It was not so long ago that we were celebrating a two point difference at the top of the table but Barca have not taken advantage of Madrid dropping points and the performance on Sunday against Villarreal was desperate. There are no excuses with the quality of players out there as they struggled against a well organised Villarreal side who lets face it are nothing special. Where has it all gone wrong since the team won the Champions League, maybe it is the loss of Ten Cate who was the hardman alongside Rijkaard’s softer approach. Rijkaard certainly seems to be taking it too easy and so do the players accordingly. Interestingly the new players have gradually got worse as the season has progressed, apart that is from Henry who has never got going, and maybe that is down to the training as some players themselves have said that they are not being pushed enough and have done their own private training.
Franco battling away caused far too many problems for Barca’s defence who gave away the penalty and then with no one in the forward line capable of scoring it was Xavi again who had to make the difference. This time though he was not able to save the day as sloppy defending allowed Villarreal to score again. It was a sorry performance and Madrid now look a long way away. Even Laporta said after the game that they have allowed the league to escape them but Rijkaard has kept faith saying that no league title is decided in March. One thing is for sure though that if they are going to put the pressure on Madrid they are going to have to improve dramatically. At the moment it is difficult to see where that could happen as Ronaldinho does not appear to be returning to his former glory and Henry lets face it doesn’t care.
