Apr 20
Blackburn 1-1 Man Utd: Another Tevez Late Goal
Yes, it’s amazing how many important and late goals Carlos Tevez has got us this season. Yesterday was another such occasion where he chipped in with a crucial late goal that still keeps United in control of their own destiny.
The match report won’t be too comprehensive here but I’ll touch up on the main points.
What was surprising here, with all talk about United’s squad depth, was the way some of the players looked knackered. I don’t know whether it’s because of the way Blackburn took the game during the opening exchanges or if it was because they generally kicked us all over the park, or closed us down as the politically correct line would go.
Ronaldo who usually does show a lot of desire, even in games where he’s subdued, looked strangely uninterested except for the last 15 minutes — by which time every player seemed to come to life. Till then I can’t think of any player, save for Evra, and to some extent in the early stages, Tevez, who really gave a shit.
Now I am not accusing the players for slacking off. The problem with a bad performance with a full strength side prior to a Champions’ League tie against an opposition like Barcelona is that it exposes the flaws in the team that you really don’t want to reveal to your opponent. It could be viewed another way too — we could bounce back as the squad will be motivated, or that Anderson, Hargreaves, Rooney and EVDS will be fit for this encounter. See it as what you want, but Barcelona would be certainly interested.
That said, yesterday was a day where we needed someone to come on and change things up in central midfield in the second half — something we managed in previous games. Anderson and Hargreaves were sorely missed because their energy and bite would have perfectly complemented Michael Carrick’s passing range.
The first goal from Santa Cruz was due to something that has been rare this season: a defensive blunder. A misjudgment of a throw-in by Ferdinand, let Roque through to score his 20th of the season.
But then, we did little to prove that it was undeserved for Blackburn. Mark Hughes deployed Santa Cruz on the right to close down Evra and Giggs and Ronaldo and Nani or whoever chose to play there and he did a good job of it. It was the only toward the end where desperation sunk in and Rovers were pummelled. Anyway here’s a brief lowdown on some of the performances.
Scholes and Giggs were poor yesterday; Scholes more anonymous than Giggsy. Although, it was funny that it was Scholesy’s header that was turned in by Tevez. Nani’s arrival showed what we were missing on the left wing. Maybe Scholes might get more space against the less physical Barcelona, but I would rather start Nani in future. Giggs should be used to come on towards the end to use his experience. At the moment, we need people with energy and pace to avoid a repeat of last season, and hence I say it once again: Anderson, Hargreaves and Nani can provide us with that.
Rooney tried his best despite a knock to his hip but he was thwarted by Brad Friedel who somehow saves his best for games like these. Tevez showed all energy early on but faded out later on only to nick a goal late on. Carrick tried to be as positive as he could and he didn’t do too badly. But again, he usually does better when he’s afforded enough space. But he, and everyone in front of him, was closed out quite well. So it really didn’t make things too easy for him.
Tommy K looked uncertain with the crosses that were pumped in and his kicking still remains dodgy.
Nani and Evra were bright spots today, though. The left back bombed forward but lacked support and the winger gave the team the impetus it so badly needed. And his corners kicks were much better than Giggsy’s were, which eventually led to the goal.
So a draw leaves us needing to draw Chelsea and win at either of Wigan or West Ham to retain the title. So it’s all not so bad as it might seem. What we need to concentrate now on is Barcelona. Get in a decent performance at Camp Nou, and we can rest easy and think about Chelsea.
EDIT: Oh, and the referee was a right twat.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Rooney Out For A Month
- Manchester United 08/09 Away Kit Pics
- What Tevez’s Signing Means For Man Utd
- Man Utd 2-0 Chelsea (FT) : Tevez, Saha Score
- Man Utd v Blackburn: Preview
Tags: Match Reports
Opti (541)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Stephen (454)
Craig Mc (344)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
grogs
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heres another alternative (thanks to my super brain
I say we add just one player and see how everything changes:
The player is Rafael Van der Vaart!
We play a super attacking 4-3-3. Here are the player positions (first teamers and backups)
GK: VDS, foster, Kuzie (or his replacement like Ochoa as I am not too convinced with him)
RB: Neville (he is the captain, will play if fit), Brown, OH to deputise in emergencies
LB: Evra, Silvestre, JOS (pun intended
CBs: Rio, Vidic, Brown, Pique, JOS
Midfield trio: VDV in an AMF role (carrick as cover), duo of anderson/OH/carrick behind him. Sell Fletch as he deserves more first team action than what he gets here. He is good enough for any team outside of Big 4. Scholsey can cover for any of these three in extreme eventualities
Front three: Ron/Roon/Tevez (Nani,Giggs(in that order) as cover for Ronaldo/Tevez, Saha to cover for Roon/Tevez in case of injuries (hehe, how I wish), Manucho/Welbeck/Park to cover for striker injuries)
This squad can very well play any of the other formations as well. I guess this would be pretty strong in Europe especially (with 1 DMF, 1 holding-cum-attacking mid in andy and 1 great AMF in VDV + our new BCL trio at the front!
In the league we should definitely give more chances to players from the youth team.
Basically my philosophy is to have more attacking options (from the midfield) than what we have. I have zero confidence on Anderson/OH/Carrick/Scholes on their ability to provide us any significant number of goals in a season.
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Pique/Veloso at RB and gomez as striker
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If we get Gattuso, I’ll start supporting Arsenal (ok, I’m only joking, who cares anyway). He’s not a footballer. He’s a destroyer and a joke. I totally hate his style. The only thing he does is bullying the opposition midfielders to get the ball and pass it to Pirlo.
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guys + grog….how abt Kanoute or Luis Fabiano? grog, are u english?
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Shopping list:
1 tall striker who won’t sulk on the bench
1 right back who is fast and hard, preferably tall too (not too many tall players in the first team for corners)
Keeping a team identity shouldn’t be overlooked, that’s one of the things which make Manchester United great
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@Rajan: VDS will be hopefully back for midweek. Noone except him and Fergie knows as of now.
I think based on this season’s performances, we’d rather stick to Brown at RB than get in someone like Alves or Lahm. Not to touch the wage structure and the fact that now its unlikely that a RB will be bought since Brown is being paid as high as a first teamer, what Brown adds to our defence is something different. Physicality. Alves is too far stuck upfield and will get killed in the EPL. Lahm, for me, is too lightweight. We can see Evra getting dwarved and pushed around. We can’t have that happening on both flanks. Brown kicks, pushes, hits and that is really helpful againt physical sides like Bolton.
As far as the striker situation. Im a big Valencia fans and I watch thier games everyweek. This is what i’ve noticed about Villa:
Strengths:
1. Excellent at leading line.
2. Decent at holding up the ball
3. Can come back and is very good at getting involved in the build up play. I guess as far as the discussion i’ve read so far, this seem to be the most important moot point.
4. Has good team ethic and spirit. Even when chips are down, he doesn’t disappear from the match.
5. Devillish Free Kicks
6. Good enough but not explosive pace
7. Most importantly, CLINICAL
Weaknesses
1. Doesn’t head the ball due to his height.
2. WILL NOT sit on the bench. Highly ambitious and like playing matches week in week out.
3. We may have to bid adieu to either Tevez or Rooney to accomodate him
As far as Huntelaar goes, I don’t know why people call him one dimensional. From what I could notice fron the silly broadcasts of Eredivisie on the tele, he is quite good at build up as well. He’s definately not a RVN at that. I’ve been impressed bu his dutch performances as well.
For me the order should be:
Villa, Huntelaar,Berbatov, Benzema… I’ve never seen Gomez play, so I won’t comment.
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[Grognard]
I doubt there is a concerted effort by all to put you down, but I think the right choice of words can seduce even the best into nodding in the affirmative, even if someone is clearly talking crap.
Words are such potent weapons. Use them right and you’ll soar.
Sorry for such a generic comment, just felt like writing this pseudo-intellectual tripe.
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I am not to sure at Lahm as a RB although he is a right footed left back, but has anyone that watches the German league or followed his career seen him at right back for a continuous period. I remember from the World cup that he played on the left and would cut inside the opposition penalty area because he was naturally right footed and that was his biggest attacking threat. He may not do the same so well on the right and from our LB and RB’s it great to see the width that Evra brings to our play.
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I know it’s a theme of the season to critisize Rooney’s finishing (I’ve done it myself countless times, and agree something needs to change in his head/luck) but I think it’s worth mentioning Tevez is a pretty rubbish finisher too. He has indeed got us some late and important goals, but he is wasteful when given an opportunity. Look at Saturday – rooney squared it to him about 5 yards out early in the game and not only did he not put it on target he actually mishit and it went backwards towards the penalty spot. Later, when everyone thought Ronaldo had been fouled (credit to styles for his one good decision of the mathc, wasn’t a pen) the ball trickled through again about 5 yards out and he hit it stragiht at Friedel.
My point is that we lack a clinical finisher. Maybe that’s not a problem though. Put it in perspective – we’re still one of the best teams on Earth, if not the best. I know we should always strive for improvment, but maybe we just don’t want a new forward. Either because fergie has faith in Rooney (and to be honest, I think with an intense summer ofjust him, VDS and Solsjkaer could do it) or because we don’t want a target man. The times we’ve lost this season have been because the whole team wasn’t firing, not just the front men. I just don’t want usto change our whole setup to accomodate someone new.
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RR; I never said there was. My comment was a joke due to the fact that I do spark responses against my views, thats all.
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Kienu; I’m Canadian but I speak English, I think….
James f; Sounds like you are not a Gattuso fan but I think that would change if he committed his atrocities on our opposition on our behalf. He is the Keane replacement we have always craved. I would love to see him to play for us for a season or two. If I’m correct his wife is Scottish and so playing in the north of England close to Scottish family and roots may actually appeal to him. We need his grit and muscle in the middle. He’s an enforcer and we have to many pretty boys on our team that need a little protection. Players will think twice about messing with our stars much like they did when Keano was out there. And his rough style never kept Milan from playing a more attractive style.
RSG; I watch every Bayern Munich match as well as a lot of Germany matches. Lahm has played the majority of his games this year at RWB because of the acquisition of Marcel Jansen at LWB for Bayern as well as his promotion to that spot for Germany as well. Jansen has had a few injuries this season and that has forced Lahm to play at LWB on occasion and then Lell plays RWB.Lahm is highly dependable and although he is right footed, he is more than decent at crossing with his left as well. And no he doesn’t cut in as much from the right side but his crossing is excellent and his pace and dribbling on the right wing is exceptional. He also marks very well and does not let wingers cross balls in easily.
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This is quite funny
http://www.tribalfootball.com/article.php?id=88926
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Grognard – Lahm seems like a 2 in 1, the perfect RB who will be able to cover Evra at LB as well if required… and at a much more reasonable price for a fullback as Alves would probably expect crazy wage figures with the attention he’s getting and Evra is yet to sign a contract extension. Lahm should fit in well and feel comfortable having already played alongside Hargreaves but it looks like Bayern Munich and Klinsmann really want to hang on to him.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=516954&in_page_id=1779
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/09042008/58/bundesliga-lahm-stay-2009.html
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rsg; You are right mate. I don’t see Bayern or Klinsy parting with Lahm. Had it not been for Klinsmann taking over at season’s end, I would have given us a 75% chance of getting him thanks to his close friendship with Hargo. But he is very close to Klinsmann and it appears Klinsmann’s plans are to get as many of the national side’s regulars to play for Bayern.
He’s already getting Borowski to move over next season and now the talk is replacing either Lucio or Demichelis with Mertesacker. All these team Germany players on Bayern will make it very difficult to get him as well, they will be in the Champions League next season too.
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redrant can you give me a responce, did you hear that clown doyle on the guardian podcast who loves ronaldo so much he continues to snipe at tevez and rooney saying when ronaldo does not score tevez and rooney do not score when it matters, well tevez has scored goals against liverpool at the kop late goals against spurs blackburn got united 17 goals that is 5 pts out of those games, rooney gives united the spark upfront and nani has delieverd so many crosses and scored vital goals.
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