[quote="Vasque"]Everyone benefits from HUGE decisions going in their favour. Porto would never have won the European cup if this linesman wasn't blind
very true but United's goal in the first leg came from a free kick that was never and Porto well and truly deserved their victory over United that year. And that's part of the problem - ask fans of most clubs outside of the establishment and you'll get a proper opinion on Mourinho - the fact that he regularly took on and beat United, Liverpool and Arsenal is partly repsonsible for his 'unpopularity'.....he upsets the apple cart, challenges the status quo, we need more Mourinhos imo....
[quote="RamseesCFC"][quote="Vasque"]Everyone benefits from HUGE decisions going in their favour. Porto would never have won the European cup if this linesman wasn't blind
[/quote] SHow me a disallowed goal or sending off against barca that's cost them. You're underlining my point. MOst teams can point to at least one in Europe - a major one I mean. I can't think of one on barca.[/quote]
Oh I agree that Barca have had incredible decisions going for them for years, no argumant here about that but Porto had their very good fortune on their way to winning the European cup. That and the way his Porto team acted in the UEFA cup final the previous year was a disgrace so I'm not sure those two campaigns are 'owt to be proud of personally.
[quote="casualcol"][quote="Vasque"]Everyone benefits from HUGE decisions going in their favour. Porto would never have won the European cup if this linesman wasn't blind
very true but United's goal in the first leg came from a free kick that was never and Porto well and truly deserved their victory over United that year. And that's part of the problem - ask fans of most clubs outside of the establishment and you'll get a proper opinion on Mourinho - the fact that he regularly took on and beat United, Liverpool and Arsenal is partly repsonsible for his 'unpopularity'.....he upsets the apple cart, challenges the status quo, we need more Mourinhos imo....
[/quote] [/quote]
I'm not sure it is cut and dried that Porto deserved to beat United over the two legs, I believe United would have won in extra time but that is immaterial. All I'm saying is that people going on and on about others getting decisions should look to their past to see that it goes both ways. And he has no right to question players trying to get others sent off. His Porto team were the worst I've ever seen - an absolute disgrace.
Having said that I'm a fan of Mourhino, he makes me laugh with his WUMS and interviews. Great viewing. No bitterness about the bloke from me.
[quote="Vasque"][quote="casualcol"][quote="Vasque"]Everyone benefits from HUGE decisions going in their favour. Porto would never have won the European cup if this linesman wasn't blind
very true but United's goal in the first leg came from a free kick that was never and Porto well and truly deserved their victory over United that year. And that's part of the problem - ask fans of most clubs outside of the establishment and you'll get a proper opinion on Mourinho - the fact that he regularly took on and beat United, Liverpool and Arsenal is partly repsonsible for his 'unpopularity'.....he upsets the apple cart, challenges the status quo, we need more Mourinhos imo....
[/quote] [/quote]
I'm not sure it is cut and dried that Porto deserved to beat United over the two legs, I believe United would have won in extra time but that is immaterial. All I'm saying is that people going on and on about others getting decisions should look to their past to see that it goes both ways. And he has no right to question players trying to get others sent off. His Porto team were the worst I've ever seen - an absolute disgrace.
Having said that I'm a fan of Mourhino, he makes me laugh with his WUMS and interviews. Great viewing. No bitterness about the bloke from me.[/quote] I agree mate, that was point exactly except in the barca case. I can't recall one that's cost them. In fairness though Mourinho is no different than others in terms of one rule for his team and one rule for others. FErgie and wenger are the same in that they complain about a situation against them but when the exact same thing happens AW their teams they defend it. Most to do it tbh.
"The nightmares invading the sleep of Bayern fans involve four horsemen of the Champions League Apocalypse riding towards them. As the faces come into focus, they will recognise Frank Lampard, Cole, Petr Cech and Drogba. All were immense..."
Good article read in the paper today about Mourinho returning to England/getting the sack in the summer.
Mourinho, a man who relishes control and has long laboured under the opinion that he should be a football club’s most significant employee, arrived in Madrid eager to become the first coach in a generation who actually ran the place. Evidently, things are not going well. For the past month or so his body language has been mute, his performance at press conferences tetchy, his attitude one of resignation. Cynics are suggesting that the man has met his nemesis. Not so much in the board at Madrid, but in the condition of Barcelona. The club that have long got under his skin, the place where he felt belittled and undervalued in an earlier spell of employment, Barca are now so dominant in Spain that there is little Mourinho can do to establish his credentials at the Bernabéu. Whatever he does, Pep Guardiola’s team of the century do it better. And as his potency has diminished on the touchline, so it has in the corridors of power. If he were master of all he surveyed he might command what he wanted. If he were winning, he could begin to take control. As it is, he cannot even recruit the centre forward he earmarked this transfer window. Ruud van Nistelrooy failed to re-sign for the club after botched negotiations by Mourinho’s superiors, who gifted him instead Emmanuel Adebayor, a player who effectively retired from playing football 12 months ago. It is little wonder, as he wilts in the shadow of Real president Fiorentino Pérez and director of football Jorge Valdano, that Mourinho is said to be craving a return to easier pastures. This week, in a statement that admittedly might have gained something in the translation, he made it clear his ambition was to come back at the earliest opportunity to the place where he bestrode the discourse like a colossus. “I’ve decided to return to England,” he said. “I have nothing prepared about my future – I just want to be happy in my work. I have no preferences about Manchester United, Manchester City or Chelsea. "I just want to rediscover the joy. I’m not saying the Premier League is the most spectacular in the world but it is the best organised ... the fair play and the enormous respect for your opponent.” Now there is much to unpick here, not least in that paean to fair play and respect, an infatuation of Mourinho’s that might come as a surprise to Anders Frisk, to name but one. But perhaps the most intriguing thing is his apparently relaxed attitude to where he might eventually hang his overcoat. At the moment, would any of the big clubs have an interest in him? This is Mourinho’s problem: he may fantasise about coming back to the football environment where he is still regarded fondly, where we, his cheerleaders in the media, would serenade the return of the only man who can outdo Iain Holloway when it comes to English metaphor. But where could he find the sort of employment he now regards as his due? Sure, West Ham would sign him up tomorrow and, to secure his signature, give him absolute control over everything from transfer policy to the choice of paper towels in the dressing room. But Mourinho has more elevated tastes these days, prepared only to work not just for those likely to qualify for the Champions League, but with a fair chance of winning it. And the trouble is, at Arsenal and City there is no vacancy. Liverpool too seem to be back in love with their manager. As for Chelsea, sure Carlo Ancelotti is hardly secure but the club’s hierarchy are about as likely to hand Mourinho the keys of Stamford Bridge as they are to name one of their hospitality suites after Ken Bates. There was a reason the owner wanted him out back in 2007. And it was nothing to do with a surfeit of humility. The job Mourinho clearly believes is his destiny lies at United, the summit of an inexorable rise up the managerial mountain. But with Sir Alex Ferguson seemingly growing younger by the day as his team bear down on a record number of titles, there is unlikely to be an opening there this summer. The Mourinho master plan was for at least a two year stay in Madrid before taking up his Old Trafford inheritance. Barcelona’s increasing hegemony has put paid to that. Maybe he will need temporarily to lower his expectations. Perhaps the fans at Newcastle, Birmingham or Villa should brace themselves for an unexpected role this summer: it could be them chosen to bring back the joy.
Well, I tell them there's no problem Only solutions
Article from Steven Howard in yesterdays Sun (I know, not exactly a beacon of truth in it's stories but he's a fairly respected on Football Journo - who hates Chelsea BTW )
THE euphoria of Manchester United's 2-0 victory over Schalke lasted just 24 hours. The very next day they received the news they didn't want - that Barcelona are their likely opponents in the Champions League final at Wembley on May 28.
Alex Ferguson now faces a tactical dilemma.
To play Barcelona at their own game - and take the sort of beating they suffered in the final in Rome two years ago.
Or try and stifle Lionel Messi and Barcelona's midfield by playing Darren Fletcher or Paul Scholes - maybe even both.
And turn a Wembley showpiece into a war of attrition, something neither Ferguson nor Pep Guardiola want.
The only man to have come up with the answer to Barcelona's pass-the-opposition-to-death-magic-roundabout was, until Wednesday night, Jose Mourinho.
He did it with Inter Milan in last season's semi-final and again in last week's Copa del Rey final.
Until Pepe's contentious red card in the Bernabeu this week, he seemed on the way to doing it again as Real Madrid headed for the goalless draw Mourinho would have been happy to settle for.
Then all hell - and Messi - broke loose.
It ended with one of the greatest Champions League goals, Barcelona more or less in the final and Mourinho back in the dock for claiming the result was a scandal and the latest example of how the Catalan club, with friends in high places, is seemingly able to bend the rules by influencing referees and anyone else you care to mention.
Many say he has got what he deserves by sending out a team designed to stop the opposition by fair means or foul - mainly the latter.
And that his claim he is "disgusted to live in this world" is highly ironic since he, as the master of all the dark arts, is largely responsible for the state he suggests it is in.
And yet it was Barcelona, despite Messi's brilliance, who were equally if not more responsible for dragging the game into the gutter.
Once again we saw Carles Puyol leading a posse of players in pursuit of a match referee with the blatant intention of intimidating him.
Barca have been doing this for years and getting away with it.
Even worse is all the diving, the throwing of bodies to the floor and the blatant cheating that tarnishes a side that is often claimed to be the best ever.
Puyol and Pedro are two of the chief culprits.
But the worst of all are Dani Alves and Sergio Busquets.
Who can forget Busquets getting Inter's Thiago Motta sent off at the Nou Camp last season?
Rolling around as if he had been felled by a charging bull, holding his head in his hands and then peeking through his fingers for confirmation Motta had got the red card.
And then there's Alves, a serial offender when it comes to corny death scenes that would disgrace your local amateur dramatic society.
Now Pepe is no shrinking violet but it was still 50-50 whether his tackle on the Brazilian full-back deserved a red.
Alves, though, reacted as if he had received a red-hot poker up his backside before being carried off on a stretcher seemingly never to return. A minute later he was running around like a spring lamb, scarcely able to contain his grin.
Wolfgang Stark no doubt sent Pepe off to calm things down even though it was Barcelona's hounding of the referee that had bought the game to fever pitch - not to mention the crazed behaviour of Barca reserve keeper Jose Pinto who was red-carded for starting the ruck as the players came off at half time.
Here we have the other murky side of the great entertainers.
Snow White with a stick.
No wonder Mourinho was incensed. Sure, it's hard to generate much sympathy for him but on this occasion he might be right.
His teams have played Barcelona 14 times in six years and had seven players sent off - four of them in the four meetings with Barca this season.
Then, of course, there was "the scandal of Stamford Bridge" he keeps referring to, when Barca went to West London in the semi-final, second leg in 2009.
When Tom Henning Ovrebo, hopelessly out of his depth, denied Chelsea four good penalty shouts - two of them nailed on - and the Spaniards went through to the final courtesy of a 92nd-minute Andres Iniesta equaliser.
And now it's Manchester United, barring a disaster against Schalke at Old Trafford on Wednesday, who await Guardiola's side.
Ferguson will remember only too well how it all went pear-shaped in Rome.
How, with the combative Fletcher suspended, they were blown away by a Barca side inspired by Iniesta.
On that night, Michael Carrick was nowhere to be seen, Wayne Rooney a peripheral figure on the left and Cristiano Ronaldo increasingly frustrated and anonymous.
Since then, United have lost Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez while Barcelona have added the world-class goalscoring of David Villa.
It's the toughest of challenges for United.
But in Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra they have three defenders at the top of their game. Rooney also looked back to his very best on Tuesday.
And in Javier Hernandez they have a striker who can get under the feet of Gerard Pique and Puyol.
But do United take them on or try to ruffle Barca's feathers in the way they have so successfully broken Arsenal's spirit over the last five years?
Over to you, Alex.
"The nightmares invading the sleep of Bayern fans involve four horsemen of the Champions League Apocalypse riding towards them. As the faces come into focus, they will recognise Frank Lampard, Cole, Petr Cech and Drogba. All were immense..."
I'm glad the 'dark side' of this Barca team is finally being talked about because they have got away with it for years. Everyone is too busy in their circle jerks to see the bigger picture. They are a fantastic side with the best player in the world amongst them but the ugly truth is that if Plan A doesn't work they resort to Plan B which is to try and get oppostion players booked and sent off. In short they are a bunch of highly talented cheats.
Tell you what, take Messi out of that Barca side and put him in Uniteds, Chelsea's or Arsenals side and all three would have a huge chance of beating Barca.
I'm glad the 'dark side' of this Barca team is finally being talked about because they have got away with it for years. Everyone is too busy in their circle jerks to see the bigger picture. They are a fantastic side with the best player in the world amongst them but the ugly truth is that if Plan A doesn't work they resort to Plan B which is to try and get oppostion players booked and sent off. In short they are a bunch of highly talented cheats.
Tell you what, take Messi out of that Barca side and put him in Uniteds, Chelsea's or Arsenals side and all three would have a huge chance of beating Barca. [/quote]
You get the impression Fergie is loving every minute of Josè's strop. Mourinho has single handedly exposed Barca's dark side (something I've been harping on about for years locally) and refs will be wary of giving them decisions, especially against an English club at Wembley.
Game, set and match to Fergie. I really hope United turn them over in the final.
tactical genius imo,but no morals as a man,thinks winning justifies his behaviour but no grace when it goes against him,disrespectful remarks about guardiola
Mourinho is the greatest, The Special One, so many arguments have been pointed out already. And he is spot on in everything he said in that conference. A true man in a false game.
Just listening to the pundits on Sky slating Jose M for his negative football,not utilising Ronaldo strengths.Jose`s tactics are more suited to Italian football where he won everything last season with Inter.He wont be at Real for much longer,did very well here in England with Chelsea would not be surprised to see him back there next season.
[quote="mkj1972"]Just listening to the pundits on Sky slating Jose M for his negative football,not utilising Ronaldo strengths.Jose`s tactics are more suited to Italian football where he won everything last season with Inter.He wont be at Real for much longer,did very well here in England with Chelsea would not be surprised to see him back there next season. [/quote]
aye, noticed his main critic. Souness! I'd love to see him in charge of Madrid for this tie. Would have been a right laugh. I think basically its more simple than his style. To beat this Barca team takes something special. Or something that's deemed fairly negative. Under Hiddink we crowded the middle and forced them wide, gambling we could do deal with crosses whilst they couldn't thread a ball. And it would have worked barring a cheating Norwegian cunt. The thing is though - that was 2 years ago. Barca are now a better side again than that so it's tricky. Try and play football like Arsenal or Madrid did early season and it could get embarrassing.
"The nightmares invading the sleep of Bayern fans involve four horsemen of the Champions League Apocalypse riding towards them. As the faces come into focus, they will recognise Frank Lampard, Cole, Petr Cech and Drogba. All were immense..."
How can you doubt Mourinho seriously the guy is a WINNER , Souness as great as a player you were for us you are a naive manager tactically what do you want madrid to do play 4 upfront awful punditry if ive ever seen it the aim is to win the game not to entertain in general ask arsenal im sure theyd run to get mourinho if they won trophys as we would even with the king in charge at the moment
[quote="mkj1972"]Just listening to the pundits on Sky slating Jose M for his negative football,not utilising Ronaldo strengths.Jose`s tactics are more suited to Italian football where he won everything last season with Inter.He wont be at Real for much longer,did very well here in England with Chelsea would not be surprised to see him back there next season. [/quote]
I think they were talking shite to be honest. Madrid have played great football against everyone this season except Barca. Why would you try and take on the best team in the world at their own game? You will rarely win. Ask Wenger. Until Madrid went down to 10 men last week Barca didn't look like scoring and don't forget Madrid beat them the previous week in the Spanish cup final. I didn't hear any Madrid fans complaining when they lifted that cup?
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