Barcelona Dominance...

This team we have here....is imo easily the best in the world. At the moment I really can't see ANY team beating them. Not to say they aren't able to...it's just that most of the big name clubs are either in poor form or they just don't have what it takes. The dominance of the team this year is just astonishing. Started off a little slow....but just look at us now! I don't see this freight train being stopped anytime soon. So who do you guys think can hold a light to our boys this year?

remember chelsea?

yes, we are doing even better right now but anything can happen in football. don't forget that.

as it is, i still think nobody can beat an on-form barcelona in a clean match

I dont think it's a case of "holding a light" to Barca as you put it, more the way the other team sets out to play. Ultimately, if you try and take this team on, your going to get your ass handed to you. It's happened time and time again in the last 3 years and by now it's become the case that if we reach the CL quarter finals and are drawn up against a big team other than Arsenal or Bayern, we're gonna be faced with a parked bus. Man Utd, Chelsea, Inter, AC, Real Madrid. There's every chance we can be beaten with a counter attack if that happens. We are the best side in the world, I dont think anyone is really disputing that, but when it comes to the CL, teams stand more of a chance because of the nature of the fact it's a cup competition. In the league, Real Madrid are quite obviously the only real competition for us. How Mourinho plays at Bernabeu will really come down to how the league looks at the time, if Madrid have the advantage then you can sure as hell bet he wont be stupid enough to try and take us on again, but if they need to win then they'll go for a slightly more attacking approach. We're the best team in the world but we're not invincible, you park the bus, the plane, the alien spacecraft, with able players to pull it off (I'm not talking about some team like Osasuna doing it), then you have a fair chance.

although inter's win was a bit decieving tbh, over 2 legs you can't beat us. parked bus or not. unless of course we play bad (inter first leg)

gingerless said:

although inter's win was a bit decieving tbh, over 2 legs you can't beat us. parked bus or not. unless of course we play bad (inter first leg)

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It was deceiving, but the worry about this thread is that Cules will end up coming in here and start acting arrogant and high and mighty. Dont. We're not invincible, yeh yeh yeh Jordzi your a pessimist, but here I'm being quite realistic. We can be beaten over two legs, if teams park the bus, catch a long goal etc. Watch Chelsea do it this year. I'm not saying we can be outplayed, but we can be beaten.

gingerless said:

although inter's win was a bit decieving tbh, over 2 legs you can't beat us. parked bus or not. unless of course we play bad (inter first leg)

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Yet they did. And of course you weren't on top of your game in that first leg, but Inter had a lot to do with that.

Abaddon said:

Yet they did. And of course you weren't on top of your game in that first leg, but Inter had a lot to do with that.

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yeah... in the end one goal either way and we would have been through. i'm not gona complain about the ref etc etc but it was very very close

gingerless said:

remember chelsea?

yes, we are doing even better right now but anything can happen in football. don't forget that.

as it is, i still think nobody can beat an on-form barcelona in a clean match

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Whilst we're probably the only team in Europe they wouldn't fancy playing, right now Barcelona would stick double figures past us, and i'd be willing to bet on that if we started Ramires. Test of our mettle is coming in the next three weeks with Spurs away, Man Utd at home and Arsenal away in succession.

At the moment though, Barcelona are comfortably the best team in the world, that's undeniable, though it only takes an injury to Lionel Messi to change everything. In fact, i'd fancy a fair few sides against Barca if he wasn't playing. He turns them from a world class team into a great one.

Carefree said:

Whilst we're probably the only team in Europe they wouldn't fancy playing, right now Barcelona would stick double figures past us, and i'd be willing to bet on that if we started Ramires. Test of our mettle is coming in the next three weeks with Spurs away, Man Utd at home and Arsenal away in succession.

At the moment though, Barcelona are comfortably the best team in the world, that's undeniable, though it only takes an injury to Lionel Messi to change everything. In fact, i'd fancy a fair few sides against Barca if he wasn't playing. He turns them from a world class team into a great one.

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Excluding the last part, because obviously we disagree on that point, I agree with you, but my point about Chelsea being the team would could beat us stands later in the season. This being in the knockout stages, when you have Lampard and Essien back. With Ramires, Zhirkov and Mikel in midfield, I agree, we'd rape you, but with whats essentially the spine of your team back giving us a rough ride physically in CM, things would be much much much harder for us. I dont want Chelsea.

I'm not scared of Chelsea without Essien but with Essien everything is different.

Jordzibob said:

Excluding the last part, because obviously we disagree on that point, I agree with you, but my point about Chelsea being the team would could beat us stands later in the season. This being in the knockout stages, when you have Lampard and Essien back. With Ramires, Zhirkov and Mikel in midfield, I agree, we'd rape you, but with whats essentially the spine of your team back giving us a rough ride physically in CM, things would be much much much harder for us. I dont want Chelsea.

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If Lionel Messi were injured and we got Barcelona in the latter stages of the tournament, i'd be fairly confident of knocking Barcelona out, and I guarentee the likes of Man Utd, Inter Milan and Real Madrid would think the exact same. They'd relish the opportunity. Barcelona would still have the lion share of possession, no doubt about that but a Messi-less Barcelona makes them very beatable, and also limits the likes of Xavi and Iniesta to pointless sideway passes for 90 minutes.

IMO, If Messi stays injury free this season, Barcelona will do another treble (Provided Guardiola plays him in the Copa del Rey too). If he's injured, they could easily end up trophyless.

Valon said:

I'm not scared of Chelsea without Essien but with Essien everything is different.

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This.

He's a beast. The powerhouse that counteracts our midfield so well.

Carefree said:

If Lionel Messi were injured and we got Barcelona in the latter stages of the tournament, i'd be fairly confident of knocking Barcelona out, and I guarentee the likes of Man Utd, Inter Milan and Real Madrid would think the exact same. They'd relish the opportunity. Barcelona would still have the lion share of possession, no doubt about that but a Messi-less Barcelona makes them very beatable, and also limits the likes of Xavi and Iniesta to pointless sideway passes for 90 minutes.

IMO, If Messi stays injury free this season, Barcelona will do another treble (Provided Guardiola plays him in the Copa del Rey too). If he's injured, they could easily end up trophyless.

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And I think your underestimating us a little, but I do see your point given well...he's Messi, it's taking away our star player yeh, but the likes of Iniesta can still work their magic. Take away Messi, and it's basically Spain. To an extent.

Valon said:

I'm not scared of Chelsea without Essien but with Essien everything is different.

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I've never quite understood this. He's vastly overrated in the eyes of opposition fans. Terrific player when on form, but excluding the first 2 months of this season, he's been piss poor for about 2 years now, and extremely injury prone. Lampard's FAR more important than he is, and quite frankly i'd argue Mikel is too.

Chelsea with Essien is 10x better than Chelsea with Ramires I guess, but Essien is about the 5th or 6th player Barcelona should be concerned about in our team.

That's incorrect, yes we wouldn't be as good as with Messi on our side but we easily beat Inter last season 2-0 without Messi.

Carefree said:

I've never quite understood this. He's vastly overrated in the eyes of opposition fans. Terrific player when on form, but excluding the first 2 months of this season, he's been piss poor for about 2 years now, and extremely injury prone. Lampard's FAR more important than he is, and quite frankly i'd argue Mikel is too.

Chelsea with Essien is 10x better than Chelsea with Ramires I guess, but Essien is about the 5th or 6th player Barcelona should be concerned about in our team.

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Mikel and Lampard won't be able to shut down Xavi, Essien will.

Yeh Drogba also being an issue. Our defence can cope with speed etc, because of Puyol's intensity and Pique's brilliant reading of the game. But Drogba is basically pure power and aggression, we didnt deal with it well two years ago and I think we'd struggle with it this time around, added to the fact that Chelsea in general are much better going forward, or at least if they play like they did at the start of this season, with Malouda etc on the counterattack.

Valon said:

Mikel and Lampard won't be able to shut down Xavi, Essien will.

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Pretty much that. And erm.....this.