View From The Top

Mummy writes their name in their coats and they have velcro trainers instead of laces to save embarrassment.

I'll buy you a brew 1st home game when we are all actually there and not off on our jollies!

My treble is still on!

Players who came through the academy and started the game: Utd 1 Barca 6

Their model was put into place by Cruyff and is a copy of the Ajax system. They focus on ability and teaching kids to love the football and all of the teams, from the youngest to the 1st team, play 433 and with the same philosophy.

He too is a wonderful player. The trinity of Iniesta, Xavi and Messi is beyond good.

Any team can beat any team, look at us against Utd over the years, but beating Barca, in their current form, relies on them not being at their ruthless best, the same as when we beat Utd. 3 league titles in a row and 2 European Cups in 3 years shows how good they are.

The thing is with Barca is how good they are when they haven't got the ball. I watched a documentary about their academy and one of the rules that all Barca players are taught is that no opposition player is allowed more than 3 seconds on the ball before they are challenged. They close down and press so high up the pitch that the top 3 are the first line of defence and they force opposition defenders and defensive midfielders to make so many mistakes and then punish them. 433 will always beat 442 and SAF made the same mistakes last night that Capello did against Germany in the WC in so much as that midfields were totally overrun.

Arsenal played to their max and Barca didn't. Arsenal were handed a footballing lesson at the away leg.

Utd looked like a 20th century team with an old manager wedded to 442. Barca looked like a 21st century team with a young manager playing 433.

My nipper has been watched by a couple of local professional teams, not for his first touch or vision but simply because he's a big lad who can get stuck in. As long as English clubs worry about size over technique we will be left behind.

Here fishy, fishy, fish. It's a juicy worm on a shiny hook.

If there has been a better European team in the 40 years I've been watching football I've must have missed them because this Barca team are simply outstanding. Messi gets the headlines but Xavi is totally unplayable.

If there has been a better European team in the 40 years I've been watching football I've must have missed them because this Barca team are simply outstanding. Messi gets the headlines but Xavi is totally unplayable.

According to my 9yo Barca have to win as none of the Utd fans at school go to games and aren't, therefore, proper fans. Good lad.

My nipper has a Barca shirt as do nearly all of the nippers who play in the same team. Messi is a demi-god to the kids. That said, he also has AC Milan, Benfica, Anderlect, Athletico Madrid and PSG shirts or shorts.

I'm currently trying to source a good print of it for my dining room wall.

I have a Stevenage, Posh, Swans treble going on.

I go to France/Belguim on a regular basis to explore the old battlefields of both WW1 & WW2. Start of with Ypres and the 1917 Passchendaele frontlines and then take in the Dunkirk fighting retreat on the way back. Of course, Normandy offers plenty but I found following the path of the Hampshires both very rewarding and very moving (My son wants to do the same with the South Staffs regiment). I've "adopted" a grave in the main commonwelth cemetery in Bayeaux of an unknown British sailor, KIA 6th June 1944 and have been visiting his grave, in a very bizarre way hoping that he knows he's still remembered as his parents/wife/kids would have never have visited him, for over 20 years.

The Cape of Good Hope, with Table Mountain rising above the cloud, from the sea.

Bora Bora in the Society Islands. Everything a Pacific Island should be. The view of Venice from the number 82 Vaporetto. The top of the Empire State building. British Columbia. Norwegian Fjords.

Joking aside Gib was/is an absolute sh*thole. Better off going somewhere nice like Seville.

That combined with a few years travelling Jamie.

Europe Norway Sweden Denmark Finland Germany Austria Slovakia Cezch Republic Switzerland Italy Greece Lichtenstein France Spain Portugual Belgium Holland Luxembourg Ireland Jockland Taffland Turkey Russia Africa SA Kenya Morocco Tunisia Egypt Nigeria Ghana Ivory Coast Cameron Serria Leone Senegal Americas USA Canada Panama Costa Rica Belize Brazil Venuzuala Guyana Mexico Middle East Israel Saudi Oman Bahrain Kuwait UAE Asia Pakistan India Bangledesh Thailand Indonesia Singapore Malaysia Singapore Taiwan Korea (S) Japan China Pacific Oz NZ Fiji Tonga Tahiti Carribbrean Islands Most of them (large ones) and deffo all the English ones.

Looks flat compared to BF3 but I'll be getting it anyway.