Apr 24
Barcelona 0-0 Manchester United – Much better than last season
Red Rants had some problems in the last 10 hours or so – first our server was under maintenance for a looonnnggg time (they picked one hell of a time to do maintenance), and then there was a problem with our database that didn’t allow people to post comments. Both problems are resolved now, and I thank you for your patience and hope that you haven’t migrated somewhere else in the meantime.
We will be shifting servers in the near future to avoid any such future problems.
Ok, back to the match itself. In case you haven’t seen the game, I suggest finding a place to download it and watch it again, or trying to catch a replay on TV. My hangover prevents me from going play by play over last night’s events, although to the teams’ credit I managed to go through the whole game without sleeping (as opposed to the shit on a stick affair at Anfield when I dozed off 10 minutes into the game). If you’re pressed for time, read the beeb’s report or guardian’s minute-by-minute coverage.
What I DO want to discuss though, is the nature of United’s performance and what that holds for the coming days (both the Chelsea game and the second leg at Old Trafford).
United played quite well for their standards
Remember, we’re not Liverpool or Chelsea – we didn’t have the players in midfield or upfront to hussle and play ‘direct’ football. Some of you might disagree, but comparing United’s performance to Liverpool’s last year would be unfair for two reasons – one, the different styles of play, and two, the fact that Barcelona gave away that game last season with some shocking defending.
Instead, we were on the backfoot throughout, with Barcelona controlling the midfield through possession and their much better use of it. The crowd was a factor as well (in motivating the home side) and I hope United fans heed Fergie’s request to create a special atmosphere in the return leg to urge their team on.
We’re not Arsenal either – our game is usually played on a higher tempo with less emphasis on the short passes (although they’re still there). Arsenal might have done better against Barcelona, but that’s as much to do with psychology (they’ve done well away in Europe in recent years, United haven’t) as with their style of play (remember Villareal away in the 05/06 season? shambles…).
But the most important (and for me, positive) thing is that this side played a lot better against an arguably more dangerous side (in terms of attacking talent across the pitch) than it did last year away in the Champions League semifinals. There’s a lot of talk about how United should win this and play like that but at the end of the day, this was a bunch of kids who’ve shown considerable maturity in standing up to a strong team and come away without being embarrassed. United learned their lessons from last season and it showed in the way priority was given to closing down attacks and defending as a team.
That penalty
The penalty, without a doubt, changed the game. If it had gone in, there was always going to be more goals in it – a score draw or a 2-1 to either side was quite possible then because it would have given United more confidence and given Barcelona the added incentive to go forward and attack.
Ferguson said that perhaps the penalty came too early for United and Ronaldo was caught a bit unprepared. I find that true to an extent – the pressure got to Ronaldo and it might not have gotten to him if the pen had been in, say, the 10th minute. As things were, it was a surreal moment and too good to be true to be given a penalty in the first minute in a Champions League semifinal at the Camp Nou.
Ronaldo missed (for the record I think with his European experience Hargo should have taken it, but hindsight is 20/20 and you’d have bet the house on Ronny scoring from a pen against Barca), and both teams were cautious after that. Barcelona focused more on possession and control than outright attack, and United, aware that they had rustled up a nest of bees, were cautious and focused on nullifying Barcelona’s threat as opposed to doing any serious foraging up front by themselves.
United did have a strong shout for a second penalty around the 29th minute, but that wasn’t given. Can’t say much about that, except that Ronny would have tried again and I’d still bank on him putting that one away. Should we now throw a strop and say we were denied clear-cut scoring chances by a referee? Nah, we’re not going to berate the ref. Unfortunately, this happens when you rely on single individuals to referee high-pressure games where something as obvious as home crowd pressure (not to mention the fact that it’s harder to give a second penalty than it is to give the first one) can influence the ref’s decisions. As Fergie said, you don’t expect to get one penalty at Camp Nou so to get a second there was no chance. At least that’s better put than doubting the integrity of the referee, which surprisingly hasn’t earned Rafa Benitez any fine up till now…
Team selection
Unfortunately Vidic was ill but Wes Brown did a good job as his replacement. Brown is a confidence player and he grew into his added responsibilities yesterday. He’s a great asset to have in the squad with his experience, loyalty and defensive abilities. Sure, he’s not a natural right-back, but of all the center-backs playing at right-back for the top four this season, who’d you back? Exactly…
Ferguson held back Nani and Anderson for the next two games, and when you think about it, this time around we have players we can rely on to freshen things up and still win games for us. Come Stamford Bridge, I would expect at least one of these 2 to get a starting role. Strength in depth, coupled with maturity and experience, gives us a much better chance of progress this season than it did last season.
Park, Scholes and Carrick played an important role in ‘getting the job done’ without making too many mistakes. EVDS put the defence under pressure a bit with a few erratic clearances but was otherwise solid. Hargo had a decent game as well and hopefully he’ll be in midfield for the return leg alongside Anderson to provide the team with some added bite. It was also interesting to see United play Rooney on the wing because it was a testament to Fergie’s flexibility and that of his players as well. How many strikers do you know who, despite being first-choice for their team, will willingly take on a defensive role in midfield?
Looking forward
It’s Stamford Bridge and then back to Old Trafford for the next 2 parts of the ‘most important time of our season’. We could lose against Chelsea and still win the Premier League, but because of the lack of an away goal we now need to beat Barcelona at OT.
And if we can beat Real Madrid 4-3, and AC Milan 3-2 – I see no reason why United can’t win again against top European opposition at the Theatre of Dreams. We’re good enough to win the next two games, and at the very least I think we’ll pick up a point at Stamford Bridge and progress to the Champions League final to play … Chelsea … in Moscow.
Over to you.
Related items from Red Rants:- A disgruntled fan’s views on the Barca game
- Barclona v Man Utd: Preview
- De Rossi for Manchester United?
- Man Utd v Barcelona: Preview
- Jumping Ahead of Hull and onto Barca
Tags: Match Reports · UEFA Champions' League
April 24th, 2008 at 9:07
Reminded me of “The Rumble in the Jungle” with Ali, I’m just waiting for the knockout blow…
Unleash the Anderson?
April 24th, 2008 at 9:17
i think 0-0 is a great result, if barca cant score against us, at nou camp, in front of about 90 000 fans, what makes anyone think that they can score against us at old trafford.
im predicting a 2-0 win for united next wednesday.
to chelsea now,
im guessing that both sides will rest players for their CL ties, but can chelsea really afford to do that?
April 24th, 2008 at 9:24
Cantona in a film for French TV
:
http://lachaine.tf1.fr/lachaine/telefilms/papillon-noir/0,,3819332,00-extrait-eric-cantona-.html
April 24th, 2008 at 9:30
scholes was a joke! he shud not play vs Chelski and the return leg! where’s andy? wat the fuck wif rooney on the wing? n put psrk instead of a fit nani? joker!
hargo or tevez shud take penalties…also hargo shud take freekicks! ronaldo shud not bossed everything!
P.S : anyone knows where is david may and jesper blomqvist now? both retired or still playing? thanks! a
April 24th, 2008 at 9:36
We played like a 4th division team. Hopeless performance… United players seemed clueless every time they got the ball. Not a single shot on/off target in second half!!!
Players were throwing away the ball/possession as if its not a ball but some bomb or grenade thats gonna burst anytime!!!
“Oh the ball has been passed to me… But what do I do with it???”
Only 37% possession!!! Joke!!!
April 24th, 2008 at 9:47
Hrm, best news out of it for me is that Brown had a stormer – looks like Vida is out at Chelsea, and we all know they’re going to hoof it to Drogba all day, looking for him to either play football or dive like a baby.
Also sounds like, as we know, Ronaldo is not a world class striker. The fact that Fergie isnt’ willing to stick Rooney up there alone says to me we’re getting a new one in the summer.
Big two games coming up. Victories in both and the season is a great one, defeats in both and its another story…
April 24th, 2008 at 9:47
What a time for server problems! Fcbnews had the same problems. I’ve now managed to get my report done if you want to read the Barça side of things. http://fcbnews.com/barca-0-manchester-united-0/
Looking forward to next week’s thrilling score draw
April 24th, 2008 at 9:52
scholes was a joke! he shud not play vs Chelski and the return leg! where’s andy? wat the fuck wif rooney on the wing? n put psrk instead of a fit nani? joker!
hargo or tevez shud take penalties…also hargo shud take freekicks! ronaldo shud not bossed everything!
P.S : anyone knows where is david may and jesper blomqvist now? both retired or still playing? thanks!
April 24th, 2008 at 10:02
I was a little disapointed to be honest, too much emphasis on tactics. Park to contain Messi, Rooney out wide who did not get a kick, Tevez god knows where he was playing, and Ronnie up front.
I wish we would have played our normal game and attacked them, with Rooney knocking the two centre backs about a bit as they looked fragile. Ronnie out wide and Anderson closing the midfield down.
April 24th, 2008 at 10:15
Kienu,
Scholes was probably our most effective player. He broke up a huge amount of their play in the centre of the park, putting in a performance that would have the press salivating had it come from a Makelele/Mascherano. He did what was needed of him on the night.
The main problem was Ferg’s tactics, why he persisted with so many players out of position is beyond me. It looked as though he was going out there to attack with Tevez, Rooney, Ronaldo and Park. Instead he jumbled them into strange midfield positions, if he wanted to boss midfield why didn’t he go with his usual set-up with three central midfield players (Anderson/Carrick/Scholes) and three attacking players (Nani/Ronaldo/Rooney). Very strange decision and it was obvious the players weren’t happy playing out of position.
Very disappointing night with the added embarrassment of Ronaldo throwing himself to the floor time and again, he should take a leaf out of Messi’s book and get on with playing football.
Well done Brown, Ferdinand, Evra & Scholes, the rest went missing (along with the majority of passes).
April 24th, 2008 at 10:17
“i think 0-0 is a great result, if barca cant score against us, at nou camp, in front of about 90 000 fans, what makes anyone think that they can score against us at old trafford.”
Easy, because ManU can’t play same way in Old Trafford. You have to attack, and there will be more options to score for Barcelona.
April 24th, 2008 at 10:22
Jig,
scholes’ role and style is not suited to this kind of tactic and position….he just cant tackle! he was giving away a lot of silly and dangerous freekicks near the box and it could be costly! put hargo or andy there anytime and they can even drive the team forward rather than passing it back all the time ala mr paul scholes!
crap tactics with so many out of position players! without puyol, rooney cud had outmuscled the two CBs of barca and might even draw more fouls or penalties;) rooney wif corners? crap! hargo to take free kicks!
April 24th, 2008 at 10:24
A wonderful article on uefa.com, recounting the experience and emotions of the various members of the treble winning squad of 1999 when we won the UCL:
http://www.uefa.com/magazine/news/kind=32/newsid=685482.html
April 24th, 2008 at 10:24
0-0 is a great result considering our home record in europe and in the league this season. Although it was not pretty, I can understand the tactics as well. But what I can understand was how woeful we passed the ball when we had it. Saying that, we did manage to get away with a draw, and we have a great chance at home.
April 24th, 2008 at 10:34
United played shit no doubt. it was the worst performance by us all season if you ask me. thanks to that defensive tactic we have added the pressure of making sure we have to win at Old T. no draws. I dont doubt man u’s ability to win at OLD T but there’s also a possibility for us to draw. I hope we dont live to regret the defensive tactics we used at Nou.
April 24th, 2008 at 10:35
First and foremost im disappointed, this team which we love so much was in my mind overawed and played with little or no conviction. The biggest culprits were Rooney (maybe injured), Park & Ronaldo. Tevez played like a lion and so did Scholes, Hargo had a tidy game too at right back as did evra.
Overall though I felt if fergie had switched Rooney to up front with half hour to go like he did in Rome we would have got more chance and maybe a goal…..
Im hoping and praying that the penalty miss does not come back to haunt us!
See you at the Bridge lads to win the league.
April 24th, 2008 at 10:51
WIKIPEDIA FOR MAY AND BLOMQVIST
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesper_Blomqvist
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_May_%28footballer%29
Scholes , Ferd the SUPER RED and especially EVRA THANK YOU! I ‘D like to thank our tacticians too. Fergie and Queiroz you played the game of the year yesterday night.
I have a simple question for you. What the fck is going on with these Barca players? They seem to be pro-evolution players. I mean do they play the playstation game? Cause the whole season they use only one way to score goals. The same rtrd way they tried yesterday. They try that turn pass to the penalty spot after they are behind the fullback.
I MEAN ! COME ON YOU CRAZY RETARDS ! IT’S not the WINNING XI here IT’S THE UCL.
April 24th, 2008 at 10:54
now SAF vows to go for attack on wed! if we had attempeted to attack yest….at least we cud had a secure one goal advantage to bring home considering barca’s defence was shaky without puyol yest! now in order to go for a full attack, we might get exposed to counter attacks! crap!
April 24th, 2008 at 10:58
I liked Ferguson’s tactic. He played safe when the entire world said that United will destroy Barcelona. ManU now have a better chance than our team. But when you start palying your style our players may find more space at old trafford. Toure and Zambrotta were instrumental in keeping Ronaldo quiet. I do agree with a lot of you that Anderson should start ahead of scholes. Messi hopefully will regain full match fitness by the second leg.
No hard feeling intended – “It looks like only barca can play the same style of football both at home and away” (I know sometimes (most of this season) it made us looked stupid.)
Our performance weren’t clinical but it atleast did one thing – the second leg english commentators will show a little more respect to such talented, out of form team.
April 24th, 2008 at 11:01
There are 3 premership sides in the semi finals, that should tell us someting. European sides don’t like playing against English teams, we play at a high tempo which does not let them settle on the ball.
We week in week out beat sides in the premiership, but then suddenly try and complicate orselves in playing players in positions that thay are not comfortable in and suddenly hope it will work.
Fergie is a superb manager but in Europe he over complicates things. We should play our high tempo aggressive attacking game.
The pride of all Europe!!
April 24th, 2008 at 11:10
These are a few observations of the past few matches. Pardon me if its not structured properly.
1. United haven’t been playing well for the past few matches. Its hell of a time for a dip but I really think it is. Boro, BBurn and now Barca. Not that I’m saying we played bad against Barca, in fact quite the opposite. What really worried me about these last few matches, to call it a dip, is the fact that our passing radar is totally off. In all these 3 matches we couldn’t string good passes throughout. And passing being the mainstay of our play, it has hurt us.
2. However, we haven’t been made to pay for it. To win doubles and trebles, a side need alot of luck. We did not have it against Portsmouth in the FA cup, but depite pretty average performances in recent matches, we are still on tops for the double. The dip can’t and won’t last much longer. We can afford probably another average game against Chelsea and get a draw there. But apart from that, if we get back to playing like we did a month back, we are almost through.
3. I agree with Grognard about Tevez. I’ve never been convinced about his ability to play in the Premiership. He would be more suited to Spain or Italy. Yesterday was a prime example where only he knows what he was doing. Its easy to say that SAF put him really deep and theres nothing he could do. But thats nonsense. He was supposed to be playing just behind Ronaldo, but he takes too many touches of the ball in a crowded area.
4. As far as last nights game goes, I think its not that great a result for us. But we played well. When Liverpool, Milan and Porto all did it, its was called tactical play and the ability to play negative but when we do it, it is said that this is not how United should play. If we would’ve gone to attack, we could’ve been walloped to be quite honest. CL is 2 legged. All we needed to ensure was that we were in the tie for the 2nd leg, which we did. So now its OT.
5. In the next 2 games, the first goal will be the most important set of goals of the entire season. Especially in the return leg, if Barca score first we might have to conjure a miracle. I really am not worried about Chelsea purely because in the Toad I trust. He will do something stupid like hes uncanilly managed to do in all of Chelsea’s important matches.
6. I really hope to stitch up the title with a draw this weekend and see us in the CL Finals.
April 24th, 2008 at 11:15
I don’t know what to make of the performance. Football is about stopping your opponent scoring while getting some goals yourself. In one respect we were excellent, the lads were disciplined, committed and well organised. Despite almost 90 minutes of continuous pressure the Barca attack never really cut through our back line. There were a few moments of concern but by and large Barcelona were rendered toothless. Particular credit should go to Evra who shut down his flank excellently, Scholes who shielded the backline with a surprising level of capability and Ferdinand who commanded the defence and came out on top of an intriguing tussle with Samuel Eto’o.
However with regards to the other aspect of football, going forward, we were utterly abysmal. Was there ball retention, possession, attacking flair, danger from set pieces, an eye for a counter attack? No, all completely absent. The issue is not that Barca had 65% possession; it was that we could only manage 35%. I would hazard a guess that our possession stats last night must rank amongst the worst the club has had in a decade. There isn’t much point in trying to single players out for this, for every bad pass hit there was a lack of movement or options from other players. Every time someone cheaply lost the ball in attacking positions there was no support to help them out etc. From anything other than a defensive viewpoint the performance was a 1/10 job.
From a tactical point of view the whole thing was bizarre. If we are going to play so deep we might as well of put Pique and Silvestre at full back and moved Hargreaves and Evra forward. Similarly SAF has often emphasised the importance of away goals and possession in the CL. Well both were summarily ignored last night. In addition the inclusion of Tevez and the use of a 4-4-2 formation goes against what seemed to be SAF’s tactics for Europe. I have no problems with a defensive performance in a game like this; personally I think you are asking for trouble if you go into the Nou Camp gung ho. But what we did last night was park the bus, a thing many have been keen to criticise the likes of Reading for in the past.
As for the outcome itself, it was ok and I consider it neither a good or bad result. We ‘should’ still see off Barcelona at OT but we have been in this situation before. We have had a few 0-0 results away over the years and they have invariably turned round and bit us on the backside. What way do you approach the home game, do you go at them in the knowledge you are in deep shit if they catch you on the break? Or do you sit back and be patient and let them grow in confidence? The result last night has left SAF and the players with a biggest question mark possible over the approach to the game. If we were behind we could go out knowing what we had to do. If it was a score draw we could take it patiently and if we had won we could sit on the lead. A 0-0 leaves us somewhat in limbo, let us just hope the players (and management) don’t let nerves get to them on the night.
Ultimately though there is little point in judging this result in isolation. We can only truly reflect if the lack of ambition (and ability) shown yesterday was the right decision on Tuesday night at 10.00pm.
April 24th, 2008 at 11:17
YEAH! now SAF vows to go for attack on wed! if we had attempeted to attack yest….at least we cud had a secure one goal advantage to bring home considering barca’s defence was shaky without puyol yest! now in order to go for a full attack, we might get exposed to counter attacks! crap!
April 24th, 2008 at 11:34
I for one don’t understand what the hell makes people
think that beating barca at OT would be as easy as taking away
a candy from a kid. May be, all players realised their
worst fears yesterday. Even a draw would cost us the CL.
I hope players rise their performance…
April 24th, 2008 at 11:48
Fergie tactics and team FORMATIONS, are making us a feckin joke in Europe!. If he hasn’t got the faith to play players in their normal positions, then he should get rid of them. A total joke!. I am embarassed to the hilt by last night’s performance. And to think that Fergie was boasting to the media that the world wanted a United/Barcelona final, NOT AFTER LAST NIGHT THEY DON’T. The way he played our team last night, says to the rest of Europe, we have no confidence of progressing unless we play 10 men behind the ball all the time. Manchester United will always play their way of football – hahahaha – I don’t think so, certainly not in Europe. I am sick to the back teeth of this type of game play. Barcelona have every good chance of scoring at Old Trafford, because they won’t be faced by all our lot behind the ball. If they do, then we will look like total tossers again. YES I DO RANT, BUT NOW RANT OVER.
April 24th, 2008 at 11:49
We are so reliant on Ronaldo scoring as well our midfield do not score. Rooney is struggling in front of goal and Carlos works so hard but is not a natural goal scorer.
We need goals from Scholes, Carrick who have only managed two between them, i think the attitude of sides you stop Ronaldo you stop United.
Players now have to step up to the plate and take resposbility we need more goals from all round the side not just Ronnie!!!
April 24th, 2008 at 12:00
Stephen: Last night had nothing to do with a lack of goal scorers. There was no movement, passing was poor, there was a lack of ambition, there was no creativity or cutting edge and half the players were out of position. Barca didn’t have to stop Ronaldo, infact they didn’t really have to stop anybody.
April 24th, 2008 at 12:05
JB, I agree but sometimes you need something out of nothing in games like that last night.
Bar Ronaldo and to some degree Tevez we some to lack that at times, when games are tight we always just seem to always look at Ronaldo to score and feel that centre mids should chip in with more goals.
April 24th, 2008 at 12:13
Fully agree with JB. 0-0 is probably worse than having to come back
from a 2-1 loss. Now, Fergie has to make a big decision before the
game-does he set up to go on the offensive from the word go and in
the process leave the doors open for a sucker punch, or do we play
a waiting game and hope Barca would commit forward leaving space
behind. Whatever is the decision, one thing is clear-if they score
first, it would take a miracle to recover.
April 24th, 2008 at 12:36
The bus should’ve been Carrick, Anderson and Hargreaves, and it should’ve been parked about 10 metres further up the pitch. Barca had so much time on the ball, I think it even confused them…why are they letting us just stroll up to their penalty area like this?
It didn’t look like some Italian inspired masterstroke, it looked like they were exhausted and desperate to cling on…but they clung pretty damn well though
April 24th, 2008 at 12:39
A rather disconcerting match from United. Barca’s possession and the role of Messi was significant. But we may see something different from United at Old Trafford. Player selection will be different for one. And I thought Ronaldo had a decent individual game at the Nou Camp. Problem was that he seemed to be playing alone most of the time. No support.
April 24th, 2008 at 12:41
With Anderson and Nani rested, I expect them to get a run out on Saturday. The rest of the team is a bit more of a mystery to me, given that:
Scholes and Hargreaves can’t play 2 matches in 4 days
Rooney is clearly unfit for some reason or another, and Tevez, well I dunno about Tevez.
More bad news is that Chelsea were able to rest SWP, Mikel and Essien, so they should all be fresh and fast. I really don’t rate SWP, but he does shoot all the time, and it’d be just our luck if he finally found his scoring boots this weekend. Lampard not playing could be a benefit to Chelsea IMO…
2 matches. Ronaldo, Rooney – if you want to prove yourselves, you can’t ask for a better ground to do so.
April 24th, 2008 at 12:42
Performance aside it is a good result. It is not unreasonable to have to win at home to progress to the semis. Nou Camp is intimidating and the players looked very nervy probably why they could not string a pass together. It will be a different story at home. Barcelona need to score and so do we, so it will be an open game. Of course that leaves us vulnerable on the counter attack whereas last night we had men behind the ball the whole time and rode our luck.
April 24th, 2008 at 13:10
probably they could complete passes coz they were sitting too deep and not playing the usual fast game (as we are used to). Fergie adopted a very safety first approach and it worked so it was indeed a good result. You are normally expected to win on your home ground and Barca didnt
April 24th, 2008 at 13:47
Result aside, I am a supporter of United because I love to watch them play. Last night was like watching my favorite super hero defect to the dark side. If I was happy to just look up the league table every week and watch them climb point by point then fine, but I’m not. I want to see beautiful football. It pains me even more because this one game brings to question Ronaldos credit over Messi. I honestly would not want to ever see them play like this again. Tactics or no tactics, this is not United. We didn’t play like this to win in 99′ we shouldn’t have to do it now.
April 24th, 2008 at 13:48
Wondered if that huge pitch at nou camp was the problem..VDS was struggling with his kicks. Our long balls continuously failed, but could gather up momentum with our short passes….
There was no point in having Rooney up front. Much much better defensiely thn Ronaldo. Good thing that Brown held his nerve.
Taking a look from a neutral, Messi proved here that he was way beyond r7 in controlling a game, although he didnt have any shot on goal.
I hope r7 lives lives up to his predictions at OT.
April 24th, 2008 at 13:52
Hi first time post new reader well anyway to the point…..
am i the only one that thinks that was great tactical play from feugerson last night. of course we were out there for a 0-0 what manager is so dumb he decidides to go gung ho againt the talents of xavi deco messi bojan too name a few. When we wernt winning titles did you see teams going gung ho against us, when we drew at the beginning of the season did teams go gung ho against us. the answer NO cause form takes a second to change and at all times you are 1 pass away from changing your season.
Sir alex was smart last night using the players strength he knew park would run him self to death and show a 100% commitment with out any nonesence remember this is messi on the same wing and we wernt sure want to exspect from him.
rooney on the right makes sence again great stamina 100% commited and didnt do anything stupid.
ronaldo upfront well hes gotta play somewere dont he and against teams like brcelona i wouldnt want him shouting at the heavens while abidal and whoever team up against hargreaves.
Scholes had a good game compared to most players he got stuck in what is what youll never see in spain, he slowed down the pace of the game when he had the ball that was a great idea from fuergeson. Lets see a team that like fast flowing football what do we do play with a slow tempo keep the ball abit longer ennoy them get them frustrated take the pressure of the deffence for a while o im forgetting use would of been fantasising about fast flowing football away from home in a champions league semi final against a team equal to us in terms of idiviual tallent we had a suprisingly good back 4 but a wobbly one that you normly would exspect. Sir alex didnt no if that back 4 would pay off or not and imm glad he didnt take the risk.
Now things wont get complicated at home with away goals and stuff the teams are starting level, both have to attack. exspect anderson to start this time like many of use were crying out for nani and park on the wings with rooney and ronaldo upfront.
April 24th, 2008 at 13:56
One big positive for me from the match is that we didn’t make any rash tackles or bad fouls that could have earned us yellows or even a red. The players were disciplined. One yellow to Hargreaves in the whole game, I think?
And look, defending for 90 minutes when the other side (a world class side, at that) has 65% possession, and not conceding a goal is fairly impressive.
April 24th, 2008 at 13:58
Barca had 17 shots on goal to our 6…
Rooney needed to play upfront, with Ronaldo.
Scholes was wonderful, agree with the makelele comment.
Back four brilliant.
My man of the match was VDS
GO UNITED LETS LOOK AFTER CHELSEA AND GET HOME TO PLAY ‘UNITED’ FOOTBALL
April 24th, 2008 at 14:06
I can’t believe the stick United are getting after this result, which I think was a very good one. We were fortunate in as much as we played poorly, but got a positive result. 0:0 away from home in Europe is no disgrace. Especially when you consider what happened to us last year against (imo) a poorer team.
A trend I have noticed more often than not in Europe is that the home team, whoever they may be generally dominates the game. This rung true last night, and again… to come away with a clean sheet is a good result.
I fully expect the tie to be played out as an exact opposite at OT, with United having the lions share of possession and goal scoring opportunities. And from what I have seen of Barcas defense, I am highly confident we will score. And hey, if we can keep a clean sheet there, then we should expect nothing less at home.
I’m very optimistic about us making the final. You should be too!
April 24th, 2008 at 14:19
all are valid points but the bottom line is, if united can’t beat any team you throw at them at old trafford, they don’t deserve to go through.
April 24th, 2008 at 14:40
You are missing the genius of this tactics… With a BIG game against Chelsea this weekend and a tough away game at Nou Camp Fergie needed not to lose last night and STILL keep the squad fresh (Chelsea has an extra day to recover from Anfield).
He did both! We got 0-0 (which is good enough, I think) and out players were parked in our own half all game keeping the running to a minimum… It must have felt like a training session for our players so they should be fine against Chelsea.
We will break Chelsea at SB and win at OT and Fergie is still the greatest!
April 24th, 2008 at 14:45
I spent hours thinking what was the formation yesterday, then I found it to be 10-0-0. Many are happy with a draw – not me. I am not mad at Ronaldo’s miss, but the rest of the game. The game played with no passion – never wanted to win. Alex cleverly lied to the media that we are going for an away goal. Any team in the world would put ten man defense and escape with a draw in nou camp.
There is another away game coming up – Chelsea would have boosted their confidence – after seeing our display against a team which had an awful season. 4 or 5 players were given new role and they were practicing on the semi-finals?
Poor Game
April 24th, 2008 at 15:07
Madsman: You would think that, but a 90 minute rearguard action (even if you are camped in your own half) is often as tiring mentally and physically for players as an end to end attacking match.
April 24th, 2008 at 15:17
http://www.sportinglife.com/football/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/08/04/24/manual_150327.html
Things like this make you realise that football and formations may not be as important as we often think.
April 24th, 2008 at 15:30
sad, Sad, SAD, SADDDDD!!!!!! That was the tempo of our game yesterday. To hell with tactics. You should see the way teams beat Barcelona up in the La Liga. They were 2 goals up against Betis and still lost 3-2. Betis did not earn their win by playing the so called tactics. They took their chances against a poor barcelona defense. And what the hell in the world is rooney doing playing 7, Ronaldo Playing 9. It is sick. Liverpool beat Barca up at the same bloody Nou Camp with the same so called 90,000 freaking out supporter, including hitman Ronaldinho. United had no excuses at all. Now United needs a miracle. And by the way our magic number does not always have to be 7. Thats why eleven people play soccer. Concentrate on building the team around every players ability. Not Mr. Super Ronnie. And yesterday i had to hear people tell me why Messi finished second best ahead of Roanlado. Messi is not yet fully fit. Finally when playing Barca it is not about not conceding, no it is about who scores more. Winner takes it all. You can chose to play that crap with Chelsea and the likes but not Barca. The only word in their dictionary is attack. NO defending. Score and Score more goals. That is how Barca play. UNITED you have to realise it is about time to rise up to the occasion, play the game we know, the way we know and get the result we need. Wheather against Chelsea, Barca, West Ham, or Wigan. For God sakes call the shots!!!!!. Wake up Ronney, Tevez, and all of you. You can do it. This is not the time to be weak. You can do it . But do it our way. ONE UNITED. SEE U AT MOSCOW!!!!!!
April 24th, 2008 at 15:34
d game rocks! ur the man wif the plan!
anyone knows where is david may and jesper? i need to look for them for my magazine…thanks!
April 24th, 2008 at 15:42
UTSAV:A 0-0 leaves us somewhat in limbo, let us just hope the players (and management) don’t let nerves get to them on the nighT:
ABSOLUTELY RIGHT MATE,I FELL WE WILL GET BITTEN ONCE AGAIN:HORRIBLE PERFORMANCE
April 24th, 2008 at 15:47
Why is everyone saying we struggled we have done exactly what liverpool do in europe counter and defend well and finish them off at home which is why they have reached the final 2 times in the last 3 years we have to go into the game confident we have scored 59 at home and only conceded 9 we average over 2 goals scored and we let in less than .5 a game we will beat em at home we have the class quality and depth i think we are very much on for the double also what makes you think they can score away from home when they can’t even score at home!
April 24th, 2008 at 15:49
To everyone who is dissapointed that we didn’t go out for a win yesterday, I have to tell you one thing: our current team does not have real European pedigree. We can win at home, but we have yet to score a major victory away with the current side. So we played to neutralise this weakness, and it worked, we didn’t concede. Barca have to score now, as do we, and I think in an open game at Old Trafford we still have a huge advantage. Obviously we’ve got the Chelsea game to contend with, and perhaps we will be a litle more tired, but that is what our strength in depth is for. We have a great chance to go through, and from the way that game looked in the first 5 mins, if Ronaldo had scored we would have dominated them. It’s a pity we didn’t and it wa shocking how often we gave the ball away,but most of the culprits were the less experienced players who can be forgiven. We forget how badly this squad has done in Europe until last year.
This year I still think both trophies are ours to lose, but with the squad we’ve got we need to go out and be careful sometimes. Rooney was poor but I think that could spur him on to do well against Chelsea. If we can get a win or a draw at the Bridge then we’ll put ourselves in a great position.
April 24th, 2008 at 15:49
come on people the added incentive old trafford is gonna be deafening i’m ready for one the best games in modern history!
April 24th, 2008 at 15:53
[Utsav]
Agree with points. 1, 2, and 5!
Especially 5…I think the first goal at OT (2nd leg) is super crucial. I don’t think SAF is going to go all out at OT, although he says so now. He knows it’s better to be solid and get a goal than try to be desperate from the start. We all know how Kaka almost won Milan the game last year all by himself. True, we nicked it in the end, but dyu expect things to go our way all the time? I reckon the match at OT will be the ‘game of the season’ – I can either see a win for us, or a 3-3 draw.
Also, I was disgusted with Ron yesterday, not for missing the penalty but for acting like such a spoilt kid afterwards. It’s as if he knows the whole world’s eyes are on him, and that makes him a bit more proud and haughty on the night. Stop whining for every foul mate and don’t wave your hands at your teammates all the time! He better be true to his word and get us the winning goal at OT.
April 24th, 2008 at 15:56
(D Game)
You’re correct about Betis. But you need to realise that the game you refer to is a stand alone league match. If it were the CL final, we would’ve given a proper go. Also, its a valid point that you need to beat the best teams to win the CL.. and so we will at OT…
Its a 2 legged game. Its half time and its 0-0. Plus its at OT now. Not that bad a scenario, eh?
April 24th, 2008 at 16:22
Gotta love Ronaldo promising to score next week at Old Trafford. Give him points for courage, but he’s setting himself up for a world of hurt should Barca pull it off. I think Man. U. should take the 0-0 and run with it; it’s a good result considering Barca owned the run of play for the most part.
April 24th, 2008 at 16:57
ronaldo must not take free kicks and penalties from now…like that to hargo or tevez! scholes must not start! but if based on current scenario and trend….wif andy rested, he will start at chelski and then scholes will start again on wed! bugger!
April 24th, 2008 at 17:06
Excellent defensive performance/disgraceful attacking performance would be my summary of the game. 35% of possession for supposedly the best team in Europe was humiliating. Fair enough, Barca, as the home team, would be expected to dominate posseission but you would expect something a lot closer like 55:45 in favour of Barca.
Stating the obvious I know, but a special mention to Rio who was a colossus in defence once again, and Brown and Evra, who had blinders next to him. SAF’s attacking tactics were eccentric to say the least; what with Ronaldo and Rooney swapping jobs for the night, and playing Tevez in no mans land, where all three tried their best to play the Invisible Man (with great success I might add).
0-0 is a good result, considering the performance, but I agree with the people who say that this has the potential to come back and bite us on the backside. Who remembers when we played Barca’s rivals Real Madrid the year after the Treble? We drew 0-0 at the Bernabeu in the first leg and everyone was hailing it as a brilliant result and installing us as hot favourites to progress. What happened next? We proceeded to let Madrid kill us on the counter at OT and race into a 0-3 lead, eventually losing 2-3. Not saying that will happen this time round, but Barca have the same kind of quality as that Madrid side to do something similar. You don’t even need to go that far back in time actually; even this season Milan secured a goalless draw as the Emirates and we all know what happened next……
Having said that though, with our fantastic home record in this competition, I fully expect us to beat Barca at OT and progress to the final, expecially if that man Anderson starts. It’ll be a nervy game, but I think we’ll edge it 2-1 in the 2nd leg.
PS Kienu, I think that’s a tad harsh. Ronaldo is still the man for penalties! Though Hargo should be 2nd choice penalty taker.
April 24th, 2008 at 17:18
Wat are you talking about Kienu ‘ronaldo must not take free kicks and penalties from now’ he missed 1
pen and suddenly he shouldn’t take them anymore!!! He is one of the best penalty takers in the world
and his free kicks aren’t the worst. Ronaldo should take free kicks from long range and Hargo from
short but Ronaldo should definately still take pens.
April 24th, 2008 at 17:20
ok we got a point away in the nou camp, but how?
Our brilliant defence? Barca’s lack of penitration in the final third? our free flowing attack minded style of play? NOT!
From a football fans point of view, lastnight was attrocious, United treated the ball like something from the middle ages black death period, all we needed was a bell ringer shouting “plague plague unclean unclean”
What the fuck happened to attack attack attack? Is this the way we want to progress through competitions? like a boring Arsenal from the nineties? liverpool in the eighties/today? chelsea today?
We are UNITED, a club that prides itself on the way we play football, we have honour, pride and confidence in our abilities, at least i thought so. Can you imagine Duncan Edwards, Bobby Charlton, Harry Gregg or Denis Viollet not getting at least one shot on goal on target in the second half? Yes, they defended like a team but also attacked in numbers too.
Surely in this year of all years, we owe it to the memory of those greats who perished in Munich, to play with conviction and style. Bottom line is that the Barca team were there for the taking, we could have beaten them easily and taken it really handy in OT next week. But hey its only half time, and we’re gonna stuff them next week and all will be forgotten, or will it?
April 24th, 2008 at 17:25
Lahm contract negotiations break down, his manager says he will probably leave in the summer
April 24th, 2008 at 17:29
Since it took a long time and effort to write it I am posting my game and player reviews on this post because of the fact that site went down for a time yesterday and because it looks like everybody has moved on to this one.
Well this game ended pretty well like I predicted. I thought both sides would be good for one goal a piece but as it turned out, 0-0 was not that far off from what I felt would be the final score. Where to start? This game has positives and negatives for United. Let me start by eating crow once again regarding the selection of Paul Scholes. Every time the Ginger Ninja starts to look over the hill, he comes back and proves me wrong with a great defensive performance tonight. The team played a fantastic game of zone defense and really soaked up the pressure well. Not once did I feel that Barca had a true scoring chance. All they had all evening is a number of half chances and speculative efforts. Had Ronaldo scored on his woeful penalty attempt, I think the game would have opened up a bit.
United’s game plan was perfect even though it wasn’t pretty or adventurous. A game like this requires more caution and courage in defense. The lads really played hard. Offensively they looked flat footed all evening and they were unable to string any passes together because they lacked that jump and the fact that Barca played a predictable press. After the first five minutes it was clear to me that Barca would have over 60% of the possession. United were terrible in counterattacks. They just couldn’t get into a higher gear and their passes and lack of imagination was stunning to watch. Yet, this was a very positive result. You have to love our chances back at OT. The away goal would have been sweet but I cannot believe that we are not going to beat them at OT, no matter how good they might be. They couldn’t get the job done against us tonight in front of a very loud pro Barca crowd. Their only chance at OT is if they catch us on the counter when we are attacking. With players like Messi, that’s possible but I think unlikely.
The three things that bothered me the most in this case were as follows;
1. Ronaldo has to stop crying after every foul that isn’t called in his favor. Enough already. Be a man and take it. It’s causing him to lose his focus and referees are not calling them on him not so much because of his diving, but because of his attitude towards them.
2. Wayne Rooney should have been scratched for this game. Not only was he unfit and totally useless, but playing him in a position like RMF behind Ronaldo wasn’t only neutralizing his skills, but incredibly stupid on Fergie’s part. What was the point? Park or Nani could have played that role with more success.
3. Not playing Anderson from the start was a mistake even though the result favors us. His pace and urgency may have helped on counters as well as helped us kick our game up an extra gear.
PLAYER RATINGS! PLAYER RATINGS! PARTY TIME EXCELLENT ….WELL;
EVDS 7.5/10 – Very solid game and made a few steady if unspectacular saves. Was well positioned all game but he did make a few poor clearances in the first half. Never looked like he would be beaten.
HARGREAVES 7.5/10 – Predictably never had the offensive influence in the game due to the pressure of the opponent but he defended like a true vet and like he has played that position all his life. How many threats can any of you remember that came from his side. It was clear they were going to pick on Evra instead. Good calm clearances all game long.
RIO 7/10 – At times he was magnificant but he was also slppy a few times on back passes and a few clearances that could have hurt us if it weren’t for Barca’s inability to take advantage of the gaffs. He commanded the high balls in the area and he never let anybody get behind us.
BROWN 7.5/10 – Very surprisingly strong performance. He looked calm and reserved and never made a wrong touch. Also made some good tackles and backed up Rio and Evra very well.
EVRA 8/10 – Was outstanding defensively. He had a massive job against Messi but did a decent job neutralizing him in the penalty area. Messi made some nice plays and moves but he never really got any shots on goal and his play making was off form thanks to the pressure and quality marking as well as tackling of the little Frenchman. His defensive game has really improved over the past 18 months.
ROONEY 4/10 – And trust me, I’m being kind. In all the years I have watched Rooney play, I have never seen him play so poorly or be so anonymous on the pitch. Clearly the lad was hurting but that doesn’t take away from the fact that he was tactically positioned poorly and that he did absolutely nothing when the ball was at his feet. No running and causing havoc. It was awful. I felt I was in a time warp and I was watching Rooney play at the age of 45. If he’s not better for Chelsea, sit him down.
CARRICK 5/10 – Carrick had a very poor game. Constantly made poor tackles drawing fouls, his passes were terrible and players were getting around him easily. His one great opportunity to lay in a pass to Ronaldo for a tap in goal was wasted when he uncharacteristically decided to take a crack with his left foot. We all no the result. A simple pass to any of three open targets in the 6 yard box would have given us a 1-0 win. Very disappointing performance.
SCHOLES 8/10 – For me he was the man of the match. His defensive play and surprisingly strong running and energy saved our bacon numerous times. Quite often it was he bailing out Carrick or Rooney from their poor touches or defensive errors. And he never laid off one poor pass all night considering Barca were using a press. He looked really young and energized tonight. The tactics and formation never really allowed him to do much offensively but boy did he do his job.
PARK 5/10 – Why was he out there? He clearly is not suited to a game where possession is important. Yes he works hard but most of the time nothing ever comes out of his effort. His passing was poor and he looked out of it quite a bit tonight.
RONALDO 6/10 – A poor game by his standards. He ran hard when he had the ball but quite often he was caught standing and looking at the play rather than sprinting to an opening. He was preoccupied with the referee all night long and he seems to get taken out of a game early if he is tackled harshly. Zambrotta should have received two yellows for all the poor and rough tackles on him. Still, he was nowhere to be found and his passes were terrible. And where was he for a shot or two. His free kicks were also useless.
TEVEZ 4/10 – Has just been cast as the lead in the new version of “The Invisbible Man†He was worse than Rooney because there was nothing physically wrong with him. Incredibly disappointing performance in a Spanish speaking city against his Argentine teammate Messi. I expected a heroic effort from him. Instead what I got was confirmation of everything I have said about him in the past. He is not good enough to start regularly for Manchester United. Doesn’t have the physical presence the ball holding skills to be a top line striker. He’s much better in short bursts late in a game but it was clear he didn’t have it today or Fergie would not have taken him off too after subbing Rooney off earlier. That was a clear statement from the Gaffer that he knew he was out of juice.
NANI 5/10 – Did nothing with his 20 minutes.
GIGGS – Not enough time to do much.
FERGIE 7/10 – Mixed result for the Gaffer. Tactically he got the game right as to what we had to do to keep Barca from scoring. Where he got things wrong was where he had Rooney play and why he had him and Park start.
April 24th, 2008 at 17:46
phoenix red: a point? This isn’t the Premiership, you know. What happened was we didn’t get the beating we got in the San Siro last year.
April 24th, 2008 at 17:54
fair enough, just got a bit lost on the rant, you know the point i was making though!
April 24th, 2008 at 17:55
Kienu, Ronaldo is one of the best penalty takers around at the moment, Hargo and Tevez don’t have the composure or the ability that Ronaldo has from the spot. Scholes was our second best player, behind Evra, so I don’t see why you want him dropped. Anderson is out of form and Scholes is our best passer in the team, if we are trying to keep possession then he should definitely have Scholes playing, Anderson rushes things too much.
April 24th, 2008 at 18:07
Got to agree with Conor, one penalty miss doesn’t get Ronaldo sacked from those duties. Scholes was great lastnight, played like his life depended on it, more of the same please Paul. Brown, Evra, Ferdinand and Hargo all deserve a mention for superb defending.
Michael,so thats alright then, we didn’t get beaten, they might not beat us next week but still get through. This years team is quite different to last years, we might win the european cup this year!
April 24th, 2008 at 18:22
there are 2 main observations that can be gained from last nights match.
1, defensively we were by and large outstanding, denying Barca any real opportunities of note and the team must be applauded for this.
2, going forward we were crap with a capital c and I lay the blame for this firmly at SAFs door. for a start we had a centre forward playing right wing and a right winger playing centre forward, the term square pegs in round holes comes to mind.
Added to this we had Park starting in the biggest game of the season when in reality the boy seriously lacks the quality to make a major impact at this level, especially when some one like Nani is fit and available.
Also the Carrick / Scholes partnership lacks energy and bite and opposing teams can dominate us to easily when they are together like last night and the Arsenal game.
Anderson can do everything that these 2 can do and also provide energy, pace,strength and the abillity to join in the attack which begs the question, why did he not start the game.
All in all, a draw is a decent result and I believe we have the players to beat Barca at home, my biggest concern is SAFs ability to select the right players to make the system work coz if he picks the same players next week that he did last night I would really be worried.
April 24th, 2008 at 18:23
Phoenix
We’ve not lost a match or drawn 11 consecutive times. that must tell you something. It is them that’ll have to grit their teeth and fight to go through.
April 24th, 2008 at 18:25
[Everyone]
Park was selected for his defensive abilities more than anything else. there, you must admit, he is better than all the other options we had…
April 24th, 2008 at 18:56
we’ve all been down this nerve racking track before. Our team doesn’t make it easy on us.
Yes, at the Theatre of Dreams our record is very impressive and long may it last! This is cup football, where form books get torn up! I hope that Fergie’s gamble pays off, many of us have questioned the master before and had to eat their words, me included!
The antidote to lastnight would be a fine attacking,free flowing performance from the lads in OT next week, with a 2-0 win.
April 24th, 2008 at 18:59
we have just to take care of chelski in the bridge before that, i’m sure we can win playing the UNITED WAY, come on you RED DEVILS!
April 24th, 2008 at 19:08
kienu man!
ronaldo put the penalty in the net in that super crucial game vs Arsenal (that too when he had to take it again). Yesterday too he would have put it 10/10 times if allowed again! There is no player in the world who doesnt miss penalties!
ronaldo has scored lots of very crucial penalties already (in WC and for united). The law of averages demanded a miss or two sometime (and that has happened). Hopefully he’ll be back to his best sooner than later.
April 24th, 2008 at 19:15
grognard,
you an anderson fan now mate? =)
April 24th, 2008 at 19:26
I understand the tactics…using Rooney and Park to track back and prevent their full backs bombing down the wings. Ideally we would have used Hargreaves as a right midfielder and played Rooney up top with Ronaldo but we needed Hargreaves at right back to allow Brown to play centre with Rio.
Really the main problem was that Tevez just wasn’t supporting Ronaldo adequately showing his limitations as a player. I believe the system would have worked if Rooney had been supporting Ronaldo and we’d been able to stick Fletcher or Hargreaves on the right. Then we would have been able to break more effectively rather than having to heave long balls in Ronaldo’s path only for him to be taken out by three Barcelona players.
Still one penalty, a couple of denied penalties and a gilt edged opportunity for Carrick to provide a tap in is pretty good. Barca only got the one clearcut chance, the rest were potshots from outside the penalty area
April 24th, 2008 at 19:42
people raving scholes for a great great defensive performance…scholes is an attacking midfielder and his job is to ensure that we show some attacking intent…he didn’t do his job and its been a similar story over the last couple of games..he defended well sure but it was quiet obvious to everyone that Barca’s attack buildup was quiet slow..enough time for our worst tackler in our team to pull it off…Anderson has to start in OT and move Hargreaves to midfeild as well….what i dont get is the impression people have that we played for a draw…we started of with our strongest attacking lineup possible..two strikers, attacking right back…a two man midfield ahead of our 3 man which we play consistently against top flight opponents…it seems to me that fergie while keeping Barcas slower paced game in mind decided to go for it, and nearly got away with it with the penalty but ended up on the backfoot instead and aimed for a counterattack game till the end
as for tevez, it doesn’t help when a striker has to drop back very deep to get the ball and start a move regularly for any sort of attack to start…..
April 24th, 2008 at 19:56
RMJ: Scholes’ job yesterday was not to provide us with attacking intent. He was put on to doa defensive job and he did it, without even getting booked. Well done,I say. Our lack of ability in forming counter attacks when we had the chances can be blamed on Rooney, Tevez and Park for the most part. They did their defensive jobs well, but every time Ronaldo burst away he had to go wide and then there was noone in an advanced position for him to give the ball to.
I feel that a player like Anderson (although not on current form) or at least a three man midfield would have provided us with more mobility, but still we got a decent draw. Evertone is praising Brown but I have to admit Ididn’t think that much ofhim. He wasn’t awful, but lost the ball cheaply a number of times and was caught out of position more than once. I agree with everyone that Ronaldo should keep taking our penalties, and I agree with SAF that it was too early in the game and he hadn’t settled yet. I honestly felt he was one of our better players
April 24th, 2008 at 20:04
RMJ: You can start with 10 strikers on the pitch but that still doesn’t make a side attacking if you tell them not to cross the half way line. We had two full backs who didn’t bother with overlapping runs, two wingers who acted as auxiliary full backs, a striker who who spent more time in CM than up front and two CM’s who rarely moved from their posts right infront of the backline.
If the intention from SAF was to use an attacking set up then the performance (offensively) was even worse than it first looked.
April 24th, 2008 at 20:10
Utsav; Please mate. At no time have I ever said that Tevez was not good enough to play in the BPL. He is more than good enough. He just isn’t the answer for our starting eleven at United. He would be a very good player for most teams in the league as he showed that with West Ham and even with us. And you are so sure to say that he is more suited for Spain yet his worst game of the year was at Barcelona. I’m not sure about that. I still think he would be a great super sub for us, although I admit he would be a very expensive super sub.
Regarding Ronaldo’s penalty taking. There isn’t a player alive who can go 100% against goalkeepers over and extended period of time. The law of averages says so. Ronaldo is an outstanding penalty taker and very good under pressure. He is elusive and decisive as well as, always hitting the ball with authority. In my opinion his miss was due to having to take it so early in the game. Always a tough thing because you are not even mentally in the game yet or truly warmed up.
RMJ; Oh please! Scholes job is to do whatever Fergie asks him to do on a giving day and under a specific circumstance. The game plan was simple. Defend at all costs and choke their midfield in our third of the box. Scholes and the team did it beautifully. Previous to that game he was very poor but not because of game plan, but because of poor execution and drifting out of the game. I have been one of Scholes biggest critics on this site, but I won’t let you put him down like that without defending him when he deserves praise for his performance.
Scholes was massive for us yesterday, end of story.
Fred the Red; I agree with all your points mate except I still feel that Scholes played very well. I too think the Scholes/Carrick partnership is limited.
Colver; Good analysis mate. I totally agree.
Primachenko; Contrary to what you and other might think I have always been an Anderson fan. He is currently limited in what he can offer us but the skills that he does have can be very useful in the right games and situations. He just needs to improve his stamina, and offensive game around the box. Once that happens, he could become an awsome talent. But he is not there yet.
April 24th, 2008 at 20:26
Grognard, I agree with you about Scholes, I was thinking more about Anderson instead of Carrick, switching Rooney and Ronaldo and playing Nani instead of Park.
This would have allowed us to play the same system, which worked a treat defensively, and also would have given us more of a threat on the couter attack.
The system SAF used last night I have no problem with, the players that he used and how he used them I do have problems with.
April 24th, 2008 at 20:31
Fred: taking out Park, putting Ronaldo on the wing and not playing Carrick would have taken away a huge part of our defensive capabilities.
April 24th, 2008 at 20:44
Fred: In addition the Scholes/Anderson partnership has not worked very well since the first two games it was used in. Regardless though we might as well of played him instead of Tevez yesterday.
April 24th, 2008 at 20:47
Michael, I agree that Ronaldo can be a bit lazy at tracking back so you you might have a point there but Anderson is definately a better defender than Carrick and Nani is at least as good as Park at defending and 10 times better going forward, in fact Nanis willingness to track back and work hard for the team has been a pleasant surprise to me.
The only weakening that I can see is possibly CR7 not tracking back.
We might lose a little defensively, but we would gain a lot going forward which wasnt so important last night coz we got a decent result but next week will be vital.
April 24th, 2008 at 21:01
JB, can you really say that with certainty, theyve only played a few matches together as a pairing, the other times Anderson played slightly advanced which is not what Im talking about. No matter what happened in the past matches the Scholes/Carrick paring has serious limitations that could cost us.
April 24th, 2008 at 21:09
Maybe they have only played only a few matches togther but they don’t strike me as a natural partnership. I remember quite a few people on here giving off stink the last couple of times the pairing was used. And you raise a good point yourself, do you send a virtually completely untested CM partnership in for the biggest game of the season?
Still even if a Carrick/Scholes pairing has limitations (and I agree, last night was not the night to be using that particular selection) it doesn’t mean a Scholes/Anderson one is the right choice. Two wrongs don’t make a right. It still confuses me that we changed from our staple diet of a three man CM right before a CL semi at the Nou Camp.
April 24th, 2008 at 21:10
Nani is willing but lacks the physical nature of Park. To out it bluntly, Park can hustle a team and Nani can’t. Plus, Nani could have easily been taken by the ocassion had he started (he was pretty anonymous while one). Carrick is far stronger defensively than Anderson. He doesn’t play the fast, physical game, admittedly, but he is great at cleaning up the ball and is normally assured in possession. Anderson’s tackling still leaves much to be desired, and he lacks the European experience that Carrick has (even if one season is the difference). While Scholes/Carrick has limitations and I much prefer us to play a three amn midfield, I think Carrick looks a far stronger player when forced to look after Scholes and provide possession and support. He did it fairly well last night. I’m in agreement with you that if I were Fergie I’d have set up to attack, or at least play high up the pitch for the counter, but that is to forget how strong Barca are on the counter too. We could still get shredded apart at Old Trafford. Barca’s form may not be the best but they are capable of motivating themselves for games like this, especially at home.
Our next two games will define our season. If we can hand out the batterings we are capable of giving Chelsea and Barcelona then we should have the confidence to go on and on. Perhaps SAF shouldn’t have played Rooney last night; the injury was clearly still affecting him. As I said before though, I think we are still in a great position and I don’t think Chelsea or Barca are good enough or confident enough to beat us. Everything hinges on the next week.
Oh and JB: agreed, there’s not really a good reason for us to have played 442 yesterday. It was an odd choice, and I think that an extra man in the middle would have vastly improved our ball retention.
April 24th, 2008 at 21:27
in other news, tribalfootball( the most reliable footy site one the website today) reports that carlosQ is building his own academy in Portugal, and is going to be linked with man utd, thats great if true, we will have 2 academies, unlike other teams, and would have twice as much success rate( which is still extremely low).
April 24th, 2008 at 21:37
Michael, we will have to agree to disagree on the Park vs Nani bebate and if you really pushed me to choose our best centre mid pairing for a team like Barca it would be Anderson and Hargreaves not Anderson and Scholes, although I quite like the idea of playing all three together with Hargreaves patrolling in front of the back four, Nani and Ronaldo as the wide men and Rooney up front giving us a 4 5 1 or 4 3 3 or whatever you want to call it formation coz last night wasnt quite a 4 4 2 line up nor was it a 4 5 1, it was somewhere in between which is why I think it was so inneffective going forward.
I believe this formation would allow us to play with greater ball retention in midfield and also provide the players with the ability to break forward to join Rooney at the pace required to cause them problems
April 24th, 2008 at 21:38
Although I understand why Fergie chose the tactics he did yesterday, I still feel that it sends a message to the rest of Europe of insecurity and lack of confidence. Brazil has rarely changed the way they play with their attacking nature and flamboyance to accommodate a cautious approach bordering on cowardice. There are those who will say that yesterdays performance was a brave footballing version of the Alamo. It worked but it also sent a very negative and discouraging message to the football world that when it is crunch time, negative and boring tactics that lack imagination and adventure is going to be the norm. It’s disturbing because Fergie himself has always been a proponent of attacking football. I think he is so determined to win a second CL that he is contradicting his normal tendencies and instincts. What I loved about the 98-99 team was their stubbornness to play defensive negative football. They were always on the attack. You don’t beat Juve 3-2 in Torino by playing the way we did yesterday.
It really is a shame that you have to play a negative and totally crappy style of football to get a result. And that is what has always been the problem with the Champions League. Too much is at stake and thus courage is always sacrificed unless you are Liverpool and you are 3-0 down at halftime. Then you can throw all your defensive caution out the window and sometimes you get lucky.
We have never been a good team when it comes to ball retention on the road in the CL. We honestly show the opposition, na matter who far too much respect in my opinion. But we are getting the results. Lets face it, we do not have the attacking midfielder who can link the defense with the attackers and we certainly don’t have the kind of quality strikers who can hold up a ball, turn and strike for goal or to get up high and head a cross. We are limited with a team that is slow of foot in the center of midfield. This makes it impossible to retain the ball when the opposition plays a press defense. This is why we have to have an old fashioned striker who is capable of going after a long ball or a cross. Bringing the ball up through the middle and with slow short passes isn’t always an option.
Finally, playing players when they are too hurt to contribute or playing them woefully out of position is not my idea of sending a positive mention to your fans, your team or the footballing world. And yet despite himself, Fergie gets a decent result because we are absolutely an awesome defensive team. Even with Ronaldo though, I think our offense is overrated and very one dimensional. Only with Hargreaves in the lineup to we ever even show another side to our game. These technical limitations need to be addressed. It’s irritating to think the opposition has very little preparations to do to defend against our attack in road games. All they have to do is figure out a way to beat our defense. We need to work very hard on our flat footed counter attacking game.
April 24th, 2008 at 21:56
Grognard, Im not saying that you are wrong but I think that the flat footed performances that you talk about could be a symptom of bad tactics and not utilising the squads full capabilities rather than a lack of potential in the current squad, although I do think the addition of a proper no 9 would greatly enhance our attacking options.
April 24th, 2008 at 22:22
Grognard; I have three things which I disagree with in your last comment:
1. Brazil rarely change the way they play with their attacking nature and flamboyance to accommodate a cautious approach bordering on cowardice? Have you seen the way they play recently, it is all based around a quick counter attacking team with a very solid defensive minded back 7.
2. It seems you are criticising SAF for playing Rooney while he was injured, yet you constantly call for players to play through the pain barrier. Rooney’s performance should show why they should not try and play through the pain, that and they are all “pussys”
3. We are one of the best counter attacking teams in Europe when we are on top form, but we have been on a bad run of form recently and the way our team was set up wasn’t exactly set up for counter attacking as our wingers were defending, Tevez was basically marking Yaya Toure and Ronaldo had to do everything by himself. The idea of quick counter attacking football shows the need for a Saha type striker rather than a Huntelaar, I know you will disagree but Saha was perfect for this style of play, Huntelaar is not.
Also, I realise that quite a few people are criticising Ronaldo’s performance as a lone striker and I just wanted to give my two pence on the topic. I think it is all a bit harsh on Ronaldo, he was playing as a lone striker doing a Saha type role. I blame SAF for this, because he, and other delusional fans, have this weird idea that because Ronnie has strength, pace, finishing ability and heading ability he can be a striker. It takes a lot more than this, it means playing with your back to goal for nearly the whole match, bringing others into play and generally being a target man. Ronaldo hasn’t yet learnt how to do that yet and he probably never will, that’s not where his strengths lie. He does his best work running from deep and from the wings at the defence, his physique leads people to believe he can lead the line but I just don’t think so.
April 24th, 2008 at 22:23
I’m afraid you’re right about bad tactics Fred. And I’m affraid for United that Ferg is saying they will go all out and attack. He can’t be serious. This may be gamesmanship. If I were Ferg I’d focus on not giving up the away goal yet trying to get Cristiano into positions to work his magic. This is the game where Vidic and Rio need to shut the door and The Best Player in the World needs to provide a moment of magic.
April 24th, 2008 at 22:23
Good news! Vidic is fit for Chelsea. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article3811410.ece
April 24th, 2008 at 22:32
Best Player; SAF said that in the build up to the game at the Nou Camp, so it is very likely that it is just gamesmanship. Just out of curiosity who do you support?
April 24th, 2008 at 22:40
Best Player, the balance between defence and attack is a tricky one that SAF has always struggled to get right in the big CL games, its the one flaw on his CV, but I hope he finds the way on tues night coz to bomb forward could leave us open, but to totally sit back like last night would invite too much pressure.
Sometimes I believe that if you cant find that balance and implement it upon the team then you are better sticking to what your good at and in our case, thats attacking.
April 24th, 2008 at 23:00
gtognard i assume you have yet to watch a recent match of the joke which has become brasi, sure dunga has won us the copa america, but his tactics are too negative and defensive for mine and brasils liking, however it gets the job done, and as long as dunga is manager i will have to swallow my pride and accept what we have become as a team
now on to yesterdays game, im surprised i have any nails left after spending the entire time wondering when were going to change our midfield, we gave away too many needless fouls, which could have cost us worse than that penalty mix, im too tired to talk sbout the match further, but i shudder at the tought of ferige playing like this again for the rest of the season,
anyways im off to watch the yankees i hope they can make it four in a row
April 24th, 2008 at 23:23
[RedDevil]
No quotes in the article saying he’ll be fit. We’ll wait till we hear something for sure. Plus he’s had gastro-entiritis which isn’t quite easily recoverable considering you’ll need a ton of fluids as a footballer.
April 24th, 2008 at 23:56
I’m a neutral from Canada – The Land Without Football – until Toronto FC arrived that is. Used to play pro here – such as it was. Supported United for a long while but then drifted when their defense sucked. But now United has Vidic ! And Ferdinand has matured! And Evra is a gem. I have many United friends. I am a fan of the beautiful game and have been mightily impressed by United this year. A fine, fine team. But I regret not watching enough spanish football this season because Barca really controlled that last match. I’m worried for United. It’s very important that the second leg is at home. The home crowd and a big goal from CR7 could be enough to get to Moscow…
April 25th, 2008 at 0:23
My 0-0 prediction was correct! I think considering it was a poor game from our point of view that result is fantastic. We’ll score at home, the key is gonna be keeping the clean sheet – in other words stopping Messi.
Anyone see when Sky Sports went to the half time break the showed the clip of Ronaldo missing the penalty whilst playing the song ‘im only human’. It made me cringe so much I was almost sick, what were they thinking?!!
April 25th, 2008 at 0:37
Conor; Two points. First to use the current Brazil tactics against an argument that was based on 60 years of historical play is pretty weak. Secondly, Rooney means an awful lot to our team and gives his very best all the time. His desire to play and to come back quickly from injury never puts his character in question. On the other hand the only other player I have criticized in the way you claim has been none other than the human injury machine Louis Saha. My frustration over his domino style injuries has reached it’s zenith. I don’t think risking the second best attacker on our side by playing him and then playing him in a manner that made him virtually useless was wise. He needed time to rest his injury. Nani or Anderson could have done the job he did and with a lot more force seeing as he was moving at 60%.
Also Conor, you obviously don’t watch Ajax very often because Huntelaar is a very good striker on counter attacks and has great movement. He offers so much more than Saha that’s it’s laughable to even debate the issue. You clearly are judging Huntelaar based on the fact that you think he is a carbon copy of RVN. He’s not. He’s got a lot more to his game than just hovering around in the box.
Mr Muhozi; Yes Brazil are a negative joke right now and Dunga is living on borrowed time. But lets not forget what that team has done for 60 years. That far outweighs this very short and dare I say temporary malaise in the Brazilian camp.
April 25th, 2008 at 0:44
Haven’t been here for a while maybe two whole days. I won’t even bother reading all the posts but I just wanted to get mine in. I did see that one post talking shit about Scholes. I’m sorry but Scholes was our best player out there. Park did well also Evra was a beast, and the defence showed its brilliance. I do have to say though I didn’t like Hargreaves at RB not that he wasn’t capable but I want to see him run all over not attempting to clear from the corner flag with his back to the center circle.
I was disappointed by the goose egg and I was so scared Barca had so much possession and we were were just absorbing wave after wave. That rope-a-dope reference was spot on. Lets see how we handle Chelse.
April 25th, 2008 at 0:46
So much staff said couldn’t even read them all. Seems to me that most of you are disapointed just like me with the way we played. I don’t think that the result is bad, but neither it’s good. People say that the OT game will be different and tend to disagree. We already saw that strong teams can outplay us even in our backyard (Arsenal). I undestand SAF’s dicision to play deffencivly, but it was much more then that. It seemed that we were trying to protect an advantage. Ronaldo and the deffence had good game, but the rest were worse then average…our passing, well I don’t even want to talk about it or rather there was no passing…
Chelski game is next and we can’t loose.
April 25th, 2008 at 2:08
I think SAF played Ronaldo Rooney Tevez and Park as our attacking 4 so that we can play fast counter-attack because these 4 are probably the fastest in our team and he also put Scholes and Carrick as CMs because they are both good at crossing and passing and are decent at defence BUT barca forced their possesion game on us plus I think the missed penalty was the reason we played like crap because it was a blow to our confidince well anyway I think we got the better result and hopefully we will win at OT.
About cheslea, I have a feeling we will win and I dont have an explanation to why I just feel lucky thats all so lets hope we win, break their home record and become champions, that will probably give us a boost of confidince when we play barca at home as champions by then they would have been 100% out of the their title race maybe Im too optimistic.
I saw Bayern X Zinit first half and I have a few observations first of all Lahm is great at RB and I dont know why people say hes short but is he shorter than brown I didnt think he is he might be but not by much Id think, and Schwiensteiger is really good I dont know who here said it would be better to buy an AMF if that happens he would be great, didnt like podolski though he isnt quick enough for our build up or counter attack and he lost possesion too much.
April 25th, 2008 at 2:17
I certainly hope we don’t rest too many players against Chelsea. In my opinion, the seasons hard work means that the title should come first. I am hoping for a draw against Chelsea, if we can at least get a point I can see us getting a win against West Ham at home.. (finally!) I don’t want us to lose against Chelsea, or even contemplate it as I don’t think we’ll be West Ham and Wigan when we have to. 6 points from 6 when we NEED them, including a game against Wigan on ‘THAT PITCH’. I hope Wigan are safe from relegation by then.
I was pleased that despite both teams talking up their attacking ability before the Barca game, I felt very relaxed through the whole game. Only when Eto’o hit the side netting in the second half that I winced. Other than that, despite a great shift by Messi and the ability they have in Eto’o and Iniesta to name a few they didn’t bother us one bit.
I don’t know if it was because it was so easrly in the game but I expected Ronaldo to miss and was not bothered in any way when my prediction came true. It was indeed, surreal and it could have been that Barca were on the backfoot or that there was still a whole game to go that I forgot it fairly quickly. Had Ronny missed in the last minute of the game at 0-0 it would be a different story altogether, I would be sick. I still think it is wrong to suggest another penalty taker than Ronaldo. Yes it’s a Champions League semi-final and yes, it was in front of 90 thousand supporters in a noisy ‘Camp Nou’ but did anybody forget it was only a week ago that Ronaldo got us back into the game at Old Trafford against Arsenal, Under pressure. From the spot. Twice.
We have just created a new record of 11 home wins in a row at Champions League level. We should be aware that although we can’t compare to Chelsea’s awesome record of 80 games unbeaten at home, we have probably won quite a few more than Chelsea at home in that time. Old Trafford is a fortress again, especially in Europe and Barcelona will be forced to play a totally different game in front of our support, on a smaller pitch.
We have to go all out to win that game, not get a one goal lead and then hang on for dear life. A late goal for Barca in that situation will kill our hopes for yet another season.
April 25th, 2008 at 4:24
Grognard: please take this with a pinch of salt, but don’t you find it ironic that you wanted Rooney rested but had a go at Saha before and (roughly) said you wanted players to play through injuries and not be “pussies”?
Everything else I agree with though,although to say the 98/99 team never set up for the counter is wrong, they just got forced into a lot ofcorners that meant they had to attack, and they succeeded. Attacking teams have much less success in Europe than defensive ones, and it make sense to adapt rather than attempt to impose yourselves, especially considering the youth of some of our team..
April 25th, 2008 at 5:50
Michael; Read my post #97 where I explained myself about the injury thing. Clearly Rooney get the benefit of the doubt because he is not the type to sit down with a minor or nagging injury. Saha would get hospitalized if a stiff breeze got him in a wind tunnel downtown. Rooney has also made miraculous and lightning fast recoveries from foot breaks. Saha would take three months to recover from a hang nail.
Sorry but most soccer players are pussies and Saha is the biggest pussy of them all.
My comment was from the perspective of a footy fan who understands the game’s culture and practices. Not the one who has a hard time stomaching it. You don’t see hockey players or American football players diving and crying over fouls and acting like they just got shot only to get up 20 seconds later and run around like nothing happened to them. Fortunately English players are a little more like my North American brethren. They act like men. I will not ever understand what it is culturally that makes European and South American men act like little bitches every time something negative happens to them on a pitch. It’s disgraceful and it is the black scourge on the game. So I feel my comment on pussies is not just for those who get injured and don’t play with a little discomfort, but also their fem fatal personalities on the field that is totally unbecoming for any man. They have no shame or any manly pride, and it’s truly shocking to North Americans. Perhaps that is the number one reason why thee game has never taken off with a bang over here.
April 25th, 2008 at 6:01
Perhaps you’re right, and you raise a good point about American sports. I did ask you to take with a pinch of salt, though, I was only joking. The irony made me smile. I think that perhaps the physcial demands of football over a season are greater, and that the lack of rest between matches means that players can’t afford to play crocked. And anyway, numerous NFL players sit out a game if they’ve taken a knock. Fair point about diving and the like though.
April 25th, 2008 at 6:13
Fuck Americans not taking up football… who cares!
Ronaldo sooks about not getting fouls because he is the most fouled player in the world.
The kids not perfect, he’s just a great footballer who is 23 years old yeah….
On the Chelsea game, I’d like to see Pique dumped in CB with Brown reverting back to RB
Hargo in the middle with Scholes… and Ronaldo to be banged back into RW where he can penetrate… Rooney and Tevez upfront… Lets go to the bridge for a win, 442 MANCHESTER UNITED FOOTBALL
April 25th, 2008 at 7:11
Two questions that can maybe help put things into perspective:
1) Had Ronaldo scored the penalty, and the team continue playing the way we did and we won 1-0, would you have seen the game in a different light?
2) Irrespective of the first-leg result / performance, if we don’t beat Barca at Old Trafford, do you still think we deserve to be in the Champs League final? Similarly, if we lose to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, do you still think we deserve to win the EPL?
April 25th, 2008 at 7:45
Doesn’t anyone find the fact that Lahm hasn’t agreed to a new contract interesting?
The way Beckenbauer talked about him leaving for a bigger club, it’s almost as if he’s inviting bids (or telling Lahm publicly to fuck off if he can’t accept less money). A bit like the Brown deal but Lahm’s younger and quite possibly more ambitious.
No one’s interested?
April 25th, 2008 at 7:45
Grognard- I don’t know why European and South American players tend to dive more than others, saying that John Terry and Drogba both seem to dive more than any other players in the Premier League.
I will never condone players for doing it, whether it’s Rooney, Ronaldo or any other cheating player. However, I do see why players do it week in week out. Ronaldo, a boy who cried wolf is still tarred with the same dirt from 4 years ago and as a result is booed at every away game despite the fact that he was the most fouled player in the Premier League last season. Nani came in to the game in a similar way but has learned way quicker. Rooney always stays on his feet when getting fouled in the penalty area (liverpool vs Carragher, anyone?) but never gets a decision in his favour, so when he doesn’t stay on his feet after being knocked he gets stick. Above all it is down to the ‘powers that be’, if referees used the power to book players who dive or feign injury more often and post-match fines were introduced as a result, players would cut it out sooner and managers would make sure of it.
Oh and please stop using the word ‘Pussy’ and ‘Pussies’. PLEASE
As for Chelsea, I think Nani and Anderson will both get a starting position after sitting out most of Wednesday’s game and being rested completely respectively. I think it’d be the regular back 5 with Pique fitting in at back should Vida still be ill. Carrick will surely fit in to midfield as Scholes rarely starts 2 in a row. I am hoping for a draw at the most, that way a win against West Ham will do it for us.
April 25th, 2008 at 7:52
Redd75-
From the moment we got the penalty I didn’t think he’d score. Maybe it was so early in the game that it felt surreal and missing still left us with 90 minutes of football and a game I thought we could win. I was happy with the result and if it was a goal at the beginning then even better, but the way we played while not exciting was professional.
I will never say Chelsea deserve to win anything. Manchester United deserve it and Arsenal would have deserved it more. If we don’t win the game at OT then we will be out of the Cup and as a result will not have deserved it.
April 25th, 2008 at 8:02
[Ahmed]
It’s been discussed already, when the news broke — about two-three days ago. You bet people are interested here! The Barca game perhaps stole the thunder from the usual talk of transfer speculation and strikers.
April 25th, 2008 at 8:10
But Grognard you did use the example of Brazil, who at this moment in time play some of the worst football from a top international team. And is this not a sign of the changing times then, that Brazil realise with the flair players they have they can just get everyone behind the ball and then break away on the counter, and since this has been a success for them doesn’t that also say something? Negativity is always going to be part of football and as you said, the CL makes it a them for every away team(except Barca).
Saha has not been the only player you have said should play through the pain barrier, and I am very certain of that. All I want you to understand is that playing through the pain barrier severely limits their ability and so is fairly pointless. Thats why we should use our big squad.
And yes I have seen Huntelaar a lot recently, and as much as he did impress me, I did not see one instance when he started/became a part of a quick counter attack , but I did see him completely ruin one as he held on to the ball too long. You don’t like Saha, you think he’s a good player, so you will never appreciate what he can do/did for us last season. Playing on the counter is one of his best attributes because of his ability to run with the ball and the way he can turn defenders at speed.
April 25th, 2008 at 8:35
Conor; Name me another player I criticized for always being injured. My wrath has always been targeted at one man, Balsa Boy Saha. You and other can go blue trying to sell me on his virtues but I’m sorry, I don’t see it. Yes he was a decent player, not an outstanding one. He was greatly overrated and he never lived up to those expectations when he was healthy, which was about 2% of time he has been at OT. Look the bottom line is that like everyone else I should be given the right to dislike a player if I choose to. So he is my Public Enemy #1. I refuse to be tolerant or sympathetic to his plight. For me he lacks conviction, passion and heart. And he is also very very soft. Perhaps his injuries have been serious but perhaps part of what I say about him is also true. He has never given me a reason to cheer him on, other than the occasional tease. No player has ever bothered me like he has. I’m sorry but he really gets under my skin. Yes I may be unfair but I think that as a fan I have the right to form my own opinion of the man, right or wrong.
And it is clear that you have not seen enough of Huntelaar because I have seen him do great things on counters over the past three years. I have seen him play well over 50 times and so I feel like I can safely assess his abilities correctly. Personally speaking, I think he is perfect for United as he will fit in well but also offer us an added dimension and alternative to our attack. While possessing many of the traditional characteristics of a striker, he also has pace and skills that bring him more in line with what we are doing right now. I’d love it if we could sign him so that he could prove me right. I really believe in the lad.
Ahmed; United and Barcelona are very interested in Lahm and I think we have a strong chance of acquiring him thanks to his friendship with Hargo and the fact they both share the same agent. With that said, I think what is happening right now in Munich is the very same thing that was going on with Wes Brown. I still feel that when it’s all said and done, Bayern will cave in and give Lahm what he wants to satisfy new manager Klinsmann who considers Lahm one of his favorites in their national team days. Time will tell. Right now I think there is a 50% chance he stays with Bayern and 40% chance he signs with us. I see a very poor 10% chance of him going to Barca, although they could go crazy and offer way more money to get him.
April 25th, 2008 at 9:40
ppl why all ths fuzzzz? its was a great result for us..getting a draw at nou camp is not bad thing ….and lets all give Etoo some credit for not diving in the box despite being fouled…he stood on his feeet …well done Etoooo….these kond of ppl are very rare …they belong to seperate planet …..
April 25th, 2008 at 22:58
Grognard just for the sake of argument; here you said “Not having Hargo and Anderson may be are undoing in this game. Jeez! I’m sorry but at this stage of the year, players need to play with a little pain and suck it up a bit. Being Canadian I just cannot handle the fact that footballers can not handle playing with any physical discomfort. Certainly hockey players and American football players don’t suffer from this problem. Only baseball players are as wimpy as this.” And so as you can see this was directed at all of our players and not at Saha. I haven’t a problem with you either being annoyed at SAF for letting Rooney play through the pain or that you want every player to have enough commitment to the team to play for the team, but you can’t have it both ways.
About Saha, I know I will never change your mind on him, and he is a great frustration to everyone. I just find it a bit confusing that you can’t appreciate how good he was, as it was fairly clear at the end of the 05-06 season and the first half of the 06-07 season, and you are a logical person. You have every right to hate him for his injuries, it may not be his fault(and I actually blame SAF for showing to much loyalty and faith in this case) but it is a fair reason to not want him in our team imo.
And yes I haven’t seen enough of Huntelaar, so I know you can judge what he would bring to us much better than I, but I just think you’re urge to get a goalscorer is making you show just a bif of bias towards Huntelaar, you talk about him as if he is the best thing since sliced bread
April 26th, 2008 at 0:54
At the end of the day we are talking about football (or Soccer) not American Football, Baseball, Ice Hockey or anything else. Football at the top, in most cases is played at a much higher pace than any other ‘ball’ sport, thinking of it I would say it has less stopages in play too. In FOOTball you rely on your legs than any other ball sport. I know Saha has been accused of having mental blocks with his injuries, but if you are injured you can do nothing about it.
Louis Saha’s Carling Cup run in 05/06 was what helped us to the final and also helped Ruud Van Nistelrooy out of Manchester. Louis had been on a great run up front and Fergie’s decision to reward him with a start in the final ahead of Ruud. After the final whistle and a 4-0 win (Rooney 2, Saha, Ronaldo) which was the first step to real sucess for our new squad of players Ruud was seen storming down the touchline away from our players and you know what SAF feels about the importance of team spirit.
Anyway, in the last couple of months after years of being a big supporter of Saha, injured or not having my full backing I have finally run out of patience. He is a top quality player and like Cisse, if he went abroad will never be injured again and score loads. We can’t afford to bank on him any longer, I don’t have a clue who we’ll get instead. Berbatov is not the tallest player and he doesn’t have much of a squad personality but I’d still like to see him at OT.
We also have:
Tevez, Rooney, Manucho, Febien Brandy, Frazier Campbell and (even Guiseppe Rossi if we wanted to buy him back)
I have faith in United this summer and I’m sure we won’t get caught short again.