Random Musings

Surprising topic!!! Let me explain.... After my last post my thoughts went numb. I had no clue what topic is still unwritten. But as the famous saying goes: "Think and Think till the bell in your head does not clink" - Fcbsoul, 20th September 2013 (full credit to me) - the only problem was that the tiny bell in my head couldn't stop. One thought after another, one feeling after another and as each day went by a new opinion was getting sown into the field of thoughts which finally made me jot down word by word the live stream going on in my head.

First things first.... F stands for Football, F stands for Fun. Watching your team play should be fun, a joyful ride, a few heart attacks and sometimes even disappointment. Have you ever seen a Manchester United fan sulk about a comeback victory saying we were crap and we pulled it in the last ten minutes? They would say we only need ten minutes to win. Not saying that's always right, but there is something to learn there. During the Sevilla match it was FUN to concede and score in the last minute. It means we pulled it off and the mistakes are getting identified. That's why I adored last season - The season of comebacks.

Even if the opponent builds a great gameplay, say, 3 times in the match we start "Our Defence Sucks" chants. In the Super Cup people said we couldn't break down the opponent’s defence, not realizing the effort put in pressing and avoiding counters was tremendous. But still all the team gets is "We cannot defend". No team is indestructible , our defence will be opened up at times which does not mean our defenders are not worthy.

Coming to my next point, which was supposed to be separate post altogether. This season I have started to respect the amount of discipline the players are maintaining. Observe Villa this season. He has always been a great player - one of my favourites, but he was never that explosive at Barca. In the Super Cup he was playing the number 10 role and was a threat which if ignored we would regret.

In this team every player has a role and you cannot just be yourself here. That's the difference between good players and great players. To be a great player you have to be willing to accept the challenge to adapt yourself and succeed (This is for the people who do not see the efforts of Alexis, Pedro and even last season’s Cesc ). If you watch them play for their respective national teams where they are allowed a free role you will actually see them in their beast mode.

Now for the latest criticism which in my opinion we are getting too obsessed with - We are playing more direct.

Ha!! Last year we wanted more directness, this year we crib about it. When Pep started his form of Tiki Taka, teams would then try to attack making it easier for us to find space and also tire them. Nowadays all teams do is building their strategy on counters and on the contrary we tire down trying to break their defence. In the match against Rayo, Valdes rarely passed the ball to the defenders; instead every ball was a long ball which most of the times went to the opponents. This on the other hand gave them more motivation to attack hence allowing us to build our game when in possession. I read a comment on twitter which went as "Overall individual performance of the players was not great but the team performance was not bad either" which I rightly stand by.

My fellow cules, change is the only thing which should be constant. No one can ever book the top berth for life. Only when you fall down will you learn to get up. Give Tata some time. We can win nothing or win all, give the man some time to impose his style. And the most important stand by your team during crisis.

Pep did the same thing. The only difference is that we were not that spoilt.

Visca Barca.