Sunday, November 20, 2011

Real Murcia 0 Barcelona B 2

It was all so predictable. Real's history dictates that whenever there is a game where we are on a good run, the press have been talking up promotion posibilities, and an "lesser" side visit us (or especially a B team), we lose. So it was no surprise at all.

There is no doubt that most of this Barcelona outfit will end up in their first team or forge a career at other Primera sides. That said, we did have chances to win, but were rather innocent in front of goal. The lack of goals from the forwards is becoming a bit of a worry.

Real Murcia :
Alberto
Molinero - Jorge - Amaya - Óscar Sánchez
Iturra - Richi (Borja 72') - Pedro (Isaac 67') - Sutil
Cristian García (Emilio Sánchez 54') - Chando

Barcelona B
Oier
Montoya - Bartra - Muniesa - Lobato
Dos Santos - Rafinha - Sergi Roberto - Rodri (Tello 59')
Soriano (Planas 88') - Deulofeu (Riverola 70')

Goals
0-1 Deulofeu 65'
0-2 Tello 86'

Referee : Mr. Gil Manzano.

Att : 11,391 at the New Condomina.

So our 10 game unbeaten streak is over. The fans rewarded the players with an ovation despite defeat. There is no shame in this loss, nor should it effect the overall confidence within the squad.

One question that arises is the urgent need for a reserve league in Spain. Over the last few seasons we have seen how Villarreal, Barcelona and Sevilla have had their reserves in Segunda. Why should they have the advantage of a pool of players who are on a different rung of the same ladder? It adulterates the competition. Teams can face a stronger or weaker B side depending on call ups to first team. Come the end of the season, they have little to play for (they can't go up) and often make better or worse effort depending on how many suitcases of cash come their way. We were victims of this in 2009/10, when Villarreal's players rolled over weakly in many games, yet ran their socks off when playing Real Murcia - there celebrations of an equalizer, when they had nothing at all to gain, were quite embarrasing. Why there was no investigation of such strange results and behaviour I don't know.

3 comments:

  1. Today Real Murcia are joint 2A table toppers, FOR YELLOW AND RED CARDS. YELLOW CARDS, Murcia 60, Elche 57..Most booked players on 8, Iturra/R.Murcia,Rafael Sastre/Huesca and Monolo Martinez/Huelva.
    Red Cards Murcia 6 along with Cartagena and Las Palmas. A case of erratic refereeing and over enthusiastic tackling by the otherwise great Iturra? STEVE

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  2. Barcelona B were there for the taking. Defensively they were less than ordinary. As you quite rightly said, we didnt take our chances and worryingly 2 of them were 1 v 1's. Barca look composed and assured on the ball, as did we however you always felt there was that curring edge to Barca's play. Would like to see the goals again to see if the 2nd one was onside.

    Dont agree with the whistling of Pedro. Not sure if its a culture thing here to whistle a bad single performance or to whistle a player in general. Pedro mis controlled 3 difficult long balls whilst on the run. After the third one the whistles hailed! What is that going to do for his confidence? Pedro is a confidence player who is at his best when running at defenders. If he is scared about getting whistled at every mistake he wont even try to beat defenders anymore. Was good to hear the fondo sur chant his name as he was substituted.

    One encouraging thing is that for the first time we are not complaining about the referee.

    Alex

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  3. I agree with Alex's comments about Pedro BUT Inaki Alonso still speaks highly of him and will be more dependant on him with Sutil injured again. Capdevila, a former Murcia player and Nicolas Cage lookalike, was similarly unpopular with a section of the crowd/he didnt hide, had a go and sometimes failed and sometimes succeeded. Also reminds me of Mick Leach for QPR in the 7O'S, a greatly underated player.
    STEVE

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