Second best (vs Barcelona)

By: Shaun | May 28th, 2011

vds save It wasn’t the fairytale ending we were all hoping for. But for any fan in red to argue that we deserved something out of this game would have been a serious disservice to the way the Spanish champions dominated us.

We fared better than our showing from 2 years ago. But that wasn’t exactly very difficult to do. Yet again, Barcelona showed why they are a class above every other club team over the past few years and it will take something miraculous to displace them at the top.

Impressions:

1. No Berbatov. Wow. We all had a feeling that Rooney and Chicharito would be the front pairing to start. But to look at the bench and not even see our top scorer on there told us everything we needed to know about SAF’s estimation of him for the biggest games. How much longer will he be content to merely come off the bench?

2. Valdez did not have that many shots to stop during the night, but I thought he was excellent with his focus and came off the line very quickly to snuff out any long balls we sent forward from deep.

3. Messi was magical as always. I don’t know if there was ever any hope of containing him for the full 90 minutes. Villa worked hard and his strike for the third goal and the quintessential nail in the coffin was pure class.

4. Just like 2 years ago, we started off well, but once Barca got into their rhythm, there was little we could do. On the positive side, we weren’t solely reliant on a Ronaldo to pull us back into the game this time round. As has been the case all year, we attacked us a team, but had no answer to Barca’s ability to shut down space and regain possession very quickly.

5. Would the inclusion of Fletcher or a player like de Rossi have helped? I don’t think so. Not on a night when Barca were as rampant as they were. Sometimes, you just have to tip your hat to the opposing team and say “well done”.

6. Evra appeared a weak link in our defense tonight. The Barca players found acres of space out on the right with Evra being sucked into the middle way too often. This capped a less than remarkable season for our leftback who has up till this year, been the standard of reliability at the back.

7. Make no mistake about this. I was and still am incredibly proud of the effort our team put forth tonight. They knew their game plan and stuck to it. They worked hard and did everything they could to pressure Barca when they had possession. Unfortunately, the effort wasn’t enough to get us the result we wanted.

walk A sad way to end a career for VDS and possibly, Scholes. I can’t see the Ginger Prince coming back after the way he’s performed in the second half of the season. As sad as it is to see him go, it will force us into transitioning our squad sooner rather than later.

Congrats to Barca again for a win that they fully deserved. It sucks to lose. Yet, the blow is softened by the fact that we put up a bit more of a fight than the last go around. However, we were always second best and even subpar at times against a world class Barcelona team.

Some Related Man United Posts:

Category: Champions League, Manchester United, Match Reports

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king kenny

YOU GOT WELL AND TRULY FUCKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ahmad_h

what eases what happened to me yesterday were two things:
1)barca fully deserved the title, we didn't lose by a wrong ref decision or anything, we were simply domninated. Congrats Barca, if i were a Madrid fan, i'd be worrying for my place as the best European team (9 vs 4? my money is on barca for sure)
2)the players gave it their all on the pitch.

side notes:
1)Chicharito still needs experience, give him time and he will be able to have impacts in big games like this... i simply didn't expect him to do anything in this game, and that was the truth.
2)Scholes and giggs .... i idolize these players, but it's time to call it a rest. Not because of the final.... but because of the season in general.
3)EVDS, the best GK to play for united in my opinion, but i really wished you'd retire on a high note, that messi goal should have been saved but i'm not gonna nag on this one, u rescued us on many many more occasions. Gonna be missed. hope we can bring in a worthy replacement.
4)Midfield, we need a new one. Great defensive system (even though evra last night made me extremely worried), and a very promising front line, all we need is someone to connect these two properly.
5)Could berba have changed anything yesterday? i think he would, but hey i'm not SAF.
6)i'm 100% sure that SAF will not think of retiring anytime soon until he avenges himself and united. 2 final losses kinda hurt, and SAF is definitely planning to face them again.
7)Valencia sucked for the first time in a united shirt this season. Proves he is prone to playing badly after all.
8)Next season will be better ... hopefully.
9)GGMU
Roy

I'm a ie hard Barca fans and I just want to say thank you to Manchester United, to the club and also the fans.

Great match, quality match, football vs football.
A hundred times more precious than match against EE (Evil Empire, a.k.a. madrid, in case you're not familiar with), which is full of negativity and anti-football.

Thank you. Hopefully we'll meet again in Munich next year.
Swapnil

i don't think whatever players,whatever formation we played would have made any difference yesterday.barca were sublime!!!credit to the barca team,worthy champions!!!!
only positive i can see coming out of this is that fergie would have realized that the current team though good enough to dominate domestic football are not quite good enough to win in Europe and will surely look to bring in some quality players in order to achieve that!!!
matt

gotta say shaun your coverage leading up to this was non existant...code for terrible.

also carrick was a complete passenger and fletcher or ffs a de rossi may of at least looked to stop such a beatdown.

here's to more coverage from you as long as it isn't completely patronizing to the opposition...barcelona deserved it this time..in your other articles...not so much.
Shaun

appreciate the feedback matt. i wish i could have posted a lot more than i have recently, but my daytime job has been incredibly busy as of late.

interesting point you make about my take on our opposition in prior articles. were there any specific matches you were referring to?
Anton

Wow Shaun, you're such an amazing writer. And such a class act. I can only hope that you exemplify football fans all over the world.

Thank you for giving credit where credit is due. Mad respect to Sir Alex Ferguson and all Man U players and fans. It really was a great year for you guys. I've been so extremely impressed by SAF this past season. He's proven once again why he's the best coach in the world. Barcelona is experiencing a great run these past several years, but Manchester United is still the standard by which all Futbol Clubs are measured against. And agreed, sad way for a legend like VDS to go out but this one lose doesn't even begin to define his fantastic career.

Hope to see you guys again next year in Germany.

- another Barca Fan
Omeid Heidari

Very good commentary. I am extremely proud of this United squad. There were times during the match where we really gave barca a run for their money. The first half was one of the most exciting halves of football i've seen in a very long time. Glory Glory Man United. May we continue to build this squad and come back strong for next season
Icemel

Pure Class Shaun, Pure class United.
Wish we could have faced United 5 times this season instead of those other chumps.
--a Barca Fan
Icemel can suck my c0ck

and I'm tired of seeing players holding their faces every 10 seconds =)
Nina

You proved right away that you're a chump!! I pity you n EE!!
Sajjad53

i dought whether u have one !!