Memo: TO MANCHESTER UNITED AND EPL FANS!!! 

Your sense of entitlement seriously rubs me the wrong way and I just wish that we could talk about the game and the way it is played for better or for worse.

First, we all have to agree that football is defined differently in England than it is in Spain or any other country. British football is simply an extension of the British male's model of world:rough, unsophisticated (they do not find it necessary,having a stiff upper lip in British society is a GREAT virtue), resilient, goal or mission driven.Indeed, the ultimate goal in British football is to WIN. Henceforth, form matters very little to you in this endeavor.One can hardly argue this point nowadays because of the foreign presence in the league but the basic understanding of the game persisted and still remains. This fact is very obvious when you watch the EPL. Play is almost always vertical and that explains the long balls from either L/R backs and Centerbacks into the opponent's central defense. Play is, therefore, shortened and form is somewhat lost because patterns are senseless during this exercise.

On the other hand,If you look at Holland, Spain,France,Brazil,Mexico and even Germany, you find different patterns of movement from players than you would find in England. Wenger's Arsenal is the only team I can see attempt to play football the way the rest of the world does.

Now, is it a bad thing to be different? no! but I refuse to have anyone from Manchester United tell me that I am wrong for wanting to see football with all its intricacies: completed cycles of play both horizontally and vertically. The EPL sells itself short by mostly relying on force and speed to score goals rather than technical superiority,which is what Barcelona is all about.It is rare to see goals in the EPL that are team goals,you will find a few exceptions,but not enough!

Furthermore, just to emphasize the point, I remember, just this season, Real Madrid taking a lot of flack from their "own" newspaper, MARCA, for winning without sparkle after a fantastic streak of wins. It just goes to show how important that aspect of the game is to true football fanatics because those are the things we remember long after the game is over, long after players retire and long after trophies are placed in museums.

I remember Jean Amadou Tigana because he was elegant in the way he looked for either Platini, Giresse or Papin or Fernandez; I remember Roger Mendy because he showed the way forward in his team's offensive effort; I remember Fernando Redondo because he was elegant within the context of his team's architectural scheme, I remember Battistuta because he fit within his team and was in charge of completing Argentina's offensive cycle of play...All these players and teams are remembered because they belonged to teams  or simply agreed to follow the process of building, troubleshooting, moving for and with, and proding play. This aspect of the game is why I, like the majority of football fans watch the game, not the EPL's "kick it upfield, bump into one another, and you might get a goal philosophy". If I really wanted to just see this somewhat brute and almost "animal" athleticism then I could have simply chosen American football or rugby!!!

We are not weak for wanting something different from what the EPL has to offer, we are simply smarter about our football.

No, you heard me right ... I want another centerback and I am not crazy!

1)The only crazy thing is to believe that we will see the Gabi Milito we saw last year anytime soon. After one year of injury it is hard to think that we can just go back to where he was: not gonna happen, especially with a knee.

2) Marques is proned to injury as we saw last week. I do not need to comment any further on it. It is very obvious that his days as a top flight player are numbered.

3) Caceres is not really a center back. He really is a right/left back. He lacks size and is much more of a Franco Baresi wannabe than pure sang Roger Mendy. I have to admit I like the guy very much but I do not see him holding down Barca in the middle in a Champions´ league final (any takers?)

4) Pique has been great so far! besides a couple of mistakes I am very happy with his displays this season.

5) Henrique would have never been loaned out if he were that ¨fantastic¨ to start with.

6) That only leaves me with Puyol...a beast through and through!!!

The combination in the middle of the defense is, I think, Barcelona´s possible undoing. I am sure some will cite me the fact that so far we´ve had the best defense in the league, so on and so forth...I agree but I am being forward looking and as we move into the secong half of the season...I am honestly tempted to ¨doubt¨ our ability to be consistent in the middle of the defense.