Re: The Football Chat Thread : Sun Dec 11, 2011 6:30 pm  

I actually thought Real Madrid were the better team last night. Were on top for long periods of the game and missed a host of chances.

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Sun Dec 11, 2011 7:25 pm  

Ndamukong wrote:

I actually thought Real Madrid were the better team last night. Were on top for long periods of the game and missed a host of chances.

See, I thought the opposite. Real were desperate, if that game was refereed by a ref in England, it may well have been abandoned. Mourinho's tactics were small time and revealed as that when he subbed Diarra the moment he got a yellow, simply put, if his players couldn't kick the sh*t out of someone, they were of no use to him. Iniesta made Madrid's midfield and defence look so average at times, he was easily MOTM. Real put about 4 players on Messi at every chance yet he still done more than any of their players offensively. Madrid's best player was Coentrao, their right back who didn't have an attacker to defend, which speaks volumes about how average they were.

I wasn't expecting Madrid to go and try and out-Barca Barca, but when you're at home and you get a lead as early as they did, you'd expect to see some initiative from their midfield. The only player that threatened was Benzema, and even then that was only because he closed down Valdes at will.

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Sun Dec 11, 2011 8:08 pm  

Coentrao should have been sent off for trying to break Xavi's ankle.

Personally I thought Barcelona were fantastic and outclassed Madrid with adventurous attacking football. Iniesta was a class above and ran the show while Cristiano Ronaldo went missing in a big game, yet again. Much was made in the Catalan and Spanish press about Madrid winning 15 on the bounce but Barcelona (and Madrid) aren't in the same bracket as the rest of La Liga first division, as we saw last night. The third Barcelona goal was a lovely move and Fabregas worked really hard to get in the position to finish it off. I didn't think he'd play much but Guardiola obviously sees him as a first team player rather than a back-up to Xavi and Iniesta.
The only negative for me was the theatrics which started inside the first five minutes with Alexis waving an imaginary card at the referee.

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Mon Dec 12, 2011 12:01 am  

I thought Madrid were poor, very direct and gave the ball away far too often. That said they made chances but Ronaldo had a shocker.

Spurs can feel hard done to today, should have had two/three more pens and a red card for Shawcross, plus the first goal was handball.

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Mon Dec 12, 2011 7:27 am  

Doesn't surprise me with these two really

Doesn't surprise me with these two really

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Mon Dec 12, 2011 7:32 am  

What's really worrying is that you read The Mail
Terrible example for young fans from a scouser and a Liverpool player.

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Mon Dec 12, 2011 8:08 am  

Catalancs wrote:

What's really worrying is that you read The Mail

Course I do

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Mon Dec 12, 2011 10:50 am  

Catalancs wrote:

What's really worrying is that you read The Mail
Terrible example for young fans from a scouser and a Liverpool player.

Probably down to Barton's twitter comments regarding Gary Speed.

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Mon Dec 12, 2011 12:15 pm  

Roddy B wrote:

Ndamukong wrote:

I actually thought Real Madrid were the better team last night. Were on top for long periods of the game and missed a host of chances.

See, I thought the opposite. Real were desperate, if that game was refereed by a ref in England, it may well have been abandoned. Mourinho's tactics were small time and revealed as that when he subbed Diarra the moment he got a yellow, simply put, if his players couldn't kick the sh*t out of someone, they were of no use to him. Iniesta made Madrid's midfield and defence look so average at times, he was easily MOTM. Real put about 4 players on Messi at every chance yet he still done more than any of their players offensively. Madrid's best player was Coentrao, their right back who didn't have an attacker to defend, which speaks volumes about how average they were.

I wasn't expecting Madrid to go and try and out-Barca Barca, but when you're at home and you get a lead as early as they did, you'd expect to see some initiative from their midfield. The only player that threatened was Benzema, and even then that was only because he closed down Valdes at will.

See, whilst there's lots of love for Iniesta, I'm not sure people give enough credit to Dani Alves. I thought he was sensational the other night. I think he's one of the big reasons that Barca are a different beast to Spain but with effectively the same team & set up (obviously there's Messi too). Spain play with Ramos at right back and he can do you a job, but watching Alves on Saturday his work rate, energy and his quality in the final third, I thought was brilliant, his cross to Fabregas was pinpoint.

I thought Mourinho had it right on Saturday tactically, they just weren't good enough on the night to pull it off. Had Ronaldo scored that header at 1-1 it would have been different, he fluffed his lines and within a minute Barca had a goal thanks to a big slice of fortune, fine margins.

It still looks like a team coming out on top against a collection of individuals at times to me. I think they've taken strides to fix it at Madrid, but when you get to the top sides, it shows.

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Mon Dec 12, 2011 12:41 pm  

Strange match, scruffy at times. Didnt think either team played near their best. It will add to the psychological hold that Barca have over RM just now, but in pure footballing terms I didnt think it was particularly meaningful.