May 02
Boro v Man Utd: Preview
Boro are a mad team. They are capable of the atrocious, like their current league position demonstrates. Yet, they have had their fair share of big team scalps.
And that’s all I can say about them, really. An away game at the Riverside can always be tricky, would be the other cliche I could trot out.
Or I could talk about our side. Yeah, I’ll do that.
Ferguson talks about ringing in the changes and finding the ‘right balance’. He mentioned Giggs played for 20 minutes against Arsenal and Scholesy being fresh. There are rumours that Macheda may make his first full start for United in the league.
All this seems all and well to say. But we are a side gunning for the Champions’ League and the Premiership. It could be argued that we are reasonably placed to advance in Europe, but too much mix and match at this time of the season sits uneasily on my head. We have about 5 games to go in the league including today. And we have to get our best possible sides out from now on, with minor changes. Because, to me, it makes little sense to ‘save’ our best players for the ‘future games’. We have five games left in the season in the league and, if we beat Arsenal in midweek, seven games overall. So what the heck are we going to keep players fresh for, if we don’t do the job today?
I hope Fergie realises that and makes one change at most in attack with an enforced change to come in defence, in the form of Jonny Evans. I suppose we could have Wes Brown making an appearance in right back — which really isn’t bad considering he’s had some reserve outings under his belt. If Macheda plays, then we could have Tevez upfront with him. We could also have Nani, possibly, in the wings, going by Fergie’s plans to freshen up the squad.
In an ideal world we should be able to beat Boro however we mix things up. But the world is far from ideal and we know all too well the perils of tinkering with a side that just seems to be getting into gear and re-learning its fluent attacking side.
I think Giggs will make the starting XI. Fergie hardly likes to drop Carrick. And I suspect Rooney will be on the bench. SAF’s press conference didn’t give too much away either, because he did mention that players were quite buoyant in training following the mid week performance against the Arse. That is nice to hear and one hopes not much is lost in attacking verve today.
In passing, there is something amusingly wrong about this article and headline — in another edition of Daniel Taylor does it again shocker. It states that Ferguson risks the wrath of Premier League football managers of clubs that are in relegation scraps because Middlesbrough will face a weakened United side. Weakened, perhaps. But a team that will nonetheless try their best to win — rather a team that’d better win. The article compares this with United fielding a weakened side against West Ham in 2006. Well, there are two minor details the author apparently forgot to consider: 1. United are currently not beyond reach of Liverpool and, 2. The West Ham game happened after we’d already won the title. So, in short, another shockingly pointless article.
Right, onto our predictions: United 2-1 Boro.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Man Utd 4-1 Middlesbrough
- Man Utd v Stoke: Preview
- Man Utd v Everton: Preview
- Man Utd v Spurs match thread
- Rooney Out For A Month
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (541)
Stephen (487)
RedDevilEddy (461)
Craig Mc (349)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
@RedDevilEddy: We can lose to other teams mate but I have a hard time losing to Liverpool for two reasons. First, they are Liverpool. Fucking scum of the Earth, total Scouser bastards. Second, they are in second place and very close to us. I’d have less of a problem if they were out of contention because I could then say we lost to a clearly inferior opponent on off days but look how much better off we are in the League. We can’t say that about Liverpool this year. They have stuck around with us and if we win the League by less than 4 points, we will look like paper champions because we won the league but got slaughtered twice by the team that finished second and who also lost fewer games in the season. That just burns me, I’m sorry.
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@NicoQB: Passing ability in restricted areas based on what, a short little Youtube highlight? Get serious mate. Why don’t you watch several of his games and count all the times he doesn’t succeed over the times he does before you anoint him the next Maradona.
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Ronaldo has made it pretty clear he is staying so I don’t think we will ever bother making a bid for Ribery which is seriously disappointing. We can outbid Barcelona.
I agree that Benzema is overvalued and overrated but if we could pick him up for £20 million I think he could be great for the team. He has a good goalscoring record, Champions League pedigree, and would provide the sort of muscular presence which would make him an excellent foil for Rooney or Berbatov.
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@colver: I agree with you there. For them to win on more than goal difference would require us to really have a late season collapse of epic proportions. 4 games left, we’d have to lose 2 and tie 1 for them to have a chance of winning it all. Remember, they only have three games left and we are three points up.
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@Matt: What bugs me is all the time that is wasted on International breaks early in the season and the fact that there are hardly any Wednesday games in the first half. There were far too many Wednesday games in the second half and then we also have the Champions League for 12 weeks of our schedule too. This whole scheduling thing and the international schedule is a total joke. Take all International games and move them to the summer after the season ends. Give them one month to play their games and then the players can still have a month off to rest. Interrupting a domestic league for that nonsense is ridiculous and for a person brought up in North America is just ridiculous and comical to boot. Thats because the NHL, MLB, NFL and NBA don’t answer to no world organizing power.
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@Redrich: Owen is finished.
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@Grognard: The 6 points lost to Liverpool will only matter to me if we manage to blow the rest of the season. The home game to them was a hard one to swallow though, basically because we played so poorly, and allowed our most hated rival to rub our noses into the OT turf.
But it wouldn’t be the first time we’ve lost home and away on our way to a Championship. Last year against City and the year before against West Ham were hardly performances that would become a Champion, but in the end, the games that we had to win, we won, and that is what makes for a Champion!
It certainly is a valiant effort put forth by the scousers this season, but not one that will win them anything other than a pat on the back!!
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@colver: He would still need service and would suffer like Berba, Rooney and Tevez from the lack of. No, we need a an attacking midfielder or basic play maker. Strikers are only as good as their service. It’s like a basketball center. He cannot get baskets and control the inside unless the play making guards and forwards manage to get him the ball.
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@Redrich: City and West Ham were not 3 points behind us in the League and they are not nor will they ever be hated like Liverpool. No my feelings are due to the fact it is Liverpool that did this to us. I couldn’t care less if West Ham beats us twice. Losing to Scouser scum like we have twice to both Liverpool and Everton this year has been very hard to swallow.
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@Grognard: I think we only lost to Everton once, in the FAC.
I do get your drift, though, but I won’t care as long as we prevail and they don’t. It will heal the open wound that still remains from the L’pool home game.
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@Grognard: Jeez, I wish you’d stop being so negative and take in the positive shown there. Most youtubes reels only shoe goals, rarely do they show actual in game playing.
What I saw there is a seventeen year old doing things that confirmed players 10 years his senior and playing at top level can’t do. Of course he’s not going to be the next Maradona, but the promise to be a great player is there. Ji sung Park, Ashley Young, Albert Riera, Nani can’t do some of the thigs he did on that youtube.
Just because youtube has proven to be time and again unreliable doesn’t mean that we can’t appreciate the skills there for what they are worth.
I am fully aware that he may be playing against lesser opposition and all, but his superior technique and the different aspects to his playing are so obvious. Chadwick only had pace, Eagles a decent cross, and countless other players had only one or two dimensions to their game and failed to live up to the promise.
And finally at his age you expect a player to have flaws in his game. Just look at Macheda. But nowadays getting the complete package in a young player is getting more and more difficult. ANd considering how we have been lacking in the offfensive midfield department I say that a burgeoning world class kid would be just what the doctor ordered. He can’t be much worse than Park at any rate.
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@NicoQB: yeah because you know how terrible Park is
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@NicoQB: Jeez! How is what I am saying being negative. All I am saying is I am not going to jump on the bandwagon of a 17 year old player based on frakken Youtube highlight reel. It’s ludicrous and it’s a terrible way to inform anyone on the player’s true abilities. He’s probably the real deal but I would like to see him play in a half dozen games whether in the Serbian League or with the reserves before i make up my mind about him. Crikey some you guys are so gullible and yet so fragile when somebody speaks the honest truth. You can’t judge player based on a 30 second reel. Enough already!
What I saw in that reel is what i have seen from dozens of young prospects on dozens of highlight reels in the past five years. Check out Matko Marin, Toni Kroos, Alex Sanchez, Zoran Tosic, Bojan Krkic etc etc before they made it on big clubs. They all look like the second coming of Mr. Pele Maradona. Fact is some have great potential but nothing has happened yet to rave about them based on those early reels. And all of them have significant weaknesses in their games that those reels don’t show. Only watching these players for at least a half dozen games can give you a feeling of what they are truly all about. You cannot judge a player’s ability and impact on a total game based on this 30 second bubble of time.
Bottom line is Macheda and Welbeck score hat tricks in the reserve games. Both struggle to find one good chance in a Prem game. The difference in class form Serbia to the Prem is like comparing Wayne Rooney with Titus Bramble in ability. And you cannot find the flaws in a player’s game when all that is shown is his highlights. And he could easily be worse than Park. He could be a flash in the pan and one who doesn’t work hard or mark and track back. Again, and finally we have no way of knowing how good he is based on the tainted and slanted piece of evidence. Hopefully he is the real deal. Even if he is, I think he’s at least a couple seasons away from making his debut at OT.
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@Grognard: We are 3 points up with a game in hand
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@colver: Errrrr Man Shitty have already offered 60 million for Ribery, and according to Bayern anyone else has to top that to get him away from Shitty. I doubt anyone but shitty has that kind of money to throw about
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@Grognard: So we’ll remember NOT to invite you to end of season celebrations partying if we get both trophies then Bro – shame
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@colver: O all you of little faith – We will not lose to Le Arse
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@RedDevilEddy: So? if you took a look at Redcafe, you’ll see that many of them watch the belgrade matches to watch lijaic, you cant compare him to tosic either, they play in different positions.
And as i said, ive seen him play in to matches and he was superb. As you said, its not that you dont expect him to do well, its because you dont want him to do well, because if he does, andy will be on the bench from then on
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@Grognard: Why not? they are one of the best 4 teams in the hardest league in the world. Normally you have a point on here, but this just sounds like pointless crowing. Yeah, it’s shit we lost to Liverpool, but when we lift the league title, and when we do it next year to knock them off their fucking perch I won’t be giving it a second thought.
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Craig Shitty can bid what they like. After all they topped our bid for Berbatov and he still joined us. If Ribery is determined to leave he will get to go to the club of his choice.
Grognard, I agree with you on the lack of service but I think if you keep Rooney playing in that role on the left, have Berbatov as a link striker and Benzema up top, he would get plenty of service. Both Rooney and Berbatov are capable of providing lots of assists. Also if we got Hargreaves back that would free Carrick up to go forward a bit more and make a difference.
I agree with you on the service point, but even when we are playing someone like Nani who can provide decent service, it doesn’t make any difference because the current strikers do not like to get into the box.
If our attack was:
Hargreaves Carrick
Ronaldo Berbatov Rooney
Benzema
I think that team would score plenty of goals.
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@Craig Mc: I know, I said that.
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@Craig Mc: The problem here is that Ribery does not want to play for Shitty. He is adamant about the Champions League so Shitty could offer 1 Billion and unless Ribery agrees, it makes no difference.
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@Craig Mc: It’s too long a flight anyway.
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@Traverse: Thanks mate. I really appreciate having my thoughts reduced to pointless just because you don’t agree with them. I’m sorry your Royal Highness for having the audacity to offer my thoughts on such a topic. What was I thinking?
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Grognard,
I think the only reason Liverpool’s loss sticks in your craw is perhaps due to them actually challenging for the title this season. I would recall you mentioning earlier that you hated Chelsea/Arsenal more than Liverpool because of recent rivalry. Personally, nothing hurts more than losing to Scousepool, but titles can be a mitigating factor.
Also we were a John Terry kick away from squandering the Champions League, yet we are hailed as one of the great teams. We had luck last time too, but we made the most of it. No one talks about the Chelsea of last season. Sport can be awfully cruel to the “almost” teams.
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@Grognard: That’s very true, and you would probably BLIND DRUNK by the end of the flight, making the journey part of the partying
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@Grognard: The way that Mark Hughes was talking though, it sounds like Shitty are in talks with Ribery
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@colver: I’m not sure though Colver Bro, because Bayern like Man Utd with Ronnie, don’t have to sell unless they get exactly what they want regarding terms. I think Bayern proved that with the Hargo saga
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@Red Ranter: I agree with you there mate. Losing to Liverpoll is bad at any time but to lose to them when they are so close to us lends them the warped right to assume they are better than us even if they finish second. And that’s hard to swallow.
Rafa has more to do with me really learning to hate Liverpool like I should. I still have a hatred for Chelsea but I have warmed over Arsenal. Don’t get me wrong, I still hate them but they don’t scare me nor do they look like a past Wenger run team that could be seriously considered a threat. I may feel different tomorrow but I don’t think so. As Wenger has mellowed and almost become tolerable, so has Arsenal. He has gone too hard core with his youth program and that team lacks grit, physicality and experience.
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