chips'ngravy Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 So glad Barça won. They totally outclassed United. Loved seeing the Mancs minus their usual smug looks on their faces. They've ridden their luck a lot this season with far too many jammy 1-0 wins to be lauded as thoroughly deserving of winning the league for the money they've spent. Barça have won their Triplete with style on all fronts, completely battering the opposition around them and using a lot of home grown players: Xavi, Inesta, Messi, Valdes, Puyol, Piqué, Busquets, Pedro, Bojan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBear Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 I've finally made it back from the pub and managed to stop crying for long enough to post. So I will say simple this .... tonights performance was **** awful but this is still one of the best Manchester United teams of all time. And at the end of the day, no team has ever or will ever win retain the Champions League during this era. I genuinely believe we can win it next year in Madrid. Tonight hurt so, so bad. At the end of the day though, we are the English champions and the Champions of the world, Carling Cup winners, and Champions League Finalists. Not too bad a season ... and the best is still to come next season. It's the trophy you craved though. This is the one Fergie wanted so much. Teams have defended it in the past, not in the CL format but they've been good enough to defend it before and that irks Fergie and the last time I looked, it was the exact same trophy! A beautiful victory for football. Phil Neal 4, Man U 3. Anyone know a good welder? Someone to reattach the roof of double decker bus. Apply to Old Trafford. Sorry but I've had to put up with shit in work from arrogant Mancs and their newly discovered recognition of the number 18. I'm using this as an opportunity to let off some steam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grant(aka_eddy) Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 Manchester United didnt have a player like Essien in the middle of the park. For all the talk of this being the greatest United team ever (which will probably end now) they are as weak in central midfield as I can remember. Father time has definitely caught up with Paul Scholes, but any number of the central midfielders from United teams of old would walk into the current one. Keane being the obvious example, but Ince would and so would Brian Robson. A few people (myself included) said that United wouldnt outpass Barecelona, they would need to outmuscle them in the middle of the park. Giggs isnt the sort of player who can do that, he is one who pulls the strings if he gets time on the ball. I still havent figured out exactly what it is that Anderson does. Carrick is a fine passer but he isnt a ball winner. Maybe a fit Owen Hargreaves is what Manchester United were missing tonight, but the team definitely lacked something. Yeah i think you've come up with the answer yourself there. A fit Owen Hargreaves is definitely missing from that team and particularly when you want to win the ball back off 2 of the best in possession in the world. You simply have to have a Hargreaves, Essien, Reo-Coker type player who can go and get it back to avoid constantly chasing shadows. I think Ferguson looked at their midfield and decided with Giggs he could add some class of his own in there along with Carrick and Anderson who are both good players at keeping the ball moving, but on reflection it was a mistake. They were missing some power and aggression and Carrick had an off day which didnt help. But tweaking Man U's midfieldto give them a chance in a one off game is probably irrelevant as Barca would still be the best side in Europe and the most deserving winners. I will wear my lucky Barca wristband to footy tonight i think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikantcpell Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 Andres Iniesta is just genius! Hahaha..that second one really cracked me up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jondaken Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 Did anyone else notice Carricks hoofing all night? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ajax-fan Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 Loved this game! Barcelona humiliated United What an average team they are compared with mighty Barcelona. Always good to see how that crybaby made sad faces (C Ronaldo ) Now just waiting for the news how much United will pay. Hope it will be loads, this was 80-90 minutes football lessons in every single aspect http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v103/fblue/fergie.gif ]http://www.offthepost.info/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/balloon.gif Andres Iniesta is just genius! hahahaha! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jondaken Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 Loved this game! Barcelona humiliated United What an average team they are compared with mighty Barcelona. Always good to see how that crybaby made sad faces (C Ronaldo ) Now just waiting for the news how much United will pay. Hope it will be loads, this was 80-90 minutes football lessons in every single aspect I really don't think you can judge Man U after one game. Barca were hardly the gleaming dream team in the semis, and if teh referee had went to specsavers Barca would have never been in teh final. Man U never turned up to the game, played poorly and lost to a better team on the night. Below average performance, well above average team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 Manchester United didnt have a player like Essien in the middle of the park. For all the talk of this being the greatest United team ever (which will probably end now) they are as weak in central midfield as I can remember. Father time has definitely caught up with Paul Scholes, but any number of the central midfielders from United teams of old would walk into the current one. Keane being the obvious example, but Ince would and so would Brian Robson. A few people (myself included) said that United wouldnt outpass Barecelona, they would need to outmuscle them in the middle of the park. Giggs isnt the sort of player who can do that, he is one who pulls the strings if he gets time on the ball. I still havent figured out exactly what it is that Anderson does. Carrick is a fine passer but he isnt a ball winner. Maybe a fit Owen Hargreaves is what Manchester United were missing tonight, but the team definitely lacked something. Yeah i think you've come up with the answer yourself there. A fit Owen Hargreaves is definitely missing from that team and particularly when you want to win the ball back off 2 of the best in possession in the world. You simply have to have a Hargreaves, Essien, Reo-Coker type player who can go and get it back to avoid constantly chasing shadows. I think Ferguson looked at their midfield and decided with Giggs he could add some class of his own in there along with Carrick and Anderson who are both good players at keeping the ball moving, but on reflection it was a mistake. They were missing some power and aggression and Carrick had an off day which didnt help. But tweaking Man U's midfieldto give them a chance in a one off game is probably irrelevant as Barca would still be the best side in Europe and the most deserving winners. I will wear my lucky Barca wristband to footy tonight i think. As has been said several times, Fergie got his tactics wrong last night. Two schools of thought here, and both of them as far as I can tell boil down to the midfield. It was pretty obvious that Carrick, Giggs and Anderson were outclassed by Iniesta, Xavi and Busquets (well, Inesta and Xavi to be honest) so Fergie **** up by trying to beat Barca at their own game. How do you deal with that though? Im sure if Hargreaves were fit and Fletcher were available, the central midfield battle would have been different and United might have had the ball to supply their front line. I would imagine that the reason Park played was down to his work rate and the fact that he tracks back to make a four in midfield so it would be four against three when Barca had the ball. I guess if you are going to do that then is it not worth going 4-4-2 and playing another midfielder in there from the start? Its who to pick though. They just didnt have a ball winner available last night. No matter what I can think of as a way to change it, it just creates a problem elsewhere in the team. I genuinely dont think United had the personnel to win that midfield battle. Yes, they were unlucky with a long term injury to Hargreaves and an unfair suspension to Fletcher, but thats football. Barcelona had both of their first choice full backs missing and Danny Alves is one of their absolute key players. Perhaps Fergie is right. Manchester United were beaten by a better team. Will he decide to add a bit more physical power to the squad now? Thats what so very nearly worked for Chelsea. If United had a central midfielder with the class of Essien then they would probably have won last night. They still havent replaced Roy Keane if you ask me, and any claims of this being the greatest United side ever will always be undermined by that fact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grant(aka_eddy) Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 Perhaps Fergie is right. Manchester United were beaten by a better team. Will he decide to add a bit more physical power to the squad now? Thats what so very nearly worked for Chelsea. If United had a central midfielder with the class of Essien then they would probably have won last night. They still havent replaced Roy Keane if you ask me, and any claims of this being the greatest United side ever will always be undermined by that fact. Agree with all of that Rev, especially this last paragraph. I think Owen Hargreaves will be replaced this summer, regardless of the fact he is still at the club and unlikely to be sold given his ongoing injury worries. It will be their big summer buy (unless they have to replace Ronaldo). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chips'ngravy Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 And at the end of the day, no team has ever or will ever win retain the Champions League during this era. I genuinely believe we can win it next year in Madrid. Typical Manc arrogance. So just because Man Utd couldn't do then no-one can. Can't wait till Barça do it again this time next year in Madrid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 And at the end of the day, no team has ever or will ever win retain the Champions League during this era. I genuinely believe we can win it next year in Madrid. Typical Manc arrogance. So just because Man Utd couldn't do then no-one can. Can't wait till Barça do it again this time next year in Madrid. Yep, I recon Barca have a pretty good shot at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gort Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 Barca to beat Real in the Bernabeu next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yuen_Biao Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 And at the end of the day, no team has ever or will ever win retain the Champions League during this era. I genuinely believe we can win it next year in Madrid. Typical Manc arrogance. So just because Man Utd couldn't do then no-one can. Can't wait till Barça do it again this time next year in Madrid. Yep, I recon Barca have a pretty good shot at it. Manure won't win it if they have to play the mighty Barca again. And 'typical manc arrogance' sums it perfectly, I was sick of hearing from Manure fans how they were going to walk the game. Deluded the lot of them, and it was especially gratifying to watch Barcelona humiliate them for eighty minutes. Statistic I heard today was that Manure's best passers of the ball were Ferdinand and Vidic which tells us everything. Did anyone notice the endless fouling of Messi and how well he dealt with it which is much contrary to Ronaldo's response of diving at every opportunity. Messi has been my player of the season all year and I am still amazed how the powers that be sought fit to reward a cheating, arrogant prick like Ronaldo the title. He's certainly no role-model to youngsters especially. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 Messi has been my player of the season all year and I am still amazed how the powers that be sought fit to reward a cheating, arrogant prick like Ronaldo the title. He's certainly no role-model to youngsters especially. The world player of the year is from the season before. Ronaldo scored in the final of the champions league and scored a rediculous number of goals for Man U last season. No problem with him winning it. Messi will get the next one though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yuen_Biao Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 Messi has been my player of the season all year and I am still amazed how the powers that be sought fit to reward a cheating, arrogant prick like Ronaldo the title. He's certainly no role-model to youngsters especially. The world player of the year is from the season before. Ronaldo scored in the final of the champions league and scored a rediculous number of goals for Man U last season. No problem with him winning it. Messi will get the next one though. But my point was that he was a cheating, arrogant so-and-so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chips'ngravy Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 Messi has been my player of the season all year and I am still amazed how the powers that be sought fit to reward a cheating, arrogant prick like Ronaldo the title. He's certainly no role-model to youngsters especially. The world player of the year is from the season before. Ronaldo scored in the final of the champions league and scored a rediculous number of goals for Man U last season. No problem with him winning it. Messi will get the next one though. Messi has been fantastic, but I think Xavi could pip him. He and Inesta are so important to Barça and Spain. I particularly enjoyed seeing Ronaldo losing his rag at the end. He should have been booked twice and Scholes deserved a straight red for his 'tackle'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 Messi will win it. Star player in the league. Top scorer in the Champions League. Goal in the final. When it comes to ticking boxes, he is doing very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jondaken Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 Messi has been my player of the season all year and I am still amazed how the powers that be sought fit to reward a cheating, arrogant prick like Ronaldo the title. He's certainly no role-model to youngsters especially. The world player of the year is from the season before. Ronaldo scored in the final of the champions league and scored a rediculous number of goals for Man U last season. No problem with him winning it. Messi will get the next one though. But my point was that he was a cheating, arrogant so-and-so. But its a footballing award, not a sportsmanship/rolemodel award. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Dogg Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 And Messi is 2 years younger than CRonaldo. What can this guy achieve? I hope he stays injury free for his entire career so we can witness him becoming the greatest ever player. Am I going OTT? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jondaken Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 Greatest player ever? OTFT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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