Apr 16
Grant “Believes” | Capello on Rooney | Queiroz Loves Ron
Some United related news to talk about today, as usual. So like real gentlemen, let’s talk about it.
Avram Grant and his title ambitions
It’s come to this. Most fans weren’t too happy when Avram Grant was appointed, and opinion hasn’t changed much now. At this point many Chelsea fans just want the season to be done with and don’t even think that they deserve to win the title — however improbable it may be. Avram Grant thinks the title can still be won. Mathematically, yes. With his style of management, unlikely. Anyway, it’s not my interest to discuss their season at the moment, but towards the end of the article there are some interesting stats thrown about on how some of Fergie’s old pals have done us a favour by nicking points off the ‘big four’. And they are substantial. I am not too much on stats, but it’s interesting reading that.
Carlos Queiroz has reiterated that not even £ 97m can force him to part with Ronaldo. There is no way he can let Ronaldo leave United. Good to see the confidence, and hopefully that puts Real off his radar at least for this year, before they again come round circling next year.
To make this even clear, Ronaldo has expressed his frustration at constantly being linked with these clubs. He has for the 5987th time reiterated that he’s “happy at United”. He’s also added a “these rumours make me mad” quote just to confirm that these were not regurgitated quotes from before.
Fabio Capello has been quite impressed with Rooney. He gushes about his superior technique — names him among the best of the England squad — and even tips him for a future role as England captain. He also thinks his finishing needs to be worked on. ‘Constant practice in training sessions’ as an option — which would seem rather obvious. He cites the example of Crespo, and that with time he will improve.
Trust me, I was thinking of this pun ever since I saw the headline “Mikael eyes silverware” on Manutd.com. It was very tempting to do a tabloidish word play — you know, guilty pleasures and all that. So Mr Easter Island Head (or EIH for convenience) wants to join in and contribute as best as he could to help United achieve double glory. EIH just made his return against Roma, and while he has been prone to the loss in concentration, he is an adequate back up to Evra, who has been running at full pelt for a good part of this season. It’s nice to see useful players of his kind coming in at this crucial juncture — a luxury we weren’t blessed with last season.
Vidic Returns to training
… and is in contention for the Blackburn game. What can I say? Great news, and hope he’s in full flow for Barca.
Other bits and bobs
Well, there’s an article in the Sun where Torres wants to see Barca beat Man Utd. Giggs says that he’ll stop playing when he doesn’t enjoy it anymore or if he feels he’s not performing to a good level.
And that’s about it for the day. Over to you, lads.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Wayne Rooney Interviews Capello
- Featured Lookalike: Nani and…?
- It’s Make Or Break For Michael Owen
- Why Carlos Queiroz is More Important than Ronaldo
- Fletch For Everton? Pako for a ‘Thrilled’ Queiroz?
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (541)
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Craig Mc (344)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
Re: The Great Striker Debate
With regard to the above, in addition to the usual names being bandied about i.e. Huntelaar, Gomez, Fabiano et al, I was wondering why nobody has suggested David Villa of Valencia??
The guy is a terrific finisher and has been one of the top strikers in Spain for the last few seasons! The skill, power and pace that he possesses in abundance would definitely see him fit into our style of play, and in addition, he could also possibly play the target man role and get us 20 goals a season simultaneously. Lest I forget, he is also only 26 and would definitely be a long term investment too (on that note: GET RID OF SAHA!!).
Valencia have had an abysmal season by their standards this year, and consequently this could see a possible mass exodus of their stars. Villa has been quoted in the press as wanting to definitely leave this summer, and should he do so, his primary destination would be England. I reckon sending a cool sum in the region of £15-20m in Valencia’s direction would be enough to seal his capture, with another £10m to be spent on strengthening the right back position. What do you fellow ranters think?
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r7AbdU0y7Q
Check this out!
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I read David Villa’s comments as well Nino, and started to get excited at the thought of having him in our team, until he said this:
But there is no doubt he is the best striker who is definitely available right now, and he’s one of the top 5 strikers in the world.
“I watch the Premier League a lot and the team I’m most attracted to is definitely Arsenal,”
Unfortunately I don’t see Machester United being mentioned in that quote
Dan; I never heard the Panathinaikos coach saying that, what website was this reported on? And also, think about it, do you not think he will be just as much of a back-up for us as he is for them?
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Conor, I would not really read too much into that quote from Villa. After all, Fernando Torres and Ryan Babel both also previously said they would only ever consider playing for Arsenal if they came to England, and look where they ended up………………
…….nothing ventured nothing gained, and I would like to see SAF bid for this talented forward (see YouTube clip I posted above). Better to get knocked back that not have tried at all eh?
On the topic of Arsenal, I read today that the Gunners are being linked with that Amauri fellow from Parma (or is it Palermo?) and Chelsea have been warned off Sergio Aguero of Atletico Madrid. Can anybody run the rule over these two players, and their suitability to contribute positively to the United cause? (Grognard? lol)
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A letter to Fergie
Ruud van Nistelroy , Drogba , Etoo , Adebayor , Ibrahimovic , Toni , Torres are the top strikers that we re not buying. We just can’t have these players in our team cause their teams are based on them or they re ex-Manchester players or transfer targets.Since we didn’t buy Adebayor or Drogba or Torres we can’t have them next year.In fact,we can never have them.
The other top in box strikers are Villa , Berbatov . Huntelaar and Benzema maybe—in a couple of years. Can we buy Berbatov or Villa? Of course we do! Buy one of them and no need for more transfers. Maybe even a right back is not needed then.
Don’t buy the finished Adriano – Owen – Henry.
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Nikos; who knows maybe we will buy Drogba? I definitely don’t want Berbatov in my team, he’s just not what we need, he’s not a finisher, he has no pace whatsoever, and the main thing is, he’s lazy, I just can’t accept that.
However I think you are undervaluing him greatly, sure Valncia are having a bad season, but look at Berbatov, his team are in the bottom half of the league as well and the price for him is still around £20m-25m, and he is a worse striker than David Villa.
Nino; fair point, reason to be optimistic still then
Re: Amauri, he is an absolutely terrific target man, scores goals from all over the pitch, is terriffic with his head and still great with his feet. He is like Toni or Drogba, but just with a few less goals. Still, I feel he is overpriced at £19m. He could do well for us, but as he’s not particularly young (27) I doubt we will go in for him.
Re: Aguero, he has the ability to play for any team in the world without doubt. He is great with the ball at his feet, great finisher, creates chances out of nothing, is fast and he links up well with strikers and the midfield. However he is in the Rooney/Tevez mould so is not what we need at all right now. Will definitely be one of the best strikers in the world some day.
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The striker that would make us best is karim benzema.He is destined for greatness.All these lads huntelaar,villa etc are all great but benzema is on another level.His goal against us was proof.He was shoving our own vidic around in that game.Whatever striker we get he MUST have pace.We dont need no slow guys.
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Colver; Being fresh has nothing to do with getting inured. It has more to do with poorer play. If someone sticks his spikes into you or tackles you poorly and causes an injury, is that the fault of having played him a lot? By playing a lot you of course increase your chances of getting injured but in turn, not playing a lot doesn’t eliminate the chance of a late season injury either.
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DAN; Don’t you think the Greek club would have played Manucho more if they thought he was good enough. You just can’t make things go your way just because you deem them to be true. Manucho has a lot of development ahead of him. He’s probably not that higher up in the pecking order than Welbeck, and he is not going to be at the big club as a starter any time soon. To go on a goal scoring run you need to play more games, yes. But you also need to be good enough to play those games. Right now Manucho is not good enough to play in the Greek league. And you already have him starring in the BPL FOR Manchester United? Totally ludicrous. My father probably played more games in his first year at Panathinaikos(Yes he played for their reserves before World War 2) than Manucho. And yes he was named just a backup because the Greeks had two stiffs they considered better than him. They were chasing Olympiakos for the league title. Do you not think he would have played Manucho more if he thought the boy was ready? The boy played his football in some backwater third world nation. It’s going to take a while before he is ready to wear United red at OT. Get your head out of the clouds mate.
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Nino; Villa has made it clear in the past that the only clubs in England he is interested in playing for is Arsenal and Liverpool. No Spanish ties here attractive enough for him to come over. At Arsenal he has his buddy Fabragas and at Liverpool he has a displaced La Liga team with an ex Valencia and Spanish manager. Hell, he is already turned down Chelsea’s big money too.
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Nino; The chances of any team other than possibly Chelsea signing Cun Aguerro are slim and none. Atletico’s owner just came out and said that he promises to keep Aguerro at Atletico and if he were to sell him we would be looking at 100 million to get it done. Outrageous but they see him as their Ronaldo. Chelsea are stupid enough and rich enough to pry someone like him or or Kaka or Messi, but United, Liverpool and Arsenal have to be a little more fiscally responsible.
To all the Benzema lovers out there. WAKE UP! We aren’t getting him. He doesn’t want to come here. In fact, he has no interest in the English League. He’s also a loser because he is comfortable playing in a tier two league for a team that rules the league and that will be knocked out of the Champions League every year at the Round of 16. He’s a LOSER. His dream is to bore himself playing in Italy once he decides to Lyon. In my opinon he is overrated anyway and much has been made over that one big goal he scored against us. I’d rather have a lot of garbage goals than a few gems anyway.
Regarding the 4 transfer targets. I think the Wigan part of the rumor is rubbish as I see no need for two players who aren’t good enough to be United players. As for Veloso and Moutinho, that rumor has been around for quite a while and I see it as a possibility. Veloso is versatile and he gives us that backup at CB or LB as well as playing the holding midfield role. Moutinho is a very good replacement for Scholes but weren’t Anderson and Carrick supposed to be that? For me it’s a player too many as we already have a clogged central midfield. Jesus H. Christ! If Fergie does not satisfactorily address our need for a quality striker and our lack of depth in that department this summer I will have a hissy fit. Enough already! Huntelaar, Gomez, Fabiano, Benzema, Drogba etc I don’t care which one, just get one for crying out loud. If I’m forced to seeing Rooney up front by himself again or Tevez and Rooney working a great one/two every tenth game and then clogging up the midfield then I will vomit. Please Fergie, I’m begging you. Please sign Huntelaar or Gomez and make that poor miserable old Grognard happy.
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are you seriously comparing a management team post-world war to one now… theres been this little thing between then and now called time, and in time things change. if he wasnt as good as welbeck, why would saf sign him anyway? why sign a 24 year-old who is worst then an inexperienced kid, the man utd management must see something in him worth buying. the thing with you grognard, if there is a player you dont like, you are quick to dismiss them, you’ve done this countless of times but if its someone you do like, like benzema, you would say he should be in the starting 11, or like torres, or drogba, you love to talk nicely about other teams strikers and talk so poorly of our own and you cant deny this. i think manucho can be the striker you want just that your reluctant to give him a chance.
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[Grognard]
Manucho has done well in the African Nations Cup too, not just the “backwater Third World Nation”. True he doesnt have experience playing at the top level but yes, there can be no doubt that he has the quality to shine. Man Utd don’t hire trash and I would like to believe that they do think considerably about a player before purchasing him.
Manucho will bring aerial threat and physical presence in the box, which our team desperately lacks. Perhaps he wont have a huge impact in his 1st season here, I grant you that, considering his inexperience and the monster called Premier League, but he wil get there. Look at Adebayor, Manucho is in the same mould.
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Dan; It was a joke! Buy yourself a sense of humor will ya! The fact that I would be comparing my Dad’s era to now is obviously meant as humor. And they call me too serious. JEEZ! Of course United see something in Manucho. But he is a 24 year old kid that has never played football at a high level. He needs to get acclimated to the very best and it’s going to take time or you will shatter the lad’s confidence. You watch and judge the game like a true couch potato. Have you ever played a sport? Your rash comments make me wonder? Benzema, Torres, Huntelaar and Gomez are world class young players who are currently playing for top of the line teams. They don’t come from nowhere with no experience in top flight football.
And I don’t talk badly of our own strikers because frankly speaking, WE DON’T HAVE ANY! Tevez is not really a front line striker, neither is Rooney. And don’t get me started on Balsa Boy. You are bloody hopeless Dan. Your arguments remind me of the kind a grade schooler would give because he just happens to like a player. I admire your passion and your devotion for United but please wake up to the realities of the situation as well as the sport and it’s professional approach. “i think Manucho can be the striker you want just that you are reluctant to give him a chance.” Your damned right i’m not willing to throw him into the starting lineup on the best team in Europe when he isn’t ready enough to play for fucking Panathinaikos in the second tier Greek league. God give me strength! Get your head out of the clouds and have drink of reality juice.
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Fair points Grognard, but let’s not forget we have a strong Portuguese contingent at United, which is the next best thing. Also, do you not think that, if it happens, our possible coronation as kings of Europe would greatly increase the chances of having top-class players at our doorstep begging us to sign them up?
United are a team very much in the ascendancy, and I struggle to understand why players like Villa would turn down the chance to play for four competitions each season, with the best player in the world Cristiano Ronaldo and company providing the bullets, and instead scrap for third/fourth place with Pool/L’Arse?? Oh well, their loss I guess…
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Mihir, you still remember Djemba-Djemba by any chance? I’m not for one second saying that Manucho will turn out like him, but we are not infallible in the transfer market. I agree Manucho showed flashes of true quality at the ANC, but at the moment he is like a very very rough African diamond that needs to be cut and polished a lot before he begins to sparkle. I agree with Grognard that he is far from ready to play for us yet. Maybe a season in the Championship or League One will give us a better indication of whether he is ready to step up to the plate.
PS. This Manucho talk reminds me of what happened with Dong a few years back. Whatever happened to that fellow?
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Hey guys! I’m from Greece and my team is Panathinaikos F.C. (Domazos , Saravakos , Warzycha , Veron – the father,great footballer – , Basinas , Seitaredis )
Some things about Manucho. He ‘s way over the average greek player in terms of physical attributes. He is a nice finisher and he ‘s got average technique.
But still, his intelligence in the pitch is very poor. Very poor decision making , very poor positioning.
If he comes to Manchester he’s got to make some serious effort. For Panathinaikos he was average for reasons. 1 he is very careful cause he wants to train in Altraford next summer , so he wasn’t hungry for the ball nor he was tackling or marking. In Greece we say it “he doesn’t put his legs in the fire” 2 the coach didn’t give him many opportunities.
So Manucho will need at least 6 months of training in Altraford. Berbatov “doesn’t put his legs in the fire either” so we should go for Villa. Benzema will go to Real or Barca. Aguero will do the same thing. Also these two players will need to stregthen so as to come to England. You know, something like Defoe is better than them in England. They are great technicians , they are pacy strikers but still they don’t fit in the EPL.
Huntelaar is a very good choice as a good prospect for the future.His technique is great . He has never been in a club like Manchester where the training sessions are very hard and the starting eleve must be really great. We don’t know if he can handle the pressure although he is a Dutch professional footballer.
I don’t want us to buy Berba but I want us to buy Villa or try Benzema.Karim Benzema isn’t coming though.Who knows ? Maybe SAf will take onme more risk in his life and we will buy Huntelar.He is a great choice and the most possible cause SAF said he wants to bring in youth players.
CHOICES in SAF’s mind 1 Huntelaar 2Berbatov 3Aguero-Villa
in my mind 1 Villa – Aguero – Benzema – Arizmendi 2Huntelaar 3 there’s no third choice no Berbatov I mean.
ARIZMENDI?
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Nino; Actually the number one reason a lot of player don’t want to play at United is because of the city’s location in the north and the harsh weather. Most players especially South American’s, Africans and Latins prefer Spain, Portugal and Italy for cultural reasons and because the weather is suitable. French players like it in England but they especially like it at Arsenal because of Wenger. Most quality Spanish speaking players prefer Liverpool despite the weather because of Benitez and some prefer Chelsea because of the money and because many wanted to play for Mourinho, before he left of course. Ferguson is not as attractive to more proven players because he has a reputation as a disciplinarian and because his name has been tarnished by players like Veron, RVN, Heinze and others that left on bad terms. I’m sure even Beckham has said a few negative things about him in private, while praising Fergie in public. The one bonus we do have in signing more exotic players with Spanish or Portuguese heritage is Carlos Queiroz. We can never underestimate what he means to this club when it comes to securing the players we have and we will get. He is very highly respected. Ronaldo, Nani and Anderson are very happy here because of him. He has helped them make the cultural transition while working hard to maintain their happiness on and off the field.
Where do we have advantages in signing players? We have an advantage buying players from lesser clubs in the BPL and the rest of the UK. We have scouts and good connections in Portugal, Holland, Brazil and in Eastern Europe. We need to open our minds more towards Germany and Italy because there is a growing need for many Italians and Germans to ply their trade outside of the Serie A and the Bundesliga. This was unheard of just a few years ago. Germany is a stronghold of talent but Fergie and United continue to avoid it. I also think that we don’t look at Northern Europe enough. While everybody is scouring Africa for talent, Northern Europe is being widely ignored. Remember Ole Gunnar Solksjaer? The Scandinavian countries have something to offer.
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P.S. The fact that I don’t like Berbatov doesn’t he is a bad choice for our team. He ‘s got great technique and movements in the box but he doesn’t fit in my favorite pacy style we play right now. I think that SAF likes players like him. Ready to play , used to the English style , international , poacher. But that’s not what we fans like. Villa should be the first choice.I shouldn’t be dreaming of having Aguero or Benzema
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[Dan]
“You are quick to dismiss them, you’ve done this countless of times but if its someone you do like, like benzema, you…”
Pointless and unnecessary trying to accuse some one’s bias. If you have points to say about a players’ qualities then say it. Don’t bother yourselves about Grognard’s bias. You have your own on Welbeck. So stop this.
[Grognard]
“Get your head out of the clouds mate”, “Have you ever played any sport?”
Again unnecessary.
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Hey people Barca fan here,pardon my english im still learning.I have come here to the website for the
last two weeks to find out your fans mood.Here in spain its do or die this season.Rijkaard already
has benn told that if they do not win the uefa final he is going to be out.And i’m also pretty sure
that the players would give their best.But i feel Man utd are A strong team However the fans of Man utd
are thinking that we would be an easy pass but according to me we have only one chance left for the
season and we feel we are better in certain department like:
Forwards – ETO,Henry,Messi,Iniesta, are going to trouble man utd
Midfield – deco is back,xavi,toure,marquez, are ok compared to man utd
Defence – The only problem we face is in defence so maybe we are weak :
Given the situation we are in as everybody say that we are underdogs,i dont believe that.
milan performed badly last year in serie A so they won so i will be optimistic we win
and MAn utd are already talking about double still semi- final to go.Premiership is a reality
because in europe they dont have enough strenght ;:AND one major point is they have not faced
good team this season,only roma and Lyon all small teams.Plus rooney is not messi.only threat from manu
is ronaldo if we keep him quiet we win::this is my opinion off course”"”
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Personally I feel this whole striker thing is being overplayed.We have brilliant goal getters in CR7,Tevez and Rooney.What we need is someone 2 back up and keep Roovez on their toes.That slot would have been Rossi’s and I think we were extremely foolish 2 sell him and our Academy should be burnt coz we are getting rid of Pique too
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[Everyone]
And from now on when I see some feud simmering here, I’ll point out things that were unnecessary. Unless of course the entire comment is meant as a wind up.
Take this in good spirit and move on. I have nothing against anyone here.
And one more thing, no arguments about my decisions here in the comments. People who like to always have the last word in an argument, kindly use the contact form and do so there.
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Nikos; Arizmendi? Where in the hell did you pull his name out of? He isn’t even a regular starter for Valencia, he is more of an impact sub, so he would never be good enough to play for us. But thanks for the information about Manucho, good to have someone who actually knows how Manucho has done for your team. Agrred on buying Benzema or Villa, or possibly Huntelaar. Also agreed on Berbatov not suiting our fast paced style. But Aguero would drop deep too much and well, Arizmendi is crap
. Surprised no-one has mentioned Mauro Zarat since he is available, and I don’t really see the comparisons between Tevez and Zarate(on a few other blogs) , I think Zarate would offer something in behind, good skill and great finishing, Tevez plays very differently to him.
RedRanter, you seem stressed from all this moderating, just take a break from it for a few days I really think we could handle it ourselves.
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I have a different theory than grogy!
I think instead of striker what we need is a top class high scoring CM! Somebody like Gerrard/Lampard/Van der Vaart type! From this position we have scored a grand total of 4 goals or so in the league! This must be the most pathetic performance of all teams this year! Scholes has 1, Anderson has 0, carrick has 1 and OH has 2. I dont understand why knowledgeable people like Grogy et al dont see this as a problem! I think our forwards (Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo) have done pretty well this year (yes lets include Ronaldo in forwards as he has played like one. bucketloads of goals and a few assists)
I think we should just buy one high scoring ACM who can create as well (Diego/Van der Vaart). Frankly I dont see Carrick or OH giving us 10+ goals a season. Gerrard has had 20+ goals for Liverpool this year! Thats probably more than two times all of our midfielders (bar Ronaldo) put together!
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oh soory, just saw your later post, i’ll leave it be if you wish.
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P.S.2 Forget the Manucho at least for the season 08-09.I think that I’m the only one have seen him scoring and playng for Panathinaikos and Angola. He is a very good strong Striker with poor intelligence and with no good teamwoark-connection.
Anyone who says he is good for Manchester is very narrowminded.Even Pique isn’t good for Manchester.Even O’shea isn’t good enough as a starter. He could play his part as Pique did but it will be a very small part.He is no world class he is a risk and he is a very typical average EPL striker . Worse than Defoe , worse than Heskey and even Samaras I could say.
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I agree with you jos, our centre-mids are rubbish in the scoring department but we can’t just buy Deigo or Van Der Vaart(even though they both want to leavea nd are both fantastic players) and then drop one of Hargreaves/Scholes/Carrick/Anderson and put Fletcher even more in the periphery, which would just be unfair and ungrateful to say the least.
Also your English is perfectly readable, more legible than a few people on here who speak English as their natural language anyway so there’s no need to worry.
Barca_rules; thats a good point that we have not beaten any real tough teams in the Champions League this season, but we have beaten Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea in the league this season, so we have shown we are capable of performing in the big matches this season. Oh by the way, didn’t Barca lose to Lyon this season 3-0?
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Yep JOS you bring up a very good point. Ronaldo’s goals have indeed masked the goalscoring deficiency of our midfield players this year. Any other season, our midfield would have been slaughtered for their lack of goals. Giggs and Scholes, legends that they are, have especially been pathetic in that sense.
But JOS I don’t think the solution is to bring in a new attacking, goalscoring midfielder as our midfield is already too crowded as it is (plus we have Rooney and Tevez who are withdrawn strikers). Let’s just hope that this season is a one-off and next year, the likes of Anderson, Nani, Carrick and Hargo (in a more attacking role perhaps) will find their shooting boots.
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[Jay Wire]
I have nothing against Rossi, but just getting him and no other striker would be like calling Pippin to join Frodo and Samwise
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Nino; I would be very surprised if between them Anderson, Hargreaves and Carrick managed 8 goals, I’d say it will be more around 5 or 6, most of them coming from Hargreaves free kicks. However I do think that Nani will again improve next season and score a few more goals, preferably all of them screamers like against Spurs and Middlesborough
Jaywire; we wanted to keep him, he wanted to leave, there was nothing we could do about it. Although if he had stayed he may have got more chances than he had first thought as Saha has barely played a game this season and Solskjaer retired.
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Hmm…now that I think about it, we shouldn’t really be complaining about the lack of goals from midfield as Hargo, Carrick and Anderson are all essentially defense-minded players (Anderson’s case was unforeseen, as he was supposedly bought as an attacking midfielder/forward).
However, Conor, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect those three to hit 5 or 6 goals EACH next season would it? Nani, after a season of bedding in, should be set a minimum target of 10 goals, and Park and Fletcher can be relied upon to chip in with 2 or 3 goals each, giving our midfield a possible projected total of 30-35 goals (any contributions from Giggs/Scholes should be considered negligible, as they are pretty much washed up, much as it pains me to say it!).
I especially would like to see more of the Michael Carrick that played in that unforgettable game against Roma last year, where he bagged those two majestic strikes. The way he opened his body up for the first one in particular was something that has been missing this season, and the second one was a truly beautiful hit into the top corner!
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doubt nani will get ten unless he plays in almost all the fixtures
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JOS; Actually you bring up a very good point about a CMer who can score goals. It would be nice but it is clear that this team is designed around the play of Ronaldo. If it wasn’t, I think you would see more upfield movement by our central midfielders. Instead, they often play a very AC Milan style of play where both act and play very much like Pirlo and Gattuso do. They are dual DMFers and the outside midfielders move up and in. They play what i would call a 4-2-2-2. We play that sometimes by concentrating the play around our two wingers and having them either move in or pay wide. Quite often we will play 4-2-3-1. Either way, the central midfielder role seems to be more of a defensive role designed to win the ball, control the ball and the tempo and find outlets to start the attack.
I am not against going after an attacking midfielder but I really don’t see Fergie doing that. This team is build to attack from the sides. Either way, we still need a striker, not only for more consistent goal scoring, but also for depth at that position.
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Half-Time at Goodison Park with Chelsea leading 1-0.
Let’s hope Everton can do a Wigan and get a late equaliser…that would just make my day.
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No Nino, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect that from midfielders of their quality, but it is unrealistic. Anderson will probably score one or two at most, same goes for Scholes and Carrick, Hargreaves may score 3 or 4. Carrick does have the capacity to score goals, but he doesn’t have the ambition or drive, nor does Scholes any more. Anderson has the ambition and drive, but e just isn’t a goalscorer. As of yet I am unsure of Hargreaves’ goalscoring capabilities, although I assume they aren’t great. A minimum of 10 goals for Nani is slightly optimistic, I’d be happy if he got 6 or 7 goals and then around 10-15 assists. It is true that our midfielders are now needed to provide bursts forward a la Keane or Scholes in their golden years much less now, their main aim being to keep possesion and distribute it to whatever attacking quartet is playing, just as Grognard said.
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Doubtful on the Everton hope, they’ve created nothing. Then again, Chelsea hadn’t either until a great backheel into the defender into Essien’s path from SWP. Vision…incredible.
Chelsea look as though they’ll easily get another, Everton look poor. I’m not sure Johnson has touched the ball, and everytime the Yak does, it’s a failed attempt at control.
We’re gonna have to do this ourselves methinks
!
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Jos; Also it’s important to consider the reason why we don’t get scoring from our midfielders. Answer? Style of play. We are fast and pacey and beat teams on the break. Our wingers score the goals where other teams central midfielders score. Find a team whose outside midfielders or wingers score anywhere near what our boys score? Sure they a re mostly scored by Ronaldo, but he is our Gerrard or vad der Vaart. We just concentrate our game wider than those teams.
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Antsboy; Fergie loves Hobbits up front it seems.
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Whether we like it or not, we play a very Italian style of play but more up beat and flair. If we sign Veloso, I can guarantee we will play 4-2-2-2 or 4-2-3-1 or 4-2-4. The 4-2-4 means that the wide guys play further back but are more involved in the offense. I think Fergie like the idea of two holding midfielders. Look at the way Carrick has played this season. I’d say he has been more of a holding midfielder than Hargreaves. Why is he willing to do this? Because we have pure dynamite on the wings. Guys who can dribble, cross, create as well as cut in and score. Another team that used this stile when both Ronaldinho and Messi were playing well and were healthy is of course Barca. It worked well for them until injuries and dissension hit their ranks.
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Grognard,
Benzema is not overrated. His goal against us was not the most impressive I saw. He scores many more out of nothing in the French league. And the average level of French clubs is very tight, unlike in England, where there is a huge gap in class between the first four and mid table teams.
Still unlikely he will come to United, though.
Manucho – he’s only done well at the ANC so that’s not good enough? Look at a certain Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, or Peter Schmeichel. Danish or Norwegian leagues don’t hold a candle to the EPL, yet those two are now United legends!
And if I remember correctly Irwin was unwanted at a lower league club, before he joined us!
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Everton lost 1:0, both teams were really shity a lucky bounce gave Essien a chance to score and he didn’t miss,
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well, the ref will be happy tonight, his team won…
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The ref had nothing to do with the result Dan. In fact he gave Carvalho and Ferreira yellow cards for nothing. Everton lost because they are incapable of stringing three passes together and have absolutely no imagination or offensive talent on display. Their offense without Arteta is non existent. They defended well but you never ever felt they would score because they couldn’t hold on to the ball. That’s a team that really needs to upgrade their midfield as well as buy a striker.
As for Chelsea, another rubbish win for a rubbish side. You have to give them credit though. How many times can a team win a game in such an ugly fashion in one season. They are a pathetic and poor advertisement for the game of football. And both teams deserved to be taken out back of Goodison Park tonight and shot. A team (and I use that word loosely) like Chelsea has no business being just two points behind us in the league. It’s an abomination.
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United just HAVE to win against Blackburn now…if we dont, Chelshit will get upbeat and probably put up their performance of the season against us and win..That means we will be BEHIND them…I just get the shivers even contemplating such a scenario…
We need to win 3-0 or something against Blackburn, that will make Chelshit shit in their pants!
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you where watching a different match most likely, like always, you praise our rivals. everton in my opinion are the 3rd most attacking team in the league but of course, what do iknow? im just an idiot who has never played a sport.
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Strange things happen all the time but I can’t believe that this wanna-be team called Chelsea will be able to defeat us. We’re too good for them.
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on the future stiker debate I think SAF might possibly surprise us all this summer by not signing one at all. Ronaldo has rarely played as an orthodox winger this year which makes me think that he might end up playing as a striker ala Thierry Henry. That would give us at least 3 top class forwards in Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez, so dont be surprised if its a top class winger that we sign and not a striker.
Dont forget at Porto he played as a striker at times and at the time when we signed him the papers all said that he could play anywhere up front.
His goalscoring record speaks for itself and is better than most of the strikers that we are being linked with so the answer to our search for a striker might have been staring us in the face for the last 2 seasons.
The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of 2 wingers and a spearhead of Ronaldo and Rooney with Anderson in centre mid with Hargreaves or Carrick, could be sensational, any thoughts guys.
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grogy and danny sitting in a tree hahaha
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Dan; Please mate, stop the arguing on every point OK. Lets just say we disagree with each other’s views and leave it at that. Stop with the bitter sniping please. If you cannot handle people not agreeing with you, then perhaps you should not offer your opinion. We all risk people disagreeing with each other because everybody sees things differently. I think I’m right, you think you’re right so does Conor, JB, JayJay etc. Sniping at us because we disagree with you only creates anger and gets us all off topic and on the path of retribution. This is all about debate. You cannot have debate if we all agree. Accept the fact that there will be people who disagree with you. And I for one do not always disagree with everything you say. I quite often support your thoughts and I respect them. But there are those times where I can’t agree with them and I question your thoughts on the subject. Accept that and move on. For all our sakes.
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