Oct 25
Everton v Man Utd: Preview
Early kick off it is today, which means an early morning game for me. But more interesting things have happened over the past few days in the lead up to this game — well considering there hasn’t been any updates on this site lately, there has been enough happening that deserved a mention.
So let’s touch a bit on some of the more prominent stories before we dive in to the preview.
Ramon Calderon, known fondly in Manchester as Mr. Prick Two-Face, spoke to 5-Live on Madrid ending their interest in Ronaldo:
“Manchester didn’t want to sell over the last three or four months but we don’t want to get into trouble with them as they are one of the biggest clubs in the world”
I have a lot to say about my opinions on Ronaldo at the moment but I think I’ll devote a separate piece for it, to be posted sometime this week. But I can say what I think of Ramon Calderon and Real Madrid right now — they are a bag of dog-shite mixed with crow piss, and, like any mixture of dog shite and crow piss, the stench would only get worse with time, as it decomposes into something monstrously worse. My point is, they’ll keep coming at you — so I wouldn’t read anything into his comments to BBC. Fuck him and his cohorts, would be a pithy way to put it.
In non-United related news, I would advise people against watching Saw V because I haven’t seen a more predictable pile of crap masquerading as a thriller — not to mention it being hyped beyond reason about its ending — than this one. But then again, what was I expecting anyway ; since Saw, the series has only seen a downward spiral.
Anyway, I don’t know why I was talking about Saw V in a United blog. So don’t ask me.
Fergie also took some time to debunk rumours about Hargreaves that, to me, has reached ridiculous levels. True, Hargreaves hasn’t done much since his protracted arrival — although we have seen glimpses of how good he could be if he had a decent run in the side. But selling a player bought for close to 20 million quid when he has clear ability only a season into his time at the club, reeks of silliness. I can’t say more.
Carlos Tevez — I feel for the guy — has been optimistic as the official site gives us teasers to his interview to MUTV — where he says he’s happy to fight for his place. I think Fergie has been unfair in the way he’s handled Tevez this season. To me he was clearly the best player in pre-season, looking the most lively of a then disjointed team. With a well rested summer he looked hungry. Given a longer run he will be more important to us, however, the blossoming partnership between Rooney and Berbatov is looking exceedingly juicy for Fergie to even consider Tevez’s name on the starting XI. Today, with a tricky trip to Goodison Park awaiting, and with Rooney’s desire to notch goal number 100, it looks like another day will pass with Tevez warming the bench.
What disappoints me — the disappointment is more surprise and wonderment than anything — is the willingness shown by some sections of fans in not shedding a tear if Tevez was to be moved on. And more often than not, a big chunk of those were screaming themselves hoarse asking Ronaldo to show loyalty to the club. Personally, I consider loyalty to be a two way street, and if the player has quality and desire to stay at the club, I see very little reason for people to be eager to move him on. Tevez isn’t short on desire, and he wants to stay. A no brainer for me, if the price is not insanely high in times of the credit crunch.
Onto the small matter of a game today, Everton have been generally shite this season although there is a good chance of them fighting tooth and nail against us. Honestly, if we shake off some of our off-day lethargy moments, and give a fuck about the game for more than an hour we should be able to do the business. Of course, the weekend also gives us the added incentive of moving closer to one (if not both) of the top two teams, as the Red sack of shite from Merseyside play the Blue sack of shite from London in a mammoth game of shit-flinging proportions — which is what the folks at Sky would let you believe with them using a pleasant word instead of ‘shit.’
In team news, Rooney and Berbatov will start, with Tevez spending another game on the bench. Ronaldo will continue to ask Fergie to play him — fit or not, which concerns me slightly if a player can talk a manager into picking him. Nani should hope for a run in the side considering his good performance in midweek, O’Shea would get another run in left back with Rio, Vidic and Neville for company. (Heaven help Brown.) Fletcher and Giggs would play in the middle, it would appear.
Prediction: 2-0 to United.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Man Utd v Everton: Preview
- Man Utd v Stoke: Preview
- Man Utd v Spurs match thread
- Rooney Out For A Month
- Porto it is then…
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (541)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Stephen (454)
Craig Mc (344)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
@Craig Mc: Spot on. Ronaldo’s antics after that tackle is down right embarrassing. It gives United a bad name. It used to be you could painfully turn a blind eye to that kind of fucking shit when he was getting 42 goals a year, but now, with that kind of shit performances his antics have just gotten worse. Every time there is the slightest bit of contact he goes down, then it comes back to bight him in the ass when in the 88th minute when he is actually legitimately fouled right outside the box the ref waves play on based on reputation. I’m disgusted with him.
I know hindsight is 20/20 but that 70 million sounds pretty fucking good right now.
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@realred:
get a fucking grip.
this board is full of “fans” with a “sack fergie, sell giggs” knee jerk reaction everytime something goes wrong. bloody hell.
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@Drew Vader: who else would we have put in for him? We have no other wingers!!! I’ve been screaming about this for ages now… we only have three wide players!! Maybe today, some will realise that…
And yes, we need Ronaldo to find his form, we would definitely be better off. Besides, you can’t really say we drew that match because of him, it’s not like he missed a sitter!! They were 10 other United players on that pitch, so I don’t understand why he is solely responsible
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@Nukeleus: Your guess is as good as mine. A better question is, why would he insist on shooting that freekick at the end when its 40 yards out and only ONE, i repeat ONE all year (against celtic for berbas goal) has cleared the wall. Maybe I’m an idiot, but i dont know, how about throwing up everyone into the box bar Evra and VdS and see if we can get some lucky bounce.
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@Drew Vader: You are talking as if Ronaldo scored an own goal!!! Rio would have conceded two goals for his mistakes… Everybody was playing shite (including Rooney of course)…
Its just that Eevrton showed more hunger…
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@Gabriel: Well for some reason Rooney was shifted out wide left and Ronaldo moved up front. So hows about taking off Ronaldo, putting on Nani and have Rooney return up front?
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@Gabriel: And i’m not claiming he is soley responsible for the dropped points, he is just getting the full force of my frustration right now because of his bullshit antics. He spent more time on the grass today than on his feet. his reaction to that tackle from Phil Neville was a disgrace. He was nonchelant with his finishing TWICE, once when put through by anderson and once when the ball came to him from Nanis cross. And he insists on shooting with every free kick inside United half.
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@Drew Vader: I’m with you mate. I am big Ronnie fan, but on present form, he needs to just come on for part of the games, until he finds some form. No doubt people will argue with this, but how can they really?. Players coming back from injury have to find their form again only playing part of the game.
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ronaldo’s roll over was a bit over dramatic but that was piss poor tackle from neville.. he dived in twice and should have been penalised for dangerous play two times..which he did even after the whistle the first time.i thought Giggsy had a good first half and average 2nd half.And i agree our tactical nous without CQ has been dismal..why is Fergie so adamant on starting park ahead of Nani?..and we lack severely in strength in midfield..i thought fletcher was immense for us and overextended himself towards the end, majority of our ball retention came from defence which isn’t a good thing
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CHRIS YOU GET A FUCKING GRIP.
I am an individual and i know what im saying is right.
Fergie is a mug when it comes to tactics and substituoin. That been quite apparant for a while now.
Its becoming even more clear without CQ by his side puting things right.
Mourinho wouldnt have fuckd up the team like fergie did today. Neither would Scolari nor would a list of top managers.
Our boy Fergis is gettin on…..with age comes jitters….teh old boy is losing the fukin plot and its costing us points!!
Todays game and liverpool are great examples…….the team was near unrecognisable by end of both matches
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I don’t specifically remember Rooney playing wide left for an extended period, but if he was, it would be logical to assume this was done because Ronnie is a better header of the ball and we were planning on crossing into the box.
About your subs, Fergie did srewball a bit, but I would have still taken Park off instead of Ronnie. Ronnie did much more. Rooney’s removal was questionable, especially as Tev wasn’t directly brought in for him
However, in the end the players we needed were brought in, but IMO, not in the right order.
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@Gabriel: Not like he missed A SITTER, what fucking match were you watching towards the end. He should have buried that shot he put wide, 10 yards out, nobody on him, it was easier to put it in the net than miss from that range. Ronnie has lost his composure, and that’s because every time he is touched in quite a few recent matches, he falls on his arse wanting free kicks, instead of getting stuck in, and fighting back. He did not contribute much to the game today. He certainly should not be taking all the free kicks at the moment either, until he has improved performance. He hardly clears the wall with them most times. Now you can all see I am not just down on Rooney, when he isn’t performing, but anybody who I feel isn’t up to scratch. I am talking though about when they are given persistent amount of playing time, when others who could contribute (TEV) are on the bench for 7 games. Ronnie has had a lot of games to get his form, nobody can dispute this. Let him come on as sub for a bit, and maybe he will fight a bit more for a place.
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I’m just frustrated and knee jerking. I realize this.
I’m so angry right now I think I could run for two hours on the treadmill. Maybe I’ll calm down a bit after that
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@Drew Vader:
I’m pissed too mate.. it really was a POOR performance from the lads… maybe they were celebrating Rooney’s 23rd last nite 
One thing I do know is that we respond well to negative performances and I’m pretty sure we’ll bonce back.. it’s a beautiful saturday, so i’m just trying not to get too riled up about it, don’t mind my optimism 
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@realred: Wow, just wow is all i can say
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@RMJ: Ronnies response to Nevilles tackle a little over dramatic
. The way he rolled over and over and over, clutching himself – PLEASE. That kind of behaviour from any player in football should NEVER be acceptable. Next minute he is up on his feet, running around, proving on TV in front of the whole world, what a feckin CHEAT he is. If he would fight, instead of letting people push him off the ball all the feckin times, then remonstrating arms aloft, to get free kicks, I am ashamed mate, and I can’t understand why any of the United Faithful wouldn’t be either. This kind of thing is why Ronnie is so ineffective, where he could be such a feckin asset to us, and win matches for us, instead of looking like a fool and embarrasing us 
.
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@realred: 2 matches is not enough to make me change my mind, or get on fergies back after what he has done for the last 20+ years,
I’m sure you were not complaining on may 21st were you? or a week and a half before that, calm down mate it’s only October, the season will be clearer in march,
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Haha RD? please eloborate!
It honestly hurt to write that last comment but iv been feeling thiis was for about 2yrs now.
Its hard for people to see Fergie doing wrong but it happens!! like today.
dnt get me wrong i love the man, hes a fukin legend. I was born jst besides Govan too so i douldly love the guy!
Doesnt change the facts however does it?!!
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@Drew Vader: Don’t apologise mate. You are right, you are not knee jerking or just frustrated. You are seeing things aright, and don’t let all the pacifists who criticise you make you feel like your opinion isnt honest or just reactionary. Some people are very good at that. Your opinion is honest mate, don’t give it up cheaply
.
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@Craig Mc:
easy mate, that chance was not as easy as it seemed, even though he missed it horribly 
You might be right in saying he needs to fight for his place, but with who? We only have three wide men, tevez is not one of them. Again, something i’ve been highlighting for some time now… hell, Park can’t even play 90 mins…
About his free kicks, he was taking all last year and missing most, but no one was complaining because he was on form. Ronnie is a BIG player for us who contributes a lot to our team and we need him to gain his composure, confidence and swagger back, because without that, he is very much average. He needs to continue his run in the team to gain this, but I also thinks he needs some rest. His game is about pace and quick reactions and right now he’s got none of that.
All players of Ronnie’s importance to a team will always get favored treatment because of their past and probable contributions.. just like if Messi, Kaka or Totti just came back from injury in their respective teams, they will be given an extended run of games in which to gain theie form back, even at the expense of other players.
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@realred: Don’t worry Realred, you just happened to touch the untouchable sacred cow. A lot of the professionals agree with you though, including our own Roy Keane. He openly says that Fergie is a fantastic manager, the very best, but a poor tactician. He should have held out for a 1st class foreign coach and master tactician. But there you go RealRed
.
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@Gabriel: You saying Ronnie hasn’t had a fairly good run of games then?. Ronnie contributes more at home, than he ever does away from home it seems. He gets decisions in his favour a little more at home though, so he is more in it. If I had been that ref today, I wouldn’t have given Ronnie another decision in the whole match, because he CHEATED everyone. Nearly got his own players booked for overly remonstrating with the ref, because even they thought seeing him rolling around like that, that he was really hurt. Fuckin irresponsible, playacting and gamesmanship at its very worst. What a prick to do that.
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@Mr.Muhozi: I think Realred’s point is mate, that last year, we had CQ’s tactical imput
. He is not wrong about that.
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Oh, I see! Sack Fergie and get Mourinho then, so that we can 1-0 our way to the 18th Championship, playing dull football (but making the correct subs) on the way.
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@Craig Mc: Of course Ronnie has had a fairly good run of games, he has scored 3 for United and assisted in a few. Although not at his optimum level, most wingers in the world will be happy displaying his current level of performance. He still needs to play more to get his composure/confidence, but he also needs to rest, like I said, his game is about pace and quick reactions and he doesn’t have that right now.
The problem there is we do not have many options in that area of the pitch. We have just Nani, Park and Ronaldo. Park can’t play for 90 mins, and makes less of an impact than Nani when subbed on, hence Fergie sometimes plays Park from the start instead. Ronaldo half-fit will always be an option for the 1st eleven. I bet you, if you were asked before the game to predict/choose your starting line-up for this game, Ronaldo would have been in it. That’s how important and potentially useful he is to our team. Maybe after today, he will get that much needed rest.
With regards to his antics today, he has always dived and cheated, but he gets kicked a lot too. However his composure and confidence has been as such that it doesn’t really affect his game, because he always puts away the chances he got. It’s just that because he has not been displaying his near perfect levels of performance, all these bad traits come to light. I’m not condoning it, infact I hate it, but by now, it should be no surprise!!
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Man, are we spoiled. First bad game since Liverpool away and suddenly its remove every player, bench Ronaldo, Rooney is cunt, and Rio is not as god as before. We cant win them all, a draw is good. We were playing Everton away, its not easy. They kicked us off the park and didnt play football but rugby. CUNTS! Phil should have gotten a red card, and since he didnt they scored from his cross. Rooney looked like he cared more about pissing the Everton fans off rather than winning out there. Immature, but what can you do?
Tevez looked sharp when he came on, maybe Rooney should get a rest on Wednesday when we face West Ham. PLay Tevez and Berba and see how that works. I miss watchin them play, last time(and only time) they played together Berba got an assist and Tevez a goal(Liverpool away). Ronaldo needs a rest and to get his confidence back. He is getting better, but right now he needs a rest. Why cant Fergie see that? We drew, okey! Face it! We cant win every game and we cant play 100% in the whole game every day! Its unreal. Fletcher is great this season and I wonder if he and Carrick would become a good partnership. I wouldnt drop him at the moment, but I want Andy to play some games too. His pass for Ronaldo today was brilliant, just too bad Ronaldo isnt in the form of last season. Bring on West Ham! 
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We had a stormer of a 1st half and then lost it. And you are right those subs are tactically suspect. But lets not get ahead of ourselves. Chris is right too much knee-jerk reactions out here… Ronaldo is in a slump and its sad but I like him getting his confidence back. I would give him reserve game perosnally to get him in action mode. Whatever shake it of and on to wednesday
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I say rest Berbatov…Bring on the trinity – Ronaldo,Rooney and Tevez….Carrick and Andy in CM will bring back the last season attack…What happened today in 2nd half was we couldnt break down evertong..we needed more movement up top and Fergie got it wrong taking Roo off and bringing nani on and play long searching balls…that was not required at that point…
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what is it with Fergie & the Liverpool air?! tyhe dude crosses the border & start making baffling decisions.
Fergie’s comments on fearing a Rooney red card make no sense. the guy is the glue in our front line. yes he had a suspect reaction to the Everton fans but pulling him off seconds after is giving them exactly as they wanted. the substitution did nothing but make the team worse. sir Alex had to manage the “walking red card” a.k.a. Roy Keane (don’t take the nickname too seriously) for years & i don’t remember him being pulled off @ 1-1 in a game we were losing the grip of.
the fact he was replaced by Nani is even more baffling, the guy’s a clown. i’ve never (& i trully mean never) liked him & today’s performance after he replaced Rooney has sealed it for me. he’s inept in every single way; he over dribbles; & never has a thought to pass first. people keep saying Ronaldo took time but the facts are; he’s older than Ronaldo was & shows nowhere near the promise. he continuously flatters to deceive, he’ll score a 40yarder one week then go missing for 3-4 months. the boy has ability but no application; he continues to attempt things he’s no good @. he’s not a dribbler like Ronaldo but he’s a better crosser, he has a quick first step & could continuously get crosses off if he stuck to a more basic game; he could mix this in with the odd shot & a few more lay-offs but everything he’s doing @ the moment is all wrong.
Berba’s scored goals but when the games tight, he can slow down the attack; if anyone should have been sacrificed it should have been our number9. the attacking line minus Rooney makes no sense. Berba is a great player but today was not his occasion, with the movement of last years front 3 we appeared more versatile. although i’ll wait to see how we play when Scholes & Carrick are back, i have no doubt the fact our central midfield finds it hard to keep the ball (atm) is a problem.
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@RedDevilEddy: Eddy, we can’t win them all
. What is that mate?. We could and SHOULD have won this match. Once again we take the lead, and don’t fight for that second goal. So lets be honest about this eh?. Just like L’Pool, we threw it away, thru defensive errors, and in this game lacking composure. We need to be honest in our assessments, so that just perhaps something might be feckin done about tactical ineptitude, strengthening midfield, and composure when under the cosh. We didn’t take the thing out of there game 2nd half, because we don’t know how too. Its time we feckin learnt how too.
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@Craig Mc: We trew away the match. But it wasnt only Uniteds fault, Everton were not playin footy, they were playin rugby. Had this been any other official, Everton would have gotten 2 red cards. Neville and Fellinian! Our team got bullied, and with such a young team of cource we are gonna get frustrated! We let Toffeetown get us. Big mistake which has to be sone somthing with. And it wasnt that we didnt look for the second goal, we just didnt gwet any chance to try to get it!
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Please, that wasn’t a dirty game at all. Everton out-hustled us in the second half. In the first half, we played through the middle, using Giggs and Fletch to bring it from defence. I presume Fergie said something (stupid) at half time, because when we came back out VDS went into Paul Robinson imitation mode and just hoofed it upfield at I can only assume the triple teamed Berbatov. Which went really well, the first 15 times, so he just kept doing it. Honestly, all we needed was a Keane or something. To run up to Edwin, and Vidic and be like, look lads, you may havenoticed we have some pretty talented players on the ball right now, if you just hit it over our heads ofr the next half hour we might as well leave. It absolutely infuriates me. In the last 2 minutes when you’re knacekered and against it, fine, but not at the start of the second half.
We lost because someone told us to stop playing posession football, and that has to have been Fergie. If we’d come out in the second half and calmly passed it around Everton for 15 minutes, we would have been fine, the crowd would have been silenced and they’d have no momentum. We wouldn’t even of had to shoot in tha time, just give them the impression taht they’re not going to touch it unless we want them to. But no. Instead we continue this completely idiotic approach of the long ball, when none of forawrd players bar Ronaldo can do anything with a long ball. Pisses me off.
Oh and Fergie should Ronaldo for his cheating against Neville. Or smack him.
I said we should have bitten Real’s hand off at the £70m. He doesn’t want to be there, all he’s worried about right now is hi Balloon D’or.
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@jos: I’ll say this much, Tevez is too good to be a sub and will probably leave because of it but all he needs to do is look closely at the career of Ole Gunnar Solksjaer for his motivation to stay. Ole was certainly good enough to starton most teams in the Prem and all the others in Europe but he was thrown on the bench at United where he welcomed the role and fed off it in a way I or any of us will ever see again. Honestly, United has had a history recently of players who live on the bench who love the team and would rather stay there than go and start anywhere else. Is Tevez that kind of man? He puts his heart and his soul into the game but he also has a Latin temper and personality which might counterman his good attitude. His ego may be greater than Ole’s and that’s all it will take to lose him. I’m hoping we keep him because I believe he injects drive, passion and desire into a game when he comes on and he is a great player to throw in for a start every 4th or 5th game to give either Rooney or Berba a rest. I just don’t honestly see that as being good enough for him. Then again, none of us really know the man and his agent and it will be interesting when the time does come to ink a contract if it will be possible because I rather doubt United will pay 32 mill or even 22 mill for a forward who works his ass off but doesn’t score enough goals. And I cannot see him wanting to stay as a bench warmer. Not when he can play in Spain for a big club or if he can go home and team up with his good friend Riquelme at Boca. I think that money will be used to fill the midfield spots next season and Manucho or Campbell will get their promotions to the big club. Only time will tell.
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We need to put Tevez on against the Hammers. I know they are his old club, but we need him to do what he does best early on in games, so we can gain the upper hand. I thought Tevez should have started instead of Berbatov
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Sell Ronaldo. Sell Nani. Sell Park. Sell them all for all I care.
That’s what some of you sound like and its damn foolish.
Rooney/Ronaldo/Tevez should be the starting frontline. I dont care how much we paid for Berbatov. Hell I dont even think we needed him. With him we are static in movement because he lacks the pace to stretch a defense. I dont think teams fear him because all they have to do to take him out of the game is to put a body on him. Rooney and Tevez (and even Ronaldo) cant be bodied out of a game. I think SAF needs to re-evaluate and go with what works because this static 4-4-2 is shit (and easy to defend) compared to the feared free flowing attack we had last year.
I thought we got Berbatov to get headers and lead the line. He doesnt do any of that. He’s basically a tall/slow SS w/ a great pass. I give him credit, he has a knack of putting the ball in the net on some janky plays, but that doesnt do enough to me to cover up the fact that he has absolutely no work rate.
Tevez is getting the royal screwjob here and its hard for me to watch him resigned to the bench knowing how awesome our attack was last season.
Rooney/Ronaldo/Tevez > Any frontline in the world.
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Oh, and Ronaldo shouldnt be taking FKs from farther than 25 yards out. Boggles my mind how somebody doesnt tell him off every once in a while.
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@Red Ranter: Fine RR, I really don’t know of too many fans that want him to leave. they are just weighing the cost over the ability. I think all United fans want to see Carlito stay but lets be realistic for a second. At a time when the team’s owners are suffering from a financial crisis back in the US I seriously doubt they would want to shell out 22 to 32 million pounds in transfer money and then come up with a contract lucrative enough to keep Tevez here as a bench warmer. For me that is not money well spent. Sure I like the player but for me he has never been a prolific enough goal scorer type but he does score big and timely goals…….up until this season that is. He hasn’t really taken to his new role and his predicted play coming off the bench to inspire and to score late winners hasn’t come about. There doesn’t seem to be any lack of effort, he’s just not getting it done in the classic sense. You would think injecting all that energy and drive late in a game when the opponent is tired would lead to something positive but so far , nada.
So for fans to question his long term potential with the club is very understandable and very normal. I don’t care if he says he wants to be here and Fergie says so. They are both saying what they need to say for obvious reasons. The bottom line is that Berbatov is just what United needed and he isn’t going anywhere and he certainly is not sitting the bench with his talent and with his contract in mind. And the new Rooney is playing like the old Rooney now and Fergie would have to be a blind madman to sit him down.
So I see it as to major obstacles that have to be overcome before we see Tevez here next season. Obstacle #1 is his transfer fee. I don’t think United will want to pay it after this season unless Tevez goes on a goal scoring tear and really justifies it. Obstacle #2, United and Ferguson cannot afford to be dealing out that kind of money for a bench player. The owners are pinching pennies and the manager has to consider long term solutions for both Scholes and Giggs (I’m not sure anymore about either Nani or Anderson) and also, it may become vital that we go out and sign a replacement for my beloved Hargreaves. His injury I feel may be career threatening and United need that bonafide CDM if he is unable to return. I also feel they need to look seriously at a world class keeper to replace EVDS. I know PIG is not the guy and I have serious doubts over Foster. Rne Adler has claimed to being a Man United fan and I think Fergy would be daft to not sign him as he is outstanding and very young. So priorities and common sense tells me that signing Tevez for that kind of money is just not going to happen. And lets not forget Carlos needs too. I doubt he wants to take a back seat to anyone. He is a proud player who wants to play, not sit.
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Never saw the match. Forgot to set the recorder for the 3:30am start here in Vancouver. Will watch the replay this evening but I am very disappointed we threw away 3 points after the form both teams were in. Surprised that none of our forwards or Ronaldo scored in this game. Amazed that Rooney never scored in his back yard. Oh well, the game was invented to frustrate and befuddle.
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@RedDevilEddy: Eddy, Eddy, Eddy, mate, we should have got the 2nd goal in the FIRST half, when we were so on top. But once again, we let them off the fookin hook, with our ineptitude at getting the second goal in tight games away from home. Hull City are above us in the feckin PL for goodness sake.
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i guess the refs are just not going to protect united from this kind of game plan of kicking the living shit out of our players. they probably think that they are double champions they should be able to deal with it. and we should putting tevez and andy on in these physical matches is crucial. yea i suspect that everyone will be kicking our guys arround now that they can get away with it. fuuuuuuuuuuuck!
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Missed the match and happy that I did…Hopefully West Ham will signal a wake up call. I just hope that this doesn’t halt Rooney’s recent form.
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@Beachryan: We did not lose for crying out loud, and yes that one point is still very much valuable.
@Grognard: Very much awaiting your match report.
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@flu3: How doesn’t it make sense??? The Everton crowd were looking to rile Rooney, looking at Rooney and his immature temper, he might have taken the bait and done something stupid, it surely made more sense to take him off than taking a chance, risking him getting a red card which if he did would have ruled him out of our next game and that isn’t good news with the form he’s in now. I disagree with you on the sensibility of subbing him but I’ll agree with that bringing on Nani as a replacement wasn’t the right move.
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@MUFC Fan in America: exactly. IMO this is what has led to Ronaldo’s regress. Just think of the amount of times last season we scored by Rooney and Tevez pressurizing the defence. Ronaldo isnt any worse he just doesnt have the free role anymore. Why wasn’t Berbatov the one eased into the team? What exactly was the problem with Roovez and Ronaldo? The amount of times they scored 4 or more in a game last season?
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@MUFC Fan in America: Berbatov’s a better player than Tevez. He’s a better partner for Rooney. He’ll score more goals.
Three brilliant reasons for having him in the team ahead of Tevez. Last year the Rooney-Tevez partnership rarely clicked the way this one has.
Once Ronaldo’s back to form there won’t be a problem. If he was on form today he would’ve scored. Tevez helps Ronaldo’s game undoubtedly but Berbatov will do too once he gets that connection with him, Ronaldo making the runs in behind with Berbatov playing the ball.
Berbatov never was bought as a lead the line striker. It’s a fact that Keane played further ahead of him over the past two seasons at Spurs, and even he isn’t a lead the line striker. He was bought because he’s a brilliant player who is a great partner for Rooney.
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@Liam: How many times did we score from Roovez pressurising the defence?
I’m willing to bet it’s not all that many to be honest. Ronaldo’s back from injury and is finding a bit of form, he’s still getting in brilliant positions and if he had full match fitness he would have score twice as much this season. IIRC he’s already scored more goals at this point in the season than last year.
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could this happen…
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could this happen
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Hey everyone check out my Ronaldo free kick goal on FIFA 09! Awsome, eyy? First goal Ive uploaded, what do you think. Ive scored better, but its a nice goal.
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