gdp's Comments

totalBarca : Video: First training in England

Thu, 26 May 2011 05:28:36 +0000

Arsenal Football Club: moltes gracies! Some might say "that's the least you could do when we've given you guys a few youngsters on the cheap", but real gentlemen separate these issues altogether. You were never really in my Bad Book even despite of all the Cesc stuff... but with this, you're inching even closer to my Great Book. Barça will beat United for you - with hopefully a greater margin than when you did it a few weeks ago!

totalBarca : Picture of the Day: Shirt for Wembley

Fri, 20 May 2011 14:14:45 +0000

I'd be grateful if any of you fellas or girls can answer these, thank you: 1.) How does UEFA come to a decision of which team to allow wearing their home shirt in the Final? I'm ecstatic to hear that we're wearing our traditional home strip like the last 2 Finals we were in, but if you put yourself into Man Utd's shoes: wouldn't their players & fans be a bit peeved that they don't get to wear RED on the day? Every one of their 3 Champions League won had been done wearing their home shirts, including their last one in Moscow 2008. Who decides these things? Or is it mutually agreed between the 2 clubs? I know Milan, for example, are superstitious and prefer *white* whenever they play in a European final; I'm not aware that United prefers red? Are we getting an (unfair & un-needed) wink and a nod here from UEFA!? Let's see if any culés can answer this without sledging or disrespecting the opposing team :) 2.) Is this Champions League Final version FOR SALE? Where can we get it? As far as I'm aware, the official club store ONLINE (as I don't know about the shop in Barcelona) didn't sell a Roma 2009 version two years ago, even though it looked pretty distinctive (patches, special inscription, as well as the singular-colour patch at the back - where the player numbers were printed on)... nor are they selling it this time, otherwise it'll be there already, one week before the Final. The only time I knew the online store sold a faithfully-replicated commemorative home shirt... was for the Copa del Rey Final of 2009, which had a "trohpy-patch", an inscription, and a little Catalan senyera: http://cdn3.iofferphoto.com/img/item/108/133/067/...

totalBarca : Guardiola: "Playing against Atletico is like a derby"

Sat, 5 Feb 2011 16:39:42 +0000

"With them, it can go any which way, win 3-0 or end up losing by 3-4 or vice versa." Ahhh :) When Pep said this, he reminded me of what he did during his playing days... It was nearing the end of the 99-00 season, Barça was hosting a Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink-led Atletico Madrid, where we did actually end up winning 3-0. The 2nd or 3rd goal (I think) was a Patrick Kluivert easy slot-in - thanks to a sublimely-weighted, rolling-throughball by the no.4 Josep Guardiola... just after the half-way line. If you're trying to picture what it might've looked like - just think of one of those balls Xavi supplies on the ground every other week to Messi, except Pep's ball wasn't quite as great as Xavi's, but no less effective. 10 years on, the legend of FC Barcelona playmakers live on. Improvised.

totalBarca : Juvenil A: Leaders after a beautiful victory

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 16:23:26 +0000

To Hady & whomever editorial staff that approved getting this post published: a big THUMBS UP, and would you please put up more Juv A stuff in the future, or those like you did with the Nike Premier Cup? In the frenzy of the present & the "now"... especially with the el Clasico only 3-4 hours away... let's keep in mind that it's experiences like these btwn Juv A & Espanyol, that sow the seeds for the club's future stars of tomorrow, so that the el Clasicos of say 2015 - 2025 are just as winnable & "dominative" as the ones we've had over the last couple of seasons'... and of course today's as well, hopefully!

totalBarca : The quiet man who must be silent

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 04:04:21 +0000

totalBarca : The Goals : UD Almeria 0-8 FC Barcelona

Sun, 21 Nov 2010 05:48:35 +0000

With that 2-0 goal, I have a theory: The Almeria player who knocked it to Iniesta for that exquisite finish... clearly just wanted to be able to say to his grand kids someday, "I played a BEAUT one-two with World Cup hero Iniesta... and helped him score!!" From any angle you look at it, that was a beautifully-weighted pass to Andres <img src="http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-basic/lol.gif" alt="Smiley" border="0" />

totalBarca : Xavi: "I'm going to try to play as many games as possible

Fri, 5 Nov 2010 05:16:45 +0000

Xavi is a smart man, but I hope he balances well his passion for playing... and the rationality of proper breaks for his knee when appropriate. I and all of us would love to see him play every game, but the fact is he's had very little extended, proper rest for 3 years now. I'd rather he misses every 2nd or 3rd game.. if it means he won't have to miss 4-5 months because of a little overload.

totalBarca : Poll: How many Barca jerseys do you own?

Fri, 5 Nov 2010 05:08:47 +0000

97-98 Home 98-99 Home 99 Centenary (i took a shot of this, and used it as my avatar) 01-02 Home 02-03 Home (counterfeit from Thailand) 03-04 Away 05-06 Home 08-09 Home L/S

totalBarca : Transfer Talk: World on watch for Wayne?

Tue, 19 Oct 2010 13:07:54 +0000

Madrid can buy this galactico; we usually create ours... like ex-president Laporta once said. Besides, the "galactico" we bought - David Villa - is more suitable to us - regardless of his very current output. I'd rather see Rooney succeeds over in Real Madrid week after week as he's a great player to watch... then come the two rounds when we play them, we overcome him and the rest of his team with hot hearts & cool heads.

totalBarca : Ex-Barca: Eto'o re-visits Barcelona

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 05:31:21 +0000

Fellas, as we praise and look back on the 5 spectacular & memorable seasons that amazed just about all of us, let's not forget to thank the guy too for trying to keep this foundation going with the club, and still has an eye on the future - which probably is what matters. It's great to have memories of our great club, but it's more exciting to have up-n-comin' footballing talents from Africa playing for FCB :) Eto'o has after all been an Inter player for more than a year now which means he isn't totally obliged to do this, yet the benefit of this type of work belongs to this club in the future... if a boy or a few of them come good. I'm amazed no one has mentioned the significance of this. Samuel Eto'o ought to be praised regardless of whether the joint-Fundación/Fundacio succeeds or not. Surely we're not gonna just thank the founders or initiators down the years only when the the foundation yields beneficial results?

totalBarca : Of One Club Men...

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 23:57:33 +0000

Hahahah you guys have got me there and Giggs was at Man City indeed! Would've been better citing Paul Scholes instead - he's more of the purer extra virgin olive oil, if you'd excuse me with a clumsy analogy.

totalBarca : Of One Club Men...

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 16:25:03 +0000

One more thing... Seeing that picture with Thiago on the corner pleases me :) You know what they say about players being more composed, assured, and even hungrier once they've tasted the victory champagne & what it's like to be champions... well there he is! And I hope it bodes well for us in the near future whenever he plays, and when we run into the inevitable trouble.

totalBarca : Of One Club Men...

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 16:18:06 +0000

I also managed to suddenly think of Javed Nekounam of Osasuna - who's played for the club for almost 10 years now, presumably not because of Osasuna being a successful club, but rather them treating this Iranian particularly well and he's grown to love everything about that city. Oh and to echo your sentiment Alexandra, I'm trying not to be biased here but one of the few places most likely to foster any kinds of one-club men would be FC Barcelona, thanks to our fairly unique youth system. Plenty of other European clubs have the potential, but they're a bit behind yet.

totalBarca : Of One Club Men...

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 16:07:47 +0000

Alexandra... two more standouts come to mind: Ryan Giggs (1991-) and Francesco Totti (1992-) Also, the way these two have evolved with their respective clubs over 3,4,5 or maybe even 6 cycles are nothing short of astonishing. Raul strictly speaking is even less of a one-club man than Pep was. Raul was plucked from Atletico and we if jump to the opposite end of his career we all know where he's gone to. Nevertheless the point holds and his longevity was amazing :) I'm hoping Iker Casillas will end up as a better model of a one-club man than Raul, and so will our Victor Valdes. Neither however has the longevity yet compared to Raul, Maldini, Totti, Giggs, etc. Our best bet right now is Xavi, who played a year more than Puyol plus (arguably) getting the luckier position & style of play compared to Puyi to prolong his career.

totalBarca : Quote of the Day: Sergio Busquets

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 13:50:01 +0000

I would love to dwell a bit on the meaning of what Busi said and see what he really thinks. Did he mean "I like it because I absolutely like to do a "plumbing" job in the middle even though it's dirty with little glory because I was born to do it"? or "I like it even though I don't absolutely like plumbing / simply dish-out short passes, intercepting & stealing, but since I can see clearly the end result and the convenience it brings everybody else, then I like that outcome of collective joy"? I think this further touches a bit on the philosophical realm : do you "get yours" as much as you can even though you work in a team setting - like lots of footballers... or do you really absolutely do ANYTHING the coach asks of you, even if you may end up with less than 10 goals for your club in a 10 year career? I'm still not sure how players in any level out there turn out like Busquets or accept these roles. Especially when not all of them gets rewarded with Champions League medals or world cups. Nor am i sure whether he may have just inspired more out there to do so after having seen this guy getting the highest of honours. Some might conclude it's because he plays with Messi or a bunch of Spanish stars in La Roja. Some might be able to see that a lot's down to him being a truly selfless player regardless of who he plays with. I'm still trying to work that one out, but maybe some of you have the answers already ^_^

totalBarca : Guardiola's ongoing conflict with Marca editor Eduardo Inda

Mon, 4 Oct 2010 16:46:46 +0000

The bigger picture of this whole thing... is whether Pep can afford to play this kind of game these days with Marca, who is a powerful entity... like it or not. There'll be undesirable consequences, like more silly mudslinging from Marca. Circumstances (namely, Ujfalusi's trip on Messi) meant old sore spots are exposed again between Pep & Marca but I'd rather as little distractions as possible right now, especially when our overall results and more importantly our performances have been less-than-desirable over the last few weeks. I think we can all agree that Pep is smart, but I don't think we're unanimously sure that Pep is able to juggle playing a media cold-shouldering game like this, and at the same time getting the best out of each of our players day-in-day-out - critical given that Real Madrid are twice as hungry as we are, naturally, after a two-year drought.

totalBarca : Xavi: "Mourinho is extra motivation"

Mon, 4 Oct 2010 07:13:09 +0000

Hahahahahaha looks like it's the machine-translator playing with the users <img src="http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-basic/lol.gif" alt="Smiley" border="0" /> Thank goodness then for the human translators on this website - they always do better than the machine. And now... we need a translator in the Barça dressing room, to convert every single provocative comment from Mourinho... into some motivating meaning for every one of our players before they go out on the field, so they have some "fire in the belly". And if that happens, there're still enough games left to score 99 points... or even more B)

totalBarca : Xavi: "Mourinho is extra motivation"

Mon, 4 Oct 2010 06:41:42 +0000

Doris, by "photos" I think he meant hanging up an article or "bad press" (that originates from the Madrid media) in the dressing room to fire up the boys... especially when this question was a follow up to the question just before it. I think they DO need something like this once in a while.. to make the boys concentrate a little better, be more motivated, or play in a higher gear... lest they play like they did at home last night - not particularly bad, but failing to score more than a goal despite creating tons of chances. I guess it's understandable to have these things happening after back-t-back domestic titles, nevermind a key injury or two, or consecutive summers that gave them almost no breaks. But it isn't really excusable. But it's also good to hear Xavi say they don't obsess about it by finding an article daily to hang up there! Though if they keep misfiring every other week, like today, then they might have to :p

totalBarca : Match Preview: FC Barcelona vs Sporting Gijon

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 15:52:01 +0000

totalBarca : Match Preview: FC Barcelona vs Sporting Gijon

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 15:49:20 +0000

Gosh Doris! Not even the Catalan press have come up with that one yet, I dare say! MINIESTA is a real zinger, and will catch on like wildfire hahaha <img src="http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-basic/lol.gif" alt="Smiley" border="0">