[Closed] El Classico

not winning anything, not playing in champions league next year, poor european run
Promising for the future possibly/probably but still some way behind the best premier league teams never mind European. Job started but some seasons from done. Given Chelsea and Man Cit's money and Man u position hard to see a vast inprovement next year - Champions league qualification a good reult for 11/12? Good cup run /win?
One day Man u will slip from the top as well but at least they were great in my lifetime and i would have taken half of what we have achieved ,if you offered me it, in the 80's tbh.
Personaly I would rather see a team with history and tradition like Liverpool achieve success than money teams like Chelsea or City.

Is it hating time yet?

I hate you Junkyard.
I hate Effin too.

And Stephen Hendry.

I'm bored of all this bickering, as Rodney King once said....

Right I'm finished with that now. Let the bickering and hate commence..

That is, after all, the very essence of what STW is about these days, isn't it..?

I think we are saving it for the final
here is my starter as This is how I feel about the game

😆

Nothing quite like a man feeding off his emotions.

I take it you don't watch the English premier league for the same reason then?. The cheating in British football is every bit as bad as spanish football in my opinion.

For what it's worth, I thought it was an intriguing game, lots of personal battles and interesting to see some of the tactics unfolding during the game. Pepe should not have been sent off for that challenge, but he was a victim of the fact he is usually a dirty bastard.

I for one would love to see teams playing the ball out of defence in this country, the way Barca can. My heart would be in my mouth if any of my teams full backs got a ball facing their own goal, and an opposition player bearing down on them, doesn't seem to bother this lot at all.

And Messi is just an absolute colossus of a talent.

loddrik - Member

I'm bored of all this bickering,

i LOVE that clip Junkyard, always brings a smile 😀

The solution really is to ignore him, not one single reply.

You couldn't do that if your life depended on it 😉

yes it is a great clip shows how one can loose all powers of reason over something as simple as football.
Just hope it will be a good final between the two as the last one was rather dull . Hopefully they will both play to win and messi gets injured after the first 20 seconds

I'm waiting for the Mourinho press conference to be posted on Youtube, another priceless piece of TV. He was completely dumbfounded and most unusually lost foe words, he was more or less simply repeating "Why?" and "I don't understand..." He looked destroyed. Most compelling viewing.

I'm embarrassed to support Liverpool sometimes, +1 for ignoring him.

Am I the only one that thinks that it probably was a red card? Studs up, over the ball leg breaker etc? It might just be because I tend to disagree with Andy Townsend about everything, but it wasn't an outrageous decision. Also Adebayor could have been sent off too.

Thought Barcelona acted pretty badly too, would love to see UEFA or whatever start to fine teams for bringing the game into disrepute. Don't know why the best teams feel the need to do that stuff - tarnishes the brilliance.

For all that though, was a great game to watch, thought that Puyol marshalled Ronaldo brilliantly and Messi's 2nd goal was ridiculous.

I tend to disagree with Andy Townsend about everything,

but it wasn't an outrageous decision.

It was a spectacle for all the wrong reasosn the second eg could be hprrific and Mourinho did appaear to go in to meltdown as well.
Also Adebayor could have been sent off too.

Alan Green is the best radio commentator we have.

"he'll get Siberia for that..."

Is it just me or is he not a fan of Man U ..like having Loddrick lite commentating 😉

Oh, so only commentators who are fayns of Man U should be allowed to commentate then? 😕

Junky should get a straight red for inexcusably bad typing.... 🙁

there would have been no players left on the pitch if he had used that standard throughout the game

Nah, that was the worst tackle - thought the ref did reasonably well to work out what was serious and what wasn't, considering the players surrounding him all the time. I think I would have ended up lumping the lot of them if I was him.

I quite like Alan Green in small doses. Just get a bit fed up with ex players saying that dangerous tackles are OK, when the game has moved on so much from their time.

Is it just me or is he not a fan of Man U

I dunno...I know there's a lot of stuff about him not being a ManU fan, but I think it's Ferguson he really dislikes - there was some kind of a run-in some time ago. He's normally very complimentary about ManU when they're playing well.

I like that he tells it how it is. When someone dives, he says so. If a game is dire, he says so. If a penalty is/isn't a penalty, he says so.

EL WUNUNDREDO! 😀

No elfin no need to be a man U fan...Mickey thomas is a man u fan but he was/is awful Green does tel it like he sees unfortunately I would rather he told me what was happening rather than him is telling me what he thinks about what is happening.
My typing does deserve a red card. i have actually been trying hard to improve it.

tangent (all the more since I didn't see this game)

I'd love it - REALLY love it 😉 if a ref booked the "victim" of a tackle for bringing the game into disrepute if they manage to run flat out 2 minutes after apparently being in career-shattering agony after the incident

Oi! Careful what you say about Mickey.

mickey 😉 thomas ?

Yes, the great Mickey Thomas who puts fear into the hearts of all fans Arsenal.

Think if I was the ref, I'd have yellow carded Puyol for dissent about 15 mins into the game and then invited his colleagues to consider how many of them wanted to join him. Sadly, it seems as if there isn't a ref around who has the cojones to actually boss a game of football these days.

Looks as if the whole question of getting booked for 'simulation' has gone out of the window, along with bookings for doing the 'Chairman Mao'

Alan Green is and always has been a Liverpool fan. The fact that it doesn't come through shows what an excellent unbiased broadcaster he is. Graham Taylor 'outed' him on radio once, in good humour, but you won't hear it from Greens mouth, he is too professional for that.

I wonder if it is a factor in why Ferguson won't speak to him...

I'd still think he was excellent regardless if who he supported btw.

Post match interview with Mou... Not a happy bunny. At 2 mins he's asked if that's the end of the road for RMad in this year's Champions League... Si... 😥 You guys will know if this is typical Mou or not better than me.

no not typical at all when he is interviewed he speaks English
You dont need to be an expert to read his body language as very pissed off.

Mourinho is the most ungracious loser I have ever come across. When Liverpool beat Chelsea fair and square, all he could say was that his team was much better and outplayed us comprehensively, plainly untrue for anyone who saw the game.

That outburst after el classico was ridiculous. Especially to say that there is a Barcelona conspiracy from UEFA. The amount of bias towards RM in the Spanish media is ridiculous. The Guardian showed a pic after the game showing the incident which led to the sending off, then they showed the doctored photo which appeared in Marca which made it look as if there was no contact. Surprise surprise as all the Spanish media is Madrid based and massively prejudiced.

You dont need to be an expert to read his body language as very pissed off.

there is no contact seriously there is none surprised me tbh.
Most winners are not great loosers but he is one of the worst

1:44 secs
http://www.realmadrid.com/cs/Satellite/en/1330054873516/noticia/Noticia/Television_images_show_that_Pepe_did_not_touch_Alves__leg.htm

Great vid and David Villa was up there too and Messi had problems staying on his feet, it's not football for me and as Mou said winning the Champions League in this manner is not something to be proud of. Hopefully we'll give Barça a lesson in the football in the final... 😆

Spoken with the bias of a true Barça fan

I'm a Rangers fan, not a Barca fan actually. I'm primarily a football fan, and I have never, ever witnessed anything like the way they play football. Anyone who doesn't admire the way they completely destroy teams, is not a football fan.

Anyone who doesn't admire the way they completely destroy teams, is not a football fan

and I have never, ever witnessed anything like the way they play football.

imho they're not a patch on the ajax team 71-74 or holland 74/78 or brazil 70/82.

In you opinion, they might not be as good, but to say they are 'not a patch' is nonsense.

Must learn to read... 😳

Nearly said the other day, I find Barcelona a bit boring TBH 😳

OK, they're technically clever and great at keeping the ball but I've a sneaking feeling that mostly they just bore the crap out of their opponents 'til they stop trying

AC Milan, mid 90s (or so ?) was a great team to watch
Arsenal when Bergkamp, Henry etc were there (& still now, to an extent)
Chelsea when they had Zola
Liverpool, couple of their teams over recent decades

I'd imagine, with al the advances in training methods and sports science and that, that the Barça team of today are stronger, fitter and faster than teams of 30-40 years ago. Certainly, the speed at which games are played at now, compared to games from previous eras, is much quicker.

Would the Ajax/Dutch and Brazilian teams of those eras be able to keep pace with Barça today? Hard to say really. I fancy they'd struggle a bit.

But for entertainment, then every era has it's greats. Barça being the team of today, in the same way those teams were to their day. To say Barça 'aren't a patch on them' is just daft. Go back to reminiscing over the time players had Brylcreamed hair and worked as coalminers, granddad! 🙂

nobeer -i fully apreciate your right to an opinion, no matter how wrong you might be 😉

you are right, i am using terminology that is unquantifiable, but my argument is that modern era barca are merely a continuation of the classic 4-3-3 holland system that guardiola has inherited from the dutch influence at barcelona.

the examples that i have listed are inovators as well as being easy on the eye. germany 70-82 and england 66 could equally be offered up as more innovative than barca but clearly not as easy on the eye.

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i fully apreciate your right to an opinion, no matter how wrong you might be

(Gets Trailmonkey in my office, talks for 20 mins, decides I was right... 😉 )

See, the current Barca and Real teams have between them helped create the current World and Yerpean Champion Spanish side, possibly with more of a Barça influence.

As for 'innovation'; those teams you mention merely developed the game as it was, as have Barca. All incremental steps; not as though suddenly rule changes allowed them to play a completely different way than was ever allowed before.

The speed of the game has increased in the time I've been watching footy, some 30+ years. The finesse and agility of some players today surpasses just about anything seen before. The physical strength and ability of modern players at top level is way above what it was previously. Plus the balls have changed in their construction, the quality of pitches has improved (remember the mud baths you used to see?), so you simply can't compare then with now.

One thing hasn't changed, and that's the game's appeal. Will always be the number one sport.

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[url= http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-fc/liverpool-fc-news/2008/08/07/liverpool-fans-declared-sexiest-in-the-premiership-and-that-s-official-64375-21480399/ ]"LIVERPOOL FC players may be physically fit, but now their supporters have been officially declared the “fittest” or sexiest in the Premiership – and that’s official"[/url].

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the beautiful game 😉
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See, the current Barca and Real teams have between them helped create the current World and Yerpean Champion Spanish side, possibly with more of a Barça influence.

i agree, that's true. The success of all succesful national teams historically, hinged upon the emergence of one world great surrounded by a strong supporting cast - holland 74 (cruyff), argentina 78 (kempes), argentina 86 (maradona) brazil 94(romario) etc, etc. spain have the benefit of players that you wouldn't neccesarily class as all time greats but together are irrestistable - david villa, xavi, alonso, iniesta et al.

i still maintain however that barca are merely the classic holland adapted to the modern era so that they press.
i can't argue that they aren't a great side but for me they're not one of the greats.

all opinion isn't it ?

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I think it's also fair to say that barcelona have similarities to ajax in terms of development. continuity must be a major factor in the success of both teams and both nations

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(stopping now - they've had some fantastic teams)
LOL at molby in that pic, tubbier than me

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LOL at molby in that pic, tubbier than me

That's not Molby, that's Stevie Nicol.