Obviously not.
We played Barca like that twice last year and lost 0/2.
How do you work out that we would lose 9/10 then?
Barcelona
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Obviously not.
We played Barca like that twice last year and lost 0/2.
How do you work out that we would lose 9/10 then?
Don't you think they created so little because we played the way we did, rather than them just not playing well?
More often than not it's because the other team makes it hard for you, not because you play poorly.
It's the same thing as in the Liverpool match, we played poorly because Liverpool made us play poorly with their closing down and we couldn't deal with that.
Barcelona didn't have a plan B but we ruined their plan A perfectly.
This is probably most of it. They've become much more solid. Now they not only keep the ball, but win it too.
Top team, probably most likely to win the European Cup this season. Definitely the hardest team to beat on our way to retaining it. If we met them again, we'd need to kick them off the park.
The only club I think that could stop it being won by an English club again, this season.
Inter Milan?
They normally start with a boom, bust around March and settle for the scudetto.
Under Marueen, they look impressive and more mentally stronger.
An outside bet, yes. But they haven't got the quality throughout as the English clubs, Barca or even Real Madrid.
i got in the same argument with a friend lately who came out saying we were hammered by them last year. when i asked him what he meant he said "look at the possesion"
brwned is right, in my case i said that ferguson knows all about spanish teams especially barcelona and their style of keep ball when playing. but they can have the ball for 179 minutes of two legs so long as scholesy hits a winner for us. we let them play away but made it too difficult for them to actually turn it into something and i cant remember a clear cut chance for them.even the best teams adapt their style of play when playingin games like these and we sacrificed attacking consistently because fergie had identified where we could stop them and trusted us to get a goal either way.It's now official the biggest myth in football is now that Untied played "Tatical" against Barcelona and not shit like it first appeared. Come off it, Barcelona were on their worst run of form in about 6 years and their run of form in front of goal since god know's when, if United had played them on any other day they would of run riot. I personally think United intially wanted to try and attack Barcelona but couldn't get the ball. United have an appalling record against Spanish opposition under fergie as well, so he hardly knows how to play them.
They have the quality but always a niavity which has hampered them in the past.
Mourinho will prepare them for games in europe in a way that past managers have failed to do.
He has Ibrahimovic playing brilliantly and a squad that i would rate as just outside the strengh of United, chelsea and Barca.
I don't think they are capable yet but an outside bet if they can keep key players fit because the spine of the team is very good.
Last season it was down to shocking refereeing that result in them going out to Liverpool. But i think with the squad they have and the way they are begining to play they are in with a chance.
Cesar is a very good keeper in my eyes. At the back they have strengh although injuries are hampering but Maxwell is a fine left back and Maicon for me is the best right back in the world. In defense they have Materazzi, Cordoba, Samuel and Chivu who are all good defenders.
Midfield is strong with Zanetti, Cambiasso, Muntari, Stankovic and Viera. Add the forwards/wide attacking players like Mancini, Quaresma and Figo with Adriano and Ibrahimovic who are as good as anyone on there day and they have a strong side.
They have started the season rather mutedly but are now beginning to play well under Mourinho who seems to be getting the best out of the key men and has already built (as he seems to do) an exellent relationship with his players.
I don't believe for a minute Barca is a better team. Then why would us attacking them be any sort of risk? When Chelski came to OT a few years ago and hammered us fair and square, they weren't taking any risks. They played with the confidence of champions putting their closest rival in their place. This United team has, as of yet, not put in a performance fitting of CL winners for the whole of 2008.
We can't keep the ball against equally good opponents and struggle to play our rivals off the park, or sometimes even go toe to toe with them. Fair enough, we still won the CL despite that. But teams like Barca have improved and since we made hard work of them last season despite them being crap, I can't see us beat them this season since we really haven't improved. It's not that I think we can't...I just think the lads should have more belief in themselves. It really is all in the mindstate.
We can't keep the ball against equally good opponents and struggle to play our rivals off the park, or sometimes even go toe to toe with them. Fair enough, we still won the CL despite that. But teams like Barca have improved and since we made hard work of them last season despite them being crap, I can't see us beat them this season since we really haven't improved. It's not that I think we can't...I just think the lads should have more belief in themselves. It really is all in the mindstate.
Right now, Barca is the better club ,only a fool would deny it
Only those highlighted players can cut it out when it matters, rest are living in a borrowed time, espeically Quaresma has recently won the golden bin award. This season they are more formidable for the reasons being Zlatan has stepped up to another level and the Mourinho effect. They lack depth to win the CL but can topple any other team in a two legged tie.
he hasnt lost in 6 games against spanish opposition. true there have been alot of draws but that doesnt make it appalling. both times they went out to madrid the got either a draw or win out of two legs and they beat deportivo twice in knockout too. all that since 2000 is a more than decent record against spanish teams
Spanish opposition basically means only Real Madrid and Barcelona.
We dont have a great record against them especially Real Madrid.
Nonetheless we were better than Barca last season and deservedly played in the finals.
thats true, barcelona would have been unworthy finalists.
dont see why it should just mean real and barca, in that case barcelona have a shocking record against english clubs having been knocked out by united, chelsea and beaten at home by liverpool in the last 4 seasons. so we've nothing to worry about!!
this barca side is scoring goals for fun, scary.
The way we set out made it clear as day that we played to contain them, which we did superbly.
United's record against Spanish teams under Sir Alex is NOT appaling. It is average. 27 games played, 7 wins, 13 draws, 7 defeats.
And we have gone 7 matches now unbeaten against Spanish teams, so we are doing something right...
Does the six games played against Deportivo not count?
What about the four games against Villareal?
Or the four games against Valencia?
If United get going come like they usually do then they'll still give Barca a game. Currently no team in the world could match barca but that is the wonder of knockout competition.
If we played them tomorrow, we would give them a game.
Taking into account the form of the teams i doubt it. United have struggled against the big teams in england this season and have yet to really perform in europe either.
Conversely Barca have hammered all the big teams put in front of them in spain so far and been quite convincing in europe.
Last year Barca were in their worst form for years and United in their best form for years so United were rightly favourites but right now yes you might give them a game but Barca would quite rightly be firm favourites.
Barcelona are a fine team with a lot of great attacking talent. Their movement of the ball is brilliant and their passing is superb. having said that they came against many teams that just simply folded. The last game was a perfect example, Valencia's defence looked like they were playing in slow motion, no reaction, terrible positioning. Simply failed to show up. It was like that with Chelsea at the beginning of the season, caught a few teams on terrible days and now their goal difference looks great. A lot of La Liga defences have been utter shite this season. The tactics look amateurish. When you have a team like Barca with attacking flair it easy to look good against poor defenders. Having had that, right now, on form, they and Inter are the 2 best teams on the planet.
Sevilla didn't fold. They actually played really well but Barca were just too good.
Sure you can point to the defending but i dont think it is as bad as you make it out to be. The better teams don't play to shut up shop and will always come out to win games. Sevilla against Madrid was an example of that. There were errors as there always are in football.
Just watch MOTD and almost every goal is "shocking defending" according to Hansen and co. In spain teams are more geared to attack but i don't think they abandon defending, they just have more attacking talent in my books.
Hard to believe some of the comments about your semi last season
At the Nou Barca played against you like we, Arsenal, do - plenty of possession but frankly in the first leg where they should have made it count they did'nt. You did'nt go for the jugular leaving yourselves exposed - that would have been stupid and they did'nt actually create too much as you defended well
At OTrafford you had Tevez giving a monster performance across the Barca back line making sure Barca never had any time on the ball . They had an out of sorts Henry and Messi who produced no end product.
Obvious but masterful tactics from Ferguson imo as it would have been easier for him to say 'we'll throw the kitchen sink at 'em' and then lose a high scoring encounter
This season however they are a different proposition entirely. Hleb is a great signing as he opens up defences. Even though a poor finisher I really miss him at Arsenal
They look more solid in the middle but the most potent force emerging or should I say re emerging is Henry
If he starts to play near 80/90% of his best form along with Messi they could become unstoppable
I would not want to play them full stop. This Barca would imo have probably got past Utd in the semi
At the moment they look comfortable favourites for me
At the Nou Barca played against you like we, Arsenal, do - plenty of possession but frankly in the first leg where they should have made it count they did'nt. You did'nt go for the jugular leaving yourselves exposed - that would have been stupid and they did'nt actually create too much as you defended well
At OTrafford you had Tevez giving a monster performance across the Barca back line making sure Barca never had any time on the ball . They had an out of sorts Henry and Messi who produced no end product.
Obvious but masterful tactics from Ferguson imo as it would have been easier for him to say 'we'll throw the kitchen sink at 'em' and then lose a high scoring encounter
This season however they are a different proposition entirely. Hleb is a great signing as he opens up defences. Even though a poor finisher I really miss him at Arsenal
They look more solid in the middle but the most potent force emerging or should I say re emerging is Henry
If he starts to play near 80/90% of his best form along with Messi they could become unstoppable
I would not want to play them full stop. This Barca would imo have probably got past Utd in the semi
At the moment they look comfortable favourites for me
Don't forget Eto'o .
If Henry re-ignites like it looks he could they won't need Eto'o but its nice to have him too
Mehdi's a cock, to be fair. He's had Frankly Vulgar cock down his throat for the last few months. Funny his side got beat though. Barca won't win the CL. Their real test will come against the superior English clubs in Europe. They'll pass the ball around in the middle, and then get beat.
I can't imagine any side playing a lot better than Barca did in the semi final last season. Probably the best display of ball retention I've seen in many years. Our defence dealt with it though.
They won't have played against any team with a defence as good as ours and Chelsea's so far this season.
Nice to see you got a new keyboard.
You can say any genuine contender "wont" win it and more than likely be right because it is a knock out competition and a game over two legs can be won by anyone.
Personally i wouldn't say Barca "wont" win it, i think they have a better chance than most and it'll most likely be Barca, Cheslea, United or Inter that pick it up depending on the draw.
EDIT: My big outsider would probably be Arsenal, they have proven that they can raise their game by beating United and Chelsea already so if they raise their game in europe they can match anyone. However i pray Liverpool get nowhere near it this year.
Or Liverpool or Arsenal
You must have posted about the same time i edited my post.
The winner will come from any of the English sides or Barca.
Inter and Real are the outsiders.
I'd say the three of Chelsea, United and Barca are the current favourites.
Inter and Real are the outsiders.
I'd say the three of Chelsea, United and Barca are the current favourites.
What time is El Classico on, and is it on Sky?
I honestly don't think United will win it, purely because no team has retained it in champions league history. But you are correct enough with the favourites. I just don't see Liverpool or Arsenal winning it. I would HATE to see Liverpool win it and i think with them actually being involved (for now) in a title race it'll show them how difficult it is to do both.
Arsenal as i said would be slightly outside but are very capable and if given good enough odds i would put a bet on them.
9pm and yeah it's on sky! Can't wait. Hopefully my Catalan friend will come over and cook some piaia
They were toothless, though.
Nice to see you got a new keyboard.
You can say any genuine contender "wont" win it and more than likely be right because it is a knock out competition and a game over two legs can be won by anyone.
Personally i wouldn't say Barca "wont" win it, i think they have a better chance than most and it'll most likely be Barca, Cheslea, United or Inter that pick it up depending on the draw.
EDIT: My big outsider would probably be Arsenal, they have proven that they can raise their game by beating United and Chelsea already so if they raise their game in europe they can match anyone. However i pray Liverpool get nowhere near it this year.
The English sides are stronger overall. Yes, Barca are playing some great stuff, but I'd like to see how well they'd do against the Prem big four. I feel it'll be tougher for them this year, mainly becasue they're fighting for the La Liga title, unlike last year. It's not easy to fight on two fronts, something that United and Chelsea did last season. And yeah, Arsenal have chance. Liverpool, also, if their title challenge faulters over the next couple of months.
Put your money on Chelsea.
Your love for Barca is sickening
I've watched almost every Barca game this season. It's hard to see past them, they have been sensational but form can change and even when people said now was the time to prove themselves against the big sides in spain they are quite frankly destroying them.
I'm not touching Chelsea because again i don't think they'll do it. Roma beating them badly convinced me they wouldn't win it but i suppose it's best to get beat by a 2nd rate team now than in a match that really matters.
They're missing Drogba and Essien to be fair.
I was going to post that after reading the opening few posts.
Naturally, I'm now doubting my opinion...
I think you meant Valencia, and yes they did fold, or would have, had they actually shown up. Everyone on Valencia was rubbish, except perhaps Fernandes. And it is bad defending when you allow "no pace" Henry to get behind your defence. If you perhaps saw this from a neutral's perspective instead of watching just Barca pass and move then you would be able to see it. Its the same with me when I watch United. Someone had to point out the huge hole that let Giggsy score on the last game of last season. Before that all I saw was a great pass and a great finish by a class player, plus jumping around cause we won the League did not help with my perspective. After about 10 minutes of the Barca- Valencia match I started to just concentrate on Valencia, and let me tell you, they were utterly shocking, the space they let Barca players have was unreal. There was no pressure on anyone, pathetic defending. Of course a good team like Barca will tear them apart.