Tactical Sh*** (Rant Warning)

[petrov]

Ted, I want to pull you up here. We've had discussions in the past about tactics and you've always admired Barca's style and suggested we go down that path.

There is no doubting that Spain and Barca's style is the most superior method. It's natural for others to copy their style. I'd love it if City played that way. Watching them would be a heck of a lot easier.

I love watching Barca. Barca have Messi & attack like fuck home & away. Spain don't.

I'll agree with this, they don't play the same way. The only thing they have in common is they keep the ball and have attacking fullbacks. Barca attack with a pace and directness when they get within 30 yards of the goal that Spain don't (but i love the spanish style as well). You'll very rarely see a spanish player run at a defence the way Messi does, Spain are quite happy to wait it out, find a hole and exploit the gap which leads to alot of posession but only the odd goal chance. Barca on the other hand tend to force the issue and go for it much more.

[pears12]

Spain remind me more of chelsea under Mourinho than Barcelona..I think it was the ability for the midfield basically to kill off the opponent's midfield for the 90 minutes, with the use of strong structure and brilliant midfielders

[david yearsley]

I wont even start on what the Spanish press think here - they are so far up their own arses it´s untrue

What?
You were expecting a balanced viewpoint?
haha

Yeah I know full well they don´t do objectivity and impartiality - alien concepts , cultural differences

[Ted Hughes]

Re watching Spain as opposed to Barca; you feel like you're watching 3 up front with Barca but 5 in the midfield with Spain, until the subs come on then they seem to play a bit more like Barca.

[DoomMerchant]

And imagine the "Empire Strikes Back" mentality of Evil defeating Good we'd have to read about if Robben had been able to bury his chance. Pundits and football scholars would have acted like the world ended.

Until Spain brought on Jesus and Fabs their best going forward approach was the delicate art of falling down followed by a quickly-taken free kick. Hooo-ahhhh.

cheers

[mcfc1632]

I wont even start on what the Spanish press think here - they are so far up their own arses it´s untrue

What?
You were expecting a balanced viewpoint?
haha

Yeah I know full well they don´t do objectivity and impartiality - alien concepts , cultural differences

Yeah - I can just imagine what the Spanish press must be like

Mind you - could you imagine the English press!!!

BTW - I know you are a gambling man - I was totally unpatriotic and laid England at 13/2 for £2k - that was my level of confidence in them - and I could just not stand the through of camface holding the trophy aloft - urgh...

[Alioune DVToure]

i cant begin to tell you the times i have suggested that Barca and now Spain are actually boring to watch.. IF you have seen them play few times. A lot of people who only see them now and again are just goo goo eyed and cant even begin to see what i am talking about. Their passing game is easy on the eye yes, but in terms of both a full 90 mins and then a full season of that you see that they are akin to trained monkeys, yes they play that way well.. but actually too well, so they go through this formula again again again and again. They get away with it cos eventually it usually works, the times it doesn't work you then see how little real creativity they have outside what they train to do. They simply cant mix it up, lack any initiative to be direct. The CL final was a good example, crying out for a directness almost the whole game they just continued to pass their way to the area, spread it wider and cross into a line of Milan players 5 strong all taller than them.
It wasnt until Pique decided something desperate had to be done and to run into the box that anything different occured and by then it was just too late. For a side with so much talent and technical ability at its disposal it is pathetic imo.
Bottom line is the pattern of play is set, you know exactly what they are going to do and watching becomes like one of those old kids drawing books, join the dots.
Fabregas did make a difference, and like Barca, Spain need one class player who doesn't conform to the way they play and remains an unknown quantity and a source of real genuine creativity.

I know what you mean about the Champions League final - Barcelona simply didn't show up that day. I wonder why.

[Grob]

I sometimes have a tactical shit if i know its going to be a long journey