Early Season Review by Alex

Almost Over a Month into the new season, Barcelona has played 6 Games in the La Liga and 2 in Champions League and now would be a good time to get in an early review of how the season is coming along for our forwards. We finished off the good work from last season by winning the 2 Super Cups we were involved in against Shakhtar and Athletic Bilbao. We have faced a few stern tests in Inter Milan under Jose Mourinho and Dynamo Kiev in the European Circuit. In LaLiga we have faced teams like Almeria, Atletico Madrid, Getafe, Racing Santander, Malaga and Sporting Gijon. Lets see how our attack is coming along and where we are headed from here:

Lets Get a Few Stats:

6 La Liga Games – 6 Wins – 17 Goals For – 3 Against – Joint Top Of The Table With Real Madrid

2 Champions League Games – 1 Win and 1 Draw – 2 Goals For – None Conceded Yet – Top Of The Group

2 SuperCup Finals (UEFA Super Cup and Spanish SuperCopa) – Won Both – 6 Goals For – 1 Against

Top Scorers - Zlatan Ibrahimovic - 5 Goals In La Liga

Lionel Messi - 5 Goals in 5 games, 1 in Champions League

Pedro – 1 in La Liga and 1 in Champions League

The Attacking Trident

Barcelona is famous for playing 4-3-3 in its most glorious form and when we replaced our prime target man Samu with the Giant from Sweden, a lot of critics thought that it was not a risk worth taking and definitely not worth the money paid. 6 Games in the La Liga later, Ibra has scored 5 goals – kicked them in, headed them home, clipped it over the keeper, slotted them from 5 yards out. Is he the finished product as far as fitting into the Barca system goes? I would say a clear No. But he is close. I was not expecting him to fit in and start scoring goals so soon but as he has always maintained playing with the kind of quality he has to his disposal, it is not that tough. The Messi-Ibra magic has not begun but the understanding between them is growing exponentially every game and that will scare the hell out of all our opponents.

Zlatan Rating – 7/10

King Henry has still to score a goal this season and he has picked up a knock that has kept him out of action for 2 weeks now. The work rate that he has displayed till now is carrying forward the exceptional job he did last season that made him a crowd favorite. The fire still burns in his stomach and its for everyone to see when he is on the pitch trying feverishly to get the ball back from opponents, running 50 yards if he has too. We are waiting for him to come back and form a solid partnership with Zlatan as they will be instrumental in breaking open defenses week in and week out in La Liga and also against the big names in Europe.

Henry Rating – 4.5/10

Lionel Messi or our Messiah has been in blistering form till now scoring 5 goals in 5 La Liga games he has featured in addition to the 1 trademark goal he scored midweek against Dynamo Kiev. In addition to this he has also had 3 assists. He looks good to go on and pick up the World Player of the Year, European Player of the Year and many more from all around the World. Well really do not see any player coming close to him as he already has the 3 Big titles from last season and a great start to the new season.

Messi Rating – 7.5/10

But then How Has Our Attack Been Till Now?

We had incredible difficulty breaking down Almeria last night and had to rely on a goal from heaven by Pedro. We could not score against Inter in San Siro when we had more than our (as well Inter’s) fair share of chances. Ibra was guilty of missing a few sitters in that game after doing all the hard work in terms of getting the ball down from long passes etc. Even our Messiah was at fault not to put the game at rest that night. Atletico Madrid were well taken care of and so were Racing. One that must be worrying Pep for sure is that King Henry has still not got his name on the score sheet and is out injured that is only going to delay him settling into the team and into a solid partnership with new comer Zlatan. He has been replaced by Pedro at times as well as Iniesta who have done a fair job of it, but a fair job is not that will take us far on our quest for 6 titles this term. We have to get back King Henry and fast and have him running around like he did last season and scoring goals for fun as well as clocking up those effortless assists for his teammates.

Pedro has come into the team and has frankly lit up many a dull moments. He scored the winner in the UEFA Super Cup against Shakhtar in Extra Time after some great work by Messiah. He scored the only goal in the last night win against Almeria and what a stunner it was. Barca, too be honest did not have a good game that lacked fluency and the Pass-Pass-Pass game was not working against a brutal 5-5-0 line up of Almeria. It was only a moment of magic that could have opened up their stubborn defense.

Absence of ‘Don Andres’

Last season we had 2 blips in the season. One right in the beginning and one mid season. The mid season coincided with Iniesta’s injury only highlighting the fact that he is the creative spark needed to run the show week in and week out. Xavi is the motor in the midfield that makes all the parts move and function well but it is Iniesta with his trademark runs through the heart of many a defenses that keeps the Goal register ringing. Iniesta was injured for exactly 100 days after the Champions League final and has just come back into the squad. He only started his first game against Almeria after coming in. So to get the attack to the level of last year and maybe even beyond we need Iniesta to be playing at his full potential. That seems to be still a few weeks away though.

Bojan’s Injury

Our Boy Wonder started off the season in fine order only to pick up an injury that kept him out for more than a month. He just came back into the squad for the last game against Almeria. He scored in his only start of the season too. We need him to be fit and in form to come off the bench to unlock defenses that have kept our attackers with brute force for long. He does bring a something different from all our other attackers in terms of directness and deftness of touch on the ball. He has developed a lot over the last season and it was a great decision on part of Pep and Txiki to keep him in the squad rather than have him play with some other club on loan.

Final Verdict

Our attack still has a long way to go before it fits into the rhythm required to play and win 6 titles. The Holy Trinity of Messi, Ibra and Henry is nowhere close to fitting into a system and it will take longer with Henry being out with injuty. Till then Pep will keep rotating between Pedro, Bojan and Iniesta and that only prolongs us into getting into the final, perfect shape. Xavi is being heavily man marked in games now and Iniesta is needed with all his brilliance to provide those assists and defense splitting runs. The work rate being put in by Zlatan will need to go up even further in his pursuit to becoming the Man upfront as well as a teammate everyone will rely upon for support.

Overall Rating For Out Attack – 6.5/10