MOther of God what a shocking penalty.
Rooney on the right, Tevez playing in a withdrawn role and spending most of his time in his own half and Ronaldo up front. If Manchester United get anything out of this itâll be in spite of Ferguson as theyâre set up all wrong. I knew theyâd be starved of possession playing Scholes and Carrick in the middle against Barcaâs three of Xavi, Deco and Toure and the possession must be 70/30 in Barcaâs favour. Theyâre playing some great stuff but need to take more care with their final pass.
Iâve a feelin this ref doesnt want to give away any more penalties tonight!
Really there was a gulf in class tonight. I said a couple of months back that this Barcelona team were a far far superior to the Manchester United team of last year and it seems Manchester havenât improved all that much since then. Yes Manchester were set up wrong but Barca were so much better in possession it was untrue. Got into many good positions but they really should have done better around Manchesterâs penalty box. Bit of a clique but they do lack penetration. Good match anyway but the analysis at the end of it from RTE was even better!
Id be happy with the result. Thats all. Barca dominated but they didnt score. Park was shocking. He didnt make a decent challenge all night, his touch was awful and he couldnt produce a decent pass. The only players to get any credit were Eddie in goal. Solid hands tonight with the exception of that Henry rocket. Evra seeing as he had to put up with Messi. To be only done once wasnt too bad. Scholes was great in the midfield. The amount of times he won the ball was outstanding.
0.0 is dangerous but United at home will create a few chances and I would be still confident of reaching the final.
Itâs a decent result for United alright - not brilliant obviously because theyâre vulnerable to an away goal but Barcaâs defence is so obviously their weak link. Marquez and Milito were a disaster (as they tend to be) and it was Barcaâs utter domination everywhere else that helped them keep a clean sheet.
Pity Messi tired - you could see it a few minutes before he came off when he didnât bother running for Abidal and then didnât do anything with the ball when he got it. Until then he was awesome - absolutely top drawer. One flaw was he didnât make his mind up decisively enough when Etoâo could have squared to him though I thought Etoâo should have done more to commit Carrick.
How funny were Carrickâs two dives for high feet by the way? He got found out big time tonight - just couldnât get the ball off Barca, but worse he couldnât keep it when he got it.
Anyway despite there being no goals that was a smashing game of football - real quality on show.
One thing to say. Scholes is god. What a savage performance from the man tonight. Barca made Utd look like a minor league team tonight and 0-0 is an amazing result considering the ineptitude of Utd tonight. Iâm worried about the next leg to be honest. Rock is spot on with Carrick not being able to keep the ball but I wouldnât just point him out, most of the Utd team couldnât hold onto it.
Dunphy on flying form again tonight by the way
Dunphy just does it cause Rte tell him to. They are afraid of losing viewers. How is Rooney accused from his performance tonight. Because he played on the right. Ronaldo played center forward which isnt his normal poistion either. If United win the 2nd leg then Ferguson will be justified for putting out that formation tonight. By all accounts United really defended well. Etos chance 2nd half was Barcas only real clear chance the whole night.
That was an appalling display from United. Not in quality but in intent. They only got through once(backheel, then Etoâo shot to the side netting) but mother of fuck, thatâs not how we play football. Any Utd team with Rooney and Tevez as defenders with only Ronaldo as a front man is a joke. Weâre good enough to take Barca on and shoould do so. 0-0 away has been our undoing in europe on many occasions so why persist in looking for it.
Our defence was incredible, with only a Henry shot and that moment with Etoâo looking like goals but we gave away loads of frees outside the box(many of which were incredibly soft from the ref) and could have been punished. Beating Barca at home is by no means a certainty, so why rely on it?
If I want to watch shit defensive football Iâll watch Liverpool. We should have tried to take the game to them and didnât. We were far too deep and it was obviously a plan. The problem is that when you spend so long without the ball you can;t afford to waste it when you get it, which we did every time.
Canât believe they took Messi off as he was pretty much their threat. That Barca side arenât great though, so we should give them a good game at Old Trafford.
Ronaldo was made play up front because he doesnât defend enough on the wing so itâs a reflection of his play that he has to swap with Rooney - not that I agree with that decision.
Only singling out Carrick because it was important to United that he kept the ball better Flano. Agree with you that he wasnât the only one but when you see Scholes beside him you see that someone whoâs a bit better on the ball can do it. And the defenders hadnât much chance of keeping the ball when the midfield was ripped apart.
Iâve obviously been at or watching Celticâs CL games this season, which clashed with United all the way through, so Iâm not totally sure on this but didnât you lads say Fergusonâs been playing 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 in Europe most of the time away from home this season with three core central midfield players from the group of Scholes, Hargreaves, Anderson and Carrick?
Then to change that against a team who ALWAYS play three in the centre of midfield and leave themselves outnumbered in there was awful management. Add that to Carrick being completely exposed at the top level again, like he was in Milan last season, and itâs incredible that United escaped without conceding given the chasing they got tonight.
The irony was they could have had another pen or two but then again Etoâo could have had one for them and possibly Iniesta also. I think there was definitely an element of Ferguson believing the hype about his own side, who are relatively unproven in Europe compared to Barca, and underestimating Barca themselves too.
All that said Barcaâs defence is so, so bad and they were terrible back there tonight on the few occasions United got into their half. That should give confidence to United that they can score but equally Barcaâs passing game is that good that they donât give a shit if theyâre away from home and theyâre capable of keeping the ball anyway. Iâd make United slight favourites but Barca are by no means out of this as they can score in an instant and theyâll have more space away from home as United probably wonât have 9 or 10 players around their own box.
One other thing, Lionel Messi - genius.
One final thing, Eamon Dunphy is a nutter and thatâs even aside from his rant at the end. He claims to watch Spanish football every week but apparently âthey got Milito from Argentina in the summer.â An entertaining fool, but a fool all the same.
I would have thought that if Vidic had been fit then Hargreaves would have played in the centre with Scholes. I expect that 2nd leg. I can see Anderson starting Saturday ahead of Scholes to give him a break after his efforts tonight.
[quote=âJuhniallioâ]That was an appalling display from United. Not in quality but in intent. They only got through once(backheel, then Etoâo shot to the side netting) but mother of fuck, thatâs not how we play football. Any Utd team with Rooney and Tevez as defenders with only Ronaldo as a front man is a joke. Weâre good enough to take Barca on and shoould do so. 0-0 away has been our undoing in europe on many occasions so why persist in looking for it.
Our defence was incredible, with only a Henry shot and that moment with Etoâo looking like goals but we gave away loads of frees outside the box(many of which were incredibly soft from the ref) and could have been punished. Beating Barca at home is by no means a certainty, so why rely on it?
If I want to watch shit defensive football Iâll watch Liverpool. We should have tried to take the game to them and didnât. We were far too deep and it was obviously a plan. The problem is that when you spend so long without the ball you can;t afford to waste it when you get it, which we did every time.
Canât believe they took Messi off as he was pretty much their threat. That Barca side arenât great though, so we should give them a good game at Old Trafford.[/quote]
Couldnât believe the tactics Juhy. Remarked on here and elsewhere before that Ferguson has a continual blind spot when it comes to European competition and he showed it again tonight. Why the fuck would they play so defensive? Obviously they still have a chance of progressing but thatâs as much down to luck as anything else because Barca passed them off the park. United were setup all wrong and so many players were uncomfortable in where they played.
It was like Ferguson rang Walter Smith last week to ask him how to approach the game, there was absolutely no ambition at all and I hope itâs not rewarded in the second leg.
Finally Juhy stay tuned for the RT analysis - uploading it now, probably be another while before itâs ready but itâs pure quality.
Think posters are going overboard on attitude of United tonight and the way they were set up. Yes the tactics should have been better but there was a simple gulf in class there tonight. They were outplayed by a far superior team on the night. Unitedâs ability (or lack of) in comparison to Barca was startling. They simply couldnât keep the ball. As Graeme Souness would say men against boys. Agree on Scholes by the way. Class tonight and a standout for United.
The other thing I meant to mention about Dunphy - this stuff he keeps going on with every single week about Rooney either being the best player in the world or Europe and he was at it again tonight. I know Dunphy was on drugs before because he admitted it but is he still on drugs now? Itâs baseless and completely crazy.
He watched their game last Saturday with Johnny apparently. He made sure he told us he watched La Liga again.
Yeah I agree that Dunphys assessment of Rooney has no basis in reality. As regards the comments made by Dunphy et al about Ronaldo. I flicked over to Sky Sports during the break on RTE and they were pretty much saying the same thing as the lads on RTE, albeit in a much nicer, toned down way
There was a lot of truth in what the RTE boys were saying about Ronaldo and I know a few United fans who are getting a bit frustrated with him.
You get the impression that he thinks it is all about him now. He is becoming more dramatic every week and so much of his play and reactions seem to be for the cameras.
Against Arsenal he nearly cost United the game, when Arsenal were attacking down the right in the last 10 mins he was hiding on the halfway line. On several occasions Evra had to deal with Hoyte and Walcott while Ronaldo waited for a breakaway. I felt he was more interested in adding to his goal tally than getting the 3 points.
Again tonight he was posturing for the cameras, insisted on taking every set piece and shouted at team mates when a move broke down. He can be a superb player at times but Dunphy was right, you want the best player in the world to be someone you admire and look up to.
Great analysis from Cunny Kenningham on the radio this morning. Reckons that Barca will have approached the game âwanting to stay in the tie and theyâve managed that.â Also said it was a boring game. Clown.