Visca Barça 1.0

Visca Barça is a weekly column here at Forza Futbol where we tap into what´s happening at FC Barcelona, the player´s of the week, the quotes of the week and most importantly the week´s top stories.

After a weekend where many were questioning not only the general state of the team after the humiliating home-loss to recently promoted Hércules of Alicante, but also Pep Guardiola´s judgment in the aftermath of that match, the ship was righted yesterday with an emphatic win against Panathinaikos but there are still questions to be raised.

The visitor´s goal by ex-Lyon striker Sidney Govou was a classic case of Eric Abidal being left alone on an island as Gerard Pique was slow to react to the threat and Puyol had pressured up the pitch. Pana had no other credible support and the Frenchman edged past his former teammate for the goal. It´s not a direct criticism, Barça will allow these chances if a club can capitalize, but in the grand scheme of things the goal didn´t hurt either their chances or their confidence. The inclusion of Puyol, even at half-strength with a muscle pull, was key to their efforts in this game (along with Dani Alves I might add) and a primary reason why Hércules beat Barcelona soundly over the weekend. Abidal just didn´t have the physical presence to handle Paraguayan international Nelson Valdéz.

Minutes later, the goal-fest began: Xavi finds Messi on a neat diagonal dink into the space coonceded by Pana defender Jean-Alain Boumsong. Eleven minutes later David Villa made it 2-1 with a tap-in off a Busquets deflected corner and it looked like a return to their brilliant form, race-car football at it´s finest. You would be hard-pressed to argue. A mazy-run through a static Pana defense made it 3-1. A botched penalty could have made it 4-1, but Pedro made the rout stick with a tap-in after Messi´s speculative ball through the goal mouth bounced luckily off the post and into the Canarian´s path. I hate to use the term lucky bounces, but this match was filled with some breaks for the hosts. Alves´s cheeky header bounced over a sprawling Pana keeper was one more to a bit of skill and more than the same amount to good fortune.

The scoreline flattered and yet deceived I´m afraid. There are still plenty of questions unanswered from the Hércules match. With Puyol and man-of-glass Gaby Milito at less than their full strength, the club is thin at the center of defense. It is no wonder Pep railed against the Chygrinsky sale back to Shaktar Donetsk, but he should take some of the blame too for not finding a younger replacement for Rafa Marquez and for allowing Manchester City to sign Yaya Touré. Unlike his replacement Javier Mascherano, the Ivorian can play in the center of defense, and none of the fullbacks are perfect fits for the position either. Could they also not have used Martin Cáceres in that role on Sunday? He might not be the sort of player they like, but the Uruguayan is a full international and can play all along the backline. He´d at least be more adaptable than Abidal for one.

As with the center-backs too, the club will rue not having another option up front. It´s clear that Ibrahimovic was a distraction. They made an informed, executive decision to remove him before the problem surfaced on the field, but this puts them back to where they were before. Limited options tactically. Bojan, Pedro, Jeffren, Dos Santos, Messi, Villa, I can go on, but all of them give you the same look. Maybe not the same talent or skill, but they represent one option. Take that option away as Hércules did and they have Puyol and Pique to slam headers in arriving late in the box. They´re great, but predictable in their greatness.

What´s the answer? Well, that´s for another time and another column.