Nov 08
Arsenal v Man Utd: Preview
It’s early kick off time at the Emirates, and United’s meeting with the Gunners couldn’t have come at a better time. Arsenal have been in underwhelming form — yes, I know, form matters little during a game of this magnitude — while United have been kicking up a few gears in the league whilst also applying the brakes at times. The fact is, though, we still are scoring a lot of goals, whilst Arsenal have lost their first choice strike pair to injury and suspension.
Before previewing today’s game, let me inform you that I was interviewed by Arsenal Insider ahead of today’s game. Here’s an excerpt:
PGL: Wenger has launched an attack on the standard of tackling in the Prem. This fixture used to be full of blood and thunder but it has become a more free-flowing fixture since the departures of Keane and Viera. You see Ronadlo kicked up and down the pitch every weekend, do you think Arsene has a point?
RR: Wenger has a point to some extent. But the league has always been physical. I think all managers sing a certain tune based on the way their players get treated on the pitch. Ferguson rants about Ronaldo not getting protection, while Wenger seems to think the whole league is on a conspiracy to injure his team. He may have a point but, at the end of the day, creative players will get kicked; the better teams will be hustled by the mediocre.
It’s how one learns to deal with it that would separate the Champion from the chasing pack. That’s something Fergie has learned but, fortunately or unfortunately, your manager hasn’t — and it appears increasingly so.
You can read the rest here, as I talk about Fergie, Wenger, United’s last season and today’s game.
Right, back to United, and there is quite some material for you to read through if you are looking to while away the time. David Lacey, on the Guardian, has a piece on the increasing significance of Berbatov to our season. For a United fan, and a regular commenter on RR, most of the points relating to the Bulgarian’s importance to United’s attack have already been discussed to death. But it’s still an article worth a read.
Another development taking place in Manchester lately, which has inspired fan boy behaviour, is the arrival of Maradona at Carrington to meet with Tevez. The likes of Rio Ferdinand (who turned 30) and Rooney were only too eager to snap a picture or two with him.
In the pre-match conference, Ferguson warned the fans against making denigrating Wenger chants, and that such chants should be stamped out of the game:
“I think some of the chants that are being directed towards Arsène Wenger are ridiculous. The police should be doing more. They should be stepping in. But Manchester United and its supporters should also know very well the chants that have been levelled at us over the years – ie songs about Munich [air disaster] – and understand the sensitivity that is felt by members of this club. I don’t agree with it at all. There’s enough to think about and admire in the game without resorting to denigrating people.”
Well they may be denigrating, but then it’s Arsene Wenger, and who wouldn’t want to have fun at the expense of Le Professor!
Brown is injured, and Fletcher remains a doubt. So, a good line up today would be a 4-4-2 with Neville’s experience preferred over the raw Rafael. Brown, to me, would be the ideal person to play this game, but he’s out injured. If Fletcher does not make it, then Anderson will take his place alongside Carrick. I’d also like to see Nani start, although one can’t help but wonder if the likes of Park or Giggs might sneak in. Park, especially, considering he’ll be able to do a lot of running and try to pressure their full backs. Rooney and Berbatov would play up front.
Predictions: 2-1 to United.
Come on you reds!!!
Related items from Red Rants:
- Porto it is then…
- Man Utd v Stoke: Preview
- GOAL VIDEOS: Manchester United v Arsenal
- Man Utd v Everton: Preview
- Man Utd v Spurs match thread
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (541)
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Stephen (454)
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Moscow is my heaven (272)
@jos: My point jos was that it makes no difference who plays up front, the team is not playing well or with the needed focus and desire so really nothing would change. The problems have nothing to do with Berba. The whole team is going through a malaise and it has infected everyone.
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Wow, as expected some serious reaction on here. I wasn’ table to watch the game, but from the highlights can’t believe Rooney/Ronaldo’s respective misses. Particularly Ronnie’s, I mean that was on a plate. But what can you do.
Arsenal are a good team at Emirates, they barely ever lose there. Ditto Pool at Anfield, and Chelsea at the bridge. Last season we had better success against them, but some of that was undeniably good fortune. Our team isn’t materially worse this year, in fact it’s probably slightly better. We don’t have massive problems with personnel, our problems are coming out of motivation and tactics.
We’re clearly having a hangover of a season, after last year’s high. Some players just aren’t bleeding for the cause like they were at the end of last year, which is what pushed us over the edge. I mean, Fletcher tries but is limited. Rooney can’t finish to save his life. Nani is inconsistant. Our RB is unsure. EVDS is a bit scary. None of these are new things, but last year we managed it well, and this year we’re not.
We can still win the league but it’s going to be a massive ask. The good is that we’ve now gotten through our 3 toughest matches. The bad is that we’ve not done well from them, and Chelsea are cruising. I don’t think we should aim to sacrifice the league for the CL, but it may end up coming to that, which is just not a position I ever thoguht I’d see United in.
I think we need to shake things up, and the first step, for me, is to see if the Roovez partnership is still effective. Given that we’re going to need maximum points to even be in with a shout at xmas, now is the time to find our best XI.
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@Nino: It wouldn’t make a difference because Wenger wouldn’t spend the money if he had it. The guy loves to work with youth. He wants to build a dynasty from the bottom up with youngsters and Fabregas is the center piece of his plan. It’s never going to happen. Not for all the tea in China.
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Our midfield was poor on Saturday, Carrick did not influence the game whatsoever, Anserson started well, but unfortunatly did not s**t on Fabregas.
@Beachryan: I owe you an appolgey, in hindsight after my jibe about Manucho, his physical presence was what was needed on Sat!!
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Maybe a gauge of a players potential is their desirability to other teams.
I have a feeling that many of the best clubs would take both Nani and Anderson off of United’s hands and make them into much better players. I’m sure Anderson can score great goals, I’m convinced Arsene would love him alongside Fabregas…there’s a big confidence problem going on here with both of them (training too).
I don’t think any of the very best teams in Europe would want Carrick, Fletcher or Park…In modern football you need a couple of really fit midfielders, who can hustle and pass really well for the whole match…
Look what’s happened to Arsenal since the departure of Flamini, regardless of the weekend, they won’t be anywhere near as good as last year, they relied on that hustle and movement to build their attacks.
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@Grognard
”
Perhaps then, you should learn to read (and comprehend) more before commenting. That includes reading your own comments before posting.
What exactly is innocent about this post and its emmoticons?
“@Karl: Karl, why do you get so frustrated? This is a rant site for crying out loud. We rant because we either love or hate something. If you are looking for a total love in go to United’s official site where everything is perfect and rosy and your senses are not offended. Jeez, why can’t we all just be a little more tolerant of opposing views?
What makes you think I will waste my time discussing you around a campfire? I don’t give a shit about how many friends you have on this site, but if it makes you sleep better at night, good for you.
If you have a need to put others down because of your own inferiority complex, then please don’t take it out on me. I have never gotten personal on this site before now. But, please don’t insult my intelligence like this, and if you don’t want to comment on my posts, fine. But if you do, then please show me the necessary respect (as I have shown you) by reading my posts properly before commenting.
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Dear Grognard
I apologise for being rude. I can see that if I mis-interpreted your post then my subsequent responses would seem extremely rude. I am sorry.
To everybody else whose time was wasted in reading such unnecessary negative garbage, please also accept my apologies. I will try not to let it happen again.
Regards,
Karl
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People I have a question!
Seeing how good Rafael (da Silva) is going forward, why not use him on the right wing (or left wing, whatever is good for him) and see how he fares there when we have Brown/Neville fighting for RB slot. We’ve seen Park is no good when it comes to scoring goals (its only 50-50 he’ll score even in an empty net 3 yards out!) and is easily bumped off the ball (just a light shove is enough). Rafael, though looks light, but is cool on the ball and has fantastic technique and dribbling skills. He can do a job on hte right midfield side.
Just a thought!
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Why don’t we give Anderson a game wide left, he is decent on the ball and would give him a chance to get forward, and give him less responsibilities, and will give us some much needed balance.
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@jos: We have Ronnie and Nani in the right already.
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@Stephen: Ronnie can play on the left. He is very comfy playing with Evra actually!!!
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I think we have bigger issues to deal with rather than the right side matey!
Fergie really now in my view has to be ruthless, Gary Neville has had it I love him to bits but Nasri tore him as new one on Saturday, and it is actually quite sad to see.
Giggsy still has something to offer, but really as a token, Fergies idea on putting him on for Anderson, was farcical.
Wehave no natural left side midfield player, and the midfield is not performing and Vida looks a shadow of the player he was last season, I am now officially joining the doom and gloom boys!!
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I can’t believe the amount of stick Berba is getting on this site. like it’s his fault the manager is employing him in a new, untested system.
I’m surprised that most can’t see what is happening to our style of play, we are in transition.
The last two years, we have focused our game around Ronaldo, he was always given the opportunities and because he was always attacking from different areas of the pitch apart from the penalty box, he was always hard to mark. Rooney and Tevez did the creating and hustling, Nani/Giggs did the crossing/supporting and Ronaldo did the scoring (he has all the qualities of a perfect CF). This was pretty much the only system we were versed at and as it was focused on Ronnie, we became very reliant on it. Why do you think some pundits called us a one-man team? It’s not because of bitterness (maybe partly) but because in a sense, it was true. Remember early this season when Ronnie was out?
This season, Fergie bought Berba because he intends to give us another style of play; thru the middle, but not abandoning our free-flowing style of play. With this sytem, even if Ronaldo is out injured/suspended, it wouldn’t matter, as we are attacking thru the middle and his movements into the box are not the only way we can score. The problem with this system is it needs a proper attacking mid to function, so as to supply the attackers without them having to create for themselves in midfield like before (this will allow them to stay further up the pitch). Giggs has been deployed there regularly as we have no one else competent in that position.
So far, we are still adjusting to this unfamiliar system and that is partly the reason Berba has been playing consistently, as he is key to this system. The problem is, without that attacking mid, the style is pretty much limp. Berba and Rooney still have to drop back because there is no one to supply or playmake further up the pitch. I say we stick with this till we get it right, cuz in the long run, it would be beneficial as we would have options when it comes to our style of play. If we can find a player who can productively take on the role of attacking mid when we play thru the middle then we will be flying, but so far Giggs has not been up to the task.
The Roovez-Ronaldo will always be our preferred style, but right now, Fergie is trying to establish a different approach, and one that is not too reliant on Ronaldo. The problem is, do we have the right personnel for this system?
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We just need more goals from Berba one in nine in the league isn’t good enough, but he is a class act no doubt.
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@Stephen: Ando on the left? maybe, but he is a good central midfielder and we have Nani who is awesome (still don’t know what Fergie is saving him for
). Like I said in my previous post, our new style needs a Defensive midfielder and an attacking one, both who are clear on their responsibilities. Defensive mids, we have, but attacking mids, we don’t.
Anderson might have been an option for that attacking mid spot, but he lacks the composure and clinical ability to play there. Giggs has been deployed there, but doesn’t have the legs to play there consistently. I feel Carrick can do this, but he has actually become our most reliant Defensive player.
If Fergie is serious about this new system, he has to play the right players in their roles, but as injury is hindering this, he has had to most times play with two central midfielders instead of an attacking and a defensive one. Maybe, he might have to put it on hold, revert back to or Roovez-Ronaldo axis and wait till injuries lessen to see if we have the right personnel to play this way. As of now, we are struggling with this style of play because we do not have that vital link between midfield and attack.
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@Gabriel: I agree with your assessment but tend to disagree with the need for an attacking mid. I might be wrong, but IMO, berba is that “attacking mid”. SAF wants him to provide the creativity in the team. It’s more like him playing deep and linking everything up and Ronaldo and Rooney providing the goals. The only problem with this system is that Rooney is not that clinical. Even Ronaldo, due to his high number of goals, people tend to overlook his number of attempts.
Saturday was a typical example of the problem of this system. When it does not work, we tend to send crosses in (like Ronaldo of late) with no-one to receive, or end up playing long-ball forward.
I agree that we were a “one-man-team”. Thing is, with our new system, we will still be a “one-man-team”. In fairness, I’m not sure what SAF’s alternatives are though because of Ronaldo’s desire to leave OT.
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@Gabriel: We need someone who can put his foot in Daniele de Rossi would be ideal in my view.
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As mentioned, I might be wrong, but it to me it seems like SAF is targeting more of a “theoretical” 4312 system with berba as the 1. This is evident from the fact that Tevez/Rooney always rotate, and Nani not “clinical” enough to rotate with Ronaldo. This makes sense the inclusion of Park. In this system, he theoretically provides more than Nani.
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@Stephen: He is a class act no doubt, but like Groggy said, he is receiving no service/support from midfield and is having to drop deep to create chances for the other attackers. This is what Rooney and Tevez got used to doing last season, but as Ronnie was always scoring, we didn’t have any issues.
We bought Berba to play upfront and so far he has been unable to do that because of poor service from midfield. Remember in the games where Giggs was playing as an attacking mid, Berba was always uptop and he got goals and assists. However, when we play with two central mids who don’t even move forward and playmake, he has to drop deep into midfield to do that.
We have to get a consistent and productive attacking midfielder or Berba will end up doing what Rooney and Tevez did last season, which will in the end make his acquisition almost seem like a waste of money.
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@ Gabriel – good post, I think you’re pretty much spot on. Also the reason we’re seeing a lot more balls in from ronaldo already this year – he is actually playing as a winger some of the time! And I also agree that it’s to remove some emphasis from Ronnie’s roll. Problem is that it hasn’t clicked yet, and with a team like ours, no one has any patience.
I think if we can accept that we likely won’t win the league (someone calculated that for us to reach SAF’s 85 points, we’d have to average 2.5 points per match from here on out, basically win 20 and don’t lose) then this isn’t a bad time to try that out. With Giggs/Neville/Scholes just about gone, we have a team that can be together for at least 3/4 years hopefully. Neither Berba nor Carrick are particularly speed based players, so they shouldn’t slow down, my only concern would be around Ferdinand, but he’s just so damn calssy he should be alright. Rooney, Tevez, Park, Nani, Ando, Fletch, Evra, Vida, Rafael and Foster are all young and developping. So lets sort something out and build a dynasty team. Chelsea may well hit their peak this year, before age catches up to them in a lot of areas of the pitch. Pool will never manage the quality needed over a season, so realistically if we set ourselves up well, it oculd be ours for the next 2/3 years. If only we could convinec Ronnie of that…
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@Beachryan: Surely we can’t give up yet!!
The league is more competative this year and we have played the big boys all away from home, have some faith!!!!
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@Karl: Like I said, Dimitar has had to drop deep to be an attacking mid because we do not have any other option. If we had a competent attacking mid, Berba will not be seen anywhere near that position. He will always be uptop, providing the clinical finishes Rooney and Tevez lack and receiving the crosses sent into the box by Ronnie and co. When he drops deep like that, all we are doing is reverting to our old(successful) style, but without Ronaldo making his usual forays into the box, which is crucial to that system (point in case: the arsenal match)
Fergie is again exploiting another player’s versatility. In this case, it is Berbatov. He is very creative, we all know that, but he was bought to be a striker, not an attacking midfielder. Fergie, if he was serious about this system should have planned to find a suitable player for this position. Giggs is not that player, although when he has played there, our attacking has been improved and Berba got goals. However, he doesn’t have the legs anymore, hence, we need a consistent attacking midfielder in order to function properly in this new style.
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Consider this…in a team that traditionally attack in numbers, defend in numbers:
Ronaldo don’t defend,
Berbatov don’t defend,
With Rooney now moving up top, he won’t defend,
Adding an attacking mid to the system (ala Kaka) who is also in some extent except from defending can be catastrophic to a team boasting the best defensive record in Europe.
This IMO is the main reason why it appears that our midfield and defenders are being over-run. They are the same ‘brilliant’ players of last season, but being utilised differently. How else can it logically make sense that the best team in Europe and England now need to add 3-4 additional players (as some has mentioned)?
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@Stephen: remember lot of teams come to OT to snatch a draw! The big ones can actually succeed with their gameplan on a bad day for us. Chelsea/Liverpool are totally capable of picking a point.
he would have been the best partner for Rooney upfront!!!
The league, I fear, is a gone case now!
We should better think of winning World Club cup and CL and probably FA cup as well. The two international cups will immensely help with attracting players like Torres! Why the hell did he have to join the shit club pool
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Gabriel, also I don’t think Berba is any more clinical than Rooney or Tevez. He was a focal point of the team at Spurs, and how many goals did he score? He was not bought as a traditional striker.
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@Karl: Maybe we are getting over run in midfield is due to Arsenal playing pretty much a five man midfield on Sat, Diaby was dropping in deep and leaving that donkey Bentdner up on his own.
We just need to get a settled midfield, Andy/Carrick or Fletcher/Carrick or Andy/Fletch?!
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@Stephen, it did not only happen on Saturday. Otherwise, why do people think we need a re-shuffle of midfield. We can’t demand a re-shuffle after only 1 game, surely?
As I said, I might be wrong, but this is how it appears to me.
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@Karl: I suppose in an ideal world in my view my first choice midfiels is Hargo and Scholes, and neither are fit.
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Lets be frank here…it was a fantastic game from both ends..had we scored the sitters we got we cud have won..Rio’s cconcetration is a big concern and so is VDS..the defense is not getting enough support from VDS and that has made them less cofident…. we need wes back Asap as RB…coz he was instrumental last season in almost all away matches… Pair rooney with tevez and then we are back to winning ways…then slowly ,may be we can try inducting berbs in a 4-2-3-1 formation…but this is not the time to experiment …. lets go back to old free flowing
4-2-4 please
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@Stephen, I believe Scholes is past his prime, but yeah, I tend to agree with you on this one.
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@Karl: Carrick for me doesn’t dictate the game as sometimes he should, he is a lovely passer of the ball but I wish he would be more aggressive in his tackling.
Andy played well in spells on saturday, but hasn’t come on as I hoped(wished!) but it is still early days for him and hopefully he will develop into the player will all think he will. Fletch has had a good season but isn’t good enough to be a week in week CM for a top four side, but his contibutions this season hane been superb.
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@Karl: We don’t need 3-4 players, just one. About our system, it would not be as catastrophic as you imagine. Let’s examine our two styles of play:
1st style: 4-2-4
We had four attackers who roamed all over the pitch, creating and scoring goals for themselves. The two central mids just provided little support and even less attacking drive. Their main job was to cover the spaces left by our overlapping fullbacks and slow the opposition counter (one for each). The full backs also provided support from the wings and were the ones doing most of the crossing. These set-up was particularly effective on the counter when Carrick would just toss the ball to our pacy forwards and they would do the rest. It worked well because of those four in attack, but was really reliant on Ronnie. Like you said, we attacked in numbers and defended in numbers.
2nd style: 4-1-3-2
With this system, we would still have overlapping fullbacks, but a more balanced attack that would also work when we have to break down defenses. A proper Defensive mid would be the anchor, someone who is clear on his role, which is to sit in front of the back four (Hargo or Fletch can do this). The attacking mid would allow the forwards to stay permanently in and around the box which will mean more numbers in the area to meet the crosses that are sent into the box and score tap-ins or loose balls(things that rarely happened last season). The wingers move around less and will be in better positions to help out the full backs by slowing down counters from the wings(remember Ronnie tracking back on the wings against arsenal?) Hence, our attack is more varied and we still defend in numbers.
Like I said, it’s a matter of utilising the right personnel. In the first style, I would go for:
———-Foster
Brown – Rio – Vida – Evra
—–Carrick – Ando——
Ronaldo————– Nani
——-Rooney -Tevez——
In the second:
———-Foster
Brown – Rio – Vida – Evra
——-Hargo/Fletch——
Ronaldo—Giggs/???—Nani
—–Rooney–Berbatov—–
The good thing about Berba is that he can function excellently as a striker in both styles and that is probably why Fergie got him.
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Alan Hansen is with United to turn it all around! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/3411492/Dimitar-Berbatov-is-not-the-source-of-Manchester-Uniteds-problems-Football.html
That Loser!
And by the way. I finished Gears Of War 2! It Was Awesome! Cant wait for Gears 3 now!
Does anyone hear use Adobe CS4 Master Collection? I downloaded it from torrents and wow! The results are amazing! Already I have created 10 animations and edited about 12 pictures of mine!
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Gabriel I like those teams but the centre looks weak and that matters when we have Nani, Ronaldo, Berbatov and Rooney built to attack. Anderson can boss the midfield on occasion but other times his positioning is all wrong, he drifts out of games and we cannot afford that. Carrick is a good player but id agree with Stephen that he can be exposed defensively. God what I would give for someone like Senna, Gattuso, De Rossi…
I agree if we had taken our chances we would have won the game. But taking our chances isn’t our forte and we gave Arsenal enough chances to win the game. With players like ours we are always good for a goal or two but once we let in two goals, three goals is a big ask! If you look at the Pool and Arsenal games, we lost in midfield becausae over 90 minutes our weaker midfield was exposed. Both games I would have crowded the midfield and gone with 4-3-3 even if it meant shifting Rooney to the wings.
For most games 4-2-4 suits us fine but for the big games I think a more cautious approach is warranted so long as our midfield is still our achilles heel.
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@Stephen, I agree. Regarding Anderson, true he has not quite delivered up to the expectations of last season, but as you said, it is still early days for him. I do believe he has what it takes to become the best CM in the world.
@Gabriel, I agree. I think that is the problem. SAF has not yet worked out a formation/tactic to utilise Berbatov and the players around him to the fullest. Pushing Berbatov too high up will take away a lot of the qualities that he is expected to bring to the team. The truth is, we are defintely changing our system to accomodate him.
People talk about Ronaldo being great last season (and rightly so), but tend to overlook the “hustle and bustle” of Rooney/Tevez which created the opportunities for him. Even though we were a one man team, it was actually a team effort that gave Ronaldo his opportunities. Now, that hustle and bustle is gone, and we are being overrun in midfield. SAF have a lot to sort out. He first stated that by October we will come good, then November, now? I don’t buy all the latest PR crap. I think he is now well aware of the pridicament he has caused. I suppose we have to trust him to make the team gel once again. One thing’s for sure, he need to choose between getting the style right or winning the EPL. I does not seem like we will have it both ways.
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@colver: I agree with all your points, we used to pack the midfield for the bigger games, but now he seems to bring in Park.
We should for the bigger games play 3 in the centre of midfield, like Chelsea and Arsenal have done against us, and I would love a midfield enforcer, ideally De Rossi but can’t see that happening more likely Diarra..
The issue seems to be the balance in the centre seems to be wrong, or players do not get enough of a run with another midfielder to develop some continuity. We seem to change the side week in week out, Nani gets a game then its Park, Raphael plays the Nev ot Wes. Fletch then Andy, Carrick then Giggsy. We need to play a settled side for a few weeks so the players gain some confidence and develop an understanding, which is what Liverpool, Chelsea and even Arsenal seem to be doing.
This could be one of those seasons, Nev and Giggsy, Van Der Saar on their swan song, but it is not good for the team, maybe its time with those three to say “thanks” but its time to move on, personally I think Fergie is being over sentimental.
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is it just me or is anyone else sick of the “we could of have a hatful” mentality, which is coming from utd at the moment, fergie seems to be using it as an excuse more and more, and as for man.com… well according to them the game was brilliant… not from where i look at it… look you could say that you had a gazillion chances to score.. but the fact is, if you don’t put them away, they don’t count, so i wish that line would be dropped from fergies dictionary. just score.
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@Stephen: surely we have a “midfield inforcer” in owen hargreaves.. it’s just a shame he’s got a gammy knee.
but if im not mistaken.. last season especially against ‘Pool and Arse’ Anderson was excemplary in that position… what exactly happened to him.
plus, surely you don’t want de Rossi… remember how he bottled that penalty at OT? not good enough for us, no. if you want to get someone in.. its gotta be less long term… personally i would love to sign Gattusso, especially as Fergie has admitted he looked at him a few years ago… he might be getting on (30+ right?) but he would scare the shit out of fabric-arse and Stevie”diving cunt” G.
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@ Grognard : I perfectly understand your admiration for Berbatov as a player and i share the same.. As i mentioned in my earlier posts, Berbatov in person is not the problem…We have to admit that we dont have good CMs who can break a defense…What happened last year was, Rooney-Tevez-Ronaldo always dug deep into our midfield and create attacks from deep and break defences apart using the clever one touch or movement off the ball..Not to forget those blistering counter attacks..
What happened now??…Berbatov is not a good mover off the ball (you have to stay with me on that)..So the system we currently play does not suit him well when we come up against tough defenses…and to provide him service Ronaldo is forced to be on the wings (whose runs inside and goals are so vital for United…If we rely on him too much its not a weak point…he is world’s best player!!!!)..
It is not Berbatov…it is not Rooney…the system that we play right now does not suit the personnel we have on the field..Last season the system was 4-2-4…with Ronaldo and Giggs/Nani attacking from the wings and switching between Rooney/Tevez…you see Ronaldo pop up in the middle/Tevez in the wings…the movement was quick and troubled defenses…The system and personnel was spot on…
We cannot expect to play the same system with Berbatov in….We need a new formation and we need to search for that until we find it..Playing four of them Rooney-Tevez-Ronaldo behind Berbatov is a good tactic in my view…that is 3 clever players who make those intelligent runs off the ball around a player who is so comfortable on the ball..and our midfield who have nothing much to offer offensively take the mantle to clean up and break up attacks from other team…for like 2 CDMs..
We need to start dominate matches…we are not doing that anymore..even our wins comes with share of fightback from other teams…even in OT..
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You can’t judge a player on one pen miss, especially after Ronnie miss in the shoot out, would you call him a bottler!?
Hargo is that player but I feel we have seen the best from him and this injury will get the better of him I’m afraid.
Guttuso is 30 and De Rossi is 25, and Roma are skint so might get a decent buy there.
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@colver: Is it not that same ‘weak’ midfield that we played with for the past two seasons? We always play with two center mids in normal games and they help defend when we are attacking in numbers, especially on counters. That is one of the reasons we had such a fantastic offensive/defensive record, because we attacked and defended in numbers.
Although it can be a little light, especially when under the cosh, like in european/tough away games, we usually pack the midfield or play a more defensive player. Also, in games where we need to break down opposition, we tend to play an anchor with a more offensive player partnering him. This is where Hargo or Fletch come in. They are players that can play that holding position and cover our defence.
Against Arsenal, Fergie went with a 4-2-4 instead of playing an anchor or packing midfield because we had no fit defensive player. Fletch and Hargo were injured and O’shea is not good enough in that position. If Fletch was fit, we wouldn’t have been overrun like that. In the liverpool game, it was the same story, no Fletch or Hargreaves, and as soon as Carrick came off for giggs, we lost our most defensive midfielder on the pitch.
Our problem is not defensive midfield, we have players who can play there, it’s attacking midfield. We need a player that can control the tempo of the game and also take the game into the opposing team’s half whenever we are under the cosh. Defensive mids don’t do this, they are too busy closing the opposition down. We don’t need a Keano, we have Fletch, Hargo and to an extent Carrick for that, what we need is a Scholes(of old) or a deco, someone who can create things upfront and link up play between midfield and attack.
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@Gabriel: Yoann Gourcuff?
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@Stephen: He seems great,but as he belongs to AC MIlan, it might be hard to get a hold of him. Diego looks really good, but I’m not sure if he would leave his star status at Weder Bremen to come here. There are a lot of them who actually ply their trade in the German league; Ivan Raktic, Toni Kroos etc. I also read Fergie was in the chase of a player along these lines, can’t remember now. However, those are some good options we need to look at. Thay are excellent attacking players, but can also do a job in midfield if need be.
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@Gabriel: Great points mate, I do likr the look of Raktic he looks top draw.
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so what are we? 10 games in and already people are writing us off.
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can i ask how many people who thought that we needed to buy more than berba over the summer? exactly. we all took out a leaf from liverpools book, the ‘final piece of the jigsaw’ the ‘key to immortality’. but, the plain thing is that berba adds a new dimension to our team, but also takes a dimension away. he provides more clinical touches than tev, but doesnt hustle and bustle nor does he run around. SAF shuldve known that rooneys form wasnt going to last – it never does- but he let tev rot and is now feeling the consequences and, mos of our hunger, drive and dtermination has gone because we are da best team in england and europe. ferdinand seems to think no defander on earth is better than him and brown must be feeling upset coz nev is past it. brown and raph shuld be rotating in dat rb place. our midfield is brill, when theyre all fit. imagine a tevez happening to carrick, hargo or flecth or scholesy. exactly. but giggs also adds a dimension, he is slick and does some beauty passes.once we get going, and win 4 games 4-0 on the trot, we will laugh at what we are saying now, and call ourselves naive. but, our record against the top 4 is frightening. only 1 point from a possible 9. thats not the united way. we had the best record in the top 4 last season. tev needs more games and evds and ferd need 2 restablish themselves. we will do the quadrupkle this year
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@Gabriel: Courcuff doesnt play for Milan anymore. He got transferred to Bourdoux this summer. I would like Diego, him as a CAM and Andy as a CDM would be great! And Ronaldo and Silva/Nani on the wings…
Heaven! But I doubt Fergie would want to go for him, he is a good player but I doubt him being on Fergies radar. Courcuff on the other hand would be a great buy! He would settle for a place on the bench for certain games during the season, something I doubt Diego would do. But future will tell and I wonder what we will be talking about in about a year. Will it be how Rafael may be the best RB in the world? Anderson scoring a hat-trick? Or Ronaldo signing a new contract and saying fuck off to Madrid. Lots of stuff can change in a year. 12 months ago now I quote RedRanter saying this: “Seriously, Mr. Berbatov, you could really fuck off.” 
And some of us were thinking Dong would become United qulity!
So things change in a year!
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Just checking some articles from the past cause I want to see what was interesting for us during the cource of the season. Ive said Dong, and fuck off Berba, but I saw one comment from me that made me shocked. Its after the West Ham game that we lost 2-1 last year thanks to a Ronaldo penalty miss. Here it is:
“Which one would you rather choose:
”
1.Ronaldo missed it today and now he knows how it feels to miss a penalty and how important every pen is. He will practice even more now and be more determined than ever every time he gets one.
2. Its a cup final and the score is 1-1 when Ronaldo gets a penalty. He has never missed one and is over confident. While not fully focused he strikes it and the ball goes wide.
I think missing the penalty today was a good experience for him actually. Its da teams fault for not winning not Ronnies. I am sad to spend the last hours of 2007 in second place after such a great year. But we may be on top 2nd January 2008 cause Arse play west Ham and they proved that they are a difficult side to play. Still Ronaldo will always be a hero and I will defo forgive him for today. If it wasnt for him we would have been 4th or 5th and not qualified for the CL.He is only human, though a marvelous one!
Pretty wierd, eh?
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Goal.com
Last week Goal.com told how the Manchester United team pulled a collective prank on Portuguese wing wizard Cristiano Ronaldo.
United’s No 7 was snapped leaving a nightclub with sweat rings on the underarms of his jacket. Ronaldo then turned up to training to find that hundreds of deodorants and perfumes had been stuffed into his locker in the dressing room.
Gary Neville is the latest squad member to be tricked by his team-mates.
The Sunday Mirror now claims that Brazilian midfielder Anderson found a field mouse that he quickly caught and put down the back of club captain Gary Neville’s shirt.
The tabloid says that Neville told Anderson he would be fined while comically clawing at his back and cursing so loudly that Sir Alex Ferguson could only look on and laugh: “You’ll be fined!” The Sunday Mirror quote him as saying.
Prior to the 2006 World Cup Rio Ferdinand released an MTV style show called ‘Merked’, where he pulled tricks on his England team-mates including Wayne Rooney, who thought he had killed a dog, Shaun Wright Phillips, who was under the impression he had upset a waiter, and David Beckham, who got so scared that he jumped out of a moving car.
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@RedDevilEddy: He’s on loan to Bordeaux. He’s still a Milan Player. He’s been doing good for Bordeaux and people are actually questioning if he would still want to return to Milan to be a rotational player now that his stock is high, so, who knows…
Yeah, a lot of things can happen in a year… like us clawing our way back to the summit of the PL table.
We definitely have the quality within our ranks to do so. About Diego, he would be a very solid buy, but like you said, he’s a superstar in Bremen, and if he’d want to leave that to start afresh here is the million dollar question.
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