*Official* English Football Season 2010-11

[Jarquis]

Bad enough to be beaten by Arsenal

 

[Burgey]

Maybe. I still don't think they've adequately replaced Eto'o.

They seemed pretty ****ing adequate tonight

 

[PhoenixFire]

After the footballing lesson Barcelona handed Man Utd in Rome 2 years ago you'd have thought the English media would have learned their lesson, but we still get dicks like Stan Collymore saying last week that Barcelona and Real Madrid wouldn't win the Premiership because "they wouldn't fancy it on a cold winter night against Stoke."

Haha please tell me he never said that. If he did, it's up there with one of the most lolbad statements ever made in the history of mankind.

 

[vcs]

Certainly the best team I've seen in my lifetime. Xavi and Iniesta's achievements since 2008 are just ridiculous.. European Championships, ***tuple, La Liga, World Cup, La Liga + CL double. Holy cow.

And in all those big games they've played along the way, they've dominated every single midfield they've come up against, bar perhaps Inter Milan at the San Siro last year. Unbelievable consistency.

 

[Furball]

Certainly the best team I've seen in my lifetime. Xavi and Iniesta's achievements since 2008 are just ridiculous.. European Championships, ***tuple, La Liga, World Cup, La Liga + CL double. Holy cow.

And in all those big games they've played along the way, they've dominated every single midfield they've come up against, bar perhaps Inter Milan at the San Siro last year. Unbelievable consistency.

Selling Busquets short. He deserves to be talked about in the same tones as his team-mates.

 

[Tom Halsey]

And in all those big games they've played along the way, they've dominated every single midfield they've come up against, bar perhaps Inter Milan at the San Siro last year. Unbelievable consistency.

Fairly sure Barca dominated that game statistically, albeit perhaps not in practice. Seem to remember their possession being in the high 60s.

 

[vcs]

Selling Busquets short. He deserves to be talked about in the same tones as his team-mates.

Yeah, he's very good, though a despicable ****. Yaya Toure was equally good when he was preferred over him in 2008, IMO.

Fairly sure Barca dominated that game statistically, albeit perhaps not in practice. Seem to remember their possession being in the high 60s.

Yeah, but their possession was pretty toothless after Inter equalized IIRC. Xavi and Messi had rare off-days, not sure if Iniesta was fit. I think they had to travel to that game by bus due to the Iceland volcano.

 

[Redbacks]

Pretty emphatic in the end and went along just as most people would have predicted.

Messi far too good for Man U and the technical development ingrained into their development methods stands up to the pressure of big matches so well.

 

[Furball]

Yeah, he's very good, though a despicable ****. Yaya Toure was equally good when he was preferred over him in 2008, IMO.



Yeah, but their possession was pretty toothless after Inter equalized IIRC. Xavi and Messi had rare off-days, not sure if Iniesta was fit. I think they had to travel to that game by bus due to the Iceland volcano.

Iniesta was injured IIRC.

 

[Cevno]

And Inter's tactics were spot on.

They did not exactly dominate the Cop Del Rey Final either which they lost to Madrid.
Toothless possesion does not mean domination.

United today were naive to try and take them on . Should have not bought into the whole Vintage Final thing ,and try to keep it tight till the 70 th minute and look to nick a goal with Hernandez later on or on the break.
That's what Mourinho does so well against them.

He was doing the same these Semi's too until other factors came into play. United did the same at the Nou Camp in 2008 too.

They have been pretty much the best side though for the last 3/4 years ,but are beatable.

 

[Furball]

And Inter's tactics were spot on.

They did not exactly dominate the Cop Del Rey Final either which they lost to Madrid.
Toothless possesion does not mean domination.

United today were naive to try and take them on . Should have not bought into the whole Vintage Final thing ,and try to keep it tight till the 70 th minute and look to nick a goal with Hernandez later on or on the break.
That's what Mourinho does so well against them.

He was doing the same these Semi's too until other factors came into play. United did the same at the Nou Camp in 2008 too.

They have been pretty much the best side though for the last 3/4 years ,but are beatable.

They battered Real Madrid in the 2nd half. Casillas kept Real alive in that final.

 

[Cevno]

After the 70th minute Mark tbh.

They did not have a shot on target till the 43rd minute while Real had a couple of good chances.
Even that shot was not a clear chance.
Real were clearly on top the first half.

While they did have a lot of possesion in the 2nd half ,Real had their chances too and it was only after the 70th minute mark they forced Casillas into making IIRC 3 saves.
Though even after that Ronaldo and Di Maria both had pretty good chances.

Real then had the better off the extra time too.

 

[Craig]

Warner warns of 'tsunami' of trouble to hit FIFA - ESPN Soccernet

 

[Cevno]

Sir Alex on Barca -

"Nobody's given us a hiding like that but they deserve it," Ferguson said.

"They play the right way and they enjoy their football. They do mesmerize you with their passing and we never really did control Messi. But many people have said that.

"In my time as manager, it's the best team I've faced."

 

[vcs]

I thought Rooney's performance yesterday was excellent. First time he's turned up for a really big game in a while. In hindsight, Ferguson should have kept Hernandez on the bench (he was pretty much offside the entire game), and played Rooney up front on his own with Scholes in midfield. Would have at least been more of a challenge for Barcelona in midfield.

 

[Nate]

About to watch a replay, finally. Sounds like a classic.

 

[TT Boy]

Clive Tyldesley - "I can't help but wonder what difference Darren Fletcher would have made tonight."

 

[TT Boy]

I thought Rooney's performance yesterday was excellent. First time he's turned up for a really big game in a while. In hindsight, Ferguson should have kept Hernandez on the bench (he was pretty much offside the entire game), and played Rooney up front on his own with Scholes in midfield. Would have at least been more of a challenge for Barcelona in midfield.

Goal aside he was completely anonymous. Was a top finish mind.

Not sure what a difference Scholes would have made. He was made to look old and finished in the 2009 final, as was Giggs. Both men can still do a job (unlike Carrick) in the EPL but games like this are well beyond them now. Vidic was immense. Not been a good week for Vidic, on the wrong end of hiding last night and Ratko Mladic is going to The Hague.

 

[Bun]

Haha, fair enough mate.

What does this say about where these two countries are football wise? I thought United's squad was ok at season's start but didn't really expect them to win the league, let alone make the CL final. They won their league by nine points, but Barca are that far ahead of United it's like they're playing a different sport.

That 20 minute period after half time was utterly sublime. As good a period of football as you could ever watch, surely.

this

 

[grecian]

Could people pleases stop using Talk****e presenters as a barometer of the English meedja, they're laughable wind-up merchants. Most people have been gushing about Barca for a fair few years now, in this country.

Still don't think Real Madrid are as good as people on here are saying, up to this year they've been ordinary in the CL, they comprehensively beat the Spuds, but so what?