and even that one shoulda be disallowed as it was offside. great goal doe.
I think Sir Bacon of Face got his tactics/seection/subs wrong. Although they started very well, United didn't seem to have a plan to deal with Barca once they got their 'carousel' going. Why he didn't play the game like they do against us and concentrated on being defensively solid, I don't know. They were quite capable of hitting Barca on the break and pinching a goal, as in the first half.
The Pea was useless, and really should've been pulled off and replaced with a midfielder, Fletcher would've been ideal. Valencia did very little, apart from give away fouls, Evra is a cunt was also poor.
I thought for the first 20 mins, Man U did quite well, but... I'm going to have to compare this match with Arsenal's victory against Barcelona at the Emirates because
(1) this was Barcelona playing in England, and up til now their track record away from Spain has been patchy, while for Man U home soil should've been a psychological boost
(2) both Arsenal & UTD tried to disrupt the midfield and soak up pressure
Man U did a better job of this to start with, and could press higher up the pitch because unlike Arsenal, their defenders were making assured tackles.
But they couldn't keep up the intensity.
Rooney looks like a smoker. Out of puff worryingly early on for a young player.
Rooney made a habit of identifying unmarked players and then gesturing/pointing that somebody else needed to pick them up. Busquets & Xavi were never marked.
Playing this Barcelona side puts a lot of pressure on opponents to be comfortable with the ball and tests their ability to sheild the ball and make time and space to retain possession. Most of the time that a Barca fwd closed down Rio or Vidic, they off-loaded the ball asap. Contrast that to Pique who frequently dummied Hernandez/Rooney and carried the ball forward rather than humping it away. Was interesting that UTD spent the first half allowing Mascherano all the time on the ball he wanted. Unfortunatley his distribution isn't THAT bad.
Arsenal had a better stab of matching Barcelona in the middle of the park, but our defence always looked more vulnerable, and at Camp Nou, the whole team sat back too deep and allowed Barca all the possession they liked. This UTD squad doesn't have the legs in the middle of the park.
How does a team beat Barca? I think defenders should be able to not just commit but beat Pedro, Villa and Messi before offloading the ball. Then the Barca midfield won't be able to hunt in packs in the midfield. Players need to be comfortable and competent dribblers. Using the high ball into the box could work, but the opponents should be confident enough to press forward in enough numbers that they stand a chance of winning the second ball. Every Barca clearance from their own 18-yd box seemed to fall to another Barca player, because there weren't any UTD players in the vicinity.
Playing the Barcelona way better than Barcelona could be the only real way of beating them. They mullered Arsenal at Camp Nou. They could've mullered UTD by a lot more. They looked like they were in first gear last night.
the team that has been closest to beating/disturbing Bar??a has been Real because they anticipate said carousel and block the messi pathway.
It was a great victory for my club because of the well distributed scoring and constant pressure
The second half was clearly dominated and yes we made park/valencia look like schoolchildren
Ferguson expressions were priceless...see you next year!
the team that has been closest to beating/disturbing Bar??a has been Real because they anticipate said carousel and block the messi pathway Mourihno has learned to park the bus when playing Barcelona.
My favourite post-CL-final headline has been Ferguson Plans Changes To Reel In Barca - it's a bit late now mate, you should have made those changes at half-time. Promises of bringing in big names to revamp the squad smells like the poop left behind by the horse that bolted.
Wenger promises to be busy in the transfer market, Ferg promises to be busy in the transfer market, Dalglish has promised to be busy in the transfer market, Chelsea have promised... I think only Citeh haven't felt the need to tell the world that they're going to spend. Platini's fair-play ethos was going to put dampers on clubs spending beyond their means, wasn't it?
Where are all the big names going to come from anyway? I don't think Barca are going to sell any of their squad. Spurs looking to continue being Man U's feeder club? I think Man U are going to have problems recruiting big names. For the sh*t weather, they could get more money at Citeh without having to wipe their faces dry after the hairdryer treatment.
the team that has been closest to beating/disturbing Bar??a has been Real because they anticipate said carousel and block the messi pathway Mourihno has learned to park the bus when playing Barcelona.
fixed.
Indeed. You will not get the ball off them if you try to play in the middle because they have the best midfield. It's not pretty, and you won't be playing a "Beautiful game" but you may avoid getting your backside handed to you.
What did you make of the decision to drop prem league top scorer Berbatov for Mickey Owen?
Did Ferg really think he'd be able to close out the game with Owen & Anderson up front again?
Looked to me like the final nail in the coffin of something that's been building up ever since Rooney and Hernandez became the default starting partnership. Previous Fergie v Player incidents would suggest that Berbs wasn't too happy with the suggested line up, threw a strop, and was subsequently banished by our glorious leader. No other logic I can think of since he would have offered something different had we brought him on.
To be honest I've stayed away from reading the post massacre analysis (I saw everything I needed to know about the match at the time) so there may be another explanation but based on that alone I wouldn't be surprised to see him depart in the summer.
Scholes has retired, not at the peak of his career, but he was one of the few English players to have graced football when he wasn't hammering players with 'committed' tackling.
Speaking of which. I guess it's wrong for me to say that I was hoping for some kind of similar contribution to this when he graced the stage for the last time:
One of the greatest United players of all time though.
Because Alex Fergusons' first move to cement UTD's place at the top of football is...
to give Michael Owen a one-year contract extension! Barcelona are quaking in their tippy-tappy boots.
b/w
I won't be so amused if UTD snap-up Nasri as some of the papers have suggested, and why is it that Arsenal's transfer rumours are boringly always about French ligue 1 players...
I have no issues with this. I see Owen's existence at the club as a useful tool to keep The Great One amused. Watch how we keep him from ever getting another England cap, chortle as he sits expectantly on the bench as we call on a random 18 year old to come on, laugh uproariously as he tells the press about how he sees this season as the one where he really comes back to his best while getting his agent to update his portfolio with the 3 appearances he's made in the last 12 months. It's all obvious delayed payback for a shunning years ago.
I think you're forgetting about the real big news anyway of us being in the hunt for Rodwell. Now there's the kind of talent you rip apart the Barca midfield with. Mind you, if all goes to tradition Barca will get knocked out before the final next year so we can stroll to the title with convincing wins over Valencia, Roma and, probably Chelsea in the final.
My dad says in the 60s they would have treated Messi like they did George Best. No, not get him drunk beforehand (that didn't work). Basically, kick the sh*t out of him until he's had enough. I mean, it worked to end Arsenal's "Invincible" run, non?
I was honestly surprised there wasn't a bit more of that on him. However I think that the combination of pride, the fact that unlike the "invincibles" (gag) this Barca team can take it and know how to react to it and, most importantly, that ten men against a Barca team even Messi-less was a no win situation meant that it was never really an option. Might have been a bit different if Fletcher was fit though.
In his evidence to the parliamentary select committee for culture, media and sport, Triesman had said Leoz, at a meeting on 3 November 2009, asked him for a knighthood. Dingemans could not find evidence of Leoz doing so directly, but his report notes an extraordinary series of requests from staff at Leoz's Conmebol federation for Leoz to be personally honoured, including a suggestion the FA Cup be named after him. Alberto Almirall, a Conmebol employee, is cited by Dingemans as having written to the FA saying: "Confidentially, I know he [Leoz] would love to have a decoration from the British crown or government."
I'm loving some of the sordid details about FIFA. A breakaway world cup is the only answer.
Any of the London crew got tickets for the Olympics? Can't believe even Bo Jo didn't get one, nor Bradley Wiggins:
The Mayor added that the situation he found himself in was typically British. "I am proud to be British. No other country or culture in the world would have a situation where the mayor of the host city goes into a ballot for tickets for his family and gets rejected.
Great Britain's track cycling star Bradley Wiggins was also unsuccessful. "No Olympic tickets for the wife and kids to watch team pursuit, oh well sorry kids going to have to watch dad on the telly," he tweeted.
Not mentioned is the reported 9,000 tickets the Government has applied for, including 3,000 for civil servants and other officials involved in the Games. The remaining 6,000 tickets are expected to be given to dignitaries and VIP guests.
Local authorities in London have also been given a ticketing 'menu' of top-levels events to choose from, paid for by the taxpayer and free from the intense competition of the public sale.
Nasri aint going anywhere near United, Wenger said so himself. It's all just tabloid tittle-tattle, started by some wumming by hack journalists & Patrice -i'll just go this way and leave Pedro open in front of goal- Evra.
*I don't actually think he would go to United but it certainly seems like he may go somewhere which would be a real loss for the team. Still might be good to cash in on him before he throws a sulk and loses half his value.
Nah his contract only has one more year, so it's settle or cash in for a fair price. Wenger aint fool enough to sell him to Yanited though. He's plenty replaceable.
Nah his contract only has one more year, so it's settle or cash in for a fair price. Wenger aint fool enough to sell him to Yanited though. He's plenty replaceable.
Ideally, but i think in the end, Nasri gets his way (but probably on a 5yr contract).
in the "real" football world, where clubs actually spend money for good players, Nasri is replaceable. But in "Wengers" world, if we sold Nasri for 20M, you'd be hard pressed to assume that Wenger would then use that full amount to replace the kid.
The problem is that if we pay the kid the money that's being thrown around (110 p/w), that adds to Arsenal's problem of paying top dollar salary for mid-level results. Nasri is very good, but 1/2 a season doesn't mean you get to jump right to the top of the payroll on the team.
only way this is rectified is if
a. Nasri agrees to terms that are in line with his real results (so the 90k p/w that is what the club offers, seems pretty fair)
b. the club agrees to add a kicker to his amounts if trophies are won
or c.
the kid is let go (preferably to a non-PL team, Spartak Moscow just to show these greedy players you cant always get everything you want) and money is spent on a player that is proven or very promising (so a Sneijder-like player in the former, or a Hazard-like player in the latter).
that would show real ballz from the club. that we are not held ransom by players that really haven proven the capability to win schitt.
again, in the end i suspect we take it in the butt for him (or we sell Cesc and then HAVE to take him at this asking price).
Comments
Great match so far though.
I think Sir Bacon of Face got his tactics/seection/subs wrong. Although they started very well, United didn't seem to have a plan to deal with Barca once they got their 'carousel' going. Why he didn't play the game like they do against us and concentrated on being defensively solid, I don't know. They were quite capable of hitting Barca on the break and pinching a goal, as in the first half.
The Pea was useless, and really should've been pulled off and replaced with a midfielder, Fletcher would've been ideal. Valencia did very little, apart from give away fouls, Evra
is a cuntwas also poor.Duder, you should be ashamed.
I daresay that my beloved spurs would have competed better in midfield
I thought for the first 20 mins, Man U did quite well, but... I'm going to have to compare this match with Arsenal's victory against Barcelona at the Emirates because
(1) this was Barcelona playing in England, and up til now their track record away from Spain has been patchy, while for Man U home soil should've been a psychological boost
(2) both Arsenal & UTD tried to disrupt the midfield and soak up pressure
Man U did a better job of this to start with, and could press higher up the pitch because unlike Arsenal, their defenders were making assured tackles.
But they couldn't keep up the intensity.
Rooney looks like a smoker. Out of puff worryingly early on for a young player.
Rooney made a habit of identifying unmarked players and then gesturing/pointing that somebody else needed to pick them up. Busquets & Xavi were never marked.
Playing this Barcelona side puts a lot of pressure on opponents to be comfortable with the ball and tests their ability to sheild the ball and make time and space to retain possession. Most of the time that a Barca fwd closed down Rio or Vidic, they off-loaded the ball asap. Contrast that to Pique who frequently dummied Hernandez/Rooney and carried the ball forward rather than humping it away. Was interesting that UTD spent the first half allowing Mascherano all the time on the ball he wanted. Unfortunatley his distribution isn't THAT bad.
Arsenal had a better stab of matching Barcelona in the middle of the park, but our defence always looked more vulnerable, and at Camp Nou, the whole team sat back too deep and allowed Barca all the possession they liked. This UTD squad doesn't have the legs in the middle of the park.
How does a team beat Barca? I think defenders should be able to not just commit but beat Pedro, Villa and Messi before offloading the ball. Then the Barca midfield won't be able to hunt in packs in the midfield. Players need to be comfortable and competent dribblers. Using the high ball into the box could work, but the opponents should be confident enough to press forward in enough numbers that they stand a chance of winning the second ball. Every Barca clearance from their own 18-yd box seemed to fall to another Barca player, because there weren't any UTD players in the vicinity.
Playing the Barcelona way better than Barcelona could be the only real way of beating them. They mullered Arsenal at Camp Nou. They could've mullered UTD by a lot more. They looked like they were in first gear last night.
It was a great victory for my club because of the well distributed scoring and constant pressure
The second half was clearly dominated and yes we made park/valencia look like schoolchildren
Ferguson expressions were priceless...see you next year!
fixed.
b/w
http://twitpic.com/54n1h0
also, this swansea v reading match is nuts.
Wenger promises to be busy in the transfer market, Ferg promises to be busy in the transfer market, Dalglish has promised to be busy in the transfer market, Chelsea have promised... I think only Citeh haven't felt the need to tell the world that they're going to spend. Platini's fair-play ethos was going to put dampers on clubs spending beyond their means, wasn't it?
Where are all the big names going to come from anyway? I don't think Barca are going to sell any of their squad. Spurs looking to continue being Man U's feeder club? I think Man U are going to have problems recruiting big names. For the sh*t weather, they could get more money at Citeh without having to wipe their faces dry after the hairdryer treatment.
Indeed. You will not get the ball off them if you try to play in the middle because they have the best midfield. It's not pretty, and you won't be playing a "Beautiful game" but you may avoid getting your backside handed to you.
Has it really got that desperate at Anfield now?
Come come now, we were appallingly shit but I've seen what happens to the Spurs midfield against Spanish teams and it's not pretty.
B/w
I believe we discussed this before on here. We knocked your club out in the quarter finals. >:(
What did you make of the decision to drop prem league top scorer Berbatov for Mickey Owen?
Did Ferg really think he'd be able to close out the game with Owen & Anderson up front again?
Looked to me like the final nail in the coffin of something that's been building up ever since Rooney and Hernandez became the default starting partnership. Previous Fergie v Player incidents would suggest that Berbs wasn't too happy with the suggested line up, threw a strop, and was subsequently banished by our glorious leader. No other logic I can think of since he would have offered something different had we brought him on.
To be honest I've stayed away from reading the post massacre analysis (I saw everything I needed to know about the match at the time) so there may be another explanation but based on that alone I wouldn't be surprised to see him depart in the summer.
Scholes has retired, not at the peak of his career, but he was one of the few English players to have graced football when he wasn't hammering players with 'committed' tackling.
One of the greatest United players of all time though.
Because Alex Fergusons' first move to cement UTD's place at the top of football is...
to give Michael Owen a one-year contract extension! Barcelona are quaking in their tippy-tappy boots.
b/w
I won't be so amused if UTD snap-up Nasri as some of the papers have suggested, and why is it that Arsenal's transfer rumours are boringly always about French ligue 1 players...
I think you're forgetting about the real big news anyway of us being in the hunt for Rodwell. Now there's the kind of talent you rip apart the Barca midfield with. Mind you, if all goes to tradition Barca will get knocked out before the final next year so we can stroll to the title with convincing wins over Valencia, Roma and, probably Chelsea in the final.
Like the rumours about us buying Nasri though.
I'm loving some of the sordid details about FIFA. A breakaway world cup is the only answer.
*I don't actually think he would go to United but it certainly seems like he may go somewhere which would be a real loss for the team. Still might be good to cash in on him before he throws a sulk and loses half his value.
Ideally, but i think in the end, Nasri gets his way (but probably on a 5yr contract).
in the "real" football world, where clubs actually spend money for good players, Nasri is replaceable. But in "Wengers" world, if we sold Nasri for 20M, you'd be hard pressed to assume that Wenger would then use that full amount to replace the kid.
The problem is that if we pay the kid the money that's being thrown around (110 p/w), that adds to Arsenal's problem of paying top dollar salary for mid-level results. Nasri is very good, but 1/2 a season doesn't mean you get to jump right to the top of the payroll on the team.
only way this is rectified is if
a. Nasri agrees to terms that are in line with his real results (so the 90k p/w that is what the club offers, seems pretty fair)
b. the club agrees to add a kicker to his amounts if trophies are won
or c.
the kid is let go (preferably to a non-PL team, Spartak Moscow just to show these greedy players you cant always get everything you want) and money is spent on a player that is proven or very promising (so a Sneijder-like player in the former, or a Hazard-like player in the latter).
that would show real ballz from the club. that we are not held ransom by players that really haven proven the capability to win schitt.
again, in the end i suspect we take it in the butt for him (or we sell Cesc and then HAVE to take him at this asking price).