Wesley Sneijder

[monster09]

Ummm, how would Iniesta be any better than Sneijder playing CM in 4-4-2? Xavi would also be very suspect for this role in physical english game. They are made to play in a midfield three.

Sir Alex knows he lost against Barca in midfield and that he will continue to do so without proper playmaker to control the game. Anderson and Cleverley might look good right now, but against Barca they will most likely be like headless chickens chasing shadows. I would never bet you to win CL this year. I, for one, believe Sir Alex wanted to play 4-3-3 this season. Without playmaker such as Xavi or Wes it doesn't make sense. This would have been great for you guys, since you have good wingforwards in Young and Nani, plus very versatile and mobile forwards in Welbeck and Rooney.

Oh yeah, and while Sneijder isn't great central midfielder right now, Ferguson knows he would have been one under his tutelage.

I dont know about wanting to play 4-3-3 as last season Berbatov was dropped for Hernandez. From past 4-5 seasons we have played 4-3-3 in the tough european away games. But last season we played 4-4-2 against all the opponents (at least most of them), so we have tweaked our playing style. It looks 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 on paper but on pitch it is more of a 4-2-3-1 with Welbeck as lead striker, Rooney, Nani, Young playing behind.

There is no team in the world that can match and dominate Barca's midfield. Every team were chasing their shadows and we were no better. Probably we will play 4-3-3 with Fletcher, Carrick, Anderson as the midfielders or Cleverley instead of Carrick. Our goal scoring chances will come from wings and Rooney is our playmaker.

If we dont win Champions league, simple reason is we were not good enough. We can play Sneijder, De Rossi, Alonso, still Barca will run rings around the midfield.

 

[blackmore]

There is no team in the world that can match and dominate Barca's midfield. Every team were chasing their shadows and we were no better.

AHEM........WATCH N LEARN!

 

[Johnny Ludlow]

You certainly are not good enough with Carrick. Replacing him with Sneijder in 4-3-3 would have been a huge upgrade. The fact that you would still be second best to Barca is hardly a reason to not strengthen. I think Sir Alex really wanted Sneijder, and rightly so. I don't think there was another player on market who as clearly would have made you a better team.

I'm not saying you would have played every game with 4-3-3. Sneijder would have been just fine in a 4-4-2 against weaker opposition.

 

[monster09]

AHEM........WATCH N LEARN!

I can't see that Video from my work place. I assume it is Inter beating Barca.

But that was one off game. When was the last time any team dominated Barca in terms of possession?

Inter were awesome defensively at Barca so were Chelsea in 2009. But you need strong defensive midfielders to do that that we lack now.

---------- Post added at 12:24 ---------- Previous post was at 12:22 ----------

You certainly are not good enough with Carrick. Replacing him with Sneijder in 4-3-3 would have been a huge upgrade. The fact that you would still be second best to Barca is hardly a reason to not strengthen. I think Sir Alex really wanted Sneijder, and rightly so. I don't think there was another player on market who as clearly would have made you a better team.

I'm not saying you would have played every game with 4-3-3. Sneijder would have been just fine in a 4-4-2 against weaker opposition.

Modric would have been a better player for us, he would have fit in perfectly in our team. Like Sneijder, he was out of reach for whatever reasons.

From day 1 Modric is perfect for us and Sneijder is perfect for Chelsea. Still I would say the same.

 

[Universe]

4-4-2 with a flat 4 midfield is a shit formation. There's not enough depth to the midfield and there is so much space between defensive lines to exploit, and this is why Barcelona raped Man Utd twice.

Against Barcelona, we played a formation of:

JC
Maicon - Lucio - Samuel - JZ
Motta - Cambiasso
Sneijder
Pandev - Milito - Eto'o​

which was more compact in defence, and was able to spread out rapidly when counter-attacking.

You ask "When was the last time any team dominated Barca in terms of possession?"
I feel that Mourinho made that question redundant. Instead the question became a clear answer that you don't need possession to defeat Barcelona convincingly. Who cares about possession if you end up losing? For example, anyone who watches football, unbiased or biased, would say that we comprehensively outplayed Bayern Munich at the Bernabeu, and we had less possession in that match. Mourinho showed that with a hard-working, organised defence, you can render a team ineffective and impotent, regardless of how much possession they have.

 

[monster09]

4-4-2 with a flat 4 midfield is a shit formation. There's not enough depth to the midfield and there is so much space between defensive lines to exploit, and this is why Barcelona raped Man Utd twice.
.

Exactly. So only I said we need destroyer more than Attacking midfielder to shut out Barca..

 

[ghostnik11]

Exactly. So only I said we need destroyer more than Attacking midfielder to shut out Barca..

No you don't need a destroyer like a Gattuso, Von Bomel or a Motta that goes on the field and just beat other players behinds for no reason, what you need is a team that is willing to work hard and not be star struck by barca. Inter if you watched the video was hungry when they showed the world how they destoryed barca by playing sound and strong defense against barca and counter attacking effectively, in which inter beat them in 2009-2010 champions league. The thing that inter and Mourinho did that stop barca was that one, in the midfield and defense he had 3 people around messi in a almost triangle like formation in which that took messi out the game. By doing that to messi it forced messi to pick up the ball more at midfield, while doing this xavi, iniesta, ibra were effectively marked every time they got the ball. As you watch inter play barca, I felt barca was getting frustrated as they didn't usually get there way of attacking in all different in and outs b/c inter was playing tactical sound defense in which barca couldn't break down. Have to remember barcelona is an all out attacking team, there best defense is there offense where they keep the ball away from there opponents. If an opponent can get ball and counter attack effectively, that opponent can score on barca and beat them like inter did.

 

[monster09]

No you don't need a destroyer like a Gattuso, Von Bomel or a Motta that goes on the field and just beat other players behinds for no reason, what you need is a team that is willing to work hard and not be star struck by barca..

Destroyer means not a thug. When we played Barca twice we missed Fletcher. Not saying we would have won had he played. He was the only ball winning midfielder we had. Carrick was too immobile, was great against Chelsea but his lack of mobility will always come back to bite against Barca. We needed someone like Fletcher, pepe, Diarra who could have covered the space and closed in as soon as the likes of Xavi, Iniesta received the ball.

Inter had ball winners and played very well, we lacked DM and paid the price for it.

 

[thorn]

Destroyer means not a thug. When we played Barca twice we missed Fletcher. Not saying we would have won had he played. He was the only ball winning midfielder we had. Carrick was too immobile, was great against Chelsea but his lack of mobility will always come back to bite against Barca. We needed someone like Fletcher, pepe, Diarra who could have covered the space and closed in as soon as the likes of Xavi, Iniesta received the ball.

Inter had ball winners and played very well, we lacked DM and paid the price for it.

To beat Barca you need a DM like Cambiasso who can read the game well with exceptional positioning and anticipation.That way you dont have to deal with attackers like Messi in one on one situations.Speedy and physical players like Pepe and Lass havnt done well enough to beat Barca.They try to take on tricky players and get either sent off or beaten...but i agree that United would have done better with Fletcher who is a better DM than Carrick in every aspect.

sorry for the off-topic
Anyways Sneijder was never a direct replacement for Scholes

 

[Dylan]

To beat Barca you need a DM like Cambiasso who can read the game well with exceptional positioning and anticipation.That way you dont have to deal with attackers like Messi in one on one situations.Speedy and physical players like Pepe and Lass havnt done well enough to beat Barca.They try to take on tricky players and get either sent off or beaten...but i agree that United would have done better with Fletcher who is a better DM than Carrick in every aspect.

There was no 1 player that you need to beat Barca. You need every member of your team giving nothing less than 100% for 180 minutes.




Or else be Hercules.

 

[MrBenitez]

Destroyer means not a thug. When we played Barca twice we missed Fletcher. Not saying we would have won had he played. He was the only ball winning midfielder we had. Carrick was too immobile, was great against Chelsea but his lack of mobility will always come back to bite against Barca. We needed someone like Fletcher, pepe, Diarra who could have covered the space and closed in as soon as the likes of Xavi, Iniesta received the ball.

Inter had ball winners and played very well, we lacked DM and paid the price for it.

You lost because your players weren't good enough. Nothing to do with missing Fletcher.

 

[n4l]

your name is MrBenitez?

Automatic FAIL

 

[MrBenitez]

your name is MrBenitez?

Automatic FAIL

I am an Inter legend. I win more trophies than Mourinho in his first six months, no?

 

[cloudq]

you guys lost because you wasted your energy early on trying to fight barca for ball control.

its a double edged sword because it looks good for the first 15 minutes, then you fall in a heap chasing a never-ending passing clinic. it was plain wrong to fight fire with fire.

we gave up control, and concentrated on doing things we were good at, which was defending with two lines of defense (and hitting barca on the counter).

 

[Suneet]

And counter we did. The moment we got the ball we moved it to the forwards within seconds and caught Barca as Pique is a wannabe forward.

 

[monster09]

you guys lost because you wasted your energy early on trying to fight barca for ball control.

its a double edged sword because it looks good for the first 15 minutes, then you fall in a heap chasing a never-ending passing clinic. it was plain wrong to fight fire with fire.

we gave up control, and concentrated on doing things we were good at, which was defending with two lines of defense (and hitting barca on the counter).

Exactly. This is how you should play against Barca. We also need strong DMs with good positional sense to track runs and all.

 

[Raul Duke]

Gasperini has suggested what me and I think it was Cafe were saying a while back. Sneijder will be used more as a forward rather than a midfielder in Gasp's systems.

 

[Dylan]

The ball's gonna be stuck in midfield then. We'll see tomorrow.

 

[Gerti-inter]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQjAib-oYJo
Crazy video..

 

[Jacquez]

Great display today - involved in all of our dangerous actions.