Barcelona doesn’t have a problem gaining loyalty from it’s players because it is one of the two big names in Spanish football. This equates to one of the big two names in South America also. Kids who grow up in Spanish or Portuguese speaking countries automatically grow up dreaming of one day playing for Real Madrid or Barcelona. When they are finally selected or bought by the club, they are treated like royalty, their parents are treated like royalty and the bond and loyalty for life is sealed. The club does everything to make them feel wanted, loved and appreciated even if they rarely start or if they are too young to start.

United on the other hand has cultural block that they cannot help. This block hurts their chances when it comes to building security and loyalty from their young foreign players and the players they buy who do not speak native English. We are constantly looking to buy talent from South America yet we have no way nor do we try to make these players fit in well and feel a part of life in Northern England. They come from hot climates like Brazil or Argentina and then they get stuck in the cold and the rain and have none of the cultural advantages and staples that makes life easier for them. They are forced to have to learn another language and in many cases, just don’t. When United buy more accomplished players from other countries, they come with the hope and the aim to become regular first team players. Then Fergie either benches them or rotates the Hell out of them so much so that they lose rhythm, form and confidence. Anderson, Nani, Tevez, Rafael, and the list goes on and one of players who are trying or have tried to make a go of it in Manchester but have either failed or are failing because the country and culture as well as weather is too different and the team does not allow for their own expression and interpretation of the game not to mention the endless rotating and bowing to the old boys club that is Neville, Scholes, Giggs, a trio that have kept many a good player down in my books.

Fergie has had his foreign successes and Ronaldo and Cantona were great ones, but overall, he has failed badly with non English speaking purchases. The team just isn’t warm and cozy like Madrid and Barca are to these types of players. They just don’t work at making it better by helping these players either get more acclimated to their new and very foreign surroundings, or by playing them more and helping them get more acclimated to the game the team system and the league. Instead Fergie builds them up with praise and early confidence only to break them down. He has done a masterful job destroying both Nani and Anderson as well as others by making them out to be more than they were, playing them out of position, demanding of them to lose their natural instinctive way of playing and then rotating them until they have lost any momentum and confidence in their form. Instead he continues to parade the old guard while youngsters who I feel are ready to play rot in the reserves. Young players on a reserve team are like fruit on a tree. They reach a ripeness and they begin to rot. I am already seeing the rot in Welbeck and Macheda as well as Gibson, Fabio and a few others. Some might say they just aren’t good enough to play for the first team. I say they are but Fergie is too much of a coward to break one or two in with a regular and fair shot. He gives them one game or one half and if they don’t wow him like Ronaldo, they are sent back down.

Sure Fergie has a lot of pressure on him to get results but he is allowing the team around him to age along with him and they aren’t getting any better folks. Macheda for one should have had more games up to now. Gibson is also one player I wanted to see more of and it’s good to see Rafael back because anything is better than watching O’Shea at RB. Would Evans be getting the chance he has gotten had it not been for Rio’s back injury? Nani has never had a fair run out there and Anderson who I don’t care for continues to be the height of inconsistency because he is not played enough. Trial and tribulations of having a deep squad in England.

Finally, if Man Utd or any top English team wants to be like Barcelona, best for them to start treating their players the same way and best for them to start buying players from countries that have English as a strong second language and where the culture and the weather isn’t so foreign. Lyon only buy French players or foreign players who speak French. And if they dabble in any other language, they stick to one. In their case it’s Brazilians. But they have an active team of scouts who pick quality kids in Brazil, not just primadona’s. They nurture them, bring them to Lyon, take care of their needs, their families needs, get them a home and get them started with French lessons. They have a liaison hired full time to help them get their kids in school, buying specialty items that they require as well as cultural needs. Everything is taken care for them. All they have to do is play football. And when a team like Lyon invests so much in a player like that, what they do is play them. They get their chance and aren’t stuck in the reserves or on the bench rotting while 35 year olds take up all the playing time. It’s a young man’s game but nobody would get that impression from the way United operates.

United needs to change their team culture and their buying strategy if they want to be like Barcelona. If I was running United I would buy UK players for loyalty and depth and Norther and Central Europeans for the basis of my squad. They mostly speak English, they understand rain, snow and cold and they can adapt as easy to English culture as I can if I lived there. And let them continue their Brazilian experiment if they need to. But it will fail long term, I guarantee it.

We could also learn certain aspects of tactics and techniques from them. Like how to pass a football from one team mate to the other and quit those damn long balls(are you listening Vidic and Carrick). These things are taught in training and that’s why Barca,Milan,Arsenal,Chelsea and Madrid are near perfect at it.This goes hand in hand with receiving a pass and making runs off the ball. Our tactics make us too predictable. Everyone patriotically sticks to their positions like WW2 soldiers especially chief culprits Carrick and Scholes. Move around and open up.Now these things are all about tactics and techniques and the coaching staff is responsible for this.
Another area we could learn is in the youth dept. We have exhibited zero balls in this aspect. Barca have excelled in this dept and have shown massive faith in their youngsters. As we are speaking they have recently unleashed another one from their long line of talented youngsters. Pedro,has already recorded something like 10 goals so far in his breakthrough season coming from Barcelona B(equivalent to our reserves). Pedro can be compared to Macheda or Welbeck. They have also just recently extended another youngster’s contract by the name of Sergio Busquets(was involved in Rome)who played today in midfield. Another youngster debuted in Europe tonight by the name of Jonathan Dos Santos,young brother of Barca youth product and current Spurs player Giovanni. All these players featured tonight against Inter and the first two are already becoming regulars. We also have enough quality in the young players,yet we insist on playing them as rarely as possible. There is no reason why Rafael and Fabio should not be trusted more especially with the right back position. Macheda should have played at least 4 league games by now and all our matches should include at least two youngsters in the starting line up. Let’s show some faith in this crop and play them some games of significance.