I think that's their 'secret', they have this way of playing and in one half of the pitch they always outnumber you by at least one man. You've got to have fantastic players to make it work, and even then Messi's freakish brilliance is probably the one weapon that really makes them so good, but the way they outnumber their opponents in nearly all situations is extremely clever, and something I've not really seen done before. Certainly not to that level.

The video is misleading, they don't outnumber the opposition in all situations at all.

But anyway, I'm a bit bored of Barca now.

I'm not basing on the video. I came away from the Emirates wondering how they managed to pin us in so many times, and then when they spring they again seem to have a man extra in a small area of the pitch. It was brilliant to watch.

Interesting vid indeed, one thing everybody always failed to notice as pointed out by the vid, is how good that little diving cunt Biscuit is. He is so vital to all their passing moves, attacking and defensive.

Biscuits is turning into a very good player. He is a good deep midfielder to have because he is good on the ball and has a good understanding with Xavi. This is why he is preferred to Mascherano.

Ricky1985 wrote:

I'm not basing on the video. I came away from the Emirates wondering how they managed to pin us in so many times, and then when they spring they again seem to have a man extra in a small area of the pitch. It was brilliant to watch.

They 'over commit' forward and have the quality of player to allow for it. It's not rocket science.

There's no way that you have come away from watching any of their games and thought that they outnumbered the opposition 'everywhere' as the video and you yourself implied.

They use dutch systems with high quality players who have patience and faith in what they are doing.

Captain wrote:

Ricky1985 wrote:

I'm not basing on the video. I came away from the Emirates wondering how they managed to pin us in so many times, and then when they spring they again seem to have a man extra in a small area of the pitch. It was brilliant to watch.

They 'over commit' forward and have the quality of player to allow for it. It's not rocket science.

There's no way that you have come away from watching any of their games and thought that they outnumbered the opposition 'everywhere' as the video and you yourself implied.

They use dutch systems with high quality players who have patience and faith in what they are doing.

I didn't say everywhere.

"in nearly all situations" would imply everywhere, but okay.

I did also say "in one half of the pitch".

I'm not saying it's rocket science, but there are lots of other teams out there with great quality, and lots in the recent past, and no one else seems to have the needed quality and balls to play in the same way. I think it's brilliant.

joe royale once said that every member of the arsenal team had three lungs, think it was 98-99. wonder how they'd have faired against barca.

barca hated pepe's immense pressing

Which is where I feel Fergie got it wrong. He needed Fletcher and maybe even the other dos Santos twin busting their chops along with Park ji Sung. Giggs was never going to be influential in that game. He was a passenger. They should've done that, and then given themselves some spead on the break with at least Rooney and Nani.

Ricky1985 wrote:

I'm not saying it's rocket science, but there are lots of other teams out there with great quality, and lots in the recent past, and no one else seems to have the needed quality and balls to play in the same way. I think it's brilliant.

I think it's brilliant too. Fascinating even. They're a leap forwards in the game, in and out of possession, but particularly in the way that they press the ball.

People who try to explain away their brilliance with a few blase sentences are being intellectually disingenuous imo.

Personally I think they are quite boring a lot of the time until Messi gets the ball. Their pressing game is impressive though and something I enjoy watching. Their players seem to know what they are doing when defending which is always a welcome change when you are used to watching our lot.

Tim wrote:

Ricky1985 wrote:

I'm not saying it's rocket science, but there are lots of other teams out there with great quality, and lots in the recent past, and no one else seems to have the needed quality and balls to play in the same way. I think it's brilliant.

I think it's brilliant too. Fascinating even. They're a leap forwards in the game, in and out of possession, but particularly in the way that they press the ball.

People who try to explain away their brilliance with a few blase sentences are being intellectually disingenuous imo.

Fascinating is the right word actually, because they are doing something that I personally haven't really seen before. To me, and maybe it's because I haven't seen a lot of the classic sides like some of you have, it's like watching football played a totally different way.

Barca's play is more than football.

Ricky are you jealous of Barca? Are Barca the epitome of good football to you?

The way you guys are talking, you would think they had won the champions league five times in a row or something...

2 Champions Leagues, 3 La Liga titles in a row, an assortment of cups, ostensibly a European championships and a World cup all in a little over 3 seasons.

Impressive by any standard. And what they've won isn't even the remarkable thing about them imo, it's the way they play that sets them apart.