Aye, true. I think Man City are probably the only club big enough and rich enough to challenge them in the next few years. If they have the right manager and use their money wisely they will dominate in this country and could carry that into Europe

But even if a club has all that money how do they go about getting a team that can compete with Barcelona and their style of play? Look at Real, packed with the best talent they could buy and even they couldn't do the job! The current Barcelona team is a freak of nature. 

Exactly. And Barca will be able to maintain their momentum, given the academy they have. Money is relevant of course, but all the money in the world will count for nowt if you have a crap academy.

Citeh may well go on to dominate the EPL in the coming years, but they'll never get close to this Barca team.

United have some rebuilding to do. They don't have a particularly great midfield.

Exactly. And Barca will be able to maintain their momentum, given the academy they have. Money is relevant of course, but all the money in the world will count for nowt if you have a crap academy.

Citeh may well go on to dominate the EPL in the coming years, but they'll never get close to this Barca team.

United have some rebuilding to do. They don't have a particularly great midfield.

This has been an area that myself and John (Llamedeos have discussed many times). I do feel the SAF will look to make a cple of major midfield signings this summer

Exactly. And Barca will be able to maintain their momentum, given the academy they have. Money is relevant of course, but all the money in the world will count for nowt if you have a crap academy.

Citeh may well go on to dominate the EPL in the coming years, but they'll never get close to this Barca team.

United have some rebuilding to do. They don't have a particularly great midfield.

This has been an area that myself and John (Llamedeos have discussed many times). I do feel the SAF will look to make a cple of major midfield signings this summer

There are two ways of beating Barca as I see it.

1- Park the bus a la Mourhino

2- Kick lumps out of Barca's midfield, while breaking up their play.

The nearest United have, regarding point two, is a fully fit Fletcher. But Fletcher needs help in that area with a similar type player.

It's no accident that we beat Milan in the San Siro - 'Arry actually got his tactics spot on that night. And what did he do? - he employed Palacios and Sandro as a pair of wolves to hunt down Seedorf (and others) so that Milan never really got into their stride.

I was surprised Utd didn't start with the thug. He would have broke Messi's leg in the opening seconds with a reckless, amateur challenge. Ok, he'd have been sent off, but no Messi would have been a huge bonus. Always possible the ref wouldn't see the challenge and he'd get away with it

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There's little doubt that Barca are a class act, and on the day they were far superior to Man U with better pace and a better understanding of how to dictate the game. All of the energy that the Man U team put into the game, and there was plenty of that, was largely wasted chasing the shadows left by a malfunctioning midfield which failed to breakdown the build up of waves and waves of Barca's forward forays and were seemingly incapable of providing amunition to their forward players in counter attacks.

Much has been made of how inferior Man U are, but if that's the case it's a sad indightment of how bad the English game, and that's simply not true. All those who would down Man U in support of their own frail sides, should look at how badly they did in competing against a side that won the Premiership because they worked harder and fought harder than any of their fellow contenders. Of course that's simply not good enough against such an extraordinary team as Barca have now. The difference for Man U as opposed to other Premiership contenders is that they are only about 3 players short of the world class squad they require to not only dominate the English game for a few more seasons, but also to compete on an equal footing with only a couple of other teams capable of taking the mantle from Barca.

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There's little doubt that Barca are a class act, and on the day they were far superior to Man U with better pace and a better understanding of how to dictate the game. All of the energy that the Man U team put into the game, and there was plenty of that, was largely wasted chasing the shadows left by a malfunctioning midfield which failed to breakdown the build up of waves and waves of Barca's forward forays and were seemingly incapable of providing amunition to their forward players in counter attacks.

Much has been made of how inferior Man U are, but if that's the case it's a sad indightment of how bad the English game, and that's simply not true. All those who would down Man U in support of their own frail sides, should look at how badly they did in competing against a side that won the Premiership because they worked harder and fought harder than any of their fellow contenders. Of course that's simply not good enough against such an extraordinary team as Barca have now. The difference for Man U as opposed to other Premiership contenders is that they are only about 3 players short of the world class squad they require to not only dominate the English game for a few more seasons, but also to compete on an equal footing with only a couple of other teams capable of taking the mantle from Barca.

I think you'll find Citeh will soon be breathing down your necks, once they get a manager who can properly understand the English game and manage the various egos at Eastlands. Chelski are going to be spending big too.

United don't have the financial muscle of these two and sooner or later one of them 'will get it right' and go on to dominate the EPL.

I would humbly suggest United try to be as competitive as possible (within their financial limits) and focus on winning the EPL again before harbouring any hopes of matching Barcelona.

Not only were Barcelona 'better on the night' they'd have probably beaten United on 49 out of 50 such nights. As I said in an earlier post, United actually appear to have gone backwards since 2009.