Apr 19
Blackburn v Manchester United – Preview
Blackburn Rovers v Manchester United
Ewood Park, Saturday 19 April 2008, 17:15
The numbers point, as usual, to a United win – Blackburn have lost to United more than they’ve lost to any other team since the Premier League started, we did the double against them last season, Blackburn have lost 7 out of 7 fixtures against the Big Four this season, lost the last game to Liverpool while United are on a high after beating Arsenal.
Blackburn’s season is more or less over – they have an outside chance for qualifying for Europe via the InterToto Cup but that will require several results to go their way. United have, after beating Arsenal on Sunday and watching Chelsea draw with Wigan, one hand on the title, but it will take all their professionalism and focus to finish the job off as champions.
This fixture is the first of four season-deciding matches for United – Blackburn away on Saturday evening is followed by Barcelona away on Wednesday, Chelsea away on Saturday (early afternoon kickoff) before hosting Barcelona at home on Tuesday. 4 games in 11 days that will more or less make the difference between a good and great season.
With that in mind, Ferguson may choose to rotate some of his squad and rest a couple of his players on Saturday. You’d think that Ronaldo is undroppable, considering his form but to me he’s seemed like needing a rest in the last couple of games and surely sitting on the bench is better than having lumps kicked out of him on Saturday.
The other person who might be held back is Owen Hargreaves (who is injured according to some reports but with no official word I doubt it) – Hargo has been in great form whenever he’s played for United and (as long as he can keep his tendonitis under control) will be a valuable squad member in the coming years.
There have been rumours that Vidic will be ready to start against Blackburn. As much as I’d like him to start playing again, I’m thinking (hoping) that Fergie gives Pique another runout and holds Vida back for Barcelona (or he could rest Rio and start with Vidic, depends on what Fergie sees on the training ground on Friday).
However, I don’t expect wholesale changes. Fergie and the players know that if United can scrape to wins over the next 11 days, they’ll have enough time to rest. Expect this side to go at Blackburn all guns blazing, with Giggs, and possibly Silvestre and Anderson getting starts. Too bad Fletch isn’t back – he would have been good for this type of (scrappy) game.
Prediction: 2-1 to United.
Over to you.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Blackburn v Man Utd: Preview
- Man Utd v Blackburn: Preview
- Man Utd v Everton: Preview
- Manchester United vs Blackburn Rovers: Preview
- Rooney Out For A Month
Tags: Game Preview
April 19th, 2008 at 8:17
I think Blackburn is a really strong side. They deserve to be in the top 4! United always has it difficult against Blackburn, and I think today will be no difference.
Yesterday I read that Anderson was a doubt for today. I hope he isnt. This will be the kind of game he likes. Two teams attacking and playing against an agressive side. He loves these games! Hope he scores today too.
VDS should continue in goal, Wes, Rio and Evra should start, but I would rather have Pique playing this game and rest Vidic to wednesday. Ronaldo got a rest against Roma and will have some weeks rest after the season, but now is no time to put him on the bench. He must start! And if Nani is fit, lets play him too.
My team:
VDS
Brown Rio Pique Evra
Ronaldo Carrick Scholes/Anderson(if fit) Giggs/Nani(if fit)
Rooney Tevez
These games always have lots of goals(4-3 in 2006 and 4-1 in 2007) so I think this will be an entertaining game with some goals. Hopefully most of them goes Uniteds way. My prediction: 3-1 to United. Ronaldo, Rio and Rooney to score.
April 19th, 2008 at 8:56
VDS
Neville-Rio-Pique-Silvestre
Park-Carrick-Scholes/Andy-Giggs/Nani
Wazza-Tevez
Gary and Mikel shud get starts….Ronaldo rested….maybe can throw in Vidic and Welbeck later if the game is safe….
April 19th, 2008 at 8:57
andy and park and welbeck to score…
April 19th, 2008 at 9:15
RedDevil is right. We cannot discount the fact that Blackburn is a quality side with some quality players like Bentley and Friedel. Their strikers especially Santa Cruz are also good. I wouldn’t be that nervous if this game was at OT but as it at Blackburn, I think I’m starting to feel a bit nervous. We absolutely must win this game, regardless of what happens next week at the Bridge. I see West Ham as a bogey team and Wigan is well coached and playing at home on the last day of the season. Call me insecure but I’m sweating worst case scenarios all over the place. Could that useless and pathetically coached Chelsea team actually nip us at the end? Doubtful, but you never know. Football is a game of few chances and lucky breaks. Nothing is a foregone conclusion. My prediction United squeak by 2-1 on a late Ronaldo goal.
April 19th, 2008 at 9:17
RedDevil the 4-1 game was utd at home. The away game was one 1-0 courtesy of a beautiful saha finish in a hard fought game in the rain. But remember when utd get to mid april they are usually unbeatable regardless of their position in the league. My team would be
Foster,
Brown,rio,pique,evra.
Ronaldo,carrick,anderson-son-son,Nani.
Roo and Tevez.
GGMU
April 19th, 2008 at 10:22
u’ve got it wrong big time Bilal
blackburn havent lost 7 out of 7 against the top4 this season
they drew against arsenal and pool at ewood park and drew against chelsea at SB..
we have won at ewood park only once in the last 5 or 6 yrs..
that was last yr and before that i guess it was when dwight and becks scored if i remember right.
its not an easy game in any sense of the word.it will a real tough game unless we really put on a show and play them off the park.
April 19th, 2008 at 11:05
The only thing that I can predict are numerous Rooney vs. Friedel situations. He seems to always raise his game against us.
April 19th, 2008 at 11:24
tricky game, anything can happen. I hope there are no more injuries as blackburn are sure to play a rough game.
April 19th, 2008 at 11:44
nah it wont be a tough game, blackburn are now savage-less…bad pun alert
April 19th, 2008 at 11:45
This is gonna be hard, its a lancashire derby. There’s local pride at stake here, i expect Blackburn to put up more of a fight against us than they did last week against the scouse. But having said that, i expect us to win, getting one step closer to title triumph.I agree with you Grogs, 2-1 to the Reds, with Ronaldo and Teves scoring.I hope that Dan is right though, easier on the heart!
April 19th, 2008 at 12:34
I think there could be 1 or 2 suprises with our line up. I hear Nani is fit and so is Vidic so they must play and get some action before the Barca game.
Van Der Sar
Brown Rio Vidic Evra
Carrick Scholes Anderson
Ronaldo Rooney Nani
I’d expect Rooney, Ronaldo and Evra to be replaced by Tevez, Park + Silvestre if things have been wrapped up.
2-0 to united – Ronaldo and Rooney.
April 19th, 2008 at 13:07
JOS I do like your view on the football things. As we can see football isn’t the same anymore . I mean who is the forward who’s the midfielder. Are there clear positions or do they depend on players’ creation and needs of the attcking psition?
You know, Manchester has never had the first scorer when we won the EPL, except 3 times I think.
1st time was Yorke 18 goals 98-99 together with Owen and Hasselbaink
2nd 2002-03 RvN 25 goals.
So , it was 2 times we had the first scorer.
All these LONELY STRIKER goals (215) by RvN gave as the 4 domestic titles , one time each , between the seasons 01-02 and 05-06
So, who fcks that lonely Striker ?
April 19th, 2008 at 15:57
i’ve given it a lot of thought, and i feel that as long as our current strikers get a chance next season, im open to a big name striker buy, preferably villa, but will want manucho and campbell to get their chances and welbeck to get loaned out to a championship, or a bottom of the premier league club(derby would of been great because i doubt he would have trouble getting into their first-team) just to get some experience. Yes im a sell out after all.
April 19th, 2008 at 16:10
Team news:
That was a joke, just waiting for the team news. Would be a wierd side to play, wouldnt it considering the importance of this game. Should have the real lineup in 10-15 minutes!
VDS
Neville
Pique
Silvestre
Oshea
Nani
Carrick
Possebon
Park
Tevez
Welbeck
April 19th, 2008 at 16:14
my gosh, that is a team that probably beat the bottom 2 though in fairness jb.
April 19th, 2008 at 16:17
Im not JB, Im RD!
April 19th, 2008 at 16:18
whoops! sorry
April 19th, 2008 at 16:22
golly ,what’s wrong dan.This is usually the hardest bit every weekend waiting for the team news,the game ,the performance then the most crucial the result.
April 19th, 2008 at 16:24
…nothings wrong with me…
April 19th, 2008 at 16:27
who’s been commenting as “Sam”?!
that name’s taken in this site, matey!
April 19th, 2008 at 16:27
any news on anderson’s and owen’s fitness
April 19th, 2008 at 16:28
DERBY SCORED!!! DERBY SCORED!!! :-O
April 19th, 2008 at 16:29
but what are you gonna do about it Sam, are you the real Sam:-)
April 19th, 2008 at 16:32
anyone know of a united friendly pub in london near heathrow airport? I have a layover durring the chelski match and want to watch with some lads singing the same songs as me.
I would love to see welbeck get some game time today and 3points for the reds.
April 19th, 2008 at 16:32
Told yeah dan.Something aint right.Westham though are truly some fuck ups they can’t be derby.Oh well must be all those injuries.
April 19th, 2008 at 16:36
a strong team but i would of rather had foster in goal instead of PIG. the only reason giggs is playing is because of experience and nani just returned from injury, no ando
April 19th, 2008 at 16:37
Real line-up:
GK: TK
RB: Brown
CB: Rio
CB: Vidic
CB: Evra
RW: Ronaldo
CM: Scholes
CM: Carrick
LM: Giggs
ST: Rooney
ST: Tevez
Bench: Foster, Nani, Pique, Park, Oshea
Looks like Andersons and Owens injuries are too bad. Hope both of them are fit for wednesday. Would be more confident if Foster played instead of TK, but what can you do? Still predict 3-1 to United. Ronaldo, Rio and Rooney to score.
April 19th, 2008 at 16:37
Kuszczak
Brown
Rio
Vidic
Evra
Ronaldo
Carrick
Scholes
Giggs
Tevez
Rooney
SUBS
Foster
Park
Nani
Pique
O’Shea
April 19th, 2008 at 16:37
PIG
brown
vida
rio
evra
ronny
carrick
scholes
giggs
roo
tevez
subs:
foster
john
park
nani
pique
April 19th, 2008 at 16:38
wow us 3 are good
April 19th, 2008 at 16:39
Fergie must be off he’s cracker .No Edwin ,playing Vidic and then playing giggs and scholes that is a hell of a gamble.
April 19th, 2008 at 16:40
A very very good interview of Rio Ferdinand on BBC. He talks lot of sense, I am liking him evn more these days.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/football_focus/7354942.stm
April 19th, 2008 at 16:40
dan by the way west ham are in the lead again.
April 19th, 2008 at 16:42
Hey, impressive! What are the odds for all three of us posting the lineup at the same time? Great
Hope United win today!
Oh and VDS got a slick knock so he is not risked with the Barca game coming up.
April 19th, 2008 at 16:42
van der sar has a groin strain, hopefully back for the home barca tie, but thats my opinion and not official.
April 19th, 2008 at 16:42
It’s quite possible that EVDS is injured. Don’t you think?
April 19th, 2008 at 16:43
julio, isn’t it time we trust Fergie with the team selections now? I mean, he usually gets it right. That is a good team, Anderson and Hargreaves had slight knocks so they couldn’t play apparently. Don’t know if that’s the case with VdS.
Come on United!
April 19th, 2008 at 16:43
Me too RR if only he was like this when he came to us we would be in a different league.He is playing well on and off the pitch.Surely United and england Captain material.
April 19th, 2008 at 16:44
Yup EVDS has suffered a knock, so hasn’t been risked keeping in mind the UCL game against Barcelona. According to manutd.com text commentary.
April 19th, 2008 at 16:45
Looks like Bolton might just beat Boro.
April 19th, 2008 at 16:47
if so, then why not play foster, i really do rate much, much higher then PIG and he could due with a bit more game time.
April 19th, 2008 at 16:48
If ever we needed Anderson’s energy and defensive capabilities, it would have been today against a physical side like Backburn. Instead, the once again out of form Scholes is in and I am worried about that. I’m hoping the Ginger Ninja helps me forget his invisibility act against Arsenal. EVDS is also a bloody worry. Pig is OK but he is not good with crosses or corners and Blackburn have Bentley and Pedersen who are very good at both. I smell problems.
April 19th, 2008 at 16:49
But Fergie rates Kuszczack higher which is why he picked him today. And let’s be fair, he hasn’t done much wrong has he? And if he were to drop him now, imagine the beating his confidence would suffer.
April 19th, 2008 at 16:51
Ahmed – Fletcher does horribly in scrappy games against run-of- the mill teams. Where he really excels is against top opposition, especially in Europe, transcending his game and leaving us to ask ourselves how a player like that doesn’t put in perfromances like that more regularly.
On the other hand, Carrick does perform against these teams, spreading them apart with his passing.
And TK is given preference over BF just because he needs match fitness should we need him in Europe.
April 19th, 2008 at 16:53
nah, fergie doesn’t rate him higher its just that the 2 important facts are that foster is not allowed to play for Europe and he has just come back from a long lay off.
April 19th, 2008 at 16:57
Foster isnt registered to play in europe so if Van Der Sar is injured then TK needs to play to be ready for weds.
Happy with that side, come on united.
April 19th, 2008 at 16:57
[Dan]
See, you know the two important facts. Then why ask about playing Foster? You just proved yourself wrong.
April 19th, 2008 at 17:02
you can still play foster despite the facts, this match is just as important as thursdays so there is just as much(and maybe more in PIGS case)of a chance of blunder from the keeper. but then you say match sharpness, match sharpness means nothing to pig, remember the string of games he had earlyier this season yet still could let in a goal at his near post from outside the box.
April 19th, 2008 at 17:15
Yes, it’s important. But PIG is good, not nearly as bad as you think him to be. As usual you are letting your thoughts about playing our youth prospects blind you to facts about man management. PIG needs to be felt that he’s needed, very important for a ‘keeper’s morale. Foster can wait. He’s 24 and ‘keepers have longer careers. Patience is essential if you are a ‘keeper.
April 19th, 2008 at 17:17
Let’s watch the 1st half and hope for the best
April 19th, 2008 at 17:18
And we have Vidic back. Be positive mate.
April 19th, 2008 at 17:37
Every single one of our fans today at Ewood Park is a giant! I’m watching the game and they’ve been the only ones heard since the beginning.
April 19th, 2008 at 18:07
Bugger.
April 19th, 2008 at 18:07
Half Time: I’m very nervous right now…very nervous. This is not looking good. The scariest part is our players look rattled and quiet. We JUST cannot lose this match. Looking forward to Nani coming on in the 2nd half for Giggs.
April 19th, 2008 at 18:08
Seems like one of that days, nothing goes our way. The worst thing is that I don’t think we have anyone on the bench to make a difference. Nani maybe, but he hasn’t played for a month or so. Want to balm all timers, but everybody was really bad. The goal was stupid our deffence is not the best. This is a shity game and I will be happy with a draw
April 19th, 2008 at 18:09
The team is sleeping… zzzz Vidic seems shaky and Ferdinand is counting his money i guess!
We have seen this kind of “zombie play” in so many away games this season: Liverpool, Tottenham, Reading, West Ham, Middlesbrough. In theory we just need a draw.
We need a stiker/finisher/physical presence! But that´s old news…
April 19th, 2008 at 18:10
C’mon… Letit be last year’s Everton! plzplzplzplzplzplzplzplzplzplz
April 19th, 2008 at 18:11
Well, one way of looking at it is this – we don’t have a better opportunity to put on a great show in the 2nd half and prove that we deserve to be champions, not Chelsea. I think the hairdryer is gonna blow full force for the next 10mins.
April 19th, 2008 at 18:14
Against a tough side like Blackburn you need far more fight, or at least speed, in the middle of the park. Scholes and Carrick together is just too soft, and wtf is going on with Giggs!
Bring on some speed with Nani and Park pleeaase!
April 19th, 2008 at 18:14
nani on for giggs please, i would say andy on for scholes but he’s injured so nani on for giggs. giggs and scholes just cant play together simple as. the goal, ha, this is why i said do not start vidic, bring him on during the game, but we started him and we are 1 down, dont get me wrong, its not his fault, but rustiness has shown. we should of played pique, bring rio of in the 60th minute and bring vidic on.
if we do lose, we will have to at least get a draw at stamford bridge and WIN the rest.
April 19th, 2008 at 18:17
What’s this? A Chelsea blog? One of those days? Rio counting his money? You’ll eat your words when Ronaldo scores.
April 19th, 2008 at 18:17
What a load of rubbish! We are playing like total shite. My worst case scenario is being realized because this team utilizes an unorthodox manner in which to use Tevez and Rooney. I am bloody sick and tired of seeing Wayne play the sidelines. He’s a god damned striker. Play him like one for Christ sake. Ronaldo has been invisible until his header and that last free kick just before the half was so incredibly selfish. Giggs has run well but his decision making and passing is horrible. Rooney is working oh so hard but accomplishing nothing because he needs to do his work more in the box. He’s also staring a second yellow card in the face as he is showing signs of cracking emotionally. We are being out physically intimidated. Meanwhile our slow footed central midfield is giving Bentley complete control of the midfield, and he is killing us. The goal was a fluke bounce but on the other hand, we have not got the breaks. When is Paul Scholes going to make a pass forward in this game? When Ronaldo isn’t playing well, we look like a very ordinary team. 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.
The linesman has blown a called offside that wasn’t, gave Blackburn a great chance when the ball was clearly out. Styles is my least referee in the league and he is allowing Blackburn to out muscle our smaller lads. We need some magic but I just feel it’s not going to come today. Hopefully the shoes and hairdryers will be flying in the dressing room because we could be looking at our demise in the league this season. Man I was afraid of this matchup, much more than the Middlesbrough game.
April 19th, 2008 at 18:18
prayers have been awnsered giggs of nani on
April 19th, 2008 at 18:19
For once I agree with you Dan. Nani on for Giggs please.
April 19th, 2008 at 18:19
It seems like everyone is sleeping. Only Vidic, Carrick, Evra, and Rooney are awake. Hopefully SAF can wake them up…yesss..NANI..
April 19th, 2008 at 18:20
Nani in who is it for though I missed it (I’m in class)
April 19th, 2008 at 18:21
Nani is on for 2nd half
April 19th, 2008 at 18:37
its amazing that we have no midfield when neither hargo or anderson is playing, we lack speed or any urgency, scholes and carrick is possibly our worst midfield pairing this season, last season they were perfect amazing together, this seasons they have not been able to rekindle that magic,
April 19th, 2008 at 18:39
Mr Muhozi I can’t agree with you but its looking kinda flat today.
April 19th, 2008 at 18:39
Blackburn are doing an amazing job of slowing things down. There’s barely been 5 mins of football in the first 15 mins of the second half…
April 19th, 2008 at 18:48
This is the slowest game I’ve seen since champions league matches against teams that are ahead of us. Each free kick/throw in/goal kick takes about 2 minutes. Dulll
April 19th, 2008 at 18:55
how long is left?
We look like scoring or what??
April 19th, 2008 at 19:01
It’s that man Friedel again. God I hate him!
April 19th, 2008 at 19:01
YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 19th, 2008 at 19:01
Wow, cheers Rob Styles. Good save with the arm from the defender…
April 19th, 2008 at 19:01
TEVEZ, god dammit why is he Argentinian
April 19th, 2008 at 19:02
i love you tevez, i really do.
April 19th, 2008 at 19:03
WE’LL NEVER DIE! There’s still time for a second goal.
April 19th, 2008 at 19:08
worst refereeing EVER
April 19th, 2008 at 19:10
1-1 Tevez equalises. Thank God.
April 19th, 2008 at 19:10
Tevez u genius. big fukin point. not ideal but what can ya do
April 19th, 2008 at 19:11
3 PENALTIES?
Agreed Muhozi
FCK OFF FRIEDEL!
April 19th, 2008 at 19:11
if im not mistaken, we would have lose 2 matches if chelsea where to win the league, as long as we get at least a draw at chelsea we should win the league.
April 19th, 2008 at 19:11
Fuck you ref!I swear if nani started the game we would have won.Giggs play is pathetic…its embarrassing.
April 19th, 2008 at 19:12
the ref did not want us to win at all.
April 19th, 2008 at 19:15
Potential Rooney injury as well.. Horrible horrible game for us.. Not a good result, noone got a rest for midweek and Rooney’s injury… We should’ve had 3 penalties, 2 of which were clear cut…
April 19th, 2008 at 19:17
nani was immense.period. the crosses, the commitment, the running,etc. vidic looked a lot shaky with his clearances, ronaldo had his ups and downs (more down time though), kudos to rooney for all his effort, scholes redeemed himself to some extent in the second half.
Just shows why we need nani on at Nou Camp and not giggs, and boy, did we miss hargo, andy for the second half where possession and energy were required.
I am backing SAF to mastermind a victory at Bridge. Cant afford to give this title away. Common u devils
April 19th, 2008 at 19:19
and mind you, we wont be hearing Queiroz or SAF ranting abt the ref after their previous warnings, but they were abysmal
April 19th, 2008 at 19:23
Glad we got the point…but what i am really concerned is the game against west ham. If we even draw at chelsea, then we need to get point off of West Ham, who face it, are one of our bogey teams!
April 19th, 2008 at 19:25
for a change, our team at nou camp pretty much selects itself, even if rooney is injured…
April 19th, 2008 at 19:26
theres a mistake on bbc btw, it says we have 83 points…
April 19th, 2008 at 19:27
We played well only for the last 10min..till then I couldn’t stand the match! Fuckin ref made it worse also. But hasn’t TEVEZ scored the MOST CRUCIAL goals this season?????
Hopefully Rooney will be fit for the SB match. I think it isn’t the worst thing if he doesn’t play at the Nou Camp.
April 19th, 2008 at 19:32
Stop blaming it on the refs, you starting to sound like gooners. Nobody gets every call good or bad, we played shitty today and are lucking to leave with a point, end of story.
April 19th, 2008 at 19:34
BBC Five Live say Rooney isn’t too much of a worry for CL…great news if it’s true
April 19th, 2008 at 19:37
Well that was close and Tevez does it again, I am not even gonna go for Reffering. We did have our chances, but Freidel the cunt and luck didn’t help us. I do think that Tevez saved us, now even if we loose in Stanford, we are still will be ahead, Draw or a win will solve the problem. how many times Tevez has scored and saved points this year.
April 19th, 2008 at 19:37
Awful game from United… Appart from Evra our defence was shit… Ferdinand and Vidic were looking very clumsy and nervous. What the hell happened?
Giggs can´t play anymore in the starting XI, but everyone knows that even Giggs knows that! You see it in his face with that “deep look” after every bad cross, poor pass or lost of possesion… It looks like he´s thinking: “what is happening? i could do this easily some tim ago…”. I feel sorry for him and it´s damaging his image…
What about Rooney? I really like him but he plays everywhere unless in the middle as a striker, i just don´t get our tactics. Wake up SAF! W
We need to play a lot better if we want to win at least to West Ham and Wigan!
We kept a 3 point advantage until the Chelsea game, which was crucial as everyone knows.
April 19th, 2008 at 19:39
no, we played shitty yes, but a lot of his decisions where questionable and lets face it, every time rob styles refs a match for us, he all ways leans the other way with his decisions, like for instance, the warnock handball in the box, everyone in the stadium new it was a handball except the ref. and like in the first half when brown knocked the ball out of play, not on the line, completely out of play yet bently carries on as if he didnt realise and blackburn come close to scoring.
April 19th, 2008 at 19:42
Kal we don’t, if we draw with Chelski and win in Wigan we are done. The draw will let us to only win 1 of our games, the win will guarantee the Title and defeat (god forbid) will made us to win both our games. We can’t loose to Chelski, cause I agree that hammers are a boogie team
April 19th, 2008 at 19:47
It is not the ideal result but we have a 3 point advantage with 3 games to go. Anybody would have taken that at the start of the season.
Chelsea aren’t playing well at all and I belive we can go to Stamford Bridge and get a draw, or even win. But if we lose it will be slightly worrying as West Ham are a bogey team, atleast it is at Old Trafford. Chelsea still have to play Newcastle.
April 19th, 2008 at 19:50
I hate Friedel….
I LOVE Tevez…..
I love Nanis corners….
I hate the ref….
I think we can win the league at the Bridge, but it will be hard! Wouldnt be surprised if Tevez scores the winning goal there. Look at all his match-winning goals this season: Chelsea, Liverpool, Birmingham, Lyon, Spurs, Roma, Blackburn…did I forget any?
April 19th, 2008 at 19:51
right on johnsom…
but i must say, we werent “lucky”, we DESERVED atleast a point…
Friedel had a superhuman game that guy…I was screaming and shouting and swearing at the TV every time he made a save and boy were there so many game-changing saves. Please GOD please no scholes or giggs for Barca please!!!!!!! if u hang me upside down from the top of a 100 storey building, i would probably agree to one of the oldies, but definitely not both!
Barca will just murder us if we had two oldies slowing up the game like that!
April 19th, 2008 at 19:51
if we draw at chelsea and win at either wigan or west ham, then we’ve got the league, but we’re not winning any double with bad refereeing and a last 10 minute mentality shown today, i did not watch the first half as i was doing coursework, however from the second half, it was pretty obvious we lacked speed and nani for all that he could do was not able to inject life into the midfield, i stand by my earlier comment, we have to play either anderson or hargo in the midfield, if we play both we’re pretty much unbeatable, from the top of my head, we have yet to lose a game when both of the two start together, and we probably score the most goals, but that is of the top of my head so do not quote me on it.
April 19th, 2008 at 19:54
[RedDevil]
You missed Tottenham away
April 19th, 2008 at 19:56
Mr Muhozi: I had a look at the stats for the midfield partnerships a couple of weeks ago. At that point the best partnerships were Carrick/Anderson and Carrick/Fletcher.
April 19th, 2008 at 20:03
ahh ok jb, but how are they marked if you could remeber it could help,
April 19th, 2008 at 20:03
Point #1; Rob Styles is a true cunt (excuse my language).
Point #2; If ever there was a game that showed our over reliance on Ronaldo and the fact we have no depth at striker, today was that game. Pray Rooney’s injury doesn’t get worse over the next 24 hours.
Point #3; Why do we play like such fucking tossers and chicken shits on the road rather than try to attack and take it to the opponent? Only when things were desperate did we wake up.
Point #4; 5 years ago we had a chance to get Brad Friedel but Fergie went with the far inferior Tim Howard. Only Cech is a better keeper in England and even that is debatable considering the quality defenders he has in front of him.
Point #5; Scholes and Carrick together wait for the other to do something and thus always pass the buck to each other and nothing ever happens. And they are so woefully slow and lethargic as a pairing.
We dodged a massive bullet aimed at our hearts today. Thank you to the Apache for the big goal as well as the more than quiet Scholes for the flick on. I love Giggs and I think he still can contribute, but not as a starter. Nani should have started. Today our sudden lack of depth almost killed us. A rash of injuries at such a crucial time makes me wonder what the Hell they are doing in training that’s risking players like this. Fuck Off Louis Saha! Fuck Off straight back to France you piece of shit covered balsa wood. What a useless baby and a complete coward with no intestinal fortitude. I’m just sick and tired of this porcelain doll’s fragile nature. We really needed him today.
When will Fergie wake up and stop playing Rooney wide? It’s driving me crazy. When he makes the change due to urgency, Wayne gets to glorious scoring chances in the box and the team’s offensive play improved as a result. You cannot play this game without a target man. When will Fergie and everyone out there wake up to the fact that we need a quality striker as well as 2 strikers for added depth? Imagine what a Huntelaar or Gomez would have offered us today when trying to dribble the ball through decent defenders wasn’t working? Enough already. We need help at striker. If Rooney misses time it will become even more obvious how much this policy of playing 4-6-0 is not good for the future progress of this team.
Player Ratings; Although I should just grade them all as 5-10 and save myself time, here goes.
KOOZWHATEVER 6/10 – Just not quality enough. Can’t be blamed for the goal but was wanting on numerous crosses and corners.
Never really to make too many big saves other than Bentley’s long shot.
BROWN 7/10 – May have been the best player for united as he got everything right and never really made a mistake.
RIO 7/10 – Suspect on the goal but I see it as a fluke ricochet. Was steady if unspectacular.
VIDIC 6/10 – He seemed a little nervous and hesitant at times but this is because of rust. Slightly responsible for the goal but then again, it was a fluke bounce.
EVRA 7/10 – Had a solid game and made some great runs but his finished cross or pass never ever cam off. Worked hard.
GIGGS 5/10 – Ran better than some of his other poor desplays but his passes and crosses were just awful. When he made that great cut in the first half he should have cut the ball back to Tevez who was in perfect position for a great shot on goal. Instead he tried to find Ronaldo at the far post where he was a bit too wide. His lack of extra gear this season seems to be really affecting his first touch a bit but more so his passes.
CARRICK 6/10 – Just a very slow and unambitious performance bordering on bloody cowardice. There comes a time when you have to change speed and urgency and gear up. Carrick was slow and was more than content to play paddy cake with Scholes all afternoon.
SCHOLES 6/10 – Almost invisible again. Never really made any mistakes but I can’t remember anytime in the game that he attempted a forward pass. Like Carrick he was playing like a chicken shit and slowing the team’s pace down when we were one goal down. He needs to find some bravery and challenge defenders by making more adventurous forward passes and through balls. In fact, when was the last time Scholes attempted a through pass? At least desperation forced him in the box for the quality flick on for Tevez’ goal. Other than that, utterly forgettable.
RONALDO 7/10 – His worst performance of the season and still, he gets a 7 because he still had the teams best scoring chances and was unlucky not to score two goals. Drifted in and out of the game all afternoon and was selfish at times which frustrated me greatly.
ROONEY 6/10 – Just didn’t seem interested in the first half but turned it up a notch in the second half. To echo Capello’s thought’s he once again made nothing of his few chances. Pretty well died off after his injury and should have been taken off earlier to prevent making the injury worse. And where was a striker to replace him? But NOOOOOO! We don’t need no bloody strikers.
TEVEZ 7/10 – Worked hard and was always just a half step or a bounce away from making more out of his opportunities. Doesn’t offer much in the first half of games but he is a dynamite scorer late in tight games. All the more reason why he should be a super sub next season. It’s no knock on the lad, it’s playing him the way he can best help us. Just like ole used to.
PARK Not enough time to grade.
NANI 7/10 – Injected life in an otherwise lackluster and pathetic team performance. Had he played 10 more minutes we might have won it and he would have been United’s player of the match. He should start every game the rest of the way.
O’SHEA 6/10 – Didn’t hurt the team but never really made much of an impression. I’m wondering why brown was subbed off for him?
FERGIE 5/10 – Fergie has to do a much better job of tactical scheming on the road. We play into the hands of more physical teams by not running hard and creating movement that neutralizes that kind of defense. Injuries forced a very static squad selection with little ambition and imagination. Our midfield was being out muscled and out hustled. Bentley owned us in the first half. It’s games like this when Torres’s statement about United being a one man team that is totally dependent on Ronaldo actually has a ring of truth to it.
Man of the Match; Brad FUCKING Friedel
United Man of the Match; Gary Neville. He looked the most comfortable player in the park sitting on the bench. Honestly, nobody deserves the designation but if I have to pick one, it would be Evra or Brown.
So it’s on to the Bridge where we better show up or even they will hand us a butt kicking. Regardless of their lack of managing skill, they have quality players who will feel up for the game. This draw was just massive for us. Even if we lose, we still control our own destiny. Too bad our last game is at Wigan (who is hot and in form) and our last home game is against our bogey team West Ham. Nervous days ahead indeed.
April 19th, 2008 at 20:13
No I didnt. Its Spurs!
April 19th, 2008 at 20:17
Mr Muhozi; I agree with your comments. Our midfield is better with either or Hargo but I still like Carrick with either one of them. I do not like Carrick with Scholes as they look to each other to make a play and thus do nothing. Anderson’s drive and physical presence was really missed today. He may not be much offensively yet, but his style would have neutralized the very physical play of Blackburn.
Rob Styles has always been a cancer for United and that continued today. Why can’t the league be a little more fair and stop giving him the job against us so often? And RR says he doesn’t feel there is a conspiracy against the bigger clubs. Only a bad ref can help a Blackburn hold water against a team of our class. He continually let rough play be unpunished and missed obvious calls and two penalties (well one for sure). His linesmen were also complete pratts in the fist half.
April 19th, 2008 at 20:18
Mr Muhozi: The rankings were done up on average points, average goals scored and conceded and goal difference. The stats are obviously not fool proof but I tend to agree with the answer they give. My gut feeling is that (if on form) an Anderson/Carrick combo is the way forward in a 4-4-2.
Grognard: I am sick of the whining about injuries. Do you not think a manger with 20 years of experience and a professional medical staff can judge when players should come back from injury or what training they should be doing? In fact you earlier said about Hargreaves and Anderson playing through the pain barrier today. What if it was judged there was a risk of aggravating the injuries and possibly ruling the players out of the rest of the season? We would have looked like right prats then wouldn’t we, still at least we would have been heroic twats
As for the comments on Saha, do you really think he wants to be continuously injured? I can understand frustration at his unreliability but the sheer venom you have directed at one of our own players sickens me.
April 19th, 2008 at 20:21
I agree Grognard… The lack of someone who offers something different upfront really showed… How many times today did i scream just whack it instead of trying to dribble… and the one time they did was when nani sent it in row z twice…
April 19th, 2008 at 20:23
Many of you say that United need a striker and a winger. I have thought about it for some time, but after watching him today I am sure: BUY BENTLEY! He is a hell of a winger, Could be used as a striker and he is English. Maybe expensive, but a class player.
April 19th, 2008 at 20:30
Dont you just love this picture: http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_3445827,00.html
And great news: http://www.manutd.com/default.sps?pagegid=%7BB4CEE8FA%2D9A47%2D47BC%2DB069%2D3F7A2F35DB70%7D&newsid=549195
April 19th, 2008 at 20:36
Lads, lets give Blackburn some credit, they had a game plan and almost executed it perfectly. They deliberately slowed the game down and committed loads of little cynical fouls to prevent us gaining momentum. They were strong and physical and lets not forget, its easier to be destructive than creative so it was always going to be a tough game against them.
Bolton, City, Portsmouth and today Blackburn all employed similar tactics against us and conceding soft goals to these teams makes it doubly difficult to break them down coz apart from Blackburns goal I dont think they really got at us today so lets not start shooting our own soldiers, todays point could be a massive one coz win lose or draw at chelsea next week its still in our hands.
Cmon lads, lets get behind the troops, the finishing lines getting closer and we are still in front.
April 19th, 2008 at 20:39
We had a discussion about Bentley earlier RedDevil… If we continued with Ronaldo at right-wing, then there is no point spending so much for a 2nd choice winger, considering Park has done pretty well as 2nd choice winger himself. If we start playing Ronaldo up front more often and that becomes our strategy in most games, then Bentley can be put on the right wing and will get a lot more chance to play….
However I must agree, the guy is promising, he was i would say 8/10 against us today.
April 19th, 2008 at 20:47
i think carrick is getting a lot of undeserved stick but scholes and giggs were outright dreadful..extremely slow and lethargic…we were playing with a one man midfield and it took us till the 70th min to up the tempo..sure scholes had an assist but thats all he did..furthermore the number of decisions against us was shocking..blatant handball and kick to rooneys hips by Neilsen went unpunished by styles and add the offside decisions, our season was almost completely undone by the fracking ref!
its blatantly obvious that scholes is begining to look more and more out of his depth, another midfielder i guess is in the cards for fergie next season and he along with giggs should be kept for the European game only where players get more time on the ball…vidic shouldnt have started in place of pique especially at this stage of the season when we dont have time for everyone to get mtch fitnes at the top level
April 19th, 2008 at 20:53
Grognard : “KOOZWHATEVER: lol
Calm down guys.The pressure were on us to win the game.
Hargreaves, Anderson and Van der sar we rested for the Barca clash.
We must have faith in he squad.
We are still in a good position to win the league. Its now Chelsea to come at us and we will be comfortable with our counterattacking play.
We have a massive goal difference and it like and extra point.
Look at the rosy part and not always criticizing the team and decision.
Let move on to the next match and stop morning.
April 19th, 2008 at 20:54
if anderson and hargreaves are both fit to face barca then it will be 4-3-3. hargreaves, andy and carrick. Upfront ronny rooney and nani, if only one of them is fit, then a 4-4-2 with either hargo and scholes or carrick and andy with roo and tevez upfront.
to all you asking for a big striker who can turn and shoot, well tevez did that today and if it wasn’t for brad friedel, he would of scored.
April 19th, 2008 at 20:58
a draw at chelsea and a win at west ham will win us the league. i only consider west ham a bogey team away, i think we will win comfortably at manchester
April 19th, 2008 at 21:10
Another example of us not breaking down a physical and well disciplined team. I agree Hargreaves or Anderson would have given us a bit more steel, and Nani added some much needed pace and energy later in the game.
Definitely in these type of games it would be nice to throw in a target man and try slinging some balls into the box rather than trying elaborate passing moves and dribbling into dead ends
April 19th, 2008 at 21:12
Lads lets get real, Blackburn as an attacking force were crap today and if it wasnt for a defensive mix up they would never have scored. We are being over critical of our own players and overstating some of theres. Bentley was more of a nuisance than a threat and the refereeing like the Portsmouth game, encouraged them to constantly foul us and stop us building up a head of steam.
Im not blaming lesser teams for playing this way against us and Im not making excuses either, but the loss of Hargreaves and Anderson really hurt us today coz Carrick and Scholes seem to struggle in these type of games and add to this the lack of positive play that Giggs is providing at the minute and todays point could be one gained and not two lost.
Today was never going to be a day for beautiful football and eye catching individual performances, it was a day for battling and scrapping and doing what was necessary to keep the title in our hands, we done that although it wasnt pretty and the three points would have been better but if we were offered at the start of the season the opportunity of winning two of our last three games to be Champions, Im sure most people would have taken it.
April 19th, 2008 at 21:13
[Grognard]
When will Fergie and everyone out there wake up to the fact that we need a quality striker as well as 2 strikers for added depth? Imagine what a Huntelaar or Gomez would have offered us today when trying to dribble the ball through decent defenders wasn’t work
Surely you, of all the knowledgeable people on here, would know that statement means nothing at this point, considering we are not in the middle of a transfer window. Or that a target man cannot magically drop from the sky when we need one. Fergie did say a few days ago that signings in the summer are imminent. He bought Manucho who, in Fergie’s own words has the aerial ability and brings a different dimension. So he certainly is alive to that fact. So we’ll have to grit our teeth and hold on to the title this season with all we have. And then talk about getting strikers. Not to be mixed with today’s performance.
Which brings us to our only target man of some repute — Louis Saha. I have to agree with JB here. Yes he gets injured so often. Yes, he is fragile as wood. Yes we all like to have a good laugh at his fragility and hence get frustrated. But at no point did he betray us in anyway (unlike Heinze), to deserve such venom. It’s his limitation, something that Rosicky is frustrating Arsenal with.
Entirely unfair choice of words from you Grognard.
April 19th, 2008 at 21:17
And Rob Styles is a right twat/cunt/insert appropriate invective here. Pure incompetent refereeing. Again, I wouldn’t term it a conspiracy, but just pure incompetence.
April 19th, 2008 at 21:28
Red Ranter: I totally agree about Saha. Ican’t imagine anyone is more frustrated by his constant injuries than the man himself, but whenever he is fit he plays really well. he’s done nothing wrong and whileit would make sense to get rid of him he has a great record at united considering his fitness problems. If he was fit all the time he’d have been one of the best strikers in the world, I think. There’s not really anything you could add to his game.
April 19th, 2008 at 21:36
Grognard: “I do not like Carrick with Scholes as they look to each other to make a play and thus do nothing.”
What are you talking about mate? In fairness, I slept through the game today so I don’t know how well they did today, but throughout this season Carrick has been far, far better when he’s been playing alongside Scholes. The partnership seems to give him a confidence that he doesn’t have alongside Anderson or Hargo.
And to your point about playing Rooney wide. Have you considered the possibility that the reason he gets chances when he’s brought inside is that the change confuses the opposing defence? If you’ve had your eye out for Rooney on theleft for 70 mins then suddenly he’s not there and he’son your shoulder you’re probably going to be a little thrown. Changing the formation is one of our greatest strengths, precisely because it confuses opponents.
April 19th, 2008 at 21:40
lol, thats because he playing with midfielders that are better then him.
April 19th, 2008 at 21:41
look at the overall picture. With Owen hargreaves and Anderson rested, we have fresh players to face Barca.
Barca are out of the race in la liga. They just drew 0-0 against Espanyol. They had Thierry Henry, Andres Iniesta, Andres Iniesta and Messi on the bench. Clearly, the champions league is a priority for them.
United have to battle on two fronts unlike Bacelona.
Winning the premiership is not enough for this talented squad.
I think that Sir Alex had the Barcelona clash in mind.
April 19th, 2008 at 21:49
[RedDevil]
Ah sorry, my bad mate…I think I went blind with frustration as a result of the game.
April 19th, 2008 at 21:50
JB; My views sickens you? Isn’t that a bit rash. In fact that’s completely out of line mate. I think the venom you use towards my feelings and views has a tougher tone than mine against the team today. Yes frustration has a lot to do with my feelings but Saha is a frustrating case and I believe he lacks guts. I never questioned the other players injuries, just the frustration at getting injured before such a crucial game. I come from a culture where one has to be really severely injured not to play a game. I’ve played basketball with a wired jaw, hockey two days after dislocating my shoulder as well as having taken injections for shin splints during basketball and elbow tendinitis in baseball. I have also played with a concussion. So get off your high horse and stop arguing about every god damned comment I make like it’s idiotic. I’m no pussy and I hate to see players on the team’s I support acting like pussy’s too. So respect my opinions as I respect yours.
Whether what you say sickens me is a mystery because I don’t come back at you with that kind of venom. Chill out! I have right to speak my mind.
April 19th, 2008 at 21:52
Michael: That’s not the way it works. When we win and Rooney pops up left, right, deep and right up top we all gush at the teams flexibility and the ability of the players to interchange at will. When we draw or loose, we ask what the hell Rooney is doing pulling out wide?
In the same fashion when we play poorly in a 4-3-3/4-5-1, the formation gets hammered and all we hear about is how United should go to a 4-4-2, all out attack and then they would have swept the opposition away easily. Interestingly when we play 4-4-2 and do not fair particulary well the formation always seems to be much less of an issue. Logic has no place in football analysis
April 19th, 2008 at 21:57
[Grognard]
How can you give Carrick an equal score (6) to Scholes? Carrick was far better than Scholesy today, and played some decent/delightful passes in an otherwise dull match…if Tevez wasn’t wrongly ruled offside, he would have surely scored off Carrick’s ball. However, sadly even I felt Carrick decided to really come alive during the last 10 mins.
April 19th, 2008 at 22:04
“I know they(Chelsea) haven’t lost there for about 100 games, but it could be like that. Records are there to be broken.” – Fergie
Thats the Spirit.
April 19th, 2008 at 22:09
Grognard: I have a right to speak my mind as well. I find the level of abuse you directed at one of our players both unacceptable and sickening. You have no idea to the background of Saha’s medical history, mental state, the severity of his current injury or any other number of factors yet you see fit to go round throwing out remarks about cowardice. I don’t regard your view as idiotic, I think they are crass, classless and distasteful. When I see one of our players receiving treatment like that from people that are meant to be his own fans I feel a complusion to speak up in their defence.
Given your own record of returning from injuries that must make virtually every player in world football a ‘pussy’. Perhaps, just maybe, the professional medical staff at our club may have a better handle on injuries to professional football players than you.
As for arguing with every comment you make? I’ve barely been on the blog the last few days. I’ll get off my high horse if you lose your paranoia complex.
April 19th, 2008 at 22:12
JB: fair point about the formations, but I do think that our flexibility is a strength. rooney isn’t always everywhere in the games we win: the 4-0 agaisnt Arsenal he played a disciplined, Torres-like role on the offside line, and in the 2-0 against Roma he had a great game sticking to the left wing. It may limit his natural desire to be everywhere and do everything, but against good sides his being everywhere can actually be a handicap as it leaves us with noone to lead the line. At thispoint in the season we should be playing like every game is a final and so Rooney shouldn’t be allowed free reign all the time. Controlled outbursts of movement are more likely to bewilder opponents than just flat-out running all the time.
Grognard: It’s not about being a pussy. Really, that’s just idiotic. If you “come from a culture where one has to be really severely injured not to play” then you’re clearly not playing at anywhere near the level of competition that united do. It’s not lack of guts that gets Saha injured every time he runs around with a football, and it’snot lack of balls that stops him playing through those injuries. There is a vastly-increased likelihood of further damaging the injured area if you play through it, and so it is only worth doing if the game is a must-win and the player is vital to that purpose. Saha, because of injury, ahs never become vital to United and thus has never been forced to play through injury. The idea that you can fault a player for his succession of injuries is, quite frankly, one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard.
April 19th, 2008 at 22:13
Michael; Sorry but I think you have slept through some other games too as Scholes and Carrick are not a good pairing. Carrick plays better with Anderson, Fletcher or Hargo. Still, if that’s how you feel, who am I to change your mind?
And as for Rooney playing wide, that has to be the wildest theory I’ve heard yet. Lets sacrifice 70 minutes of a game and fall behind before we fool the opposition by playing him as a forward in the last 20 minutes. Perhaps we should fool them even more by starting Ronaldo at RB and Vidic as an AMFer. That’s sure to cause confusion.
RR; I’m sorry but I will have to tell you and others to kindly allow me to vent my frustration and venom as I see fit. As long as my attack is not directed to others on this site, players, managers, coaches are fair targets. I don’t like Saha or his passionless personality on or off the pitch. His injuries are to the point of comedy. I have to listen to so many bash legends like Giggs only to have patient do gooder’s praise the French pillock for his countless broken finger nails and split ends. He lacks guts and courage and he is a liability to this team because he’s never fit. Enough is enough already.
Fergie tolerated far less from a few temper tantrums by Beckham, Keane and RVN. At least they bitched because they wanted to play. Saha would rather cuddle up with his teddy bear and watch East Enders on the tv.
And RR, “When will Fergie and everyone out there wake up to the fact that we need a quality striker as well as 2 strikers for added depth? Imagine what a Huntelaar or Gomez would have offered us today when trying to dribble the ball through decent defenders wasn’t work”. Surely you don’t think I meant that statement for right now? I was stating my argument for why we need to go after strikers in the next transfer window. Of course I knew that nothing could be done about that now. It’s just todays game made my case stronger. And heaven help us if somebody other than me disagrees with JB. He’s always right. Sorry guys but I am in a very pissed off mood and some of the ridiculous replies to my post have got me a little hot under the collar. Perhaps I need to spend less time giving a damn about United and concentrate on other things. Their shitty performance today has ruined my week. And could more horror follow in Barcelona?
April 19th, 2008 at 22:15
[Grognard]
I think JB was talking about the venom you hurled at Saha. To be honest, I winced when you called Saha whatever you did. I respect your opinions, but my first reaction was a wince. And it still pains me to see fans abuse players of their own club, especially when you really can’t blame them too much. It’s all right to man up and play through pain, but it is really a foolish thing in football because it hurts you and the team in the long run.
I guess JB’s statements were a reaction to what you said about Saha in particular. It hit me pretty deep too. And since the “Riquelme wars” I think JB and you have generally refrained from mud slinging. So I hope this ends here.
April 19th, 2008 at 22:20
You are allowed to vent your feelings about any player and I am allowed to disagree with you about your anger against a certain player. So fair play here.
No one is telling you not to say something. We are just stating our beliefs. Like you think it’s okay to say Saha is crap, and I think it’s unfair. So we are still expressing opinions here.
So again, Where have I NOT allowed you to vent your opinions?
April 19th, 2008 at 22:23
Hey does Friedel only does these performances only when he plays against us? If he does that week in week out then he’s got to be the best keeper of the league, perhaps in Europe.
Didn’t quite agree with your rating of Brown, Grognard, as Bentley owned him. Evra was the only defender playing up to his usual standards.
Funny that two players involved in the goal for me had been among the worst this night. Tevez and Scholes. Even Giggs was better than Scholes today, as at least he had some legs. All other offensive players wanted to go for individual glory forgetting entirely one of the most basic concepts in football – the pass!
Thank god Nani’s back though.
April 19th, 2008 at 22:23
My statement was a reaction to the following and had absolutely nothing to do with your analysis of the game or team.
“Fuck Off Louis Saha! Fuck Off straight back to France you piece of shit covered balsa wood. What a useless baby and a complete coward with no intestinal fortitude. I’m just sick and tired of this porcelain doll’s fragile nature.”
If you think that is a acceptable way to treat one of our players then you have went down estimation significantly. Regardless of other poster’s treatment of Giggs, two wrongs do not make a right.
April 19th, 2008 at 22:25
And one more thing,
You are not the only one to listen to people bash Giggs and other legends — even JB agrees with you on Giggs.
I had to listen to people over here bash Giggs, Scholes, Rooney, Ronaldo, Hargreaves, Saha and add any other player here.
I just cannot take people bash a United player, but I don’t go and tell them not to bash them. They are allowed to do so just as you are allowed to bash Saha. But it does not stop me from saying that it is unfair. Just as I said this to others when they talked about Rooney, Hargo, Carrick and so on.
April 19th, 2008 at 22:27
Grognard: You’re right, you won’t change my mind about Carrick and Scholes. If you read what I said, I never said they were our best pairing, simply that Carrick is much better playing alongside Scholes. Carrick and Anderson has never looked a particularly comfotbale partnership, and Carrick and Hargreaves haven’t had much time as a pair. In every game where Carrick and Scholes play toghether, Carrick seems to me to be more confident going forward, more willing to tackle back and less likely to just sit in the middle, partly because this is Scholes’ job when they play together now. When paired with a different player Carrick assumes the “don’t leave the centre circle” role and I think he’s wasted there, as is any solid all-rounder.
And further, I didn’t say we should play Rooney wide, I said he should be forced to play with more positional discipline at this stage of the season. I used the example of the Roma game because he did well in that one, unlike the games last season where he was ineffective out left. He should be played up front, of course, but he should STAY THERE because if he doesn’t we have noone to pass to.
Lastly, about a striker. Damn right a striker would be useful, but as I’ve said here before I don’t think a “fox in the box” player would be a good idea. Ruud was quality but the team had to play everything around him and it didn’t work. If we want an aerial threat we need an Adebayor. I have to say that actually my ideally signing for us would be a fit version Saha. He really has everything apart from the health. Benzema looks like an improved version.
April 19th, 2008 at 22:28
And JB,
There is no point saying how much of an estimate you make on others here. If you disagree then fine move on. If you want to judge people on that do so, but don’t comment on it here.
I am sure Grognard or me or anyone would care less for how much you or some one else wants to judge us for.
April 19th, 2008 at 22:29
JB; Can you kindly get off my back please. Your bitching isn’t exactly going to change my mind now is it? So what’s the point other than to get under my skin. Disagree with me and leave at that. Calling my views sickening, crass, distasteful and classless is way out of line mate. How dare you attack me in that manner. Who the hell do you think you are? As a fan of the team I can say what I want about a player I don’t care for. But seeing as you and I share space on this blog and we communicate with one another, your statements are hurtful and down right cold and ruthless. You disappoint me greatly. I’ve tried to be very respectful towards you and I have never called you names despite the fact that I find you difficult to tolerate at times. Why antagonize me like this? I was just expressing my views. If you don’t agree, ignore them. Is that so hard to do. You must find them interesting or you would skip my posts entirely. I realize I can be be quite opinionated but that’s what this blog is for. FRIENDLY DEBATE, regardless of one’s opinions and whether you agree with it or not.
Honestly Red Ranter; How many times do I have to be called an idiot and not fight back? Thanks for doing your part in screening things that might set me off. Today I have been called an idiot, classless, crass, distasteful and paranoid. Who wouldn’t be hurt or paranoid after that kind of treatment. I feel like Louis Saha after one of my tirades. The point is that I should have the right to have a tirade against a player. They get paid miilions and are far removed from me to be hurt by my comments. I never realized that this blog didn’t allow negative comments towards players or coaches. Instead, we must protect players who don’t deserve spit and attack a regular blogger who contributes a lot of his time thoughts and feelings about the team he supports.
JB; I’d demand an apology for your attack but knowing what you are like, I’d be waiting forever. Notice, no name calling and yet I’m so tempted.
April 19th, 2008 at 22:34
Michael: I’m quite surprised, I felt Carrick and Anderson looked a decent enought partnership when they played. I think a part of the problem is constant rotation in CM. I remember when I was looking at the stats on the CM partnerships the striking thing was how few times most of them had played with each other. The only pairing that had got significant game time was Carrick/Scholes and even then I’m sure most of the understanding was built on last season rather than this year.
RR: Duly noted. I will say nothing more on the matter, I’ve made my feelings on it more than clear.
Grognard: I’ll save you waiting, no apology.
April 19th, 2008 at 22:37
And to be honest, I think it sickens JB to call any United player useless if he hasn’t done anything really wrong. It sickens me too. Not you, but the fact that a fan calls a United player thus. I have been sickened on numerous occasions when players were called that. But I may judge the person, but that would be left to myself. I wouldn’t want to let that cloud the facts being discussed on here.
JB was out of line when he tried to judge you on that basis and spell it out to you. But that’s it. End of this bickering, I trust you guys to be above this. So move on, please.
April 19th, 2008 at 22:37
Grognard, I’m sure the pointhas been made, but the problem as I see it with your Saha comments (I don’t think they were that bad, just a bit heat of the moment)is that you’re blaming him for something he has zero control over and saying he should be playing through all these injuries. By all means criticise performances or behaviour of players, but to blame him for his injuries is just needless. If you can’t find fault with him on the pitch he can’t be that bad, can he?
April 19th, 2008 at 22:42
This rant is starting to make me sick. I bet that if all you people went to today’s match, you’d be booing our players throughout the whole second half. You have to realise that chasing the Premiership and the Champions’ League at the same time is not as easy as you think, especially when we have to play a team that don’t care about their domestic league (again).
And as much as we think we know about United, in fact we only know a fraction of what’s really happening every day at Carrington. Oh, SAF will be sorely missed when he’s gone (after he leads us to some more trophies).
April 19th, 2008 at 22:43
I also find sickening the level of abuse Saha gets.
When Ole was on the sidelines for a whole season, nobody questioned his commitment. Granted he didn’t have the past injury record of Saha, but still, certain players are more fragile than others, you can’t do anything about it.
Also if Saha does have some mental problem, for one outside observer he may be a “pussy”, but just imagine the implications of him having some serious personal issues- suppose depression. Everybody knows its much easier to come back from a physical injury – just follow the doctor’s advice – than to actually come out of such mental problems. And footballers are human beings – even they can suffer from problems of the mind.
April 19th, 2008 at 22:44
People can bash players as much as they want. It’s got nothing to do with fairness. Those honest sincere feelings from fans, right or wrong. Yes we should disagree or agree with each other, but we should not bash the poster for having his views. After all, we are individuals and we all think differently and have different tastes. If I choose to bash a player, it’s after serious thought and proper consideration. Maybe I have been harsh on Saha but he honestly has frustrated me like no other player I can ever remember in any sport that I have followed. I watch the NFL and watch players batter each other senseless and they don’t get injured, but Saha can get an injury walking against a stiff breeze. God give me patience and tolerance to handle that kind of physical incapability. The man should be on disability benefits, not stealing millions for doing shite. I never came up with the term balsa Boy. I’m just the only one with the balls to say what most out there are thinking. And for that i get attacked by the Society of Political Correctness. Give a fucking break!
April 19th, 2008 at 22:45
JB; And I have no class? Funny!
April 19th, 2008 at 22:47
All I’m saying is support our team and enjoy our football as long as it lasts. We haven’t lost the Premiership yet!
April 19th, 2008 at 22:52
Michael; You are right. My Saha comments were made in the heat of the moment and although he has no control over his injuries, it still causes me great frustration because his inability to play is severely hurting the team. Fine, I will get off his back that I have made my case for his immediate transfer out of OT. Let some other poor unfortunate outfit get stuck with his contract and medical bills. And let him be the focus of attention on another team’s blog. I for one have had enough
of his absences. Ole earned his time off for all the years of great service to us. Saha hasn’t.
Finally; why does supporting our team on this site mean unconditional support with many of you? Why are so many of you so bent out of shape if somebody has the gumption to actually criticize a player or the team? What we have here is a bunch of conformists who never question anything and who love unconditionally like some dumb puppy. Geez!
April 19th, 2008 at 22:58
[Grognard]
Okay, apart from JB, no one else attacked you.
And you are not the only one to get attacked always. I know how much stick a commenter got for calling Rooney crap.
So don’t feel that you are always being victimised here. It happens, and especially after a bad day like today, sparks can fly.
Peace.
April 19th, 2008 at 23:03
Criticizing a player for his performance is fair. But criticising a player for being injured doesn’t strike as something logical. If anything it’s a problem with the medical staff and the management for not realising how chronic his injury is. I think Fergie gambled on his fitness, and hoped somehow things would fall into place.
I don’t think people have problems with criticism as long as they feel that it’s justified.
But other than that, sticking through thick and thin is inherent in fan culture in England and Europe, and that extends to players as well. So it’s a cultural thing possibly?
Of course, you do have exceptions like Chelski booing their own team.
April 19th, 2008 at 23:08
RR; I’m not talking so much about attacks on me as what I am noticing in terms of the social climate on this site. There is a great deal of intolerance for alternative thinking or ideas that don’t fall into a conformist and almost militaristic way of thinking. Questioning a player or just not liking one is generally not acceptable or the United Police come out in full force. Disagree all you want, but fans should voice their honest feelings without being called idiots or traitors.
I admire the Chelsea fans for booing their team. They deserve it for the rubbish style they play and for the cost of tickets to go see themselves bored to death.
April 19th, 2008 at 23:12
Trust me. I don’t have control over that.
Again, that’s how the environment may have evolved into. But then, a person like you and me, has a choice to make to either bear with it or move on. That’s the power of the internet. You can choose to ignore those who don’t foment intelligent discussion without having to respond to him.
April 19th, 2008 at 23:17
Anyway let’s move on to other things. Barcelona just drew 0-0 to Espanyol in their derby game. I suggest you all to head over to the excellent FCBNews Barcelona blog for updates on how their players are performing. Here’s the link to the latest match report.
And here’s the link to the blog in general, for you to read through over the next couple of weeks. Nic runs a fairly balanced discussion on all things Barca.
April 20th, 2008 at 0:03
As fans of United we have the desire to see our team and its players perform to the best of their ability which hopefully brings the trophies and success we all crave, but we also have the right to look at those same players critically whenever they underperform and we should never allow the situation to develop were constructive criticism is looked upon as being disloyal.
This requires us to perform a balancing act between on the one hand supporting our players through thick and thin, and on the other hand wanting our team to improve and be the best that it can be.
For me, Paul Scholes is a classic example, he is one of my favourite all time players, a true genius and United legend, in fact Im thinking of buying a shirt he wore in the Champions League as a momento before he retires. But despite my feelings towards him its becoming clear that Scholesys best days are behind him and young players like Anderson bring more to the team, but am I being disloyal by saying this, I dont think so.
As United fans we should respect and support all our players especially those who have given a lifetimes service, but we should also be able to give critical opinions, as long as those opinions are based on well reasoned and logical thinking and have the best interests of the club at heart.
April 20th, 2008 at 0:41
Fred the Red; Well put mate. Even I realize that I was overly harsh on Saha but we shouldn’t just be a bunch of cheerleaders either. The problem is that some on this site don’t tolerate others well reasoned and logical thinking unless they agree with them. I agree with you on Scholes but I do know of a few members, especially one in the region of Ireland that won’t stand for that kind of thinking.
On another note, what I would give for Luca Toni. Four straight games with a brace and in vital games too. Now that’s a striker and a player who can be counted on in the clutch. And even when Bayern’s game gets a little too static, he’s always there to bail them out with a big goal or two. Too bad we never went for him despite his age. Sometimes there is nothing better than experience when the quality is still clearly evident.
April 20th, 2008 at 1:03
Grognard: Make up your mind, were your comments on Saha heat of the moment or not? You’ve latterly claimed they were heat of the moment so if that was actually the case, where was I showing intolerence to ‘well reasoned and logical thinking’?
As for Scholes, I would not start him in any of the next three games. But I guess you know what I think about the matter better than I do.
April 20th, 2008 at 1:25
Grognard, thats a bit of a coincidence coz Im from Ireland myself, about a mile up the road from were George Best grew up. As to what was said earlier I think we are all guilty at certain times of speaking out of frustration so soon after a match that didnt go according to plan so we need to be careful what we say and how we say it.
When Saha is fit and firing on all cylinders he is a great asset to our team to have him available for todays match might have swung it in our favour. I think he is a good player but the reality is that wether its his fault or not, his continued absence through injury means that sooner or later a decision is going to have to be made on the merits of keeping him as a player, this isnt being disloyal, its just plain common sense.
As for your point on Luca Toni I must admit that I like him as a player but personally I would like to see Huntelaar at the club coz I think he would score a bundle of goals for us and also I think he has a lot more to his game than people give him credit for.
April 20th, 2008 at 1:40
another thing I meant to to ask you Grognard, I dont know what age you are, but being an NFL fan do you remember Jerry Rice of the 49ers playing, what a player he was.
April 20th, 2008 at 2:41
Quick question, what do you all think of Kris Boyd of Rangers. I haven’t watched him in a while, but I think he could be a good back-up striker.
April 20th, 2008 at 4:56
JB; My comments on Saha were angry and very much in the heat of the moment but they were building for a long while. I snapped on Friday while listening to my favorite North American podcast called World Soccer Daily. The hosts let me know that Saha had injured himself yet once again in training. Even they were exasperated with him and called him bloody useless. Mine was a knee jerk reaction that comes from months and months of frustration and knowing that had he played just five more games for us this season, we probably would have clinched the BPL by now and Rooney, Tevez and even Ronaldo could have gotten a little more needed rest. Saha’s abilities are good enough to have shifted more points in our direction. He may have been the difference against Man City or Middlesbrough for example. Then we would not have Chelsea breathing down our necks.
As for your lack of tolerance, it’s not about disagreeing with me JB. It’s about having to insult my person as well as my intelligence in the process. Sorry but you were out of line as you made it very personal. I quite often agree with your statements and even then you make smart little remarks about the world ending or something to that effect just because I agreed with your statement.
And I quite often point out to you that I agree. Yet I cannot ever recall you praising me or agreeing with one of my comments. You will be very quick to jump on me like a scolding father or school master when I say something that you disagree with. You take my “well reasoned and logical thinking” and cast it aside as if you are the only one who knows. That’s a little condescending if you don’t mind me saying. Who died and made you King?
Fine disagree, but calling me crass, classless, and distasteful because I ranted on a player I don’t much care for was unnecessary. Big frakken deal? Who cares? Life goes on. Deal with. But I am a member of a blog we all share and we should all try to be tolerant of each other and try to get along. The people I have had issue with on this site have always been aggressive in their intolerance of my views and they get personal. The ones who respectfully disagree I have no problem with.
I really don’t want to take issue with you as a person or with your views or beliefs. I just wish you would be a little more respectful of mine. It’s not important if I criticize a player. If they deserve it in my eyes, they will get it, regardless of whether I’m fair or not. I have that right as well, they certainly don’t read my posts or give a damn what I say anyway. But we sort of know each other in cyber space on this blog. In that scenario, politeness and respect to each other is mandatory. We’ve had our differences before but I’ve never called you names or insulted you. Please remember that. Despite what you might think, I have feelings too and I’m from a generation that isn’t so desensitized by modern technology and the Internet to show courtesy to a chat mate. I sincerely hope you understand my feelings now and why I reacted to your style of attack the way I did.
April 20th, 2008 at 5:23
Fred I was referring to somebody else and it was not a knock on the Irish, believe me. And I’m not really sure I totally understand your point on being careful about what we say. I’m opinionated and critical of players but I think I have only twisted off on one player ever, and that was today. I reached my frustration point with Miss Saha. He’s a wimp, end of story. If he can’t recover from his problem, then he should retire because he is collecting a paycheck and not contributing at all. In fairness, his problem looks chronic and irreparable. He should stop holding the team hostage. It’s just been too long and it’s got me all hot under the collar because so much is at stake right now and we are so thin up front. We really needed his presence on the pitch. What can I say, I feel really let down by him because it seems to me that he has an incredibly low pain threshold. Players like Neville and Ole get more understanding because of their tenure but because of their past history as dependable and vital soldiers in the cause. I also blame the team for putting the players and supporters through this misery. They should have given him away in January and bought a replacement. In fact, Fergie should never have let Rossi go.
As for Toni, we would never get him as he is not available and he is not it seems, Fergie’s type of player because he is good and scores goals as a striker (JOKE!). He’s one Hell of a natural goal scorer who is so clutch. I’m so gung ho for Huntelaar I can see Fergie spiting me and ignoring his existence come transfer time. It will totally gut me if he gets signed up by either Chelsea, Spurs or Liverpool. All the more reason to sign him. To keep him out of the clutches of our top opponents. Instead, Fergie is looking towards more Portuguese in order to rename the team Porto United. And this rumor about him chasing a couple of Wigan minnows when we have more important fish to fry is disturbing to say the least. It’s going to be an interesting summer.
Finally Fred, I am very aware of the great Jerry Rice. The greatest receiver of all time and arguably the greatest player of all time. Incredible stats. I personally believe that joe Montana was the greatest player of all time. I am a Cowboys and Patriots fan as well as old days Dolphins fan. I was also a big admirer of the Bill Walsh run San Francisco 49ers and great Montana/Rice years. Truly awesome. I wish United could handle opponents in a final like they did Denver in 1989.
55-10. That’s 10-1 in soccer. Wouldn’t that be a great score in CL final against either Liverpool or Chelsea? A true fantasy. I’ll settle for 1-0.
April 20th, 2008 at 6:28
Evra played well yesterday but he was totally outmuscled by roberts and esp Santa cruz who was deployed on the right .. I think O’Shea should have been the left-back , though Evra did well out of all our four defenders ..
April 20th, 2008 at 7:16
Hey i’m new to this. Been reading red rants for more than a year now not every week mind you but for around that time. Anyways it was a disappointing match to say the least. Having been blessed with great football the past few matches its really sad to see a lack of effort in the first half and then trying to salvage it in the second half. Just wondering how credible is goal.com you experienced guys should know i know tribal is quite full of rubbish taken from bogey news articles and opinions from such blog sites as our own but for all those people who have been shouting out saying to get lahm or alves this article is quite interesting if true. http://goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=665901
April 20th, 2008 at 8:49
Well yesterday the moment Ronaldo hit the post we knew that the signs were negative !
Grognard mate , you are the one persons posts i make it a point to read
.However you are absolutely wrong with many things !
“Fergie should never have let Rossi go.”
Well 2 things to remember .. It was Rossi who needed more first team action and second Fergie may be would have thought he would not be able to make it into first team !
“Saha should stop holding the team hostage. He has an incredibly low pain threshold “
Well this is out of frustration rather than anything else however
This is absolute nonsense ! We all by know have to come to the mutual understanding that he may or should be out of the team .
Each human being is molded in a different manner which includes recovering from injury . “ROONEY IS THE BEST EXAMPLE”- Yesterday when he surely had a injury he carried to play on which no other EPL player would continued .
Liverpool has Kewell Arsenal has Van Persie Rosicky Chelsea has Ballack .
It is the manager who has to take a call whether to depend on these players . Southgate took the call to chuck Viduka.
So Don`t blame Saha !
“Fergie is looking towards more Portuguese in order to rename the team Porto United ”
. Why would he want to buy Valencia from Wigan . It is like saying buying Zarate 
They are rumors for gods sakes
(They are good players but not good enough for United )
If we do buy another player from Porto, what is the problem with that . I remember reading a Redranters post about 100% Transfer Success rate , so why not continue it !
Toni at the age of 31
I do rate him highly however Fergie is going for the kill of a Polar Bear which would last another 5 Years . The Next purchase will surely a big striker ! If we can win the UCL we can get almost any striker we want :
Berbatov , Benzema , Super Mario , The Hunter etc.
Well i have supported Giggs so far and will continue to do so . However he needs to have a good preseason next time around ! Nani was absolutely fantastic ! He went for Glory a couple of times , his crosses , corners , pace raped Warnock !
If both Hargo/Anderson start , out attack might be a little bad however the protection they provide for the back 4 is immense !
April 20th, 2008 at 8:57
So lets move on to something better ..
What formation/players do u think Fergie will employ against Barca ???
My take :
——————–VDS———————
Brown—-Rio——–Vidic————-Evra
—-Hargo—-Carrick—-Andersonsonson—-
Ronaldo————————-Nani
————Rooney————
Subs:PIG,PIQUE,O’Shea,Giggs,Scholes,Park,Tevez
“We Will Fucking Murder Them !!!! “
April 20th, 2008 at 9:04
Oops sorry one more post .. Read this people a good one !
Cesc Fabregas has out-played most opponents this season but Anderson is one he has failed to dominate.
April 20th, 2008 at 10:08
It’s all about desire and legs now…but i think legs is the most important factor right now.
Yesterday’s performance was so flat, lifeless, Ronaldo looked wrong, seemed to have lost his swagger.
Nerves, tiredness,little niggles we don’t know about…Everyone except Evra seemed to be moving in slow motion.
I think the solution to get us over the finish line is to play all the fitest players, the ones who can break down the others team’s play: Anderson, Park, Hargreaves, Tevez and Nani(not necessarily all at once
)…Then Ronaldo and Rooney can pick up play higher up the pitch on the break.
Swing some crosses in, take some long shoots…just keep the forward momentum going…
Energy is the key now, remember Milan, they weren’t anything great, but United didn’t have anything left in the tank…this time it’s different, hope Ferguson uses his new signings till they can’t run no more
April 20th, 2008 at 11:15
we have to keep this post going guys, we need to get to 200 comments which i believe is a record.
April 20th, 2008 at 11:38
Sahar reminds me of the gag about the wife of Niles Crane, the brother of Frazer. She was always about to make an appearance in the show and then at the last minute she couldn’t turn up . Saha has this knack for getting himself injured just when he is warming up or the day before a game etc.
May be we should call him Maris!
Anyway, people are too negative about yesterday’s game. It is the third game in succession that we have to come from behind and get something out of it and that is what champions do!!
April 20th, 2008 at 12:04
Grognard, I know you didnt mean me when you refered to your Irish combatant, I just saw a bit of irony in the fact that our points were more or less in agreement but some of the people that disagreed with you are like myself, from Ireland[or Northern Ireland as some people over here prefer to be called, but we wont open up that can of worms}
As regards to not understanding me about being careful what we say I just think that after a dodgy result or performance this blog becomes hypersensitive to peoples opinions and half the time I believe the disagreements are magnified due to peoples frustrations, dont know that to be right in every case, its just my thoughts on some of the friction yesterday.
As for Huntelaar, I think hes more than just a goalscorer and is a lot quicker than people give him credit for. Mental quickness sometimes is greater than physical quickness and this boy just comes alive in the 18 yard box were he not only finishes well, but can play a cute pass for a team mate which he seems to do for Holland as well as Ajax.
I too will be dissapointed if we dont at least go for him coz he would greatly enhance our forward line and also might bring the best out of Wayne Rooney.
Ah Bill Walsh and the west coast offence, its all coming back to me now. I agree about Joe Montana, he didnt have the strongest of arms but he played like an absolute surgeon on the field and the niners had the two greatest players of all time in their positions in Jerry Rice and Joe Montana and possibly a third in the safety Ronnie Lott.
Talk about great clutch players, Montana was possibly the greatest clutch player ive seen in any sport, he almost seemed to enjoy it more when the pressure was on and Rice was simply one of the best athletes ever to play sport
April 20th, 2008 at 12:05
I believe that Owen will be very important against Barca! He should be rested against Chelski so he is fresh in the CL. He can mark Messi out of the game together with Evra. And Anderson is another player that has to be in the United team aginst Barca. I will tell you why!
Barcelona are a team full of individuals and they dont work as a team. Their defense is just a little bit better than Derby County. The reason for that is that they dont talk to each other and goes to positions they shouldnt be. Their full backs are slow, but loves attacking. If United win the ball after a Barca attack, we can counter with Anderson, Nani and Ronaldo. Anderson is a great tackler and follows the player with the ball al the time. Since Barca players never seems to pass it he should tackle, run and then pass to a fast United player. That is a great way to beat Barca. They are great individuals, but they dont know how to play as a team. Anderson, Evra, Owen, Ronaldo and Rooney will be the most important players for that game. And another thing: they dont play hard!
April 20th, 2008 at 12:10
Dan, if you want to break the record you will have to get Grognard back on, he could start an argument in an empty house.
just kidding Groggy mate
April 20th, 2008 at 12:23
lol fred the red!!!
April 20th, 2008 at 12:26
We have the easier run in from now on. We play Chelsea who NEED to win but we don’t we could even lose and it wouldn’t be that bad.
Chelsea must win all their games. They play newcastle away and then have to play Bolton who are fighting for survival whereas we have West Ham at home and wigan who will be safe by the time we play them! We are in pole position with just 1 lap to go.
April 20th, 2008 at 12:27
Lets just look forward to Barca and stop all this bickering.
April 20th, 2008 at 12:30
GUCK OFF FRIEDEL FCK OFF FRIEDEL FCK OFF YOU SHITTY REF
That’s my first comment. The next will be more logical
April 20th, 2008 at 12:33
But what’s more logical than this?
Let’s gather Evra , Manucho , Rio , Vida , Saha and the Rocket Ron and have them FCK FRIEDEL+REF
They made me drink 8 beers (500 ml) in 3 hours. That’s unacceptable.
April 20th, 2008 at 12:36
Ollieys right, two wins from any of our last three games is a strong position, lets not have a mutiny, the finishing lines in sight.
April 20th, 2008 at 12:36
I’m trying to break the recod here . Please Respect.
Did anybody see that “back-flip” by Benny McCarthy to Santa Cruz?I mean he made a flick pass with his back LOL.
That’s the most outrageous goal for our def in the season.
April 20th, 2008 at 12:56
Grognard: You are on an internet blog, is their really any requirement for me provide reassurance or paise to your comments that I agree with? I don’t seek or care if I get any praise for my comments and I don’t feel there is any particular requirement to hand any out. As for the smart remarks, it seems even the use of smilies is insuffucient to convey humour.
Rick: That is exactly the setup I would go for in the next three games. Unfortunately I can’t see SAF starting Hargreaves and Anderson three times in less than a week.
April 20th, 2008 at 12:58
Grognard; the end is near! Don’t let worst case scenarios creep into your mind, we will not lose against Chelsea, it really just seems unthinkable. If we draw against them that’s the league wrapped up in my opinion. Then we will have Barca ripe for the kill after drawing with them 1-1 at the Nou Camp
April 20th, 2008 at 13:07
Okay, this is getting really silly now.
Another comment on anything other than footy, is going to be deleted. You’ve all spoken enough, and anyother comment on anything else is unconditionally going to be deleted. Be adults and move on. Remember, no one is forcing anyone to comment here. So if we can discuss about United and footy in general then you are welcome.
And Conor: To be fair here, JB did attempt to judge Grognard based on his opinion on Saha, which is not something we want from people here.
Anyway, on to the football.
April 20th, 2008 at 13:10
I was there, I was there, I was there!. Friedel had a scorcher, but B’Burn fans around most of the ground were scared shitless because our lads were fighting for all their Feckin might in the second half. For the B’Burn defence it was like Custer’s last stand. WE WERE UNLUCKY – that’s all!. That idiot Styles was so inept, that his blind sightedness has become legendary, and especially whenever he ref’s United. Not so for the scousers though, he looks to give them everything – ask Everton after what happened to them in the derby at Goodison and the dippers. Hope Hargo and Anderson play against Chelsea, because we will murder them. United fans were incredible at B’Burn yesterday, and we did the B’Burn fans with fervour and outshouting. But then I had a good few bevvies, so my mind might be more than a little bias lol.
April 20th, 2008 at 13:15
p.s. Was it Styles at Goodison or was it Clatterbridge LOL!.
April 20th, 2008 at 13:21
Craig; Agreed on the ref, I’m not blaming him solely for our defeat, we weren’t great today, but he just is incompetent
and this is just the level of refereeing these days for Premier League referees, sad but not much that can be done about it in the next few years, or more to the point, won’t be done. Anyone have any highlights to look over his performance again? From first glance it was fairly awful. And the fans really were brilliant, it s a bit of a disappointment that most of the fans that were in Blackburn are pretty much the only few left who now who to spur their team on, I’m sure out of the 70,000 more fans at OT, 20,000 more at most even make an effort to sing. And Rick I agree that based on form that is the best team we can put out, but the chance that we will play the same team for every game until the rest of the season, no matter how important they are, are very low. The Premier League is still well within our grasp, Barcelona again were lacklustre without Messi and probably more importantly Iniesta, and even though they both will be well rested up I don’t see Barcelona putting up a great fight against us. CL final here we come
RR; I realize you last comment was partly aimed towards me, so I changed the comment accordingly, and apologies
April 20th, 2008 at 13:21
[Craig]
Heh! He had a shocker didn’t he!
[Everyone]
Btw, match report is up. Head over there for some more match discussion, and perhaps some discussion on the upcoming CL clash against Barcelona.
April 20th, 2008 at 14:25
after watching 2 abortions of a game yesterday (yankees and united) i must say what a horrible day to be a fan of both, yankees not being able to score, and united being screwed out of 3 points by an inept ref and good keeper on his day
i pray to god styles does not manage the SB game, or i may not bother watching it, hopefully someone with balls to make those game changing calls will manage, the ref for united vs arsenal last week, he did a pretty good job
April 20th, 2008 at 19:29
When it comes to refs, if it’s either Styles, Clattenberg or Bennett, chances are United will get screwed either by him or his linesmen. The hand ball penalty was bad enough but there was a call against Tevez for offside in the first half that really rubbed me wrong. He was in all alone with a fantastic goal scoring chance.
Fred; An argument broke out in my house yesterday while I was alone and not only did I win, but I got the last word in edge wise. Jose Mourinho would have thought I was fantastic.