Blog Archives

The chances are that you saw this coming during Clive Tyldesley’s commentary, that while he figuratively wet himself over every five-yard pass by Xavi or Iniesta, that this was only a prelude to a Barcelona-themed media love-in. Barca where absolutely sensational on Saturday night, and they made Manchester United look very ordinary – their movement, their vision, even their desire for the trophy-itself was superior. However, as ever with the media, the significance of their 3-1 win has been taken to far too deep a level.

The Barcelona team that sits at the summit of club football at the moment, is not there by default. They are not simply the best side in 2011, they are a generational team and one that will be spoken of for a long time. Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez, and Andres Iniesta are not just the footballing elite of this decade, they have a rightful place in any ‘of all time’ list – and in Messi, they may have a player who tops that list. Once the spectacle of Saturday night wore away, it was replaced with a series of negative accusations towards Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson. Why was the centre of midfield so immobile? Why is there such a gap between England’s Champions and Spain’s finest? Why did Sir Alex Ferguson appear to learn nothing from his Roman humbling in 2009? The last question was posed by Paul Smith of the Mirror, and is easily the most fatuous. The Barcelona team has been built as fluid concept, with interchangeable players that can function in a variety of postions. You don’t really ever learn anything by playing against them, other than how good they are. Beyond the anchoring Sergio Busquets, the five players ahead of him improvise their movement throughout each individual phase of play – if the players doing that are of sufficient quality, then there really isn’t a tactical system that can do much to subdue them. Those who disagree will point to Jose Mourinho’s ‘sugar in the petrol tank’ comment after Inter Milan’s victory across two legs last year – but really, if you played that game another ten times Barcelona would probably win eight or nine of them – Inter may have progressed, but it was Barca’s profligacy in front of goal that caused them to lose. If you look at all the great teams and individuals of history across different sports, there’s always a period where very little can be done to stop them winning Championship after Championship; the 90s-era Chicago Bulls, the AC Milan team of the 1990s also, peak-level Roger Federer, and the last decade with Tiger Woods. Playing against them doesn’t teach you how to beat them, you wait and hope to play them when they’re slightly less than their normal level. If as a tennis player you’ve been well-beaten by Roger Federer at Wimbledon, why would that give you any advantage the second time round? It’s too simplistic to suggest that encountering something of superior quality in person, should then allow to build a blueprint to overcome it the next time you face it. You don’t just hope to play your best and win against these teams, you’re also reliant on them under-performing. Losing to one of them, which Manchester United have, shouldn’t warrant a full-scale panic.

The natural progression for the media was to move from praise of Barcelona, through criticism of Manchester United, and then finally to a direct and unfavourable comparison between The Premier League and La Liga. The logic goes now that there is a growing disparity between the two league’s, and the Spanish side’s victory is affirmation of La Liga’s premier status. Nonsense. Barcelona are not an encapsulation of Spanish football, as the 25 point gap between them and third-placed Valencia should show. Barcelona are an exceptional team that happen to being playing in Spain, look, or example, at the gulf that exists between them and Real Madrid – who were cast aside with at least the same amount of ease that United were. Furthermore, if you were to pair off English teams with their corresponding Spanish counterpoint, so Manchester City with Valencia, Arsenal with Villarreal, Sevilla with Tottenham, and LIverpool with Atletico Bilbao, i’m not sure that would endorse Spanish superiority. Yes, the very top of La Liga is currently superior, but the separation of footballing wealth in Spain is also far, far greater.

The only point that came out of the weekend’s analysis that we found ourselves agreeing with, was the belief that England will never produce a Lionel Messi. There’s a slight caveat here, because a Messi isn’t ever really produced or created – a player like that just arrives. However, the point is that in England, the youth systems in this country are obsessed with power, size and pace – technical ability is tolerated, but flair is coached out of players and replaced with more direct attributes. If, as he was rumoured to be, a four-foot tall Messi arrived at a British academy, he’d probably be cast aside for being too small and pigeon-holed as a circus player that would never make it. Sadly, the same is probably true about a Xavi, or an Iniesta, or a David Villa – and is there a better case for proving this than England’s continuous failure at major competitions. Even against inferior opposition, our inability to retain possession is evident, and our direct and overly physical approach to the game looks archaic. Without getting into the National Football Centre debate, because that’s an entirely different discussion, Gareth Southgate and Trevor Brooking have an awful lot of distance to make up.

The media tendency to take a discussion like this too far will always exist, the need for ‘left-of-centre’ opinions in the press is too great for it not to, but it’s healthier if we just admire the star power of Barcelona while it burns at its brightest.