barcelona didn't play an awful lot differently than they usually do imo. anyone see gabriel clarke getting a chastening from ferguson. Very funny
Thing is Chelsea and Inter are only behind them because they choose the wrong managers this season. And being honest it's hardly a vintage year for European teams, even if Man Utd are the 3rd best team in Europe, the gap between them and Madrid is so huge you can't see them beating Barca or Madrid next season unless they buy two or three world class midfielders. They won't be lucky enough this time to avoid the only two world class teams in European football in the knockout rounds next season either.
Ancelotti won the double last season... Leonardo picked up from Benitez's ****ty start and got them to 2nd in the league... Don't think they're the 'wrong' managers?
I know what you're saying, on the face of it they look extremely succesful, but Chelsea haven't been the same since October/November when they started on that rubbish run, yes they had a decent run at the end of the season, but they never looked convincing and lost to teams that showed them a bit of fight and didn't surrender before kick off. Leonardo is a weird one, he's picked up loads of points domestically, but he's tactically naive a lot of the times, and has never managed to find the right balance between attack and defence, hence the high scorelines against Bayern and Schalke. Being honest here, he failed last time with AC Milan and got smashed by Man United 7-2 over two legs, he did the same this season, he got smashed 7-3 against an average Schalke side. Coincidence? I think not.
Right. Ok. They were allowed to play by united. That doesn't mean they aren't every bit as good as they are being purported.
What a cop out for everyone trying to dismiss brilliance, Man U played poor, R Madrid played poor, Arsenal played poor....BULLSHIT! They play poor because Barca are so dominant. It's not as if Barca are always coming up against teams having bad days, they make teams have bad days!
When comparing them to great teams of other eras then you have to consider the strength of the teams they are playing against, do you not agree?
Yeah. barca completely took away the strengths of their opposition by passing them into dizzyness. no other team absolutely dominated the ball in this fashion against their nearest competition.
