Mark HughesQuote:
Originally Posted by NeilMcD
Pique
Jordi Cruyff
Henrik Larsson
Lauarent Blanc
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Mark HughesQuote:
Originally Posted by NeilMcD
Pique
Jordi Cruyff
Henrik Larsson
Lauarent Blanc
YOu been reading the BBC website then.
Good question. I cheated and looked up the answer so I won't give any away for whoever wants to go about it the right way. All very getable on reflection though.
Someone said Barca didnt score against Utd last year,true.The reason they didnt score is because Man Utd parked the bus at the Camp Nou in the first leg and after they scored in the second leg they double parked the bus inside their own area.This is a one off game and so i think Man Utd will be less inclined to do it tonight and so Barca should have more freedom.I am a Barca fan,they'd be my second fave team behind Galway Utd and im pretty confident they will win.
Barca to win 2-1 in normal time with Xavi and Iniesta to teach Carrick and Andersen a lesson in midfield play
jesus galway must have some team if barcelona only your second fav team :DQuote:
Originally Posted by eamo1
think anderson will be more intrested in trying to stop xavi & iniesta playing lovely football :D going forward both teams have an amount of goalscoring talent so hopefully we get a good game a lot could depend on messi v evra / vidic/ferdinand v eto clash and ronaldo may also run riot against barcelona backline ... would agree on your 2-1 prediction but not sure to who yet :ball: could be a great game if somebody scores an early goalQuote:
Originally Posted by lionelhutz
Jesus I love watching Iniesta. He seems to pass the ball before it even gets to him it's that quick. :D
Time to bring on Tevez I think.
Bloody camera is a mile away!
I don't like the stadium in the way that the fans are so far away from the pitch. Doesn't look very good on camera.
[QUOTE=old git;1168254]iniesta man of the match tonight... rte panel raving about messi but for me iniesta was the star man for barcelona ... utd midfield non existant , ronaldo / rooney vanished as game went on and in the end utd had only 1 shot on target in first 10 mins
barcelona a joy to watch but i also think utd made it a bit easier for them by standing off and letting them play football and never really got at barcelona so called suspect defence ... utd need a iniesta / xavi type midfielder as soon as possible :ball watched game on utv and the commetators were still hopeful of utd getting a result at 2-0 down with five mins to go. :confused:QUOTE]
just watched medal presentation anybody else think michel platini was absolutly delighted to be presenting winners medals to barcelona players looked like he wanted to mount messi :D:D boy he must really hate the english leagues / teams :ball:
Quote:
Originally Posted by volley
You dont know next week lottery ticket numbers do you ?
Not a great game imo, mainly because there was only one team on the pitch really. Delighted for Barcelona, well deserved.
Anyone think Ferguson lost out big time to a managerial rookie?
Without most of a first choice back 4 Barca trusted their technique and deservedly won quite easily.
If Ferguson had trusted United's key strengths - constantly asking questions of the opposition defence, constantly getting the ball in dangerous areas and feverishly trying to regain possession when they lose it - I think they'd have been more competitive. Instead I think he was cagey - exchange jabs with Barcelona and see what develops. Wrong call.
I was very impressed by how Barcelona played without the ball. Very disciplined structurally - classic 2 banks of 4 type stuff. Credit to Guardiala for instilling that discipline in what is a very attack minded team.
I like Carrick and the way he plays but he's not a patch on Xabi and Iniesta is a sheer joy to watch. Carrick is very good but not anywhere near the top table.
Puyol's antic's were only blot on a good Barcelona win for me.
I noticed that too, hugging nearly all of them except for Sylvinho, Gudjohnsen and Henry, who have played for Premier League clubs and obviously a few other players as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by old git
xabi / iniesta controlled game hardly let utd get a chance to get a back four ... when barcelona had the ball they usually found another player and utd gave it away to easy when they finaly had ball to many attempts at long diagonal passes out to wings ... like rooney as a player but thought it was one of his worst games in a utd shirt .... as for berbatov don't even think he broke into a sweat when he came on :mad: but credit to barcelona they were the better team all over the pitch...:ball:Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
The problem is though with Fletcher and Hargreaves unavailable they just don't have the players to do that. Try to match Barca and you'll certainly be beaten. Giggs and Carrick in particular are not going to hassle Barca in midfield.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Iniesta said this week that training at Barca as a kid they were constantly told to:
"Receive, pass, offer, receive, pass, offer"
Can you imagine a player of Iniesta's ability playing in England? He'd have been stuck on the wing and told to beat players at every opportunity.
Yeah Barca deserved to win and it was a pity the game was so one sided and that the Irishman ended up with a losers medal howerver it was a joy to watch Xavi Iniesta and Messi. Midfied won the day. Dunphy is a muppet saying Man Utd are a shambles. 3 league titles in a row and 2 Champions Leagues in a row and they are in shambles.
Ferguson got it wrong on the night alright but his players, bar Ronaldo, didn't seem up for it at all. VDS could have done better for the Etoo goal but I'd agree with Dunphy that Vidic should take the lions share of the blame there. O'Shea did alright, no better. Vidic and Ferdinand were useless and Evra didn't get forward enough (probably a tactic to keep him back but it wasn't working and should have been changed). Carrick and Anderson aren't good enough for this stage, they just aren't. Giggs is so far past it as a starting player it's laughable Fergie even considered him, let alone went with it. Park is a poor man's Dirk Kuyt, Rooney was misused again, but he still deserves his fair share of criticism for not showing up, where as Ronaldo seemed up for it but got frustrated again and fell out of the game. Scholes is probably the nastiest footballer I've ever seen, that challenge on Basquets was shocking, I heard ITV laughed it off as just another Scholes tackle again :rolleyes: Berbatov should be sold in the summer and Tevez couldn't do much when he came on as the 10 players around him already looked defeated.
Fair play to Barca though, thought United a thing or two about football tonight, in particular Iniesta, Messi, Xavi and Puyol, with an extra nod to Basquets and Pique for holding their nerve on such a large occasion.
Barca knocked the ball around brilliantly at times,Messi is a joy to watch,Iniesta and Xavi ran midfield,Man Utd never showed up,i'd be disappointed if i were a Utd fan,Messi's first goal against a Premiership team also
Ha ha Jebus what a loads of absolute rubbish youa re talking there. Explaing 3 league titles and 2 Champions league finals. Are you sure you have not just finished at RTE and have not logged on to foot.ie.
Care to wipe those bitter tears out of your eyes and highlight the parts you disagree with?Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilMcD
Ha ha, I could not give a **** as I do not support Utd. I Support Ireland and Bohs. Was hoping an Irish man would get another champions league medal but really enjoyed Barcas midfield. So no tears bitter or joyful.
Generally your point was over the top. Man Utd were poor tonight you have reached conclusive opions based on very thin evidence. Utd have won 3 league titles on the trot and 2 Champions league finals on the trot. So they are doing lots of things right. Their midfield was not great tonight and they probably could do with the introduction of a world class midfielder to replace giggs and scholes and Hargreaves who looks like he is going to retire.
Berbatov contributed 10 assists and 9 goals this season. Not bad for his first season at Man Utd. His style puts people off but his a classy player. Anderson is so young and inexperienced that to right him off is a joke. In conclusion your whole post is like some Dunphy rant that attempts to right Man Utd off when they beat Barca over two legs last season and this season lost to them. Some games teams win some they lose but over a decent period of time you can judge them and Man Utd seem to be doing pretty well with Ferguson in charge and with the players they have.
What impressed me about Barcelona so much tonight was the way their players moved off the ball, always seemed to be in a position to recieve the ball. It almost made it look like they had more players than United how well they used the space and got away from their markers. A joy to watch nonetheless and football really came out victorious on the night.
Agree with stutts that Puyol acting the b**lox was the only downer for the Spaniards tonight.
Hiddink decided not to even bother playing football against Barca and his tactics were very nearly vindicated.
UTD don't have players in Midfield with the class of Iniesta and Xavi(and Messi dropping deep sometimes) and they gave UTD a lesson in technique and awareness.
Ferguson needed a tactical plan to counter act Barca superior technical ability and just didn't seem to have one.
Bar Anderson, Giggs and Carrick I didn't criticise any player outside of tonights game unduly. I called Park a poor man's Kuyt and he is, he works hard, tracks back well, but Kuyt scores more and even better he scores on big occasions. Not a huge criticism of Park because I actually rate both himself and Kuyt. All the other comments bar the three I've highlighted were on tonights performance, not this season or the last few seasons.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilMcD
And I'll stand by saying Carrick and Anderson aren't good enough for that level, Xavi and Iniesta vs Carrick and Anderson should tell you that United need to buy in the summer. Giggs should retire, he's a grand cameo performer against smaller opponants but he's only kept around because he has been a great servant of the club, not on merit. That Players Player of the Year award was a joke before anyone brings it up too.
Oh wait I called Scholes a hacker, can anyone dispute this? So whats your point?
It must be rememberd too that football was the winner last year too at the Champions League final even if it took penalties to decide it. Man Utd were immense in the first half against Chelsea last year. Barca were great tonight and it was a match between two great clubs. One team showed up and played great and the other did not and was outclassed. But to say that football was the winner innsinuates that somewho Man Utd were anti football in the way that Chelsea were in the Camp Nou or that Liverpool were a few years ago in Europe.
No midfield players are up to the standard of Iniesta or Xavi. so to say that Carrick and Anderson are not is not much of a point. Xavi and Iniesta are simply the best central midfielders playing the game at the moment by a country mile. There are not many central midfielders out there.Quote:
Originally Posted by jebus
Alright so, Carrick and Anderson aren't as good as Xabi Alonso and Mascherano, or Essien and Lampard or Diarra and Gago or Pirlo and Gattuso or Senna and Fernandez or Cesc and whatever rubbish player Wenger plays alongside himQuote:
Originally Posted by NeilMcD
They're not good enough for the top level, Anderson especially, but Carrick is very average as well
Well Man Utd seem to do pretty well if their central midfielders are so rubbish or maybe they are not rubbish and you are talking through yoru arse.
http://www.threadbombing.com/data/me...son_crying.gifQuote:
Originally Posted by NeilMcD
Ahh Jebus dont take it so bad you will be ok.
I'm just worried about what will happen when you have to take your Ryan Giggs posters down :(
Never had any. Only posters I had when I was 8 and 9 and 10 were Ireland ones. Now I do not have posters. As I said already only reason I was hoping that Man Utd won was because John O Shea was playing for Man Utd, if he was playhing for Barca I would have gone for them.
Carrick's better than Busquets. Well above him. As I said earlier in the thread, some players are in there to play a specific role. I happen to think Anderson is a smashing player. He just had a poor game.Quote:
Originally Posted by jebus
Oh and you dind't always know about Iniesta :D
Basquets isn't first choice though, Yaya Toure normally plays in there and he's miles better than either Anderson or Carrick as well
And that link was 2007, and two points, not many disagreed with my querying of why Iniesta was in there on form and two quit living in the past Dodge :p
Oh by the way is the Arsenal central midfield the same one that got destroyed by Anderson and by Carrick over two legs.
Who mightn't be first choise if Hargreaves and Fletcher are available. In last night's game, Carrick was nowhere near Utd's weak link and I think you're being OTT in singling him out. He got no support and had to try and eadl with Xavi, Iniesta and Messi as well as try and start the attacks. If he's given enough support, he'd be OK.Quote:
Originally Posted by jebus