Champions League Final

[Gatid]

PROVED HOW GOOD THEY WERE.. ARSENAL AWAY!!
thats like ricky hatton proved how good he is against a toddler

arsenal are embarrassing, we dont win we dont play good football anymore were just dull and slipping out of the top 4 i think the glory days are over, we have ridiculously bad luck do non arsenal fans notice that?

I wouldnt go that far, arsenal are a quality side its just there are things we could of done differently like

when henry left? we should of got a striker who could get us 30+ goals a season like henry did or some1 who can influence a game like henry did but NO wenger stuck with adebayor who is total bullocks hes always offside and he misses more sitters than he scores...or when flamini and hleb left same thing happened then when wenger though the didnt need any replacements which he did now the injuries has came back to haunt us again

and of course who can forget our back four is so fragile when defending and lack some1 tall or some1 with great leaping/heading abilities some1 who would stick his head in to head the ball when he already knows hes gonna get kicked in the face(terry)

 

[Redders]

Judging by the last two CL games for both sides, Man Utd will win.

If Barca play like they did against Chelsea (both legs) then Man Utd will have them on the breaks, especially without the likes of Alves, Abidal and Marquez.

Messi - despite being my favourite footballler in the world bar none - doesn't perform against top English sides.

3-1 to Man Utd. I hope.

 

[*JK*]

man utd are going to tear them up all the way round right round lol

 

[leeumoconnor69]

PROVED HOW GOOD THEY WERE.. ARSENAL AWAY!!
thats like ricky hatton proved how good he is against a toddler

arsenal are embarrassing, we dont win we dont play good football anymore were just dull and slipping out of the top 4 i think the glory days are over, we have ridiculously bad luck do non arsenal fans notice that?

theres a fan for yah... so we lost to united, and we didnt have the best of games, but we still play beautiful football, and maybe thats our problem, we are too obsessed with walking it over the line... and arsenal have had glory days in the past but were always an on and off team, 1st one year 8th the next, arsene wenger has brought in stability to the club, top 4 finish every year is a great achievement whether or not we have won anything recently, the reason people are moaning about arsenals GLORY days fading away, is because wenger has built a team that is EXPECTED to challenge for trophies, without him turning arsenal in to a consistant top 4 side, no one would say every season arsenal are under achieving. its not like we can't beat the top 4 either, liverpool hardly ever get the win against us in the league, we beat chelsea this year, we beat united aswell, we just need to beat the "little teams" and hit some consistant results... give it 3 years, and arsenal don't sell all their good youngsters like vela off, and arsenal will be a title winning side again, i really hope, i don't have to wait that long for it now that we have arshavin... he has really turned us around and it was a shame he was cup tied, but then again one man does not make a team....

 

[belz]

I wouldnt go that far, arsenal are a quality side its just there are things we could of done differently like

when henry left? we should of got a striker who could get us 30+ goals a season like henry did or some1 who can influence a game like henry did but NO wenger stuck with adebayor who is total bullocks hes always offside and he misses more sitters than he scores...or when flamini and hleb left same thing happened then when wenger though the didnt need any replacements which he did now the injuries has came back to haunt us again

and of course who can forget our back four is so fragile when defending and lack some1 tall or some1 with great leaping/heading abilities some1 who would stick his head in to head the ball when he already knows hes gonna get kicked in the face(terry)

just knew this yesterday, but Arsenal is the team with more budget (not counting oil-magnat City) for transfers, so wenger its just blame stupid. He prolly has done great stuff for afc but his time has gone. I personally like arsenal, i think their way to play the youth its awesome, but it waaaaaay to much. Teams need players with some experience, and the choice of not bringing any players in its wengers. So, wanna get afc back to the top of not only english but world-wide footy, sack wenger (H)

back on topic, ManUTD gonna kick barças ***, and CR7 gonna win the title again for the portuguese side ihihih

 

[Zebedee]

just knew this yesterday, but Arsenal is the team with more budget (not counting oil-magnat City) for transfers, so wenger its just blame stupid.

Their money has gone on exceptionally high wages for young players. Arsenal's wage bill is only just behind Manchester United's and Chelsea's, and they don't have 'experienced' internationals to justify it. They don't have as much cash as people make out though - they are in a tiny bit of trouble financially due to their business plan for the new stadium not working out quite as it was intended.

 

[Jason123]

people say barca have got the best attack in the world by far so they will win but man u are just as good as them on the attack plus they are the best defense in the world aswell, they are well organised so they have it all wheras barca have 1 style of play which is attack, man u have many styles of play 2 win a game. MAN UNITED

 

[19-11-08]

if barca play like they did yesterday united will win.
nice to see people not being biased and saying barca are going to win it just because they hate united.

 

[Lee]

Barcelona are obviously going to win, because Manchester United are cheating *****.

 

[JDY]

Chelsea were robbed last night, possibly the worst refereing performence iv ever seen. 3 maybe 4 clear penaltys, although the whole conspiracy thing is going abit to far ,last week at the camp nou at half time, platini appeared on the big screen singing and dancing to the Barca anthem . . and all i hear is Barca had 70% possesion, what did they do with it? they had one shot on target which was the goal lol, Chelsea deserved it just uefa didnt want another all english final.

As for the final, hope it will be better than the dull 0-0 in the semies last year, but saying that i think even if Barca had no suspensions & all their players fit, United would easily dispose of them, and now that theyve got a few key players out i can see United absoutley spanking them.

United 3-0 Barca

 

[Gatid]

I dont really think its gonna be a good game to watch boring as **** rather watch stoke play, typical barca style like to dominate around their opponents area but when they lose the ball rooney/ronaldo/park will shoot up and probs score from it

or barca flobby defense will make a big mistake like last time to let scholes or someone to score a rocky..

2-1 Man utd.

 

[leeumoconnor69]

im rather upset no one had anything to say about my rant =[

 

[UKMACKIE]

Manchester United will absolutely demolish this Amateur Team. I don't rate this team due to them thinking football is all about trying to walk the ball into net. Man Utd has got a healthy balance and a better team overall than Barca.

 

[Luis Aragones Legacy]

I hope tiki-taka will win for the sake of spanish football and football ing eneral (although I was impressed by the incredible chelsea's tactic in the game, I put eleven guys in front of my box, counter (at home?), and score an hollywood goal FM style) incredible!!! State of the Art management!!! Now, seriously it will depend on how much space Man U leaves to barça and how barça will maange the Cristiano situation down that flanc I think he'll put Puyol there but if he plays forward Puyol will go down the center. Problem of barça is a tremendous weakness to counters, that may well decide the game.

 

[ajw]

Ronaldo wont play on the wing, he'll play up front with Rooney and Park on the flanks. And yeah Barca are a great football team, but we are as well. We proved that by destroying Arsenal who themselves play football the right way.

People saying we'll demolish Barca--as much as I would love it--are ridiculously off the mark. I think people think that just because Chelsea parked the bus, and didn't let barca thru, that Barca are *****. The team have scored 100 goals in La Liga for god's sake. Yeah we might defend but it won't be like Chelsea or us in the first leg last year, and I think it's gona be really close. Puyol and Pique are possibly their best defenders and they still have those two.

 

[Kris]

Manchester United will absolutely demolish this Amateur Team. I don't rate this team due to them thinking football is all about trying to walk the ball into net. Man Utd has got a healthy balance and a better team overall than Barca.

lol almost choked at that amateur team line.

 

[PaulReynolds]

an amatuer team? they just pumped madrid 6-2 on there own patch<)

United to win tho 2-1

 

[Luis Aragones Legacy]

thing is if one side scores early then we'll have a crazy game, if barça scores first Man U are going to come with all their horsepower (I've been saying since first round that if I had to bet my money was on Man U), and that's a LOT, if Man U scores first then barça will start ''tikitaking'' like possessed and will eventually dislocate man U defence. The keys of the game, for me and feel free to discuss them:
Barça: If achieves ball domination too easily it will be a hard game for ManU
Man U: A strong midfield preventing creation and tightmarking Xavi can both be the best defense and the best counterlaunching.
Ronaldo: well, difficult to stop with a solid defence, impossible to stop if has space.
Messi: capable of doing crazy things inside thirty centimeters, didn't play at his level against chelsea but pretty much the best out there right now.
Vidic-Ferdinand: Will have to face Etoo Henry Messi but be extracareful about second line atatcks from iniesta and xavi.
Pique-Puyol: Barça's defense is slaughtered for this game, and guradiola's play always with two behind, they'll need to be perfect, ManU can allow an error in defence, maybe, not barça, maybe that will be THE key.
I've forgot many things (xavi vs giggs-schole in creation, etc..), but like tacticians that we are how do you see it? Meaning, this game on FM how do you deal with it, being one side or another?

 

[Zebedee]

thing is if one side scores early then we'll have a crazy game, if barça scores first Man U are going to come with all their horsepower (I've been saying since first round that if I had to bet my money was on Man U), and that's a LOT, if Man U scores first then barça will start ''tikitaking'' like possessed and will eventually dislocate man U defence. The keys of the game, for me and feel free to discuss them:
Barça: If achieves ball domination too easily it will be a hard game for ManU
Man U: A strong midfield preventing creation and tightmarking Xavi can both be the best defense and the best counterlaunching.
Ronaldo: well, difficult to stop with a solid defence, impossible to stop if has space.
Messi: capable of doing crazy things inside thirty centimeters, didn't play at his level against chelsea but pretty much the best out there right now.
Vidic-Ferdinand: Will have to face Etoo Henry Messi but be extracareful about second line atatcks from iniesta and xavi.
Pique-Puyol: Barça's defense is slaughtered for this game, and guradiola's play always with two behind, they'll need to be perfect, ManU can allow an error in defence, maybe, not barça, maybe that will be THE key.
I've forgot many things (xavi vs giggs-schole in creation, etc..), but like tacticians that we are how do you see it? Meaning, this game on FM how do you deal with it, being one side or another?

I don't think that it will matter one bit whether Barca have all the ball possession or not - top English teams counterattack with pace and effect. Liverpool have done it to Barca, Chelsea should have scored a lot more from the chances they made in the semis and the Mancs are capable of ripping teams to shreds if they aren't pinned back down the wings.

Barca rely on their fullbacks for width. Against teams which are solid in the centre (have my doubts whether Manchester are as solid as Chelsea and Liverpool through the middle if they are missing both Hargreaves and Fletcher but they should be solid enough), then those fullbacks have to bomb forward to put the balls in. Unless Bojan is playing there really isn't an aerial option for Barca which will worry Vidic and Ferdinand. So if Barca play how they like to play, we'll see lots of balls being stroked around just outside the Manchester United penalty area before a ball out wide for an overlapping fullback gets put into the box and that will be cleared easily with the Mancs looking for a long/direct ball down the flanks for Ronaldo and Rooney to run out the slow, makeshift Barca central defence.

If Toure is playing DMC for Barca, that will make them much more solid but then they'll have to play Puyol in the centre and I'd back Rooney and Ronaldo running straight down the middle at a Picque/Puyol pairing if Toure pushes up too much and gets caught out.

So Barca really do have to play a little more sensibly and find width which doesn't mean second string fullbacks doing what their first choice fullbacks can't do either (ie effectively provide all the width and defend against pragmatic English teams with pace). This to me would mean playing Messi on the left and finding someone who can cross with his right to play on the other side. Barca's defensive line will have to play deeper to cover the pace of the Manc's counter which to me means playing Toure as DMC supporting Iniesta and Xavi in the centre. If they can play like the Spanish national side but not push up too much to try and retain possession then they've a chance. Eto'o has not impressed me at all against English clubs - is he able to hold the ball up? He drops deep a lot, but that's not what Barca need - they need someone as a focus for their attacks who can receive the ball, hold off the defender and play someone in as well as being able to provide a bit of a threat from crosses - to me that means Bojan, or even Henry.

The downside to all this, is that the Mancs would be quite happy to see Barca backing off a bit and stroking it around in non-dangerous areas. Arsenal did that in the semis and lost because they pushed on too much, confusing possession with pressure. Can Barca play a more direct style? Can they put pressure on the space Ronaldo always leaves behind him and get at the fullback on that side? If they can't and if their manager shows the same inexperience as he showed in the semis in being too slow to make changes when Plan A obviously isn't working, then they'll lose. Lose by a few too.

 

[19-11-08]

reckon the final will decide who wins the personal accolades this season like the milan-united semi 2 years ago. it looked like messi would own all in the awards but ronaldo has come into some tremendous form and has stepped up when we needed him. while people are doubting whether messi is that good when he comes up against english defences as he was anonymous against chelsea.