Captain wrote:

You need to bring fantasy and something memorable.

Well unfortunately for us 1999 was a bad memory. Pipped to the title by a point and Giggs running rings round our defence in the FA Cup. Then came the final in Munich and the ridiculous 2 goals in 2 mins or whatever it was. United went to win another couple of league titles.

For United in 2006/07 to 2008/09 they were just as imperious.

They might not be as great or as loved as this Barcelona team (certainly not on this board), but for Premier League history it is definitely great. How many clubs have won 3 titles in a row whilst winning the European Cup at least once in that period and perhaps another cup here and there? Not many, and if you do it you stand out from the crowd surely.

Captain wrote:

You need to bring fantasy and something memorable.

Anyway I thought you didn't really like Barca's football?

Your world is too small. Tim's talking about 1970s Brazil, 90s Ajax etc. These are generation defining teams. Treble winning ManU is not in that company.

Tony Montana wrote:
Captain wrote:

You need to bring fantasy and something memorable.

Anyway I thought you didn't really like Barca's football?

Only you mentioned Barca mate.

In an El Clasico thread and with all the debate recently in the Other Football talk, I think not.

But I get your point.

Captain wrote:

Your world is too small. Tim's talking about 1970s Brazil, 90s Ajax etc. These are generation defining teams. Treble winning ManU is not in that company.

I would say 70s Ajax and therefore Holland were generation defining. 90s Ajax would be like Arsenal winning it in 2006.

So do you think Barca are up there with those teams?

The current Barca have redefined football, so yes.

General Mirth wrote:

I wonder if this was what Ajax were like during the Rinus Michels era? Or AC Milan twenty years ago?

Difference is, back then fans were privileged to watch such great teams and players. Happy to appreciate their brilliance.

Now you get desensitized idiots on message boards and radio phone ins talking a load of crap about these players and teams. Sorry, but it's true.

Anyone else here feel Mourinho is overrated as a tactician?

I think he's been found out. 😉

You taking the piss Mr Flo?

I'm serious, great motivator and organiser, two things I reckon have had way more to do with his success than great or innovative tactics. Oh yeah, and a lot of top players.

SimplyThePest wrote:

You taking the piss Mr Flo?

Errm.. yes

I'm serious, great motivator and organiser, two things I reckon have had way more to do with his success than great or innovative tactics. Oh yeah, and a lot of top players.

The bolded bits add up to the same thing IMO. And thus, I feel your statement contradicts itself.

That he is able to implement these tactics with top players is a bonus - which he has earned from past successes.

Don't agree dude, great at motivating and organising top players to park the bus and counter.

No contradiction there big man.

Lets change the name of this thread to "The Barcelona/Mourinho hate thread."

Every threads a Wenger body punch thread until we win something Pest. 😉

This little ditty from Football 365 mediawatch made me chuckle.

Anti-Football
Writes Oliver Holt in The Daily Mirror, about Pep Guardiola:

'He has won the Champions League twice and La Liga three times in succession. And he has proved that you do not have to play essentially defensive football, like Jose Mourinho, to reach the pinnacle.'

League goals scored by Real Madrid under Jose Mourinho: 211.

League goals scored by Barcelona in the same time period: 202.

But yeah. Anti-football, defensive Jose, etc and so on.

Lol. Thank you for pointing that out, Biggus.
Mourinho's Real set a La Liga goals record with 3 games to spare. Yet people assume he just parks the bus. His team scored 3 goals a game in La Liga.

The criticism is parking the bus against Barcelona specifically. They obviously don't need to against teams not named Barca in La Liga. Why can they not express themselves attackingly against them with all those millions of pounds spent?

Personally I believe Madrid are forced back like any other team including Arsenal. They don't have the ability to take the game to Barca because they just never get the ball. Moreover, they do what they have to do to win. Nothing wrong with that.

I watch far more of Real than I do Barca (simply because I'm a big fan of Benzema, Cristiano, Alonso and Kaka). Although I enjoy watching them, my biggest gripe with them is that they seem to be a team that is overly reliant on individual brilliance. I have not looked at their assist stats, but I wouldn't be surprised if as a team they had far fewer assists than Barca despite having far more goals. The issue is that a lot of Real's attacking is individual based - almost like an NBA clear-out offense where Kobe or Jordan just dribbles past 4 defenders while the others watch.

This type of attack, I feel is less likely to succeed against barca because they can simply swarm the attacker with the ball and regain possession. It leaves you in danger of losing possession frequently while on attack, and putting you on the back foot.

The only team that I would trust to consistently go toe-to-toe with Barca would be an Arsene Wenger coached team that has quality attacking midfielders.