La Liga Jornada 24 Preview

FC BARCELONA – RCD ESPANYOL
VENUE : CAMP NOU

Heading into a strange derby with the two teams positioned at the top and bottom of La Liga, Barca will be looking ahead as well as behind them. The fixture list ahead looks like this :

Liga Sat 21 Feb : FC Barcelona - RCD Espanyol
Champions League Tue 24 Feb : O. Lyon - FC Barcelona
Liga Sun 01 Mar : At. Madrid - FC Barcelona
Copa 2nd leg Wed 04 Mar : RCD Mallorca - FC Barcelona
Liga Sun 08 Mar : FC Barcelona - Ath.Bilbao
Champions League Wed 11 Mar : FC Barcelona - O. Lyon
Liga Sun 15 Mar : UD Almería - FC Barcelona

After this we get a week off again. A week’s rest seems such a luxury at this stage.

But Barca will also look back at last week’s game against Betis and the worrying defensive errors that cropped up before they came from behind to salvage a draw. Playing with a more aggressive defensive set-up Betis seemed to have found the right tactics to harry Barca. With their attacking forwards pressurizing Barcelona’s defense when on the ball and their defense staying relatively deep Betis found that expanding the field of play rather than compressing it might be the answer to containing Barca.

The danger presented has a chain reaction effect in that center-backs when closed down on the ball tend to pass back to Victor Valdes who often instead of clearing the ball directly, passes around to another defender forcing a hurried clearance or loss of possession. The isolated defenders then tend to foul to regain possession hence giving away free-kicks or corners in dangerous areas. This leads to our next nightmare : Set-pieces.

Tiredness must certainly have played its part in the last game and a week’s rest should find the players alert and refreshed. Pocchetino on the other hand has key players returning from injury and Espanyol have never shied away from playing attacking football against Barca. This may however be to our benefit. Espanyol have a clever left winger in Nene and it will be interesting to see how he is dealt with while Alves persists with his forages up-field. A tight defense will be a great positive to bring out of this game and I would be happier seeing a clean sheet than a 5-goal romp in the park.

In pre-game comments Pep has stated that Messi won’t start and since he never so-far indulged in Fergie-style mind-games I would take him at his word. Messi though I am sure will make the bench.

The return of Marquez to the backline should see the ball moved up the field more quickly combined with Xavi starting his playmaking from deeper up the field. Puyol strained his hamstring the last time we played Espanyol in the Copa. Hamstring strains are deceptive and Puyol being our defensive lynchpin, Guardiola will probably not rush his recovery again and leave him on the bench tonight.

My starting line-up would therefore have Pique and Marquez as center-halfs. Some respite for Abidal before tackling his old team Lyon would see Sylvinho taking his place at left-back. An option Guardiola could have tried was Abidal as center-half but he has put his faith in Caceres as the back-up for that position and its probably too late to experiment now. Dani Alves may tear up the flanks but he will have to watch out for fellow Brazilian Nene who had an impressive outing against Sevilla.

Presuming a policy of using more home-grown players for derby matches such as these, Busquets would start ahead of Yaya. Gudjohnsen who is my favourite for the left midfield position hasn’t started a league game since the first week of Jan and must figure its his turn. With Guardiola indicating that Messi might be kept on the bench for this game and with Iniesta unavailable Xavi will be needed to keep Espanyol busy in their own half.

Bojan has been eager and enterprising in the few opportunities he has had while Hleb has for most part been a spectator on the pitch. It would be nice to see Bojan get his first league start of the season. Instead of risking Eto’o and Henry together Pep will probably give Hleb another chance to get into form before the CL resumes. Eto’o having started last game could be the one to get some time on the bench to mull over his future and the controversies he insists on creating.

Espanyol and Pocchetino have both Tamudo and De La Pena back. The mercurial De la Pena is the creative force Espanyol have been lacking for much of the season. The Little Buddha who at Barcelona got lost somewhere between the end of the Guardiola reign and the emergence of the Xavi one, came on at half-time against Sevilla. Tamudo is a thorn in the flesh during these derby matches and if he is ready might take Luis Garcia’s place in the line-up. Garcia’s inability to find the goal this season has compounded Espanyol’s problems. While he paired up with Tamudo successfully in seasons past, an alternative in the more physical presence of Ivan Alonso or Callejon to add to the threat during set-pieces might be Pocchetino’s option on the night. Espanyol’s list of attacking players doesn’t end there with Coro or Rufete likely to take the right wing.

Inspite of conceding two goals against Sevilla the robust backline of Sergio Sanchez, Torrejon, Pareja/Lacruz and David Garcia with Angel or Roman Martinez playing in front of them will probably remain unchanged.

Set-pieces will surely have been the theme of the week at the training sessions. Handling the tall Espanyol center-backs well at corners and free-kicks tonight will give considerable confidence to the team for the upcoming fixtures.

A solid performance will be what the team is looking for against a nagging Espanyol side which has taken delight in derailing our title hopes in the past.

Prediction : FC Barcelona 2 – 0 Espanyol


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