Manchester United-Barcelona: Sir Alex Ferguson Talks One Game, Plays Another

Sir Alex Ferguson said on the 9th April 2008  “We have the opportunity now to achieve something really special. We want to go to Barcelona and show we’re a good team.

“Barcelona are a wonderful club but we can’t go there and be negative. We have to go there and be really positive. If we do that then we’ve got a chance.”

So SAF, what changed in those two weeks before last nights 10 men behind the ball bore-fest at Camp Nou? Did that look like team being 'really positive' to anyone on Bleacher Report? It sure as hell didn't look like that to me.

Please let me get it straight that I am not criticising United for their tactics as a rule, nil-nil in Camp Nou is a decent result, it makes sense to get men behind the ball, be solid, and not give the likes of Eto'o, Messi, and Deco space to play.

BUT this defensive display came on the back of Sir Alex Ferguson proclaiming the attacking qualities of his own side, how they could match Barcelona, among other proclamations that the tie was actually the 'dream final'. I think SAF needs to look up his local psychiatrist (I suspect Eric Cantona has the number of a few good ones), because someone whose dreams are that dull needs serious professional help.

Liverpool and Chelsea, compared to Manchester United, are considered to be rather dull teams, whose game is based on sound defence, and making things difficult for the opposition. In recent years Liverpool and Chelsea have both played at Camp Nou in Champions League first leg knock out ties, so lets look at the stats from those games and compare them to last night.

Shots on target:

Manchester United, April 2008 - 1

Liverpool, February 2007 - 5

Chelsea, March 2006 - 4

Total Shots:

Manchester United, April 2008 - 5

Liverpool, February 2007 - 7

Chelsea, March 2006 - 9

Possession:

Manchester United, April 2008 - 39%

Liverpool, February 2007 - 38%

Chelsea, March 2006 - 49%

Caught Offside:

Manchester United, April 2008 - 3

Liverpool, February 2007 - 6

Chelsea, March 2006 - 5

Corners:

Manchester United, April 2008 - 3

Liverpool, February 2007 - 2

Chelsea, March 2006 - 0

So the stats of Liverpool and Chelsea, who according to most neutrals and pundits, are relatively dull teams when compared to Manchester United, have attacking statistics from recent games at Camp Nou that compare favourably with Manchester United in some instances, similarly in others, and crucially, fair far better in shots, both on target and in total. This was, we were led to believe, going to be a ''really positive'' Manchester United, while Liverpool and Chelsea are dull and negative.

We must also remember, again, according to most neutrals and pundits, that the Barcelona of now is inferior to the Barcelona of 12 months ago, and far far inferior to the Barcelona of 2006 that eventually disposed of Chelsea on their way to winning the Champions League. Yet supposedly, Manchester United are a far superior attacking outfit to Chelsea and Liverpool. If Barca have got worse, and Manchester United are so superior to Chelsea and Liverpool as an attacking force, why was there even a need for such defensive, stifling tactics? Surely Barca would be there for the taking for such a dynamite attacking force as United? Is that the sound of silence I hear?

I will leave you with the number of goals scored by the 'big 4' in all competitions this season, it makes interesting reading for those of the hard of thinking:

Manchester United - 100 in 51 games - 1.96 per game

Chelsea - 96 in 56 games - 1.71 per game

Arsenal - 105 in 55 games - 1.90 per game

Liverpool - 112 in 55 games - 2.03 per game

Coming soon from The Myth Buster - Arsene Wenger - Is he really the transfer market wizard we are led to believe?