alpal78

someone should shoot Droopy face, it's either him or Kenny!

So Spurs it is then?

Is that because he is championship manager level?

who said anything justified what they did? most of us are taking issue that it should somehow take the shine off their overall triumph or makes them a team not worthy of respect or other equal horseshit That point was being referred to Pip caused he seemed to justify Barca's play acting on Mourinho's (Madrid) tactics. Whether it took the shine off their achievement is a personal judgement. Great that you think it did not. I enjoyed their performance in the final but still think that they should be embarrassed with what they did in the semis.

How in the wold you blame Mourinho (or Madrid) when Dani Alves held his shin (as if it was broken in two) when there was no contact from Pepe or when Busquet held his face when the contact was on his shoulder I will never understand. Leap of logic if there ever was one. Sure Mourinho's plays aggressive football against Barcelona and that may contribute to ugly football. You can even argue that the aggressive tactics result in a few diving here and there (for both sides). But there is absolutely no connection between the tactics employed by Mourinho and what Barcelona did on that shameful night i.e. play acting, feigning injury and crowding the referee to get a player sent off. Now I agree that Barcelona can play beautiful clean football (and perhaps they do most of the times) which only begs the question why Barcelona chose to do what they did against Madrid. Could it be because they were finding it difficult to play their usual game and penetrate Madrid's defence when it was 11 vs 11? I don't know. But to blame Mourinho (Madrid) for Barcelona's play acting is ridiculous. and yet by your own acknowledgement they don't behave that way in 99% of their games, in fact i've not heard anyone say they've ever done it before that night iirc it was the 3rd of 4 games right? as i understand it in winning the final madrid stifled the game to death and played a hard, defensive tie is it beyond belief that guardiola might have sent them out for the first leg of the semi, knowing what would come from real, to use this as a tactic to counter they way madrid should play and people like alves took it too far? is it ok for the likes of de jong to snap HBA's leg in two, for example, as tactical means to an end (hit him hard, let him know he's not gonna play easy) that goes too far? you seem far too eager to elevate what is by all accounts a one off occurrence on barca's behalf into suggesting they're the incarnation of the devil or something in 60 minutes of that tie real did not score nor dominate barca and then a man was sent off and it changed the game, some people argue that even without contact it was a sending off (de jong won the ball against HBA you know?) in short you're obsessed by one game of over the top simulation and yes cheating, and it's embarrassing tbh Actually I'll give you credit, your post made a lot sense, certainly more than Pip's. Yes I agree that Barca generally play clean beautiful football, still don't know why they did what they did vs Madrid. I guess it is possible like you said that some players (especially Alvez and Busquet) took Guardiola's 'advice and suggestions' to the extreme. That is as plausible as Barcelona deciding that the easiest way for them to break Madrid down (who yes were determine to play defensive counter attack football) was to get a one man advantage. They did get a player sent off and with the one man advantage did score the two goals which for all intent and purposes ended the semis. P/S: Even if De Jong did get the ball against HBA (I don't think he did), there was definitely contact. That is very different from the Pepe against Alves incident.

You really seemed confused and are unable to read my post properly. As you seem to be accusing me of saying many things that I didn't say, let's try again: 1) I DID NOT say that Madrid players did not dive. Most of the examples you gave above are valid. What I did say is that Barca went beyond just diving and tried to get Madrid player sent off. There is a difference between diving vs holding your shin when there was no contact or worse holding your face when there was no contact and then crowding the ref in an effort to get the opponent sent off. Yes Madrid players dived too but they did not do the latter. Barca did. 2) I DID NOT "painting a picture of Real playing football", in fact in my earlier post, I agreed that Madrid played aggressive football which resulted in an ugly match, that still did not justify what Barcelona did in play acting and conning the ref to get players sent off. 3) I DID NOT "single out that game and incessantly go on about it like that one sole match is indicative of this Barca side's 'true' self". In fact what I said in my earlier post was "Now I agree that Barcelona can play beautiful clean football (and perhaps they do most of the times) which only begs the question why Barcelona chose to do what they did against Madrid". I was referring to only that game and not saying that this is how Barcelona play generally. Finally whilst it is true that Mourinho (Madrid) played aggressive football, how does that justify Barca's play acting? What do you mean by "Barca played along"?. As for the common denominator, you are confusing causation and correlation.

How in the wold you blame Mourinho (or Madrid) when Dani Alves held his shin (as if it was broken in two) when there was no contact from Pepe or when Busquet held his face when the contact was on his shoulder I will never understand. Leap of logic if there ever was one. Sure Mourinho's plays aggressive football against Barcelona and that may contribute to ugly football. You can even argue that the aggressive tactics result in a few diving here and there (for both sides). But there is absolutely no connection between the tactics employed by Mourinho and what Barcelona did on that shameful night i.e. play acting, feigning injury and crowding the referee to get a player sent off. Now I agree that Barcelona can play beautiful clean football (and perhaps they do most of the times) which only begs the question why Barcelona chose to do what they did against Madrid. Could it be because they were finding it difficult to play their usual game and penetrate Madrid's defence when it was 11 vs 11? I don't know. But to blame Mourinho (Madrid) for Barcelona's play acting is ridiculous. There was contact. Dani Alves had big bruise on his shin mate. The youtube video showed that there was absolutely no contact. I'll PM you the link if it is allowed. Out of curiosity, how do you know there was a big bruise? You were the doctor who examined his shin in the brief 10 seconds he was on the stretcher?

How in the wold you blame Mourinho (or Madrid) when Dani Alves held his shin (as if it was broken in two) when there was no contact from Pepe or when Busquet held his face when the contact was on his shoulder I will never understand. Leap of logic if there ever was one. Sure Mourinho's plays aggressive football against Barcelona and that may contribute to ugly football. You can even argue that the aggressive tactics result in a few diving here and there (for both sides). But there is absolutely no connection between the tactics employed by Mourinho and what Barcelona did on that shameful night i.e. play acting, feigning injury and crowding the referee to get a player sent off. Now I agree that Barcelona can play beautiful clean football (and perhaps they do most of the times) which only begs the question why Barcelona chose to do what they did against Madrid. Could it be because they were finding it difficult to play their usual game and penetrate Madrid's defence when it was 11 vs 11? I don't know. But to blame Mourinho (Madrid) for Barcelona's play acting is ridiculous.

What the hell, I was arguing about tactics and how to beat Barcelona. Never mentioned anything about Mourinho being the best, you're can't stop bumming Pep can you. Regarding the 1-1, yes perhaps Barcelona took it easy, perhaps so did Madrid coz they had given up hope by then (Mourinho said after the first leg, that they're out already). I took the result for what it was. You're licking Mourinhos 'blueprint' arse. How very matured, I take it you can't refute my argument then

err because Man Utd tried to play attacking football (with two strikers) which worked perfectly for Barcelona. The diving and cheating to get opponent sent off is Barcelona's Plan B, they only use it when they can't get past a flooded midfield. Right oh. Yup laugh all you want, the facts speak for themselves. Against Madrid, barring the 5-0 when Madrid did try to foolishly go all out attack, Barcelona has only beaten Madrid when they got a player sent off and the goals came after the sending off.

What the hell, I was arguing about tactics and how to beat Barcelona. Never mentioned anything about Mourinho being the best, you're can't stop bumming Pep can you. Regarding the 1-1, yes perhaps Barcelona took it easy, perhaps so did Madrid coz they had given up hope by then (Mourinho said after the first leg, that they're out already). I took the result for what it was.

Yup you are right, a 2-0 defeat and a 0-0 draw. I can't remember what tactics he used then. But even if we assume that he used the blueprint, then the record for 11 against 11 is still 2 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss. Still impressive.

err because Man Utd tried to play attacking football (with two strikers) which worked perfectly for Barcelona. The diving and cheating to get opponent sent off is Barcelona's Plan B, they only use it when they can't get past a flooded midfield.

Lets not kid on that Jose has Barca number as last season he could not beat Barca in 90 mins in 5 games. He doesn't but he has beaten/drawn Braca at least thrice with Inter and Madrid. He is the closest to having a blueprint to deal with Barca. Nobody else comes close, Fergie tried to be brave and played 2 strikers and it proved to be his own undoing. Jose has played Barca more than any other manager & he has won 1 game within 90 mins while at Inter & another with Real Madird in extra time. Last season Barcelona beat Real Madrid 5-0 & won the CL semi final in 1st leg with a 2-0 away from home. Jose like SAF has not got plan or the players to beat Barca on a regular basis he has Ronaldo who should always give him a chance in one offs. You got to analyze those results more before drawing a conclusion. With Real Madrid, Mourinho has played Barcelona 5 times. The results were: League 1) 0-5 defeat (where he tried attacking like Man Utd did last night...i.e. not the blueprint obviously) 2) 1-1 draw (with ten men...Raul Albiol sent off) Cup 1-0 Win (changed tactics to said blueprint i.e. flooding the midfield and used C.Ronaldo as focal point for counter attack - on a side note, don't get why you seem to dismiss this win just because it went to extra time...so what? extra time had no impact on the tactics of both teams, it was 11 vs 11 for 119 minutes) Champions League 1) 0-2 Loss (although both goals scored after Pepe got sent off, which obviously changed the way the game was played) 2) 1-1 Draw Now with Inter in CL last season 1) 3-1 Win (used blueprint, goals were from lighting fast counter attack) 2) 0-1 Loss (again played with 10 men after Thiago was sent off early) So out of 7 games, I would say Mourinho used the said blueprint 6 out of 7 times. The results were 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses. Both losses were when they were reduced to 10 men, which meant that the blueprint was not applicable anymore, (you can't possibly flood the midfield with 10 men). When it was 11 against 11, Mourinho's teams beat Barcelona twice and drew once. For a team like Barcelona, I would say that is as close as you'll get to a blueprint!

For me, Ronaldo's speed makes him a more effective (direct) dribbler and I'd say he's finishing is better too. Messi's dribbling is cute to watch, but often they are probing dribbling to create space for others instead of heading for goal. When Ronaldo gets the ball, just one thing on his mind and he pulled it off most of the times Cute to watch. Cute to watch as in pleasing on the eye but not necessarily dangerous all the time like Ronaldo. This is all so pointless, it really depends on personal preference. I don't get this incessant need to get everyone to agree that Messi is God like.

For me, Ronaldo's speed makes him a more effective (direct) dribbler and I'd say he's finishing is better too. Messi's dribbling is cute to watch, but often they are probing dribbling to create space for others instead of heading for goal. When Ronaldo gets the ball, just one thing on his mind and he pulled it off most of the times And to think that he still manages to rack up 40+ goals a season. Astounding. You understand relative comparison mate?

Lets not kid on that Jose has Barca number as last season he could not beat Barca in 90 mins in 5 games. He doesn't but he has beaten/drawn Braca at least thrice with Inter and Madrid. He is the closest to having a blueprint to deal with Barca. Nobody else comes close, Fergie tried to be brave and played 2 strikers and it proved to be his own undoing.

make that 30% now

Is it not June 1st? Domestically it opened immediately after the last game of the season, not sure about France mind. according to wiki Pre-season window Mid-season window Associations 1 January – 31 March 1 August – 31 August Sweden,[5] Norway[6] 8 January – 2 April 16 July – 13 August Japan[7] 15 January – 15 April 15 July – 14 August USA/Canada[8] 1 March – 30 April 1 August – 31 August Finland[9] 1 July – 31 August 1 January – 2 February France,[10] Germany,[11] Italy,[citation needed] Spain,[12] Scotland[citation needed] 11 June – 1 September 5 January – 31 January Denmark[13] End of the season – 31 August 1 January – 31 January England[14][15] Well that's clear!

ya I know man, but if the website is true, then chances of signing him just went from like 80% to 50% How? well because the website said nothing is signed and will be confirmed (which could mean anything hence the 50% chance). Before I though it was almost a done deal hence the 80% chance

For me, Ronaldo's speed makes him a more effective (direct) dribbler and I'd say he's finishing is better too. Messi's dribbling is cute to watch, but often they are probing dribbling to create space for others instead of heading for goal. When Ronaldo gets the ball, just one thing on his mind and he pulled it off most of the times

ya I know man, but if the website is true, then chances of signing him just went from like 80% to 50%

Two Andy Carrolls up front, endless long balls, midfielders running into the box for knock-downs, quality free-kick/corner taker, Rory Delap on throw-ins That would be interesting, not sure it world work though coz Pique and Puyol (though he didn't start yesterday) are beasts in the air too. If anything they can be beaten by speed and quick movement which was what got Man Utd their goal.

Xavi's pass for Pedro's goal was unreal, but I think Messi just about beat him for the MOM award

yup would agree with that. Feguson should have overloaded the midfield with Fletcher and use Nani/Valencia (on the wing) and Rooney for counter, basically 4-5-1. But he was too proud coz that would be labelled as defensive football which apparently is a crime these days. Playing two upfront with Hernandez having one of his off days definitely played into Barca's hands. Read somewhere that he was going to introduce Fletcher into midfield just before Messi scored....then it was too late coz Man Utd had to keep two strikers to attack. Agree also that Berbatov on the sub bench would have given them something different when they inevitably fell behind, no idea why he put Owen on the bench, tactical error from supposedly the best manager of the decade.