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Okay Lazie, that was for you. Don't mind, every body has a bad day at the office sooner or later. Now, not that you care for my opinion, but one of the problems that Manu-r had yesterday was tactics. Slurgie thought that by putting Rooney on the wing, he would open up the game, but once Messi went inside, Rooney was effectively marginalised. What he should have done (and I am no master tactician) should have been to put Tevez in the striker spot and Rooney in behind him with Ronaldo and Park on the wings and Scholes and Carrick in the middle. Giggs should never have started.
As you know, I expected manu to win the game. I can't for the life of me understand how 11 quality players essentially lied down and chose not to play. I know that what I am about to say is baseless (except for personal observation of their game), but there is some kind of extenuating circumstance that the rest of us are not privy to that came into play. The squad that showed up from the northwest yesterday may as well have been from my daughter's rec team. It is as if they were drugged. I think there is more to the story than we are seeing.
That said, much credit must be given to Barca. They have made Spanish football history by winning Spain's first treble. They are an excellent side that will now be remembered as a "great" side. They fielded their second string back 4 and still did the business. They played attacking football and refused to sit on their lead. Great job. Great job to Frank Rjikaard actually, no disrespect to Pep.
The big loser yesterday had to be Ronaldo. The hyped Messi vs. Ronaldo matchup had a clear winner. He has yet to show that he can deliver at the highest level and that includes last year, when he missed the shoot out penalty that could have cost them the game.
The big winner was Messi for obvious reasons, but the most journeyman effort had to go to Puyol who marginalised both Ronaldo and Messi. Pique - massive. Etoo - what can I say? Henry, you should have scored, but congratulations, you now have a CL medal at last (you woulda dead wid out one if you stayed in North London). Xavi, Iniesta - wow!! No question that Xavi is the man - he has won more accolades this season than I can remember, including the ******************** he won at the Euros.
Oh well. This goes to show how difficult it is for a team to win a quintuple or a quadruple as it has never been done before. Manu-r should hold their head high, but if I were them, I would investigate the chef as he must have put some vallium in the dinner...just like manu did to spurs a few seasons ago.
Time to move on. While I can't say to the manu fans "better luck next time", I can say that the "real manu-r" did not show up...Platini somehow made sure of that.
YNWA!!
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