Feb 19
Everton will not roll over for United
After conquering AC Milan at the San Siro, Manchester United face their second tough road game in five days when they go to Everton on Saturday.
But the Betfair layers are taking no chances with the champions and rate the Reds as just 1.85 (5-6) chances to win at an opponent in very good form at present.
Everton have lost just once in 2010 – a fractious derby game with Liverpool – while Chelsea and Manchester City have been beaten at Goodison Park. They will not roll over for United.
And with Phil Neville, Tim Howard and Louis Saha in their side, the Toffees have a strong backbone of ex-United players who will be pumped up for the visit of their former club. And, of course, Wayne Rooney – United’s hero again this week – will get no love from the home faithful, who still cannot forgive him departing for Old Trafford back in 2004.
But despite good domestic and European form, recent results between the two do not give Everton fans much hope for a famous win over their old rivals. The Toffees boast just one victory over United since April of 2005, with seven defeats and two draws their miserable sequence since a 1-0 win at Goodison.
Everton’s good Premier League run has been based on a tight defence that has given up four goals in six games and an attack that does just enough to get the win. Only Sunderland and City have been beaten by two goals and the profile of those results should be taken into account. A tight affair looks likely and draw/Manchester United in the halftime-fulltime market appeals at 5.5 (9-2).
If you’re convinced a low scoring, closely fought contest is on the cards, then a trio of correct scores – 0-1, 1-2 and 1-1 – could tempt. They work out to combined odds of just under 3 (2-1) if backed together.
Should United score, then we all know who’s likely to be netting. It’s hard to take your eyes off Rooney at the moment and, back at his old club, the temptation is there to back him for a goal. A price of 2.25 (5-4) should be achievable once the market opens.
Follow Everton v Manchester United live online here.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Deadline Day Looms…
- Featured Lookalike: Nani and…?
- Will United Leave It Late against Everton Again?
- So What Does United Do Now?
- United get Milan, Giggs gets new deal
Tags: Site News
Opti (541)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Stephen (454)
Craig Mc (344)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
ECL question: With Anderson out of season can we draft a replacement? That is, can we put Hargo back into the lineup now?
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@Stephen: How old was Fletcher when we called him crap? I think 21-22. If we can give Fletcher a shot, let’s give Anderson the benefit of the doubt.
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: He has been with us for three seasons, I have seen nothing in him to give the benefit of the doubt, and Fletch didn’t cost £18.6m
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@Stephen: Don’t judge a player by his purchase price — it is not a true reflection of his skills. Seriously, Ronaldo will never live up to 80 million, berbatov is never going to perform worth 30 million.
Anderson could theoretically stay with us until age 30 (if he gets to stay that long) but that would mean we pay 18 million for 12 years of service… I am 100% sure he will improve to AT LEAST O’Shea level. I think he will get better but only time/fergie will tell.
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: You have to mate, he came with a large price tag and has been one hell of a flop, he has a bad attitude, can’t shoot, can’t tackle and is over weight sorry mate but for me he is one of Fergies worst signings.
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: With the injury dont think we will be selling ando for another season unless we get a real good price from some club. so Eddy can wank to that tonite
Who will we plan against Milan now. Just Hope Giggsy somehow manages to recover in time, else we are left with Scholes and Fletch…and of course Park to well, stroll around the park as much as he can 
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@ Stephen – Name me 5 21 year old central midfielders who are better than Anderson, and we can go sign one of them. Oh.
He’s shown glimpses of what he can become, if we nuture him and give him time. Midfielders don’t all have to be able to shoot. And hell, look at Fabregas, he went 2 years barely scoring finally working it out.
The only thing that will hold Ando back is these 6 month injuries. That’s 2 in 4 years. Very hard to stay fit through that.
I’m with the others, you can’t use price tag to judge a player’s worth. If Anderson hadn’t come in and scored a pen in the CL final in 08 we might have lost – is that worth half his fee? Is Vidic 4 times more valuable than Rio because he cost that much less? It’s madness.
Hopefully Ando will recover, and spend the 6 months away from the game watching videos, learning tactics and learning English
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@Grognard
id you know the English originally invented Hockey?
According to a pack of rolling papers I read not to long ago
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@Beachryan: Mesut Ozil, Sebastian Giovinco, Marek Hamsik, Hernanes, Arron Ramnsey and Sergio Busquets.
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@Stephen: Busquets and Ramsey and Hernanes are inconsistent, iffy, mostly unproven picks at best. Anderson equals these three at least
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I don’t agree mate, but that is the great thing about football and Red. Rants debate, for me I wish Anderson was inconsistant he is simply not very good in my eyes but will be happy to be proven wrong. I would take all of those players ahead of the silly haired one.
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@Man Utd Jaluo: If Fergie is serious about going for Milos Krasic, something has to give. Therefore I feel that either Valencia or Nani will move this summer. Nani has rebounded into a pretty good option for us and I feel he offers us more in attack than Valencia, but Valencia although not as flashy is more consistent and offers stability. My gut feeling tells me that the Nani we have been seeing before his suspension was a cameo to show the world his wares and to shop him in the summer. I hope i’m wrong but his history tells us that he may not be emotionally up for the job on a day to day basis. The lad loses it on occasion and there are games where he just feels overwhelmed. Valencia on the other hand never gets too high or too low and seems to be very mature and well centered. Fergie likes this in players and likes his mature outlook and ability to contain his emotions and not beckon red cards and such. Gut feeling tells me he stays and Nani goes. If Nani could up his game on the left side then he would still have a home here but he is half the player on the left side that he is on the right. Then again, if Fergie doesn’t go after Krasic or loses him to another team, then there is no reason whatsoever to get rid of Nani.
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@Man Utd Jaluo: Cech is still a great shot stopper. A lot of his game has gone south since his bad head injury but as far as shot stopping, he is right up there with the best. Chelsea has always had a very good back four so really they do not require much more from a keeper than being a good shot stopper. Hilario is not a good shot stopper. Like Almunia that is a discipline that seems to have eluded him in his development as a keeper. Chelsea do not need a strong distributor of the ball or a general or smart keeper, instead they require that one man who is there to make a big stop on those two occasions in the game when John Terry starts to wonder what it was that made his life Hell. Those few breakdowns that a good team has where a world class goalkeeper is there to bail the team out.
That is the difference between us, Chelsea and the likes of Arsenal. If Arsenal had spent a minor fortune on a world class keeper like a Neuer, Adler, Lloris, Frey etc, they would now be a first place team, no doubt about it. Their breakdowns and defense are not any more than what we or Chelsea show every week. The difference is they pay for it because they do not have that last bastion of hope back there to stop the ball from going into the net. I cannot emphasize this more. A great keeper means everything. If Cech is out longer than expected, it will hurt Chelsea. If he returns and hasn’t got the same spring in his leg and it causes him to hesitate or to be slower, it will hurt them. Thank God EVDS is back and healthy. Hope he stays that way.
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@Man Utd Jaluo: I too wouldn’t call it selfish as much as I would call it fool hardy and cowardly.
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@Traverse: Who’s talking about fumbling shots? Not all shots can be caught by keepers and held. Most times a keeper does well by just stopping the ball from going in. Sometimes a shot is so well placed that only a great dive can keep it from going in.
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@EduardoDaVinci4: That’s just part of life mate. My mother often says that God only tortures the ones he loves and the ones that believe. I don’t buy into that of course but it often does make me think because I know a number of real nasty people who never seem to have any problems in life meanwhile, all these good people I know are either sick, poor or dying.
Anderson will get better and hopefully this time off will help him think about what he has and hasn’t done to make his presence felt at OT. Maybe when he returns we will have new Andy with a new attitude and a leaner body who like Nani, finally gets it and is ready to claim his position. I rather doubt it but for your sake and the club’s, I’m hoping I am wrong.
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: Well I think you are wrong mate. Simple as that. What really made me howl with laughter is your claim that he was improving this year. Far from it. This season he was regressing backwards and what better evidence do you need other than he was sent down to play with the reserves because of his “great improvement”.
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@Grognard: Is Krasic as good on the left wing as on the right or like Nani can he do a job on the LW but should be played on the right? I have not seen enough of him except youtube clips and the odd game which is not enough to get the full picture. I hope R Madrid are not seriously looking at him but he has been talking up a move to either them, AC Milan or us.
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: Lets not. I saw more quality in Fletcher at his very worst than I have ever seen in Anderson at his best. Anderson has been pants for us since he got here and he also has a bad haircut. 2 strikes now and one more to go before he is gone. Only one part of his game was ever good which was his dribbling with speed and protecting the ball with his big round ass as a shield. After that I’d like to know one thing that anyone can say was a strong set of skills that we could use or that were obvious to the naked eye? I hate kicking him when he is down but I just do not think he is a very good player. And if once he was, then seriously, something happened to stunt his growth and development. Perhaps it was getting fat, but I think there is a lot more to it.
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: That’s not true at all. In fact Ronaldo has complained that in Spain he is targeted much more and that opponents are more physical towards him than they were in England. I find that hard to believe when I remember the way teams treated him but that is what he claims. I think teams in general do not play as physical as they do in England but I think that what Spanish clubs do more is have specific role players or assassins on the pitch who are selected to do one thing and thats basically put the star in the hospital or at least make his life miserable for 90 minutes. Hell, I remember back in the 70′s and 80′s when Spain had the reputation of being a butcher shop and when they had players with nicknames like The Butcher of Bilbao and the Assassinini.
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: If you went to a store and bought something expensive only to find it sucked, trust me, you’d be on about the purchase price. Anderson was a case of United doing bad business.
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@Beachryan: 50 midfielders in Europe right now that are under 21 that I can think of.
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@Harry Carrick: And the Dutch invented golf. Try convincing the Scots that.
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@Stephen: And I too could go on and on and on. There are tons of them. In fact, Germany have several female players I would rate higher than Anderson and they too have better hair.
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@rsg: Krasic is pretty exclusive to the right side but I have seen him play on the left side and he seems good there too and he even scored a couple of great goals playing over there, that i can recall.. He has so much skill that I think he could play across the midfield without much of a problem.
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@rsg: Madrid want everyone. They have no room for Ribery or Krasic but they want them anyway. Eventually a player like Krasic is going to be smart I hope to understand that he will not play much being second banana to Ronaldo for crying out loud.
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@Grognard: He is a footballer after all, I wouldn’t give him too much credit. Too much pride and ego, not enough brain cells, just like Huntelaar.
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@Grognard: I think at times you forget that we got the post leg break Anderson. Although he is still fast, he lost his electric pace. In sports we all know that speed kills, and that was the thing Anderson relied most on. Not having that anymore is prolly why you see him struggle so much.
It’s funny because I agree about him being the next ronaldinho, just not in a good way. It’s one of the worst kept secrets in football that ronaldinho doesn’t like training and is a party animal. He always had sublime skill, but his ability to blow by defenders is what made him unplayable. A few injuries here and there and he has lost a step. If he had a strong work ethic I’m sure he could get alot of that pace back, but he doesn’t. Anderson is in the same boat as he doesn’t take advantage of training. A leg break at 20 shouldn’t be the end of your career, it should just be a set back.
Going on recent history I doubt you’ll ever see Anderson play for our first team again. This is another major injury set back, and he hasn’t proved he has the hunger or desire to do what it takes to regain full fitness.
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As much as I like nani, I would prefer we kept Valencia and get a proper left winger. On his day Nani is without a doubt a more dangerous player, but his inconsistency holds him back. Valencia may not be flashy but you know what your gonna get from him game to game.
It amazes me how people still are so hard on Valencia, his goal and assist contribution has been great for us this year. He has been at the very least a “good” signing.
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@Johnsom33: I agree that Valencia is under-appreciated. He was set up to fail by a lot of the media but has kept his head down and achieved well in terms of goal and assist stats. Unfortunately, he was replacing Ronaldo who bar Messi and Ribery on his A game is a hard act to follow. What’s going against Valencia, is that he’s not a flair player and while effective not very exciting to watch. I see him as a faster, stronger, more athletic upgrade to Park.
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@Johnsom33: I have my doubts we will buy or can afford the proven quality like David Silva that this team needs. So we are better off sticking with Nani and hope he can find consistency with a run of games. We have wasted time and money on pot shots like Tosic and Obertan that have potential but cannot do a job in the first team when it counts. A focus on quality to replace ageing and unproductive players would really benefit this team, but it’s all about the £’s. If you add up the amounts spent on the Tosic’s etc we could have spent more wisely on less quantity and more quality.
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@Johnsom33: I doubt it was the leg. More like those three rolls around his stomach area that have most to do with a loss of pace. Anderson is more than capable of playing well at a lower level. It’s at the highest level where he cannot compete, because without that speed, there is not enough skill or finesse in his game to compensate with. Enough with all the excuses for this guy. He isn’t good enough. Three years he had to not only find his form but to take the game seriously and condition himself better. He failed. Now we must move on without him.
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@Johnsom33: He’s a good player but my contention has always been that we don’t deserve good players, we are United, we deserve world class players. Based on that criteria he doesn’t cut it for me. Still, I think he is a good player who doesn’t upset me when he is out there, but even with his inconsistency, I prefer Nani because of that extra gear and dimension he brings to a game.
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@Grognard: What are your thoughts on Schweinsteiger, I know he is another right footed left sided player but I have been impressed with him in the games I have seen him play and like his flexibility to play anywhere in midfield. Not sure if he lacks speed to do well in England, but great passer and crosser.
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Valencia doesn’t have any fancy looking tricks so he isn’t rated as much but he is easily as effective as Nani when it comes to winning games.
Also, I don’t care about having world class players as long as we have a world class team and the two are not one and the same.
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@RM: It takes world class players to have a world class team. Which world class team doesn’t have world class players? And I know the words “world class” are open to interpretation, so which top teams don’t have top/star players.
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It’s not so much the definition of world class, rather that being in a world class team can make a player world class (in my eyes) but having a world class player (or even 11) does not necessarily make a world class team.
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@RM: This is starting to get tongue twisting.
Again I don’t like using the term world class because it’s overused, but the top/world class teams achieve their status and success by having 1 or more top/world class players in different positions. You cannot be a World class team just by name, label or past history.
Manchester United – Rooney, Vidic maybe VDS, Evra, Rio.
Barcelona – Messi, Xavi, Iniesta maybe Alves, Puyol.
Chelsea – Drogba, Essien maybe Lampard, Terry, Cech.
Liverpool – Torres, Gerrard maybe Reina, Mascherano
R Madrid – Ronaldo, Casilas maybe Kaka
Again the term world class is being stretched to label some of these players and the maybes are open to debate depending on who you ask, but you get the idea. I appreciate and understand the need for balance in the team, but you can see that the top teams have top players and thats what makes them the top teams
Like you say a player reaches or realises his world class status when he is apart of and plays in a world class team because —- he is playing alongside other world class players.
Ronaldo with Portugal players is not as good as how Ronaldo was with Manchester United players.
Yes you need all the factors that make a successful team to work like the right combo of players in the right formation and system but even then you need the players that make the difference, that are that extra class above.
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Cech will be out for a month with calf injury, disappointing seen as it looked more serious at the time.
We can only hope whatever time Hilario spends in goal is beneficial to us in the title race, starting against Man City.
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@rsg: Schweinsteiger is a talented player but is slow footed for one who plays on the wing. He is a great crosser of the ball and has a lethal and very hard shot from distance. A very aggressive player offensively and he is tenacious a times defensively. Problem, he is German and Fergie hates Germans. Secondly, he does not suit our system as he is too slow. If we had more quality in central midfield, we could get away with a Beckham like wide player but we don’t. He is a moody form player. When he is on, he is awesome and when he is snoozing, he disappears for games on end. We need to maintain our pace on the wings and his lack of pace is a major problem. Finally, why talk about him as Fergie has never ever shown an interest in him. He will never come to United.
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@RM: Quite the naive outlook. Never ever underestimate the impact of a player with tricks in his pocket and world class teams are made up of a number of world class players. I cannot remember the last great team that had no world class players. Try selling that bag of hammers to the fans of Madrid and Barcelona. Nice idealistic way to look at things but highly unrealistic. Typical working class fantasy.
Whatever gets you through the night mate.
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@rsg: Exactly!
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@RM: Real Madrid right now is not a world class team in the classic team sense, but they get world class results because they are loaded with world class players who individually and on occasion together make things happen. You don’t always have to be a great team in the classic sense and in the coaching sense to be successful if you have incredible talent. Again, it’s the wish of the working class that their efforts at working as a group are acknowledged and thus they like to shit all over the idea of world class talent in any professional sector because it threatens their own fragile sensibilities and ideas about self worth. Society in genera has always frowned on the artist over the talentless working man.
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@Grognard: What are you talking about, man??
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Will one more MF injury mean that we’ll revert to the 4-4-2, by necessity. Or will SAF recruit someone to play inside (Valencia, maybe)??
Scholes can simply not play every game, and the Carrick/Fletcher combo has not proved successful.
Our options are being marginalized, almost weekly!!
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@Grognard: Thing is when you were talking about Valencia the impression I got was that because he’s not world class he’s not good enough for United in your eyes. I know full well that we already have world class players (IMO) in Rooney, Rio, Vidic, Evra and VDS but having individually world class players in every position is not as important as having players that are right for the team. The great thing is that Fergie has always been the master at getting this balance right.
I’m of the opinion that a team can be very much more than the sum of its parts or, on the other side of the coin, less than the sum of its parts.
The question for me is whether Valencia is a good fit for our team and I think he is a perfect fit. I would also put money on him becoming someone who is considered a world class player in the next few years which is something that I doubt he would achieve at Wigan – hence teams making players world class.
Not sure where you get the working class thing tbh, I didn’t realise team work was such a naive concept!
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@Grognard: The only time where players are better than the performance of their team is in FIFA or Championship Manager 97/98. In real life, team work trumps individual performance in 99% of cases.
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Make sure all of you scroll all the way down when you check this out. I couldn’t stop laughing.
http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=47508
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@RM: Teamwork is great. It’s even greater when the players perform way above the expected norm. Ordinary doesn’t cut it with me. Look at all those hard working minnows in the bottom half of the league. All those teams work their ass off, and for what? They have no talent and their hard work only takes them so far.
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Basically if you want to win trophies you need good players in every position, a good balance and blend to your team, AND a few world class players who are capable of winning matches. If you are missing those components you are not going to win anything.
Take a team like Valencia. They have David Villa and David Silva…both considered world class or close to that. But the rest of their team sucks so they never win anything.
Take a team like Villa. They have good players in every position, but no world class players. SO they never win anything either.
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