Celta Vigo VS FC Barcelona

Celta Vigo thrashes FC Barcelona in one of the most impressive displays of attacking football I have seen in a long time.
And unlike many of the soccer pundits of today, I am not going to blame anything in particular.

People fail to realize that the idea of blame on such occasions arises because the giant was defeated by a relative midget. 

If Barca had won 8-0 the story would be all about how MSN (trio of  Messi, Neymar and Suarez) showed their class once again. In fact, I bet the pundits were waiting to start saying it. lol

Yet, there were several heroes on that night that made it almost impossible for FC Barcelona to even think straight, talk less of function properly.



When sports commentators do not know certain players, those players' brilliance and influence on games end up being unrecognized or forgotten.
I believe a good football analysts should not be trying to justify long held beliefs, but investigating to discover new opportunities to educate the viewers. 

The Caustic Celta Attack

So if you must blame, then blame the Celta midfielders for their attackers' grace and confidence throughout the game! 

Iago Aspas and Nolito were the stars of the match no doubt. 
And by the way, Nolito is one of those former Guardiola youngstars that Barcelona felt they could easily do without. 
Mind you, Real Madrid has been doing the same thing, by the way; treating football as a *bling contest - of who can buy the most expensive, Facebook-famous foreigners. 
But it seems as if Barca are now beginning to do this more than Madrid - selling off their self-developed talent and chasing after vanity helter-skelter. 

But apart from Nolito and Aspas who both taught Dani Alvez, Mascherano and Pigue enough footballing lessons to last them the entire season, there were also two super solid performers in midfield. 

Fanian Orrellana and Augusto Fernandez were quite simply magnificent as they were making Iniesta and Busquets look like kids on the ball.

Blame Orrelana and Fernandez

I keep saying that the team with the most secure and comfortable midfield is more likely to have better, more comfortable chances. 

And just because you make lots and lots of sideways and back passes doesn't make you comfortable in midfield. (Iniesta, and mostly Xavi, never got this memo. lol)

Messi was the only person that looked a bit comfortable in Barca's midfield for most of the game; their natural midfielders were almost always at sixes and sevens! (Somebody prove me wrong!)

If you think have never seen Iniesta fumble the ball as often as he did last niht, then try to consider that it is because he did not have Busquets to make spaces for him to do his frequent safety back-passes. lol
Poor Busquets himself was too busy trying to keep up with Orrellana all over the pitch. Since Mascherano and Pique Obviously couldn't. 

Please Do Not Blame The Kid!

I even got annoyed when the commentator tried to pin the blame on young Sergi Roberto, which is what they usually do. They don't want to touch their sacred cows, so they blame the least known guy on the pitch. 
Well, FYI, Roberto was one of the more decent players on the Barca team. At least, he held his own relatively against Celta's Jonny Castro. It was when the ball left Jonny and got to Nolito who needed to be challenged by Daniel Alvez that all hell broke lose! 

Also Iniesta was quite simply pathetic against Fernandez in the center of midfield. 

In essence, this was all about the sheer brilliance of the home team. They were too hot to handle. Full stop!
Just because they are not celebrated names on satellite TV or on social media does not mean that they should not be given their due.

The only criticism against Barcelona that I can condone will be if you mention Luis Enrique's decision to rest what he thought were "key players" in the game against Levante 3 days earlier.
I have always had my doubts about "resting" players generally, not to talk of when it is so early in the season. 

Nevertheless, I find nothing so terribly wrong in resting so many players. So I won't take away from what really happened on the occassion; which is Celta!
Yes Celta Vigo is what happened!
And some folks need to be careful they do not happen again!

Conclusion In Madrid

I am not saying that it was the resting of the players that caused it; I still insist that they lost to an unbeatable team on the night. And I thank God it wasn't Real Madrid that traveled to that tiny Balaídos on this occasion.
Yep, I am glad that it wasn't Modric that was pitched against Fernandez, and poor overworked Kroos expected to hunt down Orrelana.  

Hopefully Rafeael Benitez has noticed the uniqueness of this match, and will start closely observing these players to know that he would need a stronger midfield against them. Not as light weight one (Kroos Modric & Isco).
In fact when does Madrid face them?
If James Rodriguez is recovered from injury by then, then it would be wise to use only James with 2 strikers (i.e. Benzo and CRonaldo). Otherwise restrict to 4 middle-men (with either Modric or Bale - in midfield - Not both at the same time )

A 3-man solid midfield would be necessary in any case (Casimero, Ramos and Kroos - since they let go of natural defensive midfielders Alonzo and *Illaramendi senselessly) 

Chelsea VS Arsenal SEPT 19th

Chelsea FC beat Arsenal FC 2:0 today, but eventhough the French center back, Kurt Zouma, had an exceptional performance for Chelsea, I would personally pick the referee as the "man of the match".

Yes, Zouma had an impressive defensive performance against the likes of Alexis Sanchez, and an easy time dealing with Theo Walcott (who typically runs much faster than he thinks with the ball). But his great work in defense was capped by a smart headed goal after he was found by a fantastic cross from Cesc Fabregas.

But I picked the referee as the man of the match because, in my opinion, his actions not only determined the result, he also looked as if he was orchestrating the result. 

After issuing an unfair red card to Gab Paulista for an incredibly mild reaction to Diego Costa's taunting, after the latter had already displayed dreadful aggressive behavior to Arsenal players, the referee hadn't had enough.
He decided that Santi Carzola's sliding challenge on a loose ball was well deserving of a second yellow card, regardless of the fact that Carzola connected with both ball and player (who himself was sliding in) at the same time....And it was clear that Carzola was the only one of the two who actually got the ball. 

In my almost 30 years of following football closely, I have never seen a referee that showed lesser remorse for an earlier unjust sending-off than this.
You see, normally we have come to see referees try to make some amends by being a bit nicer to the aggrieved side. But this guy decided to follow up with another controversial call! 

*cough*match-fixing*cough cough*!

Anyway, let me quickly add this: Before some Arsenal fans start rejoicing......that apart from the referee, Arsene Wenger was also amazingly unburdened by the magnitude of the game his team were playing. 

I mean what kind of manager whose team was down by a goal and a player would replace the two most skillful elements he has in the attacking areas of the pitch.
Or does he really think that Walcott has what it takes to create and finish chances all by himself?!?!

Pathetic!

The deflection on Edin Hazard's late shot that led to the secong Chelsea goal; which would most likely have been saved by Petr Cech, was clear punishment for Wenger's  wacky "wisdom".

Chelsea have a life line......hopefully their super star studded squad would take advantage of this win and get their act together from this point on.

So hey!? Tell me what you think???