Darren Fletcher...

Quite amazing progression from this lad this year, IMO, quite possibly our most important midfielder now.

Games lost this season - 6 (Arsenal (a), Liverpool (h & a), Fulham (a), Derby (a), Barcelona.)

Games lost in which Fletcher played/was available - 1 (Fulham (a)) In which we were down to ten men for 75 minutes.

Still very, very underrated imo.

Would have been a different game completly if he would have played last night

Good point Dunk, yourself Borsuk and £#%&!it are doing the forum proud this morning.

Yep. That hole their geezer sauntered through to set up the 1st goal could have accommodated an oil tanker, and it's exactly where Fletcher would have been.

This is what was so disappointing for me though: Barça capitalised superbly on United's weaknesses, and you have to give them credit for it. In contrast, Barça had several glaring holes ripe for exploitation, so it will always baffle me why Fergie left out all that attacking talent. It was a throwback to the 90s days of panicking like £#%&! about the opposition, thinking "OMG it's BARCA!!! Aaaagh!", instead of letting them worry about just how the £#%&! to deal with Berbatov and/or Tevez interchanging with Ronaldo and Rooney. Their makeshift defence wouldn't have been able to cope with it, yet Guardiola must have thought it was his birthday when he saw the teamsheet.

Originally Posted by Zorg

Yep. That hole their geezer sauntered through to set up the 1st goal could have accommodated an oil tanker, and it's exactly where Fletcher would have been.

This is what was so disappointing for me though: Barça capitalised superbly on United's weaknesses, and you have to give them credit for it. In contrast, Barça had several glaring holes ripe for exploitation, so it will always baffle me why Fergie left out all that attacking talent. It was a throwback to the 90s days of panicking like £#%&! about the opposition, thinking "OMG it's BARCA!!! Aaaagh!", instead of letting them worry about just how the £#%&! to deal with Berbatov and/or Tevez interchanging with Ronaldo and Rooney. Their makeshift defence wouldn't have been able to cope with it, yet Guardiola must have thought it was his birthday when he saw the teamsheet.

Spot on

Originally Posted by Zorg

Yep. That hole their geezer sauntered through to set up the 1st goal could have accommodated an oil tanker, and it's exactly where Fletcher would have been.

This is what was so disappointing for me though: Barça capitalised superbly on United's weaknesses, and you have to give them credit for it. In contrast, Barça had several glaring holes ripe for exploitation, so it will always baffle me why Fergie left out all that attacking talent. It was a throwback to the 90s days of panicking like £#%&! about the opposition, thinking "OMG it's BARCA!!! Aaaagh!", instead of letting them worry about just how the £#%&! to deal with Berbatov and/or Tevez interchanging with Ronaldo and Rooney. Their makeshift defence wouldn't have been able to cope with it, yet Guardiola must have thought it was his birthday when he saw the teamsheet.

Come off it - I think the team he put out yesterday was the one that 95% of fans would have picked.

We massively missed Fletcher though - I agree with you on that.

Originally Posted by dunk

Quite amazing progression from this lad this year, IMO, quite possibly our most important midfielder now.

Games lost this season - 6 (Arsenal (a), Liverpool (h & a), Fulham (a), Derby (a), Barcelona.)

Games lost in which Fletcher played/was available - 1 (Fulham (a)) In which we were down to ten men for 75 minutes.

Still very, very underrated imo.

Agree.. and if Hargreaves doesn't return fit and healthy and/or we don't buy another midfielder, he'll be even more pivotal next season.

Originally Posted by Barksdale

Come off it - I think the team he put out yesterday was the one that 95% of fans would have picked.

We massively missed Fletcher though - I agree with you on that.

Yeah and we were all wrong.

Originally Posted by Barksdale

Come off it - I think the team he put out yesterday was the one that 95% of fans would have picked.

But why not exploit their weaknesses? Since they played Chelsea all the talk had been of their suspensions and injuries, Abidal out, Alves out, etc. They had a makeshift defence, simple as that. So why leave £50-60m of attacking talent on the bench, essentially guaranteeing said defence an easy night? It was a gigantic wasted opportunity and they must have been amazed. I wouldn't have picked a team with no recognised centre-forward against that decimated back line. It smacked of negativity and paranoia to me.

I understand it's a squad game and teams are picked to suit the opposition, but you can take that too far and get hung up on it, and I felt that's what happened last night. It was clear Barça didn't worry for one second about United's team, they just played their own game and exploited the Fletcher-shaped hole in the middle, whereas Fergie had clearly been shitting himself about what they could do.

We had the same gameplan as the Arsenal game didn't we? Keep it tight and compact (Rooney and Park on the wings for instance), Ronaldo up top (who was brilliant at the Emirates) and hit them on the counter attack.

A stupid thing to say but had we have scored first, we'd have won comfortably I reckon. They were on the ropes and I think they'd have buckled under the pressure. Their goal was such a killer - they grew in confidence and we just looked beaten then. That was the most disappointing thing for me yesterday. We panicked and seemed to have very little belief.

I think Souness was spot on in his post match analysis. Ferguson would have been shocked seeing the lack of character from some of his players.

Oh well - what could have been eh? Still, we've had a great season but I have to say, I'm looking forward to a few months off the football.

The team last night was right, then they scored, then we panicked and we never recovered. Darren would've made a difference though.

Originally Posted by Barksdale

Come off it - I think the team he put out yesterday was the one that 95% of fans would have picked.

We massively missed Fletcher though - I agree with you on that.

Not a £#%&!ing chance I'd of picked Giggs & Park in the same XI for a CL final.

I know it's hindsight, but what a waste of talent on the bench & an opportunity missed.

Originally Posted by Barksdale

We had the same gameplan as the Arsenal game didn't we? Keep it tight and compact (Rooney and Park on the wings for instance), Ronaldo up top (who was brilliant at the Emirates) and hit them on the counter attack.

A stupid thing to say but had we have scored first, we'd have won comfortably I reckon. They were on the ropes and I think they'd have buckled under the pressure. Their goal was such a killer - they grew in confidence and we just looked beaten then. That was the most disappointing thing for me yesterday. We panicked and seemed to have very little belief.

I think Souness was spot on in his post match analysis. Ferguson would have been shocked seeing the lack of character from some of his players.

Oh well - what could have been eh? Still, we've had a great season but I have to say, I'm looking forward to a few months off the football.

Don't think it's a stupid thing to say, I thought the same. Had, say, a striker been on the pitch to respond to that rebound from Ronaldo's free-kick, who knows. Instead it fell to a man with the goalscoring instincts of a packet of crisps.

Yes, that system worked brilliantly at the Emirates but it was with a 1-0 lead from the first leg. 'Keeping it tight' I understand, but I really felt he could have gone for it and like I said, just let them worry about how the £#%&! to handle such a superb strike force.

I just can't get my head round the baffling lack of adventure last night right from the team selection, but I'll have to stop going on about it or it'll boil my one remaining brain cell.

Originally Posted by Barksdale

We had the same gameplan as the Arsenal game didn't we? Keep it tight and compact (Rooney and Park on the wings for instance), Ronaldo up top (who was brilliant at the Emirates) and hit them on the counter attack.

.

I may be kidding myself, but i really think had Ronnies free kick in the 2nd minute gone in it could have been the emirates all over again, their keeper did not have a £#%&!ing clue if he was going to save it, or if it was going to fly in off his knees, then Pique bailed him out too - we would have been 1-0 up their keep having had a bit of a mare, heads ups, confident.

Originally Posted by thatsfuctit

I may be kidding myself, but i really think had Ronnies free kick in the 2nd minute gone in it could have been the emirates all over again, their keeper did not have a £#%&!ing clue if he was going to save it, or if it was going to fly in off his knees, then Pique bailed him out too - we would have been 1-0 up their keep having had a bit of a mare, heads ups, confident.

Yup. First goal was everything last night.

Originally Posted by Zorg

I just can't get my head round the baffling lack of adventure last night right from the team selection, but I'll have to stop going on about it or it'll boil my one remaining brain cell.

The adventure was mis-directed - trying to play through Giggs so far up the pitch, and Park so inept at controlling a football, we shot ourselves in the foot.

Ronaldo's ego didn't help. Shooting from everywhere again. He might of looked like he gave a £#%&!, but for me it was all about HIM rather than the side. Rooney had the absolute %@#$&! ache with him after 10mins. Not that it mattered, Rooney was shit as well.

Originally Posted by Baron_van_Marlon

Rooney had the absolute %@#$&! ache with him after 10mins. Not that it mattered, Rooney was shit as well.

Yeah, it didn't look good very early on when they were stood arguing with each other whilst Barca were running away with the ball.

Originally Posted by Zorg

Yeah, it didn't look good very early on when they were stood arguing with each other whilst Barca were running away with the ball.

Pure frustration, lack of cohesion between what the team should be striving for, one sacraficing himself & the other prising & preeening his way to more personal glory if it was possible. He might deliver regularly, but the team would benefit in the long term if he reigned it in a smidge. He's fractions away from being unstoppable, but somehow we always end up talking about this kind of thing after important games when they don't go our way.

Originally Posted by Zorg

Don't think it's a stupid thing to say, I thought the same. Had, say, a striker been on the pitch to respond to that rebound from Ronaldo's free-kick, who knows. Instead it fell to a man with the goalscoring instincts of a packet of crisps.

Yes, that system worked brilliantly at the Emirates but it was with a 1-0 lead from the first leg. 'Keeping it tight' I understand, but I really felt he could have gone for it and like I said, just let them worry about how the £#%&! to handle such a superb strike force.

I just can't get my head round the baffling lack of adventure last night right from the team selection, but I'll have to stop going on about it or it'll boil my one remaining brain cell.

To be fair, Park played very well at the Emirates and we didn't need this recognised striker when he scored our first there.

I do see what you're saying - it feels like a missed opportunity because we didn't do ourselves justice whatsoever but in all honesty, when have our "superb strike force" looked anything like "superb" this season?

We are still too over reliant on Ronaldo.

Originally Posted by antonin jablonsky

Yup. First goal was everything last night.

he hasn't got a £#%&!ing clue what's going on here