Wednesday 13 August 2008

pep's opinion: eto'o and the new larsson

my point of view before the transfer summer was: keep and renew eto'o, sell henry for 20 million and bring in some decent second goal scorer (like guiza or milito or crespo or fill in your favourite) so you don't put too much pressure on bojan.

eto'o
for me eto'o is the best centre forward in the world. if you look at goals and work-rate, i can't even see another player come anywhere near. his scoring record is not from this world. eto'o scores and he works hard on the pitch. although like every goal-scorer he's an individualist, he's also very much a team player and isn't that the main thing guardiola is asking from his players?

i also cannot understand how on the one hand guardiola would have wanted a strong guy up front like adebayor or drogba because he wanted to play another system and on the other hand he kept repeating how important the non-strong henry would be as a central striker next season. were there two systems? henry would be hugely important coming off the bench? it doesn't make sense.

his team-mates all came out clearly stating they wanted eto'o with the team. they shouldn't have done that. at least not in the clear way they did. but they all did. cause they know eto'o, they've played with him and they know it works. and they know it doesn't work (that good) with henry up front. and they know it was a risk to bring another guy.


these guys don't want to have fun, they want to win trophies and, even knowing the risks it could bring to hold on to eto'o, they are convinced that eto'o is the best guarantee for the team to win trophies. if for guardiola the team is the most important thing, he should listen to the team. which he did. but probably he should have done it earlier.

eto'o playing for another team would not only have meant him not scoring for us but also him scoring for another team. cause wherever he would have played, he would have scored. eto'o can play every system, every team, every league, he'll always score, every week, or close.


that wouldn't only have meant frustration amongst everyone involved with barcelona about letting eto'o slip away so easily, but it would also have put an immense pressure on whoever would have replaced him. henry already felt that pressure during the pre-season and he apparently couldn't handle it. and this was henry. and this was the pre-season. and this was a press who was giving the new team some time.

you can now only hope the whole matter has been spoken through with eto'o in long and open-hearted face-to-face meetings between all parties concerned, including txiki and laporta, and that they will keep on talking with eto'o all along the season. eto'o('s ego) is hurt and he has every right to be. but if you speak openly and you can find the right words, i'm convinced you can totally win him back for the team. if this hasn't been done (and barcelona officials have recently proved several times that people management isn't their strong point), eto'o is a ticking time bomb.

i would have preferred a press conference involving eto'o, guardiola, laporta, txiki and puyol as captain. eto'o should have apologized for some of his acts during the past years (keeping the statement as vague as possible, so everyone could have given his own interpretation), guardiola and txiki should have admitted eto'o has proved them wrong.
in the ideal world, laporta would have announced that eto'o and barcelona have agreed a two-year renewal. and then there would be a bright picture.

that was the way to act, also to give all kinds of speculation in the press no chance. it was really disappointing to see how part of the media, especially el mundo deportivo, has acted over the last weeks. the catalan press is a real problem for fc barcelona.

henry
apart from his performances on the pitch, another reason why it could have been wrong to buy henry last summer is that it prevented eto'o to pick up the mentor role regarding bojan. henry took that role which left eto'o on the side where he didn't have to be the example for the youngster, something he would have loved, i'm sure. i admit i only recently figured that out, so maybe you can't blame the club too much for that.

since few clubs in the world can pay his salary plus a transfer fee and most (all?) of these clubs are english so no option due to the player's arsenal past, henry will most probably be here for three more years so we'll have to make the best of it. how?


first of all, we should be aware that henry has never played 4-3-3, so it is wrong to say that he should be played as a centre forward "cause he has always played there and he did great and he will be great again". he has never played there. i actually think the barcelona left wing position could maybe come closer to the position henry played at arsenal than the barcelona centre forward position.

the arsenal henry i remember is playing up front, falling to the left wing, getting a ball that has been recovered at the back and then henry has time. time to think, time to act. what will i do? do i shoot? do i make a dribble? a run? do i pass the ball to my co-striker (if there is one)? do i wait for one of the running midfielders like pires or ljungberg? or what? he decides and he acts.

barcelona isn't that kind of recover-and-then-quickly-go-forward team, barcelona plays dominantly, they have possession, they play on the half on the opponent who holds nine men behind the ball and certainly as centre forward that means: no time. no time to think, no time to act. no five ball touches. two defenders in your neck. one second. one touch. one chance. every game.


henry already played several matches as centre forward last season in the barcelona 4-3-3 when eto'o got injured at the start of the season and it didn't work. he came back from injury, he had to adapt to a new league, a new system, new team-mates, that's all true. but it's also true it didn't work. which doesn't mean it couldn't work this season but you should be aware of the past and learn from it.

henry should be clearly told he will be mainly a bench player and he should make that switch in his head, otherwise he'll fail. he's not a star anymore, not the key player, he's not the one who can scream at his team-mates when he doesn't get every ball, he's just one of the guys and he should fully realize that, accept that and act to that. he's number two as centre forward and at times he'll even be number three.

on the pitch he should lay off that mixture of french arrogance and fake london cool and just do his job without this drama queen behaviour of stop running every time a defender blows in his neck, lifting his arms up to the sky, putting his arms in his sides and shaking his head when the referees don't act like he think they should have acted.

henry should basically become a humble, scoring team servant. to achieve that i would advice sending henry on a one-week holiday to sweden after the wisla game so he can learn from the master. the transfer fee and the salary make a comparison difficult, but let's hope at least on the pitch henry will become the new larsson.



25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Let's hope it'll work.

The problem could now be financially since it's most likely both Eto'o (in 2010) and Henry (in 2011) will leave on a free transfer (or before against a very reduced price).

wanted47 said...

nice post pep!!!
finally eto will stay.
i feel bad for henry because everytime i remember how good he was at arsenal and now he is just normal player.first of all henry can`t handle presure compared to eto..best example was the CL Final 2006 arsenal vs barca...he worked hard but couldn´t score..had 2or3 good chance so score but he didn´t.eto had his chance and he scored.ímao guardiola should talk to henry..he should give him back that killerinstinkt he had at arsenal "show no fear, show no mercy, never surrender" just like eto did in the pre-seson.

Anonymous said...

i agree with you....nice work ;)
great blog

Anonymous said...

i cannot have said it better myself. really really solid. i agree totally that laporta and barca management should have been a lot more apologetic to etoo after the way he treated him. and u 100% on henry, he has been a failure in all regards. i just dont see him taking that bench role, which may just cause problems all over again

Anonymous said...

Couldn't agree more, great blog Pep, to sell Eto'o would be foolish in the extreme. I would let Henry go, and look at Silva to fill the left wing void. Eto'o is a genuine class act and will be a hit this season. His goals will take Barca to the title and a long long way in the Champions League.

Great blog Pep, Keep up the good work. As a Barca fan in Wales, UK, this is where I come for my Barca news.

Anonymous said...

I think that without a striker like Adebayor or Drogba we won't be able to beat United/Liverpool/Chelsea. That is the sad truth.

Anonymous said...

Without Zambrotta we were already likely to beat Manchester in May. If we can get those little mistakes out of our game, we can go all the way.

Anonymous said...

There's no such "truth" in football, it's not a science. Drogba and Adebayor wanted to stay at their clubs anyway, so no time to cry about that now. We ahve a talented squad that should be able to play for the liga and do well in the CL although you always need some luck to win that one.

Alvin Lee said...

Hey Pep,

From Manila, would like to congratulate and also thank you so much for your blog !!! This is beyond awesome! Football is not this country's national sports so having said that, I thank you for always updating me about my favorite club Barca. I hurt and I jump with joy over match results.

Would be great also if whenever there's a match, maybe you could post some ideas where I could watch it cause been always surfing the net when a match comes up and takes time sometimes for me to do that.

Thanks and GREAT BLOG !!!

PS I really hope we get SILVA and get our defense finally corrected cause for the longest time, that was our weakest link.

Anonymous said...

Hey pep!!:)
I am not sure which part of olympics got u bored so u thought "u know what, I'll post something on my blog", well then...I wish u get bored more often;)
Secondly i kind of feel relief because finally someone else mentioned Crespo name, as u already know i have been suggesting that since the begining of the transfer period and everyone here felt it doesnt worth commenting on, they totaly ignored that option, so finaly i am not lonely anymore hehe
I think Crespo is the best player in the world to play that larsson role, he has all what it need, finishing, strength in the box, positioning,experience,price, and most importantly the well to come from the bench..I dont know y he has never been considered as an option, specialy when inter were collecting funds for the quarizma transfer.I still believe its not too late.
When it come to eto, the only thing i can consider as a big mistake from his side, is the mentality "win titles or i am leaving" that he shared with deco,u need ur players to fight for titles, not to request them. or else even the card to miss rteal madrid game, i would do the same!and i feel its something that has a Rivality spirit and thats the best u can hope in a barca player, what were u expecting him to do?two years ago he had THAT speech when barca won the title, making all RM fans insulted in a way or another specialy for being an EX madrid player, and now u want him to b a part of that insulting seen of the best squad in the world standing on lines cheering real for winning the title?well that need more than just sport spirit to be dont.

Regarding Henry...well i slightly disagree with u that the barcelona wing is closer to what he played in arsenal...he was "THE" striker in arsenal, tacticaly he was moving into channels(mainly left), but he was the striker. I agree that striker in england has more time to think and decise than in spain, but isnt it the same for a winger?If henry stay and played as a striker, u can at least hope that he get back his finishing form and score more often, he may move to left opening spaces for his team mates, he may head the ball better that eto(that dont mean eto is not the first striker), but as a winger? what will he offer?a winger in england need the ability to throw the ball and race for it in a space then cross, in spain there is no space nor for the ball niether for a body of henry physic, winger in spain need mobility and dribling skills in narrow spaces, no wonder y most of the wingers in spain are short with tinny bodies, so henry cant b a spanish winger.
The best thing i ever read on this blog is ur hint regarding barca people management!man we really need to write a lot about that!but my comment is too long now and it seems even not nice to write that long comment.

Finally my best option in the begining of the transfer period was that we keep eto +crespo+bojan, now i hope as u mentioned that henry accept a "larsson" role the best he can...the best barca can get...

barcablogger said...

What about a little modified 4-4-2 diamond? Henry could start from the left (as he used to), Messi from the right (in a kind of free role). We don't have classical attacking wingers (Messi? Well...), so maybe we could leave place near the lines for Alvés and Iniesta (Abidal). IMHO Henry isn't that bad, as you see.

I also don't think that it is bad for Bojan that Henry is his mentor. Henry knows everything of this game.

ps.: sorry for my english

Anonymous said...

well put pep. i think that the board will never openly come out and say 'we screwed up the way we handled this' equally i cant see etoo apologising publicly so i guess we just have to hope it is all worked out behind closed doors.
as regards henry i live in england and got to enjoy him play at his very best, and i dont think i've seen a CF come close to him in those days. but that was then this is now if say united were offering 10-12 mil i'd say keep henry and see what he can do, because i think he can be great for barca, not arsenal level, but like you said a bit like larsson only more prominent. however 25 mil (if this is true which i doubt) is simply too good to turn down as much as id hate to see him in a united shirt. use that to get a complementary striker to etoo who offers something different, get silva and we can really push in most competitions.
on the new larsson thing is crespo still a free transfer as i saw him play for inter?

Anonymous said...

Pep, that was well put. Said like a ture fan but also someone who understands the game and speaks truth. You support Barca not just a player. I wonder where's Kxevin? Has he not woken yet?

cbr_boss said...

I highly dis-agree lol I'm playing well put although I still think he has it in him i hope if he does become the off the bench striker that it sparks his wick and he pulls his years back and becomes a beast that way eto'o will keep his self tightly knitted too it can only work out good things for barca. P.S I miss Ronnie..

Anonymous said...

Ronni was a victim of his own faults plus lack of leadership on the bench(coach), plus lack of man management (board).

Anonymous said...

Sorry Pep, but I disagree. I think that having a healthy, committed Henry in the starting lineup is the best way to ultimate success for Barca.

By the by, anybody who thinks that I don't support the club over ANY player, up to and including the allegedly divine Messi, needs his head examined. It's why I'm a soci, it's why I bother with things such as blogs and discussions.

Now. Eto'o is not the best centre-forward in the world. Adebayor is. We couldn't get him, so we have a guy who is certainly in the top 5.

If "being an individualist" means the behavior problems, okay. Henry hasn't thrown tantrums or head-butted journalists or said "No silver, no me." But that's just part of the individualism of great players, I guess. I'll accept that one.

Teammates are coming out in favor of Eto'o for the same reason fans are: Change is scary. Learning to play with the likes of an Adebayor isn't as easy as playing with the guy you know. Simple as that.

Eto'o works just fine, until the side comes up against a real back line. Then, absent a Ronaldinho and Deco as against Man U, and even the mess of a tie that was the Liverpool series the year before, he doesn't work as well. Neither does the traditional Barcelona system.

A different type of striker gives us the tactical versatility necessary to run a different pattern.

Krkic can do what Eto'o does. He's ready. Who can provide the kind of tactical flexibility that a center forward of the likes of Drogba, Adebayor or even Berbatov could provide?

A properly used Henry.

Does that mean Henry should be stuffed in the box and fed long ball after long ball until one sticks? No. That's crazy. Barca plays in La Liga, not the EPL.

Further, if Eto'o gets sold, I don't know that he would pour in goals at the rate as he does now. He didn't in Mallorca. Not even close. Eto'o needs players to take the pressure off him. So does Messi, and almost any other great player.

We had a player who didn't need anyone to relieve pressure for a couple of glorious years: Ronaldinho. That's it.

Eto'o will be productive for the side. Not as much against the stronger sides, but that's part of the Eto'o pill that you swallow when you keep him.

As far as the "make up," as I've said in the past, the real reason for keeping Eto'o is that Arsenal wouldn't deal realistically on Adebayor. Period. Don't know how public Guardiola and Txiki want to make that statement, though.

So they'll spout some hogwash about pre-season and tractability and whatnot, as if knocking in goals against the Red Bulls and Chivas matters.

And Eto'o won't apologize. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that one.

As for Eto'o taking the mentor role with Krkic, he certainly could have helped, and even taken over from Henry. I don't buy Henry's excluding Eto'o from that role. It takes a village to raise a young striker, after all.

Henry is going to fail because he isn't the player that he was at Arsenal, and nobody seems to realize that. His physical skills don't allow for that any longer.

Some of it is because he isn't allowed to be that kind of player that he was there, which was playing just off the shoulder of the defense, backed by a Bergkamp or Pires type, taking the pass and working the mojo.

But it's also because he's being jammed into a system that isn't going to be adapted to his talents at all. If the club is going to do that, he should be sold. For the good of all.

But the above is my opinion, just like the catalyzing post if Pep's opinion. Ultimately, opinion is personal, so it's really difficult to say anyone is right or wrong. We can only agree or disagree.

Anonymous said...

You can't ask the team to play in function of Henry, Kxevin. Who is he to ask that? The player should adapt to the system, like Eto'o did when he came with us and never had played the system.

If Henry only can play one system (meaning: a whole team serving him), I would advice him to go to a second-level team. Which he won't do, so we're stuck with Henry, hope he can pick up that Larsson role but I doubt it.

Kxevin, I think you're stuck in an anti-Eto'o logic (most of the arguments you use against Eto'o you could use three times as hard against Henry, but you don't, Henry also has been whining about not being able to play as centre forward, by the way) which now prevents you from reasoning logically, so I guess I'll leave you there.

Anonymous said...

Is The Game Live On The Net?? Link?? ANYONE!!
KEMPE CYPRUS..
21:45 SPAIN TIME??

Anonymous said...

IMPORTANT!!!
One of the good things about this blog is that it used to b a place to exchange opinions and respect defferences...
I noticed lately lot of "personal" attacks...I hope its just a cycle and it will vanish sooner rather later...
No one has the complete truth, let me remind u all here r writing their "point of views"...i am not sure how many people here studied football management...having a UEFA pro lisence or something...i dont think any...else u would have no time to comment...
those people whom u r attacking are actually who make u enjoy being on this blog...u can find the news u find here anywhere else on the net...some places put more news...but what make this blog special is each and every one who comment...
I hope people read and understand this message...
thank u all for being here...

Anonymous said...

The Larsson role was something I thought about since they bought him, cause you couldn't see him play Eto'o out of the team. But did he realize that when signing and would he accept that? Let's wait and see...

Anonymous said...

Kxevin.. You have to love the dude. He is so true.. cld be sentimental atimes .. jst like every normal human. I love Henry so much and I dont believe he should be "rubbished" like people are. Would David Silva get us 19goals and 20assist as a centre foward(playing out of position)? I love Eto'o too and i really understand his "ego" cos am African as well. We are proud but i wont say arrogant. Every man needs his pride..lol...
And I said this on skysports' Arsenal forum when someone was comparing Ade and Titi, its very easy for you to love Titi's person, he would easily make it in life as a POLITICIAN.. he knows how to win people over. Thats why Bojan "fell in love" with him. And that was y the whole Portsmouth fans were singing his name after he had singelhandedly "killed their team in a 5-0 Arsenal victory at Portsmouth ground. More people would easily take to Henrys person. And his football isnt as "awful" people are making it seem. ENUFF SAID!!!

Unknown said...

bit late kevxvin but i am with you... I refuse to fawn over eto'o like pep (surprisingly) and a number of the other commentors have done.. Eto'o is a a very immature person with a an unflattering history of temper tantrums , violent outbursts and selfishness... the last one maybe I can forgive a little because I think all great strikers need to be a little selfish. I think eto is definitely in the top three in terms if centre fowards.. when he is playing.. happy or unhappy ...he scores... so I am glad he stayed on the one hand.. but I completley understand why we tried to get rid of him eto'o was injured a lot last year but when he got healthy he was scoring at a rate of 2 goals every 3 games.. consistently.. but yet what did we win with this scoring machine in our squad >>>>O dont get me wrong there were other problems two ( the defence /work rate rijkard's tactics) but added to that list.. is the fact that the squad was very disjointed very divided.. and mr Eto'o played a MAJOR ROLE in this last one and I think thats why we wanted him gone .. thats why guradiola didnt want him... guardiola isnt dumb he knows eto'o is a goal machine.. but he also knows what the value of a unified team is and the negative effects assholes like sammy eto'o can have on a team..

Eto'o is behaving for now. and that is good.. I am a lifelong barcelona fan so i sincerely hope this continues.. and I hope the board treat him with respect as well. but no man is above the team... the first sign of trouble.. he's out in my books!

cojonudo said...

I don't think Barcelona need to apologize to Eto'o for anything! Some of you still are hanging on to this ill conceived notion that Barcelona somehow disrespted him by coming forward in the media and stating that Eto'o was not counted upon for the upcoming season...

So I ask you what's the greatest form of disrespect here? That Guardiola came out and said Eto'o was not in the team's plans? or Eto'o bailing out on the rest of his teammates, making them suffer the indignity of having to form the "guard of honor" at Madrid while he propped his feet up back home watching the whole thing on the tele? Please! Stop with the hypocrisy already!

As for Guardiola's "reasoning" on a different sort of target man, take into account that he was looking at it from more than just one perspective. Besides providing an in-the-box threat, it would also have allowed Alves' crosses to become that much more deadly and effectient, providing an additional threat to the opposition.

So for everyone who viewed a Pep's target man in an individualistic sense where not taking into account Pep's grander scheme that would have benefited the entire team not just one man.

As for Henry, the bigger fault was with the fans, and their unrealistic expectations of him rather than his individual performances on the pitch. This is NOT Arsenal! It would be the same, imagining that Messi would be the same type of player playing for Chelsea! Totally ridiculous! Different systems, different leagues, different players, etc.

And if you look at Henry's performance from an objective viewpoint he really didn't have anywhere near THAT poor a season as most of you perceive! The fact that he didn't manage to score 30+ goals seems to be the only thing some of you misguided fans are hanging your hats on! I guess then, assists don't count. And what's more this past season only reinterated to me that Henry is much MORE than just a one trick pony, or "just" a goalscorer. He can and is unselfish as well, and having to accept playing out of position for a spell, he handled it with class and didn't make too many rumblings about it. Sure, he voiced his displeasure, but imagine if that was Eto'o instead of him? Eto'o would have vented with sure ire that it would have made the foundation of Camp Nou shake!

The lesson here is that EVERYONE should be held accountable for their actions! If Eto'o is still scratching his head over why Barcelona have recently soured on him, he only need take one look in the mirror! And please don't say that I'm Eto'o bashing. He's my favorite Barcelona player. But as a person, he has a lot of growing up to do.

Anonymous said...

Although disappointing about his attitude at the end of last season, I think his team-mates coming out was the key for me to really want Eto'o to stay.

It was suggested by Guardiola ("the team is the most important thing for me") that there was a problem with his mates but the way they stood up for him showed there wasn't and they want him there.

The "change is scary" argument from Kxevin is ridiculous and just shows how he tries to turn the facts his way. Cause no one stood up for Ronaldinho or Deco like they did for Eto'o. The change of Ronnie leaving apparently didn't scare them (because they knew he was over and his attitude really was a provblem for the team).

Cut the crap, Eto'o is the greatest, so glad he stayed, proved us right yesterday. henry can play at the left or from the bench but as striker there's just one man who can deal with that spot and it's Eto'o.

Anonymous said...

Happy that Guardiola saw his maistake and was courageous enough to rectify it. That's being a great coach and a great person!

If Henry indeed could make some mind switch and don't focus on the "I can only be good as main striker" thing, he could play and be great on the left.

Custom Search
 
Custom Search