Originally posted by WojBhoy:[..]
Slight understatement on Alves - I've rarely ever seen a 'full-back' (in name only) who defends as little as he does / needs to. Maybe Ramos...
This is where United need to exploit if they want to fully expose Barcelona and teach them a lesson. Invite Alves foward, allow Rooney to drift out wide in the space he's left and in turn it should stretch the remaining defenders out a bit in order to cover Rooney. Then as soon as United win the ball, look for Rooney out in Alves' space, allow the right midfielder (Park/Nani/Valencia) to drift inside to support Hernandez (or possibly force the right midfielder as wide as possible to keep the Barcelona left back to stay out with him. Get the ball over onto the left, hopefully to Rooney who should be free and let him go from there.
Barcelona play a very predictable game of football in reality, the problem is though, clubs see Barcelona nd immediately think about how they're going to defend against the attackers. Let's not forget that they have a goalkeeper, who isn't the best in the world and also a defence that can be penetrated. To win the game, the absolute minimum you have to do is score. By defending all game, you won't score. you may draw but you can't rely on taking it to penalties. Sir alex needs to sit down and think about how they're going to make Barcelona chase United. Barcelona's attackers are hardly renowned for their ability to track back and defend, not in the same way Rooney/Drogba etc can be seen defending anyway.
Originally posted by clover68:and there that Manchester will have the best chances, less on the right side if Puyol will be there again.
Problem I find with Puyol is he's a classic central defender, by which I mean his strengths lie in his ability to sit and allow defenders to come at him, then he puts in a strong tackle to win the ball. To play in the RB/LB positions you need a bit of agility thrown in there too. I think in a RW vs LB situation, the advantage is sually with the winger because he can maybe take a heavy touch past the LB and be past him before he's had chance to turn, then he only needs to cross it in. I think pace could potentially be Puyol's downfall, if Nani played against him and didn't let Puyol win any of the early battles, then I think Nani will have the upper hand throughout the game. That said, Puyol is pretty versatile in defence but I don't believe left back is his strongest position.
Looks like some weird type of sports. 
