Comments on: Barcelona brilliance papers over the cracks at United

By: Varun

Varun — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 03:55:22 +0000

As Brandy said, it really doesn’t matter £100mil is spent. RM spend half a billion almost, they won domestic cup luckily.
As did ManCity.
Team is far more important and ManU is a by far the best team as collective in England.

As for Barca in BPL, the WOULD win it.
As has been said since time immemorial in football,
“Quality always comes through at the end of the day”
And when that quality is combined with a collective you have a formidable outfit.
No one ever wins a league by being lucky.

Barca have a small squad that would sure hurt them but their style of play would still let them win it.
They just look timid a lot of them are quite physical for their size.

RM on the other hand agreed would walk all over it.

By: Adam

Adam — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 16:22:24 +0000

I really don’t think it’s an issue of individual players.

The BPL as brought about this ‘key player’ mentality and we try to use this to understand how Barcelona work as a team ‘it’s the big 3′ ‘it’s messi’

When really the issue looks like the style of play.

plugging ‘gaps’ with expensive signings is futile if your team don’t connect and support play with discipline and confidence and awareness the way ALL barcelona players do.

It’s a classic case of the team being greater than the sum of it’s parts. As it was in the World Cup.

United came close to playing like a close knit team, but with the squad being varied and stretched over several competitions it never seemed as natural as it should.

Possibly it’s because of the amount the Barca players have played together since youth academy etc.

A team surely has to be built much earlier, and big signings and transfers and drastic lineup changes will always be hurdles when chasing Barcelona.

By: Brandy

Brandy — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 12:20:44 +0000

It’s not a question of spending £100mil +, it’s a case of bringing in the right players.

I think if he gets 4 or 5 players as good as Hernandez for £7mil – United just might be alright..

By: Thomas Gaunt

Thomas Gaunt — Tue, 31 May 2011 12:19:34 +0000

Agree on La Liga – i would say Real, possibly more so than Barcelona would dominate the EPL, esp as they have a physical aspect to them also. I think the Barce team would spend half the season on the treatment table!

United were the strongest this season, but the cash rich clubs will invest big time this summer, IMO. Ferie aint stupid either, I would be amazed if he doesnt spend 100 mil+ this summer.. they will need it.

By: Varun

Varun — Tue, 31 May 2011 09:33:41 +0000

At one point in time ManU were on course of going the season unbeaten (19 games they went, half a season)
However weak the BPL might have been they were by far the best in there.
ManU are the 3rd best in the world.
Half a billion $$$ team aka Real Madrid are the 2nd best.

Also even though BPL is a more compact and competitive league than LaLiga,
not 1 of 20 BPL teams could win the LaLiga title while Barcelon or RM can win the BPL (certainly this year or the next).

Slightly off topic ya but since you mentioned ManU’s opposition was weak, i thought of it.