Lots of talk about tactics but this has not been mentioned much if at all. I know Barca are far from a 1 man team but Messi is their main threat. What do you lot think about man marking him?
I think trying to man mark Messi is where we went wrong in 2009. We tried to get Carrick to mark Messi but Messi just drifted out to the wing and pulled Carrick out of position all game. The key to stopping Messi is to play with two very disciplined lines in defence and midfield, to make sure he has no space in which to receive the ball. Real Madrid managed it until they got a man sent off in the semi final, so if we can manage it on Saturday we will improve our chances from slim to slightly less slim
I mean a more old school man marker where the man employed to do the job doesn't have a position he just follows Messi. If you employ the defensive stance and take Messi out of the game it could work.
Get Vidic to sit on the lil' ****er Seriously though do you think everyone is giving him TOO much respect, obviously he can't be ignored but he is human and has flaws, and do you not think that their camp will not be thinking about nulling specific players in our team - I give you Rooney, Valencia, Chico. I'm just looking forward to the night, I'm not going to pre-empt anything, it's a one-off situation, both teams are there on merit, both are capable of winning, and both teams have individual flair (yes I know to varying degrees, non the less still skilled - even Park can change the game) Bring it on
This is my mentality. I'm just looking forward to the game, the occasion, the day really. I was absolutely devastated in 2009, and it was probably due to me getting my hopes up too high. Where is everybody watching the match anyway?
I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you. - Classic Film - Cage isn't my favourite but good film never the less Onto the game saturday i think we can match them as long as Ando is nowhere near the first team! the guys a plank! VDS, O'shea, Rio, Vida, Evra Valencia, Carrick, Giggs, Park Hernandez, Rooney!
Taken is a top film, but Nicolas Cage wasn't in it! It was Liam Neeson. Cage has been in some good films though (IMO), like Con Air, The Rock and Face/Off. I think your team's nearly spot on, but I'd have Rafael in at right-back. I don't think O'Shea's got the pace to deal with the likes of Pedro, Messi, Villa etc
442 is the way to go. We, and every other team plays 433 against them and look where it gets them. Give them something to think about for a change. As long as the defense and midfield are disciplined and rooney drops deep at times to help the midfield.
Exactly. It will be practically 4-5-1 when we're defending anyway, with Rooney tracking back and getting stuck in as he is happy to do. But then at least when we do get the chance to go forwards, we'll have a real threat up front.
No amount of marking will stop Messi scoring the kind of goal he scored against Real Madrid, just sheer brilliance ( a word I normally reserve for Fergie ) but it's quite simple, we just have to score more goals than them and then we can forget about Messi !!!
Another bonus of a 441 (4411) is that Rooney being in a second striker role would literally put him right next to Xavi. Usually teams only have 1 striker two wide midfielder and 3 holders (passengers).. They basically give Barca two thirds of the pitch and bank on blocking them out in the final third on the edge of their own box... But if Rooney played in that centre circle area he can get close to Xavi at the source and try to stop Pique from galloping forward. We'd then still have two centre mids further back.
If Messi is man marked the only guy who can keep up with him for large parts of the match would be Park. It worked for Arsenal when they beat them at the Emirates but Utd have a bigger chance this time as there's no Ronaldo. Most selfish player I've seen since Rome two years ago.
68 - I was a kid, and was more bothered about spotting my dad & grandad at the match 99 - I was confident we would win - it was on the cards, I thought if we played in the World Cup we'd win Moscow I was bricking it! Rome I was over confident! Today I really can't call it, but feel chilled and am really looking forward to it, I think it's I honestly earlier vin the season nver expected us to be there or being champions. Come on United
Right with you there mate. This is probably the first time since we played Juve in 1996 that we've gone into a European match as such outright underdogs. Back in 2009 we had all the Ronaldo vs Messi bollocks, the bookies making us favourites, and all and sundry coming out of the woodwork to explain why United would win. This year there's no expectations, so I'm just gonna watch it and enjoy it
I've waited up until this point to predict, and I'm going for an extra time United win. I'm hoping for Nani to step out of Cristiano's shadows tonight. He's said he has in the paper, we'll have to wait and see. Likely line-up: Van Der Sar O'shea Rio Vidić Evra Nani Carrick Park Giggs Rooney Hernández Rooney is also better dropping in deep into that midfield position. Rooney's vision, passing and reads the game better whenever he's feeding himself, but hopefully Park will read the game and overtake.
