Sep 15
Everton vs Reds: Appalling But Three Points
Update: Report will be in later on. Nothing to write about in all honesty though. We were utter crap but Vida bailed us out.
Even the official site confirms that Rooney will be in the squad. Personally I am apprehensive about playing Rooney so soon even if it is for ten minutes. I can’t believe SAF would take such a gamble, given his stance during the world cup last year. Granted, he’s not the sort to take risks on his top men - which would mean that Rooney has shown superhuman healing abilities (Claire Bennet, of Heroes fame, style 
)
But there is a chance that he is playing Rooney more out of desperation, in case we are faced with a dire situation.
Oh well, we’ll have to trust Fergie’s judgment on this one. Bring ‘em on! What do you reckon will be the formation?
We’ll try bringing you updates, but we can’t promise as in all likelihood we’ll be too busy watching the game. While you are waiting for the game you might head over and vote for Red Rants too. Or discuss away in the comments.
Related items from Red Rants:- Everton vs Reds: Preview
- United vs Wigan: Preview
- U21 European Championship: Rossi and Nani’s Goal Videos
- The International Break Will Help United Significantly
- Manchester United did not break Premier League rules in Howard “deal”
Tags: Manchester United Fixtures
September 15th, 2007 at 10:16
i told you rooney heals super humanly
he must use steroids hahaha
September 15th, 2007 at 11:00
Well if we are trailing in the second half rooney just might come on but i feel ronny and saha will do the job 4 us today
September 15th, 2007 at 11:01
well - for the first time saha is fit to start so without doubt tevez will play just behind him in his preferred role
i think we’ll go 4-4-1-1 tbh pr 4-4-2 if you like - not quite the 4-2-3-1 that we’ll see more of at home (though there isnt a hell of a lot of a difference)
starting XI for me:
VDS
Brown Rio Vidic Evra
Ronaldo Carrick Scholes Giggs
Tevez
Saha
with a bench of
1)Kuszczak
2) Pique
3) Nani
4) Gibson
5) Anderson/Rooney
given that hargreaves, fletcher and oshea are unlikely to be fit
September 15th, 2007 at 11:50
wtf is silvestre doing anywhere near the first team - esp when evra is fit
saha on the bench
so god help tevez upfront alone again
September 15th, 2007 at 12:14
Man Utd
* 01 Van der Sar
* 06 Brown
* 05 Ferdinand
* 15 Vidic
* 27 Silvestre
* 07 Ronaldo
* 16 Carrick
* 18 Scholes
* 03 Evra
* 11 Giggs
* 32 Tevez
Substitutes
* 29 Kuszczak,
* 09 Saha,
* 17 Nani,
* 19 Pique,
* 28 Gibson
thats our squad for the match,
September 15th, 2007 at 12:42
@ shaheen
I know mate, I know…depressing
at least he’s out now
September 15th, 2007 at 12:54
best news of the match
no wonder the fans were applauding him off
good bye and good riddance! (hopefully for the whole season)
September 15th, 2007 at 12:54
half time report- boring game, man u losts of possesion no uctting edge, silly’s injuured it seems serious, and nani has come on, not one shot on target pretty poor, dont be surprised to see saha on soon
September 15th, 2007 at 12:56
giggs is playing upfront alone but nevertheless his touch is becoming wore and worse and hiss passes always lack wake
when silvestre went off - it was the perfect chance to put saha on and move giggs back to the left
tevez has shown glimpses of what he is capable of - playing off giggs he has played some great balls - esp early on
baines is showing what a good buy he would have been given that heinze left
5m - bargain of the season
September 15th, 2007 at 12:59
i cant be happy enough that silvestre is out!!!! wow, what a releif that we wont be seing him for a while!! now lets hope that we come out strong in the 2nd half. what is the deal with scholesy today? i hate it when he’s frustated like that, he’ll get sent off again!
September 15th, 2007 at 13:01
@B
you can sense it - one stupid even ‘nothing’ foul will see him off
September 15th, 2007 at 13:05
Where can you watch the match, I’m clinging to every word on Sky Sports News to check the score
September 15th, 2007 at 13:18
fergie is going to take the piss and take of tevez.
September 15th, 2007 at 13:19
liam, listen to the commentary on bbc.
September 15th, 2007 at 13:25
saha has come on for giggs, tevez just had a crack on goal, one yard wide
September 15th, 2007 at 13:37
watching the match.nani,giggs,ronaldo are playing crap.ronaldo should had a penalty just now
September 15th, 2007 at 13:46
goal by vidic
September 15th, 2007 at 13:46
fuck yea vidic
September 15th, 2007 at 13:47
vvvvvvvvvvvvvviiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiddddddddddiiiiiiiiiiiicccccccc
corner by nani, header by vidic, nani now has been involved in everyone of united last 3 goals
September 15th, 2007 at 13:52
Vidic!!!!!!! goal goal goalllllll!!!!!
September 15th, 2007 at 13:54
giggs needs to watch his back because nani is coming.
September 15th, 2007 at 13:58
that was a disapointing match, but nevertheless we have 3 points in the bag, we’re now top of the tablle, shittypools drawing and arsenal are losing to spurs, is united luck turning around
September 15th, 2007 at 13:59
goal by vidic header.man u 1-0
September 15th, 2007 at 14:02
great result lads. fuck the performance- couldnt care less at this point. PRAYED HARD FOR THAT ONE!
September 15th, 2007 at 14:08
well 3 points was important more so considering the utter shit performance
lets hope this team gels soon
September 15th, 2007 at 14:23
Poor performance but that is always a distinct possibility after international weeks. Evra was excellent (best player for us this season) and Tevez looked much better, although he is still not a lone front man. Giggs and Ronaldo were very poor, Nani wasn’t great but he does take a good corner! Kudos to the central defenders who won the game, Vidic with the goal and Rio with a world class block to stop an almost certain goal. Best wishes to Silvestre, that was a nasty looking knee injury.
September 15th, 2007 at 15:51
jb, you mean scholes not rio.
September 15th, 2007 at 16:17
carrick played no part in that match, in january we need to buy a striker(huntlaar)and buy a holding mid(barry, maybe de rossi)and sell carrick.
September 15th, 2007 at 16:29
Dan: I meant the block in the last few minutes after VDS saved McFaddens shot and Rio stopped Yobo converting the rebound. I’d expect Scholes to make his block because he is always on the line at corners.
Also good to see you’ve been caught up in the Barry craze. Carrick was ok today, about the same as Scholes but apparently we should sell him after a couple of bad games and replace him with the newest one-paced fad or the £25m, cup tied, Italian international who doesn’t want to leave Roma. The money on Hargreaves must have been well spent! Do me a favour Dan, put a bit of thought into your transfer suggestions before you post them.
September 15th, 2007 at 17:12
Right on again jb. ‘Waite’ and ‘watch’ are the two words for me at the moment.
September 15th, 2007 at 18:10
Liverpool drew! best news of the day
September 15th, 2007 at 18:12
dan onofficial liason
wht on earth r u tlking bout. sell carrick and bye barry. COMMON bro, stop bieng so fickle, and start acting lyk u no a thing or two about football.
the players u suggest we buy, r cup tied. stop making wild statements.
September 15th, 2007 at 18:43
There’re two ways to see this game:
1) It was a crap performance, because we didn’t dominate the game and didn’t create a lot of chances.
2) Goodison is a very very difficult place to play, and following a break for internationals, a 1-0 win is an extremely good result. Hargreaves and Rooney didn’t even feature. Just watch Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool play at Goodison, and you’ll see why our result was that good. Following the international breaks is never easy…illustrated by Liverpool, who were lucky to get a point at Portsmouth, and Chelsea, who’re right now struggling to break down Blackburn.
I chose to see it as the latter of the 2 options… and I don’t care how such a victory comes along.
September 15th, 2007 at 19:07
Btw, I forgot
Have a look at one of our summer signings:
We have won the last 3 matches 1-0. Nani has had 2 assists and one cracker of a goal, so he looks a very good purchase. I know the assists have both come from corners, but it just shows the importance of hammering in those corners at the right place, which a lot of teams don’t have someone to do.
Now we only need a decent free kick-taker.
September 15th, 2007 at 19:10
couldnt agree more tomas…… ronaldo’s free-kicks were absolute rubbish
September 15th, 2007 at 19:18
i think for the time being its ok to just win games. but if we’re gonna lift any trophies then the team has to gel quickly….. the players are not on the same page right now and that shows when the crucial passes go astray…… i suppose rooney coming back would help a bit (simply because he has played more games with the other players than tevez)..
on the other hand its a good sign that we’re playing as badly as we are and still winning games! as far as selling carrick is concerned, he played exceptionally for a whole year and ur calling for his head after a couple of sub-par (not bad, just not up to his standards) performances….
September 15th, 2007 at 19:24
tevez to take free kicks! aye!
September 15th, 2007 at 19:25
whats up with anderson?
September 15th, 2007 at 20:06
wow, whats up with the heat, my opinion is carrick is dosent have influence on the game and only really shines in the small games, i reckon barry can be much better than carrick and a decent understudy to hargreaves, god, you say 1 thing and your stupid.
September 15th, 2007 at 20:23
who the fuk ever said chelsea had a lead and wouldnt let it slip for a long time, well ive got news 4 u, we are infront of them, albeit on goal diff.
September 15th, 2007 at 20:31
In all fairness Dan, Barry never will be good enough to play for anyone other than Aston Villa. He had a good game against Israel and Russia. Israel are about as good as Wigan/West Ham and Russia are about as good as Portsmouth and Aston Villa so how can you judge him to be so good. Maybe we should buy Emile Heskey for 20m now
. God knows there is talk of him being better than Rooney now.
I just want to talk about Tevez for a moment. The fact is he is doing everything that he did for West Ham for United. He is playing the same style and making the same runs. It’s just that’s not what we’ve needed from him. We’ve needed a player who will stay right up there and turn the last man and be through on goal not someone who picks the ball up at the halfway line then tries to beat the whole opposition team by himself. At West Ham he had another player up there so he could play the little one-twos when he got close enough to goal which he hasn’t had at MU but he still continues to play the same style which leads to a lack of goals and a lot of wasteful play. Also why is Ronaldo taking freekicks when about half of Tevez’s goals came from frees last season?
September 15th, 2007 at 20:43
Dan - there are 2 reasons you’re getting heat. Firstly Carrick hasn’t been that bad. I would say over the course of the season the performance levels of him and the Ginger Prince have been at a similar level. Yet Carrick is starting to be turned into a scapegoat (not just by you) while Scholes can do no wrong.
Secondly of the 3 transfer suggestions you gave one unrealistic option (De Rossi), one cup tied option (Huntelaar) and Gareth Barry, who you have only suggested because he has had two good games for England in the last week. Being a good partner for Gerrard does not make Barry a better player than Carrick.
Liam - Tevez has played as the point man for Argentina and Corinthians at times so it’s is not as if he is incapable. I would either peg it as tactical indiscipline from Tevez or poor instructions from the coaching staff.
P.S. Although Ronaldo’s free kicks were poor, all three were pretty far out, probably too far for Tevez to take.
September 15th, 2007 at 21:30
i dont think we were as diabolical as some suggest..if u look at the stats we had nearly 60% posession and our pass completion rate was 80%,we defended well..its just that this season.the cutting edge we had has gone blunt..the team’s winning and i think in another 3-4 games we will be back to our fluid best.
September 15th, 2007 at 21:50
JB - yeah I was thinking about it being tactical indiscipline and I said it on a comment last week as well that he is just not being the player that we need him to. It has nothing to do with his ability to be the lone ranger he just doesn’t seem to want to play that role. With West Ham I think he was given a free role and he still hasn’t gotten out of that mindset. If Saha doesn’t play then Tevez is needed to be the main man when it comes to attack and if they haven’t already then the coaches need to tell him that.
September 15th, 2007 at 22:05
To be fair lone front man is not likely to be the long term role for Tevez. SAF has already suggested he intends to use Rooney in this role, which he has shown he can play, provided he is given sufficient support.
September 15th, 2007 at 22:57
Fergie’s cautious and unimaginative approach is leading me to drink. Apparently Saha and Rooney are made out of fine china and cannot be risked in a meaningful game. One man up front is just not cutting it. I’m tired of looking for scapegoats on the field. The ones at blame here are the coaches and Fergie’s stubborn resolve to do it his way whether it works or not.
Trust me when I say that we are lucky not to be in the same position as Tottenham. four goals in six games is just not acceptable for a team as high priced as this. It’s about time some of the big names stepped up and made a statement of intent. Ronaldo was a big disappointment for me as he seems to be static without that extra bit of drive and zip in his game. Yet he seems to wake up when he plays for Portugal. This leads me to believe it is a tactical decision to hold him back.
I could be wrong but whatever the case, something is broken and it really needs to be fixed. The great news is that Chelski and Liverfool both lacked any finish today and so we made up a lot of ground. Now we need some class and skill to step up along with our luck.
September 16th, 2007 at 5:41
I agree. it was a shocking game.
Encouraging to see Pique given a shot though…wasn’t the best of runs but…
September 16th, 2007 at 5:41
my dream line up for 08/09
Pique Vidic Rio
Hargreaves
Nani Ronaldo
Anderson Tevez
Rooney Saha
Super Subs: Carrick, O’Shea, Evra, Scholes, Giggs
this only works because of the pace that pique and Rio possess (albeit this cant happen as of right now because pique doesnt seem to have the body strength to be an elite prem defender
but still
exciting
September 16th, 2007 at 8:31
first off, ive always considerd barry a better mid than carrick, i was one of the people bad mouthing scholes atchuly, but in my opinion he has played better, we didnt pay shit for scholes, but we wasted 18 million on carrick, do you really think hes worth anything over 14 million, i dont see de rossi happening its all rumours so im not holding my breath, however i can see us trying to buy huntlaar.
September 16th, 2007 at 8:43
To anyone who watched or heard the game, how did Saha perform when he came on? Did he improve our play like he did when he came on against Sunderland
September 16th, 2007 at 9:30
I have always been a fan of Carrick. I thought we would pick him up from the West Ham fire sale and couldn’t believe it when Spurs got him for less than £3M. He is a Northern Lad and would have easily come to us rather than wanting to stay “darn sarf” like Lamps & Cole.
I don’t think we exactly got a bargain but I thought the fee was £14M rising to £18M on trophies etc.
Barry is a good footballer but maintaining he is better than Carrick is fatuous. Carrick started last season slowly but he and Scholes were immense by the end.
To want to sell him after 6 games and buy an inferior player just because he has had two good outings for England is just plain silly
September 16th, 2007 at 12:21
im not judging barry by 2 games, the stupid people here are the people who assumed that i was judging him from his england games, when in fact im judging him from what ive seen of him.
September 16th, 2007 at 13:20
Grognard ur spot on! If Fergie could pick the right team (and that includes substitutions!) we would be far more comfortable. the ammount of times you sit down for a match n our line up looks like a fuckin WIND UP!! Giggs can clearly no longer play 90mins for us, Tevez NEEDS saha or any1 with some stature up top with him for him 2 flurish, Pique has to play with Nev out as Brown is a mug going 4ward… ETC…..All these things are clear to see for any1 really payin attention
September 16th, 2007 at 16:08
APPALLING! Well I wouldn’t go that far regarding the match but I would use that word to describe the current state of modern football and the EPL. Money and the pressure to perform at the highest level due to the money involved in placing a team in European competition has created a game that is very unattractive to watch. This modern trend of stacking the midfield with bodies and clogging up the passing lanes has so destroyed the flow and beauty of the game.
Forget the fact I am from North America. Unlike many of us here, I have great patience and enjoy a well played 1-0 match. The problem is that there are far too many 0-0, 1-0 matches with little or any action. It’s bad enough to see the bottom feeders resorting to negative Berlin Wall tactics but teams like Liverpool and Chelski are also ultra cautious and are elated with 1-0 victories. Think back to the 90’s and how beautiful it was to watch a game. I will always give United credit for playing attractive attacking football, but even they seem to have run up against a wall they are finding impossible to climb. The only way is to play an old style 4-4-2 with two tall central strikers and cross the balls in to them. Unfortunately, the money and possible loss of points keep top managers like Fergie from doing this because it leaves us suspect at the back on a rare opponents counterattack. This means that even Fergie is lacking the courage to forcefully attack teams who use these negative tactics.
Defensive tactics are not new to the game but they have become increasingly technical and the cheating aspect (especially shirt pulling has become epidemic)has made it very difficult for offensive attacks to succeed. I have a few suggestions on how to improve the present way of things, but how do some of you feel? Do you have any suggestions on how to open up the game so that it becomes free flowing again? How do we end this negative cycle of play that has hit the game like a plague?
September 16th, 2007 at 16:52
changing the subject, why the hell is eckerly or what ever he’s called still at united? he’s 22 and hasnt broken into the first-team bench yet, he needs to leave.
September 16th, 2007 at 18:37
Grognard WE can’t change anything, footballers play to win and they clearly think that playing defensively against the big teams makes it easier.
‘The only way is to play an old style 4-4-2 with two tall central strikers and cross the balls in to them’ The fact that you wrote that on a manchester united blog is plain stupid. Last year we hardly crossed it in at all and we played beautiful football, just like arsenal do consistently, and they barely ever cross it.
September 16th, 2007 at 19:06
Frankly, I feel that Tevez is the next Paul Scholes. From what I’ve seen him play so far for United. He loves come deeep to get ball and he has very good passing skill. He can score from the edge or out of box. Also can hold ball to play or pass to others. Bu when we put him as a target man. He’s useless. What do you think?
September 16th, 2007 at 19:54
Mikael Silvestre will miss the rest of the season with a cruciate knee ligament injury. i now it sound crual but im glad
September 16th, 2007 at 21:35
Feel sorry for silly.he has been a good united player
September 17th, 2007 at 1:15
All I am saying is that the game has become more and more complicated regarding breaking down defenses. If taking and old school approach like 4-4-2 creates more scoring opportunities, then so be it. Unfortunately United has built their team to play an attractive continental style. Although it’s early, it seems that teams have figured out what United are up to tactically and have adapted a style of defending that is lacking in attacked but stacked on defense. I’ve talked to some local coaches and we are in agreement that the only way to break this style of defense down is through the use of height and physical presence in the box. This is not written in stone however. This is why I threw the question out there to see what other tactical concepts might work better with the talent available.
It’s extremely frustrating to watch United churn out the crap they have offered us this year. I’ve never seen anything like it from a team as loaded in talent as this group is. Injuries happen to all teams so lets not use that as an excuse. Fergie has got to figure out another scheme rather than patiently wait for the Messiah Rooney to return. He’s not exactly a goal scoring van Nistelrooy machine you know. We must consider ourselves extremely lucky to be in the position we presently are in. Now it’s time to wake up and turn on the turbo jets.
September 17th, 2007 at 7:14
Dan - sell Carrick in January? What wrong has he done? Do you really watch Man U matches or you rely on hearsay? Carrick is a very good player. You do not sell your good players to buy others. Man U is not like Chelsea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
September 17th, 2007 at 7:36
you all blinded, he performs in the small mataches and disappears in the big matches, i completly forgot if he was in the city match because thats how uninfluential he is, the only good performance that i can remember is the one against roma.
September 17th, 2007 at 7:38
oh yea, its a good opertunity for our younger defenders now that silvestre is injured, there gona get alot more matches than thet expected.
September 17th, 2007 at 7:57
“Frankly, I feel that Tevez is the next Paul Scholes. From what I’ve seen him play so far for United. He loves come deeep to get ball and he has very good passing skill. He can score from the edge or out of box. Also can hold ball to play or pass to others. Bu when we put him as a target man. He’s useless. What do you think?”
I find myself agreeing with your statement. Its really strange as he is a playmaker/striker but I do see him been a pivotal part of Man Utd. He should be giving a free role in the team and should not be wasted as a target man. Only way he can be a target is if we pass it on the ground. lol
September 17th, 2007 at 12:12
Lads- check out the boy Marek Hamsik, plays for napoli + Slovakia. Hes an attackin mid, 20 yrs old n classy as fuck. couple reports l.year said he drempt of playin for us 1day
September 17th, 2007 at 15:38
We cannot celebrate the injury of Silvestre. It is purely inhuman to celebrate the injury of one of our players however how much we dislike his style of play. Do not forget we have already sold Heinze and if anything was to happen to Evra now (God forbid!) we could have a serious crisis at the LFB position. If we think Silly is very ineffective, maybe we can lobby his his disposal next summer and we buy a better defender but to clap our hands when he is in pain is rather unGodly!!!!
September 17th, 2007 at 15:51
Grognard,
While I may agree with you that what we need is the 4-4-2 system, we do not necessarily have to get two tall strikers at the box for whom to send the aerial crosses in order for them to score. What we need is the same strikers that we have at the moment - Rooney and Saha. With Ronaldo on the right and Nani on the left (plus the attacking runs down the wings of our two able RBs Evra and G Neville) we should be able to turn the teams around. This idea of not penetrating in the box has come out only this year. If Saha can hold well inside the box and Rooney just before him, I do not see why we should not once again start penetrating enough. When G Neville is on the run, Ronaldo should move inside and G Neville pass the balls to him so that he can take the defenders head on inside the box - get penalties or set up Rooney/Saha inside the same box. We need ground attacks not aerial ones but with good driblling skills from Ronaldo, Rooney and Saha…
September 17th, 2007 at 16:29
I agree with you Hiram. Two tall strikers is just the ideal scenario but I wasn’t exactly expecting that to happen. I would love to see the addition of a Huntelaar to the team in January though. The problem with Ronaldo and Nani in a 4-4-2 is that they are not the greatest crossers in the world. They are not terrible but they certainly are not Beckhamesque.
You are dead on about Neville. This team misses his forward runs down the right side a lot. We also need more attacking ambition from Ronaldo and Nani with the ball at their feet. I honestly feel that Ronaldo has been a little timid so far this early season. He needs to go at defenders. Nani does also. To often they have moved at a snails pace and have been more than comfortable making the safe pass that accomplishes nothing. I feel that both Scholes and Giggs will improve as the season moves on. They are getting old and sometimes it takes a little longer to find your form at that age. Whatever the case, Fergie has finally got to put two strikers on the pitch to start a game. 4-5-1 is just garbage and it isn’t working other than it is keeping mediocre opponents from scoring on us.
Finally, I am really looking forward to seeing what Ronaldo and Nani do against their formal club Sporting Lisbon. That should wake both of them up and really motivate them. But I’ll bet you Fergie will not even start Nani, which I think would be a mistake. I hope I’m wrong.