Fergie: United "not far away" from Barca
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Manchester United begin their Europa League campaign this week but manager Sir Alex Ferguson still insists his team are "not far away" from the quality of Real Madrid and Barcelona. United have reached the final of Europe's flagship competition three times in the past four seasons but surprisingly went out at the group stage this term after two damaging results - a draw and a defeat - against Swiss side Basel. However, Ferguson is convinced that was merely a blip and his side can soon get back to the level of the top European sides. "I feel we had the ability to go all the way to the final," Ferguson told FIFA.com. "Luck wasn't on our side, but I think we've got the ambition to compete with Barcelona and Real Madrid, and I don't feel we're that far away from them. I'm sure we'll show that soon.'' Although United have suffered in Europe this season, the Premier League champions are just two points behind leaders Manchester City domestically and temporarily topped the table after beating Liverpool on Saturday. from soccernet Ferguson is determined to push neighbours City all the way to the title this season to help compensate for being dumped out of the Champions League, despite having to do so without key members of his squad. "We've had our ups and downs and we've been unlucky with injuries. We've had a lot of them, which you don't expect, and we've got people like Nemanja Vidic and Darren Fletcher out for the whole season," Ferguson said. "You can replace your best players for a game or two, but you really notice the difference over a longer period, and that's what's happened to us. "Even so, we're fighting hard to win the Premiership again and there's a lot of merit in that. Obviously I'm optimistic about our chances.'' United have a high-profile fixture against Ajax at the Amsterdam ArenA on Thursday to kick-off their Europa League campaign and Ferguson has said he will play his strongest team.
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man u are good, but not that good. they're still way behind the current barca team.
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Not really though, cos Barce are in decline... Their defense, captain Puyol a great player is 33 and will be 34 in 2 months time. Abidal is 32 and Alves is 28 coming to 29 in 3 months. Not a good age for a modern full-back theseday where his strong point is his quick running up and down in support of its winger.
In midfield, Xavi is also coming to the end like Ronaldinho once did. He is 32 now... Iniesta is the only one left but at 28 and injury prone starting this season, probably have another 3 yrs or 5 but not too sure on his ability to contribution hugely when he reach 30. Fabregas though younger, isn't Xavi.
The only plus point they got is Messi... But they are really still in decline otherwise they wouldn't be 10 points behind Real in the league table. The thing is Real isn't anything special, they just maintain their last season standard that's all. It's Barce who are in decline as they are only 8 points from the team in 3rd where normally it would be 15 or 18 by now which Real are.
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compare united with barcelona and RM midfield, how to fight?
when play against barcelona our midfielder gets dominated by xavi, iniesta, messi etc. even if sneider is to join united, how can sneider fight against barcelona midfielder? we need at least 2 or 3 world class midfielders in order to match them stride for stride. one sneider is not enough.
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Originally posted by zocoss:
Not really though, cos Barce are in decline... Their defense, captain Puyol a great player is 33 and will be 34 in 2 months time. Abidal is 32 and Alves is 28 coming to 29 in 3 months. Not a good age for a modern full-back theseday where his strong point is his quick running up and down in support of its winger.
In midfield, Xavi is also coming to the end like Ronaldinho once did. He is 32 now... Iniesta is the only one left but at 28 and injury prone starting this season, probably have another 3 yrs or 5 but not too sure on his ability to contribution hugely when he reach 30. Fabregas though younger, isn't Xavi.
The only plus point they got is Messi... But they are really still in decline otherwise they wouldn't be 10 points behind Real in the league table. The thing is Real isn't anything special, they just maintain their last season standard that's all. It's Barce who are in decline as they are only 8 points from the team in 3rd where normally it would be 15 or 18 by now which Real are.
looks like its RM title to lose now, but barcelona is still the overwhelming favourites to win the CL. anyway barcelona will be favourite to win the La Liga next season even if they dun win this season. plus they are in the spanish cup final now, surely they are the favourites to win the cup.Barcelona's reserves are ready to play in the first team, at least a few are ready, like alcantara. look at what Barcelona will buy for next season, if they really buy Bale from Spurs, then they will be stronger in the left wing.
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He had better concentrate on preparing us for the Europa League and how to throw MC off the top of the table.If we win the Europa League....SAF will have a full collection of European trophies.
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can lar , lure all their youngsters away from barcelona
If every team had a "Messi" no need teamwork lar .. solo can lia0
btw , i still confused who is Barcelona LB? Abidal or that Adriano? -
last time united have good midfielders in the past, like ince, keane, robson, scholes etc. but not really world class midfielders like zidane or kaka mould. now is hope that tom cleverley will fulfil his potential and be as good as scholes. hope united buy sneider and jack rodwell to boost the midfield next season.
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Originally posted by Jacky Woo:
last time united have good midfielders in the past, like ince, keane, robson, scholes etc. but not really world class midfielders like zidane or kaka mould. now is hope that tom cleverley will fulfil his potential and be as good as scholes. hope united buy sneider and jack rodwell to boost the midfield next season.
Agree with you,we always had a good blend of foreigners and young British talent in the United squad like the teams of the 1990s.
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i'm a man utd fan but we're like barcelona? lol... Barcelona seems to ease pass opponents even playing away... but Man Utd struggles to beat Basel... both home and away.
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when berbatov is playing, we gt 70% of seeing him scoring .. and he pass well dun he?
when welbeck is playing, i gt no mood to watch lia0 -
Originally posted by DailyFreeGames.com:
i'm a man utd fan but we're like barcelona? lol... Barcelona seems to ease pass opponents even playing away... but Man Utd struggles to beat Basel... both home and away.
the problem with spanish and english players are distinct. la liga players are more technical then british or english. whats why english struggle to play against teams who tend to pass, like brazilians and spanish. british is more like hustle and bustle and long balls. although man u and arsenal are known as passing teams, but against barcelona, its like comparing adults and kids lor if u ask me.
Barcelona is the best passing teams I have ever seen, except for Ajax in the 70s with Cryuff total football concept. I have never seen a team dominate and play possession football the way they do. Barcelona can be comparable to the Brazil and Ajax of the 1970s.
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Originally posted by Jacky Woo:
the problem with spanish and english players are distinct. la liga players are more technical then british or english. whats why english struggle to play against teams who tend to pass, like brazilians and spanish. british is more like hustle and bustle and long balls. although man u and arsenal are known as passing teams, but against barcelona, its like comparing adults and kids lor if u ask me.
Barcelona is the best passing teams I have ever seen, except for Ajax in the 70s with Cryuff total football concept. I have never seen a team dominate and play possession football the way they do. Barcelona can be comparable to the Brazil and Ajax of the 1970s.
i know there are different styles among the different clubs... but Barcelona passing really nothing to say, they can have 70%-80% possession, very hard to win if the other team is controlling the play.I seldom see Man Utd dominating in a match, sure they scrap through and struggle abit here and there and win 1-0... but if you're talking about being at that top level, you need to have many players who can change games. Like Messi, Ronaldo, David Silva... United team I can see Rooney, Nani,Valencia as a game changer at this time of point... but still not that type 1 person dribble all and score like Messi or Ronaldo.
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Originally posted by dragg:
man u are good, but not that good.
they’re still way behind the current barca team.
mufc is good maybe within EPL, but in UCL, they have not been a force since the last win. It is good that at the very least MUFC fans are realistic that the team is still a bit far from what Barca has accomplished in the last few seasons.
EPL now is rather dynamic and you would never know which rich owners will come in and do a Mcity. Hopefully, MU will not digress from their policies of developing their youths be it SAF or the next manager.
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united need to revamp their midfield, period,whether creative midfielder or destroyer, you need both.
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No problem in the GK,defense and attack....It is in the middle of the field where an overhaul is really needed.
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You know your midfield is in a bad condition when you have to ask scholes to come back from retirement to hold up the midfield for the rest of the season. If united doesnt buy any world class midfielder during the summer, i can see they will have a hard time again. Or just get scholes to play another season?
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fletcher was out for the season and injuries to cleverley and anderson depleted united midfield, forces fergie hands to ask scholes to come back from retirement. that said, his priority over the summer, should be to buy a midfielder, as united mifield was totally overran by barcelona in the CL final last May. He tried to buy Sneider, but his wage demands of 250k a week proved to be a stumbling block. hopefully he will join united in the off season. if he doesnt, fergie needs to buy 2 midfield at least, 1 a creative midfielder and the other a destroyer, as it is not sure if fletcher will come back to play next season.