a euro for tapas and beer before the match, to help warm the supporters up.

In La Liga Loca’s experiences at the beery, cheery Sánchez Pizjuán, such encouragement is rarely needed.

Unfortunately for the singing supporters, Sevilla ran out of puff after just half-an-hour and have now lost four league matches in a row, the club’s worst ever record in the top flight.

Osasuna

Just one point from the last three games means that Osasuna still need two more victories to stay up in their last five games. Three of those will be against Sevilla, Barcelona and Real Madrid.

---------------------------------------------

[Gnegneri]

I don't agree on the barcelona part on this one.


Valencia matching the play of barca for 90 minutes? Puyol crashing into villa? Valdes did a good job except one fragment that led to the goal.

[Beast]

Pep Guardiola has restored the philosophy of Johan Cruyff's team of the 1990s to the current Barcelona side

Sid Lowe
A Romanian named Helmuth Duckadam later ruined everything but on the night of 16 April, 1986 the greatest failure in FC Barcelona's history was still three weeks away and as improbable as what had just joyously unfolded at Camp Nou. Barça had overturned a 3–0 first-leg deficit in the European Cup semi-final with IFK Gothenburg thanks to a hat-trick from the third-choice striker Pichi Alonso, before their goalkeeper Javi Urruti took the shoot-out into sudden death by saving one penalty and scoring another.
Then Víctor Muñoz's strike sent them to their second ever final. As Muñoz celebrated, a delirious 15-year-old ballboy in a Barça tracksuit sprinted over, grabbed him by the arm and pleaded for his shirt.
He never did get it, but he got 379 of his own. Tonight he attends another European Cup semi-final but the experience will be different. That night Josep Guardiola i Sala was a Barcelona ballboy; 11 years later he was made Barcelona's captain; 11 years after that he became Barcelona's coach.
Guardiola was slow, rarely scored goals and insisted that but for Johan Cruyff he would never have escaped the Third Division. But he won six league titles, a European Cup and Olympic gold. Born in the Catalan town of Santpedor, schooled barely 100 metres from Camp Nou and resident at La Masia, the traditional farmhouse that stands incongruously in its shadow, he was the metronome at the heart of the finest side Barcelona produced, ordering, constructing, constantly moving the ball. The midfielder an opponent described in a single word: "pam". "Pam-pam-pam-pam-pam-pam-pam-pam". As if that was not enough, he was also an intelligent and impassioned defender of Catalan culture, language and identity.
It is hardly surprising that Andrés Iniesta admits he pinned up Guardiola posters, or that when Guardiola became coach last summer he was granted the benefit of the doubt. The trouble was, there were doubts. Goodwill couldn't disguise the apprehension. Guardiola had won the Third Division with Barcelona B, but he was only 37; it was his first ever season coaching.
Barcelona had finished 18 points behind Real Madrid the previous year. The diagnosis pointed to a cancer: laziness gripped, players were divas, cruising. Few embodied the problem like Ronaldinho, whose belly was expanding as steadily as his performances declined; few were blamed like the coach, Frank Rijkaard, whose laid-back style let it happen. Barcelona needed licking into shape; they needed guarantees. Barcelona needed Mourinho, not some inexperienced novice. Even the president, Joan Laporta, described the Portuguese as the "safe option".
Instead, he chose Guardiola. The Catalan newspaper El Mundo Deportivo published what Barça could have won: the starting XI Mourinho supposedly demanded, salt to rub into Barça wounds when the club that rejected the Special One inevitably hit the rocks. And hit the rocks they duly did, collecting a solitary point in their opening two matches, their worst ever start. The club duly collected a solitary point from Guardiola's first two matches, their worst ever start.
"Guardiola was the world's worst coach," cackles former striker Hristo Stoichkov, who played with him. "Now what?" Now, they think he's a genius. As Laporta insists: "Lots of people now claim to have recommended Pep but the reality was quite the reverse." People who knew him knew what he could bring. "Even at La Masia he was known as The Wise One," recalls the former player and coach Charly Rexach. One of Guardiola's closest collaborators insists: "Those who said he had no experience are idiots: Pep was a coach when he played. Experience isn't things happening to you, it's learning, seeking solutions."
He certainly found solutions. He imposed discipline, with fines of €6,000 for being late to training, €500 for missing breakfast with the squad. He sold Ronaldinho and Deco, won over those who stayed with a combination of tough demands and bright psychological management, and brought knowhow, perfectionism and seriousness – right down to weaning Leo Messi off pizza, steak and Coke.
His analysis is exhaustive; its presentation digestible. Videos were unheard of last season; now they are standard. The detail is striking, its application sharp and to the point. "He remembers everything," says Xavi. "And everything's done for a reason." Results bear him out: top of La Liga and in the final of the Copa del Rey, Barcelona could yet win the ¬treble. But it is not results that have made Guardiola an even greater idol; it is the way his side gets them.
Bobby Robson could not win even when he won. His Barcelona side took the Cup Winners' Cup, the Cup and the Spanish Super Cup in 1996-97. They finished second, two points behind Madrid, and scored a club-record 102 league goals. But he was treated like a loser.
"In England, I'd be a bloody hero," Robson complained. "Sometimes I ask myself why everybody has it in for me." The answer was simple: Robson was not Johan Cruyff and his Barça were not the Dream Team.
More than just a team that won four successive league titles between 1991 and 1994 and the European Cup, the Dream Team were an ideal, a model of touch, technique and movement. Cruyff gave Barcelona an unshakeable identity that runs right through the club, one whose roots are in the Ajax school and Dutch Total Football. "Show me 20 kids in a park and I can tell which are at Barcelona," insists one pundit. The model was embodied, above all, by Guardiola and is traceable through Xavi Hernández, Iniesta and even Cesc Fábregas. Xavi describes himself as a "child of the system"; Iniesta recalls the message: "receive, pass, offer, receive, pass, offer." The first time he saw Iniesta, Guardiola – by then a veteran – told Xavi: "You're going to retire me; he's going to retire us all."
He may have departed as a player but Guardiola's commitment to the Dream Team's ideal remained deep. One colleague says he has "suckled from the teat of ¬Cruyff" and that was what brought him back as coach. As Laporta, advised by Cruyff, admits, Guardiola contrasted with the self-promoter Mourinho. "We chose a philosophy, not a brand," Laporta says. "Guardiola knows the club and he is part of its ¬history. He represents continuity with Cruyff's model." "Pep knows Barcelona better than anyone," says Rexach. "It's all about the Dream Team," adds Eusebio, Barcelona's assistant coach last season.
Even Guardiola admits: "We are sons of the Dream Team, trying to emulate them." Evidence comes in the exaltation of intelligence, positioning and possession, in pressuring opponents high, the non-negotiable collective commitment to slick attack. Not just to scoring goals – Barcelona have 136 this season – but to building them. Leo Messi is the Champions League's top scorer yet 33 players have taken more shots. This team walks the ball into the net.
For those coaches, like Robson, that followed Cruyff, the Dream Team was the Sword of Damocles, a mythologised image of perfection that subsequent sides could not live up to. Until now. Guardiola has not just emulated the Dream Team; according to Josep Lluís Nuñez, president between 1978 and 2000, he has "bettered" it. The declaration is premature but it speaks volumes. In the Catalan capital there is no greater compliment. Guardiola knows that better than anyone else.

[Snyde]

Snyde this is Tim Stannard article not Sid Lowe

I've been so tense this past week it's starting to show...:sad1:

[Snyde]

Penitent Pericos Close To Salvation

Poor old Gareth Southgate must have tried just about everything to keep Middlesbrough up this season.

But so far, every conceivable combination of experienced old hands and fearless young legs, group hugs and team tantrums has failed to get the required reaction from the Teesiders.

But the 'Boro boss may want to borrow a trick off the Spanish league where there has been a long-standing and not unsuccessful tradition of managers in serious silage walking huge distances in the hope that Him upstairs and takes pity on their plight.

Up in the north of Spain the famous Santiago de Compestela pilgrimage is a well worn route that various football folk have promised to crawl, hike or ride depending on the seriousness of their club's situation and how many miles they can manage without suffering a heart attack.

Former Deportivo boss, Javier Irureta, walked the final 50 miles of the ancient path in just two days after fulfilling a promise made on what lengths he would go to if his side overturned a 4-1 deficit in the Champions League quarter-final clash with Milan in 2004, something they famously achieved with a 4-0 victory.

"Next time I'll just bet a meal or something," mused the blistered boss, soon after.

When the down-and-out and desperate Espanyol boss, Mauricio Pochettino, trekked up the stupendously steep hill leading to Barcelona's Montserrat monastery, he was repeating a route he took as a player in 2004 when the Pericos were battling against relegation. And it was a walk that worked.

It looks like it could have the same miraculous effect this time.

When the Montjuic manager and members of his backroom team completed the eight-mile hike, Espanyol were bottom of the table and in all sorts of trouble.

Although the club's less sexy version of Pep Guardiola had lifted the spirits of the club since his appointment at the end of January, the Pericos had still only mustered a single victory in 19 games, a famous belting of Barcelona in the Camp Nou.

Espanyol have now won four of their five games played since Pochettino's pilgrimage, something that may well excite God-botherers all over the globe.

Other more atheistic types may put their recovery down to the likes of Ivan de la Peña returning to the fold from injury at the beginning of February and the self-belief that can be given to a set of fairly decent players after back-to-back victories.

Although Espanyol are still two or three wins from safety with five matches left, the Barcelona-based club now finds itself out of the relegation zone for the first time in 17 rounds in what is set to be a particularly fearsome scrap for survival.

Unlike previous campaigns in la Liga there hasn't been one team that could be described as particularly poor this year.

The enormous points gulf between Madrid and Barcelona and the best of the rest suggests that there is a fair amount of dross in the division, but not one club that deserve a thorough pee-taking.

Bottom of the pile and perhaps the only certainty for relegation is Numancia, the club who took the scalp of the league leaders on the opening day of the season, but whose teeny tiny budget and even smaller squad has caught up with them in the final third of the season.

"We will fight until it is mathematically impossible," promised Pacheta after Saturday's away defeat to Almería, but the Sorian coach knows that his side's immediate future is dimmer than one of Rio Ferdinand's girlfriends.

Two points above Numancia on 30 and it's Recreativo, a team who have been hovering above the dropzone for much of the year, but now find themselves well and truly in it after a devastating 4-2 home defeat to mid-table Mallorca on Sunday afternoon.

Whilst the relegation of Numancia and Recreativo will bring about nothing more than indifferent shrugs from most watchers in Spain, the possible return of Sporting to la Segunda after just a year back in the top flight will cause one or two tears to be shed. And not just in Gíjon.

Throughout the season, the Sporting fans have been magnificent. In a country where travel to away games is complex due to huge distances and those running la Liga making it as difficult as humanely possible, the Asturian side has had a hard core of 3,000 following them all over the land.

And not once have they failed to cheer on their team, despite seeing 72 league goals go flying past their poor players.

The trouble with Sporting is that for much of the season, every game was all or nothing. Not a single match has been drawn in the 33 played. Instead, Sporting have picked up 11 wins - the same as ninth placed Mallorca - and 22 defeats.

And that was fine during the phase when they were generally winning more than they lost. But the side's inability to resort to hard-nosed pragmatism and grind out points has begun to cost them dearly. The fact that all four goalkeepers used by the club this season have been quite hopeless certainly hasn't helped matters, either.

The latest defeat - Sporting's sixth in a row - came against Atlético Madrid, on Sunday night. But yet again, their superb support backed them all the way, which is more than can be said for the home crowd who were booing their players - with some justification - during their warm-up session in response to a 5-1 midweek pounding by Racing Santander.

Sporting will need three wins to stay up and the team is capable of getting them, considering the run-in is not too tough. But they will also require the sides above them to fail.

The first of those is Getafe, who are in severe danger of returning to the second tier after a Bayern Munich-battling spell in the Spanish top flight.

And it's all down to the defensive, dour Victor Muñoz who has all but ruined the wondrous work of Quique Sánchez Flores, Bernd Schuster and Michael Laudrup over the previous four years.

With just five matches left in the current campaign, a hastily-arranged pilgrimage may be too little, too late for some of the aforementioned clubs.

But perhaps a penitent stroll towards the ICI works from the Riverside may be the only option left for one particular manager in the Premier League.
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Never knew about the hill, did any of the older Liga fans know?

EDIT: re-posting it here...