After losing their opener against Numancia, Barca had a point to prove in their first home game in the league this season. Messi was on the bench but was to make a second half appearance in what proved to be a tough match. Each time i watch Barcelona play i get the feeling that they are restricted in creativity. Even with the likes of Iniesta, Xavi and Dani Alves they looked to play one style with very little to offer in creativity. Past the 70 minute mark it was a penalty that substitute Messi put away that too them into the lead. It was only to last 6 minutes as Santander scored and held on to secure their second draw and leaving Barca without a win in two outings in the La Liga.
Sevilla secure 3 points in a superb 7 goal thriller against Sporting Gijon in a game with 6 goals in the first half. Athletico who were victorious in the opening game and looked exciting surprisingly fell to Real Valladolid. The Madrid club played with 10 men for the majority of the game after Pedro Lopez was sent off.
Sevilla secure 3 points in a superb 7 goal thriller against Sporting Gijon in a game with 6 goals in the first half. Athletico who were victorious in the opening game and looked exciting surprisingly fell to Real Valladolid. The Madrid club played with 10 men for the majority of the game after Pedro Lopez was sent off.
The Sevilla match was not the only 7 goal thriller in Spain. Real Madrid hosted Numancia on Sunday at the Bernabeu. It was evident in the first few minutes that they did not beat Barca in the opener by fluke. They play a formation usually not found in Spain. They have a defensive layer in the midfield that plays close to the back four which makes it difficult for the strikers to get passes. Schuster made a host of changes because of the Internationals and also the upcoming Champions League group stage opener. Sergio Ramos was carrying a groin injury and Salgado surprisingly got the RB nod. Metzelder found a rare staring spot along with Pepe and it was Marcelo at LB. Still no Gago in midfield as it was Diarra, Van der vaart, Guti and Robben on the left wing. Surprisingly playing at home Raul found himself on the bench and it was Van Nistelrooy and Higuain as the attacking options. Real had almost 70% of the ball possession, but it
was newly promoted Numanica who took the lead after six minutes when Moreno headed home unmarked from a corner. Real Madrid hit back through Guti who was getting a lot of space and time, with a deflected shot to make it 1-1.
Numanica again hit back when the Madrid defense hesitated for a split second and Barkero put the visitors in front 2-1. From there on Madrid took the impetus in the game in all aspects as some superb back to goal holding and passing from Van Nistelrooy put Higuain through and he scored to level the score 2-2. It was a bold move from Schuster to leave Raul out and have Higuain on. Not only did the young Argentine score but also drifted wide right and also came back into midfield to start attacks. With Salgado on as RB the attacking options through the right were limited for Madrid till Robben moved wings in the second half. Real Madrid's only major summer signing the 9M man Van der vaart, proved he is worth every penny when he found himself clear inside the box and scored with a powerful left footed shot to make it 3-2. Madrid ended a truly unbelievable first half with another goal and this time it was Guti's corner deflected by Pepe onto a Numancia defender who put it into his own net. 4-2 at half time.
Numancia came back onto the pitch and i guess were clear on scoring. Their formation had been spread and was creating lot of moves. Casillas and a superb last ditch tackle from Metzelder were highlights of Madrid struggling. Schuster gave Raul the nod and Drenthe as well. With Drenthe in on the left midfield, Robben moved over to the right. Robben was seeing the ball a lot and also trying some of his trademark runs and cuts inside but was not at his best. It was Numanica to score when Moreno scored with a well placed free kick. It was reasonably close to Casillas and with his high standards you would expect him to save those. Metzelder's injury worries continued when he collided mid air with Diarra, both of them going for the same ball and the tall lanky German ended up having a bloody skull needing stiches on the go. He continued and held of capping a reasonably well played return match. Metzelder hold his own when one-one against strikers and also is exceptionally good in the air. The only major concern is his acceleration and could easily be beaten by a quick forward. He is more of a traditional classic CB and will struggle against the quicker younger strikers. Madrid held on to win 4-3 and got away with the 3 points. My friend messaged me as we were in the second half saying "man are they playing a 5's tournament?" Well he recently was part of the winning team in the state level Corporate 5's tournament. You are the man Antony AKA Alexander the grt....
I thought i will add a player rating part in the blog. This is purely how i look at it. As in the EA sports game version i would like to keep 6 as the starting rating.
Cassilas- 6
Not a good game for any goal keeper when you concede 3 goals and that too mostly from set pieces. He made a few key saves but not his best day.
Salgado- 7
I am giving Salgado a high rating because he held his fort. He was defensively ok, but questionable maybe in his positioning in the set pieces. He made a few last ditch tackles inside the box as well. I would have given him an 8, if he provided a little more options in attack.
Pepe - 6
Average performance from the defender. He made a lot of wrong tackles and has not had a confident start to the season. It will be interesting to see if he gets better when Cannavaro is back.
Metzelder- 7
Good come back game for the German. Was first to almost all the aerial balls. Was beaten once for pace by Moreno. Braving his head injury to finish the game topped it off.
Diarra- 6
I think Schuster played Diarra because he wanted to rest Gago, who was away with International duty with Argentina. Diarra brought little in to the game and was hesitant going forward. He was OK in the ball recovering front.
Van der vaart- 8
Good game overall for the Dutchman as he played well in midfield. Linked up well in tracking back and connecting with Diarra and spraying the ball around to Guti and Robben. To top this he scored an absolutely brilliant goal.
Guti- 7
Questionably good performance. He enjoyed a lot of space and with a defensive midfield playing close to the back 4 for Numancia he tried a lot of long direct ground passes to the strikers. A few of them almost payed off. He also created some confusion in set pieces. His goal was a deflected fluke and so i am not going for an 8.
Robben- 7
The Dutchman was showing intent of danger. Numancia focused a lot of bodies on the winger thus limiting his chances of cutting inside and providing for the strikers.
Van Nistelrooy- 7
The Dutch scoring machine was a bit too inactive compared to his usual free scoring self. He had a few shots on goal and a good assist when he set up Higuain. His back to the goal holding play was a new addition to his game.
Higuain- 8
He had to score considering the fact that he was putting the captain Raul on the bench. He did that in style and also showed that he is not just a super sub and can play a full game well. Also the young Argentine has made the cover of EA Sports FIFA 09 Spanish version.
Drenthe, De la Red and Raul (Substitutes) - 5
I give all of them a 5 because none of them could do anything with the limited playing time that they got and Madrid was not trying to score.
Big Big weekend in the EPL. My friend Spartan was checking with me the options to see one of the biggest games of the year. Liverpool hosting defending champions Man U. I don't know yet if he was indeed able to watch it, but i ended up watching Man City V Chelsea. The game was going to be focused on a lot in the press because of one reason-Robinho. The Brazilian who has come under such a lot of ridicule for joining Man City almost created a fairy tale beginning when he scored with a deflected free-kick. It was all that was going to be happy for Man City as the experience of Chelsea too over as they hit 3 goals past a hapless Man City defense. One of the worst refereeing decisions was also in the game when John Terry was sent off with a straight red card for a tug on Jo, stating that he was the last man. Well yes Terry was the last line as the Chelsea defense was almost at the half line. Jo had a lot of running to do and to think that Carvalho would not have been able to cover is just preposterous. Chelsea have appealed his suspension and have now overturned it. The game almost proves what Schuster commented on Robinho saga " We should respect his ambition of being the best player in a mediocre team in England".
Liverpool and Rafa Benitez overcame a 4-5 season jinx of winning against Man Utd. The highlight of the game for Utd fans was their 30+M new signing Berbatov who set up the first goal for Tevez to score. It was a great feat for Liverpool with Gerrard and Torres on the bench.
Champions League group stage openers this week, and i am all excited about it.
was newly promoted Numanica who took the lead after six minutes when Moreno headed home unmarked from a corner. Real Madrid hit back through Guti who was getting a lot of space and time, with a deflected shot to make it 1-1.
Numanica again hit back when the Madrid defense hesitated for a split second and Barkero put the visitors in front 2-1. From there on Madrid took the impetus in the game in all aspects as some superb back to goal holding and passing from Van Nistelrooy put Higuain through and he scored to level the score 2-2. It was a bold move from Schuster to leave Raul out and have Higuain on. Not only did the young Argentine score but also drifted wide right and also came back into midfield to start attacks. With Salgado on as RB the attacking options through the right were limited for Madrid till Robben moved wings in the second half. Real Madrid's only major summer signing the 9M man Van der vaart, proved he is worth every penny when he found himself clear inside the box and scored with a powerful left footed shot to make it 3-2. Madrid ended a truly unbelievable first half with another goal and this time it was Guti's corner deflected by Pepe onto a Numancia defender who put it into his own net. 4-2 at half time.
Numancia came back onto the pitch and i guess were clear on scoring. Their formation had been spread and was creating lot of moves. Casillas and a superb last ditch tackle from Metzelder were highlights of Madrid struggling. Schuster gave Raul the nod and Drenthe as well. With Drenthe in on the left midfield, Robben moved over to the right. Robben was seeing the ball a lot and also trying some of his trademark runs and cuts inside but was not at his best. It was Numanica to score when Moreno scored with a well placed free kick. It was reasonably close to Casillas and with his high standards you would expect him to save those. Metzelder's injury worries continued when he collided mid air with Diarra, both of them going for the same ball and the tall lanky German ended up having a bloody skull needing stiches on the go. He continued and held of capping a reasonably well played return match. Metzelder hold his own when one-one against strikers and also is exceptionally good in the air. The only major concern is his acceleration and could easily be beaten by a quick forward. He is more of a traditional classic CB and will struggle against the quicker younger strikers. Madrid held on to win 4-3 and got away with the 3 points. My friend messaged me as we were in the second half saying "man are they playing a 5's tournament?" Well he recently was part of the winning team in the state level Corporate 5's tournament. You are the man Antony AKA Alexander the grt....
I thought i will add a player rating part in the blog. This is purely how i look at it. As in the EA sports game version i would like to keep 6 as the starting rating.
Cassilas- 6
Not a good game for any goal keeper when you concede 3 goals and that too mostly from set pieces. He made a few key saves but not his best day.
Salgado- 7
I am giving Salgado a high rating because he held his fort. He was defensively ok, but questionable maybe in his positioning in the set pieces. He made a few last ditch tackles inside the box as well. I would have given him an 8, if he provided a little more options in attack.
Pepe - 6
Average performance from the defender. He made a lot of wrong tackles and has not had a confident start to the season. It will be interesting to see if he gets better when Cannavaro is back.
Metzelder- 7
Good come back game for the German. Was first to almost all the aerial balls. Was beaten once for pace by Moreno. Braving his head injury to finish the game topped it off.
Diarra- 6
I think Schuster played Diarra because he wanted to rest Gago, who was away with International duty with Argentina. Diarra brought little in to the game and was hesitant going forward. He was OK in the ball recovering front.
Van der vaart- 8
Good game overall for the Dutchman as he played well in midfield. Linked up well in tracking back and connecting with Diarra and spraying the ball around to Guti and Robben. To top this he scored an absolutely brilliant goal.
Guti- 7
Questionably good performance. He enjoyed a lot of space and with a defensive midfield playing close to the back 4 for Numancia he tried a lot of long direct ground passes to the strikers. A few of them almost payed off. He also created some confusion in set pieces. His goal was a deflected fluke and so i am not going for an 8.
Robben- 7
The Dutchman was showing intent of danger. Numancia focused a lot of bodies on the winger thus limiting his chances of cutting inside and providing for the strikers.
Van Nistelrooy- 7
The Dutch scoring machine was a bit too inactive compared to his usual free scoring self. He had a few shots on goal and a good assist when he set up Higuain. His back to the goal holding play was a new addition to his game.
Higuain- 8
He had to score considering the fact that he was putting the captain Raul on the bench. He did that in style and also showed that he is not just a super sub and can play a full game well. Also the young Argentine has made the cover of EA Sports FIFA 09 Spanish version.
Drenthe, De la Red and Raul (Substitutes) - 5
I give all of them a 5 because none of them could do anything with the limited playing time that they got and Madrid was not trying to score.
Big Big weekend in the EPL. My friend Spartan was checking with me the options to see one of the biggest games of the year. Liverpool hosting defending champions Man U. I don't know yet if he was indeed able to watch it, but i ended up watching Man City V Chelsea. The game was going to be focused on a lot in the press because of one reason-Robinho. The Brazilian who has come under such a lot of ridicule for joining Man City almost created a fairy tale beginning when he scored with a deflected free-kick. It was all that was going to be happy for Man City as the experience of Chelsea too over as they hit 3 goals past a hapless Man City defense. One of the worst refereeing decisions was also in the game when John Terry was sent off with a straight red card for a tug on Jo, stating that he was the last man. Well yes Terry was the last line as the Chelsea defense was almost at the half line. Jo had a lot of running to do and to think that Carvalho would not have been able to cover is just preposterous. Chelsea have appealed his suspension and have now overturned it. The game almost proves what Schuster commented on Robinho saga " We should respect his ambition of being the best player in a mediocre team in England".
Liverpool and Rafa Benitez overcame a 4-5 season jinx of winning against Man Utd. The highlight of the game for Utd fans was their 30+M new signing Berbatov who set up the first goal for Tevez to score. It was a great feat for Liverpool with Gerrard and Torres on the bench.
Champions League group stage openers this week, and i am all excited about it.
1 comment:
yeah buddy i did watch it free of cost on Justin Tv it was a very positive and attacking game manu were good first 20 mins but the absence of Ronaldo was clearly visible.
What i liked about liverpool was they were postive and were agrressive going forward.
Champions league wohooooooooo captain fantastic 2 Marseille 0
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