Re: Football Chat Thread : Sat May 28, 2011 11:57 pm  

Some absolutely hilarious posts on here. If United didn't make those two supposedly 'massive' mistakes Barcelona would still have found a way to score at least once before the end of the game. Oh and Giggs was quite obviously offside for the goal looking at the replays - I don't know how anyone can dispute it.

Re: Football Chat Thread : Sun May 29, 2011 12:01 am  

goochie124 wrote:

Go on, what was wrong with the second goal? Even after a million replays the bloke who wasn't interfering with play was still level with the defender and therefore onside! Everything Roverswall is saying is right (even if he is a dobbin , if United don't make 2 massive mistakes that game goes to extra time.

Thought Giggs was offside, just.

But it was a correct call from the lino IMO. No one would've been able to see that Giggs had gone offside in real time so they goal should have stood.

If Barca hadn't scored those two "gift" goals then they'd have probably attacked with even more aggression and got the goals elsewhere.

I don't really blame VDS as the early shot from Messi and the bounce just before the 'keeper made it a difficult shot. The main fault from VDS may have been in his positioning, but TBH if he'd been stood more central then maybe he's have just been beaten at the other sude.

The other goal was as much down to incessant pressure off the ball from Barca. They are exceptional at it and do it most of the game. Sure, in this case United got themselves into trouble and cost themselves, but you only say that because the goal came. United had to try and play themselves out of defence sometimes, they couldn't just boot it away all the time. This time they were punished for it.

Put it this way, Barca will have done the exact thing United did 20 times and managed to get away with it.

TBH the 3-1 score was probably more flattering for United than it was for Barca.

Re: Football Chat Thread : Sun May 29, 2011 12:03 am  

Re: Football Chat Thread : Sun May 29, 2011 1:09 am  

Jeez, I've read some poop on here tonight!

FWIW, I thought Barca were fantastic tonight & without doubt the best club side I've seen in my lifetime. I'm a big Utd fan but I'm not embarrassed to say we were outclassed tonight. It's hilarious some of the texts I've received from dippers & blue noses mocking our defeat though (one Citeh fan even claiming that THEY were the 2nd best team in Europe ). An FA Cup & a 6th place league finish between you, wow you must be proud!

As disappointed as I am I've got to be proud of what we've done this season. We won the league with a transitional team, lost to arguably the greatest club side in many a generation in the CL final & probably should have won the FA Cup (although fair play to Citeh who deserved the win against us on the day). Any other team would probably have lost by 5 tonight, Barca really were that good. I think we just need to acknowledge the fact & enjoy this team while it's around. Funnily enough I think they are beatable purely on the fact that their defence isn't that good but when you have such a majestic midfield & forward line you could probably get away with playing me in the back four! Yes, we could probably have defended the 2nd & 3rd goals better but when you're under that much pressure you make mistakes.

Hopefully we can add 3/4 players in the summer & come back again bigger & stronger next year. Sneijder for starters please! Anyhoo, congrats Barca, a joy to watch & fully deserving of whatever praise comes their way after tonight .

Re: Football Chat Thread : Sun May 29, 2011 8:12 am  

A truely outstanding football team beat a very good football team and the scoreline (could have been a couple more for Barcelona) reflects that preformance. No ifs and buts or maybe's about it. Barcelona are the best side I have seen and that includes a couple of outstanding Brazilian and Dutch national sides. Privalage to have watched it and the decision I took to watch it with the sound down and Absolute 80's playing in the background was a stroke of luck. One or two comments about the commentry team on ITV not exactly flattering.

Re: Football Chat Thread : Sun May 29, 2011 8:27 am  

Moonlight wrote:

One or two comments about the commentry team on ITV not exactly flattering.

In what way were the ITV commentary team bad?

I watched it on Fox in the USA. It was an English team though, although I don't remember who it was. Just a couple of Istanbul references to annoy me but other than that it was okay.

----------------------------------

Thinking about it, although Fergie will definitely go down as a legendary manager, his record in CL finals is pretty patchy. He stole the win from Bayern in the last minutes of the game, he only managed to beat Avram Grant on penalties, and the two defeats to Barca were as comprehensive as you can get.

Re: Football Chat Thread : Sun May 29, 2011 8:33 am  

Anybody attempting to detract from Barca are just plain daft, it's not about a poor Man Utd, it's about a fantastic Barca. I underestimated just how good they are.

Going back to the season, I still maintain Mourinho had it right when he tried to draw 0-0 at home and try and nick one in the Nou Camp, he got roundly criticised for this and obviously once Pepe was sent off it didn't happen but I think last night showed that if you attempt to attack them, you come off second best.

They are the best side that I've ever seen, and Messi is the best footballer I've ever seen. I'm adamant he's twice the footballer Maradona was. People will say that he hasn't done it in a World Cup, well, the CL is the best competition in the world now, like the WC was in '86 and Messi has delivered that.

It's amazing that they play the likes of Utd, Arsenal & Real and have 65-75% of the ball, just unreal.

Re: Football Chat Thread : Sun May 29, 2011 10:16 am  

JWP wrote:

They are the best side that I've ever seen, and Messi is the best footballer I've ever seen. I'm adamant he's twice the footballer Maradona was. People will say that he hasn't done it in a World Cup, well, the CL is the best competition in the world now, like the WC was in '86 and Messi has delivered that.

.

He's a great player, but, as Jamie Redknapp pointed out, its impossible to compare him with Maradona, Pele or even Best, because the game as been changed so much to favour the skilful players in recent years.

With tackling now virtually outlawed, players like Messi are allowed to scoot around, displaying their wonderful talents....Maradona and Best would have been walking the ball into the net 2 or 3 times a match under the present rules, instead of taking the kicking that they got every week.

Its ironic listening to Souness pouring praise on Messi as the best player ever, whilst dismissing Redknapp's point, when he spent an entire career kicking lumps out of similarly talented players....

Re: Football Chat Thread : Sun May 29, 2011 10:24 am  

Dita's Slot Meter wrote:

He's a great player, but, as Jamie Redknapp pointed out, its impossible to compare him with Maradona, Pele or even Best, because the game as been changed so much to favour the skilful players in recent years.

With tackling now virtually outlawed, players like Messi are allowed to scoot around, displaying their wonderful talents....Maradona and Best would have been walking the ball into the net 2 or 3 times a match under the present rules, instead of taking the kicking that they got every week.

Its ironic listening to Souness pouring praise on Messi as the best player ever, whilst dismissing Redknapp's point, when he spent an entire career kicking lumps out of similarly talented players....

It's a tough one for me, there's a part of me that thinks Messi is running rings around athletes that are far superior to what were kicking around in the 70's & 80's though. I rate Vidic so highly, I think he's arguably the best defender in the world yet he didn't look like he could get close to Messi last night. The old 'kicking lumps' thing to an extent is just because defenders were poor then, slow etc. Messi is doing it against fantastic athletes. Also, Messi gets his fair share of treatment, it's just incredibly hard to get to him. He looks small, at times a tad porky, I'm just in awe of him.

I think we're watching the greates player to ever play the game and not realising it. I think we're looking for reasons to sort of 'de-value' what he's doing when really, I think we should just apprciate being alive seeing such greatness. I've never seen Pele or Best live, so I find it hard to truly appreciate their greatness, I ain't missing the boat on this one.

Re: Football Chat Thread : Sun May 29, 2011 10:40 am