It’s taken me a while to come to this conclusion because there are so many different reasons that there would be a decline in a team’s performance. However, after much observation and countless games of watching under prepared teams, I can safely say that most of the time, the biggest reason a team will suffer with their team work and cohesion is the lack of training that is done together as a team during the week. Some people will say teams need to go have bonding sessions, but what I say to that is bonding sessions socially are good, but in terms of on-field performance, they do not help.

The Success Of The Team Depends On The Turn Out

The turn out at training that is. With more people at training during the week, there is a better chance to work on the passing game of the players and their roles on the field. This means that when it comes to the usual weekend game against another side, you come with a team that has had considerable bonding time on the field and the side will not lack cohesion but rather, understand all the plays and tricks that their teammates might pull. I can’t begin to express the amount of times that I have done a Ronaldinho style trick and my team mates have not seen it coming, even though I do these things all the time at training. The reason here is because it’s these duds that don’t show up to training to understand how I and other people play and let the team down.

Training Sessions Are Very Important

If you didn’t realise this already, these training sessions that you have with your team are one of the most influential parts about playing football and it is with your team that you will shine. I have never heard of any footballer getting anywhere by individual brilliance alone. Ronaldinho is great individually, but if you see most of his plays involve his team mates, the one-two passes, the back heel flicks and other manoeuvres involve a team mate in some way, and that is what makes the techniques Ronaldinho does, look so great. Your team members are like your arms and legs, they allow you to do a lot more different things that you could not normally do without them. So, if there are any coaches reading this, whether your players show up to training or not can mean the difference between a loss or win on game day, so control the situation.

With the UEFA Champions League Final decided in favour of AC Milan, Barcelona can no longer claim to be the best in Europe or the world for that matter. As you might know, Barcelona was kicked out of the Champions League nearly 3 months ago and it was the first post that I made about Barcelona unfortunately. Liverpool ironically went all the way to the final to face Milan and have come out second best. Small revenge smile for Barca fans right now

Goals Of The Game And Thoughts

The first goal came for Milan in a fire of freakiness. Pirlo stepped up to take a free kick for AC Milan before the half time whistle was to blow. Once struck, the ball went towards the goal only to take a wild deflection off of Filipo Inzaghi’s shoulder and sent goal keeper Reina wrong footed as he watched the ball sail past him. Other than that, the game was quite a normal one and was nothing special in my opinion and many others can vouch for what I’m talking about. I must say the next two goals scored by Inzaghi and Kuyt for AC Milan and Liverpool respectively, are good goals. You can find these highlights below. Barcelona for next year

Our boys have done us proud and on the weekend they left Atletico Madrid picking up the pieces from a 6-0 scoreline, which has given Barcelona vital points to remain a great challenge for the Spanish Primera Liga. With this thrashing and convincing win, Ronaldinho and his team now stand equal second on the table with Real Madrid and Sevilla leading the way.

Who Scored?

The goal sheet was a long one and it is as follows:

• 0-1 Messi (38th min)
• 0-2 Zambrotta (40th min)
• 0-3 Eto’o (45th min)
• 0-4 Ronaldinho (57th min)
• 0-5 Messi (80th min)
• 0-6 Iniesta (90th min)

It was a truly impressive display by Barca and Ronaldinho who assisted a good percentage of goals and I have to say the Cameroonian Samuel Eto’o was a big benefactor for those goals also. Ronaldinho started the shake up with a free kick hitting the upright in the 33rd minute which sent chills down Atletico’s spine. You can also blame the Atletico Madrid goal keeper Pichu for such a big deficit because at least a few of the goals were his fault, especially the goal by Zambrotta, where the keeper ran out to meet Zambrotta only to see that the bouncing ball was turned into a lob over his head. You can see more below in the highlights video.

Convincing Stuff For Barcelona

With this win we can be sure that Frank Rijkaard’s team can go into the last remaining games with confidence and resolve that they have the ability to take out any team that comes in their way. Ronaldinho, I hope has shrugged off any criticisms that have come his way over the past few weeks and it shows with his game. Ronaldinho is a fighter and is smart enough not to let a few words come into his psyche. In any case Barcelona will hold up La Liga to the very end and we will all be watchnig very closely.