AS has a really gossipy article on the dressing room today (here: http://futbol.as.com/futbol/2013/06/07/primera/1370564270_282194.html) and among the reported player complaints are that since January Mou has pretty much only participated in the part of the daily training that the press covered. When the press left after their allotted 15 mins, Mou left the training to his assistants. There are also complaints about the fact that for three years running the training has been exactly the same, no matter the circumstances, and - the worst part - that even though they've conceded goals galore from set pieces for ages, there has never been any attempts to adress that.
The set-piece thing has been reported before and, if true, actually gives me some hope that whoever the next manager is, he'll be able to address the issue. It also sort of fits with the fact that the Spanish NT hasn't conceded a goal from a set-piece in (literally) years - don't tell me Alba makes the difference.
The set-pieces, passing game and small spaces has acutally been a really central part of the whole 'mole'-story and I'm beginning to believe it all by now. I kind of like that despite all the politics, egos and personal issues, they still take the time to complain about set-pieces.
So Mou decided he's off in January, Perez said no way, and Mou actually set out to get fired by pissing on the team to see how far he could go to force the hand of Perez, awaiting his re-election. And Perez is still saying that he believes if we'd have won the CL, Mou would have stayed. Time to come out of the fantasy land now, Flo.
What I am thinking is that if Cris wasn't such a self-motivated person, this season could have ended up looking even a lot uglier for us. He literally carried this circus.
If it hadn't been for Cris' form it would have been 03/04 all over again. I really, really do not see how anyone can claim that Mou did not put himself above the club - he's basically doing his best to sabotage the future of the squad. I've never been Mou's biggest fan, but this is beyond anything we've ever seen from him before. WTF happend to him?
Ohgodohgod, I was afraid of a last second equalizer. I am not okay with the refereeing in this group, not by a long shot. The freaking linesman that called the Russian offside looked baffled as to why he'd even done it, they're so bought.
It's all still in your hands though :D And you kept a clean sheet! And defended well! Even in the last minutes! And Alves didn't have one of his brainfarts! :DDDD
Yeah, I think he actually had a stitch in his side at one point. Someone also pointed out that it looks like he's lost muscle mass lately. How can he even be out of shape? Damn you, Mou!
So proud of Nani, though! Finally learning how to play in a team. And São Patricio. Where would we even be without you?
Patricio was srsly awesome. And Fabio <3. And yes, Nani the team player. I'm sure Ferguson watched the match and threw stuff at the television, wondering why he could never get Nani to play like that.
I think the muscle loss is different from the fitness issue. He's less bulked up these days, but I think that's on purpose, to gain speed on the turn. The fitness though. I have a (yet another) theory that the pre-season preparation was mishandeld and failed to deal prob. with those players who'd had long summer tournaments. Pretty much all the Spanish and Portuguise players have had fitness and injury issues all season long, esp. Ramos, Alonso, Fabio and Cris. Khedira's form has been off for large parts of the season and Özil, well, it took him a very long while to find form this season. Those are all players who at least reached the semis in the euroes. It was the same after the WC.
ps. if you want to watch some absurd refereering, turn on the ARG-COL qualifier. Messi is on the bench, so it's safe to watch.
Also Marcelo at the Olympics, which were even later.
Fabio came home. <3 Not befriending any linesmen again, though. It's kind of a double-edged sword, his temper, because part of what makes him such a good defender is that he takes defending so seriously.
It could that he's de-bulked on purpose in order to compensate for the speed he's lost due to the fatigue of the really long year, which is a tricky trade-off since it's also what protects him from injury when he's getting mauled out there. That makes sense, though. I don't know if it could've been alleviated with smarter rotation or if the injuries just kept coming, making rotation difficult. Hopefully they can all recharge this summer.
I think the lack of rotation has been an issue, esp. for Alonso in until around feb., but I also think that the training sessions and the progression of their form curve could have been handled better. Bless them, they fought their hearts out against Dortmund, but they were running on fumes and sheer will power and that's not how it's supposed to be with the best part of two months still left of the season. But if AS is right and the training has been the same everyday for three seasons until Mou just gave up on training in January, well, then the explanation is right there.
(Crap, Messi is on and trying to ruin the fights. At least he hasn't scored yet and looks generally pissy.)
The set-piece thing has been reported before and, if true, actually gives me some hope that whoever the next manager is, he'll be able to address the issue. It also sort of fits with the fact that the Spanish NT hasn't conceded a goal from a set-piece in (literally) years - don't tell me Alba makes the difference.
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The set-pieces, passing game and small spaces has acutally been a really central part of the whole 'mole'-story and I'm beginning to believe it all by now. I kind of like that despite all the politics, egos and personal issues, they still take the time to complain about set-pieces.
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What I am thinking is that if Cris wasn't such a self-motivated person, this season could have ended up looking even a lot uglier for us. He literally carried this circus.
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He's also wearing a condom on his head.
Okay, back to not breathing for another 45 mins!
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(Moutinho though. Awesome.)
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Cris looked like he could use a break, though :-/
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So proud of Nani, though! Finally learning how to play in a team. And São Patricio. Where would we even be without you?
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I think the muscle loss is different from the fitness issue. He's less bulked up these days, but I think that's on purpose, to gain speed on the turn. The fitness though. I have a (yet another) theory that the pre-season preparation was mishandeld and failed to deal prob. with those players who'd had long summer tournaments. Pretty much all the Spanish and Portuguise players have had fitness and injury issues all season long, esp. Ramos, Alonso, Fabio and Cris. Khedira's form has been off for large parts of the season and Özil, well, it took him a very long while to find form this season. Those are all players who at least reached the semis in the euroes. It was the same after the WC.
ps. if you want to watch some absurd refereering, turn on the ARG-COL qualifier. Messi is on the bench, so it's safe to watch.
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Fabio came home. <3 Not befriending any linesmen again, though. It's kind of a double-edged sword, his temper, because part of what makes him such a good defender is that he takes defending so seriously.
It could that he's de-bulked on purpose in order to compensate for the speed he's lost due to the fatigue of the really long year, which is a tricky trade-off since it's also what protects him from injury when he's getting mauled out there. That makes sense, though. I don't know if it could've been alleviated with smarter rotation or if the injuries just kept coming, making rotation difficult. Hopefully they can all recharge this summer.
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(Crap, Messi is on and trying to ruin the fights. At least he hasn't scored yet and looks generally pissy.)
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