Well, he has to be toast now. I'm not much in a mood for joking, but I thought this sign was pretty clever:
here si the match report from FCB.com Barca suffered a 2-4 defeat to reigning league champions Valencia at the Nou Camp tonight in an incident packed game that saw Van Gaal's team fail to take advantage of their numerical superiority in the second half after Canizares had been sent off towards the end of the first half. Double trouble from Valencia Valencia started the brightest and for the first twenty minutes played some sparkling football that Barca were unable to deal with. On twelve minutes Benitez's team's pressure on Rochemback meant the young Brazilian lost the ball in his own half and Aimar took advantage to put the ball past Bonano. Four minutes later Aimar again found himself in a dangerous position, but Bonano was able to save. Overmars had Barca's first opportunity when he tried to steer home a Kluivert cross. On 23 minutes, Iniesta did well to put Xavi through, but he couldn't beat Canizares, then two minutes later Vicente provoked a corner on the left which the giant Carew headed home for Valencia's second. Barca make chancesand score Overmars was involved in a couple of chances on 27 and 28 minutes, first centering for Iniesta to head inches wide, then seeing his attempted lob just miss the target. Xavi was next to try his luck, on 36 minutes, but Canizares got down well to stop his shot. Van Gaal replaced Rochemback with Riquelme on 38 minutes and finally the goal that looked as if it had to come, arrived when Xavi robbed a ball in midfield and slipped a pass through to Motta, who rounded his marker and fired low past the keeper. Cañizares sees red What looked to be a key moment came on 41 minutes, when Kluivert broke free of the defence to meet a through ball from Xavi, only to be brought down on the edge of the box by Canizares, who was immediately shown a red card by the ref. Benitez brought on reserve keeper Palop and Reuben Baraja was the outfield player sacrificed to make way for him. Mendieta on for the second half Mendieta took over from Gabri at half time, with Puyol dropping back into defence and the ex-Valencia midfielder playing wide on the right. He soon put in the first of a series of excellent crosses that Kluivert somehow managed to fail to put away when he was clear on goal. Almost immediately, Xavi was brought down in the box, but the ref failed to see anything. On 54 minutes, Pellegrino just managed to put Overmars off his shot after he'd been set up by Xavi and Valencia didn't have their first shot on goal till 64 minutes, when Carew's long shot went over the bar. No happy ending as Valencia grab two more With Valencia camped in their own area, the last half hour saw Barca laying siege to the visitors' goal, but without making any clear chances. Overmars and Cocu both came close with long range efforts, but it was Valencia who broke out of defence and hit Barca won the counter. First Carew waltzed round Puyol and pulled the ball back for Fabio Aurelio who dummied the keeper to score an excellent third, then on 42 Albeda broke from midfield and set up Rufete for the killer fourth. Patrick Kluivert got a consolation second for Barca, but it was too little too late and it was 10-man Valencia who took the points.
U get the feeling that Kluivert couldn't score with a drunk sorority girl at a kegger. I am getting sick of reading/seeing him miss an "easy" chance. I would like to see him go along with LvG and Gaspart. We need change, and he just misses too many easy chances.
This makes me ill. Really. It does. That, or I have a stomach virus. Time to get rid of the lot of them. Change in leadership and a coaching change. Maybe we can get Koeman or... dare I say Cruyff? Paul
Awful, I have to recognize I was ashamed to be a Barça fan on saturday, it s a team without ideas, I really wish we lose on Balaídos and then LvG resigns as a proof of dignity.
BTW the media already started a search for the next Míster some people say Luis Enrique may take the charge to have a coach-player rol given his authority in the squad: http://www.elmundodeportivo.es/20030120/NOTICIA53230554.html Another ones put Zaccheroni aware of the situation but he doesnt recognize an approach: http://www.sport.es/Barsa/article.asp?id=56800 And it seems Radomir Antic (former Atletico and Oviedo coach) could take it too: http://www.sport.es/Barsa/article.asp?id=56777
I saw the match and Barcelona is simply a mess right now. They are playing without any confidence and van Gaal (Van Mal???) has lost all control of the squad. Barca began the game with Saviola, Riquelme and Mendieta on the bench. Even when they all came on as subs, the team didn't gain any stength from them. Valencia, however, looked very good. They dominated the match with their fine passing and even after Cañizares was sent off (brought Kluivert down outside the area), Valencia never really looked threatened by Barca. Overmars was the only Barca player who played well v Valencia.
He couldn't. Remember his court case in the late '90s? I believe that was before he killed someone in a car accident. Kluivert can't score against the big boys. He never could since he's been at Barça. I'm glad that there's a break in the Champions League, as it gives Van Mal a lot less cards to hold right now. Actually El Mundo Deportivo & Marca are betting on Bernd Schuster, while Sport has Zaccheroni on their home page. At this point, I don't even care. Just stop the bleeding and the embarassment.
The champions’ spirit shone through stronger than ever last night at Camp Nou. Valencia gave Barcelona a real lesson at their own ground and scored without too much difficulty despite playing for 50 minutes with only ten men. In a steamrolling start to the match our team put some distance between them and the home team thanks to two strikes by Aimar and an exuberant John Carew. Van Gaal’s lads were against the ropes but after pulling back a little bit with a goal by Motta the referees, once more, added to Valencia’s load with a rigorous red card for Cañizares (minute 40). Valencia went into the changing rooms at halftime with ten men and with ten men came out to face up to the second half. However, there were not just ten men on the Catalan pitch in white shirts there were ten giants each with the clubs insignia etched in fire in their hearts. With this champions’ spirit, with suffering and in the end with exceptional quality our team was able to defend the 1-2 result and sentence the match in the closing stages. Tremendous goals by Fabio Aurelio and Rufete finished Barça off and nullified the second goal by Kluivert. The beginning of the match was clearly marked y the superiority of our team. Baraja and Albelda did a great job keeping up the pressure and recovering loose balls, Aimar and Vicente came out victorious from all their duels and Carew imposed his physique on Gabri and De Boer. Barcelona was like a soft toy in Valencia’s hands. The constant incursions into Bonano’s area made the home crowd’s hair stand on end and they witnessed in silence the Valencian exhibition. Baraja sent over a warning shot heading a centre by Fabio wide in the 11th minute. It was in the 12th when the scoreboard moved to 0-1. Baraja pressured Gabri and he got the ball off him close to the area. He drove it on then heeled it back to Aimar who fired at the goal and neither Bonano nor his defence could do anything to impede the goal. The best part was that, to the surprise of the home fans, Valencia continued to dominate the match in search of 0-2. They received their prize in the 26th minute when John Carew, who put in one of his finest performances as a Valencian player, headed in a corner kick taken by Aimar. On seeing everything was lost the home team launched a desperate attack highlighting their quality as players, adding merit to our players’ performance. Motta, off a fine pass by Xavi, reduced the gap with a low shot that slipped inside the post (min. 38). It was at this point the referee made his presence felt. Rodríguez Santiago who had had not stood out until that moment took three risky decisions almost consecutively and in all of them he ruled against Valencia. Firstly, he allowed Kluivert to start his run from a doubtful position, then he gave Cañizares the red card when he collided with Kluivert in front of the area. The expulsion of our captain, who saw his return to the team after injury spoilt, meant our team had to face up to 50 very difficult minutes. Even before halftime there was time for our team to be waylaid a third time by the referee. Aimar trapped the ball before Bonano but Rodríguez Santiago scuppered the occasion blowing up a non-existent offside. Our team came back on to the field of play with their batteries charged with courage. The second half was only apt for the brave at heart. Palop, Garrido, Fabio, Ayala, Pellegrino, Albelda, Rufete, Aimar, Vicente and Carew were the ten chosen ones for glory. Latter Carboni and De los Santos joined the festival. (Baraja gave up his post in favour of Palop after the expulsion of Cañizares). The first 30 minutes were a constant defensive deployment by Valencia. Ayala and Pellegrino multiplied themselves to cover Palop who, once more was up to the task in hand, confidently clearing the many incoming balls in his area. The five hundred, or more, Valencia supporters that travelled to Barcelona held their breath and from the stand reinforced the resolution of the ten heroes who continually held off the Barcelona attacks. Van Gaal sent on Riquelme, Mendieta and Saviola but all the talent in the world could not overcome the power of the Champion. The last fifteen minutes arrived. A quarter of an hour that will remain etched in the memories of all Valencia supporters. In the 83rd minute Carew ran thirty meters with the ball and pressured Puyol, he beat him with his momentum and regained the ball passing it to Fabio. The Brazilian, who showed his faith in the Norwegian accompanying him in his advance, filled Nou Camp with Brazilian magic. He stopped the ball in the area and saw the Barcelona defender overshoot and then he had the level-headedness of a goal scorer. He fired with his left foot and… the match was over. The score was 1-3. But the final firecrackers were still to come. As a result of the tremendous pressure put on by Albelda (the lad from Pobla Llarga deserves a monument for his performance in this match) Rufete received a sweet temptation in the corner of the area which he converted in the a poisoned dart for Bonano. A crossing shot made it 1-4 in the 87th minute. Kluivert’s goal in the 89th minute was merely an anecdote. By that time Nou Camp had broken out into a sea of white handkerchiefs but at the same time gave a round of applause for Valencia. The referee blew the final whistle and the Barcelona supporters made there way home fired up. It was then, high up in the stands that one was able to experience the joy of the five hundred Valencia supporters who were still singing in celebration of the heroic deed and a truly great Valencia. The official review from the official Valencia C de F website. There is no Valencia forum, so I thought I would post it here. Hope it sits well with you guys.
Barca's play of late does not sit well with me The writer of that piece certainly loves to use similes.. You can hardly tell which side he was rooting for Good performance by The Oranges...lousy performance by the boys in blau