Barcelona vs Manchester United - May 28th, 19:45

[Trophy_Whorder]

Barcelona are amazing no sour grapes from me toward the best team by miles my only disappointment is why the **** was berbatov not evan on the bench but owen was whats that all about i know owen been doing well this month but you don't leave joint top leading goalscorer away from this game i feel he could have helped hernandez could not do any think rooney was the best attacking player all night for united and park gave it all .

 

[Clince121188]

No matter how much anyone debates what United should have done there was no way we could win that game. We simply don't have the players. How everyone has been able to call Valencia brilliant since his return is beyond me. He is extremely limited in his play. He hasn't touched a football with his left foot since he joined us, which means he only ever passes the ball back the way when he's not sending in a mediocre cross(the only thing he can do). He never uses any bit of skill bar dropping his shoulder and going the other way once in a while. Barcelona showed what is involved in proper wing play last night and Valencia wouldn't get on their reserves team as a winger with his lack of skill. Park, as much as he's a great worker has no stand out quality. Our center mids last night were absolutely destroyed by the best midfield in the world, as long as we insist on playing michael carrick beside an elderly giggsy we'll never be good enough. This summer will make or break us as challengers to Barcas crown next season. We need a goalkeeper, 2 midfielders, A winger(or 2), and a striker as it looks like Berbatov is on his way after Fergies choice of subs last night.

 

[Mads2506]

When were you referring to Fergie getting "consistently outdone in the league" then. lmao????



I would not say they were brilliant to be honest, I think they were good but not brilliant. We simply did not play well enough and allowed them too much space, and against Barcelona that is gifting the game to them. Everytime they came forward it looked like a goal.

Messi was very good, but overall I think Ronaldo is the best player in the world. More to Ronaldo's game I would say. Oh and Ronaldo has proven it in the two best leagues in the world.

That argument is completely moot. Let's not turn this into another Ron vs Leo, but it's moot.

And I think they were brilliant, Man Utd didn't close them down very well, but they were playing amazingly and didn't give Man U many touches to the ball.

 

[BrutalZ]

Arsenal are the only team in the world that play with the same philosophy as Barcelona. They can't do it as well as Barca but the can give them a game. No other team in the word can match Barcelona in terms of possession and domination. None. And no one can fully dominate Barcelona not even Arsenal. I think we should have played 4-5-1. It would sacrifice some attacking intent but it would have been better to play Van Der Sar - Fabio, Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra - Valencia, Fletcher/Anderson, Carrick, Giggs, Park - Rooney. Rooney would play up front on his own, which he is capable of doing, he also has a high work rate and will drop deep to help defend, meaning that it can be a 4-6-0 at times. With no particular forward presence Pique and Puyol/Mascherano would be comfortable pushing up the field. They are drawn out of their normal positions and they can be exploited on the counter attack. Park on the left doesn't have to offer much. Personally I'd ask him to man-mark Messi the whole match. It wouldn't render him ineffective but This is a strategy that worked for Greece at the world cup. Papastathopoulos vs Messi was the one time I had seen Messi frustrated and marked out of the game. Park would be the perfect man for the job. 9 more outfield players to think about. Plus the fact that it is now our four man midfield against their three-cell unit. Fletcher/Anderson will provide energy and cover for Park as well as incisive passing when needed. Carrick will stay back and protect the back four. Giggs will have an Iniesta like role in that he can drift from position and assist Rooney. Valencia consistent as always will help terrorise Abidal on the right wing. Come 60 minutes and we are trailing or losing, Bring on Scholes for Anderson/Fletcher, Hernandez for Valencia, Nani for Giggs. swap to a more offensive 4-3-3 with Carrick, Scholes and Park in midfield and Nani, Rooney, Hernandez up front with Nani on the right and Rooney on the left. Barcelona play in the spanish league which is slower and less physically demanding than the premier league. We could then expose the fatigue that accumulates. I don't see why that would not have been a better strategy.

We cannot beat Barcelona through sheer effort. It has to be a tactical masterclass, but Fergie got it wrong on the day. Starting Hernandez was the biggest mistake.

 

[Andy]

Arsenal are the only team in the world that play with the same philosophy as Barcelona. They can't do it as well as Barca but the can give them a game. No other team in the word can match Barcelona in terms of possession and domination. None. And no one can fully dominate Barcelona not even Arsenal.

When did Arsenal match Barcelona in terms of possession? Did you watch when they played?

 

[Athe~]

Arsenal not only failed to see the ball, they failed to have a single shot in the return leg.

 

[Blynd1]

YouTube - ‪FC Barcelona vs Manchester United 3-1 | Champions league final 2011 | Mascherano interview‬‏

0:10 ... Leeds United? ahahaha

 

[Athe~]

YouTube - ‪FC Barcelona vs Manchester United 3-1 | Champions league final 2011 | Mascherano interview‬‏

0:10 ... Leeds United? ahahaha

'...like this United...'

 

[Ride The Walrus]

His English was never good, never mind now he's been living in Spain for a year!

 

[wunzigan]

Here are some thoughts. Man U had some very good initial 15min, after that everything collapsed. It wasnt really their fault. As I said many times this Barcelona plays near to perfection every game and might be one of the greatest teams to have played the game if not best. Thankfully most of us can enjoy it.

Many criticism can be found in La Liga, where only two teams dispute the title in recent years. True, but they do fight for the title in fashion, both of them achieving over 90 pts, 3 seasons in a row. Now, if you had teams like that in the PL, so dominant, it would cetainly be the same thing. A two team league and thats it. I watch the PL regularly, and never seen Man U outplayed like that in a decade, with the exception of the 2009 Rome final. Barcelona achieved a scaring 70% posession through the whole competition. You heard right, 70%!!!

Now, this season, Messi and Ronaldo scored over 50 goals this season. No one achieved that since Puskas in the 50s.

You all can hate the way they play, or how boring they can be sometimes, but the fact remains. They are ALMOST unstoppable right now. Like the Red Bull in F1.

 

[Joss]

When did Arsenal match Barcelona in terms of possession? Did you watch when they played?

Not actually what he's saying if you read his post properly - no other team in the world dominates their opposition like Arsenal and Barcelona - is what he's saying. Hence - "no team can dominate Barca, not even Arsenal". Some people are ****-bent on taking things out of context, I guess.

Arsenal not only failed to see the ball, they failed to have a single shot in the return leg.

Arsenal conceded 12 shots on target at the Nou Camp, the same number as Manchester United conceded last night. 7 of those shots against Arsenal came after RvP had been sent off. Not that we managed to do better than Utd at all, just that some perspective is needed.

 

[Andy]

Not actually what he's saying if you read his post properly - no other team in the world dominates their opposition like Arsenal and Barcelona - is what he's saying. Hence - "no team can dominate Barca, not even Arsenal". Some people are ****-bent on taking things out of context, I guess.

Well if that is the case that isn't the truth either.

Arsenal don't dominate their opposition like Barcelona do they and there are other teams in the world that dominate more. THey also don't get the same possession as Barcelona and once again there is teams who get more possession than Arsenal.

Either way his point is wrong.

 

[Athe~]

Arsenal conceded 12 shots on target at the Nou Camp, the same number as Manchester United conceded last night. 7 of those shots against Arsenal came after RvP had been sent off. Not that we managed to do better than Utd at all, just that some perspective is needed.

Noone's arguing United did better than Arsenal, quite the contrary, actually. The guy's arguing Arsenal did better than United, which, as you say, is not the case.

 

[CJACKO11]

As people know i dont like to blow my own trumpet but i did say this when the final was announced. I said i didnt think Utd had the midfield to stop Barca, Fergie went with men that could run i.e wingers and hard working players but you need physical players that will get in their face. The first 10-15mins Utd were on top and i turned to my cousin (a Utd supporter) and said you have to score now simple as that and they didnt. Before i go on and get lambastered which will happen Utd fully deserved to be in this final without a dout but i feel a team with more physical presence about them would have been a much better match for Barca. In the end it was abit embarrasing and Barca made Utd look amatuer, Messi was just sensational and got better and better as the game went on. Fairwell to VDS who done well to keep the score down (not the first time in his Utd career) and he will be hugely missed more so from Utds point of view than opponents but a truely sensational keeper and Utd will struggle to replace him without a dout. On Barca do i think this is the best team ever, no i dont but if they dominate for the next 3-5 years then there will be no dout.

 

[Joss]

Well if that is the case that isn't the truth either.

Arsenal don't dominate their opposition like Barcelona do they and there are other teams in the world that dominate more. THey also don't get the same possession as Barcelona and once again there is teams who get more possession than Arsenal.

Either way his point is wrong.

Well it is sort of true. We average 60% possession and 80% pass completion in all competitions - similar stats to Barcelona. Obviously we're not as good but I don't that's the point he's making.

@Athe~ Well we did do better for the first 90 minutes, but not over the second. One match lasts 90 minutes but unfortunately for us there were two legs and Barca were able to make a comeback in the 2nd.

 

[Mike.]

Yeah, he said something like that about choosing Owen over Berbatov for the bench. Just trying to figure out what he wanted his team to do - Evra's defensive vulnerability we've talked about before is really hammered home when he's forced to stay flat like that and not take advantage of any space in front of him. First 10 minutes, I thought that he'd got it spot on - high intensity, get the lead, play on the break. But Barca seemed to pull Villa more centrally and Messi dropped deeper and you barely saw the ball after that for longer than it took for the ball to get back to VDS to punt aimlessly up the pitch. The way Barcelona interchange means you need a very drilled zonal defence of at least 7 players (and let's be honest, you guys rarely have the game taken to you to an extent which would make that necessary) or you need to return to a man-mark/zonal mix to track the runners properly. Thought it was suicidal to play the offside trap on the edge of your own area when midfield and defence had collapsed on top of each other and with rarely anyone tracking from midfield (Carrick did it once and stopped a goal - even if he was playing catch-up on Messi to do it). Just lots of odd things about the match again and Ferguson's decisions.

Berbatov to Spurs then?

Things started to go wrong when Villa came central and took a shoot on sight policy, which meant the side wasnt sure what it wanted to do

Lol wouldnt be surpised with 'Arry. Cant see a future either way. Im dreaming now but if we get the MC sorted "fairly" cheaply, would like us to enter the race for Aguero :wub:

 

[Andy]

Well it is sort of true. We average 60% possession and 80% pass completion in all competitions - similar stats to Barcelona. Obviously we're not as good but I don't that's the point he's making.

@Athe~ Well we did do better for the first 90 minutes, but not over the second. One match lasts 90 minutes but unfortunately for us there were two legs and Barca were able to make a comeback in the 2nd.

Believe Barcelona averaged 73% possession in La Liga, that is a big difference compared to 60%. United average 59% I believe (58% in Champions League). The point he was making was that no one gets close to Barcelona and Arsenal. I agree no one gets close to Barcelona but people certainly get close to Arsenal.

 

[curtis290]

It was my birthday and so I was sort of dreading the game because I was so sure ManU would win...Barca is tired (have only had one full off-season in three years), ManU had home soil, they match up perfectly against Barca (great defensively, well organized, fit and hard-working, fast and potent on the counter), this season they have been real winners and can always grind out results even when getting outplayed (which is what they'd need to do to beat Barca), they'd have the advantage of learning from their mistakes from last time, and I thought SAF would have it figured out after learning from his mistakes in '09...it's hard to beat a good team twice, and SAF rarely gets beaten twice. I was pretty much the only one rooting for Barca at a bar jam-packed with people and my attitude was that it was my birthday and I had the right to be the annoying jack-*** Barca fan (and an American at that in a mostly British/Korean audience), so I was and everyone there hated me. But it was great nonetheless.

I showed up about 10 minutes late and was absolutely wasted for the game so I couldn't really analyze it well but it was an absolutely sublime performance from Barcelona and there's nothing more to say about that. Even with everything stacked against them (the reasons listed above, Puyol not starting) they still were a class above ManU. This team is clearly an historically great team and you're simply a hater if you think otherwise. In three seasons they've won La Liga 3 times (setting point total records), the Copa del Rey once (and lost in the final in extra time once), and two Champions Leagues (the time they didn't there was an icelandic volcano and had to drive across Europe for the first leg). The same group of players won the Euro and then the World Cup (the first time in history that a team did that in that order). The man who is arguably the greatest manager in football history and has been in the game forever said they are the best team he has ever faced. The modern game has the best teams since never before were the best players from the other leagues all bought by the top few leagues (the Big 4), and thus a team so dominant in this era certainly has to be in the conversation for the greatest team of all time. But not only are they possibly the greatest of all time, they're one of the most entertaining. They're certainly the greatest and most entertaining team I've seen in my lifetime in any sport. I sincerely believe we are privileged to be able to watch this team play and they remind me of how great this sport is every time I do.

---------- Post added at 04:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:01 PM ----------

Things started to go wrong when Villa came central and took a shoot on sight policy, which meant the side wasnt sure what it wanted to do

Lol wouldnt be surpised with 'Arry. Cant see a future either way. Im dreaming now but if we get the MC sorted "fairly" cheaply, would like us to enter the race for Aguero :wub:

You have Rooney, Chicharito (who I think is the real deal), and Berbatov. Owen is a capable back-up and you have Welbeck coming through the ranks. Why on earth would you want to spend 40 million quid on another striker? Spend that money on Sneijder.

 

[Scott]

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You have Rooney, Chicharito (who I think is the real deal), and Berbatov. Owen is a capable back-up and you have Welbeck coming through the ranks. Why on earth would you want to spend 40 million quid on another striker? Spend that money on Sneijder.

Berbatov decided to leave last nights game before Kick off after being told he wasnt on the bench.... So that him gone i think, and Owen contract is up, and i would be very suprised if he stays,

But we have got Welbeck and Macheda to come back, but i think another taller striker( similar to Berba) is needed. Not Aguero.

 

[Mike.]

dont see why we need a taller striker, most of our headed goals are from movement and drilled in crosses,would rather have a striker that fits our style, which he would