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 Everton: Preview
- Manchester United 2006/2007 Season Review
- Man Utd v Blackburn: Preview
- Title-Chasing United to Pass Tough Ewood Park Test?
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (541)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Stephen (454)
Craig Mc (344)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
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!
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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.
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[RedDevil]
You missed Tottenham away
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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.
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ahh ok jb, but how are they marked if you could remeber it could help,
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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.
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No I didnt. Its Spurs!
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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.
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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.
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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…
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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[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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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lol, thats because he playing with midfielders that are better then him.
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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.
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[RedDevil]
Ah sorry, my bad mate…I think I went blind with frustration as a result of the game.
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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.
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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
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[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.
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“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.
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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.
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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.
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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?
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[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.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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).
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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.
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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!
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JB; And I have no class? Funny!
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All I’m saying is support our team and enjoy our football as long as it lasts. We haven’t lost the Premiership yet!
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