“We should and we can do better”

Josep Guardiola wants more and more. The Barça manager still sees room for improvement and felt tiredness was to blame for the lack of finesse against Atlético Madrid.

If you were an astronaut arriving at the Ciudad Deportiva this afternoon having spent the last month on Mars, listening to Josep Guardiola you would get the impression the season had got off to a bad start. As it happens they have won two Super Cups, drawn away to the Italian champions and won three out of three in the league.

But Guardiola was not happy with everything he saw against Atlético Madrid, despite the 5-2 win. He wants the team to win, but also to take all their chances, and after Saturday’s performance, he feels “we should and we can do better.”

Lost finesse
Guardiola likes his team “to pass the ball as fast as possible, in simple fashion, getting it circulating around” and didn’t think he saw that this weekend. “We weren’t as sure on the ball or with our decisions, but otherwise it was good.” Basically, the end to end nature of the Camp Nou encounter was not to his liking.

The coach also added that “the team trained hard today and were also extremely precise about things”.

Mentality

“As a team we take a lot of shots a game, about 16 or 17, and our opponents usually only make 6 or 7. But the other day we had very few shots and they had more chances than usual. But as we were efficient, we won”, he said. But he has noted a lack of finesse, which may be related to the huge mental demands being made of the players, with so many important games so early in the season not just for Barça but for their national sides as well.
Sardinero, a difficult trip
As for Tuesday’s away match in Santander (22.00, live on Canal + and R@dio Barça), Josep Guardiola predicts a difficult game. “We have got some good results there in recent years, but they have been tight matches. Like last year when we won in the last minute (1-2). And we drew with them at home (1-1). The Sardinero is always a difficult place to go” he said.

Guardiola defined Racing as having a well structured defence and being skilful down the wings, and singled out Geijo as the dangerman in their attack. He also fears Munitis, who “always seems to play better against us.” This evening, Guardiola is going to watch a recording of their 2-1 win away to Malaga on Saturday, from which he hopes to pick out some further clues.

By:Roger Bogunyà