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On May 07 2011 11:56 ilj.psa wrote:Just hoping for an open game both teams attacking and etc, for entertainment
Probably wont"t happen , Fergie Realized that the Last time he had a go at Barcelona they were Demolished and lost 2-0.He won"t make the same mistake again. Our play on the ounter is second to none..
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Anyone know who the ref is yet? Or have they not decided?
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Man U has one of the best defenses if not the best in the world... You have Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, and Van Der Sar. They were always known for having a solid defense... Last years problem was that they didn't have any other strikers besides Rooney. This year, they got Hernandez; their only problem seems to be is the midfield.
And EPL > La Liga by a fucking mile. Besides Barcelona and Real Madrid everyone else is pretty shit. Hotspurs, a 6th place team currently beat A.C Milan on aggregate. Arsenal was capable of beating Barcelona as well. Then you still have teams like Chelsea, Man City, and Liverpool...
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Oh boy, can't wait to see who's the lucky ManU player to get lotteried a red card.
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On May 07 2011 12:19 SEANSYE wrote: Man U has one of the best defenses if not the best in the world... You have Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, and Van Der Sar. They were always known for having a solid defense... Last years problem was that they didn't have any other strikers besides Rooney. This year, they got Hernandez; their only problem seems to be is the midfield.
And EPL > La Liga by a fucking mile. Besides Barcelona and Real Madrid everyone else is pretty shit. Hotspurs, a 6th place team currently beat A.C Milan on aggregate. Arsenal was capable of beating Barcelona as well. Then you still have teams like Chelsea, Man City, and Liverpool... It's hard to say whether EPL > La Liga or not. Your example is misleading since Milan made a lot of winter signings that propelled through Serie A. Before the winter break, the title was much more closely contested. However, most of the winter signings were cup-tied, e.g. Boateng, Van Bommel, meaning that Milan's UCL team was really weak and was quite unbalanced (top-heavy, no decent playmaker who wasn't cup-tied or injured, defence was short on depth). Unsurprisingly, Milan lost to spurs by counter-attacking wing play since the winter replacements who were meant to cover the DM and FB positions were cup-tied.
In fact, the stats show that there were more La Liga teams in both the UCL and UEL semis than there were EPL teams there. I don't want to get into an argument of EPL v La Liga since it's completely pointless. I find La Liga games more entertaining but there's no denying that the big 4-6 in the EPL are just about world class.
About the match itself - it's really hard to call. It's a one off match and it's practically in United's home turf, not that it matters so much. The match will probably play out like what the Clasicos were supposed to be if there wasn't any diving or thuggery involved. It'll be up to United's counter-attack + solid defence vs the Barca midfield creativity. I'd expect United to press much higher up the pitch and have quite some attacking intent, pushing more men up the pitch than Mourinho's RM ever did. United's fitness, defence and counter-attack vs Barca's possession, creativity and off-side trap.
IMO: 2-1 Barcelona. Villa and Messi to score for Barca. Chicharito to score off a counter attack.
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Park should be included in probable lineups.
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On May 07 2011 12:19 SEANSYE wrote: Man U has one of the best defenses if not the best in the world...
As a Chelsea fan I must throw in a spanner and say Chelsea have the best defensive record in the EPL. Barcelona and AC Milan also have better league defensive records.
Man U have Vidic and Evra and VDS yes. Smalling and Evans are not the best in the world, Rio Ferdinand is constantly injured and the Da Silva brothers are also not at the top level yet.
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So much hate towards Barcelona...
It's obvious that if one team wants a fair game where only game play matters, this team is Barcelona.
And for those saying playing counter to Barcelona is a good idea... Well, that's what Barcelona expects, as 95% of teams plays them like this, so it's not big deal.
In my opinion the best way to beat them is taking the ball off of them, not countering.
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Go Barcelona! Messi all the way!
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On May 07 2011 17:41 xN.07)MaK wrote: So much hate towards Barcelona...
It's obvious that if one team wants a fair game where only game play matters, this team is Barcelona.
And for those saying playing counter to Barcelona is a good idea... Well, that's what Barcelona expects, as 95% of teams plays them like this, so it's not big deal.
In my opinion the best way to beat them is taking the ball off of them, not countering.
that is quite a self serving definition of fair play you have there
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On May 07 2011 18:17 Flyingdutchman wrote:
that is quite a self serving definition of fair play you have there
It's been one of the fairest teams in the last, what, 5 years? (You can check faults stats).
And don't pretend Barcelona is the only team that does that. I'm not trying to justify it, it happened and I'm sure they are not proud of it.
There is no 100% fair team in the world, not even Barcelona. You can name a team, and I'm certain it's not hard to find videos of them tackling way too hard or acting.
It's part of the game and that's why referees and UEFA exist, to punish it.
PS: Btw, this has nothing to do with WC right?
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I think Barca will win 2-0, but I also dont think that united will make the same mistake as last time. I think they'll play much more defensive, and try to catch them off guard on some counters. But I still think that Barca will win. They are just on a different level than anyone else atm.
That being said I think the united will put up a good fight.
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http://i.imgur.com/GJYtK.jpg (zonal marking: www.zonalmarking.net) this sytem imo. park will track alves and either di silva will try to push villa backwards. only problem i really see is united getting outplayed in the middle. with messi/pedro dropping deep. hopefully rooney will also drop deep and put in some key tackles and block, unlike what he did against arsenal.
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On May 07 2011 18:30 xN.07)MaK wrote:Show nested quote +On May 07 2011 18:17 Flyingdutchman wrote:
that is quite a self serving definition of fair play you have there
PS: Btw, this has nothing to do with WC right?
Not really, since we did the same thing in our match against Brazil. I'm not going to deny it has been something that is defining modern football more and more (unfortunately), but I'll be damned to call it fair play. And the referees are the one's to blame for all this crap: even when they have the opportunity to send out a signal to the players that this kind of behaviour is not OK they just don't. Busquets v.s Inter last year is a prime example, Toivonen standing on Gudelj's foot to get a reaction out of him is another for the dutch competition. Ref's and the commisions that have the power to enforce rules retroactively only focus on reactions leaving actions unpunished even when they are blatantly obvious. If this is now 'part of the game' I think I'll switch to something less else, like rugby. World cup is in October I believe :D
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On May 07 2011 18:30 xN.07)MaK wrote:Show nested quote +On May 07 2011 18:17 Flyingdutchman wrote:
that is quite a self serving definition of fair play you have there
It's been one of the fairest teams in the last, what, 5 years? (You can check faults stats). And don't pretend Barcelona is the only team that does that. I'm not trying to justify it, it happened and I'm sure they are not proud of it. There is no 100% fair team in the world, not even Barcelona. You can name a team, and I'm certain it's not hard to find videos of them tackling way too hard or acting. It's part of the game and that's why referees and UEFA exist, to punish it. PS: Btw, this has nothing to do with WC right?
Take it this way , Nobody does it as much as Barcelona. And oh did Somebody notice that Pep went Unpunished for the "He"s a fucking chief in the press room" towards Mourinho but Mourinho got a 5 game ban...Does my head in how they get away from Punishment every single time.
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On May 07 2011 17:30 Stimp wrote:Show nested quote +On May 07 2011 12:19 SEANSYE wrote: Man U has one of the best defenses if not the best in the world... As a Chelsea fan I must throw in a spanner and say Chelsea have the best defensive record in the EPL. Barcelona and AC Milan also have better league defensive records. Man U have Vidic and Evra and VDS yes. Smalling and Evans are not the best in the world, Rio Ferdinand is constantly injured and the Da Silva brothers are also not at the top level yet. Yes this has been Man U's problem on defense this season. The dropoff from Vidic/Ferdinand to Smalling/Brown/Evans is huge and with the injuries we have seen these backup players having to appear in some important games. Smalling I think is getting there, the others have a ways to go.
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Manchester United fan here, but I can't really see them beating Barca. I think it'll be a repeat of the 2-0 from 2009.
I'm just glad Barcelona beat Real Madrid on their way to the final and that Mourinho's antics gave them something else to be embarrassed about. Something about Real Madrid just annoys me.
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At the moment Bracelona got so much better midfielders. Iniesta,Xavi and Macherano. Only a Giggs in really good shape can match those players, but if Manchester United find some way to stop them. I gotta say they got a really big chance of winning. But right now i dont see how United is gonna stop the "Creative" players in Barcelona.
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On May 07 2011 05:18 Stuv wrote:Show nested quote +On May 06 2011 09:35 Airship wrote: I'm actually not sure Nani will start over Valencia. loooool this made my day haha. Are you for real or trollin' hardcore? Have you watched a United game this year?
Just to come back to this because I resent the implication that I don't know what I'm talking about when it comes to United, today in the EPL it's United vs Chelsea, one of the biggest games of the season which will almost certainly decide the league title. Both teams are fielding their strongest 11 (accounting for injuries), and United have fielded Valencia over Nani.
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On May 07 2011 06:45 Airship wrote: Schalke had most of the possession in their 4-1 trouncing at Old Trafford. Just saying.
Do you not find it a bit worrying Schalke had most of the possession at Trafford? Schalke were horrendous, and still had most of the ball. Schalke must of been the worst team ever in a champs league semi final in terms of quality. Schalke had about 60% of the ball? What do you think Barca will have when even against RM they had 65% plus? Messi and co have a special performance lined up for Man Utd I suspect And yes possession is not everything, but if you only have 30%, you give yourself a much smaller window to do any damage, and by definition, you give them more chance.
That being said, two excellent teams who do things the right way, 8 local boys likely to start for Barca, is that not amazing to anyone else? Man Utd too, still just about defying the EPL 'buy your way to the top' mentality, fielding plenty of British talent too. Please not too defensive Fergie, fight fire with fire and take Barca on in a game of football
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