yeah, barcelona were exposed again yesterday by real madrid who played decidedly less cynical than in many previous meetings although as per this article they may have cribbed from chelsea's drogba who milked the clock with repeated injury stoppages. injury time is usually compensated in stoppage time after 90 minutes has expired but it takes teams out of rhythm and ruins the game as much as diving. they should rein it in by forcing a player off the field for two minutes if they call for medical attention but they wont.

hard to say if yesterdays loss was a question of tactics or personel. barcelona lost their world class left fullback to a liver transplant a couple of months ago and that loss was apparent on both goals yesterday. but more troubling for barca is their goal scoring drought. despite 70% possession of the ball, barca were only able to put three shots on goal. teams will now cede space on the outside while crowding the middle and force barcelona wide. barcelona is not particularly dangerous in the air on crosses since all their offensive players are small.

i could go on but you are better off reading this page if you are interested.
- dave 4-22-2012 5:26 pm