Thursday Morning Hangover

By: Steve | May 8th, 2008

HALA MADRID!!! I don’t have a real hangover, just a lingering joyous delirium.

I re-read my liveblog and it doesn’t grow old - i love the fact that we were the hungrier team, playing solid, stylistic, beautiful football, the type Barca used to play and only wishes now that they could play. What a thorough victory, top to bottom. For more kicks, check out the post-mortem on the Barcelona Offside blog.

Allow me to take a step back and look at what this means for us… basically Barca is in for some major retooling in the offseason, while I think we only need to make a couple small additions in order to maintain our ascent. Next year, we should be aiming for the Liga, the Copa as well as at least the Champions League semis. There’s no reason we shouldn’t be able to do it.

Barcelona came close this year - let’s not forget that this year it seemed that no one wanted to win the Liga around January and February, mediocrity was the name of the game, and they also made the Copa finals and the Champions League semis. We should be able to match that, if not exceed it.

That said, we will need some bolstering up front, and in the back as well. Counting on a continued Raul renaissance may be asking much, but is it any coincidence that he’s done this well after being snubbed for La Furia Roja? I think not. Also, with Ruud perhaps beginning to show a bit of age, he may need more rest and Schuster hasn’t shown that he trusts any other striker completely yet. Saviola will probably leave if we find a better option (please!), Soldado seems to be permanently in the doghouse, and Higuain may yet take that next step up for a full match, but he seems to need to play as the out-and-out striker - in Ruud’s role, rather than with the Dutchman. If Madrid do indeed manage to land someone along the lines of David Villa or Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, I’ll be thrilled.

At the back, I’m not sure if Cannavaro will stay or not, but our constant makeshift defense needs more resources. Pepe has come on like gangbusters and he’s been solid. Heinze has played like a tool sometimes, but his versatility to play on the left or in the middle has saved our bacon numerous times this year - i don’t think he’ll be discarded unless we can land someone like Garay. Torres seemed to take a step back, maybe he needs more PT. Marcelo has really improved, last night was easily his best night in the white shirt. Ramos is Ramos - more on him later.

There were loads of rumours that Inter were after Diarra, but I hope he doesn’t leave - he’s been a rock in the centre of the pitch, and he’s shown some amazing skills in the last couple months. If anything he’s a good luck charm - he’s won 6 straight national league titles (4 with Lyon, 2 with Madrid), and 7 in the last 8 years. Gago has improved immensely, though his tackling needs a bit of work, and with Banega’s drunk driving troubles in Valencia, was anyone ever worried that we might not have gotten the right guy?

With our buy-backs of Granero, Javi Garcia, and De La Red, I think we’ll probably be either doing some trades or releasing some of the current midfield. Unfortunately, I think Baptista is the first one under the bus in this scenario - he’s a bit underappreciated here but he’d still fetch a good price on the open market. Drenthe might also go looking for more work but i’d like to keep the buy-back on him too - what a motor on that kid.

Anyway, I’m rambling a bit, so let’s go to some interesting links i’ve found today…

Chelsea in for Ramos
I saw this first on Goal.com, but now that it’s in the Guardian, I’m a bit worried. It’s true that Ramos might be a bit pissed off that Madrid hasn’t renegotiated his deal, in light of the lifetime deals for Raul, Guti and Casillas… that might explain some of the hotheadedness we saw this year. But he is undeniably the best rightback we’ve had in a LONG time, and someone we can count on for the next 10 years, so why aren’t we tossing him a new contract so he can brush off Abramovich’s billions? Keep an eye on this one…

Barca going for Pique or Coloccini - and NOT Garay
Barca look to bolster their central defense in light of Gabi Milito’s devastating injury in the form of Man U’s Gerard Pique or Deportivo’s Fabricio Coloccini. It’s interesting for us because Barca were on the verge of getting Garay’s John Hancock on a transfer, but they pulled out at the last moment. Why? Was it something about Garay that we haven’t heard about? Do we still stand a chance to get this guy? On a lighter note, in the article, it mentions that Pique’s grandfather was a former club director at Barcelona, Amador Bernabeu - surely some relation to our Santiago?

Huntelaar may extend with Ajax
If Huntelaar extends with Ajax, we’re down to Villa… or does anyone like the idea of pursuing someone like Berbatov or Adebayor? I’m not going to suggest Drogba, who is awesome but is also pushing 30… Benzema would be amazing, but you know Lyon aren’t going to let him go without a massive fight.

Sampdoria to take Cassano permanently and Soldado on loan
Pretty self-explanatory… good riddance to the pimpled one, and I’d love to see Soldado get some PT anywhere, the boy deserves to play.

Sneijder’s brother approached by Madrid, but Wes tells them no
Wesley Sneijder’s little brother Rodney appears to have caught the interest of the Real hierarchy, but after coming back from scouting him, the Dutch international has told them to lay off until Rodney breaks into the first team at Ajax. Wesley doesn’t believe in the poaching of youth team players, which is probably best for the Patient Pitbull as Rodney is known, considering the quality of the Ajax machine.

Anyways, there’s loads of stuff up on Goal.com worth a glance, from player reactions to an article about Barca fans attacking the team bus at the airport. Hilarious.