Manchester United v FC Barcelona - Champions league Final

Johnny Utah

Barcelona (United fan)

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

Very true.
Ronaldo has become their get out of jail card .
The guy single handedly carried them last season and almost did it this year.
If he leaves they will be fracked.

I wonder could Ronaldo be tempted to Barcelona, to replace Henry. That would be some front 3:

Ronaldo Eto Messi

Johnny Utah

Barcelona (United fan)

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

True ,they had no composure on the ball at all to be honest

On a side note I thought the tv picture quality tonight was rubbish ,very blurry and the replays were crap too.

The picture was poor on ITV, but was a bit better on RTE. The only problem was that the sound was fairly muffled over on RTE for some reason- maybe Ray got a bit hungry and tried to eat the microphone yet again?

Mr.Nice Guy

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

Johnny Utah wrote: »

The truth is United have a lot of average, ordinary players right through their squad, and a lot of old-timers too that way past their sell-by date; a fact that has been masked by the heroics of Ronaldo, Tevez and Rooney over the last two seasons. I think they'll need a big clearout in the summer cause the midfield went MIA tonight.

Clinched the Premiership with a total of 90 points, won the Carling Cup and Club World Cup, reached the Champions League final, a record of 25 wins in Europe which only ended tonight, a clean sheet record set this season...not bad for "a lot of average, ordinary players" eh?

As for all this rubbish about take Ronaldo, Rooney out of the side etc. You can do that for any team. Hasn't Rafa largely attributed the reason Liverpool missed out on the title due to the loss of Torres and Gerrard? Hasn't Arsene Wenger attributed Arsenal's woes to the loss of key players like Fabregas, Walcott and Adebayor?

United need their key players to perform heroics do they? Yeah them and every other bloody club.

Slash/ED

This games a write off, Barca have no defence so will be giving up chances gallore. Sure they won a league that's on about the level of the SPL! And Messi, he can't do it against English opposition. Sure Barca would finish 4th in England. Easy win for Man U, this Barca team's awful

Oh wait, am I too late?

rossie1977

Barcelona (Barcelona fan)

one interesting note, seven of barcelonas starting 11 tonite came through the system there

Johnny Utah

Barcelona (United fan)

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Clinched the Premiership with a total of 90 points, won the Carling Cup and Club World Cup, reached the Champions League final, a record of 25 wins in Europe which only ended tonight, a clean sheet record set this season...not bad for "a lot of average, ordinary players" eh?

As for all this rubbish about take Ronaldo, Rooney out of the side etc. You can do that for any team. Hasn't Rafa largely attributed the reason Liverpool missed out on the title due to the loss of Torres and Gerrard? Hasn't Arsene Wenger attributed Arsenal's woes to the loss of key players like Fabregas, Walcott and Adebayor?

United need their key players to perform heroics do they? Yeah them and every other bloody club.

Premiership with 90 points- well done, but it shows how disjointed it is now in the standard between teams at the top and teams at the bottom of the league.

Carling Cup - who cares, really?

World Club Thingy- embarrassing you should mention it. Come on, they beat a pub team from Japan or something.

25 wins in Europe, fair enough, but the standard in the group stages of the Champions League seems to be getting worse every year. Teams like Aalborg etc don't have much of a chance, do they? The real competition starts at the round of last 16.


United have a big squad, that helps them out, but the truth is they do over-rely on Ronaldo to get them out of jail. He won the League and the Champions League last year practically on his own ffs. Liverpool are guilty too, they have a lot of average players too in their squad, and this is shown up when Torres & Gerrard don't play. Wenger is building a good, young squad- they could be a threat next season.


Come on, admit it- the likes of Park, Hargreaves, carrick etc are fairly average midfield players......

The difference with Barca is that they have class all over the place, so they don't have to constanly rely on Messi. Players like Iniesta, Xavi have true class, and they're not afraid to string a few passes together. This is what United is missing.

rossie1977

Barcelona (Barcelona fan)

Johnny Utah wrote: »

Liverpool are guilty too, they have a lot of average players too in their squad, and this is shown up when Torres & Gerrard don't play. Wenger is building a good, young squad- they could be a threat next season.

i cannot believe people are still bringing up the gerrard/torres thing after this season, didn't liverpool beat utd and chelsea without BOTH

as for barca, xavi and inesta didn't do much last year when the chips were down and messi was being marked out of the game

truth is ferguson got his tactics completely wrong, he also probably underestimated barca, utds easy route to the final where 3 of the other 4 best teams in europe were on the other side of the draw didn't help either, no real test before the final

LuckyLloyd

Jazzy and Headshot banned for a week for being ****ing kids. Thread closed so that I can go through and tidy it up.

LuckyLloyd

Before you press submit on your post, think reeaaallly hard about the content it contains.

- It needs to directly relate to tonight's game in some fashion;
- It cannot be personally abusive or be perceived as a deliberate attempt to rile up a particular set of fans;

One month bans will be insta handed out to anyone who fails to meet the above criteria going forward in this thread.

grenache

For all his money and stars, Fergie still can't repeat what Clough did, retain the European Cup

dfx-

Slash/ED wrote: »

This games a write off, Barca have no defence so will be giving up chances gallore. Sure they won a league that's on about the level of the SPL! And Messi, he can't do it against English opposition. Sure Barca would finish 4th in England. Easy win for Man U, this Barca team's awful

Oh wait, am I too late?

It's true, the suspect defence who can't deal with a cross against a 5' 7" striker will settle the game. The tempo will be too much to keep the ball and the pace of the game will be too much.

As for the 99 midfield that is being compared, I remember Bayern running riot in that game too..

Holsten

Don't care (just want the game to be a cracker)

Get in!

Viva Barca!

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

MisterAnarchy

Barcelona (Neutral)

rossie1977 wrote: »

as for barca, xavi and inesta didn't do much last year when the chips were down and messi was being marked out of the game

truth is ferguson got his tactics completely wrong, he also probably underestimated barca, utds easy route to the final where 3 of the other 4 best teams in europe were on the other side of the draw didn't help either, no real test before the final

This years Barca team is a different kettle of fish.
Ferguson thinking he could use the same strategy against Barca this year was a mistake.
I think Ferguson was overconfident before the match but Utd did start the match very well.
The first goal was a sucker punch ,the team Ferguson sent out wasnt designed to chase the match ,it was effectively an away tie formation ,too cautious.
Ferguson was banking on scoring first.

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

Highsider

Don't care (just want the game to be a cracker)

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

Very true.
Ronaldo has become their get out of jail card .
The guy single handedly carried them last season and almost did it this year.
If he leaves they will be fracked.

Could'nt agree more with this. If as likely he leaves United are taking a huge step backwards as the only front line players who rank up with him at the moment are'nt available. He does cover over a lot of the rubbish in that team.

Happy Monday

Men against boys!!

Sherifu

ziggy wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

FYP

Dubliner28

What does the AIG stand for on Uniteds jersey
Aint Iniesta Great :):)

SectionF

Barcelona (United fan)

Lesson in football. We're all Barca now!

Boggles

Congrats to Barca and Guardiloa, he really is a top likeable bloke.

Very Disappointed with United and Ferguson.

In a cup final you have to play to your strenghts and you have to play your best team, Ferguson simply didn't and he knew it after 10 minutes.

Oh yeah, well done the Ref, he didn't have many key decisions to make, but he did an excellent job.

NabyLadistheman

Barcelona (Barcelona fan)

Well said Boggles. Fergie handed the initative to Barca last night. It's a pity coz it could have been a cracker.

Don't under-estimate how good Barca really are. Awesome. Last night's victory is a reward for keeping their patience and not losing their belief at any stage against Chelsea.

WillieCocker

Don't care (just want the game to be a cracker)

Ferguson really got it wrong last night.
They didn't have a shot on target.
And Anderson ........pffft whoever said he was class was right.........problem is it was 3rd or 4th class.:pac:

Boggles

torresistheman wrote: »

Well said Boggles. Fergie handed the initative to Barca last night. It's a pity coz it could have been a cracker.

The Kicker is he knew he picked the wrong team.

torresistheman wrote: »

Don't under-estimate how good Barca really are.

Actually Fergie over estimated how good they are and paid them way too much respect, at the same time disrespecting himself and his team.

Barca are excellent, awsome at times, but so are United. Thats what made the match 50/50.

shane86

WillieCocker wrote: »

Ferguson really got it wrong last night.
They didn't have a shot on target.
And Anderson ........pffft whoever said he was class was right.........problem is it was 3rd or 4th class.:pac:

My delight at Barca winning is lessened by the fact I somehow slept through two alarms and a phone call in Sydney and missed the fcuking thing :mad: :mad: Sounds like Anderson proved again he is at best a Spurs level player, I cant fathom how he has been kept.

Dunphy etc have any cracks?

ROCKMAN

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

No excuses , No crying over spilt milk etc , We never shown up (first 10 mins aside ) Disappointed with the result but really upset and very disappionted with the performance . In fact the only Utd player who seemed to want it and turn up (kind-off )was Ronaldo . Seemed to be our most determined player and didn't have a bad game .


Anyway congrats Barca Well done .

yerayeah

United's midfield was absolutely outclassed. Hargreaves and Fletcher were really missed, Anderson had no business sharing a pitch with the Barce midfielders.

I'm sure it's been mentioned on this already but I think if Park had scored in the opening minutes then United would probably have sat back and won 1 or 2 nil.

Very disappointing how we never were able to expose Barcelona's back 4.

Aldini98

Fergie got it all wrong, Giggs and Anderson were muck. Rooney on the wing is nonsense, Carrick is uselerss when the going gets tough. Tevez should have started. As usual though, he accepted nomne iof the responsibilty and said they were 2 bad goals. Reminded me of when Liverpool stuffed them 4-1 and he reckoned United were the better team. LOLOL

A7X

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

Aldini98 wrote: »

Fergie got it all wrong, Giggs and Anderson were muck. Rooney on the wing is nonsense, Carrick is uselerss when the going gets tough. Tevez should have started. As usual though, he accepted nomne iof the responsibilty and said they were 2 bad goals. Reminded me of when Liverpool stuffed them 4-1 and he reckoned United were the better team. LOLOL

They were 2 bad goals for United to conceed! Easily defendable. They should have never got in the position.
Also SAF admitted Barca were the better team!

NabyLadistheman

Barcelona (Barcelona fan)

Boggles wrote: »

The Kicker is he knew he picked the wrong team.
Actually Fergie over estimated how good they are and paid them way too much respect, at the same time disrespecting himself and his team.

I think Fergie has an over-cautious approach in Europe regardless. It was the same team that started against Arsenal, Giggs in for Fletch aside

I believe United could have gone toe-toe with Barca, attack attack attack. They mat not have won but they would not have lost with such a wimper

secman

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

Congrats Barca, better team on the night won. We neither tried to play our usual high tempo game, nor did we try to bully them, like Chelsea did, playing wingers in the middle and strikers on the wing is a nonsense. Play people in their proper positions and play to your strenght. When we worry about the opposition and change our team to counter them, it usually back fires .Should let them worry about us. Barca just played their normal game, we didn't. They did the treble and fair play to them.


Secman

Spud83

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

RE: Match
I posted my congratulations last night but nothing more. I’ll repeat at the start of this though. Barca were quite simply the better team, they deserved to win, and deserve all the plaudits they get for a wonderful season. Especially Guardiloa who has turned the club around after it was on the brink of a real slide after the Ronaldinho years.

However I’m a United fan so I am going to look at their performance last night. O’Shea was decent enough could have done more for the second goal, Rio didn’t quite look at it definitely at fault for the second goal and is also at fault because he is supposed to be one of the leaders of the team and he never knocked some heads together in front of him. I think he may have if Giggs had not been in the centre and been the captain. Vidic looked shaky for a half hour, got side stepped for the goal too easy, sloppy passing including a back pass that went well past VDS for a corner. Evra is at fault for the first goal as well. He was closer than Carrick to Eto when the ball was played to him yet it was Carrick trying to make the covering tackle not Evra who was strolling back. Disgraceful.

Midfield well what can I say. I think one of Fergie and Giggs got in wrong here. Giggs didn’t look like he was playing as a midfielder. He was also ahead of the ball meaning the game just passed him by. It changed slightly in the second half when Tevez was brought on Giggs actually started looking for the ball but then could do nothing with it.

As for Carrick and Anderson, yes they were poor but I don’t blame them entirely. With Giggs pretty much out of the game they were outnumbered in there, especially with Messi coming off the wing and causing havoc in the centre. Nobody knew what they were supposed to do when that happened. Carrick couldn’t play his game which is sitting in front of the back four and trying to pick off passes and runners. He was being forced to try close down and harass people which he isn’t good at. Anderson got overran completely, partly his fault, partly Fergie and the rest of the teams fault. He got a lesson from two of the best midfielders in the world who were being helped by the best player of the year this season.

Ronaldo did what he could with the limit service he got, can’t really fault him too much. Rooney looked a little lost and very confused. I think he was furious at what was going on in the midfield and defence but yet he seemed subdued about it for some reason. Hard to put on a finger on what went wrong from him. Although the obvious out of position argument is one. Park done, what Park does. However he got sucked into the middle too much in the first half due to Giggs having a ****in picnic somewhere.

Tevez made no impact for me when he came on and as for the people slating Berbatov (not sure if it was here or the United thread). I can’t see how he can be blamed for much last night. It was four minutes between him bringing bought on and the second goal which ended the game. Alright he could have done better with the header, but it was hardly the easiest chance and he set up our best chance of the second half which Giggs fluffed at and Ronaldo missed. Scholes was brought on too late, and couldn’t do anything apart from make a very rash challenge. Which we could have done with in the first half to try get the team going.

All in all a disappointing night and performance from United. However I am not taking abything away from Barac. They played some truly great stuff and I believe there manager out thought Fergie. Congratulations (especially to eze good poster, has been good in victory and good in defeat)

WillieCocker

Don't care (just want the game to be a cracker)

A7X wrote: »

They were 2 bad goals for United to conceed! Easily defendable. They should have never got in the position.
Also SAF admitted Barca were the better team!

Fergie said they were shoddy goals!!!
Bet he would have loved to see his £120 odd million 4 player strike force hit one like either of them

monkey9

shane86 wrote: »

My delight at Barca winning is lessened by the fact I somehow slept through two alarms and a phone call in Sydney and missed the fcuking thing :mad: :mad:

Like the deaf team in the special olympics in Family Guy!!!

WillieCocker

Don't care (just want the game to be a cracker)

shane86 wrote: »

My delight at Barca winning is lessened by the fact I somehow slept through two alarms and a phone call in Sydney and missed the fcuking thing :mad: :mad: Sounds like Anderson proved again he is at best a Spurs level player, I cant fathom how he has been kept.

Dunphy etc have any cracks?

I was expecting Dunphy to kick off , but he didin't

Have a look yourself at the vids......;)

http://www.youtube.com/user/NeoKubrick

A7X

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

For the future, always back against Dunphy. I'd say he lost a bundle tonight on that game.

stevoman

Manchester United (Neutral)

In the words of James Brown...... I feel good!!

I never enjoyed watching a team getting beaten so much in my life.

A7X

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

WillieCocker wrote: »

Fergie said they were shoddy goals!!!
Bet he would have loved to see his £120 odd million 4 player strike force hit one like either of them

I'm very sure he was regarding them that on our behalf not Barca's. Like I said they were defendable if everyone had played to their ability.

Example, for the second goal, if Rio had of stuck to Messi he wouldn't have got near it. But that attack should have been defended properly further up the ptch.

JP Liz

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

The better team won on the night, Barca outplayed United congrats to them

Where the hell was United's defence back in Manchester

Tevez and Scholes should have started - Ferguson got it wrong

Warper

Don't care (just want the game to be a cracker)

Ya the panel were somewhat mute last night especially Dunphy. Before the match and even at half-time he still thought Utd would win. He definitely had a big bet on them and was lost for words after the match.

A7X

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

Warper wrote: »

Ya the panel were somewhat mute last night especially Dunphy. Before the match and even at half-time he still thought Utd would win. He definitely had a big bet on them and was lost for words after the match.

Did you hear him when the camera's showed Tevez coming on? He said something along the lines of "Tevez is on! They'll win it now" in a really excited voice.

The only enjoyment I got out of that match was the fact that he is after blowing more money and is probably sick as a dog.

quarryman

Does anyone know if the game will be televised again in its entirety? I want to watch Messi again, missed some of the play in the pub.

patmac

People were banging on all week about Barca's depleted defence but what about United missing 5 midfielders Fletcher, Carrick, Park, Giggs and Anderson.
Outclassed in midfield as a United fan I would take Xavi, Iniesta or Messi over Ronaldo any day. Remember Xavi and Iniesta were the linchpins of Spain's triumphant Euro team. If they stay fit Spain will be very strong in the South African World Cup great value at 11/2.

A7X

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

quarryman wrote: »

Does anyone know if the game will be televised again in its entirety? I want to watch Messi again, missed some of the play in the pub.

TBH while Messi was good, I don't think he was any better than he usually is or shone brighter than any other player.
He's just consistantly like that.

Iniesta for me was the best player out there, but that has to do with Xavi aswell.

Those two are probably the best CM partnership there is. They can read each others minds.

Sizzler

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

stevoman wrote: »

In the words of James Brown...... I feel good!!

I never enjoyed watching a team getting beaten so much in my life.

Why? What was so good about it It was more akin to a pre-season kickabout. Name a Utd player who put in a tackle?

A7X

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

Sizzler wrote: »

Why? What was so good about it It was more akin to a pre-season kickabout. Name a Utd player who put in a tackle?

Scholes? :pac:

Sizzler

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

A7X wrote: »

Scholes? :pac:

When the game was over and it was pure petulance, just like Ronaldo's on Puyol in the last few mins. Pity they didnt do it earlier on in the game :mad:

A7X

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

Sizzler wrote: »

When the game was over and it was pure petulance, just like Ronaldo's on Puyol in the last few mins. Pity they didnt do it earlier on in the game :mad:

Scholes? Petulance? NEVER.

That was just good auld Schole's trying to tackle.

For someone who can read the game and people's positions so well I'll never know how he can't read a feckin tackle.

Sizzler

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

I have to say as Utd supporter its hard to criticse Ferguson and the team based on their achievements this season, 4 trophies bagged (even if one was mickey mouse in the form of the community shield ) but they did get to the semis of the FA Cup and the CL final, no mean achievement in fairness....but there has to be critique applied!

Utd had a confident start but after the goal they were absolutely clueless and regardless of how good Barca are at keping the ball and all this bollix about them "passing you to death" etc, Im sorry, United's work ethic was non-existent in the main, no pressing, no tackling, how can you seriously expect to even challenge any team (let alone Barca) in a game when you dont apply yourselves? Yes the tactics were questionable in hindsight, Fergie was a bit naive in the sense he played the "it worked against Arsenal" card by lining up the same team and formation again, useless. All wrong, would have been fine perhaps if Utd took the lead, they may have had options if the game swung in their favour but once they went one down there the formation was down the jax.

Poor attitude imho and with the exception of Rooney and Carrick I'd say some of the United players probably didnt even need a shower after the game such was their lethargic attitude in the game.

Cant question the quality of Messi's header, CLASS, but for me WHERE WAS THE F**KING MARKING? He had 10 yards of space between JOS and Rio, not good enough in any game. I think Ferdinand acknowledged he was at fault though which was fair enough.

United didnt deserve anything and it can only wake them up for next year you would hope. I hope Hargreaves gets fit, he can only make a difference if he gets a run in the side and staying 100% fit.

Davaeo09

Don't care (just want the game to be a cracker)

What ever about United's mid-fielders not showing up.. Even if they had they never played the likes of Iniesta and Xavi. Also I would like to point out the fact I predicted that Anderson would play badly and wouldn't be able to intercept the passes of Barca.

This was Barca's winning formula.

United's mid-field, weak in possesion and not able to apply efficient pressure. Pep tells Messi to come into the middle and exploit this United teams only real weakness. Messi did so, and Iniesta and Xavi linked up so well to take advantage of this whole.

Kudos to Pep for taking the gamble of Messi in the middle, also thumbs up for Eto'o who showed some good composure to skip past Vidic and toe poke the ball in.

Berti Vogts

A7X wrote: »

Scholes? Petulance? NEVER.

That was just good auld Schole's trying to tackle.

For someone who can read the game and people's positions so well I'll never know how he can't read a feckin tackle.

This old excuse that Scholes can't tackle is crazy - it effectively gives him licence to plough into players because sure it's only Scholesy! That was a brutal tackle last night - the media would have been up in arms if Joey Barton did it.