That's the argument everyone comes up with and it's pure blindness to the team name. Bayern could never ever be described as direct. Did you watch them pass the **** out of - oh how marvellous - City at City this season?
Yes, are City Barcelona now? Was that last season? Did they win 7-0 on aggregate? They were direct against Barca. You know direct doesn't mean Pulisball? Direct means getting it forward fast, which is exactly what they did against Barca.
Erm, after watching them at City you said nobody does it like Barca. Id say Bayern did it better than Barca against the same opposition this season.
and claiming that there is a set age for you to go senile just reinforces my thought of your mental state.
Senile Dementia is a disease suffered by the over 65's, any younger than that and it's referred to as 'early onset dementia', rather than senility. Hope this helps.
The Swedish ref. Jonas Eriksson has now passed the Mike Riley test for the PL. He would fit in so well in the PL for being dire. As for the game, Barcelona gave Man City a master class in keeping the ball. Man City gave a master class in what Not to do with the ball when you have it. The best side won regardless of how it happened. Pellegrini's team selection was also poor for the game. He was told in advance like. Man City may as well go 3-4-3 in the 2nd leg. Sh.it or bust now.
I love watching Barca. They seem to have outstayed their welcome on the world stage and now it's cool to say they're boring and we'd all rather watch the exciting Germans apparently. Bullshit. Barca play the best football I've seen of any team. BCC - you can't compare teams from different eras solely on achievements in those times. The standard of world football improves all the time and has been doing for years. The great Milan sides from their time (and other historically great club sides) wouldn't be as good now. Achievements are relative to the standard of football at the time. I think the Spain and Barca sides of the last few years have been the best ever based on the football they've played. I love seeing teams attack with almost a full team. Fullbacks who are comfortable going one-on-one with the 'keeper and scoring, centre halves who play like midfielders. Midfielders not giving a single **** how much pressure defenders are putting on them and continuing to just stroke it around and open up spaces. I don't understand how you can not like it.
Its nothing to do with cool. I hate Barca's style of football, always have. It's nothing new from me, you can go back years on this board, CI and Hullcityonline to see my thoughts if you're really interested. I have simply never understood the appeal of 25 passes from keeper to midfield getting you to the half way line, seeing no forward opportunity, and then 25 passes back to the keeper again. To be honest Ive always thought surely everyone else can see how f**king dull it is but theyve been brainwashed by the media to the tune of 'if you dont appreciate it, you're a route one Wimbledon Crazy-Gang loving Philistine'. Ive never known anything be moe appropriate for the Emperor's new clothes analogy than Barcelona's brand of football. And you talk about the great Milan side like it was 70 years ago. I dont mean when Mark Hately and Luther Blissit played, Im talking about when they had probably the 2 best forward players in the world in van Basten and Gullit. It's the equivalent of havent Messi AND Ronaldo in the same team. Are you really saying they wouldnt be as good now? That's another reason I hate them, their shirt is always ****e.
But it isn't 50 passes between defence and keeper is it? That's just a lazy, typical football fan over-simplification and it's exactly that "GERRIT FORWARD!" attitude among English football fans that leads to English football being more rushed and impatient. The thing that's special about Barca is that they can pass it about in and around the opposition's box with complete confidence as if they were doing it in their own half under no pressure. I'm not accusing you of joining in with the cool new fad of saying Barca are boring and I accept you've probably said it for years, but it definitely applies to a lot people.
I can sympathise with both sides of this. When Barca manage to push up the pitch and play their passing football around and inside the box, they're still pretty special at it - both Messi and Iniesta are almost impossible to defend. However, sometimes they do spend far too much time messing around near the halfway line. When you're as good as they are, I don't think you need to be as "patient" as they sometimes are. It almost feels as if they're keeping the ball to protect their shaky defence.
The comments of a modern day football fan. It is only the fact that defenders have had there feet encased in concrete that we have the football we have. If the like of Pele Best Cryuff Eusabio et al could have played in todays game in there prime then......well........wow. The only things that have improved in todays game is the lightness of the balls used - pitches and player fitness. If you put my footballing hero(George Best) for example up against Messi then i would take Best everytime. Older fans will know why.
George Best is the most gifted footballer I have seen live, you always get a better perspective of how a player really is when you see them in a game and not just on TV. He was just outstanding.
I really think people underestimate the impact of pitches. Now, theyre better in January than they used to be in August. You see old clips of players dribbling ankle-deep on what look like farmer's just-ploughed spud fields. Cruyff wouldve glided on today's carpets.
