Barcelona/Mallorca-The Hurricane is here

By: Jeremy | January 2nd, 2009

This is the time of year where Mallorca fans feel like a bunch of New Orleans residents who dont live in sturdy homes, who see the storm coming, can only watch as it hits land, and as the storm proceeds through town they realize they are on the wrong side of the eye. Once they decided to stay they just have to wait it out, hold on to what they can, and hope that if you are destroyed, that there is time to rebuild.

With our schedule and quitting not an option, the storm has hit and we are going to do our best to surivive it although smart money says we will be destroyed(in last place) and this happens because we failed to build a strong structure(weak early season performance put us near the bottom before we started this run of games). The only question is can we rebuild in time to surivive the hurricane that will return to close the season when the results will really be vital.

On a positive note, the first and maybe weakest part of the storm(Sevilla) hit us and we have not suffered major damage as of yet as we did manage to get a point after a boring 0-0 draw. This time the defense comes through and our offense does nothing. If you cant score a goal at home no matter who you are playing, then it is just another indication that your structure could topple at any minute. Any fan is happy with a point in that game, but that is only because the team is so weak. You need to win home matches when you hold the back well.

Now the bad side of the eye is approaching as we head to the Nou Camp for the ass whipping from Barca. As luck would have it I am not a fan of big clubs when it comes to soccer so my disdain for teams like Barca is obvious. I dislike Barca so much that when they play Real Madrid, I can root for Madrid. Madrid oozes class while Barca seems like a bunch of spoiled brats who think they are better then they are even though both teams opearte under the same financial parameters. I kind of see it as Barca is the Inter Milan of LaLiga as Madrid is the AC Milan. I would like Barca better if Johan Cruyff was still the coach. He is a god in my mind.

That being said, no one can deny how good this team is. They have not lost since opening game to Numancia and despite that shock defeat, they are 12 points up on Madrid and ten ahead of their nearest rivals. The are the most entertaining and by far best team the league has to offer and are my pick to win the Champions League. They have the great Messi, who I love to watch and also one of the least appreciated players in Samuel Etoo, who is a legend in Palma for what he did for us. Their second unit could beat most of LaLigas first teams. For all their greatness, they are like seeing your high school jerk with a big 7 series BMW. The car is way better then yours, but his parents bought it for him and if he wrecks it, he gets another without even a shrug. Im not impressed. A friend in high school with a big expensive car that he didnt earn isnt as offensive even though the respect he earns isnt because of his car.

Unfortunately we are just another small club in this big clubs path. If we had last years squad and they were in a little turmoil, maybe I could argue for points in this match. Unfortunately, they are humming on all cylinders while we are barely out of the garage with a bunch of new parts we cant seem to get together.

The draw in Sevilla put us back in seventeeth place but the bottom three clubs could all move ahead of us soon as Osasuna picked up three points last week and we are now only two points from the bottom. Despite a tie against a good team, its a bad week when your relegation rivals pick up points. Absent a miracle, we will have to check the damage after this game to see if we are totally smashed and that is before we see Madrid, Villarreal and then Valencia.

Is it too late to hammer any more boards up against our already fragile structure?

Bad analagies aside, what we really need to focus on now is the transfer window. Who are we going to bring in who can keep us out of the relegation zone with performances against similar clubs in the second half. With Moya injured and Lux not really that good, we got a good jump on the market with the addition of Depor goalie reject Dudu Aouate. With the problem we have in goal, its a good roll of the dice as this guy is decent if he can get along with his teammates. Maybe he is this years Marco Storari(Cagliari fans know what I am saying) so I wont bash what seems like a signing that wont matter that much. Atleast we seem to be ready to be active in the market.

We need transfer help in all positions so the new Chairman better be on the phone a bunch before the window closes. Our season is not determined by results at the Nou Camp however our prior performances in previous weeks, combined with Barca firing on all cylinders makes this a tough time to see them.

As usual, whenever you face a team that is clearly better then you are, you try and take the situation and make it positive. Manzano thinks that because Messi has been called back from vacation and Etoo is coming home early to play in this game, that they need a full strength side to beat us. Good try Greg. I would expect we will play 11 men behind the ball at all times to keep the damage to a minimum.

A goal for us in this game would be surprising, but if we dont atleast attack a little, this will be target practice for Barca and the amount of goals they score will not only send us closer to the bottom of the table, but will hurt our psyche even further. I would just suggest dont watch the game and focus on the transfer market. We are as undermanned as ever and its damn pathetic because these are the games you want to win and with some motivated talent, you can steal points against a big team that is overlooking you no matter how well they are playing. Not this year.

Prediction

Barcelona 4-0 Mallorca