The Fans Blog4

You all know Kxevin, don't you? He always use this technique whenever he wants to say something (or choose a selection) that may sound too creative to be welcomed, So he simply says “Call me Crazy!” as a smart way to absorb the reaction of the shock he know he cause from time to time! I hope he reserved no rights for this slogan already or else I am in a big trouble because for what I will mention in this post, it’s my turn to say “Call me crazy!”

But first, let’s sneak to Donetsk and have a look on Shakhtar! And I will not dip myself in history and stuff, but go straight to what Barcelona fans care for, the team Barcelona will face this Wednesday.

In nine league games Shakhtar played so far, they won once, drew six times, and lost two. Scored nine goals and conceded nine goals as well. They are warming up the 11^th spot in the league table, out of 16 premier league teams.

In Champions League, they qualified to group stage, winning 2-0 at home, and 1-3 away against Dinamo Zagreb (that’s how “Dinamo” is written as an official name for the team), They won their first group game 1-2 against Basel in Switzerland.

Coached by, the very experienced Romanian, Mircea Lucescu.

For me, the Croatian Darijo Srna is the driving power of the team. Jadson, Seleznyov, Adriano Luiz and Brandao are the names to deal with defensively, while Hübschman leads the defense from behind.

It’s not easy to guess Shakhtar selection for the game, because (and for those who complain that Guardiola rotates too much) in nine games, Shakhtar never used the same selection twice! But if I want to give it a shot I say, the Shakhtar selection will most probably be:

Pyatov (GK), Hübschman, Kucher Oleksandr, Shevchuk Vyacheslav, Rat Razvan Dinca, Chygrynskyy Dmytro, Fernandinho, Jadson, Srna Darijo, Seleznyov, Adriano Luiz/Brandao.

That’s an overview about “the other team”, now let the fun begin!

Barcelona won their first game in the group stage, as we all know, played a game against Espanyol, few days before Shakhtar, and will have a game against Atletico Madrid a few days later, so straight to the point! I believe this is a game for rotation, but what kind of rotations? And why?

Here I list the rest of the CL games Barcelona will play in group stage after shakhtar, hooked by the two domestic games Barcelona will play before and after:

• Bilbao-Barcelona, Basel-Barcelona, Barcelona-Almeria
• Malaga-Barcelona, Barcelona-Basel, Barcelona-Valladolid
• Barcelona- Getafe, Sporting-Barcelona, Sevilla-Barcelona
• Barcelona-Valencia, Barcelona-Shakhtar, Barcelona-Real Madrid
  

Now based on that, you can have a clear idea and have your saying, do we rotate in this game or not? I still think, hell yes! With 3 points already in hand (against Sporting), and with two Basel games in two less stressful weeks, and hosting Shakhtar at home the last game of the group, I say now better than later!

But is it really a risk to rotate? Or it may even be a better chance to win? I believe Barcelona will do a partial rotation, but I am more adventurous than that so I’ll give you my “Crazy” selection:

My selection:

Pinto, Sylvinho, Caceres, Marquez, Pique, Busquets, Toure, Gudi, Henry, Bojan, Pedro!

And when setting offense it turn to the following:

But now, knowing than Sylvinho was not called for this game, I will switch Caceres to play his role, while Puyol plays as a CB beside Marquez, again, the priority is giving Alves break!

I think this selection will serve in many ways:

- It will give players like Alves, Iniesta, Messi and Xavi a break.

- It may put some water in Shakhtar mouth so they open the game, and it may be more attainable for this selection to win against an open Shakhtar, rather than a selection of all the big guys against defensive Shakhtar.

- It will open the field wide having Sylvinho and Pedro on the flanks.

- Using Yaya as a midfielder will test how far the team can count on his passing skills - he has it - and his shooting power, he know Ukraine football and will be very useful in this game.

- The players selected will do their best to prove their worth to start games, while the big stars have it for granted.

- Unlike the big names, the selected options will not have Atletico game in mind while playing in Ukraine.

It will be an added value if Guardiola add some smoke to the mix, something like saying in an interview before the game: “The earlier we qualify, the more we will be relaxed, we need to make sure it happen sooner rather than later, so we also avoid unpleasant surprises”.

Saying so, will keep Mircea confused, and will end up fielding a more defensive selection and tactical structure just in case Barcelona used their best players.

When the game starts, Mircea will have two choices, either to keep the field closed and cause no serious threat on defense, while Barcelona opening the Ukraine defense wide through Silvinho and Pedro, or he may instruct his players to go forward so he moves forward using defensive tools, which will not be efficient enough.

In the second half, Mircea will think to substitute, and then hesitate the moment he looks to the Barcelona bench where the likes of Eto, Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and Alves are ready to go!

Guardiola will have the luxury to let Mircea do the first step! And as in chess, the last move is the one that will be the make or break!

Again, Guardiola may hold the stick from the middle, keeping some of the big guys and rotating the others, what I mostly hope, is NOT to see the following players in the selection: Alves, Xavi, Iniesta, and Messi!

Now I will leave the space for you, what’s the perfect way to approach this game?