Before I go on to say "Congrats Barca" or shower some other adulation to convey that emotion, let me put forward one strong opinion of mine forward. You CANNOT beat a team like Barcelona with a central mid field pair of Michael (inconsistency) Carrick and Ryan (Unlucky) Giggs!. I mean, it is just suicidal to counter Iniesta and Xavi with Carrick and Giggs. It was clear right at the start, when the team charts were out. One of them can't run and press fiercely while the other hasn't gone to a proper soccer school in his formative years. An important disclaimer for readers here : If you cannot read between lines at this particular juncture and understand who's who in the sentence above, please hit red on your top right. This is not your serving of cauliflower.
Coming to the usual rituals that we need to perform after that stunning performance, let us congratulate Barca, Messi, Xavi and Guardiola for some invincible displays overall. Kudos to them. Manchester United have not been mauled at a big stage like this before. To beat the best English team this season, in a manner like that, takes some impeccable class and that is exactly what Barca showed they possess. Now to the conclusions,
1. Michael Carrick can never prove to the footballing audience in England and elsewhere that he actually has some sort of soccer stuff in him.
2. Barcelona proved to the world yet again that they are the best in the world by a really long distance.
3. It would be to state the facts as they are if we said that Manchester United were the better of the worse in the English Premier League this season. They did not play like champions.
4. Xavi is unequal to any other mid fielder of recent times. He is just a class apart.
5. It is nothing wrong if we said Messi is even bigger than Maradona.
6. Alex Ferguson showed some character for the first time in my living memory by way of heartily congratulating Guardiola after the match and by showering praises in plenty, slightly after the match, in the media.
7. We are probably nearing the end of a fantastic era in world football, that has been defined with some managerial class by messrs. SAF.
8. It is definitely not the way a man like VDS should have retired for what he has achieved with the gloves.
9. Manchester United need to buy some top quality players in the summer window to re-instill some confidence in the fans' minds, especially after an abysmal performance like that.
10. That match is definitely a disgrace to English Football and it will take some time to heal the wound. May be years.!!!
Once again, Barcelona won it like champions, clean, smooth, wonderful!
P.S : I am still trying to reason with myself about Valencia not being sent off for a disastrous defensive display, time and again in those 90 minutes.
P.P.S : Wayne Rooney's goal was a good one really, though it came against the run of play and did not come of a properly orchestrated attacking manoeuvre.
Showing posts with label Barcelona. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barcelona. Show all posts
Monday, 30 May 2011
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
A Guide to Wembley and after (for Man United, I mean)
Hell Yeah! It is truly fascinating to note that "people" are merrily writing off Manchester United for the final at Wembley on May 28th (After writing off Schalke of course). I request "people" to hold on for a second and listen to a few facts compiled by one fellow reader at Mr. Bean's hometown (should be something to that effect for the kind of humor they produce) viz. F365 (yet again). I have been trying to find out why I am so obsessed with stuff from F365 and not able to avoid mentions or similar analyses or mere lifts from there, in this blog.
Cutting tangent and coming to matter, the compilation that I was referring to goes thus.
Whilst Barcelona play great football, I would suggest that the fact that haven't scored many goals against 11 men in good teams recently means United, if they reach the final, have a good chance, if Ferdinand and Vidic are both fit (and probably also if Darren Fletcher is fit). In the roughly 440 minutes played against 11 men over the recent four El Clásicos and the two matches with Arsenal, Barcelona scored three and conceded five, whilst in the roughly 100 minutes against 10 men, they scored five and conceded one. That's one goal scored per 147 minutes against 11 men and one goal scored per 20 minutes against 10 men. Van Persie's sending off was obviously a mistake, whilst opinion is divided over whether Pepe's offence was a yellow or a red - personally, I think it was an orange at worst. Barcelona also failed to score in 111 minutes against 11 man Holland in the World Cup Final. So the best advice for United? Don't get anyone sent off.
Now, on the contrary, I don't see United winning that game (assuming 11 players keep their feet on the playing field for round about 90 minutes, that is), if they play a tactic like the one in the 2009 final with a 4-5-1 where Rooney plays in the 5s.
While I was drafting this post and when I reached this point in my writing, I took a break for a cup of tea. And the tea, filled with ginger and elaichi, definitely proved to be a good refresher, like one of those magical, instantaneous Jeeves' refreshers. It sharpened my thinking faculties and gave me an idea instantly after consumption. The idea, as it ran through my mind, is as follows. In a guide to Wembley, given the nature of this year's champions league and the two teams by and large, it is more important to add some valuable points to the smaller goal of playing 11 players for 90 minutes for Manchester United rather than the bigger one of winning it. As facts stated above indicate, all suggestions and inferences point to an underlying assumption of playing 11 players from whistle to whistle. Hence, here below, I've listed down a few ingenious ideas that I contrived while plainly thinking over it.
1. Manchester United players will do well if they are handed an extra weapon (a secret one, to be used only during emergencies, though emergency is a phenomenon that is expected to arrive too often than obvious to the human mind in such encounters), The extra weapon is a 3 x 5 plastic card, painted red. They should probably make efforts to understand situations in the match, when opponent players are down to the ground and performing like in the movies. At these junctures, work of the moment would be to exercise their option of using that weapon and showing it to the referee who is in the near vicinity. By doing that, the referee is sent off at that moment and the probability of him showing a red card at the player involved in the recent tackle becomes zero. (A referee cannot use his power and exercise his options after having been sent off)
2. Quick Learners. That is the order of today's modern civilization. Manchester United players should show some tact in quickly grasping theatre skills from their catalan counterparts as soon as possible in the match. So that, if the first half is won by actors from Spain, the second one can belong to the fraternity from England.
3. In the game of counter strike, if you have noticed, it is important to stay together as a team, in order to clinch a tag team shoot out. That principle holds good in the game of football as well. It is important for the players to support one another in times of distress and grief and exchange soothing words to bring down their collective tempers. For, in a match against Barcelona, temper, taken as an emotion, can only be displayed by two kinds of people by the rule book. a.) People who fall under the category of proctors/referees in general. b.) People who represent the most populous city of Catalonia.
4. Repeatedly tell Scholes, (when he is on the pitch) that his role on that day is to be an Attacking (with a capital A) Midfielder and any tactless display of defensive skills is suicidal.
A fifth point has been suggested by a faithful reader of this space and I think it will do justice only if i include that most ingenious idea in this list of mine!
5. United management, wait and see which obscure North European country the referee is from. Once you find that out, you can send him a cable with 'From UEFA (shhhh!)' written on top and the contents being, in code language of course, 'Plan change. United win. Messi red. Barca no give 5m and show middle finger'
With such valuable inputs to the people in red, I am signing off with a cliche viz. "May the best team(not in my opinion, but in UEFA's/referee's opinion) on that day win".
Cutting tangent and coming to matter, the compilation that I was referring to goes thus.
Whilst Barcelona play great football, I would suggest that the fact that haven't scored many goals against 11 men in good teams recently means United, if they reach the final, have a good chance, if Ferdinand and Vidic are both fit (and probably also if Darren Fletcher is fit). In the roughly 440 minutes played against 11 men over the recent four El Clásicos and the two matches with Arsenal, Barcelona scored three and conceded five, whilst in the roughly 100 minutes against 10 men, they scored five and conceded one. That's one goal scored per 147 minutes against 11 men and one goal scored per 20 minutes against 10 men. Van Persie's sending off was obviously a mistake, whilst opinion is divided over whether Pepe's offence was a yellow or a red - personally, I think it was an orange at worst. Barcelona also failed to score in 111 minutes against 11 man Holland in the World Cup Final. So the best advice for United? Don't get anyone sent off.
Now, on the contrary, I don't see United winning that game (assuming 11 players keep their feet on the playing field for round about 90 minutes, that is), if they play a tactic like the one in the 2009 final with a 4-5-1 where Rooney plays in the 5s.
While I was drafting this post and when I reached this point in my writing, I took a break for a cup of tea. And the tea, filled with ginger and elaichi, definitely proved to be a good refresher, like one of those magical, instantaneous Jeeves' refreshers. It sharpened my thinking faculties and gave me an idea instantly after consumption. The idea, as it ran through my mind, is as follows. In a guide to Wembley, given the nature of this year's champions league and the two teams by and large, it is more important to add some valuable points to the smaller goal of playing 11 players for 90 minutes for Manchester United rather than the bigger one of winning it. As facts stated above indicate, all suggestions and inferences point to an underlying assumption of playing 11 players from whistle to whistle. Hence, here below, I've listed down a few ingenious ideas that I contrived while plainly thinking over it.
1. Manchester United players will do well if they are handed an extra weapon (a secret one, to be used only during emergencies, though emergency is a phenomenon that is expected to arrive too often than obvious to the human mind in such encounters), The extra weapon is a 3 x 5 plastic card, painted red. They should probably make efforts to understand situations in the match, when opponent players are down to the ground and performing like in the movies. At these junctures, work of the moment would be to exercise their option of using that weapon and showing it to the referee who is in the near vicinity. By doing that, the referee is sent off at that moment and the probability of him showing a red card at the player involved in the recent tackle becomes zero. (A referee cannot use his power and exercise his options after having been sent off)
2. Quick Learners. That is the order of today's modern civilization. Manchester United players should show some tact in quickly grasping theatre skills from their catalan counterparts as soon as possible in the match. So that, if the first half is won by actors from Spain, the second one can belong to the fraternity from England.
3. In the game of counter strike, if you have noticed, it is important to stay together as a team, in order to clinch a tag team shoot out. That principle holds good in the game of football as well. It is important for the players to support one another in times of distress and grief and exchange soothing words to bring down their collective tempers. For, in a match against Barcelona, temper, taken as an emotion, can only be displayed by two kinds of people by the rule book. a.) People who fall under the category of proctors/referees in general. b.) People who represent the most populous city of Catalonia.
4. Repeatedly tell Scholes, (when he is on the pitch) that his role on that day is to be an Attacking (with a capital A) Midfielder and any tactless display of defensive skills is suicidal.
A fifth point has been suggested by a faithful reader of this space and I think it will do justice only if i include that most ingenious idea in this list of mine!
5. United management, wait and see which obscure North European country the referee is from. Once you find that out, you can send him a cable with 'From UEFA (shhhh!)' written on top and the contents being, in code language of course, 'Plan change. United win. Messi red. Barca no give 5m and show middle finger'
With such valuable inputs to the people in red, I am signing off with a cliche viz. "May the best team(not in my opinion, but in UEFA's/referee's opinion) on that day win".
Saturday, 19 March 2011
No, we dont fear Barcelona, But, yes, we fear the UEFA
The general opinion in the circles of young men at the bar is more on the lines of "Bring on the special one" than something like "laugh out loud" after Arry's Tottenham Hotspur have drawn Real Madrid in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League 2010-2011. On the other side of London, Carlo Ancelotti was found visiting a soothsayer to clear off some of his apprehensions. If you thought he was visiting the sages to find out his team's chances against Manchester United, you are absolutely, definitely, positively wrong. He has been reported to have gone there to find out if he himself had those mysterious powers of foretelling stuff. Not very long since he expressed his opinion on the general scheme of drawing Barcelona or Manchester United, the inevitable happened. He has ever since been wondering if what he says to executives from Fleet Street comes from some hidden part of his subconscious mind that has not surfaced hitherto in the 50+ years of existence.
Elsewhere, grapevine has got hints of people shouting "conspiracy" over Barcelona getting the weakest of the available 7 teams for a date in the UEFA CL quarters. One does wonder here, nevertheless, since it has been so for many a time in the recent past. Last year they got a team that had Manuel Almunia guarding the net. One should give some thought here. Manuel Almunia is definitely to Arsenal, what Kamran Akmal is to the Pakistan cricket team. The phrase "safe hands" has never been able to succeed in an attempt to peaceful coexistence with "Akmal" or "Almunia" in a singular sentence. So that was that. And 2 years before that, we all remember they drew Schalke. :-) Needless to say more. No, wait, it doesn't end there. They got Benfica a couple of years before that. It isn't very difficult for a man who can put two and two together to get the general drift here. But for people in my associated grapevine who are kings at the complex task of putting even three and four or for that matter, a five or six together, this one is child's play. They've deduced it all.
Having introduced to my readers, the intelligence levels of my associated grapevine, it would be to let the grapevine down if I didn't mention the other act of deduction they contrived to make. It is that, UEFA want a non english final showdown at England Football Stadiums' epitome - The Wembley. One of our reporters went on to say that he wouldn't be surprised if UEFA setup a shop in Scotland since he believes UEFA hate English Football so so much. That means, the last thing they would want to see is an all english final at the Wembley. What next? Draw the two english heavyweights together. Another one says, he was actually expecting all the three english teams to be drawn together. But a third one rightly corrected him by pointing out that football, unlike ludo or snakes and ladders, is a game where only two teams can play against each other at a given point in time and space.
So there it is. the two non english football teams which have realistic chances of lifting the trophy this year (Inter included only because of the sacking of Rafa "he-comes-with-a-relegation-plan Benitez") have their task cut out. A place in the final is now theirs to lose. And the English giants have been pitted against each other to kill the dominance. Anyone to disagree????
Elsewhere, grapevine has got hints of people shouting "conspiracy" over Barcelona getting the weakest of the available 7 teams for a date in the UEFA CL quarters. One does wonder here, nevertheless, since it has been so for many a time in the recent past. Last year they got a team that had Manuel Almunia guarding the net. One should give some thought here. Manuel Almunia is definitely to Arsenal, what Kamran Akmal is to the Pakistan cricket team. The phrase "safe hands" has never been able to succeed in an attempt to peaceful coexistence with "Akmal" or "Almunia" in a singular sentence. So that was that. And 2 years before that, we all remember they drew Schalke. :-) Needless to say more. No, wait, it doesn't end there. They got Benfica a couple of years before that. It isn't very difficult for a man who can put two and two together to get the general drift here. But for people in my associated grapevine who are kings at the complex task of putting even three and four or for that matter, a five or six together, this one is child's play. They've deduced it all.
Having introduced to my readers, the intelligence levels of my associated grapevine, it would be to let the grapevine down if I didn't mention the other act of deduction they contrived to make. It is that, UEFA want a non english final showdown at England Football Stadiums' epitome - The Wembley. One of our reporters went on to say that he wouldn't be surprised if UEFA setup a shop in Scotland since he believes UEFA hate English Football so so much. That means, the last thing they would want to see is an all english final at the Wembley. What next? Draw the two english heavyweights together. Another one says, he was actually expecting all the three english teams to be drawn together. But a third one rightly corrected him by pointing out that football, unlike ludo or snakes and ladders, is a game where only two teams can play against each other at a given point in time and space.
So there it is. the two non english football teams which have realistic chances of lifting the trophy this year (Inter included only because of the sacking of Rafa "he-comes-with-a-relegation-plan Benitez") have their task cut out. A place in the final is now theirs to lose. And the English giants have been pitted against each other to kill the dominance. Anyone to disagree????
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