Man U is teh fackin Average!

[Xamonas Chegwé]

A lot of the talk pre-match was of the "pace" of the premiership game against the possession football of Barca.

Well, when that pace is being spent endlessly running into space - space that contained a ball only a fraction of a second before - and chasing shadows, it simply isn't enough.

Barcelona outplayed them in every corner of the pitch. This is the beautiful game, played at its most beautiful. This is what Wenger's Arsenal aspire to yet rarely achieve. Whenever Barca had the ball, they languidly played it among themselves in their mesmeric, dizzying, slow, slow, quick-quick, slow style, always with a choice of three or more teammates to pass to, the ball sticking to their boots like velcro one moment, sliding off towards another blue and red striped shirt the next. When Man U were in possession, on the other hand, they looked frantic, always harried by two or three spanish players and with no obvious passes. it was like watching an ice-hockey game where only one team were issued with skates!

The goals were sublime - all 4 of them - but once again, the Catalan class outshone the Manc mediocrity. All three Barca goals came from incisive play that sliced the United defense apart like... oh just pick a cliché from the pile! United's temporary equaliser came from a moment of individual brilliance from Rooney built on top of... well absolutely fuck all to be honest!

In the premiership, Man United dominate the likes of Everton and Villa, week in, week out, but the fact is, they just can't breathe the rarified air up where Barcelona play. In fact, pick ANY 11 players from the Ferguson era in their pomp - Cantona, Beckham, Ronaldo, Keane - replace Van der Sar with Schmeichel - fuck it, play the two of them side-by-side! - and they would still be outmatched by this Barca side - they are simply the best team I have ever seen.

[Ironclad]

Still, Wentworth to look forward to this Sunday...

[Rum]

Twas a good game. More about Barcelona's awsomeness than MU's crapness though I thought.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Twas a good game. More about Barcelona's awsomeness than MU's crapness though I thought.

I never said they were crap - they clearly aren't - just that they were shown up as very average when compared to the genius of Messi and Co.

[Animavore]

It was nice of Barca to give them free lessons on how to play football I thought.

[klr]

This Barcelona is a freak team by any standards (freak in good sort of way). Seven members of the Spanish starting line-up from the World Cup final, and Lionel Messi. There were many seasons in the past when this United side would have been good enough to win the European Cup - and this is nowhere near the best United side under Ferguson. Liverpool fans might be slow to admit it, but when they were winning UEFA cups and European Cups in the 1970's and 1980's, there was no other side in Europe that even remotely compared with this Barcelona side.

Twas a good game. More about Barcelona's awsomeness than MU's crapness though I thought.

I never said they were crap - they clearly aren't - just that they were shown up as very average when compared to the genius of Messi and Co.

... well, not quite average, but just a clear second best. An "average" side would have been completely taken to the cleaners. Barca had a couple of 5-1 wins against lesser teams earlier in the competition, and those matches were just like extended training sessions.

Everyone else in Europe must be hoping that Messi suddenly decides to retire from football to become a sheep farmer in Patagonia, or something like that.

It was nice of Barca to give them free lessons on how to play football I thought.

Liverpool fans (and maybe their team) should watch it very closely as well, for the same reason.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

The match stats make interesting viewing! (Stolen from the BBC site.)

Picture 1.png (15.72 KiB) Viewed 2736 times

Man U only had a single shot on target out of only 3 attempts and scored with it! Even when they are shit they are lucky bastards!

5-1 wouldn't have flattered Barca. They took their foot off the gas when they reached 3-1, leaving plenty in the tank just in case Rooney pulled something else out of the bag.

[cowiz]

That was a masterclass from Barca. The holy trinity of Messi, Xavi and Iniesta crucified the red scum.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

This all sounds very gay.

[cowiz]

This all sounds very gay.

Butt out homo and go and play some hand egg

[cowiz]

Shout out to XC, I thought his write up was freakin' awesum - Henry Winter could learn a thing or two from you.

[cowiz]

Shout out to XC, I thought his write up was freakin' awesum - Henry Winter could learn a thing or two from you.

Fuck that, he's a cunt. Sorry, I let that one slip through.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Shout out to XC, I thought his write up was freakin' awesum - Henry Winter could learn a thing or two from you.

Fuck that, he's a cunt. Sorry, I let that one slip through.

Who are you and what the fuck have you done with pawiz?



Edit: twattishness acknowledged.

[HomerJay]

Let down by some pisspoor defending IMO. vidic poor for the first, just static, evra useless for the second, vidic even had to tell him to go to messi, when messi had time and space outside the box!

None of the goals actually came from great play and in each case, the guy had time and space to take an easy shot.

As none of the goals came from barcas prolonged periods of possession, you wonder how effective playing keep ball is.

When the mighty Nottingham Forest were playing Swansea in the playoffs a couple of weeks ago they pushed possession rates up to nearly 90% for long periods of two games. Still didn't score though. Possession stats and play are largely meaningless. In fact most stats show that the longer a team keeps possession in one move they are increasingly less likely to score.

[cowiz]

Let down by some pisspoor defending IMO. vidic poor for the first, just static, evra useless for the second, vidic even had to tell him to go to messi, when messi had time and space outside the box!

None of the goals actually came from great play and in each case, the guy had time and space to take an easy shot.

As none of the goals came from barcas prolonged periods of possession, you wonder how effective playing keep ball is.

When the mighty Nottingham Forest were playing Swansea in the playoffs a couple of weeks ago they pushed possession rates up to nearly 90% for long periods of two games. Still didn't score though. Possession stats and play are largely meaningless. In fact most stats show that the longer a team keeps possession in one move they are increasingly less likely to score.

Were we watching the same game? I think you might have been watching a replay of the 2009 final.