Sep 21
Chelsea v Man Utd: Preview
The magnitude of the situation has been spelled out by pundits and fans alike. SAF recognises the importance of not falling nine points behind Chelsea. Win today and we’ll be three points behind with a game in hand. Lose and we’ll be — you guessed it — nine points behind; not a situation one might want to be in so early.
In the run up to the game, there is good reason for a lot of fans to feel less optimistic about our chances today, but there have been positive indications that we may do alright. Defeat, however, will be harder to take despite all that’s being made about Chelsea’s imposing home record.
The game will be won or lost in midfield and Chelsea have shown superiority over us in their ability to impose themselves in midfield in recent times. Last season’s encounter is an example in this regard.
In team news, Fergie has pretty much a fully fit side to choose from, barring Carrick and Vidic. I think he is faced with big decisions and his man management skills will be tested to the full.
I hope he doesn’t fall to the temptation of playing all four upfront. The Portugueezers must play on the wings and either Rooney or Tevez must partner Berbatov. We’ll have to wait to see how that unfolds.
About predictions, well I’m at my most optimistic when I say 2-1 to United. I can’t really preview anything more that’s not already talked about.
Cheers, and come on you reds!!!
Related items from Red Rants:
- Porto it is then…
- 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)
@Andrei: Nah, I think what happened was that the ref blew the final whistle and Rio thought he was gonna get booked for a foul. Though I’m assuming Rio was being incredibly dumb here or just wound up. You tell me!
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@Liam: He’s only going to get match fitness by playing. I do believe that he should have been subbed off around 60 minutes though. Fatigue and poor conditioning is a part of the whole team this year. They all look slow and unfit. Too many exotic trips to faraway places during preseason for my liking. Either that or they have to sack their fitness instructor. Berbatov and Ronaldo I understand but they all look like they are sucking wind
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@antsBoy: The nature of the game allows for one moment to make the difference between winning and losing. A defender sending a ball out for a corner is not the same. The defender has no other choice and is doing his job. What Rooney was doing was retaliating after being pissed off with Riley seconds earlier. He chose the wrong time and wrong place to make an assclown of himself and even though Pig played the ball poorly, Rooney’s stupid lapse of judgment gave Chelsea the chance. If you give a team of that quality the chance enough times, they will burn you. Sorry, but his stupidity did cost us 3 points. he needs to play using his head more and his heart less. Too much passion is not a good thing.
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the only reason i can think why berbatov was kept on the pitch for 90 min. was to have some physical presence (height) in the box to defend against the chelsea (they are fucking huge…) set pieces. he’s clearly lacking match fitness in my opinion. btw rooney was good today, i can remember 2-3 times he got back in our own box to defend and that too at vital times. though as much as i hate to admit i believe it was a fair result…
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@Grognard: our fixture list is indeed hell. after UCL games in midweek we have blackburn, everton, arsenal, citeh and tottenham. even though we do tend to collect points at goodison and white hart lane, those are still difficult grounds to go to and get results. and chelsea on other hand have home games on 5 out of the 6 occasions. plus take into consideration our slow start and the motivation part because of our double the last time around… i think it will be very difficult to win the league (or UCL) again as we still are the team to beat (unlike what the chelscum claim) and i will be very (pleasantly) surprised if we do so
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@Grognard: fair analysis there mate. We did well to get a point at the bridge, considering we were outplayed for most of the game. you are right when you say the players look lukewarm and unfit. It’s like they’re all suffering from some kind of hangover. There’s no pace in our attack or the overlapping, rapid counter etc.
The Good thing is, that can be corrected with extra mental and physical fitness training, but the one that really gets me worried is our midfield. It is surprisingly inept at the moment. Last season, we got away with it because we employed a 4-2-4 formation in which our attackers were devastatingly effective and Carrick was on form. However, so far this season, with the key component of that 4-2-4 formation – Ronaldo – missing, we have reverted to a 4-4-2 and our midfield has spectacularly failed to come up with the goods.
We have no effective AMF, all our midfielders have become either DMF’s or CMF’s. What do you reckon? Is this a serious problem or can Ando, Scholes and co get back to doing what they do best, attack?
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Im sorry to say this, but some of you are acting like idiots. I dont wanna start and argument, but you really talk like you dont undestand football. Bashing Berba, Ronaldo and Rooney today is unbelievable to me. I am not going to talk so much about the game since I dont know how I feel about it. I dont feel bad as I did against Liverpool or Villareal, but I dont feel so good either. I think its a fair result considering the last time United got a point from Chelski at Stamford Bridge in a match that really meant something was wasy back in 2002(August, not 3-0 win, 2-2 draw). We got a 0-0 draw there in 2007, but that game didnt mean anything, we played with Lee and Dong for cryin out loud. 1-1 is a good result.
Now, Rooney was by far our best player. He didnt score, but he created the goal, the chance for Rio and way more. Had it not been for him, we would have lost the match easily. This is his ebst game so far this season, and with Berba next to him he can only do better. Rooney ruled today!
Berbatov. What can I say? When he joined us he hadnt played or trained in 3 weeks. He got sent to Bulgaria to play a game there 2 days later, then he played against the Scousers after being injured for some days. He got injured in that game and only started training on Thursday. He is lazy? In the first half he was all over the pitch, working hard for every 50-50 ball, every chance he was involved in, he created the goal for Park, he did so much. He even defended when the game was around the 40 minuted mark. He was great, considering he hasnt been fully fit since mid-July. Of cource he was lazy today, he is feckin tired! If he gets a chance against Bolton, I can promise you that he will score at least one goal.
Ronaldo, just back from 2 months of injury, only played 30 minutes since June. Do you guys seriously think he is gonna become like he was last season right away? Give him time, he will need support and fitness. He lacks both at the moment, so cut him some slack.
Some stats that can make you a little happy:
2007/08 results against Pompey, Chelski and Liverpool away: 1 win, 1 loss, 1 draw. 4 points.
2008/09 results against Pompey, Chelski and Liverpool away: 1 win, 1 loss, 1 draw. 4 points.
We have to look at this in a positive way! Its one point gained, not two lost.
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Sure I agree Grognard, Berbatov will prove to be a great signing. But given the factors I mentioned I think Tevez would have done better alongside Rooney. Ultimately a target man was never going to see much of the ball and our best chances would have always come from the counter attack which is where Tevez and Rooney excel.
Im also beginning to think there is a fitness issue. It seems we are good for the first thirty minutes then just fade. Where is the United that fights till the final whistle and steals victories in extra time? Surely the point of a pre-season is to help us reach match fitness and sharpness in time to begin a defence of the title?
We have avoided a disaster just by drawing with Chelsea. But a win would have been so sweet. It would have destroyed fortress Stamford Bridge. It would have put us on 7/12 which is acceptable as opposed to 5/12 which is unacceptable.
I also noticed our goal difference is zero. It was only last season we were a free scoring team with a very mean defence. What we need is a few big victories and clean sheets to get our season started. Ronaldo will provide the goals and the defence had better shape up.
By the way did anyone see City? 6-0 is a serious statement of intent. Im looking forward to the derby!
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@RedDevilEddy: agree completely with your thoughts on rooney…
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I agree with you RedDevilEddy sometimes I wonder how much football some people on this blog really know…
@Grognard… I don’t expect Rooney to be in our defensive third but what I do expect is for the forward to defend from the top…don’t just stand there and watch Terry etc saunter up the field …put some pressure on the ball up top and force them to play the ball into pressure or out to the flanks where we have the sideline as a defender…that is fundamental football mate…Berbatov put pressure on the ball maybe the first 15 min after which he walked around most of the time…I’ll let him off with the match fitness excuse for now…that’s why i love Rooney and Tevez…did you not see the steal he had by winning the ball in our attacking third that almost had Park score his second..if only for Berba’s week lay off…that is the kind of defending I’m talking about.
I think Carrick is a big miss…he is the architect of our forward passing game…I think at this point we just need to get everyone match fit…
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@Will: Mate, I agree about the Rooney mouthing off to the officals. If the referee had applied the new laws, which is that only captains are allowed to approach the referee to question things now, and others players who accost the ref and give verbal abuse are to be booked each time, then like you say Bro, Rooney would have been sent off. The ref luckily for Rooney, didn’t apply the rules. Tell me, what was the difference between Rooney mouthing off every feckin few minutes, and Macherano doing the same at OT. We were all feckin incensed by that, but nobody apart from Grog and yourself are honest and forthright about Rooney’s lippiness and posturing.
.
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I should have been down at the Kremlin to cheer the lads on today, but the girlfriend got sick yesterday, (and no people – NOT deliberately
), she is flu – ed up to the eyeballs 
. Anyway one of the other lads got to go to the match with my ticket, so I hope he enjoyed the game. Waste of time having Setanta sports, cos the game was on sky today 
. I couldn’t find a link, and was in and out looking after the GF who is languishing in her sickbed, ordering me about 
. So I listened to 5 live, and they were going on about our lads fouling, and ABUSING the ref, being disrespectful etc etc etc, and especially Rooney and Red Nev. Pissed me right off, them talking about our aggressiveness, rather than focusing on the feckin game.
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@Don: Errr Don, that’s what the feckin midfielders are for mate, Not the forwards.
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@Grognard: not for Manchester United
couldn’t care less about Argentina.
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@Craig Mc: cheers man. i seriously hope that Fergie drops him in favour of Tevez, he can always bring him on if things aint working.
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@Craig Mc: yea 5LIVE is pretty useless to listen to when it’s a united game.. that Alan Green or whatever his name is hates united… no matter how much he denies it.
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@Will: Even leaving aside his hatred for United, Alan Green barely commentates on matches anymore. He spends his time whining about anything and everything that annoys him rather than providing some form of analysis or insight on the match. And given that Sky sacked Rodney Marsh for his Tsunami joke, it has always surprised me that he has survived after making a couple of racist jokes when commentating on matches. As you can tell I really can’t abide the man
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@Craig Mc: The referees have not being applying a no talk policy though. And the difference between Rooney and Mascherano is that Bennett was involved in the Mascherano incident, and he is a law onto himself. Lately Rooney seems to be more able to judge where to draw the line with refs.
Rooney’s indiscipline is overrated, he has tread the line a few times but only has two reds in his time for us (one of those in a friendly). If you are going to give off about players risking red cards, Scholes would be far more deserving of attention.
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having just watched match of the day… A 5live are cunts, cos they made rooney out to be some kind of monster. B the ref was a cunt cos he was a cunt.
not a very suffisticated argument i know, but it does seem very bias.. well done Gary for having it out with the ref at the end of the game… and you didn’t play nearly as badly as 5live made out. thats the last time i listen to a game on the radio.
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Overall I think we can be fairly satisfied with the outcome of the game. We are now through a nasty batch of fixtures without too much damage been done. Considering that we are 4/3 points of the other top teams after four games if we win our game in hand, having played two of out main rivals away from home and one of our bogey away games, we are in a decent enough position. With players starting to gain a bit of match fitness and more favorable fixtures coming up we can hopefully now start to push on.
It was an interesting team selection by SAF and it performed well by limiting the advancing Chelsea full backs. There has been quite a bit of criticism at the withdrawal of Park (ironic given the previous flak sometimes sent in Park’s direction), but SAF did mention that he was starting to tire at that point. The key to Park’s contribution was his energy levels and if they were dipping then it was right to withdraw him.
On the goal conceded, I find it fairly ridiculous to criticize Rooney for it since the free kick was quite a distance out and fairly central. It was a fairly routine set piece to deal with, we were just a bit careless in failing to ensure our marking was reorganized for Kalou’s introduction. There were plenty of other players who give away careless free kicks in more dangerous positions, who don’t even get a mention.
@colver: It was also just last season where we started off very slowly and struggled to score goals.
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Agree with many people who say that Roiney should just STFU and get on with his game. I am so tired of watching that immature cunt screwing up our chances and then geting on the ref’s back. Someone said that he created the goal. WTF? He had nothing to do with the goal. Yes he created the chance for Rio, but the Ronaldo created that great chance for him and he side netted. The defeat wasn’t his fault, but the stupidity was. This is not a bad result but considering how the game went he could have won, if he just scored his chance.
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If only we forsook the greedy far eastern travails for a year and got a proper preseason in Europe like the gooners do, we’d end up with 95+ plus points..
Its a fact people..
Our central midfield is shite…thats our only problem..even Alonso and Mascherano dominated us…
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Before I go to bed I want show some stats that can make this result sound good!
Our results against other top 4 teams away last season: 1 win, 1 draw, 1 loss.
This season: 1 loss and 1 draw. If we win at the emirates, we will be very fine!
Our result against Pompey away last season: 1-1 draw.
Our result against Pompey away this season: 1-0 win.
Our result against Newcastle home last season: 6-0 win
Our result against Newcastle home season: 1-1 draw.
All in all, it evens out. The thing that worries me is our lack of ability to put chancec away. Against Pool last week, we had a great chance from Tevez right after the own goal. Today Rio, Fletcher, Rooney and Park all had really big chances, but we only managed to score on one of them. We need to score on those 100% chances, if we dont do that we will have trouble. I am going to be optimistic, we took a valuable point of Chelski and we are playing better. Our team lacks fitness but we will defo get better with each game. With Berba, Hargreaves, Anderson and Ronaldo getting more games we are soon abck on top of our game. Our next PL game is Bolton at home and then Blackburn away. Blackburn really have trouble, so I think we will be better this season than the season before. Hughes, Bentley and Friedel leaving is bad news for them, but good news for us. And a home game against Bolton should be 3 points for United. And with our game in hand against Fulham at home, we will be top of the League soon.
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@Will: Will mate, we just got about 17 mins of the match on MOTD on bbc2, 5 live watched the whole game. So we will have to wait to see the whole game on mutv, before we can make rash judgements on the behaviour of our players verbal bashings of referee
. I am sure there was a lot of mouthing off as they said. But I will watch for myself on mutv, then comment again.
JB – ever the diplomat eh Bro?.
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I just watched the highligts of the game. Am I wrong, or did Kalou actually push Rio away on their goal? If you look at the United players just after Chelskis goal, youll see that they seem very mad at the ref, Rio and Fletch in particular. Or is it legal to oush a player away in the penalty area when you are the attacking team?!
Bloody cunt of a ref….
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I’m happy with a draw, I think most people would have been too this morning. The bridge is a fortress, plain and simple. I don’t really know why that is, but there you go. 1-1 is more than most teams, including the big 4 and European heavyweights will get there. So let’s take it and build some frakking momentum!
Our schedule is ridiculous, I’ve just reviewed it as per Grognard’s post. I’m not sure if Sky make that or what, but it screams a bias. Then again I seem to remember Jose claiming hte same thing a few years ago for Chelsea, so maybe swings and roundabouts. Bottom line, we have a big squad and it’s not like we didn’t know we’d have midweek games. Suck it up.
I can’t wait for us first ‘easy’ game of hte season to see what our team can do. Three of the toughest out of the way without our best player, with a striker that hasn’t gelled and with Hargo and Park having barely played. Let’s start rolling back upt hte table!
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@nagraj: I agree with your points completely Bro
.
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bloody hell. it’s only just sunk in really… robiniho is playing for Citeh! the world has really gone mad.
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@Orez: It was Rooney’s through ball that set Evra free during the build up to the goal. That said the second most productive player in the PL over the past two years does ‘screw up’ our chances alot
By the way, we weren’t deafeted 
@Craig Mc: It feels like devil’s advocate some days
Did you see the analysis Hansen did on Rio? IMO the guy is a cut above virtually any other defender out there at the minute.
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@Beachryan: Good attitude mate. If we win our game in hand, as JB and you say, we will be 4 points behing Arsenal and 3 behing L’fool and Chelski. Also Chelsea are losing a lot of their best players too. Arsenal will not go the whole season without injuries, and all these 3 teams have to come to OT, at a time when I hope we will be in our best form. We need the strikers to start putting the ball in the feckin net soon though, cos they are feckin useless for ages now. All our strikers off form at the same feckin time – not good, not good at all. This dry goal spell has gone on too long. They get the chances, but are so feckin inept at putting them away right now.
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@Gabriel: You are so right. Last year we brought the ball up through our wingers and now we are requiring more production and offensive input from our central midfielders and they have all been found wanting. But here’s the the thing, I said this at the beginning of last year and people thought I was crazy. Why do I end up looking so much smarter than Fergie when we all know that isn’t the case. Or is it? I honestly think Fergie has gone to the well once too often with Scholes and Giggs and found it empty. Also, what business does that washed up goat Gary Neville have playing over Wes Brown? Brown won that job with his exemplary play last season. Neville has done nothing in my mind to win it back. Captain be damned, he’s finished and he knows it.
He was woeful at times today sucking wind to try to keep up with players.
This team is in serious shape and lacking any creative imagination. And I honestly don’t see it getting much better until somebody actually injects an offensive plan of attack that isn’t out of the 1994 playbook. God I miss the real manager of United Carlos Queiroz. OOPS! That was bloody blasphemy. Apologies to Fergie.
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@RedDevilEddy: I see where you are coming from mate but be fair. Before you start calling fellow ranters idiots, please remember that this is a rant site and people are just voicing their dissatisfaction and frustration. I agree with many of your points and many have been unreasonable when it comes to Berbatov and Ronaldo but criticism of tactics, lineups and players who are healthy and supposedly fit is fair game I think. The whole team are is playing Like Wanker FC and that’s the bottom line. So let the folks vent some steam.
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@JB: Your right Bro, we weren’t DEAF-eted (your typo
), not deaf at all, but we were totally feckin blind when it came to scoring goals, and defending set pieces 
.
Rooney and from what I saw in that 17 minute cameo on MOTD did DEAFEN the ref with all their screeching
. Yeah, Rio is immense, we would be bottom of the league without him probably. But Evra and fighting Irishman Johnny the excellent Evans, were immense today too.
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@Grognard: Grog, ‘Wanker FC’ –
– love it 
.
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@Craig Mc: That’s what you get for not proof reading
I would have Evra and Evans up their with Rio, other than for the balls up they made on the offside trap that let Cole through in the second half.
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@colver: I disagree a little there mate. A target man was exactly what we needed today to defeat Chelsea’s back four and their height. The problem was our wingers and midfielders inability to get the ball to him. The distribution was terrible and lets face it, due to his lack of match fitness and a sore knee, Berbatov should have been subbed off or come on as a sub. There was no reason for Tevez to not have started this game. Especially since Ronaldo didn’t. I honestly don’t know what Fergie is smoking but I will give him credit for starting Park who was our best player. He certainly would not have started for me. I am a little disturbed at how Fergie seems to have lost confidence with both Nani and Anderson and for me has already paid for their plane tickets to Spain. Players like that will not tolerate sitting on the bench while they star for their national teams. Nani is a better player than Park and he should have started (I hope that puts me on Craig’s Christmas list). He has the talent to make a big play and to service both Berbatov and Ronaldo with quality passes and crosses. Anderson would have injected energy into the midfield which is something that was lacking with Scholes. I just don’t get it.
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@Don: Fair enough mate, but we all know that that is not part of Berbatov’s game and it certainly was not part of Cantona’s. He’s a play maker and a goal scorer and lets not expect more from him than that. To expect more is to be unrealistic and to also force him out of his own game to accommodate your desires and expectations regarding work ethic. Let him do his thing and eventually we will be rewarded and start chanting his name with love and adoration. Lets also not forget that he is lacking match fitness and his knee was bothering him too. Not excuses, just the facts.
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@Will: Yes but what he does for Argentina could also end up being something he does with us. There is a temper and a retaliation in him that is a concern. Nevertheless I love the guy and would start him over Rooney any day of the week right now.
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@nagraj: We need those far east tours because we are cash poor and need the money. Don’t let anyone fool you or convince you of anything else, United are not as healthy when it comes to money because of their debt. They need to make that money through these promotional tours. And it’s killing the players to be sure. The season is already to long and then you have these bloody tournaments every two years. I’d like them to stay in the UK one off season and play Scottish and Welsh teams to get match fit.
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@JB: Thing is JB, Evra’s defensive slip could be understood in the light of his frenzied assaults up and down the pitch, trying to make something happen re goals. He was probably shit tired. Apart from that one slip up, (costly), but needn’t have been if hothead Rooney hadn’t chopped Ashley Cole’s ankles off of him, with that out of control challenge.
Regarding your typo, nothing compared to the millions of mine JB
.
Grog,
– you are at the top of the Christmas list now mate for sure 
. Who the feck was supposed to be giving us width on the left wing, because Evra was running himself ragged trying to make things happen. I know Park did great job on the right, but we had a full back trying to make up for 2 people on the left – 
.
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@Craig Mc: And trust me mate, I was being kind. By the way, you must be pretty pissed over the way the gaffer is handling poor Nani eh?
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@Craig Mc: I think it was Evans playing Cole onside anyway.
You have lost me on the last bit though, Park was on the left wing for most of the game, with Hargreaves right.
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@Grognard: Grog everybody has been praising the Glazers of late, saying they have been good for the club etc. However, I saw in one of the papers today, (and we get three
so I cannot remember which one,) that in fact the Glazers have PUT NOTHING into the club, but taken all our earnings out to pay off the interest on our debt, but the actual debt owed is not being reduced at all. We should all persuade the Glazers to SELL to some wealthy dude, who can actually buy the club outright, and pay off the debt, and invest our earnings on more players etc etc etc.
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@JB:
– well thats what happens when you only get to see a 17 minute cameo of a game. I could swear that Park was coming in from the right when he scored from Berba’s shot rebound. And for a good while after that. I thought Hargo was in front of our back four???. So who the feck was covering the back 4 then?.
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@Craig Mc: As you know, I have had my moments of extreme frustration with Nani but I also know that he had the ideal skill set for handling Chelsea today and for providing service to our two main goal scorers. The fact he didn’t even feature really pissed me off. There comes a time when loyalty and old school thinking has to be flushed down the toilet. Especially when it isn’t netting you a thing. Nani should be playing on one wing with Ronaldo on the other and I’ll be bold enough to say that Tevez or Rooney should be in the middle in a 4-2-3-1 formation. I don’t want to see Park, Giggs, Anderson, Fletcher and fucking John Fucking O’Shea coming on instead of Nani. We are playing like a team in fear and a bottom feeder trying to steal a point on the road. It was bloody embarrassing. Trust me mate, Nani and Anderson are going to go to Spain before Ronaldo does. And then Fergie will cry bloody murder and wonder why they are showing disloyalty. Well when you bench them and show no faith in them and play old men and John Fucking O’Shea over them, then I can’t blame them. And where is Queiroz to calm them down and keep them content and focused. Nowhere. Instead we have Mr Who the Hell is Mike Fucking Phelan playing the role of Wanker Kiss ass to Fergie while silently crying in the closet and wondering what the Hell he is doing on such a big club.
And I’ll give you my wish list for Christmas soon mate. 
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@Craig Mc: I think Hargreaves had been out taking a corner on the left side of the pitch prior to the goal, so Park was over on the right at that time. We played with Scholes and Fletcher in CM for the first 55 mins and moved Hargreaves inside when Scholes was replaced. Interesting that Rooney had to come over and point out to the bench that there was no one tracking back on the right wing after the sub
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Good poem from Redcafe
Doom, destruction, we’re all gonna die!
We keep making mistakes we can’t rectify,
We’re not top of the league or even second,
It’s entirely possible that relegation beckons,
But what of Europe, what if we don’t win?
Succumbing to failure is a dreadful sin,
We need not win once, but all the time,
Don’t care how we play, the results are divine!
What the fucking hell was that awful display,
I’ve seen better efforts from Sheffield Wednesday,
If we keep up this form, we may win nothing,
Due to the chances that Rooney keeps fluffing.
Berbatov is inadequate, let’s drop Wayne,
I hate him so much that i’d rip out his veins,
Then sell him to Stoke and bring in Benzema,
And Carrick’s a shit name; i’ll break his femur!
How on Earth did we draw to Chelsea?
A team with as much guile as Hatem Trabelsi,
Ronaldo’s a legend yet the rest are pathetic,
Even if he rolls around as if he’s epileptic.
I’m sick of this club so i’ll have to move on,
Our players are shite, bring back Veron,
It’s come to my attention that Abu Dhabi exist,
A club with such finance is difficult to resist!
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@Craig Mc: Craig I think that’s coming mate. I read the other day that the Dubai group that wanted to buy Liverpool are now seriously looking at buying United. Although I am not a big fan of these types of owners buying up teams because I think they are bad for the game overall, I welcome them or anybody else with the money to free United of the shackles of this enormous debt and who will once again free the team to do business as they were once accustomed to. I for one have never been a fan of the Glazer’s and I am the loudest critic over there debt and the fact that I believe we are broke when it comes to serious purchasing capital. Lets keep our fingers crossed that somebody with deep pockets buys this club and truly confirms our label as biggest club in the world.
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@Grognard: Grog, I am going to be very honest now, which puts one in the firing line on this blog
. I think we were very lucky indeed to not get walloped in this game. Joe Cole and Nicolas Anelka missed TWO sitters each. Fergie is going to come unstuck, if he doesn’t get the middle of the park, and our wide players sorted. Our defence was once again put under enormous pressure, from a lack of strength in certain midfielders. Any more failures to score goals, and drawn games rather than wins, IT IS NOT IMPOSSIBLE to finish out of the top four. But we get stoned on here for the mere mention we might finish outside the top 4. Yet I am just saying that we can’t always take it for granted that we can pull ourselves out of the bloody great holes we make for Fergie and ourselves every season. Now watch Grog, for the accusations thrown on to me, that I am doom and gloom merchant.
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@Grognard: Don’t know what Gary Neville was doing on the pitch neither bro
Seems like Fergie just wanted the captain on the pitch for such a big game, besides, he didn’t do too bad either, but brown would have been way more effective.
On the substitutions, i reckon VDS’s injury screwed things up. Fergie had a plan. Contain Chelski’s midfield and wingbacks in the first half, then bring on Tevez, Ronaldo and Anderson for Berba, Park and Scholes in the second and attack. On their introduction, United would have reverted to our holy trinity attack of ronaldo, rooney and tevez with anderson to support while Hargreaves tucks in midfield. But alas, VDS picked up that injury and by the second half, our midfield was suckin air, so we had to introduce O’shea (although would have preferred to put in Ando).
Rooney had a good game today, everything was going thru him. Due to our lack of forward-minded playmaking midfielders, he had to do the playmaking thru the middle and he did it well. Fergie gave him that responsibility to orchestrate things with his vision and he did that well. Shame all people will remember was the free kick conceded, which in fact was a direct reaction to Fergie screaming at him to show more tenacity after a casual, misplaced pass to Ronnie.
We really need to get our midfield in order, so we can get back to our attacking ways. Although, now Ronnie is back, we will just get back to our 4-2-4 and leave the attacking to the forwards as usual. If that happens, it will be a shame, cause this period just past really showed the toothlesness of our midfield when it comes to attack. Carrick used to diguise that defect because he had a lot of defence-splitting ‘forward’ passes, but with him missing, we have no one else, or rather, no one else that has stepped up to the task. Maybe we could give Rodrigo a try?
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