Winning Beautifully Is not Impossible

FC Barcelona's triumph in Rome did shatter some firm belief held by English media and English clubs. The biggest has to be the "English Clubs" claim to be the most potent attacking force in the world. That belief was shattered rather brilliantly by one of the most attacking team in the history of the game. FC Barcelona vs Manchester United was supposed to be a mis-match, according to some English media. They said the same last season also. FC Barcelona was having all kind of defensive worries and their attack was considered impotent to break a defense which kept clean sheets for eternity. This precise thinking for me led to Manchester United's downfall as I pointed out in my previous post Why Manchester United were Stunned by FC Barcelona in the Final?. But this victory also destroys the usual claim by English clubs, fans and media to ridicule Barca's style of playing. According to English media, FC Barcelona play a brand of football which looks good for viewing but is deemed to be incappable in winning titles. And even if they do, then could only do in a league where even the bottom placed team come out to attack the champions. But then you will be compelled to ask, how else should the beautiful game be played? I recently came adcross an article by Richard Williams of Guardian - Barcelona's triumph holds hope for Arsène Wenger's brand of football. That article precisely points out the state of English football. English Premier League is indeed the most toughest league in world right now; but I haven't heard someone calling it as the most brilliant or exciting league in the world. How can someone call this league an exciting one when Ballack who was supposed to be the most exciting Genrman midfielder plays like a defensive midfielder in Chelsea and still gets payed more than 100,000 pounds per week. My room-mate(who is a Chelsea fan) still don't understand why they extended his deal.

But if you have thought the brilliant display by Barca in Rome could make the Big four of English League to be more attacking, then you are wrong. The early indication is that pundits are calling for a Chelsea like approach against Barca as they have finally agreed that Barca are the masters in their own style of playing. They also seemed to be agreeing and appreciating the fact that they are the only team capable of playing an attacking brand of football and still winning. Only Chelsea fans and pundits seems to differ. I have agreed earlier that FC Barcelona was indeed lucky to get past Chelsea. But then to an extend you can say that Chelsea digged their own grave by the wasy they played football. Atleast after Barca were reduced to ten men they could have sealed the match, but they will hardly leave their box and in a cruel turn of fate they were eliminated by an Iniesta screamer. But I have read some Chelsea fans comments that FC Barcelona's triumph over Manchester United is equal to Chelsea winning the Champions League. I have only one answer to that - dream on. Shaktar Donetsk has beaten us at our home does that make the reigning UEFA cup winner good for the title of UEFA Champions League winner?

But in between all these triump, everyone forgot a bigger fact. A fact which became existent in England. The fact that a good youth system can bring success for the club. English clubs have long abandoned the youth academies which once made them proud. The new owners does not find any merit in investing in young talents. The Manchester side which achieved the treble prior to this Barcelona side had a bunch of recruits honned and nurtured by the club. The success of that Manchester United side has to be associated to that philosophy as it becomes difficult for rival clubs to grab these talents. Just look at the continuing Ronaldo saga. The FC Barcelona side which triumphed at Rome had six home-grown players which started the match and seven altogether who played in the match. Iniesta, Xavi, Messi, Puyol, Pique and Valdes are one of the best in their respective departments at this moment. THe second line of supply is already there with Bojan, Pedro, Jeffren, Muniesa, Sanches, etc. Some may part ways but still will dream about a day of returning back. The big four in English football and Italian football would do a world of good for them and the nation by getting their focus back to Youth structure.

European Champions Arrive at Home

Why Manchester United were Stunned by FC Barcelona in the Finals?

This one was billed as the "Mother of All Final". It indeed had to be. The final of this year's UEFA Champions League featured The Champions of Spain and England. Manchester United were the defending Champions and having won the Premier League for the third consecutive time was the prime candidate to retain their title, at least according to English Media. FC Barcelona, even though they had the most strongest attack on the earth, the English media and pundits gave them no chance owing to their defensive fragility. To add it all their attack struggled against Chelsea and was written off as "Not Good Against English Clubs". The English media had all predicted the outcome of this final before hand and was only waiting to see how well Manchester United is going to kill Barca. But the match turned out to be the biggest surprise for the English media. To their astonishment, FC Barcelona won and to add to their injuries FC Barcelona never had to play well to win this final. They weren't anywhere near their potential, still they kept a very talented Manchester United team under check.

This match was not only a clash between two giant clubs in Europe; it was also a match between a the most successful coach in club history against a rookie coach. At the end of the match you have to admit that FC Barcelona coach Guardiola came on top. I never considered Guardiola as a tactical genius; he is more a man manger kind of coach. But he completely had Ferguson under check. Numerous Postmortem has been conducted by English media about ManU's failure, but I doubt anything has been accurate. Most of them are finding it difficult to point fingers at Ferguson, a person they have always admired. Ronaldo may have directed the blame to Ferguson with his post-match comments about tactics. But his second half performance did not merit any merit either. More over he said he wasn't sure about his future in the post-match comments; that comment was a bigger shame. He should have taken heart-broken Manchester United fans into consideration before saying something which adds to their misery.

But their is no doubt in my mind about the fact that Ferguson has to take a majority of the blame. He never gave this Barca side the respect they deserved before the match and again failed to read the game at half-time. Many people has directed the entire blame to the starting eleven he chose. But for me that's a bit strange. You ask every pundit before the match they would have wanted a similar starting eleven. So for me his starting eleven choice was more or less accurate. More over 4-3-3 formation was a better choice than the 4-4-2 formation, as Barca had two old legs as full backs. For me Ferguson and his players took all the hype created by the English media about ManU's defense and Barca's defensive worries into the head. Manchester United came out with an absolute belief that this FC Barcelona side would never be able to score against them. The reaction of Manchester United defensive players after conceding the first goal is a testimony of this. They stood their looking totally confused as this was not part of their script. To decide that this talented FC Barcelona side will never be able to score against them was for me arrogance at its best. Manchester United always had a better chance of outscoring us because of our problems with the absentees we had in defense.

But what made Manchester United's pursuit a complete lost one was the inability of Ferguson to read the game at half time. There was no doubt that Manchester United was losing the midfield battle completely. Iniesta and Xavi were drawing circles around Anderson and Carrick. What Manchester United needed was a double substitution at half time. he should have taken off Anderson for Scholes and Park for Tevez. But he did half of each - Andesron for Tevez. This meant that they will go back to 4-4-2 formation. That tactic completely changed the match in Barca's favour. In the first half Rooney regularly troubled Puyol with his pace, eventhough his crossing was appalling. The logical thing to do was to move Tevez to centre and put Ronaldo against Sylvinho on the right in a 4-3-3 formation. But instead he chose the 4-42 formation that means the full back had more time to deal with the wingers. That is illustrated by the fact that Puyol had an error free game after the half time.

By not employing Scholes early in second half, Ferguson allowed Barca's midfield to completely dominate the possession. Scholes would have tried his best to make life difficult for atleast Busquets. But that was not to be. And also I have to question his decision to have Ferdinand in starting line-up ahead of Evans. Ferdinand and Vidic looked out of sync for majority of the match. Meanwhile Guardiola produce a tactical masterstroke by moving Messi to middle ahead of the midfield. That made sure that Messi, Iniesta and Xavi linked well at will. Apart from that he never had to work his brain. Everything went perfect according to his script - an early goal, Complete domination by Barca and a timely goal to settle the match. One of the best thing about this Champions League season is that it has catapulted Iniesta to greatness. He is a very media shy person and would never appear in limelight. But his performance in last few months have made people compare him with Messi and Ronaldo. Just listen to Rooney, a man who would have only one answer to the "Best Player on The Planet" debate a few days back - Rooney said and I qoute "I think Iniesta is the best player in the world right now. They pass the ball so well. If you don't take your chances against them, they will punish you." For all ManU fans who is reading this - don't take these comments personally, just take a moment and go through it, you will agree with my views.