CHAPTER 297: Getafe 0 - 1 Barcelona

Alternative Title: Minimum Goal, Maximum Points


I’m not going to go lash out my opinions on the ref and the linesman, not going to waste my time on those sh-t. Straight to the positives & the negatives of the game.

Positives

• Another win, another 3 points added to the league table for Barça.

• It’s the 6th straight win in La Liga.

• Besides that, Valdes and the team ended the game with yet another clean sheet, and it is also the 6th in a row (coinciding with the tea’s win streak).

• Barcelona played out a good game in terms of controlling and dictating the match to their behalf and achievement. They played out a good overall attacking game in the first half (a good number of chances) and in the second half Barça played out a good overall defending display to hold on to that 1 goal lead. I felt that throughout the game Barça controlled ball possession and dictated the tempo of the game quite well (in earning the 3 points).

• I felt that throughout the game Getafe didn’t really threaten much on Barça’s goal.

• Messi scored, and it end up being the important winning goal. In addition, it adds up his goal tally, and that was a good goal as well.

• Barça wins a game at Getafe’s ground. This is an important positive, not only is it an important victory at the stage of the league at this moment, but to get a win there after the previous bad runs that Barça had there from the previous seasons has to be a positive boost for the team.

• Barça now is gaining crucial points as the league closes in.

• The last positive point that I want to state regarding this match is that, with this victory over Getafe, Barcelona now has obtained at least a win against every team in the league this season (!). This is an excellent statistic and achievement for the team and Guardiola and his staff. Remarkably considering that its Pep’s first season in charge of the team.

Negatives

• Stojkovic saving Barcelona’s chances in the 1st half: Henry’s shooting twice in close range, Pique’s bicycle kick form a Daniel Alves cross and once Messi’s swerving shot from outside the box. There were good saves from the keeper, but had the team converted those chances, Barça would came out at half time with a possibly big and comfortable score advantage.

• I really feel that Henry ought to have scored from those 2 chances of his on close range. I didn’t feel he had a good game in terms of burying his chances in this game.

• A terrible freekick from Lionel Messi on the 60th minute.

• Messi's bicycle kick on the 63rd minute could have been executed better (could been a spectacular goal for the Argentinean).

• Busquets once lost possession of the ball on 64th minute that led to Getafe getting possession of the ball and attacked into Barça’s half (one of those could have been disastrous change of moments).

• Messi’s goal on the 80th/81st minute shouldn’t be ruled offside (IMO, strongly). That was a perfect goal (b-stards).

• On the 83rd minute, Eto’o’s shot went past the post.

• Eto’o’s shot on the 89th minute had hit off the post. And that was from a ggod pass from Lionel Messi after he drawn the Getafe defenders towards him before executing the pass to Eto’o. Had Samuel scored it would have been similar to the one he scored at Osasuna. A negative point here is that had the ball gone in, it would have sealed the win for Barça, and then we wouldn’t have to face further anxiety as the clock kept ticking in until the end.

• I’ve been stating out bad aspects on Samuel Eto’o the last two points. Frankly, I don’t believe he had a good game attacking. Was awful in both scoring chances and also in attacking buildup. Whenever he had 1-2s with Messi he couldn’t control the ball or lost it and those disrupted Barça’s attacking and flow of scoring chances. This is one of Eto’o’s disappointing and bad games of the season, and he hasn’t been doing good in attack for 2 games now (IMO).

• Alves’ yellow card. Looking at the replay of the incident that got him cautioned, there no looked as there wasn’t any contact and that Getafe punk dived. Alves’ was unlucky and it was unjust. The big negative point in this is that it’s going to be bad in terms of the team’s upcoming games since it might disrupt good chances in utilizing Alves (vitally that the 2nd part of the Tourmalet is coming).