Anyway, I feel fairly vindicated in this old argument now
nah.....my fairly uncontroversial contention was that barcelona on paper should destroy all comers, and i don't think that essentially theoretical argument is disproven given their (often self inflicted) misfortune since then
conceding 1 goal in two games v united isn't the problem, it's the not scoring! they haven't scored in ther last 4 games, almost unheard of in recent history
how come.......
if you read about what's happened to ronaldinho, a fucking disgrace of pandering and coverups.....there were inklings of this but the full scale of wastage through indolence and concessions is just untrue....he could have been a rival to cruyff and maradona going by his form at 24, 25, now he's past it at 28
(deco gone the same way to a lesser extent)
messi again heavily disrupted by two major injuries this season, and it's a concern if he'll ever be adequately fit to fulfill his gifts
these are the two most naturally gifted footballers of the age, few who've seen enough of them could argue that kaka and c ronaldo, without their natural athleticism, could compare purely at the level of technique and instantaneous intelligence
then they have the two finest centre forwards, henry and eto'o, the former now seems chronically injured and the latter just hasn't come back from his last serious injury.......should have scored once at camp nou, and if he'd fallen under ferdinand's challenge would undoubtedly have got a penalty
iniesta and xavi showed in both these games that their retention and skill far outweighs any utd midfielder (scholes excepted), but the way this barcelona team is conceived they aren't supposed to play the final ball all the time, that was ronaldinho or deco's job.....it's a division of labour....the midfield can play tika taka tika taka all day long but someone else is supposed to do the final incision
xavi shows this is something of a failure in the catalan-spanish imagination when he says barcelona didn't deserve to lose, since his education is to priviledge possesion and control above opportunism, and the latter's success is always discounted
this determinism is inherent in rijkaard (and through him, cruyff) ALWAYS playing 70s style dutch 4-3-3 even when all these injuries and problems render that formation unworkable.....my mistake was assuming iniesta could sub for ronaldinho at left wing but it seems you do need a proper wing-forward to play there
that said barcelona are the finest techincal collection of players, and no amount of english chauvinism can say that their method is now proven to be defunct - nu-catenaccio is winning for now but barcelona will change this summer and they might not be so poorly managed next time round