Apr 06
Boro v Man Utd: Preview
Arsenal were dealt another major blow yesterday by Liverpool, of all teams. Man City, on the other hand, showed little intention to do us any favours by rolling over for Chelsea — like they did last time while getting spanked 6-1. So Chelsea creep up with a two point gap. Therefore we must win this game to keep the pressure up going into the crunch fixtures, which include Arsenal at home and Chelsea away. Blackburn away could also prove to be tricky and West Ham can prove to be a potential banana skin.
But that is all looking too far ahead. Fact is, we can make things very easy for us if we beat inferior opposition, i.e., those outside the supposed big four.
In squad news we are travelling with a 20 man squad which includes the likes of skipper Neville and Mikael Silvestre. Nani’s thigh injury will still keep him out, although he could return for Roma. We will be without Vidic but one could say that we might be able to cope without him at least against Middlesbrough.
We’d have to wait and see if Neville would have a part to play today. I, for one, think he would make it on the pitch only if we are in cruise mode with a two goal cushion to boot. Fergie would certainly not risk starting him.
Otherwise O’Shea would play right back with Brown moving to the centre alongside Rio and Evra at left back. In centre midfield if Fergie goes for form he’d play Scholes and Carrick, but there’s no way of getting that prediction right. Giggs should be back after sitting out the midweek game, while Ronaldo, Tevez and Rooney are expected to start — I believe, to scare the shit out of their defence.
Regarding Middlesbrough, they do have a decent forward line, with Tuncay providing good pace and creativity and Alfonso Alves coming agonisingly close to scoring against Chelsea, the other day. They could do some damage given a sniff, but their forward line doesn’t have the bulk that Yakubu and Viduka gave them previously.
As always, an early goal for us would make things very easy, but we should be prepared to dig in if things don’t go right.
Hopefully we win it and keep things under control.
Prediction: 2-0 to United.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Man Utd 4-1 Middlesbrough
- Man Utd v Stoke: Preview
- Boro v Man Utd: Preview
- Man Utd v Everton: Preview
- Man Utd v Spurs match thread
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (541)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Stephen (454)
Craig Mc (344)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
Grognard – Anderson is 19 for crying out loud. Do you even know, where Ronaldinho played at that age? (at Gremio from where he moved to Paris). It’s simply a too harsh evaluation of a player who’s been absolutely brilliant in several matches; including against the big teams. He’s not a skill player. He’s powerful, quick and a good passer with good vision. Luckily I take note of what SAF says about the boy, and he’s more than pleased with him. To me, that’s about the best sign of a great great player in the making.
About today’s game. All I can say is that it could have gone both ways, and that we seemed to struggle a lot without Vidic. But how could it be different when Rio’s perfect match is absent? It couldn’t. Just hope that Rio is fit for the Arsenal game, but he sure didn’t look like it when he left the pitch.
The only good thing about the result is that we got a point which allows us to lose a match more than Chelsea. Now, I can’t see us losing at Chelsea, so that leaves us with 4 matches of which we can afford to lose one. If we beat Arsenal, I think we’ll be allright.
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JB, SAF did bring Park on who set up the goal so he deserves credit for that but how many late and important goals has Tevez got us this year compared to Giggs who was crying out to be taken off
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Defence was shaky. That was the only real issue. We scored two goals away which should be enough to win a game.
Brown and Ferdinand in the centre, Hargreaves on the right would have made more sense. But I think Ferguson was looking for height in central defence.
I would have liked Pique to get more games this season. It pains me to think that all it will take is an injury to Vidic or Ferdinand for our entire season to fall to pieces. Any other position we could handle.
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whats the early prognosis on Ferdinand
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Jb-the reason we point 2 the liverpool and arsenal games besides being big games is that those are some of the very few matches were andy and OH were used together.The reason i want hargo 2 be played even in seemingly easy matches is so that he can get some game time to build confidence and to get into gear rather than just throw him in at the nou camp for example 2 stop the likes of ronaldinho when he hasn’t been playing before.Btw in andy’s case he has had a more assured debut season than ronaldo had.His major weakness is fear 2 take offensive responsibility.He’s actually more clinical than what he has displayed so far.
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Real Red – “Secret Blog Inspector”, pissing myself laughing – that is so funny mate!.
Jay wire – I’m with you, I agree wholeheartedly with your sentiments on Hargreaves. He is just plain good!.
JB – I think you missed Fred the Reds point!. Yes we equalised, but Fred the Red was saying, that the wrong players were subbed. I think he meant that Tev should have stayed and Giggs gone. The timing of the subs was an issue too, Hargo and Pique should have been on much sooner – but guess some peeps cannot always see the patently bloody obvious. Fred the Red wanted a win, as we all did, and feel we might have got it too with team changes made sooner than they were. As for your ‘rose tinted spectacles’ type comment, bollocks mate. It was not just in the L’Pool/Arsenal games that Hargo excelled, he has been performing well in all the games he played or cameo-ed in.
Conor – Not many midfielders do have full control all the time in away games!. The home teams will always enjoy a good amount of possession. But with Hargo, I believe, and its just my opinion, that we have better control when he is on the pitch, rather than on the bench.
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By word, is this some battle. You’ll all are arguing over crap. Firstly let me make one thing clear, none of our players are shit and everyone played quite ok. Boro were good today.
I can’t believe some people for one week want Carricks inclusion and the other week say that he is crap. Make up your goddamn mind. All 4 can control the midfield, thats why they are at United.
Secondly, Carrick and Scholes do not do well when the opposition don’t give them space. Its true. We could’ve had a better result with Anderson on. Or even Hargo. But judging by form, SAF selected the best midfield. You can’t complain about it.
We’ve drawn a bloody game. Not the end of the world. We’re still top. Stop going into a blame spiral and defending players you like and vice versa. These will be the same people glorifying the players if we win something.
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Craig Mc: The red tinted specs remark was about the notion that Hargreaves and Anderson dominated in the Arsenal and Liverpool matches. The two did good defensive jobs in those games but generally speaking did not provide any control in terms of ball possession.
As for the subs, Tevez and Giggs were both poor so it was a toss up over to pull off. And while Tevez has scored some important goals, Giggs has set some up. It’s a bit harsh to criticise SAF for picking one over the other. As for timing, there is always that debate. There is a trade off between making changes and giving the players out there a chance to the job. He made the changes not long after the hour mark, not unusual time to do so.
Jay Wire: I understand what you are saying about Hargreaves. However there is criticism of Carrick/Scholes not been able to deal with physical midfields, but there then seems to be an ignorant bliss of Hargreaves/Anderson issues with ball retention and possession. Maybe it was the wrong CM today but to say one combo is better than the other is daft. At any rate Anderson is pretty out of form at the minute, so its hardly any surprise he is not first choice during a crucial point of the run in.
Incidentally our best midfield combos, statistically, in order are Carrick/Anderson, Carrick/Fletcher and Fletcher/Anderson.
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Im getting sicker and more pissed off at Fergie by the day and United only play twice a week, his selection today was horrible. Giggs is playing like a piece of crap but ofcourse thats nothing new, hes been playing this way dating back to august so why is he still playing on a regular basis.
Oshea and Brown were the reason we conceded these two goals, none of them has played at CB for ages, they tend to go forward when they shouldnt and they were always out of position or in each others position and they are by no doubt the slowest two on our whole team + reserves + academy players.
And I want to add to all those defending Fergie, he is surely not god nor does he have god-like powers, he makes mistakes, ALOT of them and today was one of those days, AND no I wouldnt be a better manager than he is, BUT he keeps defying common sense in playing Giggs all the time.
If Rio is out we can kiss any title goodbye btw and thats common sense.
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Saudi- iv been feelin the rage towards Fergie too over the past couple yrs to be honest.
Im from glasgow n a massive red devil so i love the man but hes definately getin a bit slow in his old age?
Some of his team selections n substituions inparticular are just terrible.
It works against the team a lot of the time!?
In sayin that tho- hes gone n put together this incredible new squad weve got so cnt complain too much?!!
Off topic but i REALLY want us to buy Klaas Jan Hunt n sell Tevez.
Contraversial i know. Hes a class player but he jst takes up room in the squad i reckon? Hes identicle to wazza n we all know who wed take out of the two.
Love the sound of Rooney Huntelaar up top for us……..Theyd b sick together.
Manucho n welbeck can fill to two bench spots (neither of who would mind too much as jst startin out in the game)
The fact we aint actually tied Tevez down long term is makin me think something along these lines is perhaps possible
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Giggs really should not start from now on, even Fergie lost his cool when he missed the opportunity that Park chested down for him. It would be sad for him to be a reason we miss out on a title or the CL although he still has can have a role to play and shouldn’t be seen by Fergie as old furniture that shouldn’t be replaced.
With 5 games to play against Wigan, Everton, us, Newcastle and Bolton, if Chelsea win all there games including against us they will pick up 15 points and a total of 89 to end the season.
We can still drop 3 points and end up with the same total of 89 as Chelsea where we would win by a greater goal difference unless Chelsea really get their shooting boots on.
However there are still points to be won and lost and it seems the title race will go down to the wire with Arsenal still looking to have a say.
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Saudi Red Devil, slightly pessimistic there, but I don’t really want to pick up on that.
It’s about Anderson I feel something needs to be said. Whilst there was a general concerted response to Grognard that Anderson is quality, and has been a revelation, there is also a general consensus that he is off form. This is slightly harsh. He was probably our worst player against Roma (though this was mainly because the others were, I thought, magnificent), granted, but does one off match entail a player being badly off form? The match before, against Villa, he was only given a brief run out, but was superb. At one point Rooney applauded in mid-air for a stunning cross field ball from our midfield magician (this from someone, Grognard, who never looks up).Some people I know after the game were mentioning his name for MOTM. Others, visiting Chilean friends of ours to whom we lent our season tickets for that match, came home stating Anderson was the best player they’d ever seen (ok fine, they’re from Chile, but they saw other pretty decent players that day alone). Crazy, for a 20 minute cameo? This in a match when Ronaldo-Rooney-Tevez linked up to such a beautiful extent that an orgasm was almost forthcoming on any spectator’s lips?
But yes. Though that was not my opinion for that game in particular, there is no way he can be counted as off form.
The midfield debate is rather tiresome. Scholes and Carrick are undoubtedly good enough to unlock Middleborough, and they unlocked a far better Villa last week, as well as almost every team in the league last season. The (two) facts are, that we have four world-class centre mids (and a very solid one in Fletcher) and that Boro were good today. People seem to forget how well we played in the first half hour. Admittedly we needed more bite in the second half- but Fergie was probably going to bring on Ando before Rio got injured.
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Well we were going to loose some points. I missed the game so can’t talk about it, but I think we should all calm down. We will be able to make a better assesment of the situation after the Arse game. It will be a huge blow if Rio is out too. No panicing
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craigmc, you understood me perfectly mate, to introduce the subs with only 20 mins to go leaves little time for them to make an impact and although Tevez wasnt performing much better than Giggs,he has played well in a lot of our matches, which is more than can be said of Giggs.
Also I tend to agree with Grognard a lot of the time, but his opinion on Andy seems fairly harsh based on a few quiet games lately.
Im still confident that he will become a world class player and provide both the physical and creative elements that we seemed to lack at times today.
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OK; I don’t want to get in a debate over this but I will give my views on Anderson once for all to read and digest. Anderson is only 19 but he is far from the player that was advertised to us. Ronaldinho was far more skillful and had finesse coming out of his sweat glands. Anderson doesn’t know what finesse looks like nor can he even come close to spelling it. Too many of you love that boring as hell blue collar work ethic with very little vision and talent to add. Anderson works hard, runs all over the place, tackles well and dribbles with his head down like a rabid terrier who’s off his leash. He can’t shoot worth shite, his finesse passing is non existent (yes he can occasionally hit a long through ball) but when near the box I cannot recall him setting up to many goals. Personally speaking he bores me to tears because he rarely makes the right decision and his finishing is a joke.
With that said, I do feel their is some potential and there is certainly loads of room for improvement but I will go out on a line and say that I don’t think he is “special” like many feel he is or will be. He also has run into some terrible form and fatigue which of course can be explained by the fact he has not played a full season like this before. Nani on the other hand I see as a very good talent who will improve with time and become a great bookend to Ronaldo. WARNING! Nani is no Ronaldo nor will he ever even come close to him in talent 4 or 5 years from now. Anderson is a project that I believe (and I hope I’m wrong) that will not necessarily fail but that will never reach the heights everyone has projected for him. Therefore, I think United should once again start looking for a central attacking midfieler who has the passing skill, finishing skill and finesse to drive the midfield engine forward. Players like Fabregas, Ballack, Kaka, Deco etc. I’m not saying get one of the ones I just mentioned, I’m just saying we need a similar AMF general to lead us forward. Carrick for me is a little like Pirlo in that he can be a holding midfielder with great passing skills and vision. If Hargreaves plays RB once in a while there is no problem with Carrick in that role. But Scholes will not be with us forever, and he is not able to play so many games in a row anymore. His last three outings have been mediocre. Who is going to be Scholes long term replacement? Is it Carrick? I don’t believe in my heart that it is Anderson. I’d love for the lad to prove me wrong but there are holes and limitations in his game that are so obvious and some are hard to improve on. I doubt very much that they have not worked on his finishing since the beginning of the season. Has it helped? NO. He needs to look up and check things out in order for vision to be present. Right now he dribbles with his head down and quite often passes blindly or just runs in to the opposition. And he does all in one high speed. Learn from Scholes how to change tempo for crying out loud. JEEZ! Am I the only one that sees this? Fergie will do what he sees best and perhaps he sees much more in Anderson than I do but I got a feeling they will be looking for a central attacking midfielder come the off season. All the more reason to place Hargo at RB permanently.
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Utsav – It’s supposed to be a battle mate!. It’s a battle on the pitch, a banter battle on the terraces, and red hot debating on fans forums everywhere. This is Red RANTS. Course we are going to disagree about our favourite players, who should play, who shouldn’t, who the subs are and who isn’t, etc etc etc. That is the essence of good debating. No group of people anywhere when discussing are going to be in complete unison about everything. But we have website forums to let off steam, and usually it is like a sauna just after a match lol.
JB – Gotcha mate – I see where your coming from now. Will still always battle for Hargo though!.
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RealRed; Pique is a good talent and like O’Shea and Brown can probably play RB adequately enough however, he lacks the pace to play on the side. His judgment on high balls also need to improve when he plays in the middle. But as he is a good talent, I think he will be lost to Spain because there is no reason for him to waste a promising career on the bench.
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Craig, well put. Nothing wrong with a good debate. And Hargo rules!
BTW, Has anyone heard anything about Rio’s injury? If we lose him I feel the double will be flushed down the toilet. Christ, 5 frakken games to go and we lose the Twin Towers? What a calamity!!
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i just cant agree with you grognard at all, from what i have seen of him, he has everything apart from shooting, and in your rant thats what you were really saying, your mentioning all those players, they each have their flaws as every player in the world does. their has only been 2 perfect players in maradona and pele, and i think thats what you want him to be, i for one dont, i wont him to be the next ANDERSON with or without flaws. i mean, you have suddenly changed your tune on nani, at the beginning of the season he was crap, kept giving the ball away and you slated him for it, now he has improved you have nothing bad to say, anderson exploded onto the scene in the wigan game, then a slight hump of lack of games and his form has dropped and your ready to say that a 19 year old, in his debut season, is off form, and should not be the successor to scholes.
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I agree Dan, your opinion Grognard is in the minority here, as 90%+ of us have high hopes for Anderson, hopes that we feel are quite realistic. I think many of his flaws will be improved on with experience, other than shooting, so let’s hope ur proved wrong and Anderson turn’s out to be a world beater
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Grognard…him doing everything at high speed is his big asset, he puts major urgency into our game. The reason you are the only one who ‘sees this’ is perhaps representative somewhat. I believe you are the only one who doesn’t see, and, since you are so big on watching replays, I urge you to watch some of Anderson’s performances this season. Other than goals (which are coming, he scored at Porto) he has been the complete midfield player this season, combative mixed with pure class. Yes there is definitely development to be made, but I agree with Dan and pretty much the whole United supporting world on this one. You need to realise that just cos you see a view that noone else sees doesn’t mean you are the Enlightened One, but, possibly, that you are the one not seeing what is hitting at you blindly in the face. “JEEZ” indeed.
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I’m going to have to stand with Grognard on this one. While I would say I have a bit more faith in Anderson’s development that Grognard seems to have, I would agree that there are a lot of holes in his game. For a central midfielder his positioning can be poor, he has a tendency to drift out of games and is some way short of Scholes/Carrick’s level of composure on the ball. There also seems to be an issue with his stamina past the 60/70 minute mark, the obvious problems with his final ball and youthful inconsistency. Now a lot of these issues are understandable, he is 19, from another country, playing a different position, he has one year of senior football experience previously etc. But he has a hell of a lot of polishing still to do with his game and I don’t think we will get a true idea of his capabilities for a couple of years yet.
Jesus Christ I just agreed with Grognard, I need a lie down
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well i for one am a huge fan of anderson so i may be wearing some blinders, but grognard, this is one of the few times i disagree with you maybe the times you have seen anderson, it was his off night, if i could pick one game anderson was perfect, the 4-0 vs arsenal, he did absolutely everything, i even think that’s where his song started, from what i know and have seen of the boy prior to his united days, he has finesse but i feel fergie is keeping him on a leash so that he develops other parts of his skill, then once he has done so, he will let him rip and nothing will stop the boy, he has more tricks than ronaldo, some which are just unbelievable, but he has yet to have shown them, maybe next season, with summer training he may be a fixture at centre attacking mid, and on the subject of shooting, yes he cant shoot, but when he does hit them, he bloody does do a good job, and he seems to score goals when they really need them, i.e gremio vs nautico, where he just scored a wonder goal to send his team off to promotion, and if he scores in the champions league final or against chelski to win the title, than so be it, i feel shooting is all about form, and he just cant score that first goal, and when he does they will pour as he just preformed a rain dance:D
JB lie down ill get you a whisky
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Dan, have to agree with you mate about Anderson, and I would go even further and say that he is one if not the best midfield prospects in the world.
He has great close control, good vision, is as strong as a bull and lightning quick, impressive attributes in any player.
To say that he is the next Ronaldhino is unfair because although they are similar in many ways, Andy is more of an all rounder compared to Ronaldino who is more of a tricky winger who relies on his skill. Theres nothing wrong with either approach to the game but it is wrong to criticize Andy for not being the next Dino when SAFs not asking him to play that role. His lack of goals is a temporary thing that does not concern me based on the footage that I have seen of him from Brazil and Portugal and I think we will see the energence of a superstar once he makes the centre mid berth his own and plays a lot of consecutive games.
All in all he has had a very good first season and I will be shocked if he does not become an outstanding player in the future, my biggest concern would be that SAF does not phase out some of the older players quickly enough to allow Andy and Nani to progress at the required rate.[eg, Viera and Fabregas]
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Rio should be back against Arse. After what Ive heard, its just a knock in the foot. I am pleased to get a draw at the Riverside. Gongrats to Boro, they played brilliantly. I just wish Fergie had bought that Alves fella… Anyway, Boro usually play well against top teams and that is one reason that I am pleased with the draw. Riley had a stinker and the weather was terrible, but its not for us to blame them. As I pointed out earlier, Boro usually stop the tempo of the game by making lots of free kicks and advantages for the opposition. That is annoying, but sometimes it can turn out to be good for United. They held Arse and Pool there, were unlucky against Chelsea, and they let in many goals from penalties and free kicks. Take last season for example, 4 games, 3 penalty goals for United.
Chelsea have to play Everton and Newcastle away along with United at home. I dont see how Chelsea can beat us a Stamford Bridge if we play with Rio, Vida, Evra and Neville in defense. I just cant. You may think I am optimitic, but I just know that United will win that game. Everton are in fifth place and when Chelsea play them they might be in fourth. So Everton are a club that will have something to fight for when they play Chelsea. It will be a really hard game for them. Newcastle is a completely differnet team these last weeks, and they tend to play well against Chelsea. That might be the most important fixture for Chelsea, since that game is played when United take on West Ham at Old Trafford. The title might be decided by then, but if its not that day will! I think Uniteds most difficult fixture this season will be against Blackburn. One reason: Its the game between Arsenal and Chelsea. Second: Blackburn usually play well against United. Third: It the game before the CL semi final.
I dont think United will go the rest of the season winning all the games, but it would be great wouldnt it?! I I have never been so confident about a title in many years, just so you know. The squad strenght, the class in the team, the way they play, at least not Ronaldos form…JUST
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Anderson has been one of the seasons best players by the way.
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yea sorry grog but ur way off ragdin ANDO. The boy is on a different level.
To judge him soo poorly after the stellar performances hes put in for us this season seems unthinkable?
Have we been watchin the same boy?
You need to take into consideration that hes in a foreign land, thrust on to the biggest stage of them all.
Hes out played n out muscled arguably the two best midfielders in the world n hes only jst 19?
These are his FIRST outings for the club! The boy is just learnin english man. You cnt expect the boy to be impeccable when hes so unsettled in so many ways?
Watch the boy next few yrs , hes gona revolutionise the attackin midfield position as he HAS EVERYTHING in his locker.
Dnt know if too many ppl have noticed but he was bought as an attackin mid/ 2nd striker/ winger. he aint ever played this deeper role hes been takin up before in his professional career n he still looks immence
To say the boy has no skill is a bit of a joke also.
Fair enuf the boy aint scored but im tellin u its merely a matter of time.
+ he has pace n power in abundance
whats he gone be like at 23?? madness
Disagree wit ur nani comments too……….fair enuf ronny is a phenom right now but NAni has showed in his brief time at the club that he
1. can score goals like, if not better than ronny
2. create a shitload more goals up than Ronaldo as he has the superior football brain.
Only one aspect hes below cristianos level n that is his physic but again watch him in a few yrs when hes been thru our trainin
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Spot on realred about both Andy and Nani who I hope start in the majority of the rest of our matches this season and in the future.
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Hell when you put it like that realred. The only thing that would sound dafter would be saying that the manager that has us 3 points clear with 5 games to go in the league and set for a CL semi, was a bit slow and his team selections and subs are terrible.
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Dudes, would y’all just calm down a bit?!! We just drew a game – it’s not like we blew a 2-0 lead and lost it!
@Craig MC – Mate, I know this is red ‘Rants’ n all, but isn’t it better to rant about something relevant rather than just start accusing the players of being crap?
I agree with Utsav, the title isn’t lost/won based on this one game, we still lead Chelsea by 3 points, and I’m positive they’ll drop points too. Maybe we just gave them a bit more hope now, but things can look really different if we beat Arsenal and they draw Wigan next week. I wouldn’t even get worried if we just draw Arsenal, that would mean we’re still a point ahead. The Boro game was always going to be tough, even so more after an away trip to Rome. Damnit, I played Boro 4 times on FIFA yesterday and couldn’t win, I knew something would go wrong!
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realred,theres still a lot of areas that Nani can improve in his game, but hes a far more effective and dangerous player than Giggs is at the minute and in my opinion he should be in there instead of Giggs everytime
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Grognard – On Anderson. I completely agree that he needs to improve on certain areas. Especially his finishing is poor, but to me it’s more a matter of him getting his first goal. He seems so eager to score, when a rare opportunity presents itself that he doesn’t take his time. Therefore his shots are hurried, which is why he’s so often way off target.
I disagree immensely with your view on his lack of passing ability and vision. And I’m very confident, SAF won’t be looking to strengthen that department anytime soon.
Anderson may have been advertised as a skillful player, but I seriously doubt SAF bought him based on skill factor. I’m pretty sure he was brought in for what he does now – and obviously with a lot of improvement in the coming years. When he can completely take out players of Gerrard’s and Fabregas’ class at the age of 19, what can’t he do, when he turns 22? By that time he’ll be a lot calmer, which to me is his biggest problem atm. He’s not quite calm enough yet, but he’ll get there.
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[realred]
You are welcome to rant as much as you want. And I don’t expect you to have impeccable English. All I ask is a little consideration for the people who read your comment. Is it too much to ask. After all you write your comments for people to read and respond, no?
And saying ‘fuck your comments’ policy isn’t something you’d want to be saying on a regular basis if you want to be on this board. I am not being rude here, but I am only letting you know this fact as politely as I can. Your contributions are welcome, but calling names is certainly not — something that’s really not too difficult to avoid, I would imagine.
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Alright people, I said I wasn’t going to get in a debate about Anderson, so I’m not. I hope I am wrong. REALLY I DO. I’m also willing to accept Anderson in a role of a holding midfielder where he is more than qualified and actually potentially very good at. I just remember reading the “next Ronaldinho” so many times that it makes me sick to think about it. He’s more like the next Makelele with long passing skill. The kid is a terrier with strength, speed and determination, I just have yet to see the skill to be an AMF, other than the fact that he is a strong dribbler at high speed. TEMPO and changing the pace of a game like Scholes is vital. He doesn’t have that at all. Three years ago I could tell that Fabregas was going to be special and 5 years ago I predicted that Ronaldo would be the best player in the world.
I was wise enough to see their skill set but more so, their potential with proper improvement. Will Anderson improve? At 19 he undoubtedly will. Will he become a great AMF? Not on your life. He hasn’t got the poise,finesse and finishing skill to add to his other skills in order to be able to control a game and be the maestro. So kindly appreciate the fact that I do have a brain and that I ma able to see the game as well as all of you. I just don’t agree with most of you. Only time will see if I am wrong, and like I have said before, I hope I am. Until then I hope all of you enjoy watching your windup toy run at full speed around the pitch with pointless endeavor until it runs out of battery power around minute 60. Some people can find so much pleasure from just looking a bright and shiny objects. WOW!
Tomas; I agree with your comments and especially the one on Anderson needing to learn how to calm himself down. I really hate players that look like chickens with their heads cut off. That goal that Pompey scored on the counter comes to memory of a player who reminds me of one of those chickens.
JB, You agreeing with me almost put me in cardiac arrest. Be still my beating heart! I need a shot of tequila. Nevertheless, thanks for the support on this one mate. Whether your views are in agreement with mine or not, they are nonetheless respected.
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giggs’ ineptitude was really shown after Rooneys header was saved and he had a simple pass to scholes who was wide open and had a pretty easy shot but somehow missed him by 3 or 4 yards. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it.
Rio completely switched off for Boros second and just let Alves get away from him. This shows some problems with mental fatigue maybe?
We really should have closed the game off in the first half and were extremely unlucky not to score a winner after Rooneys goal. On another day we would have won comfortably which I suppose is why its so hard to swallow.
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Ants boy – I agree, but if some players some days have crap games, which they do, then although I may not agree with everybody’s assessment of players, I defend their right to state their opinions. That’s democracy my friend!. Grognard is entitled for instance to say that Anderson has gone of the boil, or he doesn’t think he is as good as he first anticipated. Many of you disagree with him, and that’s fine, but If Anderson proves Grognard to be wrong in the long run, then I believe Grog will be the first to hold his hands up and say ‘yep’.
RedRanter – re the post to realred?. Your the boss, and I bow to that, but In all fairness though the other poster did come down hard on Realreds spelling and expression of English etc. So Realred didn’t start the getting personal really – don’t you agree?. On a board like this, we will have people whose first language isn’t English, and although this may not be the case with Realred, it is something we have to give thought too, lest we offend. Not everyone’s spelling and expression of English is as polished as others, and it’s not nice to be chided for it publicly. The other poster (I don’t want to mention names), didn’t come over nicely, and maybe that’s why Realred responded as he did. I’m not saying anyone is right or wrong, but I just have a strong sense of injustice. Maybe I will get warned now, but I would rather go, than not be able to say if I think something is wrong. I am not trying to disrespect you RR, but you did make your comments to realred on the open board, so I wanted to respond.
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Liam: Rio had been hobbling for quite sometime before he was taken off. Possibly the injury was hindering his movement even at the earlier stage of the second goal?
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[craig mc]
I am not attempting to run a tinpot dictatorship here. But at the same time, I am sure many people on this board would agree that I try to be as fair as possible. I also take a little context here. I admit that I may have come a little hard on realred, but he has the right to reason with me by contacting me. I didn’t chide any one publicly, I was responding especially to the disregard for a comment policy — which is essential for giving some direction to the chaos.
The other thing is I never expect people to write correct spellings because I know English is not everyone’s first language. When did I ever ask people to write perfect English? Although I’d expect people to avoid the kind of language one uses in text messages or IM’s or writing everything in CAPS.
Again, I don’t mind if people can’t write correct English because it’s not their first language, but for someone who’s got a degree in English, I really don’t know what to say to him. There’s only so much you can expect from grown adults. Beyond that, it’s upto them.
Besides, trust me, moderating comments and intervening does take it’s toll — I don’t enjoy this but it has to be done. So I’d only hope people get that and make this place more about United and less about bickering.
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Grognard, I read these comments most of the time, and yet again you defy belief, are you looking for perfection? Anderson has been outstanding, and that includes his passing. The things he lacks are shooting, occasional positioning (lets not forget he wasn’t bought as a central midfielder)and his knowledge of when to slow the game down, which will come with age.
Some of your points you have made in the past I agree with, but you always seem to have a ‘i’m right, the rest of the world is wrong’ mentality, sorry in all that but it’s true.
Although having said that, you do make more sense than some people, check the ‘fergie’s losing it’ brigade, that only come out to play when we lose.
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Red Ranter – I apologise for the confusing. I wasn’t accusing you!. I was talking about the poster who started this, when he told Realred to learn how to spell, and then went on about how his expression and spelling didn’t tie up with having an English degree. I thought that was uncalled for. That’s what provoked Realreds comment about the comment policy. Anyway, that poster who made these comments wasn’t you, so none of my post was meant to infer that. I just wanted to get over, that whoever we are, we needn’t go on to people about spelling and English expression, because of English not being someones 1st language etc. I accept about the text speech, and capital locks – your right about that. But I was really only pointing out that some people should just accept that everybody is not going to spell perfectly, or express correctly. I was not meaning you though, or seeking to make it personal to you, because I haven’t seen you do that. All I was doing really RR was trying to show why realred may have responded the way he did. Not that you were being hard on him, but someone else was coming down on his spelling etc. That’s all it is RR. Sorry for any misunderstanding.
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red ranter- who was i callin bad names?? cant recall?
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to clarify everyone- im a serial txter n had adopted a lazy short hand version of english.
guess its jst transfered to internet posts
apologies if i offended anyone!!
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Pique rules!!! Anderson rules! His first goal vs Chelsea to win us the game and league!
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[realred]
Comment# 81: “Shut the fuck up Conor”
Comment# 94: “Fuck your comments policy”
If that helps.
Anyway, let bygones be bygones. No more of that okay?
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Craig; Regarding your post on fairness and freedom to express one’s views, well said mate. If we all agreed this would be one mightily boring blog.
Ron; I respect your comment but I’m sorry, I just disagree on Anderson. And I am entitled to. You see his glass as half full, I see it as half empty. I will be the first one to rise up and cheer him when he does well and if he improves and starts to show consistency as well as endurance then I will be one of the first to say so and I will gladly eat humble pie.
When I make my claims and express my opinion, I do so with some intelligence and a strong command of English. Why that comes across to some of you as “I’m always right and you are wrong is beyond my comprehension?” In fact, aren’t we all doing the same thing on this blog? To point me out as believing that I am always right is doing me an unfair disservice. I am no different than any other blogger on this site who states his opinion because he feels he’s right. Lets be fair here. I just may be a little more controversial and eccentric in my views. Just refer to me as the Jose Mourinho of this blog. I’m Fantastic!! (Just joking of course HA! HA!)
Red Ranter; Trust me mate, you are no tinpot dictator. In my experience you have been more than fair with everyone on this site. Keep up the good work.
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OK, it’s late but here is my review of the game and my player ratings. I will also repost them on the game analysis post that goes up tomorrow for those who may not return to the game preview page.
I’m awfully disappointed and starting sweat bullets because this game just gave Chelski lots of hope and stoked their adrenaline. Arsenal are less of a worry because they would really have to hope we will drop 7 points from now to the end, while they will have to stay perfect to steal the title. We were clumsy on defense and the weather didn’t help us because our game is a skill game, unsuited for conditions like that, while the opposition had it easy just knocking the ball high and hoping for Wes Brown to make a mistake.
We totally controlled the game for the first 30 minutes and for the last 30 minutes. It’s the middle thirty where the two points were lost.
Give credit to Middlesbrough as they played with a lot of heart and fought for every ball. Perhaps a bit too hard at times as I thought they got away with quite a few harsh tackles, especially to Ronaldo, Evra and Rooney. Real villains for me were O’Neil, Pogatetz, Young and especially the Butcher of the Riverside, Boateng. He should have been red carded for his rugby style shoulder tackle on Ronaldo in the 83rd minute. Who knows, it may have made a difference. 22 fouls to 11 says it all really. Both in a good way and a bad one. The good is that the referee called fouls against the opposition, bad because after you reach 10 fouls in the first half, harsher warnings and more yellows should follow, especially to repeat offenders. But, all those fouls also showed that Brough fought harder for loose balls than we did. It’s games like this where I do miss Roy Keane as he probably would have sent one of their’s to the hospital after some of the bad fouls on Ronaldo. You can’t let a team get away with that kind of shit. Hell, it even looked like Fergie was going to jump Southgate after the Boateng foul on Ronny late in the game. Also, I really think Fergie got his team selection and tactics wrong for a scrub team like Middlesbrough. 4-4-2 with Hargo at RB, O’She and Rio at CB, with Tevez and Rooney up front was the way to go. Instead he insists on this 4-3-3 formation which frees up Ronaldo more but really limits the offensive contribution of Rooney and Tevez. Ronny doesn’t need 4-3-3 to contribute in a game. And how badly hurt is Nani? Where the Hell was he today?
As for our play, we weren’t sharp and some of the lads just didn’t show up. So without further delay, here are my player ratings, for you who care or who want to compare. OUT of 10;
EVDS 7/10 – Made some solid saves but was helpless on the goals. Also had a few instances where he lost his footing which could have led to disaster. Still, I thought he kept us in the game during the middle third and saved us in the 90th minute.
BROWN 4/10 – GOD AWFUL PERFORMANCE. The worst I’ve seen from him. He started the game it seems on the right side and Downing was having his way with him, then he seemed to move to LCB where he was awful and missed every high ball that came to him while poorly clearing on numerous occasions. Where was he on the first goal? A side replay showed him casually jogging back rather than sprinting. He of course was the main culprit for goal #2 with midget style attempt to clear a high ball. God help us but he was just terrible.
RIO 6.5/10 – Not his best performance but then again, the conditions and then playing 15 minutes with an injury did not help. He still was a hero out there and he worked hard. His heart was evident when it came time to come out. He was in great pain but he wanted to stay in. That’s captain material folks.
O’SHEA 6/10 – A lot of you out there seemed pretty critical of John’s performance today. It wasn’t great but I never noticed any horrifying mistakes that he was directly at fault for. He was pretty invisible out there, which for a defender isn’t necessarily a bad thing. When he moved out to the right in the second half, he disappeared even more and that was more noticeable unfortunately.
EVRA 7/10 – Worked hard and ran all day despite being badly fouled on at least 4 or 5 times. He also defended well and tackled well.
GIGGS 7/10 – Again I have to disagree with many of you who felt Giggsy was shite. Many of his passes and ideas may not have come off but he worked hard and I think he showed adventurous attacking ability and was unlucky on a few passes that could have led to goals. It is obvious though that in a race with defenders, he has lost more than a step. Still, he showed experience and smarts out there.
SCHOLES 7/10 – Not a great offensive game but once again he controlled the center of the midfield with his precise short passing and tempo. He had a couple of cracks at goal and tried very hard. Middlesbrough were constantly thwarted by both him and Carrick when they tried attacking through the middle.
CARRICK 7/10 – Beautifully setup the first goal and was left stranded by Brown for the first Alves goal when he clearly never had the speed to keep up with the Brazilian. For the rest of the game he performed very much like Scholes.
RONALDO 7.5/10 – I thought Ronny played another outstanding game but constant hard fouling and a whole lot of bad luck plagued what otherwise would have been another virtuoso performance. A lot of his passes were brilliant but a few just missed by inches from coming off as great scoring opportunities for Tevez and Rooney. His great run through 4 defenders before shooting wide was very special.
TEVEZ 6/10 – Just did nothing to warrant any high accolades. Yes his work rate is fantastic and his attitude is good but too often he is found wanting as a striker. Too often he is nowhere in the penalty area looking for a pass when Carrick, Ronaldo, Park and others were looking for a striker to pass to. He is nothing more than a glorified short midfielder with some pace and finish. As a striker he just isn’t what I want for United. I like the guy but I would not pay the asking price to sign him as he is not worth it.
ROONEY 8/10 – Was United’s best player and as usual worked his socks off and did all he could to find space for himself and create for others. Deserved his goal and was unlucky not to get another one or two.
HARGREAVES 7/10 – What more does one need to realize that this man should be playing RWB permanently for us. He would have received an 8 if he had played longer. As soon as he came in the left side of Middlesbrough attack, most notably Downing disappeared from the game. He shut the left side down completely and even made some outstanding runs up filed that led to a couple of outstanding corners, like the one that set up Rooney’s header which a true striker would have buried (lets face it, heading is not one of Wayne’s strong points).
PARK 7/10 – Played well and added life as well as width to the United attack which was dirmant until he and Hargreaves showed up. His setup on Rooney’s goal shows that the lad has come a long way because two years ago before his injury, he would never have tried that. Instead he would have tried to gain a cross or corner. More finesse and savvy in his game is a welcome thing. Like Hargo, he would have received an 8 if he had played from the beginning. Yet another dropped ball in Fergie’s team selection today.
PIQUE 7/10 – Did well and seemed to calm down the shaky defense along with Hargreaves. Made some very nice passes upfield and played his postion with confidence.
Well there you have. RANT LIKE HELL!
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the thing is grognard, you have to remember that, this is his first full season, his debut season in english football, his age and the fact that this is his first season back from a broken leg, now you must see he’s playing pretty damn good all things considered. and what team in the world would want ronaldo on the wing, nani on the wing and a primed ronaldinho in the centre, as mouth watering that may seem, it would be a tad to greedy for my liking.
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Craig mc, talking about me eh?
But seriously, in comment #81 he said “shut the fuck up conor” and at the end of it “And please enough of the direct quotations”, then in the next comment I said at the very end “and please learn how to spell“, all in good humour. so, you know, he started it 
I actually couldn’t care less about how people spell, as I’m a serial texter just like realred so I can understand what he’s typing, it was a joke.
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Is it just me, or does there seem to be a tendency that it’s allowed to foul our players. Against Middlesborough there were at least 5 really really bad tackles, and some weren’t even awarded a free kick. Especially the one on Evra at the edge of the area. To me, that’s very close to a sending off, and we should be glad, he wasn’t hurt seriously. How the ref didn’t award a free kick is beyond me.
But my point is that refs tend to let some of these crazy tackles go, because they’re all against United. It’s like they should be allowed to make one or 2 of those tackles, because they’re constantly late on the ball and running after our players. There was another one on Ronaldo – can’t remember who made the challenge. And yes he may have hit the ball, but he threw himself at Ronaldo from behind. Ronaldo sat smiling ironically at the grass afterwards – anyone remember?
I totally agree with SAF, when he says we receive no protection from the refs, and the problem for us is that we have the most players of this kind. Players who are quick, quick on their feet and who run at defenders – Nani, Ronaldo, Tevez, Giggs, Rooney. Arsenal may have lost a player for good because of one of these tackles, and I find it horrific that the FA aren’t doing anything about it.
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Tomas; The Refs and the FA are like a lot of the fans out there, they love the underdogs. Man Utd is one of the most hated teams in England if not the most hated. Their support only comes from the Manchester area (where many hate them because they are delusional and idiotic enough to support Man City) and abroad where the team is very popular because foreigners appreciate greatness and not mediocrity. Rather than work hard to protect the skill players from United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool that pay all their wages, the refs have a mandate from the FA to give the bottom feeders as much support and a fighting chance to succeed. Because as they see it, a full house at the JJB Stadium is more important than a healthy Cristiano Ronaldo. Of course they don’t realize that it is the Ronaldo’s and the Rooney’s etc that give these small teams sell out crowds in the BPL, and not the play of their talentless and overly aggressive morons that they call the home team. It’s a lack of vision and common sense, but it’s also a case of hiring complete muppets like Clattenberg, Bennett, Riley etc, as referees that makes it most frustrating. Many of these guys would not be qualified to referee a towel fight in the dressing room yet alone a football match. I’m just waiting and dreading the day Ronaldo goes down with a career threatening or season ending injury because these tossers and the FA cannot understand that protecting your greatest assets is what makes the BPL the most popular league in the world. Instead we have to take our lumps and Fergie has to continually risk getting suspended and fined in order to continually remind these ass clowns that they are not bigger than the game they officiate and that they are clearly not up for the task. After all, FA is short for FUCKING ASSHOLES!
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