Inter - Barcelona (20 Apr 10)

[Adam]

Jesus Christ, do we have to suffer Cruyffisms now too. Here's another quote from another contemporary poet. Moma said knock you out - L.L Cool J.

 

[Rampage]

Jesus Christ, do we have to suffer Cruyffisms now too. Here's another quote from another contemporary poet. Moma said knock you out - L.L Cool J.

Whoa mate, no need to call me that. My SN will do just fine.

 

[Scarfman]

Haha I just thought they were necessary since some people were knocking down our philosophy. Besides our football 'religion' is Cruyffism.

 

[Intermilano90]

It's confirmed. Maicon will play at right wing against Barca. Cordoba or Zanetti as RB and let Maicon use Barca's weak left flank where Maxwell or Abidal will play. Sources close to Mourinho has claimed that he will be using the 4-1-4-14 or the 4-2-3-1 system.

 

[DIN011]

Moma said knock you out - L.L Cool J.

Dude fell off. :/

Now we got that out the way, let's fuck Barca up. (had to say this ish so my post wasn't completely off topic...)

 

[n4l]

It's confirmed. Maicon will play at right wing against Barca. Cordoba or Zanetti as RB and let Maicon use Barca's weak left flank where Maxwell or Abidal will play. Sources close to Mourinho has claimed that he will be useing an ultra-attacking 4-2-1-3 formation.

abidal is not weak at all....

with ashley cole down, i'd say he's the best left back right now

 

[cdj_dj]

It's confirmed. Maicon will play at right wing against Barca. Cordoba or Zanetti as RB and let Maicon use Barca's weak left flank where Maxwell or Abidal will play.

Where is confirmed ??

 

[Intermilano90]

Abidal is good at defense, but not in attack.

 

[Intermilano90]

Where is confirmed ??

I forgot the source, but it's definitely not a rumor. I think Mou said something about this in his press-conference.

 

[Luka]

However, in regards to possession I do believe it's all down to Barcelona. I've watched them a lot this season and they really are superhumans. Arsenal pressurized them too. They were typical English, running with all they had, same with Real and Manchester last year, but it didn't matter much.

Against Barcelona it's not about possession...

They can have all the possesion in the world, but if that doesn't come with the chances it's nothing. ZIP. And Chelsea game showed that last year.

I don't want to repeat myself, but football is deffense + offense, and neither is better than the other (theoreticly). It is both ballanced. Both can be decisive, and both can hurt you, and it's never that a team who plays (even) Cattenacio is all about deffense, and the team who scores 5 goals and concedes 4 is all about offense.

Sure their offense (or deffense) is close to noexistance, but it's still there. Without a goals La Grande Inter wouldn't be Grande. Deffense is nothing without offense, and offense is nothing without deffense. How methaphysical, I know

The point is Barca offens can be nullified, just like La Grande Cattenacio deffense could be nullified.

IMO, I don't believe there can be ever a team who can dominate BOTH offense AND deffense (if needed).

If there was a team who could deffend like La Grande Inter, and who could attack when in need of a goal like Barcelona today, then you would have a perfect team. Barcelona can do only the second, they can't do the first, because they didn't find an opponent who could chalange their style of play, and force THEM to deffend most of the game.

Barcelona is masterclass doing what they are doing. But what would happen if there would emerge a team, who would have twice the player Xavi is, who would be even better at ball possesion football than Barcelona, who would have even bigger tecnical abbility than Barcelona ? Barcelona would HAVE to deffend, because there would be no other way. And what then ? Is a team who is not used to, not created to deffend for the most part of the game, able to overcome such a situation ?

Currently Barcelona is built on that basics - there is noone better than them (offensively). I don't blame them, but if there was a team like that they would be in big trouble.

The Arsenal game is a perfect example. They play the same style of play, BUT found against the opponent who is better than them, at what they do. And because they can't play any different, they risked and played the way they can, and were literally destroyed. If there was someone who can be even better than Barcelona in this way of playing, it could be Barca's turn to be destroyed, unless they would do what every other team do playing Barcelona. The problem is... they don't know how, they are not built for such a play. Can someone see Xavi/Iniesta duo deffend for 2/3 of the game ? Or Dani Alves ?

Inter HAS to know how to deffend, AND how to attack when in need. All that Barcelona has to know at the moment is how to keep the way they play. That's it. All their games look the same, and it is a BIG advantage for them (not being in need of knowing, to play a deffensive game). BECAUSE there is noone else who can chalange them in this style of play - there is just no need of knowing how to play like that.

Going back to ultimate team. If there was such a team, who would be able, to deffend like La Grande Inter, and who could attack when in need of a goal like Barcelona today or the best Brasil team, then you would have a perfect team, but I don't think that's physicaly possible, due to a different type of players each system need. And Barcelona thus far only showed the abbility of a second one.

Such a team would have to have players who are masterclass in both offense and deffense. Something Matheus like, who was like no other midfielder who ever lived. A total box-to-box midfielder.

Chelsea almost nullified Barcelona's offense, by playing deffense. Chelsea showed that YES, you can beat offense by deffense. The question is, which team plays BETTER with their style of play at current day.

I hope this year, it will be us.

Ofcourse this all is not written in the book Those are just my thoughts.

ps. All rights reserved

 

[Jerry]

It was 13h around, they made a stop in Cannes and rested..

Google Maps Directions

This says its 9 Hours and change, but it looks like they hit some heavy traffic.

Couldn't have been a very pleasant ride... wonder why they didnt take a train...

Either way, this works to our advantage. To those who say we will have to do the same to get to Barcelona in two weeks... I'm not so sure that will be the case. Firstly, the volcano may stop by then. Also, if it does not, we will have more time to plan than Barca did. We may not have to make the whole trip in one day.

 

[Intermilano90]

Barca made a 10-hour trip from Catalunya (Barcelona) to Milano, stopping at Cannes on the way to spend the night.

It's six hours to Cannes and then three to four hours to Milan.

Man they could have just taken the damn train!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Intermilano90]

If an article have the term "EXCLUSIVE" as the heading, does it mean it's a rumor?

 

[Jerry]

If you take Luka's post a step further, it follows that a strong defense is more important than a strong offense. Two powerhouse defenses can sit back and cancel each other out. One team may get a lucky goal, or maybe the result will be penalties, but if you never the other team to score, you will never be defeated.

However, a strong offensive team who cannot absorb pressure will always risk facing a STRONGER offensive team who can exploit their defensive deficiencies and score more goals. As Luka noted, Arsenal-Barca was an example of this. Currently, there is probably not a stronger offensive team than Barca, but if there was, Barca would have to fear that matchup, maybe even change their tactics.

However, if defense is the foundation of your team, and you can absorb pressure better than anyone else, you will always be able to compete. No matter what happens tomorrow, I have faith that we will be in contention to progress 135 minutes into the tie... just like we were last year against Man U.

Mourinho will put us in a position to advance, I am certain. At the end of the day, Barca is a strong side and we may not ultimately get the result we all want. However, I am confident that the tie will remain in the balance and competitive until the very end - because we can absorb pressure and play solid D.

 

[Rampage]

If it is a Goal.com article, it just means that it is nonsense fabricated by them as opposed to the "foreign" nonsense they usually post. I don't think Mourinho would run around and tell some random "Goal.com sources" about his surprise plans. Never trust Goal.com's exclusive stories.

 

[Intermilano90]

If it is a Goal.com article, it just means that it is nonsense fabricated by them as opposed to the "foreign" nonsense they usually post. I don't think Mourinho would run around and tell some random "Goal.com sources" about his surprise plans. Never trust Goal.com's exclusive stories.

I need to find another sources I can depend on, not GOAL.CRAP. If there is an official Inter website for news as it happens then it would be great. I will now go source hunting

I will have to just wait for tomorrow's analysis of the match to learn about the latest news and the official line-up.

 

[Rampage]

Well, I frequent that site myself because they are actually pretty good at collecting, translating (albeit not always 100% accurately...) and re-posting stories from various sources all over Europe but they are absolutely atrocious when it comes to actual journalism. Those pseudo-experts and their "inquisitions" are hilarious, though.

 

[AxigZag.ESIOLAG.]

It's confirmed. Maicon will play at right wing against Barca. Cordoba or Zanetti as RB and let Maicon use Barca's weak left flank where Maxwell or Abidal will play. Sources close to Mourinho has claimed that he will be using the 4-1-4-14 or the 4-2-3-1 system.

Probably the only way out lol I think Abiday is great...Alves on the other hand, is not that great in my opinion...I think he is a lousy defender; great on the offense, but not so enviable defending. Will be interesting though to see how Maicon fares in that formation

 

[Baltazar]

If Mourinho stars Pandev again I'll be pissed off beyond belief. Mario is fearless, he doesn't give a fck. He'll challenge, he'll dribble, he'll irritate. We need players like that. Not to mention he's much more effective in more or less all aspects of the game except for workrate. Mourinho will commit a cardinal sin if he starts Pandev.

I think neither of them will start.

 

[Adam]

Against Barcelona it's not about possession...

Well, considering what we were discussing was whether or not, as you claimed, we will allow Barca to play their game i.e possession football, i'd say it is about possession.

The other part of your post I have no comment on.