Re: Football Chat Thread : Wed Apr 27, 2011 12:30 pm  

Ordsall Quays Red wrote:

Is it any coincidence that Nited and Rooneys form has improved since Valencia's return to the team/squad? Not saying that Valencia has been outstanding but it stretches the game a lot more having him out wide which in turn gives Rooney more room.

I'd never seen Neuer before but he was outstanding in that first hour, very Schmeichel-esque with some of his saves.

Looking at the bottom of the PL and the games they all have to play, I still have no clue who's going to go down as there are still 3-4 games between them all - Wigan v West Ham, Wolves v Blackburn, West Ham v Blackburn are all humungous games.

Valencia is hugely important to Utd, I like him and Nani to play, one on each flank but that's not going to happen in Europe. I'd play them both plus Rooney and Hernandez against Arsenal and counter attack them to death.

Carrick and Rooney have been superb in the last 2 months.

Re: Football Chat Thread : Wed Apr 27, 2011 3:57 pm  

getdownmonkeyman wrote:

Does anybody believe Barcelona can win ugly?

Define; ugly.

Can they win by pumping the ball into the box and getting a scrappy goal? Or do you mean by playing the defense-first mentality? Either way, they never really have to, they just have to hope their strikers have their shooting boots on, as they create enough opportunities every game to comfortably win.

Re: Football Chat Thread : Wed Apr 27, 2011 4:29 pm  

Roddy B wrote:

Define; ugly.

Can they win by pumping the ball into the box and getting a scrappy goal? Or do you mean by playing the defense-first mentality? Either way, they never really have to, they just have to hope their strikers have their shooting boots on, as they create enough opportunities every game to comfortably win.

And if they don't, they just have to rely on the ref to bail them out.

Plenty of Barca's wins will be "ugly" wins. Wins that they don't particularly deserve because they haven't played well enough. But because they are probably the best side in the world, playing close to the top of their form, their ugly wins are either forgotten about or whitewashed because most of the neutrals have such an erection over them they don't have the bloodflow to their brains to judge a poor performance.

Re: Football Chat Thread : Wed Apr 27, 2011 4:37 pm  

Lord God Jose Mourinho wrote:

And if they don't, they just have to rely on the ref to bail them out.

Plenty of Barca's wins will be "ugly" wins. Wins that they don't particularly deserve because they haven't played well enough. But because they are probably the best side in the world, playing close to the top of their form, their ugly wins are either forgotten about or whitewashed because most of the neutrals have such an erection over them they don't have the bloodflow to their brains to judge a poor performance.

You see, it depends how you define 'not playing well enough'. Every game, regardless of opposition, they generally create a lot of chances and they generally dominate the opposition. Sometimes they miss a lot of chances and people say 'they didn't play well', a good example of this is the away game at Arsenal this season, where they created enough chances/got in enough good positions to put Arsenal out of the tournament within the first 45 minutes. They did play well, but, as always, that's forgotten.

I think a lot of people call some of their wins 'ugly' due to the stupendously high standards in which they set themselves, but they don't generally 'win ugly' in the way a Mourinho side would, or even a Fergie side.

Re: Football Chat Thread : Wed Apr 27, 2011 5:06 pm  

Roddy B wrote:

You see, it depends how you define 'not playing well enough'. Every game, regardless of opposition, they generally create a lot of chances and they generally dominate the opposition. Sometimes they miss a lot of chances and people say 'they didn't play well', a good example of this is the away game at Arsenal this season, where they created enough chances/got in enough good positions to put Arsenal out of the tournament within the first 45 minutes. They did play well, but, as always, that's forgotten.

I think a lot of people call some of their wins 'ugly' due to the stupendously high standards in which they set themselves, but they don't generally 'win ugly' in the way a Mourinho side would, or even a Fergie side.

Agreed. They are quite brilliant in the same way that at their peak Liverpool and United have been although Barcelona's level is probably above even those two teams.

Re: Football Chat Thread : Wed Apr 27, 2011 5:17 pm  

PAUL M wrote:

Valencia is hugely important to Utd, I like him and Nani to play, one on each flank but that's not going to happen in Europe. I'd play them both plus Rooney and Hernandez against Arsenal and counter attack them to death.

Carrick and Rooney have been superb in the last 2 months.

Have you noticed that Carricks form has improved massively since Berba has been out of the side? Infact his form dipped around the same time we signed Berba. Players like Rooney, Valencia, Hernandez stretch the game which gives Carrick extra time on the ball and also move around at speed giving him options to pick out the pass rather than just passing sideways or backwards.

Re: Football Chat Thread : Wed Apr 27, 2011 5:55 pm  

Catalancs wrote:

And in the last four of Europe's and arguably the world's premier club competition. Your point being?

That if Newcastle were taking on Dortmund, it'd probably be a similar state of affairs. Anyway, I'm not defending the Bundesliga, I agree that the EPL is vastly superior to it.

Re: Football Chat Thread : Wed Apr 27, 2011 6:42 pm  

McClennan wrote:

Agreed. They are quite brilliant in the same way that at their peak Liverpool and United have been although Barcelona's level is probably above even those two teams.

Have to agree there McClennan! Barcelona have been out of this world the best Club Football I have ever seen in my life. Even bettering Man United's achievements in 1999.

Re: Football Chat Thread : Wed Apr 27, 2011 7:12 pm  

This tie will get quite interesting at about 1020 next Tuesday when the penalty shoot-out starts.

Re: Football Chat Thread : Wed Apr 27, 2011 7:21 pm  

Ah yep, the media Barcelona erection, truly a thing of beauty, did i say beauty, i meant cringeworthy. They pass the ball about in their own half for what seems like an eternity and every pass is described as gorgeous or delicious or magical. Completely understand that it works for them, and they're playing to their strength, but so do Stoke, albeit in a different way, and they get slaughtered for it. Yet again a game featuring Barca is boring me senseless. Doesn't matter though cos it's Barca and it's what they do