The Official Soccer/Football/Futbol/Calcio thread

[Jason]

Originally Posted by mastershogun

Barca maintained possession some 60-70%.

Sometimes possession means nothing, for the most part it just indicates a style of play in my opinion.

Originally Posted by mastershogun

If chelsea was in such control where was it shown?

In Barca's lack of offensive threat. Offensive threat is how Barca is defined and they showed very little of it over either leg. Controlled.

Hard luck to Chelsea but I'd much rather see a Barca vs. Manchester United final truth be told! Hope that ref never leaves Norway on UEFA's dime again.

Well at least I got something right.. barca v united... I expect Barca will actually show up for the final. However I predict United to be too strong. 2-1 Rooney and the ginger ninja put 'em away. Messi pulls one back late. Now I need Arsenal to revenge themselves upon United, and Chelsea to make up for last year.

[mastershogun]

Originally Posted by Jason

Sometimes possession means nothing, for the most part it just indicates a style of play in my opinion.

In Barca's lack of offensive threat. Offensive threat is how Barca is defined and they showed very little of it over either leg. Controlled.

But that is my point... barca plays possession game... they don't play a little possession with long passes or rely on set piece kind of game. they played the kind of game they wanted to play. sure the final third was missing big time but to claim that chelsea dominated the game i would say that chelsea would have to bump barca off "their game"... which is possession. The game barca plays is not "a lot of goals" game... that is the kind of game every team wants but sometimes you only get 1 goal. The "barca game" is possession and possession they had. They did play an offensive game... they were not playing defense 60-70% of the time. They were playing offensive 60-70% of the time... again, maybe not in the final third but nonetheless offense.
I am not saying this was one of barca's better games by a long shot!