It’s been fascinating to watch the feeding frenzy resulting in a Tweet from New York Times journalist Tariq Panja about the FC Barcelona governance model. In that Tweet, Panja said “Under this model successive presidents are able to make financial decisions without any personal consequences.” This isn’t wrong. What happened is that wagons were circled,… Continue reading Barça, tribalism, ‘truth’ and reality

We’re a week away from being rid of a complex, frustrating talent amid a complex, frustrating debate about a complex, frustrating time at a complex, frustrating football club. And it’s hard not to count the days. Two very interesting tidbits have come out that both make perfect sense, in recent days. In the first, a… Continue reading Ousmane Dembele and common sense

Just as with most of the season, Barça wasn’t good enough against Villarreal, who strolled to a win thanks to the exact same things that have plagued this blaugrana side for the entirety of the season — well thing, to be more precise: It isn’t good enough. Truth is that the team hasn’t been good… Continue reading Barça 0, Villarreal 2, aka ‘Kicking the corpse’

I won’t lie to you: watching Getafe is not high on my priority list. It’s not high on anyone‘s list: their Estadio Coliseum Alfonso Pérez holds 17,000 people and they average right around 8,500 fans per match. I know it’s somewhat rich for a Barça fan to laugh at attendance numbers given all the empty… Continue reading Kicks Up the Back(side): Getafe-Barça

The symmetry is odd. This very weekend, the one where many culers will be winding themselves into knots over the Frenkie De Jong sale rumors, my suburb is having its annual Trash Day. No, De Jong isn’t trash, but this weekend makes you consider the possessions that you have and their usefulness to you. If… Continue reading Players come, players go …

In the 73rd minute of a fraught affair at a rocking Benito Villamarin, something very interesting, and potentially illustrative, happened. At the end of a beautiful move, Ferran Torres found himself in the Betis box, ball at his feet, in close. It was a moment. Torres struck the ball cleanly, and with excellent physical technique.… Continue reading Betis 1, Barça 2, aka “Moments matter”

One year, some friends and I decided to do a fun ride, a century. A hundred miles, just for giggles. At about mile 65 or so, we bonked. No energy in the legs. At mile 66, we came across a bakery. About 30 bucks worth of Pepsi and pastries later, we hit the road like… Continue reading Barça 0, Rayo Vallecano 1, aka ‘Hey, they set a record!’

Cliches are sometimes rooted in truth, and the overused word mentality is one of those. On the weekend, Real Madrid came from 0-2 down to win, 3-2 against Sevilla. People will point to various conspiracies, etc, say that Camavinga should have been sent off, etc, but does anyone really think that even a man down,… Continue reading Barça 0, Cadiz 1, aka ‘Mentality matters’

There is no more elegant way to say it: Barça got its ass kicked. In its own house. The day after, the tizzy in culerdom is that more than 30,000 Frankfurt supporters were in the Camp Nou, how did they get all those tickets, something must be done, blablabla. It’s a lovely, convenient distraction from… Continue reading Eintracht Frankfurt 3, Barça 2, aka ‘The woodshed is over there’