Nov 24
Bolton vs Man Utd: Preview
The international break is over, and will not return for a while now (as I complete my run around my room like a lunatic), and we very quickly cut to the match today. Man Utd take on Bolton Wanderers, who are now playing under new manager Gary Megson.
The Trotters have been unbeaten under their new manager and even managed a draw against mighty Bayern Munich who, as we know, are no mugs.
But before the specifics, some team news.
It’s been mixed as Vidic has been deemed doubtful while Tevez would be playing today. Apparently the news reports of him being tired are a load of bollocks after all. And Rooney looks certain to return by the Fulham game. I know, I mentioned it earlier, but in that time period there were conflicting reports that said that the club ruled out a quick return for Rooney. But now it looks like he will be back sooner than anticipated.
The boss has made public his admiration for Anelka. I don’t think we should get necessarily excited over this. After all he is just making a comment on a key player we are going to face today. I wouldn’t necessarily say that he would try and prise him away from Bolton.
Moving on, today will be the 5000th game that Manchester United FC will play in their history. This is the Telegraph article that I found it on, although it is much disputed. I don’t know if we should consider the Newton Heath days, but then again, this is something only statisticians would get goosebumps over.
Formations? Sahal if fit, should be able to partner Tevez upfront. Ronaldo and Giggs (who is well rested, thanks to his retirement) would take up the wings. Hargreaves and Anderson could play in central midfield. The back four, on account of Vidic’s knock, would be interesting. I suspect Fergie would go with Brown along side Rio in the centre and shunt Pique to right back because Anelka could prove a handful. And it would need some experience in the middle to tackle him.
Over all, I think Bolton are a bit crap, despite their new found obstinacy over the past four games, and we should roll them over. Although, since this is just after the international break, things could be a little tricky.
Prediction: 3-1 to United (Tevez, Saha, Ronaldo to score)
Other news:
O’Shea signs a four year deal.
Three-Lung Park could return sooner than expected — by the end of December — which is always nice to know.
And Miguel Veloso’s agent has claimed there has been ‘informal contact’ with the club.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Rooney Out For A Month
- Man Utd v Stoke: Preview
- Man Utd v Everton: Preview
- Man Utd v Spurs match thread
- Porto it is then…
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (541)
Stephen (487)
RedDevilEddy (461)
Craig Mc (349)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
lol three-lung-park
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funny article bout what goes on before a match at man united.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article502962.ece
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Team News
GK: VDS
RB: Brown
CB: Ferdinand
CB: Pique
LB: Evra
RM: Nani
CM: Hargreaves
CM: Carrick
LM: Giggs
CF: Tevez
CF: Saha
Subs: PIG, O’Shea, Fletcher, Anderson, Eagles
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Ranter,
Could you also drop us rustics the IST kickoff times so that I could stop running around to the TV room and back? You know, por favor?
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God please no. ronaldo?
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ronaldo isnt in the squad:S… i hope theres no problem with ferguson, or he’ll end up like rvn becks stam etc..:S RR do u know why he’s missing?
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why fergie, why carrick, thats why we’re losing, bring on anderson
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so we lost one, not the end of the world, we’ll be second(i think?) we just need to make sure we win the next match
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We can’t play with Rooney AND Ronaldo missing.
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Im starting to see grognard’s view regarding carrick.he aint united quality .anderson did more than him in the 45 minutes he played.
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we still should have pulled it off needed that penalty
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i agree taeher carrick is overated
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The best ever United team? Well to be crowned the best ever they need to win the Treble as well, they need to prove that they can play without Rooney and Ronaldo and for that matter, Vidic as well.
Now generally all of you would expect the Grognard to rant and spew his regular venom after a loss like today. Well I’m not. The lads were flat as a pancake and lacked energy. They looked tired and it cost them against a poor side that played very well and seems to be rejuvenated under Gary Megson. Go figure! I honestly was worried about today because of what Bolton did at Munich two weeks ago. They showed a fire and spirit that was impressive.
Lets just forget about it and hope that Fergie can right the ship for the next game as this one was simply a wash. By the way, where was Louis Saha? To put it mildly, he was invisible out there. He certainly is not putting one foot forward in an attempt to win over Fergie or the skeptics like myself. Unless he scores a few goals and soon, he will be gone if not by January, by season’s end.
This loss can be simply blamed on one factor. The international break. This two week fiasco that the EPL and all other European leagues have to endure about 4 times a season is the most ridiculous and disturbing thing that I have ever encountered as a sports fan. Please remember that being from Canada and having been brought up on Canadian and US sports, I find it absolutely ridiculous and highly disturbing that any professional league would allow international tournament obligations to interrupt or disturd the playing of their domestic season.
Over here the league comes first and any kind of international commitments are taken care of after the domestic season’s are over. This doesn’t allow the superstars much of a break in the off season but then again, I think playing 7 or 8 internationals in between a domestic campaign is probably more tiring, especially with the traveling (ei; Tevez flying back and forth from Argentina and Colombia) that takes place.
This silly and very antiquated system needs to be scrapped by FIFA. Far too many games to qualify for the EURO and World Cup tournaments. Personally I am all for a series of stages in qualifying. Their should be 16 seeded nations like Germany, England, Spain and Italy who should get a bye in the first group stage. Let the Andorra’s, San Marino’s, Cyprus’s and Liechtensteins fight amongst themselves for 16 spots. Then you have a grouping of 32 teams divided in to 8 groups where all teams play no more than 6 matches to see which two teams in every group qualify for the EURO tournament or which 8 to 12 Euro clubs qualify for the World Cup. All these games are played after the domestic campaigns are over in a space of two to three weeks.
It is imperative that FIFA protect the quality of the domestic campaigns in Europe and stop causing delays and disturbances with these tournament qualifiers and even worse, friendlies. The NHL, NFL, NBA would never allow for this kind of thing in the US or Canada. Canada takes great pride in their national hockey team so they have convinced the NHL two shut down shop for three weeks once every four years for the Olympics. And believe me there are many who find that unacceptable. To be honest, I find it funny that more of you in Europe don’t get pissed off royally over these breaks. They all but killed the great momentum that United were building. To me its just a hilarious concession that is being made for the national team. All the qualifying should be done in the off season like the major tournaments. If the stars don’t like it, then tough. A short summer is the price they pay for wanting to be part of their national team. It’s themwho should sacrifice some time, not the domestic leagues, clubs and their supporters. FIFA, STOP MESSING WITH THE DOMESTIC CAMPAIGNS! Use your brains for a change!!!!!!
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As for Carrick, yes he was rubbish yet once again. I even think Fergie is slowly coming around to my way of thinking. He is getting more and more comfortable with Anderson. The rumors of Carrick being transferred are also starting to circulate. And it’s only bottom of the table or mid table sides that seem to be interested. That should tell us all about the quality of the player. He’s just not good enough to play for a Chelski, Arsenal or United.
How many crappy performances like today must the blind Carrrick supporters see before they start to see things my way? Today he just stunk, but then again, so did the whole team. Carrick shouldn’t be complaining of fatigue, unless sitting on the bench for England is physically taxing. Christ, he isn’t even good enough to start for that lot of muppets.
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very disappointing. blame it on pique. he made the same mistake twice and somehow got away the second time. brown should have played centre back (as RR had suggested earlier). rooney, come back soon.
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Grognard,
I’m pretty unhappy about the loss. I agree that Bolton showed a lot of spirit which did more than make up for their lack of class. But to call it a flat performance overall wouldn’t do justice to the moments of brilliance that were produced, though, admittedly, few and far between. By the fucking way, how in the world did Tevez miss that?!
Evra was good both on and off the ball throughout the game. He took off the moment Davies got subbed and threw quite a few runs at the Wanderers. Anderson worked hard as usual and so did Tevez. Hargreaves ran all over the pitch and produced a commendable performance. We lost . But we did not lose because of a terrible performance but because of silly errors and the lack of teeth upfront. Saha, quite surprisingly didn’t do well at all. But I think Fergie will keep him as an off the bench super-sub. I mean come on, the guy hardly gets training time and is usually pushed into the foray as soon as he can walk after an injury.
Ronaldo’s pace and Rooneys fire in the gut were the two critical shortcomings in today’s loss. Add to that Vidic’s absence to keep things quiet in the back.
As for Carrick-bashing- I’m not the biggest fan of Carrick, but to call for his head would be to make him scapegoat. Trust me, he did what he could. The guy is not an attacking midfielder. He can’t chisel away at 11 men behind the ball. He can produce brilliant passees, sure and has got a good vision, sure, but he is after all, a quieter version of Hargreaves. He keeps the midfield tidy and that’s that. To say he was shite and all would be a wee bit unfair methinks.
The biggest disappointment of the match today was, for me, Giggs. Captain, oldest member of the squad and one of the most experienced players on the pitch- he had little to show for all that. His feet are too old and too tired to carry him in the wings. He should have played the AM role and pulled the strings in the center of park but that didn’t happen either. And to say that he sucks as a forward now, would be an understatement if viewed purely from the perspective of physical and technical ability (No question about intelligent play-making).
Whatsay?
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Oh, and by the way, more to say about the exquisite aerial ability of ‘Fergie’s greatest team ever’ now have we? Anyone? (I hate being right about this.)
And where were the crosses? For god’s sake! Not one decent cross from the wings into the box in all of the 90 minutes. And somebody please tell Fergie that Giggs is out of steam in the left flank…
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I feel more deprssed than angry at todays result.Didn’t see the match due to work but was keeping an eye on the score and I just can’t believe it. I’ll probably be back after I see the highlights…
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Oh and what do people think about maybe playing Anderson on the left-flank sometimes? he looks like he has the attributes (speed, vision and skill) and said himself that his favourite position is left back. so if there’s not a place for him in the middle would it not be worth trying?
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No but liam there is a place for him in the middle.carrick is not good enough.anderson has become almost as important as rooney and ronaldo.all our 4 goal wins have been when hes in the side.he brings urgency.carrick?no pace,no skill,no defensive qualities.all of which our brazilian youngster has.i do not no why ronaldo was rested.we have a pointless mid week game against sporting.he should have started if not on the bench.i dont know whats up with our injuries.we have such a weak bench .fletcher,oshea,eagles?all capable of nothing.i see the point in the veloso rumours now.carrick imo,not good enough.
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last season, i was a blind carrick supporter grognard, and after this season, im in the carrick out camp now, with only one good performance, and that was against chelsea over a month ago, its a shame we have him, lets sell him and buy a decent english midfielder if not veloso looks good enough,
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Didn’t even watch the Match after Anelka scored. How fitting, we should have aacquired him in the off season. What happened to Ronaldo though??
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We were poor. Shit happens. It was a derby. Ronaldo or Anderson should have started. The international break had nothing to do with our poor performance. The line up was wrong. So was the bench. Anderson should have started. Ronaldo should at worst have been on the bench.
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Awful game! Very bad performances from Piqué (replay of the Coventry game) and Carrick (Veloso will be better).Are there any words to describe Piqué´s game? Jesus… If only our opponents made that kind of errors. Things would be easier!
Not even Derby players do that….
Giggs is….old? I don´t know! He´s not having a great season, but today he was invisible. I was getting used to his bad quality passing and lack of speed, but today he just didn´t play. Idem do Louis Saha, who may never be a great striker again, after so many injuries. Nani and Tevez were average, bu they will do better with better players around them. Anderson is the best option to replace Scholes while he´s injured.
With so many injuries (Neville, Vidic, Scholes) and especially without Rooney & Ronaldo we are average… We already showed that in the games with Man. City, Tottenham and Sunderland.
Arsenal continue their run, with one more win in the final 10 minutes. Their confidence an enthusiasm is growing and they won without Van Persie and Fabregas… I hope they loose some points in the next two away games, otherwise…
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Oh come on guys. Stop writing players off based on one performance. Have some faith. Carrick will become better and so will Saha. Giggs is old, true, but not senile yet. Everyone has their bad days. And it’s not like we lost 7:1. It was a bad day, they’ll get over it.
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About Carrick, I’m still not sure Sir Alex is going to give up on him yet, but in truth the only thing he can do is pass and when we need a midfielder to step up an control the game he just dissapears even further into the shadows, his qualities are only shown in flashes and so they’re highlighted in the big matches . And I really just think Saha has lost his hunger for the game, he seems so lazy compared to before, and after his whole “If I don’t play to 100% then i’ll never get injured” I always suspected so. I’d still prefer to keep him until the summer because I highly doubt we’ll buy a striker in january (never mind two) so there’s no reason to get rid of him and make us more susceptible to a sudden injury crisis and goal drought. He still makes a difference. And lets not criticize Pique so quickly, he’s barely even had a chance to show us how good he is and plus he’s still young so you expect young defenders to make mistakes, Micah Richards does it all the time.
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Bet the “boss” isn’t so keen on Anelka now!
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It’s kind of funny that for months I seem to have been the lone voice in the wilderness crying for the replacement of Carrick. Many came out and lambasted me for my views calling me blind and basically being full of shit. Well it seems like there are more and more supporters who seem to want to come and jump on my ‘Get Rid of Carrick’ shitty bandwagon. The player has had more than enough of a chance to find his form and make a positive statement in games but he clearly hasn’t got what it takes. Now articles start popping up claiming clubs like City, Spurs and Newcastle are interested in signing him. Of course they are because he fits perfectly with second tier clubs. Those clubs are not in the same class as United, Chelski and Arsenal and they clearly could use the unimaginative workmanlike efforts of one Michael Carrick.
We can point fingers at a lot of players today for not showing up. The lay off for many left them missing something and for the ones that were on international duty, clearly fatigue was an issue. Giggs, Tevez, Rio, Evra all were off form but the big question is when has Michael Carrick been on form?
K9, you claim that Michael Carrick is not an offensive player and that he is more like Hargreaves. I’m sorry mate but you couldn’t be farther from the truth. Michael Carrick was purchased as the heir apparent to Paul Scholes. He made a name for himself at Spurs for his excellent passing both long and short. Since his arrival though he has transformed himself into more of a Hargreaves style player with a pinch of Scholes vintage 2007 (which means plenty of safe back passes and no creative drive).
Look, I’m kind of tired slagging the bloke as I honestly think he could be a good player for a medium sized club. He clearly has a problem with our style of play because it’s not BRITISH enough. He would be a star at Bolton. His limitations mean that he is better suited for another club that fits his limited skill set and that also doesn’t put so much pressure on him.
United are a dynamic side playing a style that could be best described as multi-continental. Unfortunately old school British style players don’t fit well in this setup. Ask yourself why only a handful of English players have ever played abroad? Because other than UK competition, nobody plays the English style and few English players adapt well to the continental game. This is why England should steer clear of Capello. He’s too rigid in his old school Italian ways to ever be able to create a hybrid style of play that English players could adapt to and that would make England succeed.
Carrick has to go plain and simple. Hell, if Juande Ramos is willing to pay 20 million to buy him back for Spurs, Fergie should jump at the opportunity and go for it. Fergie wants a setup like Argentina and Barcelona. 2 DMF at the back (Hargreaves, Veloso) and 2 AMF up front Anderson(Nani), Ronaldo. This is why the Veloso rumors won’t die out and why United have not come out and said they have no interest in the player. Carrick has no future with this club so Fergie should do him and supporters like myself a favor and ship him off.
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I agree Conor about not being too critical of Pique for his mental gaff. He is a young player of quality and tremendous potential. Lets not forget the numerous gaffs in the United career of one Rio Ferdinand and lets also not forget that Nemanja Vidic’s first half season with us was less than stellar. The problem today was a lack of fire and energy. No reason to press the panic button as it is a long season and Arsenal is very far from sewing things up.
As for Saha, he only has use as a sub and I’m not so sure I would even call him a super-sub either. His lack of fire and passion today left me wondering what the hell is wrong with this guy? And I’m not talking physically wrong either. Saha has emotional and psychological issues because he looks and play like he is depressed and totally removed from the game. He just looks disinterested. He’s like a method actor who goes up to his director and asks “What is my motivation?” The guy is a walking coma.
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I think man utd didnt deserve that loose … they just were unlucky, and that Tevez opportunity, how he missed that
.. as u can see man utd without Rooney and Ronaldo alawys loosing stupid points.
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Grognard,
I like your idea on the Barcelona-like line-up. Do you think that Fergie will actually do that though? I always thought he would stick with the 4-4-2 we’ve been using.
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I dont post much here, but read almost every single word written in the comments. And all I see is every time we dont score we blame carrick for ‘not doing his job.’ In all honesty, I think he did a pretty good job today considering the whole side played like we would win because we wear red. Every time he got on the ball he controlled the pace and looked for players making a run. It’s obvious he’s not going to beat 3 or 4 men then make the deciding pass, but i’ve seen him time in and time out stand on the center line and put the ball on the feet of rooney or ronaldo or tevez and them just clean up with a goal. Lets be honest, we have enough talent up front that someone like carrick can doesnt have to beat people. He’s paid to get it to the people who score for a living.
On that note, I’d like to know why no one talks about nani giving the ball away so often and so easily. Sometimes it looks as though hes still in his back yard pretending to be ronaldo. And i still believe saha is missing. We might as well have played with 10 men from the start.
cheers
,
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To be honest i think saha was quite good.was he given a chance by pass master carrick?no he wasnt,if chances aint created u cannot blame saha.blame the people who a supposed to be supplying ie.carrick?nani?giggs?but today we didnt have ronaldo and rooney who are our most frequent goal creaters/scorers.
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