I've been meaning to say this since the Champions League final, but here is something I find incredibly annoying about the media, and football fans in general:
When Barcelona went through against Chelsea in rather fortunate circumstances, many, many people were saying that they were not that good at all. In those people's eyes, Barca had been found it. La Liga could now be considered a joke league, with the average Barcelona the beneficiaries. I mean look what Liverpool did to Real Madrid.
Based on one game, definite conclusions were drawn up - Barcelona were 'overrated', and Man Utd would teach them a footballing lesson come the CL final. In hindsight all of this seems like it has to have been untrue, but this is really the way many people were talking about Barcelona after their sub-par showing against Chelsea. They were the featherweights who stepped up to the heavyweight division and were quickly found out.
What absolute tosh.
When Barcelona gave United a footballing lesson, were United proclaimed to be an overrated shower by the media? Did they just throw everything Man Utd had done throughout the season into the dustbin and count it for nothing because of one poor game? Did the Premier League become a joke league? Of course not. It would be silly to draw such conclusions from one game, and yet that's what people did with Barcelona.
And what's worse, the same media that were guessing just how big the scoreline would be in United's favour have now turned around and proclaimed Barcelona to be majestic. It's just all so reactionary, so unprofessional.
Had Barcelona lost, they would probably be hailed as the worst football team to ever make a Champions League final, because apparently two games define a team...or at least a foreign team. But of course let's forget about United losing to Liverpool 4-1 at home (a far worse result than Real Madrid's against the same opposition), or the fact that United only picked up 5 points from 18 against Big 4 opposition.
Now my point is not to drag United down. All I'm saying is can we stop drawing big conclusions based on one or two games?
By the way, I saw Argentina play for the first time under Maradona and they're rubbish. Fernando Gago started for them - need I say more?
When Barcelona went through against Chelsea in rather fortunate circumstances, many, many people were saying that they were not that good at all. In those people's eyes, Barca had been found it. La Liga could now be considered a joke league, with the average Barcelona the beneficiaries. I mean look what Liverpool did to Real Madrid.
Based on one game, definite conclusions were drawn up - Barcelona were 'overrated', and Man Utd would teach them a footballing lesson come the CL final. In hindsight all of this seems like it has to have been untrue, but this is really the way many people were talking about Barcelona after their sub-par showing against Chelsea. They were the featherweights who stepped up to the heavyweight division and were quickly found out.
What absolute tosh.
When Barcelona gave United a footballing lesson, were United proclaimed to be an overrated shower by the media? Did they just throw everything Man Utd had done throughout the season into the dustbin and count it for nothing because of one poor game? Did the Premier League become a joke league? Of course not. It would be silly to draw such conclusions from one game, and yet that's what people did with Barcelona.
And what's worse, the same media that were guessing just how big the scoreline would be in United's favour have now turned around and proclaimed Barcelona to be majestic. It's just all so reactionary, so unprofessional.
Had Barcelona lost, they would probably be hailed as the worst football team to ever make a Champions League final, because apparently two games define a team...or at least a foreign team. But of course let's forget about United losing to Liverpool 4-1 at home (a far worse result than Real Madrid's against the same opposition), or the fact that United only picked up 5 points from 18 against Big 4 opposition.
Now my point is not to drag United down. All I'm saying is can we stop drawing big conclusions based on one or two games?
By the way, I saw Argentina play for the first time under Maradona and they're rubbish. Fernando Gago started for them - need I say more?
