It is scary how far we are being left behind in Europe..Adapt or Die and we are in the emergency room bleeding...Tactical Variation and players with alot of Technical abilty are the new trend needed in Europe..no longer can a tired United 4-4-2 be depended on in games where adapted teams using newschool tactics with pace in their passing and alot of movement off the ball will dominate the game and create countless chances be it at OT or at their respective home...We saw it with Benfica and today with Bilbao who were absolutely brilliant. They have adopted the Barca formation and to me have become the closest team to their style in terms of quick passing, movement all with technical players 1 through 11 and when they lose the ball win it back.. switch to United and we run the same old system and with some slow, technically inferior players and a team with no sharpness, intensity and invention especially from the midfield we will be exposed against teams like we did today...Where do we expect a player like the current Park to take us in Europe? he cant keep the ball, he offers f**k all going forward and his technique is horrid..Valencia for all his pace and other attributes has 1 foot and If you stop his channels then what? See Barca United 2011 final for proof ... Or Hernandez and Anderson with their great attitudes but poor ability, especially Chico.. Of the 4 i named I would like to see Park and Anderson exit the club and I would like United to not only invest in technically gifted players but also an up to date coach to come in there and shake that training center to the ground with his new forward vision and innovative tactical ways.. An oldschool English get stuck in , die for the shirt assistant coach can only take you as far as we have come in Europe...Let Fergie do what he does best and manage the situations but he needs help badly with coaching to take us forward on the Euro scene, we will always be a force in England due to our know how, experience and marathon styled theme where we can afford to slip up a few times.. In Europe its Adapt or Die, someone call the doctor
Need some fresh blood and some dynamic ideas. At the beginning of the season they looked like they were up for it, but they slowly sunk back into the basic Man U approach - which when flowing and added to individual talent is enough beat anybody, but in the current state with the current crop lacks a bit of cutting edge.
Bilbao played like every Bielsa team - high up the pitch, press the ball in numbers, move it quickly when you have it, with the midfield shape continuously changing. Barca re-popularized this type of game in the modern era and murdered everybody - no one was ready for it, but top teams are slowly catching back on (relatively)....but other teams have played it before...Milan did it way back in the 90's, Argentina under Bielsa and Basile did it in the early to mid 00's, Chile under Bielsa did it, Porto played some variation of it as well last season...Even Madrid is employing the high press from time to time now, to great success.
Football is always changing, some teams either adapt late or miss the boat altogether. What I realize too is the EPL revolution of high intensity 100 miles an hour football that we saw in the 04/05 era is becoming less and less of a competitive advantage - pretty much non-existent now....teams all over Europe are dealing with that physicality and speed... and as such the lack of technical quality as you say is starting to show...