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Many at the start of the season would have eyed up the Barcelona squad and opted for a top 8 finish for the Catalan club, possibly a decent cup run, out of the group stages of the CL but a respectable top 8 maybe even a top 6 in Bradwells first season in charge, what no one would have predicted is 11 league games in Barcelona sat top of the pile in EFL 1 after winning 9 of those first 11.
The revolving door has been ever present at Barca this season, but it hasn’t really had any effect on the Blaugrana when it comes to the pitch, we caught Bradwell last night after his side suffered their third defeat in a row in the Champions League group places, thus all but ending their European campaign to see what Bradwell thought of his sides season so far.
SB: “Disappointing tonight, one of those games unfortunately, we made Man Utd look second rate for the entire game, but a couple bits of luck went there way and they have somehow turned it round and managed to get a result, CL hasn’t been good to us this season, but its hard for me to complain, we have had the rub of the green in a few league games so I cant expect it every week, Man Utd and there manager are seasoned veterans of this competition, I myself am not, next season we will look to do better.”
PO: “Top of EFL that has to be something you are extremely pleased about, yet you look very calm and disinterested by that at the moment?”
SB: “Well you’ve just caught me after a fluke loss and those things are never easy to take, regardless of how the rest of your season is going, I have no complaints, the cup run has been fantastic managing to put our biggest rivals out early, it’s a favourable Quarter final draw now so hopefully we can lock in the semis and that will have been a great achievement also, yes we are top, but 11 games is nothing, we had 2 run away teams last season and neither of them finished in the top 6 come the end of it, we wont get carried away, the lads have been fantastic and the way we have played so far this season has been great for us, great for the fans and long may it continue”
PO: “Are Barcelona realistic title challengers this season?”
SB: “I think its too early to tell and il have a better answer for that question in another 9 games time, the teams like Madrid, PSG and Juventus are far better sides and it will only take us dropping off for a couple of games and we will get caught, and could be 4th, so im not looking at that, for us its game by game, the squad is forever improving, we are maybe one short in the forward position for us to really be considered as possible title challengers, maybe we can rectify that soon and then we will know more”
PO: “You talk about the squad improvement, Jamal Musiala, a fans favourite at the start of the season, obviously sold recently to bring in a more experienced all rounder in Leon Goretzka, was that a risky move?”
SB: “Yeah of course, with any transfer there is risk, I do so many that risk is always present for me, but Leon is a class above, theres not many players in the game that offer a versatility like he does, I told him when he came in, hed have to hit the ground running to get in with the fans, sure enough, 2 performances and 2 man of the matches, so that’s it hes already cemented himself as an integral part of this team after 2 games, I spoke to a manager last week after signing that told me that when they had Leon, without him they probably wouldn’t of won trophies, so im very glad to have him here and I think he will play a massive part for us this season.”
PO: “Eder Militao in next week also? As well as Frenkie de Jong, exciting times in Barcelona once again.”
SB: “Yeah, Christopher Nkunku as well as those two, three top professionals, Eder one of the best in his position in the world, Nkunku offers again that playmaker ability going forward, the club will miss Pedri, but we have taken a big stride in quality this past couple of weeks, its helped with our good start, top players want to come here and that’s great for us, I thought at the start of the season, this year we had a chance to put ourselves amongst the world elite and become established as a true big team, these transfers reinforce that target and I think we are definitely on track for that now.”
PO: “Brilliant Sam, thanks for your time”
SB: “No worries, a pleasure”
828 Words
The revolving door has been ever present at Barca this season, but it hasn’t really had any effect on the Blaugrana when it comes to the pitch, we caught Bradwell last night after his side suffered their third defeat in a row in the Champions League group places, thus all but ending their European campaign to see what Bradwell thought of his sides season so far.
SB: “Disappointing tonight, one of those games unfortunately, we made Man Utd look second rate for the entire game, but a couple bits of luck went there way and they have somehow turned it round and managed to get a result, CL hasn’t been good to us this season, but its hard for me to complain, we have had the rub of the green in a few league games so I cant expect it every week, Man Utd and there manager are seasoned veterans of this competition, I myself am not, next season we will look to do better.”
PO: “Top of EFL that has to be something you are extremely pleased about, yet you look very calm and disinterested by that at the moment?”
SB: “Well you’ve just caught me after a fluke loss and those things are never easy to take, regardless of how the rest of your season is going, I have no complaints, the cup run has been fantastic managing to put our biggest rivals out early, it’s a favourable Quarter final draw now so hopefully we can lock in the semis and that will have been a great achievement also, yes we are top, but 11 games is nothing, we had 2 run away teams last season and neither of them finished in the top 6 come the end of it, we wont get carried away, the lads have been fantastic and the way we have played so far this season has been great for us, great for the fans and long may it continue”
PO: “Are Barcelona realistic title challengers this season?”
SB: “I think its too early to tell and il have a better answer for that question in another 9 games time, the teams like Madrid, PSG and Juventus are far better sides and it will only take us dropping off for a couple of games and we will get caught, and could be 4th, so im not looking at that, for us its game by game, the squad is forever improving, we are maybe one short in the forward position for us to really be considered as possible title challengers, maybe we can rectify that soon and then we will know more”
PO: “You talk about the squad improvement, Jamal Musiala, a fans favourite at the start of the season, obviously sold recently to bring in a more experienced all rounder in Leon Goretzka, was that a risky move?”
SB: “Yeah of course, with any transfer there is risk, I do so many that risk is always present for me, but Leon is a class above, theres not many players in the game that offer a versatility like he does, I told him when he came in, hed have to hit the ground running to get in with the fans, sure enough, 2 performances and 2 man of the matches, so that’s it hes already cemented himself as an integral part of this team after 2 games, I spoke to a manager last week after signing that told me that when they had Leon, without him they probably wouldn’t of won trophies, so im very glad to have him here and I think he will play a massive part for us this season.”
PO: “Eder Militao in next week also? As well as Frenkie de Jong, exciting times in Barcelona once again.”
SB: “Yeah, Christopher Nkunku as well as those two, three top professionals, Eder one of the best in his position in the world, Nkunku offers again that playmaker ability going forward, the club will miss Pedri, but we have taken a big stride in quality this past couple of weeks, its helped with our good start, top players want to come here and that’s great for us, I thought at the start of the season, this year we had a chance to put ourselves amongst the world elite and become established as a true big team, these transfers reinforce that target and I think we are definitely on track for that now.”
PO: “Brilliant Sam, thanks for your time”
SB: “No worries, a pleasure”
828 Words