Barcelona takes on Malaga tomorrow, in which Thierry Henry will probably take the position of center-forward, as Zlatan Ibrahimovic is unlikely to start the game. The Swedish superstar sprained his ankle in Barcelona's game on Tuesday and was originally projected to be out for one to two weeks, but has given the go-ahead by team medics to play tomorrow.
Bojan Krkic would normally be the go-to guy to fill a gap in center forward, but alas, he is still injured as well.
This game will be Henry's time to shine and make a big difference in the game. Henry has been relatively quiet so far this season, contributing no goals and minimal action on the left side. Perhaps if he's more centralized he will be able to involve himself more in the plays.
Ibrahimovic has had no problem adjusting to the position, connecting with Xavi and Messi on numerous occasions, so lets hope the Frenchman can produce the same results.
The big question I have is who's going to be the third striker- coach Pep Guardiola has stuck with a 4-3-3 lineup this season, so who he's going to bring in for the 3rd striker is what's most on my mind. Will it be Iniesta, the most obvious choice because he's such a versatile player, being able to play as effective at striker as at midfield? Or will Pedro, a "junior player" (though he's 22 years old) get some playing time? After his performance during preseason, scoring several goals during their American tour, he definitely deserves the time.
Valdes, Pinto, Maxwell, Abidal, Marquez, Puyol, Chygrynsky, Pique, Alves, Xavi, Busquets, Toure, Keita, Iniesta, Pedro, Messi, Ibrahimovic, Henry, and Jeffren are the 19 players on the roster for the game.
Malaga is coming off of three consecutive losses to Deportivo, Racing Santander and Espanyol. As such, Juan Ramon Lopez Muniz is looking to be Barcelona's first loss of the season.
"Barca is not going to win all of their games," said Muniz in an interview.
"We will try to exploit all of our options, many or few," he said of their upcoming game with the Catalan giants.
I wish you all the best in your quest, Sr. Muniz, because you might just need a miracle or something like it to do such a thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment