One rule for United, another rule for everyone in the other teams thread [R]

[Achtung]

And start.

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/3315/1353302174.jpg

[SirManchester]

First semi final - very predictable. *Yawn*


Moving on...

[bestbecks]

It's quite clear that Chelsea had the same gameplan that we did last year. Defend, Defend, Defend. Oh, and don't capitalize on your only true chance of the match (Drogba). Chelsea will consider this a success, Barcelona will consider this a failure. If it wasn't clear to people last season it should be now... BARCELONA HAVE NO PLAN B! They only know how to play footbal one way, and when they come up against a capable defense they are stifled.

People will be giving Lampard slack, but he played out the game as was necessary. He did not drift into space a)because there was no space in the attack for him to drift into, and b)he would have left a hole in midfield for Barca to exploit. He took one for his team today.

I draw a lot of parallels between Chelsea's performance tonight, and ours last year. I'll leave it at that.

[erick]

Great title.

By far the most boring match ever. The only play that woke me up was when the underated midget tried to kick a FK, omg that was too funny to miss.

[JAKE SPEED]

Chelsea did a good job of making the pitch very small by playing a very high line and packing the rest of their half with hard-working players. I think it's fair to say they were a bit lucky to escape with a draw, and I'm not talking because of the possession. The Bojan chance, Eto'o chance, and Hleb chance all easily could have been goals.

Weird how content they were to wank around with slow buildup when the ball over the top to Henry and Eto'o was always on. Slow defenders+high line=trouble. Especially with good long passers like Xavi, Pique, and Iniesta. There certainly is a bit of stubborn arrogance to this Barca side, they just refuse to mix it up.

[billyireland]

Interesting to see erick think's Messi is under-rated...

[erick]

Interesting to see erick think's Messi is under-rated...

You don't get the joke do you :p UNDER...making fun of the midget I guess I should stop using that joke since people are going to think that I actually think that Messi is underated for real.

[Charleysurf]

They deserve to go out just for the stupidity of taking off Henry and Etoo when they need a goal. Does any really think Hleb and Bojan would ever be better finishers than those two?

[SyedZada]

Okay so this may sound like a anti Barca post, but I aint that, just what I observed.

So, watching this I was thinking what is the difference between us and Chelsea, this year and last year, well one obvious difference is pace, there is a lack of pace in Chelsea's defense as compared to us, Wes vs Ivanovic in pace ? or more precisely Henry vs Ivanovic on pace ? Surely that is like Vidic vs Henry, so did Barca attacked the wrong flank ?
Even Gus played Essien ahead of his to cover, that is like saying Hey this is a weakness, try to exploit it.
Very surprised not to see Iniesta and Henry double teaming there.

So its a lack of pace, we had Rio who could match Etoo and Chelsea got Terry who would get burnt in a foot race, so why not try to create that, why not just dink the ball in space and let Etoo have his race, even against Alex, he would win.
Alonso does that for Torres why not Xavi for Etoo ? A tactic missed?

So, who is the genius that came up with the plan for Alves to cross the ball most times from the right ? A crossing game against Chelsea, when you got Etoo and Henry as strikers ? Its stupidity for me. Sheer ignorance of the heading difference between the leagues, they are leagues apart in that respect.
At most he would make one or two chances and he did create one, create one score one is idealistic, realistically you are looking for a 40% chance for a tactic.
Two times I think Malouda had a go at Dani Alves, twice he wasnt sure how to deal with him, does this has to do with what they teach the fullbacks to do in Brazil, if that is it is alarming for them.

Some of the antics of Barca team were pretty bad, if Ronaldo went down to some of those challenges, the league would be shouting murder.
Some of those antics would have caused outraged amongst even our own fans as it does.

Messi may be a the most entertaining exciting player to watch in the world but if someone offer him as a swap for Ronaldo, we should roll and laugh.

Some of Pique's passing was a delight, superb passer of the ball, Iniesta is another who impresses alot, wish we had him.

Some more thoughts I have, if I find them sensible, then will post.

[Vermont Red]

My Streak for the Cash is now at 2 thanks to today's match. My next pick will be for United to win tomorrow. That's right.

[cr7torossi]

^^ erick is probably the biggest messi-hater on bs. Given the number of messi fanboys, he does provide some balance.

Barca and Alves in particular are annoying cnuts though with all their play-acting and attempts to get opposition players sent off.

[erick]

My Streak for the Cash is now at 2 thanks to today's match. My next pick will be for United to win tomorrow. That's right.

Are you sure its a win pick because it can also be a the amount of goals that are scored in the game.

^^ erick is probably the biggest messi-hater on bs. Given the number of messi fanboys, he does provide some balance.

Barca and Alves in particular are annoying cnuts though with all their play-acting and attempts to get opposition players sent off.

I don't hate messi, I just state the truth. That midget can only score when he is running like a goal goat unlike Cristiano Ronaldo who can score in so many different ways and also is way more effective then messi.

[schafer]

Okay so this may sound like a anti Barca post, but I aint that, just what I observed.

So, watching this I was thinking what is the difference between us and Chelsea, this year and last year, well one obvious difference is pace, there is a lack of pace in Chelsea's defense as compared to us, Wes vs Ivanovic in pace ? or more precisely Henry vs Ivanovic on pace ? Surely that is like Vidic vs Henry, so did Barca attacked the wrong flank ?
Even Gus played Essien ahead of his to cover, that is like saying Hey this is a weakness, try to exploit it.
Very surprised not to see Iniesta and Henry double teaming there.


Ivanovic is actually pretty quick. I think he probably matches up pretty well in that department against Brown.

[Charleysurf]

The more I think about tonights game the more I think that we'd find it easier to beat either of them than we will find it to beat Arsenal. Arsenal were made to hurt us.

[Raj222]

For anyone who watched the ITV commentary:

Did you see the Mastercard advert of the red and yellow footballs? What are one of those things that you spin around in the air, making a sound, the red Mastercard ball was using it in the sponsor advert as the HT talk started!
:)

[benni...]

Should've taken a nap or something.

[SyedZada]

Ivanovic is actually pretty quick. I think he probably matches up pretty well in that department against Brown.

Brown is quick on the turn which Ivanovic lacks, he is a superb CB but he can be caught as a RB, Henry roasted him for just push and run twice or thrice, then they forgot about him.
Ivanovic vs Henry was the reason Essien was playing RM, not because of Abidal, whose last offensive contribution was runs against us last year.

[Dark Savante]

Just as I was wittering on about in the CL thread: kill Barca's midfield and everything they stand for will struggle mightily.

If they go out at SB looking as devoid of ideas as they did today, questions would surely be asked about just how far La Liga has fallen off.

Their first challenge in the CL and the wheels come off. Will be an interesting game at SB, especially with a makeshift CB pairing out there against Drogba.

--

Did anyone see Pique giving the Chelsea players the cocky stare-down and posturing in the tunnel?

It's wierd, when he played for us, that would be seen as confidence and readiness to go to battle, but watching him do that in another shirt, I thought ' you cocky little...'

You can see how the likes of Keane were despised by the rest of the country when you see such a thing from a different perspective :D

[Rewinder]

The more I think about tonights game the more I think that we'd find it easier to beat either of them than we will find it to beat Arsenal. Arsenal were made to hurt us.

I'm surprised you guys are so down about your chances. Your style of play is actually a perfect counter to ours.

[pgr17]

Asked if Chelsea had "worked Barcelona out", Terrry told ITV "I wouldn't say that, they still dominated possession, but the performance and result was fantastic for us."

He did, though, think that their tactics had succeeded:

"They had a lot of possession but we stayed very tight. We watched videos before the game; they like to play little balls through and we knew that and stopped them doing it. It's a fantastic result and we go back to the Bridge ready to go again.''

well i guess they are happy with 0-0 and no away goals.