Derby Decision
By: Mando | April 22nd, 2008 |
I was on a camping trip all weekend so I obviously missed the Catalan derby. Of course, my service provider gave me regular updates and I saw the score sheet but until tonight I didn’t get a chance to see the match until much later.
From our side, we started a somewhat full side with Garcia and Tamudo taking the lead even though Valdo and Riera didn’t, but the blaugrana sat Messi in the first half, and of course Ronaldinho sat who’s a Serie A muppet-to-be, and Henry well he’s thinking of a Keegan Wonderland in Newcastle. Bojan started, as did Gudjohnsen, but did Silvinho win the black sheep war and that’s why he played early on?
In the first half, we looked the equal side to their b-team. Clearly they were looking towards the Champions League next week at home against Manchester United and we should have had a clear shot at them at the Camp Nou, but without Riera for the most part and De La Pena throughout, we had little chance against their depth. They had us reeling though in the second half with Messi coming in for some rehab minutes as prep for the match against United. We withstood the pressure however and it’s been awhile that I saw some real heart in the midfield and defense. Tamudo though hasn’t been himself for the better part of two months and Luis Garcia is a better lieutenant and not a general for the cause so we were never that close to scoring unfortunately.
I think we did a commendable job. We had clear chances with Tamudo and Angel, plus Zabaleta and our defenders were clearly better equipped than during the last few weeks. Rufete started and you could see his commitment to the cause, which obviously told you that management chose the squad with a look towards heart and not necessarily quality in mind. Kameni had a meeting with the powers that be, and he had a decent game stopping Xavi, and Giovanni Dos Santos, but he is still on the outs. I’m reminded of Arsenal and their problems with Jens Lehmann there and frankly it’d be best just to cut bait rather than keep fishing with him.
Was I happy with the scoresheet? Yeah, it’s still another game without a goal and while I’d like to win every game I realize that we escaped with a draw on the road. That we wound up 0-0 and another match in hand without scoring, we often looked good, we attacked when when we could, and we didn’t get embarrassed, so whether we’re back or not that’s not the question. We need to solve our squad problems in the summer, minimize the damage against the powers that be and beat up on our lessers.
Now let’s prepare for Zaragoza and maybe actually score before thinking of a beach front cabana. Hopefully the squad stays somewhat intact. Stay tuned here for further news.
Category: Espanyol Team News
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