Aug 19
Burnley v Man Utd: Preview
United visit Turf Moor, a stadium whose environs could give one the impression of being transported to a different era. The brilliant Two Hundred Percent blog, gives an insight into the club and what it’s been through all these years, and as a segue it’s a good read. I’m sure the press will spare a few words on the old world charm of Turf Moor, however, for United’s superstars — and most pampered Premier League stars — the dressing rooms will be a dump. As this Daily Mirror article suggests.
But really, as obvious things go, what happens when the players step on to the pitch is what really matters. With that banal remark let’s have a look at the team.
Ferguson said he wanted to try a new combination prior to the Brum match. It could also mean Carrick will get his first league start of the season. Darren Fletcher might yet get another start, however, I suspect it could well be Anderson alongside Carrick. Ferguson likes Park, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he featured over Nani. I think he will continue to start Valencia. ‘This is Rooney’s year’, we say that every year; even though the refrain sounds disturbingly similar to that of the red half of another city, not far from Manchester. But really, this is Rooney’s year. Honest. Seriously. Oi, stop snickering… how dare you? Sorry I got carried away… but Rooney will start. Ferguson also mentioned Owen getting his chances following the Birmingham win, and I have a sneaky suspicion he’ll start. Although I wouldn’t take my sneaky suspicions seriously. Ideally, you’d want Berbatov and Rooney to play as much as possible together this season.
The defence is a tricky one; Rio, Vidic, Evans are all out, which means Brown and O’Shea will play in centre of defence. Hopefully, de Laet gets a chance ahead of Fabio at right back. Evra would take his customary spot at left back. Ben Foster should continue his extended run between the sticks.
That’s my team, but before my score predictions, some youth team/loan news. Tom Cleverley who’s on loan at Watford scored on his debut in an away win over Nottingham Forest, whilst another loanee, Danny Drinkwater scored for Huddersfield. Of course, you can read more United youth related news at the well-informed and updated Man United Youth blog. Another bit of information for those interested — I’d forgotten to mention this earlier — United Rant have launched a spanking new Man Utd weekly podcast that you can now listen to, and comment on.
Anyway back to today, it’s a well known fact that Burnley earned a reputation for being giant killers from their cup run, and hence they’ve been tipped to be better equipped to escape the drop this time. Either way, time and again it’s been proven that Turf Moor can be a tricky place to go. However, with the quality we have we should beat them comfortably. We need a break out performance to lay a marker for where the team’s headed.
Meanwhile the Vidic rumours continue to do the rounds but it’s inconceivable that Fergie would sell him now. Even his agent confirms that; despite trotting out the “it’s his dream to play for Barca” lark. I would see Barcelona come back with a proper bid next summer, though. There’s been a lot of smoke here, and it will be reignited next year.
For now he’s a United player, albeit injured. And we have a match to watch.
Prediction: United 2-0 Burnley.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Man Utd v Wigan
- 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)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Stephen (454)
Craig Mc (344)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
Just to clear thigns up. I am not taking drugs. Im not drunk. I do not have a gun pointed towards my head. And I have not got a sexy chick sitting on my dick right now. I am just happy, and nothing can change that today. Worst thing is, it can actually get better!
So dont worry about me, I am fine. Just so fucking fine! Hope this never ends…
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Oh yeah… I’m happy as well! Cracking Jokes… Frankly.. I’m United.. Even if we go to the 11th Tier of the country!
And…..
I’m Diablo!
And Eddy… For Fuck sakes… Stop lying… Megan’s eggo has gone preggo! Innit?
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Come on lads, its only fucking Burnley for fucks sake!
We always lose to a crap team at least once a season. I remember Southend, Coventry, Derby, Bolton (and Man City
) in recent seasons. And like someone else said – we are traditionally slow starters anyway. I do not think we will win the title this year, but we will certainly be up there in the mix. I don’t buy any of this bullshit about finishing outside the top 4 places.
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Hey this thread is reallyfunny.
I for one am happy I missed the game seeing that I would have probably ended as depressed as you lot are.
Instead, I feel more like Eddy…
Had a frank and honest conversation about life, love and relationships and am quite on a high…
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Jesus Christ, talk about overreaction
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@Liam: Really? Since I haven’t watched the match and will most likely watch the recorded one when I get home, and since you are the first one to point out that this has been an over-reaction, kindly, tell me more. I need to know if there was someone who watched the match and came out reacting positively to it. Since you seem the only one, kindly, elaborate.
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@Liam: Over reaction, trust me we are being kind on the team, the way we played was a god damn disgrace.
If i said to you before the game burnley would win im sure and also me before the game would have laughed and said they were crazy, the fact that burnley probably deserved their win tells another story.
We are supposedly the best team in england, one of the best in europe, and yet we cant beat a team who just came up in the playoffs from the league below us. I hate all this bollocks about us being slow starters, yes we do usually start slow but today we didnt look like a team who was looking to find its scoring boots, or working up to something special and just looking a little off, no we looked a million miles off the team we looked last year and thats no exageration.
We were complete bollocks today, yes we had players injured and we start slow and all that but from watching the game today it seems clear this team is a good 2/3 players short of winning the serious trophies, yes this team should finish top 4 and if thats all people are happy with then thats their decision, but i like seeing us winning the big cups and beating the big boys, and if the last 2 games are anything to go by we are going to struggle big time this year. Yes its 2 games but the squad on paper is missing something special and the team on the pitch is lacking it too, if the fact our team looks garbage is an over reaction then thats your opinion and your entitled to it.
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Grognard, I agree that Jose Mourinho would shake this bunch of underachievers up and turn United into a lean mean fighting machine again. We’ve coasted on the back of Ronaldo’s superhuman efforts for so long.
Give Jose £60 million to spend and he could re-make this United team so it actually looks like winning things.
Fergie has gone soft and so has our team. Where are the leaders in this team? Where are the players who want to win? Where are the players who are up for a fight? Where is the desire?
We treated this game like a Carling Cup tie and predictably we got a Carling Cup result.
I don’t think it is any coincidence that last season when Ronaldo was recovering from injury we had a terrible start. Well this season we don’t have Ronaldo coming back to save our season.
Like a bad apple our core is rotten. Anderson doesn’t give a damn. Carrick is too much of a wimp to ever achieve anything. Valencia is out of his depth. Park should be put on ice for the few occasions where he is actually useful (read away games in the Champions League). Fletcher only produces in the big games. Nani is the most skillful midfielder we have but I have doubts about his maturity.
Our treble winning midfield of Beckham, Scholes, Keane and Giggs all in their prime seems like a distant memory.
Good teams win games with their midfield. Our midfield needs an urgent revamp if we have a chance of winning anything this season.
We need TWO Midfielders. ONE midfield general with desire and balls of steel. ONE creative midfielder with the imagination to unlock defences. We have 60 million. Lets go spend.
It is also time to fast track Macheda into the first team for games like this because with Owen temporarily goal-shy we need someone who can finish. And on current form Gibson should make the team just based on his ability to score which is going to be our problem this season.
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@Darth Red Diablo: Am I missing something here? Is the Megan you’re referring to in anyway the delectable Miss Fox? I think a part of me would die if I ever found out she was preggo
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It is a little over the top. We played badly, BURNLEY PLAYED WELL. I don’t see what part of the second half of that sentence can be ignored. Fergie sent the wrong team out and didn’t change things correctly or quick enough, but it’s not like we don’t do this shit every season.
We lost 4 and drew 6 last year. That’s 24 dropped points. 11 of those were directly to title opponents: Chelsea(1), Liverpool(6) and Arsenal(4). Yeah it’s a blow losing to Burnely but I’d rather we lose to them than Liverpool, Arsenal or Chelsea. As a one off. If we don’t react against Wigan on Sunday then we really are screwed, as it’s Arsenal the Saturday after.
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Another point Id like to make is that this has been coming for a while. Last season we won the league because Liverpool threw it away and Chelsea were playing manager merry-go-round which disrupted their performances. We won because our rivals weren’t good enough. That and an awe inspiring defensive run which made up for our offensive inadequacies.
I’d like to know what Fergie learnt from the Barca CL final because it is not apparent to me that he has realised yet how shit our midfield is sans Ronaldo.
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Last year we started slow but I wasn’t too worried. We had Ronaldo to come back, we hadn’t bought Berbatov, Rooney wasn’t fully match fit.
Who do we have to come back that will make the difference this year?
I’m getting worried.
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@colver: Every season we have a terrible start. Before, during and seemingly after he who shall not be named.
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garry neville…..13 minutes to go and we bring on the Nevster…
roll on Wigan, because nothing…can be worse than tonights performance.
We should ban Cappello from our games, Owen the fucking jumped up me me me mersonary might actually concentrate on the fucking job rather than dreaming about lifting the world cup… until he can actually make contact with a ball berbatov and rooney should start every game, so should nani and valencia, and this should not change unless one of them breaks at least 3 vital bones.
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Nice to return here and see some interesting debate. I posted here a few times this summer until I had computer troubles and those of you who know the little I revealed about myself last time on here will know that i’ve been in the stands as a season ticket holder for 25 years and going to games for over 30. I accept that most people are very protective of SAF but what you are seeing now looks a little bit like the Bush administration, to me. I am unclear if SAF is in charge of it or if the owners are.
By the way, my time in the stands means nothing, any kid in Korea will no doubt know the ins and outs of our team and club and good for them I say, we are a world club, I originally come from Salford and even I have come to terms with that.
So…as I saw it, we struggled through last season and seriously rode our luck through SO many games when we were already in need of some newer better players, especially in central midfield BEFORE Ronaldo and Tevez went.
SAF has failed us in that he has so far not bought a creative midfielder or at least a midfielder who cares enough and bombs up the field with a big pair of bollocks AND gets back as well. SAF either doesn’t care, is too stubborn or is now completely OWNED by the club owners.
What we are now left with is just one or two players carrying an awful lot of rot that would not get in other teams in our league.
Want to know why Rooney looks like he’s struggling a bit, why Berba maybe doesn’t look right??? or Valencia is a bit in and out of form… THEY NEED HELP. Help from good players and NOT players who can’t play to feet from 3 yards or just in fact give the ball away.
You are now (tonight) witnessing a group of players who were completely carried for a few years by Ronaldo, Rooney, Rio, Vidic, Evra, Tevez, VDS and Berba (to some extent) with the odd great appearance by our old guard players of Giggs, Scholes and Nev.
Now that some of those have departed and many are injured, you are seeing just what a lot of sub average rot we have in our ranks. Back in the day (be it only a few years)…providing most or all of the players I named above WERE actually playing, we COULD carry the dead weight of Oshea, Carrick, Brown and Fletcher and maybe even a Gibson.
For me, none of those players are believable as REAL united players and some of them like John Oshea and Michael Carrick aren’t believable as competent professional footballers.
It has always been my belief that Ferguson once murdered someone, and Oshea witnessed it, therefore Oshea gets to play and gets paid for the privilege, simply for promising to SAF that he will shut up about it, for good.
Carrick on the other hand, looks a little like a basic 80’s gaming sprite in that he only moves one way and that’s sideways, whilst only being limited to the centre circle. He’s a slack-jawed, dense, slower than me (and I’m old) no balls, no drive and determination waste of money…who I never ever wanted at my beloved united. Fletcher, on the other hand will battle for us but that’s about it AND it’s not good enough for me on its own. I have no opinion on Anderson at all and Gibson is almost as over-rated as Welbeck and the self obsessed but still anonymous Macheda.
I have more chance of a 15 year career, up front at united than Welbeck.
Nani could be a world beater but he lacks some basic football skills which are taught at infant level and Hargreaves could be at least judged by us all if he ever gets fit.
SAF is picking teams made of players who he has struggled with and used as stand-ins for many years and is perhaps too stubborn to believe that they will not become good players. He has often bought players or raised them from the youth ranks in the belief that he can improve them and Alan Smith and Carrick certainly fit that bill for the bought kind when Gibson and Welback certainly look like the homebrew in that.
I believe our club needs completely freshening up and all the deadwood needs selling on or giving away. This will not ever happens until SAF has a chat with himself or he retires
Other top clubs don’t carry the amount of rot we do…yes… they all have a few iffy players and we always have over the years e.g. Duxbury, Hogg of the 80’s as an exmaple but never have our deadwood outnumbered our talented players – until now.
Not so good players will play better with help from our great players… but expecting the sub-average to act like champions is just crazy.
I could have banged on about not rating Foster or Thomas in the nets AND how I like De Laet and our brazilian twins…but, enough gobshite for now.
Yes…I DO say quite controversial things and here is my final one:
I’d rather us lose every game in a season as long as we played well with a good team who were bothered about it AND trophies and titles mean nothing to me. I like attractive football, even if we lose the kind United was built upon.
Cheers!
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@colver: Completely agree mate, people go on about mourinho and how he plays this dire defensive football, i honestly dont think it can be as bad as the shit we have been playing the last year and a bit. Put him in charge with a real united man like ole as his assitant, give him the money to spend to sort out this team and we can once again striker fear into the hearts of opposition teams.
As for the now its clear to me we need a real creative midfielder who can contribute a few goals to the team, i actually think anderson is a better player then hes given credit for, he doesnt score many fair enoguh but he can link up the midfield and the front 2 or 3 very well. I would like someone who can do this and score goals though and there are 3 names i would definitely recommend who i think could do this for us.
Luca modric would be a class addition, david silva is a great player who could also play the AM role like an iniesta very well and finally a controversial choice in ronaldinho. People would say hes past it but i still reckon bar maybe nani he is miles better than any of our other midfield players.
Add someone like this and we have the creativeness and also goal scoring abilities from our problem midfield area, it may not sort the midfield fully but it will fill up a major hole.
As for fast tracking a few of the youngsters i agree, fergie says welbeck and macheda will get games, so how come they havent even figured on the bench either time. Reserve game yesterday or the day before whenever but they would jump at the chance of featuring and would no doubt want to get on the bench. Chelsea start with 3 strikers on their bench, so why then we find no space for a welbeck or macheda and yet we take up about 3 positions for central midfielders, just crazy really.
Carrick seems to stroll through games and no matter how poor he plays he seems to be guaranteed a starting spot, i would drop him if his poor form continues and put gibson in his place.
I have no problem with us bringing through the machedas and welbecks and gibsons like fergie says, but when if i may ask are they going to be given their chance boss, cos when it comes to it you are still putting your hopes on the oldies and the youngsters are getting no game time, really is annoying and i do wonder if the manager has got much too sentimental for his and the teams own good.
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@Nino: Exactly. It’s only Burnley, and that’s why it hurts so much and why we feel so pissed off and embarrassed over our club’s play.
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@Red Ranter: There is no overreaction here other than it’s the second game in a very long season. Other than it, I think it’s right and valid to react overly critical tonight.
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S loppy passing.
H ardly in the game.
I nconceivably poor.
T otal meltdown.
E veryone sucked but Giggs.
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Heads have to fall over this one! I thought the away game against Fulham (PL) last season was a low, but this takes the cake!!
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Berbatov, slightly better than Owen, Owen slightly better than shite.
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why didn’t we buy palacios instead of valencia?!!!
and where is this Tosic bloke? surely better than Park?
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Valencia at 17m is almost half as good as Berbatov at 32m.
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Ji San Park needs training wheels.
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Anderson is reinventing the word SHITE.
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I am really unable to put two sentences together right now. I need to calm down and become more circumspect.
Could take a while!!
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Perhaps you lads should take a leaf out of the book of Scott at RoM:
http://therepublikofmancunia.com/a-few-quick-stats/
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@colver: I can’t disagree with a thing you said mate. Too true.
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@Matt: His football isn’t attractive but it’s successful and the players he manages work their ass off for him or they don’t play. And he doesn’t care what kind of pedigree they have. Just ask Shevchenko and Ballack. Mourinho is a great motivator but he knows how to tactically out maneuver his adversaries. He also is good at bringing out the best in players and making once timid and quiet players like Terry and Lampard into loud leaders. We may hate them but they get the job done and they still do thanks to what Mourinho invoked at Stamford Bridge.
I used to cringe at the thought of him taking over at OT because I was spoilt and used to us playing attacking fast paced Man Utd football. But hey, we haven’t played that kind of football now for over 18 months. We must be the dullest club in all of football right now because i fail to think of a single team that played a more quiet and slow paced game than what we played the last four days. Right now Mourinho would look like a breath of fresh air and he would kick a lot of ass into gear or out of town.
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@Nino: i actually do feel better for this, cheers. roll on wigan.
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Tottenham fucking Hotspur score 5 goals tonight and they beat Liverpool on Sunday. Totttenham fucking Hotspur. And the world is square Aliens will take over the planet by Friday. Christ, what is wrong with this picture? Is Hull that much worse than Burnley? Are Spurs that much better than us?
Fergie needs to stop drinking and start thinking.
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@Grognard: He’d be kicking a lot of skinny arse too! We just don’t have the squad to compete, do we?
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@Grognard: RR seems smug that United wont finish out of the top 4. Why???
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Man City beat Barcelona in Camp Nou
I don’t think we’ll hear the end of it from the bitters
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@Redrich: Pessimism at its worst mate. Who would replace us in the top4? Certainly not City if that’s what you’re thinking.
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All this talk about Djembax2 made me realise something…didn’t the guy play for Burnley at one point? Coincidence or what? The Revenge of Eric Djemba!
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@Grognard: Where did I say this was an over-reaction?
In fact, read my earlier comment here
@Redrich: I think we have a squad good enough to finish in the top four. Title-worthy? Don’t think so. I just saw the match, wait for the report. You’ll be surprised.
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@Nino: Listen mate, I’m fucking sick and tired of this air of blind optimism that permeates through this kind of forum. If you want to stick your head in the sand and blow your trumpet at the same time, send me a video, i’d like to see it!
United were in trouble, away, with their first team, against Burnley. We have lost the best player in the world and it has exposed us for what we now are. Look up and down our squad and tell me where we could outplay the squads of Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, or Citeh!, I just don’t see it.
It’s a very hard thing to accept, and I really don’t blame you for your optimism, but this team, as it stands now, will not win a thing this season, and will be truly lucky to finish in contention for the top 4.
By the way your soothing link to Scott’s inane starting stats was a marvel to my mood (can’t you tell), but it failed to list the seasons where we lost the 2nd game of the season.
eg.
1980 – finished 8th
1986 – finished 11th
1988 – finished 11th
How you like those fucking apples, mate!!
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Also SACK our physios… why do we have so many injuries!!!
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we played poorly today but we have enough squad strength to finish 2nd place. A lot of people have taken it blaming Carrick, something alot of people did last year when we werent playing well and worshipping later on when we started to play well. I think we are still overlooking the major culpibility we have which is our tactical snuffu we seem to have in fergie and phelan…today i dont think anybody knew if we were playing 442 or 443 or whatever it was we were playing Anderson had no clue where to play (left wing or was Giggs supposed to play there)and later Giggs was making runs through the middle…O’Shea is so much better a center back and Owen really is so out of sorts while Rooney is trying too hard to be the next Ronaldo which he clearly never will be…we are missing a genuine winger
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hi all…. i make another one of my periodic comebacks!!
after today’s performance i had to rant… i refuse to keep it all bottled up….
fist of all let me say that the defeat itself doesnt concern me that much….. man utd are notoriously bad starters, and besides, it far too early in the season to be looking at the implications of 3 dropped points in the context of the league…..
no thats not my issue…… what concerns me is that today’s performance is right up there with the worst performances i have seen by a man utd team (if not the worst), and this coupled with an inept performance on opening day (where lets face it, rooney rescued the points). I worry!
today’s performance was one of apathy….. rooney it seems stayed at home and sent some clone to play in his stead…. if he is to be the star man, he has to consistently be our best player on the pitch…… i wont blame owen because a striker cant be blamed for not scoring if in 45 min he gets 2 touches inside the box…. the midfield was appaling (giggs not included)…. i dont get it, for a team supposedly very skilled, we dont create much with the ball on the turf…. long balls are great to switch sides and thus the angle of attack, there by stretching defenses or for swift counter attacks, but it only works when coupled with quick short passing and constant movement with or without the ball to exploit the gaps created….. our mid-field is static and sqaure, only giggs tried to move around with or without the ball other than that all the passing was either square, backwards or hopeful long balls over the top…. that is a sign of mid-field short on ideas and worst of all one that doesnt care……
if we dont dramatically improve by the arsenal game, i seriously doubt there will be legitimate claim in the title race for us this year…. oh we will still finish near the top, but not at the top
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What really and i mean really fucks me off is when SAF starts park on the pitch and then doesnt fucking bother taking him off. He is worse then eric djemba djemba for christ sakes. I for one cannot stand this midfield, they actually are the definition of mediocre!!
We need some bloody quality cm’s and then we will be world beaters. Im in greece right now and i went to the athletico vs panathinaikos game and tbh aguero was insanee!! Scored a sick goal and actually penetrated the hell out of the defense. Yes it is a greek team but Panatha have a good defense. Berba if you keep slowing down the play im going to to shove a car battery up your ar** and then you will be forced to fuc**** sprint.
I sincerley apologize for this abusive rant but i really cannot watch us play football at the quality level of accrington stanley i mean WHO ARE THEY… Exactly!!!
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@Grognard: I couldn’t agree more Grognard.
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Well I hope I’m not the first to bring this up, and I say this with all due respect to the parties involved, and in a awful moment of realization, I am having a dredful deja vu occurence.
As a lad I watched United become the best team in the world – they beat Benfica at Wembley and were almost untouchable domestically. George Best and co. were the greatest side to watch and the hardest team to beat.
They, literally, ran circles around the opposition and at the time, I believed that we were utterly invincible. They became icons to my youth and none of them could do wrong!!
Then in the early 70′s the wheels started to wobble. Our aging team would struggle for good results and the glory years would start to look like a memory. Our key players began to leave the team (Charlton, Best, Law) and all of a sudden we were ORDINARY.
The changes of management really didn’t do the the trick either, because. really we didn’t have any players to replace the ones we lost!
IN 1974 MANCHESTER UNITED FINISHED 21ST IN THE DIVISION, WITH 32 POINTS FROM 42 GAMES. THEY WERE RELEGATED!!
I don’t think that we could end up with the same fate as the 74 team, but I see many parallels to that era, and without a swift influx of new talent, I see the slide from grace being as equally perilous!!
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@Red Ranter: I never accused you of that mate. I was just pointing out because you brought up the term that it was my belief that I and others were not overreacting because it really was that bad.
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@Redrich: Jeez mate, STOP! People will start accusing you of being me in disguise.
If I had written that I’d get 50 nasty replies questioning my right to exist and whether or not I deserved to breath the same air as all the rest. I comment you for your honesty and passion. It hurts doesn’t it? It’s also a lot easier to make these comments now that it is clear our team is a bag of shite.
I made my controversial and unpopular comments before the season started so I guess it was only to be expected then that I would receive a lot of criticism. I notice now however, that you did not get lambasted for your negative turn. Why? Because unlike last month when I went all negative and honest, the proof was not yet in the pudding. Now everybody with a big mouth and a positive BS attitude have a lot of humble pie to eat and their humiliation and disappointment is too great for them to come out of hiding and defend their team and stand. Yes reality sucks for those poor blokes from Optimists Anonymous. Well the season is still young so I suggest to all of them to stick their heads back in the sand and pull them out come May. Perhaps by then some miracle may have happened and they might have something to brag about. I wouldn’t bet on though.
I think back then I warned all of them that I would feed them a big “I told you so”. Well, not yet. I’ll give them some more time to prove me wrong and I’ll give them more time to fester in their optimist juices. All I have to say to them and I say this in jest is “Sucks to be you”.
Come to think of it, being a Man Utd fan myself, it sucks to be me too. Pass the tears around. Thanks a lot Fergie. I guess you decided to leave us in tears before your retirement but for all the wrong reasons. 
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@Grognard: It’s all in the timing mate. They’re all sleeping right now!
Seriously though, the time has come to spell out the awful truth about this current team – and I just dont give a flyer about the flack.
Some of these young kids think that nothing will ever be bad, and well, that’s just their nature. I’m now the big, bad grown-up person thats gonna make them eat their porridge!
I don’t care if they hurl muck my way. I’ve raised two children to adulthood, I can handle anything!!
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@Grognard: I think I’ve mostly allied myself with you since the “we’re done spending” announcement.
To answer your question honestly, I think you are a much more influential presence her than I am. You post during the primetime hours and you are willing to argue almost any point with almost any person. I think you are great at stimulating these rants and have an inherent way of portraying your passion.
OF COURSE THEY’RE GONNA HATE YOU!!
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@RedDave: I’ve been accused of having a lack of humility today because I have been proven right after a month off taking abuse for my views on the team. I honestly wished I was wrong mate because I love this team and it kills me to see the Glazer’s turning Ferguson into a down right pussy corporate puppet. He has turned his back on all of us and the team by towing the corporate line and by allowing those fuckers to steal the Ronaldo money which should have gone to buy players.
It’s not a coincidence that he spent 20 million on Obertan, Valencia and Owen which was the exact amount of his annual transfer kitty. To not spend a dime more than that tells me exactly where the Ronaldo money went and that burns my hide. The poor fans in Manchester who spend increasing prices to go to games get screwed, the fans like myself who pay a monthly fee for Setanta to watch the rubbish that was served today get screwed, and the millions all over the world who spend money on the corporate brand get screwed. Why? Because we all have bought into a tradition of winning and excellence. A tradition and an expectation that our team would do whatever it took within reason to be highly competitive every year.
Instead we let the best player in the world walk while he had three years left on his contract, Fergie shit all over Carlos Tevez until he left and then Carlos shit all over us. And in the end United has taken a massive dump over all of us by becoming a corporate monster that cares not about it’s loyal legion of fans. They have become arrogant, aloof and disconnected from all of us. All they care about is making the money and selling the brand. add to that our manager’s loss of courage and his now infamous cautious Italian approach and what we have been fed is a pile of garbage as high as the Tower of London.
Where are the star players who will keep up the winning tradition Fergie? Where is Aguero, Huntelaar, Neuer? Where are a couple of quality central midfielders who will help us all forget our biggest weakness that was so terribly exposed vs Barcelona? Ah, but to hear Fergie mumble in his inaudible drivel that he likes his team and that we need nothing more is just more than I can handle. I would like him to stop making me look like the wisest football man on the planet and to please prove me wrong for a change. Please tell me if there isn’t something wrong with that picture? Am I really that smart to predict our collapse or is Fergie really that stupid and naive to believe he had a competitive football team without Ronaldo and Tevez? It’s early Fergie. You have 36 games left in the EPL season to make me out to be a knee jerk idiot. Go ahead, I dare you.
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@Redrich: We often are reminded of the Old Guard, that being Scholes, Giggs, Neville and EVDS. Well it has been quite obvious that Fergie has had a loyalty and an over reliance on these old warriors, and the analogy I lift from all this comes from the original “Old Guard” those known as Grognards and The Old Guard of Napoleon’s Army. Always pampered and protected by Napoleon, he never sent them in to do the dirty work and always stayed loyal to him almost to the end when he sacrificed them at the battle of Waterloo. All was lost and it was the Old Guard who formed what is famously known as the “Last Square”. Rather than retreat or surrender, they allowed themselves to be encircled and then massacred. And where was napoleon when this happened? High tailing it out of Dodge. So I guess that is what Fergie has planned for those poor members of the United Old Guard. Let them sacrifice what little they have left and what does he care. He’ll be gone and retired and we’ll still have a beaten and worn out Scholes, Giggs and Neville left to scrape of the Old Trafford pitch. Thanks for nothing Fergie. Vive Le United!
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