thepolice123
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- Mar 25, 2008
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Our football for the entire 07/08 European campaign was essentially defensive and cagey.
Guardiola said himself Rafa Marquez was not only the best defender he ever trained and he is probably one of the best defenders ever in the sport.From what I remember :
- Eto'o was hurt for half the season.
- Ronaldinho and Deco went full party mode. Dinho didn't play since the month of March and was already announced to Milan and Deco had a lot of muscular injuries due to a terrible lifestyle.
- I think players in defense like Marquez was a joke.
- People started to say that Xavi wasn't all that.
- Thuram and Zambrotta were mega done.
- The Henry transfer was not needed and actually I think Wenger knew his best years were past him (even though he had a good last dance in the 2009 season).
- Rijkaard wasn't a tactical astute (or more like a one trick pony) but more of "big brother" type of coach and he lost the dressing room and I think his very important assistant Ten Cate went to Ajax.
- Iniesta, Messi and Yaya were the only bright spots this season (and the one before).
- Barcelona went to UCL semis by hardly beating Celtic Glasgow and Schalke 04 (who miraculously eliminated Porto thanks to Neuer channeling his inner Genzo Wakabayashi against Porto in round of 16).
I like Rafa Marquez. It's just that he was not very good during the end of Rijkaard era from what I remember. Like we all know Xavi is one of the best ever, but people after 2 poor seasons in 2008 people were doubting.Guardiola said himself Rafa Marquez was not only the best defender he ever trained and he is probably one of the best defenders ever in the sport.
From memory he was pretty influential around 2003/04 but didn't kick on in the years since to become the world class midfield maestro he's now known as. Having a superb euro 2008 really improved his mentality and then Guardiola coming in was exactly the manager he needed.If you look at comments in Xavi's thread from barcaforum in the middle of 2008, when the 2008/2009 was about to start, you will see how Barcelona's supporters were heavily complaining about Xavi "not making obvious through ball" and overall "playing too safe and anemic".
Every single Porto fan is still traumatized over that Neuer performance, that's how good he was.Ah memories of Neuer deciding to be a brick wall against Porto. Remember watching that match with friends and being in awe of how he saved everything thrown at him.
Also surprised Quaresma didn’t take a penalty in the shoutout
Add Messi's injuriesFrom what I remember :
- Eto'o was hurt for half the season.
- Ronaldinho and Deco went full party mode. Dinho didn't play since the month of March and was already announced to Milan and Deco had a lot of muscular injuries due to a terrible lifestyle.
- I think players in defense like Marquez was a joke.
- People started to say that Xavi wasn't all that.
- Thuram and Zambrotta were mega done.
- The Henry transfer was not needed and actually I think Wenger knew his best years were past him (even though he had a good last dance in the 2009 season).
- Rijkaard wasn't a tactical astute (or more like a one trick pony) but more of "big brother" type of coach and he lost the dressing room and I think his very important assistant Ten Cate went to Ajax.
- Iniesta, Messi and Yaya were the only bright spots this season (and the one before).
- Barcelona went to UCL semis by hardly beating Celtic Glasgow and Schalke 04 (who miraculously eliminated Porto thanks to Neuer channeling his inner Genzo Wakabayashi against Porto in round of 16).
In the second leg, everytime Messi had the ball I was shitting myself. Solid defensive work bailed us out.Really? Why did it feel like I was sitting on pins the entire game
Yes it's true that at that time he was heavily injury prone and it was really a main concern. It's funny how 10 years later we don't talk about it anymore but the slightest tackle where Messi was holding his leg, Barca fans were on life support.Add Messi's injuries
I think Quaresma thought he could be the 5th penalty taker and "saviour" like Cristiano.Ah memories of Neuer deciding to be a brick wall against Porto. Remember watching that match with friends and being in awe of how he saved everything thrown at him.
Also surprised Quaresma didn’t take a penalty in the shoutout
I remember also thinking Tarik Sektioui (who scored a great goal against Marseille IIRC) was wasteful that game. He did like 3 differents header, and 2 just on Neuer that made him look "great" (a striker like let's say Trezeguet would have buried them easily) and then actually one where Neuer did an improbable manga goalkeeping mawashi geri kick.Every single Porto fan is still traumatized over that Neuer performance, that's how good he was.
Thank you for saying that.From memory he was pretty influential around 2003/04 but didn't kick on in the years since to become the world class midfield maestro he's now known as. Having a superb euro 2008 really improved his mentality and then Guardiola coming in was exactly the manager he needed.
I always think Xavi's career was like Pirlos. People think they were putting in world class seasons from their early 20s but really it was later in their career when everything came together and winning an international trophy helped things along.