yeah, that explains why real madrid in 6 of the last 7 champions league seasons were knocked out at the first hurdle of the knock out stage.
Does my head in all this Real Madrid bullocks, ant won anything in years in Europe, and look just how much they have spent on players over that time. There's no other club like us, when it comes to our great Histroy and that take includes Liverpool (so take note mugs, 19 ha,ha!). Guy Poyet talks out of his ass, and knows nothing plus I'm sure he was saying this, with his Chelsea hat as he know Chelsea wont win anything as long as we have the great team with do. He prays our best players leave which is cleanly not going to ever happen lol.... On wards, and up wards we go....
Gus Poyet should just shut his trap and mind his own business. Would Fergie talk out of his backside about Brighton players leaving the club?
Why go to Madrid to be constantly in Barcelona's shadow whe you could stay at United and be top dog? It's a no brainer for anyone with sense.
Have to agree that Madrid are currently the second best team in the world. And I also have to agree that if they were in the premiership they would have won it, probably fairly convincingly. Its not enough to argue that they haven't performed in europe for the past x seasons, because we are talking about here and now. This season every top English club is as weak as it has been for a good few years (Note: this does not mean they are poor teams, just that the Man United of this year doesnt come close to the United of 2009, same for Chelsea, same for Liverpool; any of the aforementioned teams at the strength they were at in 2009 would probably have comfortably won the league this year). Madrid got knocked out by the best team in the world in this year's champions league. For the neutral viewer, both of their clashes against Barcelona were considerably more closely run that the final at Wembley. Its a credit to Man United that they did what they did last year, but I think if any of their fans are brutally honest with themselves they will agree that th overall ability and quality in their squad has declined from 2009 to 2011. This is substantiated somewhat by their lowest premier league points total in at least 5 years. It could be argued that this is due to the other teams improving, but I would put it down to a decrease in quality in line with an overall decrease in entertainment value in the league. I would love to see all of our top teams improve in the next few years, and I have no doubt that they will. But I also have no doubt that on the basis of what we saw last year, if Barca and Madrid had been in the premierleague, they would have been 1 and 2.
Real Madrid did **** all last season to show that they better than the rest. They played against one good team all season and lost. People continue to lick their arse because they have big name players but there is zero evidence that as a team they are up there with the best.
Return of the Bern: Correct, I have no evidence as by all physical evidence United had a considerably more succesful season than Madrid. I am going on what I watched and interprated. Madrid beat the small clubs, got as far as could be expected in the Champions league (I.e until they placed Barca) and enertained along the way. United didn't (at least they didnt away from home, although their home form was excellent). Again, I concede that you could argue this is due to Th English league being stronger. My argument would be that based on what I watched week in week out, the overall quality of football played, it wasnt.
In the Champions League Man Utd reached the final without conceding a single goal away from home. La Liga is so weak at the moment. The season before last Real Madrid walked over everyone (bar Barcelona) finishing with 102 goals and 96 points yet in the Champions League they crashed out to Lyon in the first knockout round. A lot of people look at Real Madrid's victory over Spurs and think that this shows them to be an exceptional team. They overlook that Spurs had never played in the Champions League before, had to play 80 minutes of the 1st leg with 10 men away from home and were only the 5th best team in England last season.
Were they as close as this though. Remember Real Madrid faced Barcelona 5 times this season. They know them a lot better than we do and out of 5 games they are bound to win one. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/nov/29/barcelona-real-madrid-la-liga
Agreed - cant fault that, and your away form in europe was by stark contrast to the away form in the league! I partly base my judgment on the players they have in their team, and partly on their points totals in the last couple of years. I take your point about La Liga being weak, but you can only beat what is in front of you, and I cant help but think the big English clubs have all taken giant steps backwards over the last couple of years. And honestly, how many really entertaining league games did you see last season in the premier league? Most of the games I saw involving top english teams didnt exactly set the world alight. All about opinions, and I am aware that I have nothing concrete to back mine up, other than the fact that I dont think I saw anything from any of the top english teams this year to suggest that the english league is moving forward..
When the top English teams tear the rest of the league apart the Premiership is criticised for being uncompetitive. When the top teams don't have it all their own way people criticise them for being in decline. People never seem to see it in a positive light. The majority of games in La Liga are just Real Madrid putting 4, 5, 6 goals past the opposition, it's ridiculously uncompetitive. When it comes to the Champions League Real Madrid look nowhere near as impressive, they get shown up.
I will ask only 2 questions: 1. Do you think there is a team in the world that wouldnt have got pasted by Barca that day? 2. Would you say it is unthinkable to suggest that the Champions League final could have been that one sided if a few shots had swing a foot or two either way? Considering the neutral venue and the size of the occasion, I would say the two games were closer to a par than the majority may agree with. Madrid got slaughtered that day because Mourinho ditched the tactics that served him so well against them with Inter Milan. He believed his Galacticos could go nose to nose with Barca, and was proved emphatically wrong. I dont think that will happen again any time soon...
See this is where I disagree - nobody was criticising the league when Arsenal were enetertainng us in 2002, or United were tearing the league apart in 2007 and 2008. I certainly wasnt. The complaints come when there are no stand out teams but the overall quality of the league doesnt appear to have improved either. The argument is completely hypothetical, because the 16th placed teams in the PL and La Liga arent going to face each other. But I stand by my point that the United of 3 years ago would have won this league with a record points total. And You cannot lose the quality of players that the PL has lost in the last few years without the overall quality being affected.
United have shown in the past if they shut out Barcelona they can beat them. As did Inter Milan. Real Madrid haven't got the type of players to do that. Their defence isn't strong enough. In both finals United tried to play Barcelona at their own game but of course, any team in the world will fail at that. I just don't see the evidence to suggest Real are a better TEAM than United. Yes of course they have better individuals but United are a team and have been for years. Madrid are like City, they have signed a lot of new players over the last few years and they need time to gel to make a proper team. In time if they manage to keep the same spine of players then they will be some team.
No and you are right, there is no evidence at all to suggest madrid are a better team. It is entirely my opinion based on nothing more than my perception of what I have seen this season. And if United improve this year as their summer signings seem to be suggesting they will then I would see Real vs United as a pretty amazing Champions League semi final. I still think for the forseeable future they are both a fair stones throw behind barca though...
I honestly believe that had Real Madrid somehow managed to knock out Barcelona Man Utd would have beaten Real Madrid in the final.
Also, with all due respect - the United that beat Barca in the Champions League semi of 2008 was a completely different animal to the current UNited team. It was centred around breathtaking, dangerous and fast counterattacking football. The offensive prowess of that team was enough to trouble absolutely anybody, and allowed them to effectively park the bus and hit on the break for 180 minutes. The current team just doesnt possess the same pace and spark in attack in my opinion to carry that tactic out as effectively.
I think that is true for everybody! No people may not like the way United play and I admit we have regressed since 2009 but we are still better than most teams and as shown this season better than every team in England. You don't get to 3 finals in 4 years being a poor team but United have also sustained their success by winning 4 titles in 5 years as well! In a much more competitive league. I'm not knocking Madrid at all, they do well to keep up with Barcelona but when you can score 6 goals at the 3rd and 4th place team and finish 20 points ahead of 3rd then the league should not be compared to the Premier League.
I reckon Little Pea Brain will join Real Madrid.It is after all most young footballers dream to at some stage of their career play for a big club.He hasn't done so yet.
True - the argument is completely circular so I will have to agree to disagree. Yes the Premier League is the stronger league overall, but as to the strongest teams in the leagues (barca aside) the only way to prove it either way would be for either team to change leagues, which will obviously never happen.
