27 april 2009

Mind Game

publiceras även på Chelsea Vital.

I have done a Guus. A Guus Hiddink mind game.  Watching Newcastle versus Pompey I did not really see the game in front of me on the television set. I saw a striped team against a blue team. At least at times, because most of the time my thoughts was totally occupied by another striped vs Blue game.

I spent much of Monday reading about the Big Game. The biggest so far this season, all categories. It was interesting following how the usually almost anti-blue English pundits suddenly went pro-Chelsea and predicted that Chelsea had a good shot at Nou Camp.

Without any exaggeration, the continental (as the English used to call us) pundits did not support that view. I’ve read some really stupid attempts of analysis which all had one thing in common. They were not really about the upcoming game but some kind of let’s judge this game after what Barcelona did to the lower teams in the La Liga earlier this season. Claiming something that has become a mantra among many the last couple of days; that Barcelona is the best team in the world.

I do not agree. Sure Barcelona has been impressive both in La Liga, but not as impressive as most seem to think lately and yes the home game versus Bayern gave an impressive goal tally. Very few talked about the head under the arm tactic Bayern tried to use against Barcelona and which Monday caused the German hero Jörgen Klinsmann’s immediate dismissal from his club a few rounds short of a full season!

I think the title the Best team in the world should be played for before senselessly thrown about. La Liga is a good league, but not as good as the Premier League – not even close if you ask me, though the closest. If the title was the most attractively playing team, then I would not object (as much) – but that can be a far cry from being best as Arsenal has shown for some five years now. Still football is a game about winning and only the last team standing can really claim being best, as we found out by a slipped foot May last.

I have looked at Barcelona all season and was terribly impressed of how Pep Guardiola forged them into a team again after the excesses of Rijkaard. Messi was to me a better player already last season than the diva-diver. Barcelona is a team about possession, a totally different kind of football than the Premiership teams (even Arsenal) play. They live by the immortal Cruyff lesson that if the team have possession of the ball the other team can not hurt them. But the main difference from the Rijkaard years is not talent, it is the team work exemplified by especially Xavi and Iniesta, the latter has really come into age this season. They even looked like the could defend.

But Barcelona this part of the season has not at all been as impressive. Actually, they have struggled when they have been playing better teams and they have almost lost a lead in the league that looked like a total lock.

I do not think Barcelona lately have come up against very good opposition. In the Champions League play offs they have met Lyon and Bayern, respectable opponents but not at all top European class. Lyon is struggling to win the French league they subscribed on like the last ten years, Bayern does not look like a winner of Bundesliga. Lyon is not close to the team they used to be I’d say and everyone grossly overrated Bayern after their goal orgy against Sporting Lisbon. A Bayern that came with some kind of suicide tactic to Camp Nou and tried to play a game they did not have the capacity too, especially not when they had some important injuries. Sorry, I will not join the chorus and claim that Barcelona was as great as some think after those two games. And just this weekend Barcelona have to say grace to Lady Luck for their point at Mestalla against a Valencia that only very recently have started to play well.

So to me Barcelona are not as big favourites as most seem to claim. I think they are favourites, especially as the game is on their own Camp Nou (or Nou Camp if you prefer Spanish). They have also been extremely lucky this season with very few injuries which still holds true. They have formidable players offensively, but they can not play them all at once as that undermines all kind of team football.

When the Geneva draw pitted us against our CL-arch enemies Liverpool and then Barcelona I said and I still feel the same way; Liverpool scared me much more. I happen to think that the way Chelsea play football, is a way of football that makes Barcelona really uncomfortable. Since then Chelsea’s rise in form have been significant, while Barcelona hardly justifies the same analysis.

All that said, this can go any way. It will be totally up to the team that gets it all together on two occasions that will go through. The referees will have a particular importance and woo us all if any referee wants to decide the game himself, say a Mike Riley-copy. (Anders Frisk etc)

Monday I was very nervous, towards the evening I had calmed down and while watching Newcastle getting closer to relegation I started to feel the same optimism I felt before the Anfield game.

Maybe I am a fool, but I do not think Barcelona will win. Not only because I voted for that, I always vote for a Chelsea victory in the obligatory poll.

Maybe is it my total faith in Guus Hiddink and that farm of foxes he keeps behind his ears, or maybe it is the form of Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba or the new found form of Petr Cech and Florent Malouda. The resilience of John Terry and the big-game ability of Michael Essien and the ever underestimated Michael Ballack – I think we got a shot here. I am totally confident that Barcelona, fuelled by the very un-objective Spanish press will take a victory for granted. I think Hiddink’s pointing out Messi as the main objective for the game is cover for some nice surprises for the Barcelona team. One surprise will be the heart of this Hiddink team. Not to us, but to a crowd of 98.000 or so that think football is only about individual skill.

I think it will be 2-2 (I still vote for a victory in the poll, as I will never ever vote against Chelsea!). The only thing that scares me is a very early Barcelona goal and that Chelsea will lose our composure. But then, we have gone one goal down in a lot of games lately and that have only spurred the team on towards greatness.  I might be wrong about the figures, I usually seem to be lately but not about the surprise we will offer to the know-it-alls that think Barcelona will win this easily. After all, with the second game at high-scoring Stamford Bridge any odd-goal result with a Chelsea goal will be nice enough.

This is what I found when I did as Guus, played the game in my mind ahead of reality. Like Guus did twice, I did not lose the game either.

Mind Game

 

I have done a Guus. A Guus Hiddink mind game.  Watching Newcastle versus Pompey I did not really see the game in front of me on the television set. I saw a striped team against a blue team. At least at times, because most of the time my thoughts was totally occupied by another striped vs Blue game.

I spent much of Monday reading about the Big Game. The biggest so far this season, all categories. It was interesting following how the usually almost anti-blue English pundits suddenly went pro-Chelsea and predicted that Chelsea had a good shot at Nou Camp.

Without any exaggeration, the continental (as the English used to call us) pundits did not support that view. I’ve read some really stupid attempts of analysis which all had one thing in common. They were not really about the upcoming game but some kind of let’s judge this game after what Barcelona did to the lower teams in the La Liga earlier this season. Claiming something that has become a mantra among many the last couple of days; that Barcelona is the best team in the world.

I do not agree. Sure Barcelona has been impressive both in La Liga, but not as impressive as most seem to think lately and yes the home game versus Bayern gave an impressive goal tally. Very few talked about the head under the arm tactic Bayern tried to use against Barcelona and which Monday caused the German hero Jörgen Klinsmann’s immediate dismissal from his club a few rounds short of a full season!

I think the title the Best team in the world should be played for before senselessly thrown about. La Liga is a good league, but not as good as the Premier League – not even close if you ask me, though the closest. If the title was the most attractively playing team, then I would not object (as much) – but that can be a far cry from being best as Arsenal has shown for some five years now. Still football is a game about winning and only the last team standing can really claim being best, as we found out by a slipped foot May last.

I have looked at Barcelona all season and was terribly impressed of how Pep Guardiola forged them into a team again after the excesses of Rijkaard. Messi was to me a better player already last season than the diva-diver. Barcelona is a team about possession, a totally different kind of football than the Premiership teams (even Arsenal) play. They live by the immortal Cruyff lesson that if the team have possession of the ball the other team can not hurt them. But the main difference from the Rijkaard years is not talent, it is the team work exemplified by especially Xavi and Iniesta, the latter has really come into age this season. They even looked like the could defend.

But Barcelona this part of the season has not at all been as impressive. Actually, they have struggled when they have been playing better teams and they have almost lost a lead in the league that looked like a total lock.

I do not think Barcelona lately have come up against very good opposition. In the Champions League play offs they have met Lyon and Bayern, respectable opponents but not at all top European class. Lyon is struggling to win the French league they subscribed on like the last ten years, Bayern does not look like a winner of Bundesliga. Lyon is not close to the team they used to be I’d say and everyone grossly overrated Bayern after their goal orgy against Sporting Lisbon. A Bayern that came with some kind of suicide tactic to Camp Nou and tried to play a game they did not have the capacity too, especially not when they had some important injuries. Sorry, I will not join the chorus and claim that Barcelona was as great as some think after those two games. And just this weekend Barcelona have to say grace to Lady Luck for their point at Mestalla against a Valencia that only very recently have started to play well.

So to me Barcelona are not as big favourites as most seem to claim. I think they are favourites, especially as the game is on their own Camp Nou (or Nou Camp if you prefer Spanish). They have also been extremely lucky this season with very few injuries which still holds true. They have formidable players offensively, but they can not play them all at once as that undermines all kind of team football.

When the Geneva draw pitted us against our CL-arch enemies Liverpool and then Barcelona I said and I still feel the same way; Liverpool scared me much more. I happen to think that the way Chelsea play football, is a way of football that makes Barcelona really uncomfortable. Since then Chelsea’s rise in form have been significant, while Barcelona hardly justifies the same analysis.

All that said, this can go any way. It will be totally up to the team that gets it all together on two occasions that will go through. The referees will have a particular importance and woo us all if any referee wants to decide the game himself, say a Mike Riley-copy. (Anders Frisk etc)

Monday I was very nervous, towards the evening I had calmed down and while watching Newcastle getting closer to relegation I started to feel the same optimism I felt before the Anfield game.

Maybe I am a fool, but I do not think Barcelona will win. Not only because I voted for that, I always vote for a Chelsea victory in the obligatory poll.

Maybe is it my total faith in Guus Hiddink and that farm of foxes he keeps behind his ears, or maybe it is the form of Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba or the new found form of Petr Cech and Florent Malouda. The resilience of John Terry and the big-game ability of Michael Essien and the ever underestimated Michael Ballack – I think we got a shot here. I am totally confident that Barcelona, fuelled by the very un-objective Spanish press will take a victory for granted. I think Hiddink’s pointing out Messi as the main objective for the game is cover for some nice surprises for the Barcelona team. One surprise will be the heart of this Hiddink team. Not to us, but to a crowd of 98.000 or so that think football is only about individual skill.

I think it will be 2-2 (I still vote for a victory in the poll, as I will never ever vote against Chelsea!). The only thing that scares me is a very early Barcelona goal and that Chelsea will lose our composure. But then, we have gone one goal down in a lot of games lately and that have only spurred the team on towards greatness.  I might be wrong about the figures, I usually seem to be lately but not about the surprise we will offer to the know-it-alls that think Barcelona will win this easily. After all, with the second game at high-scoring Stamford Bridge any odd-goal result with a Chelsea goal will be nice enough.

This is what I found when I did as Guus, played the game in my mind ahead of reality. Like Guus did twice, I did not lose the game either.

 

Lindy

 

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