Would a midfield of..

A)Beckham-Keane-Scholes-Giggs or

B) Ronaldo-Keane-Scholes-Giggs

be good enough to contain Barca's trio of Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets?

All in their prime?

Kuled wrote:All in their prime?

Use how good both midfields were at their time with United.

No

Fluorescent wrote:No

Pipe down, Leo. Try give a constructive answer for once.

A) Would could contain them yes.

B) Has Ronaldo, who is a match winner. But with Beckham you'll have a better style of play. Which is the key to beating or containing Barcelona, including a single greater player and/or matchwinner such as Ronaldo does not win a midfield battle against Barcelona.

I don't think so, but mostly because Barcelona are that good. That midfield could maybe contain them but all it takes is one lapse of concentration or one lucky break and Barcelona could end up scoring.

No..

Liverpool's old midfield that included Gerrard, Alonso and Mascherano contained them.

Scott wrote:Liverpool's old midfield that included Gerrard, Alonso and Mascherano contained them.

Perfect midfields don't count.

Ronaldo or Giggs won't help so no.

Jord wrote:

Scott wrote:Liverpool's old midfield that included Gerrard, Alonso and Mascherano contained them.

Perfect midfields don't count.

To think we once had Gerrard, Alonso, Mascherano and Lucas in the same squad.

Unreal.

I Andy I wrote:Ronaldo or Giggs won't help so no.

Beckham over Ronaldo.. and why wouldnt Giggs help?

The midfields in the OP would get raped.

VivaRonaldo wrote:

I Andy I wrote:Ronaldo or Giggs won't help so no.

Beckham over Ronaldo.. and why wouldnt Giggs help?

Obviously it's 3 against 2 and when Beckham or Giggs comes inside to help, Dani Alves and Abidal will have a lot of space. Seriously the difference of ability is just too big.

I doubt it would if I'm honest, if a slightly inferior midfield of Diarra, Alonso and Ozil has trouble containing Barcelona. A midfield of two will be swept away no matter the quality of Scholes and Keane. However if Beckham were to be included in the line up, I feel United's attack would improve to no end, as he would add a consistant attacking quality that Ronaldo simply doesn't have against the big teams.So in conclusion, while it would a tough match for both sides, in the end a midfield of Beckham-Keane-Scholes-Giggs would eventually be overrun by Barcelona's supreme movement off the ball.

no

No

thedinho wrote:I doubt it would if I'm honest, if a slightly inferior midfield of Diarra, Alonso and Ozil has trouble containing Barcelona. A midfield of two will be swept away no matter the quality of Scholes and Keane. However if Beckham were to be included in the line up, I feel United's attack would improve to no end, as he would add a consistant attacking quality that Ronaldo simply doesn't have against the big teams.So in conclusion, while it would a tough match for both sides, in the end a midfield of Beckham-Keane-Scholes-Giggs would eventually be overrun by Barcelona's supreme movement off the ball.

You talk about a 2 man midfield, I'm not sure that's entirely fair. Whereas when Real Madrid play that 3, they have wingers in Ronaldo and di Maria, Beckham and Giggs never really played that way, they were very much Right sided and left sided midfield players, rather than being wingers, that's illustrated by the fact they've both started Champions League Finals in central midfield, they tracked back an awful lot more than wingers in a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1 formation would. It's more of a 4 man midfield than 2 man midfield.

Saying that, I think Scholes at the period that midfield was at its best would be completely out of his depth. If you supplemented Scholes from 06-08 into that line-up to replace the Scholes of 1999, with Beckham and Giggs tucking in, you'd have a much better shot at it. I feel that Nicholas Butt might be a better option than Scholes if we're going with 1999 Scholes, with him playing ahead of them.

4-4-2 would be raped.

Scott wrote:Liverpool's old midfield that included Gerrard, Alonso and Mascherano contained them.

It was Sissoko and not Mascherano, Barcelonas midfield was Xavi Motta Deco... nowhere near Barcelonas current midfield.

No. The best way to stop Barca is to put 10 defenders in the box.

no

Best way to stop Barca is get a proper ref who doesn't buy into the diving tactics

Scott wrote:Liverpool's old midfield that included Gerrard, Alonso and Mascherano contained them.

bloody liverpool fans, so retarded

in that case.. midfield of Scholes, Carrick and Park contained them too in 2008. its hardly the same barca team

Lux wrote:Best way to stop Barca is get a proper ref who doesn't buy into the diving tactics

Did they dive against Madrid last time?

ahlycotc wrote:

Lux wrote:Best way to stop Barca is get a proper ref who doesn't buy into the diving tactics

Did they dive against Madrid last time?

I wouldn't know, didn't watch it

ViVaRooney wrote:

Scott wrote:Liverpool's old midfield that included Gerrard, Alonso and Mascherano contained them.

bloody liverpool fans, so retarded

in that case.. midfield of Scholes, Carrick and Park contained them too in 2008. its hardly the same barca team

More to the point, the midfield outlined in the OP actually played against Barcelona and got a 3-3 draw, so there's the answer.

ResurrectionRooney wrote:

ViVaRooney wrote:



bloody liverpool fans, so retarded

in that case.. midfield of Scholes, Carrick and Park contained them too in 2008. its hardly the same barca team

More to the point, the midfield outlined in the OP actually played against Barcelona and got a 3-3 draw, so there's the answer.

....

not sure if serious cause my point was, the question is if these midfields could handle current barca team.