Feb 07
Busby Babes RIP
I was searching for some good material covering the Munich disaster. But then there was substantial coverage on here last year marking the 50th anniversary that culminated in Man City’s victory over a, possibly overwhelmed, (or overawed) United side.
But the best material I found on Munich this time again was in the official United site. The put up a black banner on top with the clock.
The piece, “The darkest day: Feb 6th 1958” is a very good read indeed. It also plays a BBC clip breaking the news of the Munich disaster.
The most comprehensive analysis of the event, for those not aware, is of course the trusty Wikipedia entry on the Munich air disaster.
For detailed player profiles of that unfortunate squad Mufcinfo, as always, is the site to read. If you haven’t visited that site earlier you must. The person, who runs that site, has painstakingly compiled each and every perceivable records achieved by United or United players as he humanly can. It is an unofficial encyclopedia, if you will.
I’ll leave you with a Busby Babes tribute video:
Related items from Red Rants:
- The Glazers’ Busby Babes Tribute Madness – Sign the Petition
- Manchester United’s Munich tribute on 6 Feb 2008
- Carrick Loves Berba | United to Fight ‘Pool for Garay
- Video: Ferguson pays tribute to Sir Bobby Robson
- A Word To Some Departed Souls
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Moscow is my heaven (272)
I’m just over the moon over the performance level, organization and work ethic that this team distributes. Todays performance was a complete professional job of control that should be used in classrooms to show teams how to play under pressure. A real clinic in brilliance.
Ratings;
EVDS 6/10 Yet another afternoon where he was hardly if ever tested and yet was sharp and alert when he needed to be. Sets another record for shutouts and the beat goes on. Van’t give him more than the default 6 because he really wasn’t severely tested. No fault of his.
RAFAEL 8/10 This boy amazes me with his composure, intelligence and ability to make a big play when called upon. Made some outstanding high pressure tackles and his runs up field gave us the necessary width and options needed to cause West Ham problems.
RIO 7/10 A shaky first 20 minutes but then he settled down and got on the same page with the rest of his back four. Was lucky not only not to get burned by Cole for a goal, but to not get a yellow or even a harsh red. Seems a bit slower and needs to regain his full fitness.
VIDIC 9/10 Yet another master class by the ROCK in defense. Never got a thing wrong and when he was threatened, he took care of business. Deserved his yellow but that was also the time to earn it. The man is head over heels above everybody playing that position in the world.
O’SHEA 7/10 Steady and unspectacular. Just did his job and never really got much wrong other than letting a few good crosses into the box. I only wished he had more pace and imagination going forward as he really hurts Ronaldo’s option with few overlaps.
RONALDO 8.5/10 Say what you like Ronny bashers but today was as close as we have seen all season of the Ronaldo of old. Was in the mood from the start and his dribbles and runs were causing great concern and stress to the Hammers. With a little luck and some better finishing, he might have had a goal and he earned a penalty in the last few minutes of the game that wasn’t called. How often have we seen him not get the call from the refs this season for a penalty or how many times has he been called for a wrongful offside? I was glad he never got a yellow near the end for a foul because he didn’t deserve one. You go the whole game without fouling somebody, you shouldn’t get one for a little hack like that. The color commentator should shut the fuck up regarding his rant about Ronaldo deserving a yellow on that.
CARRICK 7/10 Unspectacular but very steady and defensively tracked back well. Whenever he plays with Scholes he goes into a defensive shell but he still played well enough although we could have used a few runs and through balls today to help us break down West Ham.
SCHOLES 8/10 Never got much going offensively but he was brilliant defensively and especially tracking back and clearing many loose balls in our own box. His distribution was sublime as usual and very composed.
GIGGS 8/10 It would have been a 6/10 if it were not for the best individual goal of the season. He wasn’t horrible but he was hampered playing on his wrong wing. His stamina was great and he was much better in the second half and that goal, well I could write a book on that so I’ll just spare all of you.
BERBATOV 8.5/10 Fantastic performance for a player who hardly had a shot at goal. He worked hard ran at defenders and distributed the ball with great skill. His play near the end line in the 90th that turned out to be nothing was just fantastic and he was caught tracking back a few times today which was nice to see.
TEVEZ 6/10 This may seem harsh but Carlito really never got into the right spaces today. As usual he worked his ass off and you have to love him for that but he needs to get into better position for crosses and 1.2′s. Still, I love watching him when he is hungry.
FERGIE 9/10 He got it right even with Giggs on his wrong wing, it’s better than having Park play. Motivated and prepared the team for a fully commited 90 minutes. Way to go Gaffer.
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Well much as I enjoyed the performance the fact remains we had very few shots on goals, created very few clear-cut chances and lost the ball with alarming frequency against a West Ham team who were full of confidence and not scared to get stuck in. Our defence was pretty shaky and I think a better side than West Ham would have scored.
Ronaldo was the main attacking threat and with a bit of support from a good full back and had Behrami not had such a good game I think he’d have found a way through himself. I can’t say Tevez or Berbatov did much offensively but they helped us keep possession and I was particularly impressed by Berbatov’s willingness to track back, chase lost causes and generally hustle.
But we rode our luck and Giggs produced something spectacular to win us the game. Ive never seen us grind out results like this in years.
What is even better is we have Rooney and Evra coming back. I think we will go up another level with those guys back in our team!
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@colver: We must remember that West Ham is a very in form team that tied the other league leaders in their last matches with them. To go to Upton Park and so dominate the ball and work our asses off like that was inspirational. That was a great road victory and we never waited until late to score either. Hats off and full credit to West Ham but it is clear they are in need of a play making talisman in their midfield as well as a good striker to play off of Carlton Cole. If their cheap owners would buy these two needed players for West Ham, I think Zola will do wonders with them. Zola is a true gentleman and a good coach who I think makes the players want to play for him. United stood up to a great challenge today and did what Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal couldn’t do the last time they played the Hammers. They won. And those draws the Hammers had with those other contenders were all road draws. United were very impressive today.
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@Rd: that’s what I’ve been thinking, must be the hangover clogging his brains
no offense Grog
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@Liam: No offense taken from you or RD, but it’s these kind of comments that help build the legend of the Grognard despite the fact that he is positive more often than he is given credit for. I think it’s just that when I am negative, I do such a great job of it, that it is memorable and it also gets on people’s nerves. Now my being positive is getting on people’s nerves. I can’t win for losing.
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@Grognard: I like the positive Grog more than the negative. This one reminds me of me!
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