El Pivote (The Pivot) is a totalBarça column by Anoop Jethwa about the trials and tribulations of FC Barcelona. From the positives to the negatives, this piece will dive deep into the living fabric that is blaugrana. We welcome your thoughts and feedback in the comments section.

Back from its winter break, El Pivote will focus on what Tito Vilanova and Jordi Roura should be concentrating on when it comes to team affairs in order to bring important trophies back to Catalunya at the end of this season.

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El Pivote (The Pivot) is a weekly totalBarça column by Anoop Jethwa about the trials and tribulations of FC Barcelona. From the positives to the negatives, this piece will dive deep into the living fabric that is blaugrana. We welcome your thoughts and feedback in the comments section.

El Pivote is back with a bang to fully discuss the controversial decision from Víctor Valdés to announce that he will not be renewing his contract at the club past 2014.

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After Barcelona’s sparkling performance on Saturday against Bilbao it was incredibly painful to watch what passed for football in the Madrid derby at the Bernabeu right afterwards. But this was the first time in my memory that I would have been happy with any result between these two teams. A draw would leave both opponents even further from Barcelona. An Atletico victory would leave Real Madrid in shambles, 14 points off the pace, [and what true cule doesn't relish a Real defeat]. And a Real victory would widen the gap between Barcelona and the only team that has kept pace with them so far this season. In the end, the Real Madrid victory was the best possible outcome. What do you all think?

Image Credit: REUTERS/Andrea Comas

El Pivote (or The Pivot) is a weekly totalBarça column by Anoop Jethwa about the trials and tribulations of FC Barcelona.  From the positives to the negatives, this piece will dive deep into the living fabric that is blaugrana.  We welcome your thoughts and feedback in the comments section.

In this week’s edition of El Pivote we will cover the league challengers, the brilliance of La Masia and one of its best ever exponents.

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El Pivote (or The Pivot) is a weekly totalBarça column by Anoop Jethwa about the trials and tribulations of FC Barcelona.  From the positives to the negatives, this piece will dive deep into the living fabric that is blaugrana.  We welcome your thoughts and feedback in the comments section.

In this week’s edition of El Pivote we will consolidate what we have learned about Barcelona under Vilanova this season and consider how well set up we are, or not, for the rest of the campaign.

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totalBarça is pleased to collaborate with Rafael León, a regular contributor to Martí Perarnau’s news site and blog (www.martiperarnau.com).  He will be sharing his thoughts and analysis about FC Barcelona with the totalBarça community on a monthly basis.  This is Rafael’s first article of the series.

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Alexis joined Barça last season after a few successful years in Italian football.  He didn’t require a lot of time to leave a mark. Despite being a bit small, his speed and finishing skills helped him be named the best player in that competitive tournament, just before he joined FCB.

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For some reason, culés and football observers in general are still waiting for Cesc Fàbregas to appear and have the same start to the season like he had last year when, after eight years at Arsenal, he re-joined his former club. After those eight years he certainly has changed, becoming a player used to navigating the entire midfield and scoring when was needed. He became a complete midfielder, with virtues that made him a leader at a young age.

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Whilst the eyes of the soccer world would have been on the World Cup qualifying games in this international break, Tito Vilanova was undoubtedly thinking of his side’s opening five games in this club season. With the resumption of La Liga looming, here at totalBarça we shall read into El Mister’s mind, gauge how his Barcelona team is shaping up and anticipate what we might see tactically from now through to the last game before the next international break – El Gran Clásico at the Camp Nou.

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With the 2011/12 season behind us and the current squad changes that are upon us, it’s an obvious consensus that it is time for everyone to look forward.  In this edition of We’ve got mail, a cule and member of the totalBarca community shares with us a brief analysis of last season and how the recent developments will make for an optimistic 2012/13 season.

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There have been numerous articles on Pep’s departure from FC Barcelona.  To round things out, we are pleased to feature a very personal piece from Ivan, a medical doctor from Split, Croatia, in this edition of We’ve got mail.

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The following is a translation of an opinion piece by Albert Llimós. The original can be found here.

When Camp Nou in the moment of the painful defeat, cheers the team, it is the greatest success of Guardiola and his team. After four years, this group of people has managed to achieve something more than good results. There was a sociological change in the “barcelonisme”, deep, sincere, which goes far beyond what the scoreboard shows.

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The following is a translation of a piece written by Albert Llimós for Barcelona based newspaper Sport. The original article can be found here.

He does not deserve this. His behavior has been exemplary, with a face of a little boy who has never broken a plate, with his angelic smile, even with a certain naivete in his actions which were the result of his age. Four years in the first team, more than 800 goals in the youth teams, the top scorer in the youth system of Barcelona … he has not done much. Now he trains alone in Bellpuig.

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In 1916, the two Spanish giants Real Madrid and FC Barcelona met four times in a span of only 20 days. During the last 95 years, the two teams have never played four games in such a short period of time. It is now 2011, almost 100 years later, and it will happen again. Although, this time in a span of only 17 days.

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Over the last few days, media dealing with football has published a lot about Pep Guardiola’s statement that his time at FCB is coming to an end. This all started with an interview for Italian television RAI in which Pep Guardiola said that in big clubs like Barcelona, you can’t stay for too long. Shocking news? Not really.

Guardiola has said this several times at prior press conferences. Is this whole discussion really about his departure? If not, what is it all about then? Let’s take a closer look at the case of Pep Guardiola…

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totalBarca was recently invited to be part of Israel Sports Radio’s futbol-based show called Goal, World Soccer Show with Mark & Zvi.  The weekly show talks about futbol news and results from around Europe.

Who better to show off his futbol knowledge about the club than Spencer himself.

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People are inherently social.  Even when they may claim not to be, individuals feel a sense of shared enthusiasm and pride when they find a common ground – such as a common interest or passion – and when this sort of thing occurs, something magical happens: they bond.

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Xavi was Guardiola's understudy in the late 90's

Original article can be found @ zonalmarking.net on 4 May 2010.

‘How the 2000s changed tactics #1: The fall and rise of the passing midfielder’

[Editor's note: Credit to tB poster DUSTIN for highlighting this insightful article.]

In 2004, Gabriele Marcotti wrote an article for ‘The Times’ about Barcelona legend Pep Guardiola. It wasn’t a celebratory piece looking back at Guardiola’s fine career, nor remarking on his ability to defy the critics and keep playing at a high standard, like Paolo Maldini. It was about how, in 2004-spec football, Guardiola was useless.

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It seems Barca fans on this site are finicky lately. It could be due to the apprehension created by the board’s debt report or just plain immature attitude. No matter.

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Andrew, a patron of totalBarca, shared with us his views on the new Ibrahim Afellay signing.  Here is what he had to say about the transfer.  Enjoy!

It has been announced by both PSV Eindhoven and FC Barcelona that Ibrahim Afellay will transfer to Barca in the winter transfer window for a fee believed to be in the region of €3-4 million Euros. To some, it will be seen as a bargain for both parties. The player being one who is out of contract in June and could then walk away for nothing. So I pose the question, is he the right signing for the current Barca squad? Or has he committed career suicide by signing for a club who has a wealth of talented footballers within their ranks? I will list both the pro’s and con’s of the deal.

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A longtime reader, Jean (Reevenge), was given the opportunity to share with us his views on the upcoming clash between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid.  In return, we would like to share with you his words and insight on the upcoming El Clásico.  Enjoy!

El Clásico – Should we fear Madrid? A back-to-back comparison

The 161^st Clásico will take place at Camp Nou on November 29^th and all over the world hundreds of millions of viewers will be following one of the largest sport events of the year. 98,000 spectators, 22 players, 2 head coaches; one goal – to be the leader of the table come November 30^th. The Madrid-based team seems eager to dethrone FC Barcelona as the best team in the nation and people all over the footballing world are wondering whether this season could be their season. Will Madrid win the league and overthrow Barca as leaders this year? In my opinion, it is still by far too early to make any predictions. But I doubt it.

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