Have your say on Manchester United and Barcelona

They came to defend.
Manchester United decided to defend deep and now manager Sir Alex Ferguson looks like a genius after the first leg with United getting a 0-0 draw at Barcelona and the Nou Camp. Their only regret was a missed penalty by Cristiano Ronaldo.
So is this genius or is this unacceptable from a team that many like to think are the best in world.
For me this is clearly the tactics of the first leg of a two legged affair.
A tactical result for United.
Of course Barcelona was going to get the better of the possession and they got even more with the United deep defending tactics but in the end they could not break down United.
Some thoughts:

*Lionel Messi was Barcelona’s most dangerous player in the first half penetrating off the dribble and via the pass. On a handful of occasions he put Barcelona in a place where only the final pass was missing.

*They were somewhat predictable going right at the heart of the United defense making it easy for Rio Ferdinand to stay comfortably in the middle to defend.

*Barcelona didn’t really create many chances and could not come up with the ideas or movement to produce a goal.

*What was he thinking? Man U’s Michael Carrick in the second half got to the end-line beautifully only to elect to shoot with three United players hitting the central part of the penalty area in front of goal. Mind boggling?

*Carlos Tevez, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Wayne Rooney were resigned to “workers and deep defenders’ for Manchester United based on the tactics for Alex Ferguson.

* Barcelona could not come up with the ideas or execution to break down United. Choosing to only attack central played into United’s hands and methodical build-ups made the game slow at times.

Six days from now Manchester United will come out flying against Barcelona at Old Trafford in the second leg. Join us for a game watching party at the Stags Head Pub for the game at Sheperd and 59.