Barcelona and Real Madrid one level above rest of the top clubs in the world:Wenger

Mou will then call SAF corrupt and I might actually like him. ;D

Lord Hispano wrote:Sorry Arq, gotta leave that till tommorrow.

May I ask why you believe Manchester Utd. are better though?

I rate Real Madrid very highly as I dread to face them if one of my teams would do so.

But I'll start off with simple comparisons.

United's defense is simply better then Madrid's as Madrid has more impressive attack in their defense but United is solid as a rock even without Ferdinand and of course Vidic as they have proven so far.

Their depth is unquestionably better then Madrid with Smalling, Jones, and rafael.

Midfield and Attack? This debate can go either way as both teams are individually better in their own respect as although Real edge it in star power.

But I do believe United possess more depth.

I don't believe in comparing teams by individual talent. I believe in doing so through their mentality and play.

Yes, United haven't been anywhere near tested properly with the teams they have faced.

But in the end some results are tangible enough to make a judgment.

This is by far the best United I have seen in more then 5 years as I am simply amazed by their superbly cohesive, fluid and almost telepathic play as the whole team is functioning as 1 unit.

I'd attribute this mostly through confidence as SAF has done so. Look at them when they walk in the tunnel and observe their self-assured swagger on the pitch.

Difference is their mind-set is transcending onto results on the pitch.

Lets not forget their mentality which is probably is on-par with Barcelonas. This segment is their x-factor.

I'm simply basing United's superiority to Madrid simply because they look, function and play better then what I have seen from Madrid.

Its like saying:

"Man this Galician Paella is so good!"

Another asks;

"But have you tried Valencian Paella?"


Both teams are among the top 3 elite.

Difference here is that United looked better to me then Madrid even when they are under strengthened.

Though to be fair to RM, they are in their 2nd year. But in the end I simply choose who is superior from my eye. United look nearly flawless.

madrid and united are almost equal imo.. madrid's squad is better but united have that champion mentality.. so i would rate our chances gaainst them 50/50.. they do have sir alex who turns them into champions.. but we have the special one , whose influence can never be underestimated.. this team is a far cry for the one mourinho took over in only one season

If you are going to compare Barca and Madrid man by man (so don't look at overall team chemistry), I would say Barca wins when comparing their core four to Madrid's (Messi, D.Alves, Xavi, Iniesta versus CR, Alonso, Ozil, .. Ramos, see Madrid doesn't even have a core four!), but Madrid edges them out in all other positions, imo, and has greater depth (at least last season). It is those core four that clearly makes Barcelona however, everyone else can be replaced fairly easily, because of the genius of their system.

I have never quite liked Manchester, and although they are good, they never convinced me really last year, I think Madrid should be able to beat them with relative easy, at least on paper, but one can never know. I also think it is ridiculous to say that Manchester has more squad depth than Madrid. There is also not a single player at Manchester that I would swap one of our first-team players for (yes, I'd rather have Benzema than Rooney) --> Okay, fair enough, Carvalho can get the boot for Vidic.

yes, it's obvious, barca, man utd and madrid and on a different level but doesn't wenger have anyhting else to do than to state the obvious????.....he's one mess of a coach..

I disagree, imho when you look at Chemistry as well, ManU is up there with Real, and the Bayern Munich squad this season is basically just as good as Reals, maybe not as deep, but close enough that I wouldn't call it a gap.

After those four there might be a drop, I could get in on that.

Just because both of them are a level above Arsenal, doesn't mean they are to other teams...especially United.

Barca are rightfully the best team right now, but RM?.....cmon son!

I still think United midfield will let them down when they face other big teams just like when they faced Barca last season.More often than not midfields win you ties in CL K-O and United easily have the weakest midfield out of Bayern Madrid Barca and themselves.

For whatever reason reason Ferguson failed to address that problem and so dont think they are on the level of Madrid.

BeautifulGame wrote:I still think United midfield will let them down when they face other big teams just like when they faced Barca last season.More often than not midfields win you ties in CL K-O and United probably have the weakest midfield out of Bayern Madrid Barca and themselves.

For whatever reason reason Ferguson failed to address that problem and so dont think they are on the level of Madrid.

We are playing an entirely new energetic, pressing style of play in the middle + with good movement and one touch passing that has allowed us to contain posession and not be overrun like last season. Anderson and Cleverley have been a sensation for us so far.

I think we will have no problems in midfield this season tbh.

Madrid? On paper...on paper Madrid are thi and that, one semi final in almost 7 years and they come out of the wood work? champions mentality?United are better, I am judging this on the most important thing, RESULTS. 3 CL finals in 4 years don't lie ffs. Madrid are below us. United have had the same WEAK MIDFIELD for alm ost hald a decade and you know our results in the CL? Semis, Final, final QF and Semis. So don't give me the UNited MF is poor BS. WHat a joke, man for man bs as well. Individually amdrid are better? If i remmebr corretly football is a team sport and we have a better team than mADRID, PLUS mADRDS DEFENCE IS SUSPECT AT BEST.

If we are talking about Paper then Bayern are better than Madrid and Utd, but we are not talking about paper are we ?

Top 4 in my eyes:

1. Barca
2. Man Utd
3. Real
4. Bayern

Devil-Is-Red wrote:

BeautifulGame wrote:I still think United midfield will let them down when they face other big teams just like when they faced Barca last season.More often than not midfields win you ties in CL K-O and United probably have the weakest midfield out of Bayern Madrid Barca and themselves.

For whatever reason reason Ferguson failed to address that problem and so dont think they are on the level of Madrid.

We are playing an entirely new energetic, pressing style of play in the middle + with good movement and one touch passing that has allowed us to contain posession and not be overrun like last season. Anderson and Cleverley have been a sensation for us so far.

I think we will have no problems in midfield this season tbh.

United do look good and will most likely win the league too.But i dont think a midfield of Cleverly and Anderson is good enough to win the CL.Ferguson have always built teams that dominate the league but there is a reason why they only won twice in almost 20 years under Ferguson in CL despite dominating the league with ease.

As a Madrid fan:

Man Utd are ahead of us atm, they are playing some amazing football. Have a more solid grounding. We need to get a few players back from injury prove it in the UCL and against some decent opposition and then maybe we can call oursleves better than Utd.

Until we can get ahead of Barca or beat them (aka win some trophies) we are going to be behind.

Just my thoughts

More indication that Man Utd and Real Madrid would meet somewhere in the UCL to settle this great debate (temporarily anyway)...

I think Barcelona are the number 1 team in the world, and Real are top 5 (Bayern and United can both be argued to be above them), but theyre not on a whole nother level. Theyre just the best in Barcas case, and one of the best in Reals case. Bayern and United can compete and win a good amount of the time against Barca and Real, while Milan, Man City, Dortmund, Chelsea, and maybe even this new Juventus can all compete with them to a decent extent.

Devil-Is-Red wrote:

BeautifulGame wrote:I still think United midfield will let them down when they face other big teams just like when they faced Barca last season.More often than not midfields win you ties in CL K-O and United probably have the weakest midfield out of Bayern Madrid Barca and themselves.

For whatever reason reason Ferguson failed to address that problem and so dont think they are on the level of Madrid.

We are playing an entirely new energetic, pressing style of play in the middle + with good movement and one touch passing that has allowed us to contain posession and not be overrun like last season. Anderson and Cleverley have been a sensation for us so far.

I think we will have no problems in midfield this season tbh.

You will if you go against Barca with 2 in midfield again, your problem was'nt personnel( even tho it was an issue) it was you tactically naive thinking a 4-4-1-1 would work against Barca iam afraid you need to match up in midfield to have a chance.....


That team would lose i guarantee it, you need to match up with a 4-3-3 to have a chance yes you wont have many troubles in midfield against most teams but against most teams with Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta and Messi dropping deep you will get swamped(again)

I also agree with what Crimson said, very level headed and fair comment and he's getting rep for it

agreed on mole's observation.Play a flat 4-4-2 or a 4-4-1-1 ,you are dead against barca.