Take a Bow

Part of the mourning process - for Barca's semifinal exit from CL - is the identification of potential areas for improvement for this team, which since the past year and till only a fortnight ago appeared was as good as it ever gets.

But before that, where did Inter outplay Barca?
(1) Their back four clearly trashed Messi & friends (of whom Mr.Zlatan had an off day), with more than a little help from a protective line in front of 'em. Remarkably, even Etoo & Schneider popped up with tackles letting Lucio & Co. pick up the pieces.
(2) Barca, it appears, wins the psychological battle by picking holes through the center of the field that eventually leads to 3-on-3 or 3-on-4 near the box. Teams playing a 4-man midfield line obviously feel ridiculed. Wednesday night, it was clear that the Inter ploy was to cede the middle of the park to Barca. Result: No psychological scars from being made to look ordinary, and the two defensive lines were playing a hand-shaking distance of each other. Squeeze squeeze squeeze. Barca was 4-8 around the box, not easy to overturn against as well drilled a system as Inter.
(3) Cesar brought off more than one great save. Most important one I thought was somewhere around 35 minutes when Messi ran across the back four from right to left and his strike to the bottom right post was turned out brilliantly by Cesar. If that had gone in...

With Inter's defensive pedigree, it is perhaps possible to hold out for 90 minutes, two-thirds of which was played with a man down. But my sense is that there are areas of Barca's game that people are going to look and say "hey, we can take these guys down!".

(1) There are no drives from 25-40m out, making it very easy for Inter to back down and create a very very tight defensive line. Where are the ala Mathaeus, Gerrard missiles? It would force even Inter to play a higher defensive line, create the bare minimum space that even Messi, Xavi, Zlatan, etc. need
(2) The game exposed the lack of tall players popping up in the box. With only Zlatan bringing high balls under control around the box, the flank play needed to be magical to create any danger. I am not suggesting any manpower changes - certainly no Drogba type import (please!!!) - just that all the times Barca were 4-on-6 inside Inter's box, it should have been 5-on-6 with the fifth one a tall player. Yes, yes - and would have not imagined I'd say this - Barca didn't attack enough!! Especially after Motta was sent off for what should win Busquets a consolation Oscar award.

Not sure if it was lack for form, injury or team tactics that kept Iniesta out, but it could have been different with him around. Liked the Barca president coming out and saying that the team needed its fans support in this 'darkest hour'. Will this change the way Barca set themselves up to play? Will some of the midfield talent get traded? I certainly hope not. There is a big Barca poster on one of the columns in the 5th/ 6th floors in the office. Right now, it appears gloomy but hopefully it will lift soon enough.

The finals - it is still a mouth-watering one. When Gaal led Barca to one of its earlier CL wins, Jose was assistant coach. They have been saying that the Santiago Bernebaau will be a much happier place to not have to see Barca play in the final, but whatever happens a former Barca coaching staff will win. Thank God for small consolations!! And it might help Gunners fans - Sony, Girish - feel a little bit better ;-).

As for Jose, right now it appears that to get good competition at matching wits, he needs to join one of these teams...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Lo4MUedfrk&feature=channel. At 2-3, Topalov certainly can use some help!

The Winner Takes Whats Left

Have you seen the section in Mama Mia! where Meryl Streep sings "The Winner Takes it All" by some rocky seashore?

Brilliant way to start a 3-day weekend: be reminded of a song, tape, landscape Phillips tape-recorder playing ABBA, Boney-M, other 70s hits, Voice of America; all when the Madras 90 pin-code was quiet enough to hear the sea when the tide came in.

In case you need some reminding: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92cwKCU8Z5c

Early days of the music video still