Feb 24
Inter v Man Utd: Preview
Suddenly we are not ‘injury proof’. Rafael has been added to the list that includes Evans, Brown, Neville, O’Shea and, for all practical purposes for the day, Vidic.
Mourinho reckons a ‘worried’ United may be defensive. Fergie brushes that aside with a we-rarely-play-for-draws rebuttal. Ronaldo mumbles something about killing or being killed which, for some reason, sounds to me like the job description of a suicide bomber.
Wenger talks about how his club looks to educate people… as opposed to United.
So, as you see, it’s an exciting day indeed, and everyone’s chirpy.
My day, on the other hand, isn’t nearly as exciting. I have work, you see, which coincides nicely with today’s game. For Fuck’s sake.
But I’m none too optimistic about today. Unless, of course, Jonny O’Shea steps in at centre back and stuffs the sizeable Ibrahimo-watsisname-ovic into his wee back pocket. If pigs could fly and if George Bush could say disestablishmentarianism. (Yes, the smart ones may have noticed the Black Adder reference.)
Fergie, despite the tough talk about rarely ever playing for a draw, he’ll surely make today one of those rare occasions. He’ll go for his most defensive formation ever. A 4-3-3 that would really be a 4-5-1. A midfield of Carrick, Fletcher and Giggs. A forward line of Ronaldo, Rooney and Park. And a back line of Evra, Rio, O’Shea (if he emerges from Fergie’s smokescreen of being ‘doubtful’) and Fabio.
If he doesn’t make it, then Fletch would most likely partner Rio (the horror!) with Carrick, Giggs, and Park pushed in to the middle. This way Tevez would be brought into the mix alongside Rooney and Ronaldo.
Defence will be key today. And hence you’ll see Fergie pick players like Park, Tevez (and Rooney) who will cover every inch of the pitch for 90 minutes. I can’t see Fergie picking Berbatov today.
Had Vidic been available, I really wouldn’t have had any worries about today. But he isn’t, so we can’t expect to play like Barcelona and the Harlem Globetrotters rolled into one.
Prediction: 1-1. Our goal coming off a set-piece.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Man Utd v Stoke: Preview
- Man Utd v Inter: Preview
- Man Utd v Everton: Preview
- Man Utd v Spurs match thread
- Rooney Out For A Month
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (541)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Stephen (454)
Craig Mc (344)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
@Nino: Do you really give a shit about the fucking shirt. My god, what fucking control do we have about these things anyway. In my mind as long as it’s RED WITH WHITE TRIM, it could say “Fuck Liverpool” on the front and “Screw the Scousers” on the back, and I would be perfectly happy!!
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@Redrich: Each to their own mate, but I certainly do give a shit about what the shirt looks like! I believe uniforms must look professional, as it makes employees look and feel the part. Hell, even when I player-managed my Sunday league team last year, I made sure we ordered adidas kits with the latest templates from a teamwear supplier (other teams had kits by vandanel, JAKO and ProStar), professionally printed with the official name and number fonts, so that we looked like we meant business when we got onto the pitch (we were runaway league leaders, so it must have had some effect on the opposition).
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@m34ch: You know to be honest, one of the things I absolutely detest about football and modern sports today is the constant changing and messing around with kits for marketing and sales purposes only. I mean how many different ways can you screw with red white and black before it’s starts to get ridiculous? The away kits are a scam of epic proportions. To those of you who waste your money to buy an away shirt and then have become obsolete in a year, I offer no sympathy over your stupid need to feel connected to a team in this manner. You know which guys I like? When I go to sports games and I see guys wearing ten year old or even 15 year old jersey’s because that is the one and only team jersey they ever bought. They bought one with their favorite player and they are recognized throughout there community because of that jersey on their backs. It becomes part of them, therefore it wasa wise and constructive investment. Unlike today when we change kits every year and player allegiance like the weather. To all of you I say this. Buy a fucking kit and stick with it rather than allow yourself to get hosed every year thanks to Man Utd’s marketing department. It doesn’t make you closer tot he team or the players, just the Glazer’s bank account and the marketing stiff who is laughing as he leans back on his chair and places his legs on his desk while sipping his coffee. Honestly, how gullible are all you guys? I have one Manchester United jersey and it’s from 1999. It doesn’t even fit anymore. And if I was to buy one again it would probably be a retro version for Cantona or Best because they represent the old school mentality. If there is one thing more pathetic than a prostitute it’s a john who pays for it. Honestly lads, I just don’t get it.
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@Grognard: http://tinyurl.com/bxz7j5 I hear you I do, but we have a new shirt coming out and I’m excited. And I’m just trying to find out what it’s gonna look like, shirt looks nice though (albeit possibly fake we don’t know) not sure about the sponsor though.
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@Nino: Very scary dream I say!
@Redrich: That would be a dream shirt!
@Nino: Agree. The commemorative shirts thing is just tweaking history into another year of revenue. They should be left alone for the really special ones. Also to point out a simple correction (just that the mathematician side of me forced me to point this out).. AIG pays us 19million a year, and our revenues are about 340million, so its less than 6% of our revenue.
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@Grognard: Thats just your opinion. As someone said earlier, its wrong for people to criticize our sponsors. its the same with new shirts. United have a world wide fan base, lets say we have £1million fans, by a £30 quid shirt every season. Thats the same amount of money as berbatov! Shirt sales bring in money, and quite frankly, if you like a shirt, why not get it? if you see a top, not a kit, a top in your local clothes shop, and you like it, and you have the money, dont you buy it? Same principle with kits, they might not be to your taste, but othersmight actually like the kits, and are willing to give the money to our club for a nice looking kit, and knowing they’ll be helping our club out.
You should not say that buying a new kit is pathetic and stupid, if you dont believe in doing that then fine, let the rest of us enjoy our kits, because we wanted to buy them, not just because they’re the new kit.
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@Liam: whats nike then?
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Tottenham game tomorrow! I really hope we do play a predominately youth team with the players that got us there. Id go with
Foster, Fabio, Vidic, Rio, Evra, Welbeck, Gibson, Scholes, Nani, Tevez, Rooney
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@Rahul: I’m pretty sure our annual turnover is not as high as £340m….more like £250m (R.Madrid’s is around £270m and we are not far behind)….and also when I mentioned sponsorship income I meant the money we get from our subsidiary sponsors and partners (Nike, Budweiser, Audi, Betfred, Hublot Watches, Kumho Tyres etc.) in addition to the £14m p.a. we receive from AIG. Add up the totals and you’ll find that sponsorship money will probably roughly come close to a third of our total annual turnover.
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Just reading about pavleochenkos comments, a bit strange to be honest. I dont know why hes saying he wants to join us the day before we play them. Must be good news for you grognard, i remember you saying you liked him as a player and wanted him in the summer. I dont know about him to be honest, he seems much too inconsistent for my liking. He has 3 league goals i think which isnt good enough for me. Anyway its probably rubbish anyway but still what would you think about him if he did ever come to us. I just wonder if hes really good enough to play for a team like us but thats just my opinion.
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@Nino: I head we get 19mil from AIG?
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Dan, yeah i think we do get £19 mil from them every year. Apparently we are pretty confident of getting even more with a new sponsor so its a great deal of money anyway.
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@Grognard: Grog, I heard that our new sponsors were DUREX CONDOMS, because they felt it was appropriate after some of the DICKHEAD missed opportunites to SCORE against Mourinho’s IMPOTENT and LIMP dummies
.
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2-0 for boro over liverpool with 27mins to go
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@Dan: I come from a different culture where sports teams don’t change their home and away kits every year to cash in. At a time when people are struggling to get by financially, when they are losing their homes, when they are losing their jobs, it’s the responsibility of all pro teams to show a little restraint and not market themselves to death and even possibly lower their ticket prices. The commissioners of both the NFL and NBA have themselves taken substantial pay cuts as a sign to the rest that control and respect for their fan base is needed.
The Dallas Cowboys, NY Yankees , Green Bay Packers, Montreal Cnadiens, Boston Celtics and other pro institutions here on my continent have worn the same bloody uniforms for decades. They may introduce a trendy 3rd kit once in a while to spark some sales but for the most part, this is done rarely. Only in football is there this stupid and childish need to change kits every year like parents change their kids diapers. It’s juvenile and it’s sleazy. And it speaks of how boring the game must be to so many that these types of sleazy marketing ploys are required to keep interest high among teams. Perhaps the teams should invest in more goals rather than fashion designers when it comes to entertaining their ravenous legion of trained monkeys. It’s got nothing to do with taste for kits, but everything to do with a bad taste in my mouth over the disgusting marketing practice that preys on people’s hard earned money and low attention spans.
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2-0, Boro win full time.
Now I’m starting to get worried that Rafa will not be there next season for liverpool!
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@Matt: The recent rumor flying around is that Fergie is interested in Mario Gomez. I hope that’s not true as I would definitely prefer Pavlyuchenko. Pav is a great player and he has done a very good job for Spurs. The problem with Spurs is they have a true old school meat head managing them who likes his English lads because there is absolutely no way in Hell that Darren Bent should be starting games over Pav. The player is a great poacher of goals with a decisive shot and quality to his style. He is brave and is willing to mess around in the box. He has scored some big goals for Spurs this year and yet, old Arry likes to trod out Darren Bent who is useless unless you are playing 4-5-1 and playing a long direct game which he thrives on. Bent has always been the kind of player that belongs with a team like Stoke or Hull because his style is suited for the lone striker role that we had to endure watching Berba play against Inter. In that role Bent is one of the best forwards in the game. In a 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 formation alongside another striker, he sucks. This is where Pavlyuchenko shines. If Redknapp had a brain he would start the Rusian every game and have Keane play off of him.
As for Pav’s love for United, he made that claim during the summer too but Fergie wasn’t listening. I doubt he’s listening now. Especially after the player also put down Berbatov in the same paragraph. I think it was Roman’s way of desperately yelling out his intentions of wanting out of Tottenham. And you know something, I can’t blame him. That team is really being run in a manner that is not conducive to success. Let Harry do his thing and let him bring in every overrated useless player he can think of. I still think Ramos was the man their and Levy basically pulled the rug from under him.
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@Craig Mc: Personally I prefer Trojans. A cooler name and logo too.
Or maybe they Need to have VIAGRA on their kits. That would make our support……..very stiff indeed.
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@Grognard: Just because the Americans play all their games using a single kit doesn’t mean we have to…there are many teams who have matching color kits to ours and many teams switch leagues..football is a bigger sport with a lot more teams than any American sport…even then the multiple kit is tradition where each kit signifies what we achieved each year…people don’t have to buy the away kit if they don’t like it..
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@NicoQB: What a soap opera over at Anfield. Last week people were saying it was all over for Rafa and I was even saying they should try to get Mourinho. Then he goes and pulls off a miracle and wins in Madrid and then finally gets his way and forces Rick Parry to resign and all looks good for him and him finally putting pen to paper on a new contract. But then he goes and loses today and all bets are off again. Just a roller coaster ride this year with the Scouser bastards.
I said several weeks ago that when it’s all said and done, the only team that would challenge us at the end would be Chelsea. I said this when Scolari was still around. I stand by that and today it appears that Chelsea have moved into second. Will they catch us, I seriously doubt they will get closer than 6to 8 points of us as I feel we will continue to pull away over time. But you never know. It’s ours to win or lose. We don’t need to count on anybody else to do anything.
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@Grognard: Very stiff indeed – Grog,
. Those dumb scousers took a beating not very well, their faces hahahahahahahahahahahaha.
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@RMJ: Go back twenty years mate and you will realize that what you are saying is just not true. Manchester United and Liverpool looked to be pretty much the same kit through the 70′s and 80′s. The away kits changed but even then, I remember white shirt, blacks shorts and red socks for our away kit for quite a long time. It’s when the marketing mad Premier League started that things got way out of hand. Nothing you can say will change my view of this completely irresponsible and disgusting practice to fleece the hard earned money of team supporters. So what if it generates revenue, it comes at a price that I think is akin to selling one’s soul to the Devil. It’s classless and cheap and I for one am sick and tired of it. That’s all I’m going to say any longer on the subject because obviously too many of the addicts do not see things the same way and I am not one to deprive them of their yearly fix of nonsense. Sorry, but its madness.
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I heard AirAsia wants to be the sponsor, how bout it Traverse? and I think the white kit is better than the red one referring to the supposed new shirts.
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@Craig Mc: I didn’t see the game because frankly, sitting and watching that team play for 90 minutes is like stealing 90 minutes of my life by water boarding me in a Guantanamo prison cell. Nothing could be duller than Rafa’s road tactics and the tossers he has for players. God how I hate them. I used to hate Chelsea and Arsenal more but Rafa’s big mouth and the cut of his player’s this season has turned me into a proper United supporter. One who despises Liverpool first and foremost.
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I hope Rafa signs a lifetime contract at Liverfool and those scousers would writhe in agony for the next 25 years!
Last night was out, and a jackass dipper fanboy (aren’t they all?) was arguing with me ((no wait, I was just looking at him in disbelief, he was doing all the arguing!)) about how the title could still land at Anfield and how he had a feeling it would.
I have a feeling he’s not gonna be seen for a while.
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@Grognard: No, its supporting your team. If you dont like the fact that we living in the present and not 20 years ago, fine but if we want to buy the kits because they look nice and will support our club financially, i dont see what wrong with that. By the way, the reason the 1909 cup is so special, is because thats the first time we won the competition, the same competition where we hold the record. We had a “v” that year and so, to celebrate the first of many FA cup wins, we WILL wear a shirt similar to the one worn that year, players and fans alike.
The FA cup is the oldest cup competition in the world, i see no reason why we shouldnt celebrate our first win of it.
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@Grognard: Grog – Viagra???
, our players are not that LIMP surely? 
.
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@Craig Mc: It couldn’t hurt.
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@Rahul: You should have directed him to the nearest jail or loony bin because he probably was lost.
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@Dan: I really care about 1909. That’s just marketing ploy. What’s next, celebrating the first win we ever had, the first goal we ever scored, the first time the lads took a bath together or the first time the team took a crap together? It’s all crap and if you think it’s important to commemorate 1090 because it’s 100 years ago, then so be it, go with it. I for one only care about two signs of respect and that’s the adding of a star to our kits every year for every European Cup we win and to always remember our beloved warriors who perished in the Munich disaster. Everything else pales in comparison and borders on trivial.
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Great day in office and we haven’t even played. I had a feeling that Boro is gonna get lucky one of this days, but was hoping that they will do it not against us. Haven’t seen the game bur read that it was the worst performance from the scousers. Was watching Arse’s game and WTF? 4th straight 0:0 from the free flowing attacking club, including games against giants like Sunderland and Fulham lol. What a joke. The only negative was Fat Franks last minute winner, but his luck will run out soon too. Have I mentioned that Fulham outplayed them during the whole game.
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Grognard, your earlier comment about redknapp is absolutely correct. I used to rate him a bit, but since hes gone to spurs i gotta say im seeing him for the hugely useless manager he is. Im 18 and i can clearly see the problem with spurs is their defence is absolute cack, yet harry still goes out and spends the best part of £40+ million on 2 strikers that if your honest werent essential. Im not a spurs fan but i find it pretty laughable that when the team is not performing they just go out and bring in a new attacker hoping their fortunes will change when on the whole their attack is still pretty good before and is not the problem. You can see with us, that although our attack wasnt and still isnt firing on all cylinders we find ourselves top of the league and doing well in the cups. This is mainly because of our fantastic defence and i cant work out why a man like redknapp thinks all their problems are in their attack when its clear to me its their defence thats the problem. Redknapp is just an over rated english manager really.
Anyway enough of spurs or else people will think im a spurs fan. For the game tomorrow i hope we see wellbeck, nani, foster and fabio all getting games. I was just looking over our previous fixtures in the cup this year and i just wanna congratulate the team for getting here with so many young players. Gibson, wellbeck, foster have played most games but we also have fabio & possebon who for without injuries would also have played a number of games. I just hope they win it tomorrow because as neville said today, the first trophy for some of these young lads really could be the making of them.
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Here we go again another new shirt, this time the away shirt; however AIG? Hmmm, anyways. Only posting what I’m finding.
Peas out.
http://tinyurl.com/cxdxbu
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Middlesborough,
Middlesborough
Their the famous middlesborough
And they beat the dirty scouse!
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@m34ch: Mate those links dont work. You need to post the page, not the url of the actual picture.
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@Matt: They just don’t get it at Spurs. You build from your defense out. Corluka was a decent buy but come on, how long can they expect to survive on Woodgate’s wobbly knees and King’s washed up legs. And Bale just does not defend. as afar as I’m concerned, Bale needs to be moved to an LMF role permanently. They need to get a quality RB and another world class central defender. And lets not forget scrapping the two goalkeepers they have. If they were smart, they would sell both Cudicini and Gomez and go buy a Boruc or Frey. But how much you want to bet when the season is finished, Old Arry is going to be looking for another striker? Just clueless
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@Dan: http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll63/Greg-27/Away.jpg
Sorry, thought I did it right. Try that one, cheers Dan.
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@Grognard: I’m not really sure that is the case. Pavlyuchenko seems to have been Redknapp’s preferred choice since his arrival. Out of the last 16 league games I think Pavlyuchenko has started 12, with Bent starting 6 (they look like they have only been paired twice).
General vibe I have been getting from Spurs fans is that Harry would be happy to get rid of Bent come summer (he was apparently being offered in exchange is some transfer deals in January).
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@Grognard: viagara for the Baggies – 1) They’ve got plenty of scope for growth, 2) The only thing that will keep them up.
I like the Saudi Telecom shirt. The logo looks classy and it doesn’t have anybody else’s name on it. That would almost stand comparison with Barca’s stance.
On the subject of selling/buying shirts. My son always buys me the new one and when I wear it I feel very close to him even though he lives miles away. This season’s blue one has been worn lots and has resulted in 3 points EVERY time. For those of us whose weight tends to fluctuate somewhat, a new shirt is often very timely!
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@m34ch: Your welcome mate, no need to apoligise
But that is 100% a fake. Look at the collar, you can see the photoshop. But even if that looked real, take a look at this. Its mirror identical, look at the wall to the right, you can see brown staines on both pictures at the same place. This is a poor, poor attempt at photoshoping a shirt.
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Just wanted to say well done middlesbrough and thanks. My mum is actually a boro fan and she couldnt believe it when she walked through the door and saw they were winning 2-0. Good work southgate and team. Gotta say though chelsea may be back in contention now. I always felt from weeks ago liverpool were gonna fall back a bit and that chelsea still werent out of contention for the title. They are grinding out wins it seems and they do usually have a good finish to the season when we usually just walk over the finishing line so im not getting carried away with the title just yet. Anyway im off to watch match of the day, see you all.
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Yeah I like the Saudi Telecom shirt too, not confirmed yet lol, but can’t really be de-bunked either but I think we’re sniffing round maybe the next shirt here
Looking forward to tomorrows game, I might even have a wee bet lol. First goalscorer and correct score double…..hmmm
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@Dan: Finally, I was trying to remember where I got them originally, here’s the source (well my source for the pics I posted) Jebus knows where they originated from before there.
http://www.soccergaming.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2633487&postcount=225
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@JB: Call me stupid but I rate Campbell more than Bent.
Truly, for me what Campbell has achieved in the few minutes he played is admirable. I wouldn’t be surpirised if Redknapp would try to offload Bent in exchange of Campbell in some sort of deal.
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@JB: You are correct JB except for I still find it disturbing that Bent starts over Pavlyuchenko more than he should. That guy should give him a rest once out of every 6 games and then also as a sub late in games, but no more than that.
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@NicoQB: I do to mate but it depends on what team he plays for also. Like I said in an earlier post, Bent is an outstanding lone striker playing in a very old fashioned direct style. He’s good by himself and is excellent at holding the ball up and moving on his own. Where he fails is with partners in games where it takes more finesse and skill to break down a team that parks the bus for example.
Campbell is young and we certainly have not seen the best of him yet but he seems to have a combination of the two skills required. He seems to play well when alone up front but also seems to partner well with somebody playing just off of him. Time will tell if he is the real deal, but i for one think he is. I still rate Welbeck above him though.
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@Grognard: Well of the four occassions Bent has started over him, three were in the lone striking role you described and were pretty early in Redknapp’s reign.
@NicoQB: I would be surprised, Campbell has barely featured under Redknapp and from what I gather, now that Spurs are out of the Uefa Cup, he is unlikely to appear for them again this season. Personally I have my reservations about Campbell. He has a lot of pace but I’m not convinced by his all round game to date.
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@JB: The reason he isnt playing is because hes on loan. if he where a permanent signing he’d have plenty more minutes on the pitch, and would score more goals.
The thing with fraizer, he needs games to find his form, he is a goalscorer, no doubt about it, but he needs to be playing regularly to get the goals, not off the bench and the odd start every now and again.
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@Dan: I’m sceptical on that line of reasoning. Spurs had two senior strikers for the first four months of the season, one of them wildly inconsistent and the other taking time to settle into the English game. Even taking into account the fact he is on loan I would have expected him to play more of a role than he has.
And I’m not sure that him being a goalscorer is going to be enough for him to make it here. Welbeck looks to have more to his all round game at an earlier stage in his career.
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@Dan: Sorry Dan but I fail to understand your logic behind the statement “The reason he isnt playing is because hes on loan. if he where a permanent signing he’d have plenty more minutes on the pitch, and would score more goals.” </strong. Are you saying that because he is a loan that Harry refuses to play him? If so that is rubbish. IF he is good enough in the eyes of the manager and he can help the club win silverware as well as stay up in the Prem, he would be played. It’s not like he is scared of playing him and then having the guy get hurt. Getting a player in loan does not mean you favor a bought player instead. You play the one you feel will get you further.
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