*semi-official el classico*

[Dubciteh]

Anywhere online i can read a full report of this game? Doesn't seem to be on BBC thanks.

never mind got it on the guardians site.

[Wonderwall]

Was a really good game to watch imo. Some good footy, some drama, cynical play. I saw about 6 red cards in that game if Foy was reffing and I thought our refs let the game flow more and it was allowed to be more physical. Plus how the hell did Xavi Alonso get through that game without getting at least 5 yellows? The ref was definitely instructed to keep the peace.

[Cocacolajojo1]

I dislike Barca. While they are good at playing football I despise their attitude and everything they stand for. You know it's bad when you cheer for Real.

Mourinho has to do a serious revamp of his squad if he wants to beat them. Especially Ramos and Pepe has to go and he needs a decent striker. Although Benzema is good, he needs a world class striker if he wants to beat a world class team.

[Duckman]

I apologize for starting this thread, this match was a disgrace to football. While Barca are a brilliant team, they are also a bunch of filthy diving cunts

Didn´t see too much diving tbh just an awful lot of thuggery from the so called team in white

Mourinho is a cnut - how on earth did Madrid keep 11 on the pitch? Infact how did they keep 9 on ?

I'm starting to think it's more than just Mourinho. I think some of the Madrid players have got a big problem with Barca which manifests itself in nerves & negativity, follwed by large scale violence & cheating. Pepe's performance tonight was a disgrace to the game of football.

On a technical note, I focused the whole game on Piquet & Puyol. On the ball, they do hardly anything different to any of our CB's INCLUDING LESCOTT. Sideways passing, ten yard forward balls occasional groanworthy diagonal shite & the odd ball to the striker each half hour. Noting special whatsoever. The difference is Xavi & Co drop back & take the ball off them, ALL THE TIME rather than giving them the ball & fucking off, like our midfield were doing v Wigan.

Yaya does it all the time, NDJ is hiding while trying to look mean.

[Hazy2]

Strange that the commentators tink ronaldos outshining messi really dnt get yea he myt of dts dwn to the poor keeping by pinto but messis threadn vry dangerous balls bhind the madrid defence n ronaldos been anonymous since he scored

Messi has not been at the races at all. Diarra has him bottled up somewhere.

Nonsense.

[ashton287]

Yaya does it all the time, NDJ is hiding while trying to look mean.

Was just going to say this. Yaya is the link for our defence and attack. He concentrates on the centre of the pitch while Barry does the more defensive work. Then he gives the ball to silva, nowhere to go? Give it back to yaya. That is when we are at our best.

Without yaya we lose our patience and lose the ball. In games when he is on and not concentrating it's noticeable aswell because we will play more long balls -Chelsea. The fucker is as important to us as dave.

[Mase]

If someone had stamped on Shrek's hand (or face) in the FA Cup I'd have been buzzin! As would most of you guys!

[mr_nool]

If someone had stamped on Shrek's hand (or face) in the FA Cup I'd have been buzzin! As would most of you guys!

We did all love it when ball stamped Ronaldo in the back. Beautiful "challenge"!

[Mase]

If someone had stamped on Shrek's hand (or face) in the FA Cup I'd have been buzzin! As would most of you guys!

We did all love it when ball stamped Ronaldo in the back. Beautiful "challenge"!

Oh aye!! Deserves the vid putting up!

[youtube]fevywV4XP14[/youtube]

[mr_nool]

Oh yeah, it was stomach not back. Even better!

[Ted Hughes]

I apologize for starting this thread, this match was a disgrace to football. While Barca are a brilliant team, they are also a bunch of filthy diving cunts

Didn´t see too much diving tbh just an awful lot of thuggery from the so called team in white

Mourinho is a cnut - how on earth did Madrid keep 11 on the pitch? Infact how did they keep 9 on ?

I'm starting to think it's more than just Mourinho. I think some of the Madrid players have got a big problem with Barca which manifests itself in nerves & negativity, follwed by large scale violence & cheating. Pepe's performance tonight was a disgrace to the game of football.

On a technical note, I focused the whole game on Piquet & Puyol. On the ball, they do hardly anything different to any of our CB's INCLUDING LESCOTT. Sideways passing, ten yard forward balls occasional groanworthy diagonal shite & the odd ball to the striker each half hour. Noting special whatsoever. The difference is Xavi & Co drop back & take the ball off them, ALL THE TIME rather than giving them the ball & fucking off, like our midfield were doing v Wigan.

Yaya does it all the time, NDJ is hiding while trying to look mean.

Yaya does it but when we play well, half the team does it which is what happens with Barca; if Xavi gets marked, others come back & make themselves available. All of our midfield could have done it better v Wigan, Liverpool etc. The rags tried to stop Barca doing it & were having some success so Messi came & got the ball. Rags didn't touch it again. In contrast, during some of our recent performances, most of the team was doing the opposite, running away from the defenders inviting a long ball or clever pass which defendrs struggle to produce. When Piquet was forced to do the same, he played the same kind of shitty 50/50 diagonal nothing ball which we've seen our CB's play, even back in the days of Richard Dunne.

These guys are fine & silky smooth when you leave them half a pitch top run into, but when pressed, like they would be in the Prem, they need help. Barca do that. We don't do it enough.

[Hazy2]

I apologize for starting this thread, this match was a disgrace to football. While Barca are a brilliant team, they are also a bunch of filthy diving cunts

Didn´t see too much diving tbh just an awful lot of thuggery from the so called team in white

Mourinho is a cnut - how on earth did Madrid keep 11 on the pitch? Infact how did they keep 9 on ?

I'm starting to think it's more than just Mourinho. I think some of the Madrid players have got a big problem with Barca which manifests itself in nerves & negativity, follwed by large scale violence & cheating. Pepe's performance tonight was a disgrace to the game of football.

On a technical note, I focused the whole game on Piquet & Puyol. On the ball, they do hardly anything different to any of our CB's INCLUDING LESCOTT. Sideways passing, ten yard forward balls occasional groanworthy diagonal shite & the odd ball to the striker each half hour. Noting special whatsoever. The difference is Xavi & Co drop back & take the ball off them, ALL THE TIME rather than giving them the ball & fucking off, like our midfield were doing v Wigan.

Yaya does it all the time, NDJ is hiding while trying to look mean.

Yaya does it but when we play well, half the team does it which is what happens with Barca; if Xavi gets marked, others come back & make themselves available. All of our midfield could have done it better v Wigan, Liverpool etc. The rags tried to stop Barca doing it & were having some success so Messi came & got the ball. Rags didn't touch it again. In contrast, during some of our recent performances, most of the team was doing the opposite, running away from the defenders inviting a long ball or clever pass which defendrs struggle to produce. When Piquet was forced to do the same, he played the same kind of shitty 50/50 diagonal nothing ball which we've seen our CB's play, even back in the days of Richard Dunne.

These guys are fine & silky smooth when you leave them half a pitch top run into, but when pressed, like they would be in the Prem, they need help. Barca do that. We don't do it enough.

Barca do not do any running mate, I watch them live each season and the one thing they do not do is any running, The ball never gets tired is the mantra, They have an extra man the goalkeeper passes the ball out it is the Law with them, if Joe did that the Etihad would the heart attack stadium, TBF we have in the Prem, forwards willing to chase space and close down better, however Barca soon run the legs of the fools who try. Puyol and Piquet allow Abidal and Alves to push the opos midfield back, Forwads are then isolated, living off scraps hence the carnage you see last 20 last night late tackles tired players menatally fooked. Barca have taken football to another level

[Ted Hughes]

Barca do not do any running mate, I watch them live each season and the one thing they do not do is any running, The ball never gets tired is the mantra, They have an extra man the goalkeeper passes the ball out it is the Law with them, if Joe did that the Etihad would the heart attack stadium, TBF we have in the Prem, forwards willing to chase space and close down better, however Barca soon run the legs of the fools who try. Puyol and Piquet allow Abidal and Alves to push the opos midfield back, Forwads are then isolated, living off scraps hence the carnage you see last 20 last night late tackles tired players menatally fooked. Barca have taken football to another level

I'm talking about the CB's running into space at the halfway line the when teams leave it open. Barca's will do that when allowed to but when they are pressed, like teams are now doing with our defenders, they don't produce loads of Beckenbauer style defence splitting moves, opening teams up, they pass it sideways or to the fullbacks, who often give it back to them for them to pass it sideways again; exactly what our defenders are getting criticised for. The difference is that Xavi & Co ALWAYS come & try to take the ball off them because they are better footballers than Piquet & Puyol.

We sometimes seem to be happy to watch Lescott & Vinny passing the ball to each other & Joe Hart. We even gave Lescott a free kick to take. How can that possibly be right ?

Barca do plenty of running incidentally. It's just that they're usually all within 20 yards of each other & keeping the ball when they're doing it. Great as they are though, they can still be improved upon & I recon we'll have a go at doing just that in the years to come.

[PeterParker]

To be fair, i don't think Mourinho has such a great team at Madrid. They have a world class gk and a defender (Casillias and Ramos) another great midfielder, Xabi Alonso and Tranny, Benzema and Higuain, Beside that they have normal players, most of the overated twats like Pepe or Coentrao.
At Inter, he had a squad, he had players around him that would had done anything for him (remember how was Materazzi when Mou decided to go to Madrid).
Imho, he can't beat them at Madrid and with that squad.

[Hazy2]

Barca do not do any running mate, I watch them live each season and the one thing they do not do is any running, The ball never gets tired is the mantra, They have an extra man the goalkeeper passes the ball out it is the Law with them, if Joe did that the Etihad would the heart attack stadium, TBF we have in the Prem, forwards willing to chase space and close down better, however Barca soon run the legs of the fools who try. Puyol and Piquet allow Abidal and Alves to push the opos midfield back, Forwads are then isolated, living off scraps hence the carnage you see last 20 last night late tackles tired players menatally fooked. Barca have taken football to another level

I'm talking about the CB's running into space at the halfway line the when teams leave it open. Barca's will do that when allowed to but when they are pressed, like teams are now doing with our defenders, they don't produce loads of Beckenbauer style defence splitting moves, opening teams up, they pass it sideways or to the fullbacks, who often give it back to them for them to pass it sideways again; exactly what our defenders are getting criticised for. The difference is that Xavi & Co ALWAYS come & try to take the ball off them because they are better footballers than Piquet & Puyol.

We sometimes seem to be happy to watch Lescott & Vinny passing the ball to each other & Joe Hart. We even gave Lescott a free kick to take. How can that possibly be right ?

Barca do plenty of running incidentally. It's just that they're usually all within 20 yards of each other & keeping the ball when they're doing it. Great as they are though, they can still be improved upon & I recon we'll have a go at doing just that in the years to come.

Our CB's are heading balls up away hacking away against Wigan, Pep would rather retire than clear your lines like some Sunday League player. Pique was one of his as a kid, he has faults, all players do, however they keep it simple The control the CB's have is the crucial thing the pass to MF sets it up if JL could pass a ball like Barca's CB's Silva would be even better. We are all onto De Jong at the mo, as he looks of the pace, he is but the defenders we have, Kompany excused could not pass wind under pressure, Micah is 100% better, Barca is total football from under 10's to what we see on Sky.Barca also do it under more pressure than we have ever had, Pressure at Barca, to preform is on another level to us.

[Ted Hughes]

Barca do not do any running mate, I watch them live each season and the one thing they do not do is any running, The ball never gets tired is the mantra, They have an extra man the goalkeeper passes the ball out it is the Law with them, if Joe did that the Etihad would the heart attack stadium, TBF we have in the Prem, forwards willing to chase space and close down better, however Barca soon run the legs of the fools who try. Puyol and Piquet allow Abidal and Alves to push the opos midfield back, Forwads are then isolated, living off scraps hence the carnage you see last 20 last night late tackles tired players menatally fooked. Barca have taken football to another level

I'm talking about the CB's running into space at the halfway line the when teams leave it open. Barca's will do that when allowed to but when they are pressed, like teams are now doing with our defenders, they don't produce loads of Beckenbauer style defence splitting moves, opening teams up, they pass it sideways or to the fullbacks, who often give it back to them for them to pass it sideways again; exactly what our defenders are getting criticised for. The difference is that Xavi & Co ALWAYS come & try to take the ball off them because they are better footballers than Piquet & Puyol.

We sometimes seem to be happy to watch Lescott & Vinny passing the ball to each other & Joe Hart. We even gave Lescott a free kick to take. How can that possibly be right ?

Barca do plenty of running incidentally. It's just that they're usually all within 20 yards of each other & keeping the ball when they're doing it. Great as they are though, they can still be improved upon & I recon we'll have a go at doing just that in the years to come.

Our CB's are heading balls up away hacking away against Wigan, Pep would rather retire than clear your lines like some Sunday League player. Pique was one of his as a kid, he has faults, all players do, however they keep it simple The control the CB's have is the crucial thing the pass to MF sets it up if JL could pass a ball like Barca's CB's Silva would be even better. We are all onto De Jong at the mo, as he looks of the pace, he is but the defenders we have, Kompany excused could not pass wind under pressure, Micah is 100% better, Barca is total football from under 10's to what we see on Sky.Barca also do it under more pressure than we have ever had, Pressure at Barca, to preform is on another level to us.

I spent an hour and a half purely watching Puyol & Piquet & I can assure you that they headed & cleared the ball when they had to. On the whole they didn't have to face long balls played in the air with oppo players running at them as it comes down, so it didn't apply, but rest assured, when they were pressed in those types of situations, they cleared it just like our defenders do. They produced no passes of any real quality which Vinny or Lescott could not have done, or indeed I could have done. Not one, in 90 mins. Piquet tried to play 3 or 4 long Dunney style diagonals which were badly weighted & caused the attempted receivers problems. In actual fact the nearest he got to getting it right brought a withering response from Messi so I don't think he tried it again after that. Puyol did a nice move in the oppo box when up for a corner on one occasion, but that was it.

I'm sure both are more capable on the ball than our CB's but the fact is, they didn't need to be. Barca take the ball off their defenders & don't rely on them very often to start moves off. This is a fact. On the few occasions they do rely on them, against an organised team, they are not especially good at it.

They key to the whole thing, is having quality midfield players playing the ball from their own half, not CB's dithering around trying to kick it off. If our CB's had been playing v Real, they could & would have been just as effective in Barca's passing game as Puyol & Piquet, as neither of those players did anything whatsoever on the ball in 90 mins. (Didn't defend very well either tbh).

[Hazy2]

Barca do not do any running mate, I watch them live each season and the one thing they do not do is any running, The ball never gets tired is the mantra, They have an extra man the goalkeeper passes the ball out it is the Law with them, if Joe did that the Etihad would the heart attack stadium, TBF we have in the Prem, forwards willing to chase space and close down better, however Barca soon run the legs of the fools who try. Puyol and Piquet allow Abidal and Alves to push the opos midfield back, Forwads are then isolated, living off scraps hence the carnage you see last 20 last night late tackles tired players menatally fooked. Barca have taken football to another level

I'm talking about the CB's running into space at the halfway line the when teams leave it open. Barca's will do that when allowed to but when they are pressed, like teams are now doing with our defenders, they don't produce loads of Beckenbauer style defence splitting moves, opening teams up, they pass it sideways or to the fullbacks, who often give it back to them for them to pass it sideways again; exactly what our defenders are getting criticised for. The difference is that Xavi & Co ALWAYS come & try to take the ball off them because they are better footballers than Piquet & Puyol.

We sometimes seem to be happy to watch Lescott & Vinny passing the ball to each other & Joe Hart. We even gave Lescott a free kick to take. How can that possibly be right ?

Barca do plenty of running incidentally. It's just that they're usually all within 20 yards of each other & keeping the ball when they're doing it. Great as they are though, they can still be improved upon & I recon we'll have a go at doing just that in the years to come.

Our CB's are heading balls up away hacking away against Wigan, Pep would rather retire than clear your lines like some Sunday League player. Pique was one of his as a kid, he has faults, all players do, however they keep it simple The control the CB's have is the crucial thing the pass to MF sets it up if JL could pass a ball like Barca's CB's Silva would be even better. We are all onto De Jong at the mo, as he looks of the pace, he is but the defenders we have, Kompany excused could not pass wind under pressure, Micah is 100% better, Barca is total football from under 10's to what we see on Sky.Barca also do it under more pressure than we have ever had, Pressure at Barca, to preform is on another level to us.

I spent an hour and a half purely watching Puyol & Piquet & I can assure you that they headed & cleared the ball when they had to. On the whole they didn't have to face long balls played in the air with oppo players running at them as it comes down, so it didn't apply, but rest assured, when they were pressed in those types of situations, they cleared it just like our defenders do. They produced no passes of any real quality which Vinny or Lescott could not have done, or indeed I could have done. Not one, in 90 mins. Piquet tried to play 3 or 4 long Dunney style diagonals which were badly weighted & caused the attempted receivers problems. In actual fact the nearest he got to getting it right brought a withering response from Messi so I don't think he tried it again after that. Puyol did a nice move in the oppo box when up for a corner on one occasion, but that was it.

I'm sure both are more capable on the ball than our CB's but the fact is, they didn't need to be. Barca take the ball off their defenders & don't rely on them very often to start moves off. This is a fact. On the few occasions they do rely on them, against an organised team, they are not especially good at it.

They key to the whole thing, is having quality midfield players playing the ball from their own half, not CB's dithering around trying to kick it off. If our CB's had been playing v Real, they could & would have been just as effective in Barca's passing game as Puyol & Piquet, as neither of those players did anything whatsoever on the ball in 90 mins. (Didn't defend very well either tbh).

Ted we were hacking at Wigan they were composed at RM with 79,540 fans baying for blood, we fell apart at Napoli and Like at Wigan were hacking and being done on the counter attack for fun. We need years of education to play like that and as much as I like JL he is never ever goona be cultured and composed.

[Ted Hughes]

Barca do not do any running mate, I watch them live each season and the one thing they do not do is any running, The ball never gets tired is the mantra, They have an extra man the goalkeeper passes the ball out it is the Law with them, if Joe did that the Etihad would the heart attack stadium, TBF we have in the Prem, forwards willing to chase space and close down better, however Barca soon run the legs of the fools who try. Puyol and Piquet allow Abidal and Alves to push the opos midfield back, Forwads are then isolated, living off scraps hence the carnage you see last 20 last night late tackles tired players menatally fooked. Barca have taken football to another level

I'm talking about the CB's running into space at the halfway line the when teams leave it open. Barca's will do that when allowed to but when they are pressed, like teams are now doing with our defenders, they don't produce loads of Beckenbauer style defence splitting moves, opening teams up, they pass it sideways or to the fullbacks, who often give it back to them for them to pass it sideways again; exactly what our defenders are getting criticised for. The difference is that Xavi & Co ALWAYS come & try to take the ball off them because they are better footballers than Piquet & Puyol.

We sometimes seem to be happy to watch Lescott & Vinny passing the ball to each other & Joe Hart. We even gave Lescott a free kick to take. How can that possibly be right ?

Barca do plenty of running incidentally. It's just that they're usually all within 20 yards of each other & keeping the ball when they're doing it. Great as they are though, they can still be improved upon & I recon we'll have a go at doing just that in the years to come.

Our CB's are heading balls up away hacking away against Wigan, Pep would rather retire than clear your lines like some Sunday League player. Pique was one of his as a kid, he has faults, all players do, however they keep it simple The control the CB's have is the crucial thing the pass to MF sets it up if JL could pass a ball like Barca's CB's Silva would be even better. We are all onto De Jong at the mo, as he looks of the pace, he is but the defenders we have, Kompany excused could not pass wind under pressure, Micah is 100% better, Barca is total football from under 10's to what we see on Sky.Barca also do it under more pressure than we have ever had, Pressure at Barca, to preform is on another level to us.

I spent an hour and a half purely watching Puyol & Piquet & I can assure you that they headed & cleared the ball when they had to. On the whole they didn't have to face long balls played in the air with oppo players running at them as it comes down, so it didn't apply, but rest assured, when they were pressed in those types of situations, they cleared it just like our defenders do. They produced no passes of any real quality which Vinny or Lescott could not have done, or indeed I could have done. Not one, in 90 mins. Piquet tried to play 3 or 4 long Dunney style diagonals which were badly weighted & caused the attempted receivers problems. In actual fact the nearest he got to getting it right brought a withering response from Messi so I don't think he tried it again after that. Puyol did a nice move in the oppo box when up for a corner on one occasion, but that was it.

I'm sure both are more capable on the ball than our CB's but the fact is, they didn't need to be. Barca take the ball off their defenders & don't rely on them very often to start moves off. This is a fact. On the few occasions they do rely on them, against an organised team, they are not especially good at it.

They key to the whole thing, is having quality midfield players playing the ball from their own half, not CB's dithering around trying to kick it off. If our CB's had been playing v Real, they could & would have been just as effective in Barca's passing game as Puyol & Piquet, as neither of those players did anything whatsoever on the ball in 90 mins. (Didn't defend very well either tbh).

Ted we were hacking at Wigan they were composed at RM with 79,540 fans baying for blood, we fell apart at Napoli and Like at Wigan were hacking and being done on the counter attack for fun. We need years of education to play like that and as much as I like JL he is never ever goona be cultured and composed.

I'll knock it on the head here but I sat for 90 mins watching two blokes kick a ball sideways. They didn't come under hardly any of the pressure you are talking about but when they did, they cleared the ball. The rest of the time, they stood in their own half doing EXACTLY what our CB's do, playing safe with the ball, but the difference was Xavi & Co came & made it easy to recieve the ball, so any old fucker could have played the same passes. The reason I sat for 90 mins studying two defenders passing is because I've identified that area as possibly lacking in our midfield, so I studied it (again, I've done it before) to see if I'm right or wrong & there is a marked difference in what we were doing with our midfield & what they were doing with theirs.

I can't say more than that. I know I'm right because I spent the whole game watching it & then have been comparing it to us. If they had both been Beckenbauer, my original comment would have been 'they were both brilliant at passing, that is the difference & we need to sort it' they weren't, they did nothing whatsoever, it was down to the midfield being miles better than Nige & Co, so I said what I saw, take it or leave it.

The pair of them weren't that good at defending either but that's another story.

[john68]

Hazy.
We have played somewhere around 30 games this seasom Pal and you pick out 2 as though defining that as our normal form. I don't suppose that any team, Barca included goes through that many games without the odd blip here and there.
There have been so many games when we have been awesome.

I don't suppose we are anywhere near Barca yet, nor would I expect us to be. I do yhink Ted's appraisal is relevent though, as they are the ultimate target we are aiming for.

[Hazy2]

Hazy.
We have played somewhere around 30 games this seasom Pal and you pick out 2 as though defining that as our normal form. I don't suppose that any team, Barca included goes through that many games without the odd blip here and there.
There have been so many games when we have been awesome.

I don't suppose we are anywhere near Barca yet, nor would I expect us to be. I do yhink Ted's appraisal is relevent though, as they are the ultimate target we are aiming for.

John, thanks,Ted is entitled to his, I am pointing out lack of a pass from the back, if Ted or you cannot see that fine, what other examples would I give Cavvani did manage VK 2nd half which killed us,both Barca defenders are top draw or are Barca and Spain getting it wrong, thanks Hazy.