Feb 21
Kia confirms Tevez fears as Blackburn visit OT
Kia Joorabchian, the representative/owner of the rights to Carlos Tevez, reportedly said this to the Daily Star:
“Carlos is in the market now that United have not made any move for him. We are now studying other options and interested parties. There is no option left with United any longer.”
Actual quotes by his owner — although, considering the shady past of the businessman, it could just mean kicking United out of their slumber with regards to sealing Tevez’s contract — at the least, it points to problems with United stalling over the deal, intentionally. Or just balking at the asking price for the Argentinian.
What’s with us and Argentinian players? Veron didn’t work out. Heinze just decided to become a prick one fine sunny morning. And Tevez is not being wanted by the ownership, considering the extent they went toward securing him.
The pity is Tevez really has that honesty in his eye and desire to play for us — which is really not something one usually gets to see these days in footballers who come from outside England. [An example as recent as this -- of course, in this case you can't really blame the player for wanting to win something of consequence.]
The lesson from this — I know we are still in speculation stage and an official response from the OT hierarchy is certainly possible refuting these claims with a ‘we are still exploring it’ — is that loyalty has to work both ways. I know it’s business, you might tell, but when a player: has been an excellent servant for the club, is adored by fans, and, always keeps his head and gives his all when on the pitch despite his uncertainty over his future, it’s a shame Tevez’s exit may — and I stress, may — have to end like this.
A player like Tevez does not deserve this sort of a send off.
On to today’s game, Sam Allardyce, whose career has involved moving from a shit kicking side, to a club full of mad inebriated drunks for fans/owner, to a club that has, in the past, been known for its shit kicking expertise. So life has seemingly come full circle for him, one could say.
Big Sam, thinks United are not ‘untouchable’, saying we may drop points or concede goals at times. Fair play to him though. I’m already saturated lately with hyperbole showered on Giggs and Carrick as contenders for Player of the year awards when I think everyone is a distant second to Nemanja Vidic. We’ve had a distinctly average season, yet, have been doing better, according to the table. Yet, funnily enough, despite having been average, I think this is Fergie’s best squad ever. I raised that issue last season, but was not sure how that squad stacked up against the ones of ‘99 and ‘94. But I am convinced this one is our, and Fergie’s, best ever, despite the fact that we’re yet to pick domestic or European trophies, WC Championship apart. I can rattle off reasons ranging to the versatility of the players, the mix of youth and experience, and, chiefly, the ability to be, more or less, ‘injury proof’ having played so much, and travelled so much.
On the ‘untouchable’ topic, Benitez thinks we’re not untouchable. However, it being Benitez, I think he’s a pratt. So he can go shove his thoughts on our chances wherever he wants to. I can care less about the fat, fact checking, Spanish waiter.
Of course, in the past, I may have called him bitter and classless in casual conversations with many of my mates, although, I haven’t necessarily said them here on the blog. So I admit, it may have been unbecoming of me, for having said those things about him to my mates, and I apologise for that.
From here on, I shall call him bitter and classless also on this blog.
In terms of squad lineups, I can only guess but, I’m pretty sure Rooney will partner Berbatov. I really wish Ronaldo was rested at some point of time against the Stokes and West Broms of this world. He really looks jaded and could benefit from two games at a trot on the bench against relatively easy opposition. Sadly that has not happened. For all Fergie’s legendary man management ability, if I had a quibble, it would be his handling of Ronaldo this season. I tend to believe that the winger talks himself into the starting XI, but there has to be someone who’d tell Fergie that sitting him down a couple of games on the bench would be good for him, and United, for the rest of the season. Anyway, Blackburn have always represented a tricky encounter and, despite it being at OT, it’s not a game to rest Ronaldo. Nani could start on the other wing with Neville, perhaps getting a right back berth. Carrick is certain to start while his partner could be either of Fletcher or Giggs. I think the defence might pick itself.
Prediction: 2-0 to United.
Related items from Red Rants:- Breaking down the United-Tevez-Kia tug of war
- Manchester United Sign Tevez?
- High Court Comes to Tevez’s Rescue
- Blackburn v Manchester United – Preview
- Man Utd v Blackburn: Preview
Tags: Game Preview
February 21st, 2009 at 11:18
Well RR, it seems those ‘Tevez wants away’ reports are not true apparently, according to Kia now.
link
Whatever, it’s just another twist in the whole Tevez saga.
February 21st, 2009 at 11:23
I really hope Tevez stays. He gives his all for the team, and he is a winner. He doesnt give up! Ever! But it is clear that Fergie fancies Rooney and Berbatov up front, and Tevez is too good to be just a sub. Although, so was Solskjaer…
I really dont know what is the best solution. In one corner I want Tevez to stay, I think he has the “United quality”, he definately shows commitement and I would not like to see him play for another team. He bleeds red! But in the other corner I think is wage demands(if reports are to be believed) are huge! For a sub to earn the same money as Ronaldo or Rooney is just stupid. And he definately doesnt cost £30 million. Maybe £20 mill, or something around that. And I want Welbeck and Campbell to be given a chance. I believe in youth and local talent, and I really hope Welbeck and Frazier can become greats at this club. So to make it short: Im stuck! I really dont know what is the best solution here. So I will let Fergie decide what happens, and I will try not to care so much. We have bigger things to think about. We are playing Inter away, we may lead the table by 7 points on Monday. We are in a Carling Cup final, FA cup quarter final, lead the Prem, Champions of the world and we have the simple task of getting past Inter in the 1/8 final of the Champions League. 
This season is great!
February 21st, 2009 at 11:52
The Tevez situation is awful, really. He’s not worth the money they want, but there are clubs that will pay it, so he’s likely to be coerced by Kia into going to Inter or Real. He clearly wants to stay, but I understand why he’d want to leave, because he will never be first choice at United again unless he starts scoring every game.
It truly is a shame because he is damn good player who has been unsettled this season but (Giggs, Scholes and Neville aside) there is little room for sentimentality in Fergie’s head. If we can get him for under £20 million we should do it, but it won’t happen when there are other clubs willing to outbid us.
United 3 Blackburn 0. Fletcher will score, I think. It’d be nice to see Brown get a run out if he’s on his way back.
February 21st, 2009 at 12:10
On to the game. Blackburn are in 18th place, and they havent got an away win since September. I am rarely very confident about “derbies”, which I consider this one because they are so close to Manchester, but today I feel very sure of a win. I dont want to jinx our team in any way, but lets face it. We have not conceded in 14 English Premier League games, and we are finding the net more often. Our last 5 games have gone: 5-0, 1-0, 1-0, 4-1, 3-0. And those two 1-0 wins were against a team wanting to get into the Champions League, and the other team was our least favorite opponent concidering the latest results. We are in brilliant for, and aside from Ronaldo I think everyone is performing up to their best. Rio does his things silent, but masterly. Vidic is a hard-ass all the time. Evra is back. Scholes reminded me of himself in the 90s. Carrick does well, Berba and Rooney are finding the scoresheet and the team as a whole plays better football than ever! Scoring a goal after 22 passes without any opponent getting near it is something that you wont experience very often. “Poetry”, as Berbie described it. And I see more variation in our play. Scholes has scored 2 goals from corners taken by Carrick in the last month, Berba and Wazza scored with their left feet(which is Berbs first for the club and one of few for Wayne), we score on crosses, corners, through passes, both feet, long range, close range, headers… I realy dont see any flaws in our game. And I really hope that continues, as we face a verty stubborn Inter side which will definaltely prve a tough test. I hope for another Roma 2007, but that is really dreaming.
Brown and Neville are definately out. Oshea is also a doubt, so I dont think we have any other option than starting Rafael at right back. Which is good, because I think he is our best in that position! Edwin should continue in the goal, and if he doesnt concede until the 89th minute it will be a new record. European or World, I dont know. But at least its another record broken! Evra should keep playing to gain match fitness before Inter too. I dont know about the central defense though. Rio needs games, and Vidic should play every possible game. But Evans will probably start against Inter because Vidic is suspended and Brown is hasnt played since Everton. And Evans have just come back from an injury that kept him out for a month. The future wil tell! My team prediction:
VDS
Rafael Vidic Evans Evra
Ronaldo Carrick Fletcher Nani
Rooney Tevez
Score perdiction: 3-0. Rooney and Tevez will score, and if we are lucky Ronaldo might find the net with one of his many free-kicks. Come on! One of them have to go in once, dont they!? He hasnt scored on one of them since Stoke, and concidering the amount of free-kicks we get he should at least have scored 2 or 3 more. But how this season has gone for him, its safe to say thet the margins arent always on his side. That is why I say that if we are LUCKY, he MIGHT score one. Hopefully.
February 21st, 2009 at 12:10
On-Topic
i dont think we will sign tevez, i think we will build from the youths, instead of forking out £30million.
Off-Topic
i was going to put at the end, “im only joking, but in reality i prefer these sports” but instead i chose to leave it out to see how many of you think i was being serious. jeez grognard, ignorant? 
shame of the lot of ya! to think i was being serious! still quite funny looking at your reactions 
On my comment from the last post:
LOL
February 21st, 2009 at 12:11
@michael: Wes is stil out with an injury. Might be back for Inter, but I wouldnt hold my breath.
February 21st, 2009 at 12:14
@Dan: Dan, Ive got a question for you. Would you prefer giving Welbeck and Campbell games, and let Tevez leave for, lets say, Shitty or Real? Or keep Tevez for the money he costs, and sell Campbell and let Welbeck get a game only when two of Berbs, Apache or Wazza are out? I know you like Uniteds policy of giving youth a chance, so I just wonder what your opinion is.
February 21st, 2009 at 12:29
@RedDevilEddy: For £30million? tevez should pack his bags for shitty. He has done nothing, absolutely nothing this season to warrant that price tag, and its not his fault, its fergies. In preseason, tevez was playing like a man possessed, it look like it would be his season if he was given a chance. But instead, he decided to play, the fat fag known as rooney who was off-form, and left tevez on the bench. Awful man-management by fergie.
So to answer your question, yes, i would rather we sell tevez and played welbeck or campbell. in an ideal world, i wish we would buy a player like the kun, with campbell going the other way, who wouldnt mind sitting on the bench from time to time in a rotation system.
February 21st, 2009 at 14:13
February 21st, 2009 at 14:50
http://www.redcafe.net/f7/classic-nike-ads-236978/
classic ads! haha i love maldini and cantona!
February 21st, 2009 at 16:09
is it just me or has nani been dropped from todays squad??
February 21st, 2009 at 16:14
Off topic and although Red Ranter answered it satisfactorily enough, I feel I have to say something on the Cricket being boring topic. I come from India and Cricket here is a religion. Some days ago, Red Ranter pointed out that the Board for Control of Cricket in India is a franchise which is approximately 10 times United’s worth. Cricket as RR pointed out again, is a sport which doesn’t mind being tinkered. There are one day five day and three hour games too. The last one being considerably more exciting and perhaps as exciting as an Arsenal United matchup. So to call cricket boring is plain ignorance.
Grognard, you said that football is an easy sport to follow. You obviously haven’t watched cricket being played on the streets in India. Trust me, as someone who has played both sports, Cricket is far easier and cheaper to play than football.
Cricket is also a sport which requires tremendous amounts of stamina. Imagine playing for a period of five full days, in temperatures which hover around 35-40 degrees Celsius. Throw into the mix a humidity percentage of around 80 and unless you have great amounts of stamina you wouldnt last a day. Of course, NFL and NHL might be very physical games and which might please the hard nuts around here but the point I am trying to make is that Cricket is not a soft man’s game. Just look at Andrew Symonds and Matthew Hayden to know what I am talking about.
Also Grognard, the fee structure and the salary caps that you were calling for to be implemented by the English FA to save the games are already being implemented in Cricket. The Indian Premier league, is a league for six Indian franchises which have , I am not very sure of the figure, but around 15 million dollars to spend for each season. Each player has a salary cap and there is one super star per team known as an icon player, who the franchise plays the most – 15% more than any other player in the team. Although the IPL was sort of a rip off from the EPL, it was hugely successful and Cricket had never seen such glamour before. And mind you, the IPL consists of three hour matches which are filled with action.
On today’s game. I really really hope Ronaldo is rested.
February 21st, 2009 at 16:15
The thing i dont understand about this whole tevez thing, is why did fergie never try to accomodate all 4 of ronaldo, tevez, rooney and berbatov at once. Im not saying to use them all against a top team but to be honest 90% of the teams that come to our yard, dont come to play but to sit back for the whole 90 minutes and get a draw. We are almost playing with 2 defensive midfielders at times with carrick and fletcher but then also add the defensive park to the team, when with a change of formation the team would be exactly the same but with tevez replacing park instead. We would still have the defensive part of our team in the middle, but would also be so deadly on the attack.
So far this season i would say we play like this:
VDS
RAFAEL RIO VIDIC EVRA
PARK CARRICK FLETCHER RONALDO
ROONEY BERBATOV
In that team we have park to basically act as protection for rafael, the middle 2 is pretty defensive really with neither carrick nor fletcher capable of getting many goals or grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck. People are wondering why we havent scored as many goals this year, well in my opinion playing with a defensive winger like park purely just to protect the right back, 2 almost DM in the middle and our best player playing on the opposite wing in my opinion has something to do with that.
I think the following formation should have been tried, i think it could have worked and would only have involved a few minor changes:
VDS
RAFAEL RIO VIDIC EVRA
FLETCHER CARRICK
RONALDO ROONEY TEVEZ
BERBATOV
As you see the team is exactly the same just with the formation changed amd park replaced with tevez. Tevez has played in the left side of the 3 many times for argentina, ronaldo is back to his right hand side, rooney directly behind the main man and berbatov actually playing where hes meant to as the front man. We also keep the defensive steel in the middle. For me this could have worked and we wouldnt be in this situation where tevez may leave because he would be playing all the time.
I just cannot see why we are going with all this defensive crap at the minute, park just playing to protect rafael, rubbish, let him play and see how he does whilst not weakening the midfield to accomodate a midfielder who will just act as protection to him. For me, this team just works on so many levels and i just cannot see why fergie didnt ever give this team a go against the smaller teams.
As for today i really hope we dont see the defensive team like i said earlier with park on the wing. Lets just unleash nani and ronaldo and lets go for it. We have been winning but we have been so average, im sick of the way we have been playing at times, we should not be scared of blackburn at home, we need a good win here to give us more confidence for the inter game. I watch inter alot and if we just sit back all game with these negative tactics or think the oldies will win us the game from the midfield, then we are very much mistaken.
February 21st, 2009 at 16:31
RR : Is there a way of posting comments by mail? Or comments are only for subscription? Also, will you be doing a Live blog today?
February 21st, 2009 at 16:37
so fukin defensive Matt, i hate watchin midfield of fletcher carrick, giggs n ronaldo, does nothing for me what soever
February 21st, 2009 at 17:07
@Matthew: can you giv us an insight to inter. ive only watched them in 1 match and they where terrible. Adriano missed three easy one-on-one (he missed the target in two of those) and ibrahimavich didnt seem to be playing. Their defense was terrible and were easy to penetrate, especially from long balls. Their only decent player was cambiasso who looked deadly from the wing but had no-one to support him.
February 21st, 2009 at 17:51
WHY IS PIG PLAYING!
February 21st, 2009 at 18:01
@Dan: You’re having a laugh right?
February 21st, 2009 at 18:03
United team:
GK: Kuszczack
RB: Rafael
CB: Rio
CB: Evans
LB: Evra
RW: Ronaldo
CM: Carrick
CM: Scholes
LM: Nani
ST: Rooney
ST: Berbatov
subs: Foster, Giggs, Vidic, Welbeck, Fabio Da Silva, Fletcher, Tevez
Seems like VDS may be injured…
Either that or he is rested for Inter.
February 21st, 2009 at 18:06
heres hoping PIG pulls cramp
February 21st, 2009 at 18:08
i pray to god that VDS is just rested
February 21st, 2009 at 18:09
What the hell? Why is Scholes playing? I can only assume he’s not going to be facing Inter. The back 4 is right, but Ronaldo and Scholes aren’t needed for this game. Hope VDS is okay, because who rests a keeper in the middle of a record breaking run of clean sheets?
February 21st, 2009 at 18:11
i reckon giggs will start against inter. maybe with carrick, or in a 3 with fletcher.
February 21st, 2009 at 18:15
My namesake’s being rested. I cant help but feel scared.
Come on United!
February 21st, 2009 at 18:30
Dan totally agree with you on Tevez. There is no way he should have been dropped at the start of the season. He needs to play his way to top form and as third striker he won’t get the regular games he needs to stay match fit and sharp.
Yeah I imagine this line-up means Scholes is sitting out in the Inter game and Giggs will be partnering Carrick….which is pretty much what I was expecting.
I would have rested Ronaldo but maybe Fergie is hoping Ronaldo will get a goal or two today and that will boost his confidence going into the Inter game.
Im guessing the line-up against Inter will be:
EVDS, Neville, Vidic, Rio, Evra, Park, Giggs, Carrick, Ronaldo, Berbatov, Rooney
February 21st, 2009 at 18:31
so nobody knows why PIG is playing?
February 21st, 2009 at 18:37
@UnitedUnited: Cricket is paced like baseball. Hardly as difficult in hot weather as playing US football in August in during a hot humid Florida heat wave. Try playing the sport with helmet and pads and then hitting and crunching each other for 60 minutes in 102 degree temperatures. Still, I get your point although buying proper cricket gear is much more expensive than soccer and finding the proper field with the right measurements is much more important than it is in soccer. Cricket is not a simple game where soccer is. Soccer’s simplicity allows it to be simplified to the maximum. A hand made ball made out of garbage and two sticks stuck into the ground as posts. Basic and simple. It’s the perfect game for kids and people who play under poverty conditions. Thus it’s wide universal appeal.
February 21st, 2009 at 18:40
any streams guys?
February 21st, 2009 at 18:54
ROOONEY! COME ON!
February 21st, 2009 at 18:55
@Dan: Fat fag? Really? He’s better than Tevez, you know it, I know it. Tevez in pre-season ran around a lot but didn’t score
And btw POINT PROVEN. COME ON ROONEY
February 21st, 2009 at 18:57
Craig where are ya! That was brilliant from your boy Nani!
February 21st, 2009 at 19:01
We are paying sexy football. Long may it continue.
February 21st, 2009 at 19:03
FUCK!!!
February 21st, 2009 at 19:04
They dont deserve it the cunts. Fuck you all blackburn tits.
February 21st, 2009 at 19:04
nani fell asleep
February 21st, 2009 at 19:05
Oh bollocks
February 21st, 2009 at 19:07
stupid pig
February 21st, 2009 at 19:09
nani will be sold hahaha sir alex looked so pissed
February 21st, 2009 at 19:09
Fuck the record and get on with beating these cunts!
Come On United!
February 21st, 2009 at 19:15
What was nani doing on that goal?? also ferdinands defending was shit!! why was he sliding??
February 21st, 2009 at 19:15
Good stream for any1 looking
http://www.fcfootballblog.com/2009/02/21/manchester-united-vs-blackburn-live-footy/
February 21st, 2009 at 19:18
bullshit! Are you not allowed to head the ball now
February 21st, 2009 at 19:19
nani was caught day dreaming but but PIG should never have come out!
February 21st, 2009 at 19:20
Webb you bald scouse cunt! Get off the cillit bang and get some glasses prick!
Pleeease Fergie and United! We need a win!
February 21st, 2009 at 19:21
yeah there was absolutely no reason for PIG to be coming out of the goal…santa cruz was going away from the goal…and ferdinand decides to slide for no reason
February 21st, 2009 at 19:22
Webb knows he f*cked up, you could tell by the way he just ran away and wouldn’t tell anyone why he’d ruled it uot. I think he thought that Ronaldo was going to push Nelson, and whistled for that.
Anyway, we need a goal. Terrible mistake from Nani, no clue what the hell PIG was doing with his angles, but those are the onyl two things we’ve done wrong. Good football til their goal, just need to settle and start playing again. Going in 0-0 wouldn’t have been a shock, that’s all this is.
Dissapointed that Evans goal didn’t stand. Would have deserevd a lead from the half.
February 21st, 2009 at 19:25
Is it wrong that I feel like jumping on PIGs crotch with golf shoes, and he is not wearing a cup?!
Fucking wanker did shit. I hope Edwin never retires…
I dont care about the fucking record anymore. Just fucking win!!! 2-1, 3-1, 7-1, I dont fucking care! JUST WIN!!! Oh, and the ref is blind. Fucking blind!!! How could that goal be disallowed?! Fucking cunt is a wanker!
I hope we win this one. Blackburns tactics are frustrating us…
February 21st, 2009 at 19:26
Oh and did anyone notice Paul Robinson wasting time, even when they were 1-0 down? Awesome…
February 21st, 2009 at 19:27
Looked like Nani and Scholes left the ball for each other. Meh, the record is nice of course (always great to beat Chelsea), but United are far better at out scoring their opponents.
Anyway, i’m not worried, one goal wrongly ruled out and if Rooney and Berba continue to do what they did prior to the equalizer then this will still be an easy win.
February 21st, 2009 at 19:27
Before starting the Nani bashing, would you all please rewatch the action in its entirety? Nani could not see the lpayer coming behind him, as a matter of fact Scholes probablyu should have talked to him and tell him to play the ball fast instead he came to pick up the ball in Nani’s feet causing confusion.
But for me Pig should not be starting anymore. As much as I rate his goalkeeping skills, he does not communicate at all with his defenders and everytime he concedes we get the impression that it was one of those goals that you couldn’t do anything about. Maybe VDS actually talks more with his back four preventing those goals.
Now with the record falling with him in goal I bet that his confidence is shot…
February 21st, 2009 at 19:27
that was definitely a goal. howard webb to the rescue to make a bad call and ruin the day again.
February 21st, 2009 at 19:28
Just read my latest comment again, and realised that I said fuck sometimes.
COME ON YOU REDS!!! If I was Fergie right now, I would take off Nani and put in Giggs. I lost count of how many times LMN lost the ball in the first half.
February 21st, 2009 at 19:28
come on united!1
February 21st, 2009 at 19:30
Also for me Nani was one of hour best players in the first half, with an assist for the first goal, and nearly a second but for Howard Webb’s inaptitude, so…
February 21st, 2009 at 19:30
Nani didnt see someone behind him? this is this the premier league!! he cant freakin feel a guy behind him? or turn aroudn and take a quick look?? but yes scholes could have helped by speaking either leave or take. one word would have done the job.
February 21st, 2009 at 19:33
RedAllTheWay comment 16, inter are sort of hot and cold most days but even when they are cold they usually get the points, a bit like chelsea they may seem like a machine. However they usually raise their game to look like a completely different team when they play the top teams like us. Their central midfield is pretty powerful and their attack is usually pretty sound, for me their weakness is the the attacking wings and the central defence. As i was saying earlier i hope we dont put giggs and scholes say in the middle 3 because they will just get dominated cos inter are so powerful in the middle with cambiasso an absolute beast in most games. We could have done with anderson but definitely park (even though i dont rate him) needs to play for his running and energy along with carrick in the middle with scholes. I dont know what formation they will go, probably 4-3-3 to macth inter but i will be hard to fit in park unless he plays CM as i cant see berba, rooney or ronaldo getting dropped in a probably front 3. We just really need to not select both giggs and scholes cos they are too slow and they will not get the space so they will be our weak men, probably fergie will pick them purely out of sentimentality but he really shouldnt, they are legends but i feel they could get humiliated if they play. I would like to see:
VDS
RAFAEL RIO EVANS EVRA
FLETCHER CARRICK PARK
RONALDO BERBA ROONEY/TEVEZ
February 21st, 2009 at 19:37
Well it’s a story of Nani giveth and Nani taketh. Nice assist on the Rooney goal but a very lazy and poor effort of marking on the goal. Although i would blame Rio for some poor marking on Santa Cruz also. And you knew when that play developed that Pig wasn’t going to make the save because none of our backup keepers ever make a big save. EVDS may often get a free pass out there but he is still rock solid and you have to really earn it to get one behind him. I thought Santa Cruz got around Pig far too easily, although in fairness to the Pole, it wasn’t an easy situation to make a stop in. But that right there is the difference between a Buffon or a Pig. Buffon would somehow find a way to stop that one. My God, when you only get one chance against you in a half, you need to stop it.
Rooney and Berba look good but Scholes has gone into conservative mode and carrick is not present offensively. Ronaldo looks decent but Nani has moments of good coupled with moments of awful. And why was the Evans goal disallowed? How many goals is that now that have been wrongfully disallowed this year? Honestly, I’d like nothing more than to take every referee in the EPL, put them in front of a wall and have them all shot. They are all useless.
February 21st, 2009 at 19:48
rafael is geting skinned every now and then…clearly he is way away from the finished product…rovers are looking to get their crosses in from the left
carrick is sitting deep..
and nelson misses a sitter…we need a second quickly…
February 21st, 2009 at 19:51
just when i think, ‘one more goes into the wall’, he scores..
ronaldooooo
February 21st, 2009 at 19:53
I don’t know which feed all of you are getting on tv but listening to that idiot Craig Burley talking about Ronaldo makes me sick. Yes he took a dive and before that he retaliated with a bit of a kick but how much can a player take? He’s constantly being hacked at and kicked and stepped on and nothing is being called.
Whatever he does is nothing more than self preservation. And what a great free kick goal. It’s about time Ronny. 
February 21st, 2009 at 19:57
Morten Gay Pedersen you fucking diver.
February 21st, 2009 at 20:05
@Grognard: tbh I kind of agree with him…
However I can’t make my mind up on the penalty. It looked like a dive but Pedersen really had no reason to go down when he was clean through
February 21st, 2009 at 20:09
@Grognard: also it’s just like Ronaldo to score a FK just as people start to question his skill. Could be more of a curse than a blessing because I doubt Ronaldo will do more than hit the wall on his next 50 frees
February 21st, 2009 at 20:11
Why can’t Kusczak kick a ball?
February 21st, 2009 at 20:28
@edwin: He dove but he was also grabbed. It should have been a penalty as well as a yellow card against both players.
February 21st, 2009 at 20:29
@Liam: And they call me negative?
February 21st, 2009 at 20:29
will VDS’s record carry on when he comes back? i take it the team clean sheet record is dust now but edwin’s record is still rolling right?
February 21st, 2009 at 20:30
@Liam: Because he has a “POLE” for a leg.
February 21st, 2009 at 20:30
My god Rafael has been awful tonight. I would not swap a fit Neville for the potential of Rafael on tonights’s display. The weakness of our right flank was laid bare for all to see and I think Jose may take something out of tonight’s match.
February 21st, 2009 at 20:30
@elsammio99: EVDS record rolls on but the team record is now kaput.
February 21st, 2009 at 20:33
@Grognard: he’s still a diver.
Three points is all we needed, lets see how the scouse get on with shitty tomorrow. Evening all.
February 21st, 2009 at 20:33
It turned out to be a tough game but Big Sam has a habit of making teams tough and winning games by kicking people and working for set pieces. Win is a win though and if we took our countless chances in the end it would have been much better. The goal was a mistake by all of them. Scholes and Nani shouldn’t have lost the ball like that. Rio shouldn’t have gone down and PIG should have stayed, because Rio wasn’t bitten yet. We needed these 3 points and we got them and also tough game should shake the guys a little. It seemed to me that everyone was getting a little carried away. In the end another good team performance.
February 21st, 2009 at 20:35
i hope we dont run out of luck vs inter , now that evans is injured and vidic is suspended , is brown ok?
February 21st, 2009 at 20:36
Why do we keep PIG, i mean what the f**k is he doing at a club our size when he is at best a mid table player. Im happy weve won but seriously why are we settling for some garbage players, paying their wages, giving them countless opportunities to impress and them always playing crap and yet we never sell. PIG has had over 2 seasons with us and always looks shaky yet he still remains, hampering the progress of a young keeper. I mean ffs i saw a schalke game last year in the champs league and the keeper was just a beast, he saved everything, cant remember his name but im sure grognard will but why arent we looking at him.
Gibson and to a lesser extent fletcher are much the same, they will never be united class but we still keep them. Some will think im being over critical but i dont think these players would get in any top 4 side or indeed our side 10 years ago even as squad players. Just my opinion and i know we cant have world class players as back up but today shows these back up players will play games and u could see how unsteady and nervous our defence looked with pig there, we just shouldnt be settling for garbage like them whilst im sure they will still be at the club long after some genuine class players leave for various reasons like tevez, nani etc, players the garbage of this club wish they could play like. Small criticsm but i think fergie needs to get rid of some of these players (definitely the gibsons and pigs of this world along with fletcher if possible).
February 21st, 2009 at 20:36
What the fuck did I say?!
That is what happens when Ronny manages the difficult thing of GETTING THE BALL OVER THE WALL!!! Im delighted about the win but this was a hard one. Big Sam really have gotten some winning spirit into Blackburn tat Ince didnt manage. Im happy about the win, and Ronnies free-kick was a peach. This for me is his best free-kick after the one against Pompey last season. “Very nice!”(Borat voice) 
February 21st, 2009 at 20:37
I thought blackburn had a case for penalty though it wouldn’t have been a strong blatant case. Webb seeing a case of maybe-maybenot just decided to not give as he knew he screwed up for the Evans goal.
Oh, and average display by Berbatov too by the way. He did not have his passing boots on today.
February 21st, 2009 at 20:41
In a way, maybe its good that we got this record thing out of the way, so we can just concentrate on playing football. The record may havve proved to be a bit of a distraction but somehow I wished that VanderSar had conceded the decisive goal. The fact that Pig conceded it will not have done anything for his confidence.
February 21st, 2009 at 20:44
Im watching the Palermo-Juventus match right now, and Buffon has made three saves that I will consider world class. One of them a little like PIGs mistake today. You see, there is a very big difference between Kuzzy and Buffy. First of all, the best of those two plays for a UEFA-cup worthy team. The worst of those play for the best team in the world. One of them can make a save and talk to his defenders, the other cant even hit a ball cleanly in 1,234,524,596 times.
There are so many differences that I dont have time to name them all. My main point is that we need to get rid of Kuzzy and but either Akinfeev or Neuer. Or at least somebody with their kind fo quality. PIG belongs in a WBA team! Not in the European cup winners. I swear, if PIG is worthy of a CL winners medal, my grandmother should be crowned Ballon DoR winner! 
February 21st, 2009 at 20:44
@Matthew: Its players like Fletcher and JOS that win you titles. Oh and Gibson is around the same age as Nani and Tosic and was free. How come all I hear is how they have potential. How come Gibson can’t have potential? It’s close minded views like that that led to the downfall of Chelsea
February 21st, 2009 at 20:50
@RedDevilEddy: Some glaring oversights in your argument. If PIG was as good as Buffon then he would 1. Be first choice for his team 2. Cost the 32m that Buffon cost and not the peanuts we got him for. A more apt comparison would be between Kusczak and Juve’s 2nd choice keeper because they would be on equal standing. Also Juve are a CL team…
February 21st, 2009 at 20:51
its like carrick no one thought he was good enough for us , now he is running the show
February 21st, 2009 at 20:54
Ronaldo was brilliant today… loved the way he celebrated the goal…
February 21st, 2009 at 20:57
Personally im INCENSED at the conceded goal…. It was like last season’s brink of setting the least goals conceded all season but no, they had to fuck around and lose the chance.
This time, again on the brink of setting a european (and given i think a lil more match time, a world record) they blew it by playing PIG, and chopping the defence too much (Vidic should started with Rio, instead of Evans for this match) The moment i saw PIG on the team sheet, my heart sank, i didnt know if the goal was coming, but i sure as hell could sense it. I would like for Man Utd to break and then hold the record, call me greedy but these runs dont come every season…
I blame fergie for this loss (of the record). Scholes and Nani, so good in their immediately preceeding matches switched off and allowed that goal. Royal fuck up from all 4 of them, Nani, Scholes, Rio then last but not least PIG… i blame PIG more, in fact i think i can just get off by blaming him. what a shit goal to concede.
For fucks sake, for a moment i thought Bosnich and Taibi had come back to keep for us…
Rant over… And so is the right to call us “The Unbreachables”
February 21st, 2009 at 20:59
Listen you all – we would not have had the first Rooney goal, or the 2nd Evans goal, which should have stood lets face it, without Nani’s excellent balls into the area. Nani is still the best crosser of the ball from corners than anyone else in the team. The stupidity that led to the Santa Cruz goal was down to THREE things – yes three. Scholes pissing about going right up to Nani and trying to take the ball from him, while Nani was blinded to the B’Burn player coming in behind him. Rio and his ridiculous slide in the area – is he trying to be an ice dancer or what? Then PIG, who as soon as I saw his name on the team sheet, I said to me mates, kiss goodbye to our defensive record lads – what a feckin sickener for Edwin that was. Also I should have a 4th fault, Fergie changing his GK’s so feckin often, what other premership manager does that – no fucker that I can think of. If anyone loses the PL trophy for us, it will be Fergie with his piss poor decisions in messing with the defence. Evans I can understand, but he is injured and possibly out of tuesdays game. We nearly came unstuck today, and I am not just trying to blame PIG, but he was and always will be an indecisive ditherer. I was more worn out and emotionally wrecked today than I have been in several weeks of moving home North and all the pissing about that involves. Fergie you are doing my head in mate, I hate your decision making sometimes at VITAL points of our season.
Can anybody explain to me, WHY Blackburn can play like tigers ON SPEED, as they did today? If they had played like that most of the season they would not be relegated next year.
Howard Webb made so many mistakes today, and he is supposed to be the best ref in the prem – give me a break! Also did anyone see the 4th official celebrating with Alladyce when B’Burn scored – he’s a L’fool fan and as biased as feck. Today proved that when he has ref’d the L’fool games, and the Pool have always got every decision, we now no why. Champion tosser – Rob Stiles. Craig Mc just back for a quick blast in all your ears. Peace out.
February 21st, 2009 at 21:04
awww dont cry craig you will follow nani next season in tottenham shirt!
February 21st, 2009 at 21:06
@NicoQB: I personally, and i stress personally, dont see what u mean. Because how did that record hamper the team? Infact i thought it made them stronger, made them believe that they were infact “The Unbreachables”, maybe?
Stigmas and things like that can have an effect on oppositions…. Maybe you dont agree, but like i said, it is my personal belief… i am just sore i guess…
“Kaput” is a good word to describe how i feel
February 21st, 2009 at 21:14
Well I have to say I am relieved more than i am disgusted. Full credit to Big Sam and his boys as they certainly came to play. They exposed some weaknesses of ours and should have had two or three goals for their effort if they had any luck. Sorry folks but Rafael did grab Pederson enough to warrant a penalty call even though the prick did dive like an asshole imitating Ronaldo afterwards. You don’t dive when you are clearly in like that. What a total pussy and girly man. This is exactly what I mean about the game not having enough men playing the game.
United never really got in gear and although they weren’t horrible offensively, too often they broke down with just plain sloppy play. Sometimes you have to just gut it out and play a gritty game. The difference between us and the the other teams at the top of the league is that we win when we play a poor game, while they draw. It was an ugly win but it was a win nonetheless. Again, full credit has to go to Blackburn, they should have earned at least a point for their effort. I am still upset about the disallowed Evans goal. If Howard Webb is the best England has, then England’s FA is run by a bunch of drunken bastards with eye problems.
RATINGS:
PIG – 6/10 Never did much. Did make a fluky save after they had already hit the post. That would have put Rovers up 2-1 so it was big even though it was lucky. He just looks like an adventurer out there. No command of his box and is a terrible kicker of the ball. You knew he wouldn’t stop Santa Cruz on his goal because only keepers of extreme quality would not have fallen for that move.
RAFAEL – 5/10 Simply put, the worst game the lad has had in a Man Utd uniform. Got skinned a number of times but to his credit recovered well numerous times. Pederson got behind him and was fouled by Rafael but no penalty was called. Was also guilty of poor marking on the play where Blackburn hit the post. Nice runs up field but when he gets near the box, his passes and decisions were poor. Yet despite his poor game, he still looked very composed for his age.
RIO – 6/10 Not Rio’s finest game. Was found wanting numerous times and certainly got burned on the goal by being tentative and letting Rocque get the jump on him. Settled down when Vidic entered the game. That says wonders about how truly great Vidic is.
EVANS – 7/10 Played well and should have been awarded a goal. His defending was outstanding at times and a little spotty in the second half until he was replaced. This may be because of his leg injury.
EVRA – 7/10 Some nice runs and attacks but defensively he was pretty bad on a few marking assignments off the ball. On the ball he was very good. He really makes a difference on our attack and makes me really appreciate his presence as opposed to the more static O’Shea.
RONALDO – 8/10 At times he was a mixed bag but his goal was sublime and his movement and cutting in was constantly dangerous. Quite often he was inches off in his passing and shooting but he seemed dangerous despite being constantly fouled and hacked at. Lucky not to get a second yellow despite the fact he was being abused. To send him off for that little flick at his leg would have been terribly unfair.
SCHOLES – 6.5/10 Not a poor game but really did nothing offensively to make a difference in the game. His distribution and decision making was ultra conservative. Looked a little tired and I question starting him 3 days after he stared for us. At his age he should have had the day off and Giggs should have started after having Wednesday off.
CARRICK – 6/10 This player is an enigma. When he’s on he looks like the best central midfielder in England but when he plays with Scholes he just disappears and almost becomes the fifth defender. His marking at times was spotty and he needs to be more physical at times in the middle of the park as today he seemed to get out muscled for the ball on numerous occasions. Hes a big lad who needs to command more physical presence on the field like a Keane. Not enough intensity in the boy and kind of lackluster today.
NANI – 6/10 He started out fine and got a great assist but then he made a terrible mess of his marking assignment on the Blackburn goal and it was downhill from that point on. Just disappeared after that and really, Fergie should have taken him off at halftime. Craig, if you are reading this mate, SORRY.
BERBATOV – 6/10 Had a good first half where he looked dangerous and made some nice runs and passes but once again he never got himself into too many scoring positions and in the second half he got very conservative and disappeared until Rooney delivered a great ball to him that he missed with a header I am sure he would score with 9/10 times. Proof psitive that even though I love Berba, I ma more than willing to give him a poor rating when he deserves it.
ROONEY – 8.5/10 For me he was the MOM. Great pace and work ethic and constantly dangerous and aggressive. Scored a well worked goal and created numerous opportunities for others. Should have had a few assists with any luck and just missed a couple more goals with some great counter attacking moments. Showing more offensive aggressiveness than in the past which is great news and less tracking back into his own box which I always found frustrating and annoying in the past. The boy is finally getting it.
VIDIC – 8/10 When he came in it seems like the door was shut defensively even though Blackburn continued to attack and try to get an equalizer. VIDC did his Gandalf imitation and basically said to the Rovers “Thou shall not pass”.
TEVEZ – 6/10 Great energy and effort but once the ball is at his feet it is almost instantly on the feet of the opponent. What has happened to this players already testy ball control skills? Never got himself in any scoring positions and seemed content to play the Nani role of wide man. That was by design so I can’t blame him for not scoring. Still, his first touch and dribbling is in major decline of late.
GIGGS – 7/10 Despite not playing for long, I noticed Giggsy making three top notch defensive plays and cutting off service from Blackburn’s left side into the box. Settled the team down and they got into a very nice passing rhythm and did a great job of keep away in the last ten minutes to kill the game.
FERGIE – 7/10 Made some strange moves in team selection but when one thinks about it, they were pretty shrewd. Why not start Vidic if he will be suspended vs Inter? To give Evans some game time and keep him sharp. Problem of course is that now Evans is injured and we are in trouble vs Inter. Also, starting Nani was the right move in order to give Park the rest as he will have a massive job controlling Maicon and others. Again though, Berbatov and Ronaldo could use a rest and are not getting it. Berba looks tired and Ronaldo would have really benefited form a day of rest. I also would not have started Scholes three days after his last start I assume he is going to start vs Inter so I would have sat him down. Bringing Vidic and Giggs in to settle down the squad was the smart thing to do. It probably won us this game. RAFA could learn from Fergie.
February 21st, 2009 at 21:16
@Craig Mc: BRO, My wish has come true and my buddy has returned. Just when I was losing hope you have returned to Red Rants. I knew my little Nani bashing would bring you out of your hibernation. So how is life in Newcastle? Even Robbie Keane wasn’t that desperate.
Great to have you back mate. Trust me, you were severely missed by all. 
February 21st, 2009 at 21:23
@RedDevilEddy: Great points mate. You are actually echoing a point I made earlier when I used the difference between a Pig and Buffon of all people. So true. That is why United must not spare expense in buying a truly world class keeper to replace EVDS when he retires. I will settle for nobody other than the names I have given in the past. Unless of course I am shocked by Buffon or Casillas making their way to OT, which is very unlikely. One can never underestimate the security and confidence a team gets form a great keeper who also knows how to scream and direct his back four. Notice how poor Pig was at that today? Especially on crosses into the box.
February 21st, 2009 at 21:28
@Grognard: It might be that Rio and Evans haven’t played as much with each other and he wants to give them much on- field time as a partnership before Inter?
@Liam: He’s not foreign, don’t you see how Possebon is hailed as oooh, such a calm and controlled manner on the ball and Gibson rubbish, when the latter has been played out of position sometimes but delivers when he’s played rightly?
@NicoQB: I agree, we’ve already broken all the records besides the worldwide record so I’m not that bothered, and the fact that we didn’t concede more than one nor did we look defeated after we conceded doesn’t make me think teams will now want to attack us more.
February 21st, 2009 at 21:28
Hey DAN, nothing to say about Huntelaar’s two goals today and his three in two games? I guess amazing things happen when you actually play the guy. I said it before and I will say it again, The Hunter will prove me right and you wrong in the end. Long live the Hunter.
February 21st, 2009 at 21:29
@Rd: I totally agree. That and just getting Evans match fit again as he was out for a few weeks with an injury.
February 21st, 2009 at 21:32
How spoilt are we all? We win 2-1 and we are acting like we just lost 0-3. It’s great being a Man Utd supporter. The constant drive for perfection is what differentiates us from the rest of the rabble and Scousers in the footballing world.
February 21st, 2009 at 21:32
@Liam: @Liam: Great points both of them. Many of our suporters should be more patient and more realistic.
February 21st, 2009 at 21:43
@Grognard: Lol, Grog now that everyone seems to have switched to the Grognard dark side, you seem to be more positive, what happened, lol
February 21st, 2009 at 21:43
@Grognard: Grog I hope that Hunterlaar plays against L’fool and scores 2 goals. I hope Real Madrid turn them over mate
.
February 21st, 2009 at 21:46
“Manchester United target Karim Benzema says he would rather move to Spain from Lyon than the Premier League. (Daily Mail)”
Are you reading this Fergie? Take the hint.
February 21st, 2009 at 21:50
@Grognard: What I don’t get Grog, talking about perfection, is how come our team seems to be so inept at taking the pace out of a game when we are in the lead? Especially when we have a ‘charge of the light Brigade mentality’, like B’Burn had today. We are still not controlling these kind of fast paced games IN MIDFIELD. SCHOLESY was great as others are in the slower paced type of games, but when teams are ON rushing us, we need cool heads not hit and rush too. Maybe I am just being overly picky though mate, but the ball kept coming back on our defenders far too often
.
February 21st, 2009 at 21:55
@Craig Mc: Oh Craig, you have no idea how happy I am to see you!
Long time no hear mate. How is Newcastle like? And your girlfriend and all? We miss you and we want to hear what our captain has been up to! 
I hope you will comment more often now, because this site loses some thing when you aint here. Its like a United without Neville or Scholes. Cheers mate! 
February 21st, 2009 at 21:56
Grog thanks Bro
. I will try and post at the Wkends when I am here for the reds games. During the week now I just can’t get online to blog. I am setting up work etc, and I have taken on a massive work project which takes so much time up. Great financial rewards though 
.
February 21st, 2009 at 21:59
@RedDevilEddy: Eddy mi man – I see you are still going strong
. The Far North is not bad mate, but nothing is like Manc Land of course 
. How’s all you girl chasing going then – you still looking, or are you faithful to your present GF?
February 21st, 2009 at 22:00
@Grognard: I guess that is what makes us United fans so good with women.
We are always looking for perfection, because we are perfect. 
I think that we United fans are not only spoiled. We are just looking for the best at all times. I mean, how can looking for the best solution at all times be a bad thing? Only the best is good enough, ey?
February 21st, 2009 at 22:02
Football is a funny game. Espanyol is out shot 17 to 2 and the beat Barcelona 2-1.
Even though he faced a lot of shots the Espanyol keeper Kameni was a nightmare to watch. Poor control and positioning all game but he had all the luck and benefited from great Espanyol defending. The reason I bring up Kameni is because I remember reading rumors that had him attached to Man Utd. God I hope not. The guy has been rubbish for Espanyol all season and he make PIG look like Sepp Maier.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:03
Grog, girls aloud won a Brit Award for the best British single this year
. Lush puppy Kimberley Walsh looked absolutely angelic mate in her long white flowing gown. She gave the post award speech too. I didn’t watch the whole Brits, but caught there acceptance speech on you tube. That girl Kimba is too, too delicious.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:04
@Rd: It’s my counter attacking style. Just when they all start to favor your game plan, you change over an adopt their old one. It was my cunning plan.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:04
@Craig Mc: Craigy man, chill! We still won the game at the end of the day, and as footballers like to so often remind us during post-match interviews, it’s getting the 3pts that counts! I couldn’t give a shit about the defensive record as we had to carry on keeping clean sheets until the Wigan game in April (on the 18th I think?) to break the world record, which apparently stands at 1800 minutes or something ridiculous like that.
I’m not a huge fan of PIG myself but I can see what Fergie was trying to do: rest Edwin for the BIG match on Tuesday ‘cos we are gonna need all the defensive quality we can muster for that game, especially with Vida out, and if we have the squad to chop and change and give everyone game time and keep them match fit, then we might as well utilise it.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:04
@Craig Mc: Still faithful!
I luv me girlfriend, and life is sweeter than ever! The only thing I have missed in my life lately has been you, but now that you are back I am at the top of happiness. 
I know Geordie land will never be as good as Manchester, but lets be honest. Is there any place in the world better than the theatre of dreams? The important thing is you making the best out of the situation you are in, and not to meet Dave.
I bet you two would have a real good conversation about how some people dont see the talent of your favorite players. 
Just kidding mate, but I happy to hear from you again.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:05
@Craig Mc: I hate Madrid but nothing would make me happier than to see Rafa reduced to babbling cry baby.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:06
@Craig Mc: PS: Good to see you back on here mate!
February 21st, 2009 at 22:09
@Nino:
Nino, but we so nearly didn’t win it though. We had a very big slice of good fortune come our way. I get your point though mate, but my heart was beating so fast I thought it was gonna burst. Those kind of games are not good for peoples tickers mate.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:10
@Craig Mc: Great point Bro. This is where we really miss the influence of Hargo. He was always good at calming things down with Carrick or Anderson. Scholes is almost too calm but it’s our wingers who show impatience and have no slow down in their game. Scholes is great at directing the tempo but when teams get desperate and start charging us one on one, he lacks the pace to keep them off him and then we get far to flat footed and start facing our own goal. This is where a more mature and defensive Anderson could help us. He is so good at shielding the ball but he needs to show more patience and common sense in his passing at times like this. Carrick is fine but Hargo is really the missing link here and it’s this problem that scares me in the Champions League against much finer competition and coaching. Lets see if that cost s us against Inter.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:11
@Nino: Thank you, but it will only be at weekends when I get into town for games
.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:11
@Wink: Each time we were playing I was fearing that the record might be breached. I fon’t know for the players but now maybe they can play without having the record in the back of their minds.
, but I’m sure he would not be having half the nerves he was having tonight.
I think that Pig was very much aware of all eyes being on him at the start of the match with van der Sar not playing. Would he have conceded that goal if we weren’t defending the record. WEll, in all honesty i’d be tempted to say yes
That’s also an individual point of view, and it may or may not apply to the defenders.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:13
@Grognard: These are the goalkeepers I find worthy of being a United keeper(1st or 2nd):
Manuel Neuer
)
Iker Casillias
Gianluigi Buffon
Akinfeev(dunno his first name
Shay Given
Julio Cæsar
These are of cource only the most obvious names, the players that I would prefer. There are probably lots of other class keepers out there that I havent heard of, or that I dont remember right now. But those six are my preferred options.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:13
@Craig Mc: It’s great to have you back and as long as we have you on the weekend before and after games, that’s fine. Hopefully you will eventually find time to show up on those slow weekdays where your with humor and insight has been missed. And frankly, I miss your pro Lil Man Nani rants. Great to have you back. How do you find Geordieville? Is it the shit hole I have imagined it to be?
February 21st, 2009 at 22:14
@RedDevilEddy: Hahaha – good for you mate. Glad things are sweet for you and your GF. By the way, who is Dave Bro?
February 21st, 2009 at 22:16
@Grognard: Its fine Grog, and the whole of Geordieland people are really friendly. Nobody like the Mancs though mate
.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:17
@RedDevilEddy: Great point mate. Man Utd fans shoot for the star where other teams shoot for the moon. The difference is if you shoot for the stars, you may actually reach the moon. When you only shoot for the moon, chances are you will only reach the tenth row at the Emirates.
I’m borrowing the famous quote from the Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis when I think of United and our great supporters. “Pride, poise and a commitment to excellence” and “Just win baby”.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:17
I don’t know if many of you guys noticed but tonight, Rio did a good job of covering for Rafael’s errances. I counted easily at least four times where he did so.
And thinking about the Santa Cruz goal I think that many defenders would be hard pressed to stay with the man. I don’t blame him for the tackle, even though he night have delayed it a bit more, but really Pig came out way too early and was covering an area Rio already had covered…
February 21st, 2009 at 22:21
@Craig Mc: Well I’m hoping for my fantasy girl to win the Oscar tomorrow night. I absolutely love Kate Winslet, even in he chubby stages. She’s a real woman and has natural beauty. Not a Page 3 type but a real frakken woman. I also ask you to type in the name Nadia Bjorland. She is a young and absolutely stunning brunette soap star in the US. Now id you wanted to know what the Grognard’s type looks like, she would be the one. Don’t get me wrong, Kimberly is hot but she just isn’t my type. Wouldn’t turn down a shag though. Big of me eh?
February 21st, 2009 at 22:24
@Nino: I have to be honest when I say that I laugh at the idea of EVDS needing rest for the Inter game. He has had nothing but rest all season long. If standing around his goal, sipping on a pina colada and improving his tan is work and tiring, then Sign me up for some hard labor. He has had such an easy time of it this year.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:25
Ok, so It seems like we’re in a bit of a pickle of Tuesday(memories of AC Milan in 2007), Evans is apparently not going to be fit, same with Neville and Brown, Vidic is out, so what will our back four look like? We might have to go for the same tactics as the first leg vs. Barca last season if none of the above can get fit in time or does anyone think Park, Fletcher and Carrick can provide enough cover?
February 21st, 2009 at 22:25
@RedDevilEddy: Good list, but to be honest I don’t rate Julio Cesar that highly, I’d rather have someone like Rene Adler in his place. The Russian goalie Malafeev (I’m not sure how to spell or pronounce his first name, but it begins with a V) is pretty solid too.
Shay Given is one of my favourite GK’s and I’m real disappointed that he went to the bitters. He’s Top4 material without a shadow of a doubt and should have gone somewhere like Arsenal who need a decent goalie, where his talents would have flourished more. Then again, that would have made them stronger so I’m glad they didn’t go for him.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:26
@RedDevilEddy: The only thing good about moving to Newcastle is meeting Dave and sharing in his Ameobi collection.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:28
@Grognard: Precisely. He needs rest from resting and sipping on all those cocktails! It is a tiresome job, lifting that glass you know…
February 21st, 2009 at 22:29
watchin Huntelaar score for Madrid just angers me
February 21st, 2009 at 22:31
@Craig Mc: But like I said before mate, the difference between us and the Liverpool’s Chelsea’s and Arsenal’s is that we win those games we deserve to lose 90% of the time. Those other clubs would have come out of there with a tie or even a loss today. They don’t have the same luck as us because in order to be lucky, you first have to be that damned good. And frankly, we are so damned good that an average performance and 2-1 win, feels like a crushing loss to us. God I thank my good taste for being a Man Utd fan. To think I could have been born with some form of mental illness that would have turned me into a Scouser loving filth, Arse licker or Commy loving Chelscumbag. It’s times like this I know there is a God.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:32
@realred: Why does it anger you mate?
February 21st, 2009 at 22:36
@Grognard: Yeah Grog and sometimes you land on the SUN, and can get really burnt, as our team almost did today
.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:36
@RedDevilEddy: I’m surprised you have not included my two favorites, Alder and Boruc. You’ll have to be punished for that.
I automatically dismiss Buffon and Casillas as they will never come to United. My list other than the two faves would include Frey, Neuer, Akinfeev, Malifeev and Wiese. I don’t include Given and Friedel because of their age and Cech would also never come to United.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:37
@Craig Mc: Dave is the phone in character on “I’m on Setanta Sports”. You know, the Jose Mourinho puppet show. He’s hilarious with his mad obsession for Ameobi. Almost stalker-like.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:40
@Craig Mc: Craig I saw that clip on YouTube just now as I didn’t get to watch the Brits either due to other commitments, and DAMN! That girl just gets better and better as time goes on! A real sophisticated and classy lady: she looked like a ethereal goddess in that white gown and with that pure crystal clear skin!
February 21st, 2009 at 22:41
@Rd: He’ll probably go with Rafael, Rio. O’Shea and Evra. It’s not ideal but what else can he do. Maybe Neville or Brown will gut it out and be ready for us by then.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:43
@Grognard: Glad she is not your type mate, don’t want other guys lusting after Lush Puppy do I? Although most men do, and especially those big named starts of the music world. She is faithful though to her fellow of 3 years together, so he needn’t worry either
. Kate Winslet is just a very nice person, but I could never fancy her. Will look up the other lass you mentioned though.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:44
@realred: I know how you feel mate. Personally it makes me sick. I was actually hoping he’s still be sitting the bench to ensure his leaving the club at the end of the season. But if he continues to score, Real won’t consider selling him.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:45
@Grognard: Forlan is the most prolific striker la liga has had in years! he was pants in england! Huntelaar would be panties in england!
February 21st, 2009 at 22:45
@Craig Mc: Better than than freeze from the old on the moon.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:45
@Grognard: I totally forgot about Boruc, thanks for that reminder! He’d easily be my No.1 choice to take over from Edwin. As for Shay Given, he’s only 32 mate and could easily play until he is 40. Class, class goalie.
By the way, who is Alder though and who does he play for? I’ve never heard of this guy.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:46
@Grognard: O’Shea is not fit either Grog, he’s injured too. As for Rafael playing, I hope not, because he was ripped apart so often down the left today
. Imagine what the technically gifted Inter forwards will do to him 
.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:47
Premier league defences>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>La liga defences>>Dutch league defenses
This is why huntelaar can succeed in la liga
February 21st, 2009 at 22:49
Well I’m off round my mates place, for a good FEW jars of Lager, and to watch the game replayed. Catch you later.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:49
@Dan: Truly Dan, your wisdom and logic is second to none.
Please do us all a favor and DON’T CHANGE. 
February 21st, 2009 at 22:51
Given is over-rated to be honest. If foster doesnt make the grade at old trafford(which he will tbh), then adler or friedel would be my choices.
Maybe heaton can come good. And we also have that german keeper in the youths, zieler, thats sure to make grognard happy.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:52
@Grognard: Never grog, never
February 21st, 2009 at 22:53
@Nino: Rene Adler is the young keeper for Bayer Leverkusen and currently the #1 keeper for Germany. He’s young and has tremendous potential and is an outstanding shot stopper with lightning reflexes. Still needs a little work on his highballs into the box, but other than that, he has all the tools to be a truly great keeper.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:56
@Craig Mc: The thing about Rafael though is his best games this season have been against the best teams. His focus and concentration is better and he doesn’t take as many chances. I think he will be fine. I also feel sure that one of those injured guys whether it be Neville, Brown, Evans or O’Shea will be fit enough to play. All the more reason why i would have started Vidic today. Risking Evans with no backup plan was foolish by Fergie.
February 21st, 2009 at 22:57
@Dan: AHA!
February 21st, 2009 at 22:58
@Grognard: Oh you meant Adler! Forgive me but your typo in your original post had me scratching my head in bewilderment and wondering whether “Alder” was an up-and-coming young GK from our youth ranks or something. Rene Adler I am certainly familiar with though!
February 21st, 2009 at 22:58
@Dan: Friedel who is nearing 40 would be your choice to replace EVDS? And we have the nerve to question your wisdom?
February 21st, 2009 at 22:59
@Dan: I’m so relieved.
Life would be so boring an uninteresting if you did. 
February 21st, 2009 at 23:01
@Nino: Sorry about that. To be honest I never realized that I created a typo error. Sometimes my fingers are so fast at typing that I get letters backwards. I thought it was kind of funny you hadn’t heard of Adler. Now I know it was my fault.
February 21st, 2009 at 23:02
@Grognard:
yep thats right!
in fairness hes only 37, but he seems like he can carry on playing for another 5 years.
i cant see that in van der sar, hes a switch that can be flicked at any second.
February 21st, 2009 at 23:05
@Dan: Load of bollox if you ask me mate. Given has been the stand-out player (like a sore thumb) in a piss-poor Newcastle squad for the last 10-12 years! He saves them so many points in a season and I’m convinced that they would have long fell through the Premier League trapdoor without this guy between the sticks!
February 21st, 2009 at 23:08
@Grognard: Thou shall not pass
Here’s to you grog, enjoy (10min on photoshop!):
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/4657/vidaucannot2.jpg
February 22nd, 2009 at 0:38
@NicoQB: Quality stuff mate. Vidic the Grey our wizard of defense.
February 22nd, 2009 at 1:00
@Grognard: I agree with you there! I’m sure if computer graphics experts in the world see this, they will be reeling in their chairs at my sheer editing skills that they can only dream to reach one day…
Oh…
February 22nd, 2009 at 1:02
@NicoQB: You are one step from working for Peter Jackson, ILM, Pixar or Disney mate.
February 22nd, 2009 at 1:08
We need a new GK!!! sell that damn Pig. Foster is the new Van Der Gouw, we need a quality replacement for VDS.. Evans seems injured, if so we’re fucked against inter
February 22nd, 2009 at 1:27
@Grognard:
Hows that working out for Al Davis now?
Sorry, I just hate the Raiders. My father is an unbearable fan.
February 22nd, 2009 at 2:02
Shit this is Milan 2007 all over again. What was Fergie thinking resting Vidic who was suspended for Tuesday anyway. If Evans is out I do not fancy any of the others. Brown hasn’t played in ages. Neville and O’Shea aren’t centre backs.
Im going to be majorly pissed if we end up conceding a couple in Milan with a make-shift defence….because if there is one thing Mourinho teams can do it is defend a lead.
February 22nd, 2009 at 2:35
@colver: We still have Rio & Evra, who will give us great attacking impetus down the left which we’ll need if we are to claim an away goal or two, so it’s still not all that bad. Maybe selling Silly might not have been such a good idea after all? I guess it will be O’Shea filling in at CB and Rafael will most probably have no choice but to step up to the plate at RB. A real baptism of fire as I reckon this will be his first real serious test since breaking into the first team (up against Figo too possibly).
Might have to play with Carrick and Fletcher playing a bit deeper to protect the defence and compensate for the loss of key personnel. I’d rather have our 1st choice defenders fit for the home leg anyway, as it’s imperative that we don’t concede at OT, especially if we lose or draw 0-0 on Tuesday.
February 22nd, 2009 at 3:47
Panucci would have been a decent signing if this defensive crisis is to be believed, he can play anywhere across the back 4.
February 22nd, 2009 at 4:09
i hope this doesnt turn out like barca away
February 22nd, 2009 at 5:59
@MUFC Fan in America: I hate the Raiders to but when he said that in 1980, they were the best and the most consistent team n the game for 15 years. At the time it sounded cool and oh so intimidating to opponents. Over the last year the quote changed to “Crime, piss and a commitment to excrement.”
February 22nd, 2009 at 6:02
@colver: And we can’t? Have faith mate. Don’t compare that team that lost to AC Milan with our present bunch. We are much more better and more resilient now. We’ll be fine. Christ!
What is it with me and this bloody annoying optimism? I need to see a shrink. 
February 22nd, 2009 at 10:58
ONLY 2 SLEEPS LEFT TO INTER’S GAME OMG I CANT WAIT AND I AM SO HYPER RIGHT NOW AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH
February 22nd, 2009 at 11:08
Apparently barca want evra, for £20mil. What do yo reckon? yes, and give fabio the games(He loook damn good against spurs, much more composed then his twin), or no. We could even use the money to buy the one and only fullback i rate higher then evra, lahm. Hes the best fullback in the world imho, and grognard should know how much i rate as i dont rate german players at all
Alright they’ve got a good few players.
February 22nd, 2009 at 11:28
i wouldnt sell evra for 100mil
February 22nd, 2009 at 11:36
@ROOOOONEY:
are you mad! you wouldn’t sell evra for £100mil! im happy you’re not our manager! 
February 22nd, 2009 at 11:45
@Dan: I wouldnt sell him for all the money in the world! Evra is the best left back in the world right now, and I seriously doubt that we would get Lahm with Fergies anti-bias about Germans. Maybe Fabio could be given a run out, but he doesnt have the strenght, stamina or leap that Pat has. I wouldnt sell Evra, at least not yet. Maybe when Evra turns 31 or around there, because by then he will have lost some speed and stamina. But not now, he is reaching his peak!
February 22nd, 2009 at 11:55
I am a little worried about Inter now… Our defense suffers from injuries! But I guess we will be alright, I mean, we have Rio Ferdinand.
And we can partner him with Vidic. Oh wait, he is suspended.
Thats alright, we have Johnny Evans. No, he is injured.
But at least we have Wes Brown. Fuck, he is also injured.
Well, I guess we can play Nevile there. No, he is still not fit.
At least we have John Oshea who can play CB. Shit, he is also injured.
Well, can we play Rafael or Evra in there? I dont think so. None of them have the aerial presense needed to handle Ibrahimobitch or Cruz. And Rafael doesnt have the patience. Evra might play there, but I seriously doubt it. That leaves our defense might loking like this:
Rafael-Chester-Rio-Evra
If I really would do something here, something drastic that I think would save our butt-cheeks, I would play Michael Carrick in CB. I know this may sound stupid and crazy, but he is strong. Good positioning, good leap, good header, and a fairly good tackler. I would rather have him in there than Chester! I havent seen a lot from the guy, but if Derby can score 2 goals in 30 minutes against us with him on the field, I wonder what Inter can do in the course of 90 minutes. So I would play this team(assuming Evans, Wes, Gaz or Oshea dont recover):
VDS
Rafael-Carrick-Rio-Evra
Park-Fletcher-Giggs-Ronaldo
Rooney-Berbatov
I know it might be crazy, but in these situations that is the only solution I can think of…
February 22nd, 2009 at 12:15
@RedDevilEddy: we dont know if fabio has the strength, stamina or leap that evra has because we havent seen enough of him to say he has this or doesnt have this. But if his performance against spurs is anything to go by, hes good enough to be playing for us now.
i think fergies anti-bias against germans is a myth tbh. There is no evidence supporting this, at all. in that last few years, the only postion we could have strengthened was the wings, everywhere else we had players we had bought already that was coming back on loan, like the twins and foster. We didnt need strikers, because we had 4 strikers in smith, saha, rooney and OLE, then when smith, left we replaced him with tevez, then ole decided to retire mid-season, and saha, well saha was just saha. we didnt need defenders or Midfielders.
its a myth, truth be told, we havent bought german players because of timing. we havent bought keepers, because we had one coming back, we havent bought defenders because we have loads of those, same with midfielders, then only place we could have bought a german, was upfront, but because our striker force went pear shaped mid-season, we didnt.
February 22nd, 2009 at 12:26
@Dan: Well, I seriously doubt that Fergie would sell Evra. Pat has been a loyal servant to this club, only speaking highly about it and always stating his desire to stay here for the rest of his career. And for me he is the best left back in the world. He is incredibly fast, he has a great leap, could have scored yesterday not for Nelsons header off the line, good skills, great positioning and a fairly good crosser. Its just that he usually opts for the low one because, in all honesty, its the low crosses behind defenders that create havoc. Trust me, I speak from experience!
High ball can be a problem, but they are usually slower than lower balls. And if you have a complete team, your centre backs should be one of the tallest guys on the pitch, and have a great leap. But low balls which come in at a great speed, with accuracy, are terrible to deal with. So I think Pat must be the best side back in the world. I only rate Maicon, Alves and Abidal close to him. They all possess he quality, but I still think Evra is the best. 
And you are right, I havent seen much of Fabio. But his leap isnt great, that I know. I only judge by the few reserve matches Ive seen him play, and the Spurs game. He is quick, a warrior. But he doesnt possess the strenght or leap of Evra. But that will come with age, I am sure. Anyways, I wouldnt sell Evra for £100 million this summer. He is too good for that. If Milan can reject a £108 million bid for Kaka, United should be very able to say no to a £20 million bid from Barca.
February 22nd, 2009 at 12:43
I wonder how this summer is gonna be. We usually go out needing a player. In 2006 we needed a midfielder, we got Carrick. The next summer we needed a striker and a midfielder, we got Tevez, Anderson, Hargreaves and Nani. Last summer we needed a striker, we got Berba(on the most awsome transfer day EVER!
). What do we actually need this summer? We have back up in every part of our defense. Rafael can be replaced by Neville or Wes. Rio and Vidic with Evans or Brown. Evra with Fabio or Oshea. Dont you guys even talk about getting a new defender right now, its just because we must be the most unlucky side in the universe when it comes to injured defenders! We have total of 5 defenders injured/suspended for Inter. Neville, Vidic, Wes, Evans and Oshea. I highly doubt Chelski or Liverpool would be able to cope with a team the likes of Pompey if they had Carvalho, Ferreira, Cashley Cole, Alex and Ivanovic out. And look at Liverpools “strenght in depbt”! If they had lost Agger, Skrtel, Aurelio, Degen and Carragher, they would have to play Masched-Potatoes and Benayon in defense! We are lucky to have such a big squad.
Anyway…. What I wanted to say was what will our aims be this summers? Keep hold of Ronaldo? Tevez seems to be moving anyway, but I wonder how that will turn out. We dont need a defender, we dont need a midfielder(Carrick, Scholes, Anderson, Fletcher, Giggs, Hargreaves, Gibson, Possebom, even Oshea…) and we dont need a striker. I want Welbeck to be upgraden to 3rd striker next season, with Campbell challenging him for that spot. We already have Rooney and Berba as first strikers, and I feel that Welbeck has the potensial and quality to be a great United striker. And Campbell is a fucking speed machine! He isnt that young either, he must be 22 or something. He has experience form the Prem and Championship, so I think he would to well for us. We have Ronaldo, Nani, Park and Tosic as wingers. I am not too sure what will happen with Nani, but my instinct tells me he will be off in July/August. Tosic will be given a chance, and I feel wuite confident Park will be given a new contract. And we have got VDS signed up until the summer of 2010, and we have Pig and Foster as second/third choice.
So this is how I see it. I think we should let Tevez go, if he thinks he costs more than £20 million. And get rid of Nani if he doesnt improve. Probably get rid of Kuzzy too, but I would keep hold of Foster because I think he has the potensial to become a great goalkeeper for us. My summer prediction/hopes would be…
Sell:
Nani
Tevez
Kuzzy
Buy:
Manuel Neuer
Ashley Young
Bring back Frazier
February 22nd, 2009 at 12:46
Is it just me, or do you guys also get the feeling that Ronny will be playing in a Manchester United shirt in 12 months time…
February 22nd, 2009 at 12:48
Grognard, I’ve got no worries about the rest of our team but our defence is going to look very dodgy if we don’t get one of Evans or Brown in the middle.
Eddy Id prefer Fletcher in defence if there is a nightmare scenario and Evans, Brown, O’Shea and Neville are out. We need Carrick in midfield and Fletcher has got height, is reasonable at tackling and will do what Rio tells him.
There is no way Id sell Evra to Barca. Evra is one of the best left-backs in the world. Fabio has hardly played a competitive game. Even assuming he progresses like his brother, Rafael is still very raw and his positioning and timing is often lacking.
February 22nd, 2009 at 13:09
@RedDevilEddy: out of that list, alves is a second rate winger that plays in defence. Abidal is over-rated, maicon is the bosingwa of inter, he only stands out because hes the only one on the wing.
Lahm, is the best fullback in the world, im my honest opinion, but because he plays in the bundeliga he doesnt gets his recognition.
February 22nd, 2009 at 13:09
nino- as good as berbatov is undoubtedly is, Huntelaar is more what our team was in need of….in my opinion anyways
Our team workd perfectly, we just needed an out n out striker who will score wit the chances he gets…
Huntelaar does this in abundance…i mean look at the ammount of simple headers Berbatov has missed already this season…..at least 5, 6 i can think of, u think Klaas woulda missed em? no chance. Thats his bread n butter you see.
It aners me as i beleive that quality is exactly what our great team is still lacking
will Dimi provide it in the future? who knows, sure hope so
dnt get me wrong id probs say Dimi was the better player of the two but strongly feel Huntelaar was more suited to out set up
hes a fukin goals machine
rooney huntelaar just does it for me
sorry
…for first time i can remember Nani pissed me off yeaterday, still rate the boy v.v highly though, hes so effective when playin well, get the feelin he could provide assists in his sleep!!
up the red
…cmon City!!
February 22nd, 2009 at 13:15
@colver: we’re not talking about rafael though, we’re talking about fabio.
February 22nd, 2009 at 13:19
RedEddy- Sellin Nani for Young just makes me chuckle
give the boy time you will see…
February 22nd, 2009 at 14:34
Sure Dan, but Rafael has exceeded all expectations and still is a long way off being the finished article. A comparison is valid because before they came to United they were the same age, had the same amount of experience etc. Rafael now has around 20 games under his belt, Fabio has half a game and has been set back by injuries. Even if Fabio is better than Rafael starting off and develops at the same extraordinary rate he is still a few years off being fit to clean Evra’s boots.
I reckon Ronaldo will stay with us until Fergie goes. In the current economic climate I do not think even Real could put together a big enough bid to make it worth selling Ronaldo.
February 22nd, 2009 at 14:45
I hope brown comes back to fitness in time for the inter game because him and ferdinand were just out of this world last year when they played barca. Sounds like oshea will be fit to come in, but i get terrified every time i see him play on the wing back let alone at centre back where any mistake will be suicide. I was saying before hand that inters weak spot is their centre defence, well it now seems our weak spot will also be our central defence so we have to make sure our central midfield is solid so they cant take advantage of it. Inters midfield is pretty solid so we now have to do the same, it sounds like we are pretty similar at the minute with them. To protect our defence we cannot select more than 1 oldie because they will just get killed out there in the middle, we definitely will have to match them with the 4-3-3 so a solid midfield is essential. We do face a problem though, do we play park on the right side of the middle 3 to protect rafael, or do we play him on the left to stop maicon. I would probably play him on the right to cover rafael and play rooney on the left side of the front 3 to stop maicon. Its just a shame because we will now loose our attacking threat if rooney is made to mark maicon, but he is so dangerous and with our defence the way it is i think we have to be as tight as possible. Its not in our nature but if we can get a 0-0 we will be all set and i think we will win the return leg. I hope we see this team:
VDS
RAFAEL OSHEA RIO EVRA
PARK CARRICK FLETCHER
RONALDO BERBA ROONEY
Not our greatest team but with the current injury problem i feel it is our strongest possible line up. This is the wrong game to see giggs or scholes in because they are getting older and are now much slower i feel inter would exploit that. Park as i said can cover rafael, fletcher can help out with maicon and then the fron 3 is pretty normal. I reckon we will see both giggs and scholes though with maybe rooney left out, but i truly hope not because this for me is our strongest team at the minute.
February 22nd, 2009 at 15:15
can any1 actually confirm if evans, brown, neville and oshea are definitely ruled out. I know its not gospel but a few people on the bbc forum are claiming they will all miss the game, if that happens what the hell are we gonna do? I honestly cant even think how to pick a team with that in mind. Would we be able to get an emergency loan or recall one of our loan players back or something. I heard panucci is available.
February 22nd, 2009 at 16:11
My line up against inter:
VDS
Fletcher Rio O’shea Evra
Park Giggs Carrick Ronaldo
Berba Rooney
Reasons for it: Rafael is not yet the finsihed article, while he has shown great promise offensively, defensively he’s often been dodgy.
With no Vida and a host of injuries we need as much defensive back up from midfield. Hence Fletch and Park on the right.
I would have preferred Ronnie on the right as he’s just shown in the week end, right winger is his best position.
This is a quite defensive line up (with Giggs at DM) that could do the job considering the need for european tightness.
February 22nd, 2009 at 16:15
@Matthew: O’shea injured? Damn!
Btw, would you risk playing Rafael after his horror show at the week end? I don’t know about you but I would rather play Fletch a RB.
February 22nd, 2009 at 16:26
any link for the blackburn goals?
February 22nd, 2009 at 16:49
forgive me if anyone else has already used this Carlos link!
February 22nd, 2009 at 16:52
lets try the Carlos interview again!
February 22nd, 2009 at 17:03
Liverpool being held by Shitty. Cue a red card for a city player , an offside goal or a dive for a penalty(not that we can complain after that dodgy one yesterday). I guarantee it
February 22nd, 2009 at 17:09
http://www.setanta.com//uk/Articles/Football/2009/02/22/Prem-Ferguson-on-Benzema/gnid-41430/
February 22nd, 2009 at 17:11
if we are to play a Barca away 2 against Inter? Will we have enough defensive prowess with Ronaldo and Berba on the pitch? Now personally i think that we should play our usual game, not have too much respect for Inter. The onus is on them to come out and play, if we manage to soak up the inevitable pressure for the first 20 mins without conceding, then i see us hitting them hard on the counter, i think we could come away with a 1-1 draw at least
A far as our lack of defenders is concerned, if O’Shea is definitely out i’d play Fletcher as a CB with Rio and have Rafael and Evra as wingbacks, play Park on the right of midfield, Ronaldo on the left, with Scholes and Carrick in the middle and start with Teves and Rooney up front, bringing on Berba for Teves later on! So i’d play 4-4-2 against them defensively changing to a 4-3-3 in attack? Any thoughts?
February 22nd, 2009 at 17:19
1-0 for man city
February 22nd, 2009 at 17:20
rooney can play as Center back , you can bet he already asked for it!!!
February 22nd, 2009 at 17:37
@ROOOOONEY:
Funny mate! 
February 22nd, 2009 at 17:47
Injury update is that Neville, Vidic and Brown definately are out. There are still some doubts about Oshea and Evans. Oshea is still suffering from the injury he got against Fulham, while Evans will have a scan tomorrow. He maaaaaaay be able to play, but I wouldnt hold my breath. I would love it if at least one of them recover, but if both are fully fit to play that game I would use Oshea at RB and Evans as CB with Rio, because I feel that Rafael is still not ready for the physical approach of Inter. Adriano, Zlatan and Cruz may be too much to handle for a 18 year old Brasillian… But we will see what happens! My preffered defense for Inter would be Gaz, Rio, Vidic and Evra, but we are defo gonna miss two of them. I am quite sure that if either Evans or Oshea recovers in time we will beat Inter 2-0 in Milan. They are very weak defensivly, and had Milan not had one of their worst days in finishing history, I feel they might have won that game. If we take our chances we will probably win. Zlatan doesnt scare me, and neither does Adriano. Rio can handle him.
This is why Shitty are Shitty!!! Fucking terrible defending again! We could be 8 points ahead, but now they are on the wrong wide of a goal again.
I hope they can hang out for the last 10 minutes, because a 7 point lead now would mean title in the bag for United. Come on, can anybody really see us losing the title being 7 points ahead come March?! Lots of thing can happen in football, but with our squad and quality this shouldnt be a problem. And if we beat Liverpool at Old Trafford we can be 10 points ahead. COME ON CITY!!! 
February 22nd, 2009 at 17:51
I have to say that I believe that we will lose to Inter. Either 1-0, 2-0 or 2-1(because when we go 2 down we start to attack). I’m unusually pessimistic about this match because of our defensive crisis
February 22nd, 2009 at 17:57
a draw , we are running away with the title it would be a waste to lose it now
February 22nd, 2009 at 18:07
In rafa, united fans trust
February 22nd, 2009 at 18:07
What a fucking result ireland is the does not understand the offside rule… and against inter we have a couple of options if john o shea and jonny evans are 50% fit play each one each half or pull evra into central defence with rio and put the silva’s on the wingbacks…
February 22nd, 2009 at 18:09
@RedDevilEddy: i havent seen a united fan cheering for city.
well, fuck both of them! i want a draw!
February 22nd, 2009 at 18:11
Im not far away from opening the Champange when it comes to the Premier League title!
7 points clear, still having to play Liverpool at Old Trafford, in March, and we seem unstoppable! We havent even reached our best form, I feel. We are scraping out results, or just scoring a goal and waiting for the clock to run down. Exapmples are Everton, Blackburn and Wigan. We seem to be oozing to the title. I am really, really confident now. Some people might remember how pessimistic I was when we came into the new year, and possibly how optimistic I was when we lost to Arsenal and drew to Sprus and Villa. What have you got to sya now lads?! We are fucking 7 points clear!!!!!!!!!! Could it be any fucking better?!!! I hope this doesnt come back to haunt me, or bite me in the ass later… 
February 22nd, 2009 at 18:11
vs inter:
———-Vds————-
-Rafa——-Rio——Evra—-
—–Carrick—Fletcher—-
—-Ronaldo–Giggs—–Park—-
——Rooney–Tevez——-
*both rooney and tevez must help with the defence
February 22nd, 2009 at 18:15
@john freakin’ o’shea: You are right. And you got what you wanted, a draw.
Fuck them both, but at least Shitty helped us a little considering the title race. And in the words of Dan, In Rafa we United fans trust. 
FAT SPANISH WAITOR!!! YOU`RE JUST A FAT SPANISH WAITOR!!! FAAAT SPANISH WAAAAAITOOOOR, YOU`RE JUST A FAAAT SPANISH WAITOORRRR!!!
(Sorry for the caps RedRanter, but I feel they were needed
)
February 22nd, 2009 at 18:18
@john freakin’ o’shea: You are kiddin, right?
You cant seriously think we will play 3-5-2 away to Inter? I know we have trouble in defense, but playing such an offensive style would be madness!!! It would be an interesting match, Im sure of that. And unless we scored 4 goals, I highly doubt we would win.
February 22nd, 2009 at 18:21
Mourinho thinks Ji-Sung Park is one of the players that make United the best counter attacking team in the world… Apparantley Park can make the differnce in these games.
Sorry for that, but I think that statement is what makes Jose so funny. Still laughing! 
February 22nd, 2009 at 18:21
Seven points clear is pretty fantastic. With Rooney back our team is at least 20% better so I really think we can run away with the title.
Europe is still the stumbling block. I hope to God we put some sort of defence out and get an away goal. Otherwise it will be an uphill struggle in the return leg. Still I think if we lose 2-1 at Inter we can put out our A-team at Old Trafford and with Vidic and Rio back in the middle secure a 1-0 victory that will put us through.
February 22nd, 2009 at 18:26
Win the League
Win the League
We are the famous Man United and we are going to win the League
Win the League
Win the League
We are the famous Man United and we are going to win the League…
I know its supposed to be Wembley, but this fits better right now.
However, we are going to Wemblyey next week. Or have you guys forgotten that? 
February 22nd, 2009 at 18:30
must be busy , inter away then wembley
February 22nd, 2009 at 18:33
@Dan: Dan, if the team was under your control we would struggle to beat every other teams reserve side. Because that is what you always advocate, replacing a world class starter with an up and coming reserve. Fabio is the future, he’s not the present. Rafael is the present because age and injury required him to be ready sooner. But on the left side we have the second best LB in the world in my opinion and you are advocating that we sell him for the yet highly unproven Fabio. A player who may or may not be better or even as good as Fabio (and one game against Spurs says nothing). You are certainly entitled to your opinion Bro, but seriously, how do you expect some of us to react when you make comments like this. Make that comment in two years and I would agree with you, but certainly not now. Evra hasn’t even reached his full potential yet.
February 22nd, 2009 at 18:35
@ROOOOONEY: Well then you would be a bit of dum fuck now wouldn’t you mate?
Messi and Ronaldo aren’t worth 100 million but you think Evra is worth more. 
God help us but some of us here on Red Rants have been smoking some low grade Ganja. 
February 22nd, 2009 at 18:37
@Dan: I wouldn’t sell him for 20 million but I’d seriously consider over 30 million. How desperate are Barca and why are they giving up on Abidal? Is he badly injured?
February 22nd, 2009 at 18:37
What is with all the negativety?! “if we lose 2-1 at Inter…”, “I think we will lose 2-0…”, “Jose has had the advantage over us before…” COME ON GUYS! What the fuck do you guys know about Inter anyway? No offense to your knowledge of Italian football, but the italian League has fallen drastically from the power they had some years ago. Juventus is very incositent, and are not more than an UEFA-cup team for me. How they got past Zenit and Real is confusing to me. Milan are a cup team, and they have struggled with their old players this season. Pirlo, Nesta, Seedorf, Maldini, Jankulovski and such are regular starters for Milan. Their team must have an average age of 78.2!!! Despite having Kaka, Ronaldinho or Pato, they are just a bunch of oldies who gets harrased by youngsters. If United hadnt been so tired in 2007 we would ahve beaten them easily! Roma are not even in the top 5 this season, and who here has actually heard of Fiorentina or Lazio? Inter are the only team that I find respectably good in Serie A, and they arent really that good. Zlatan is an overrated cunt, and Adriano is the Drogba of Inter. Maicon is the only player who possesses any kind of quality in Inter, and I know that if we keep him shut we will beat them. Okey, so their goalie might be good, but that is it! Optimism is what is needed, and I will be surprised if Fergie really shows the respect you guys are giving Inter. Trust me, if Vida hadnt been suspended, or Wes injured, I would not be worried at all. We will see how things turn out, but I know a real United fan would be confident of a win.
We always aim for the best, and if we dont get that we will be dissapointed. Cheer up, my local team could fucking ebat Inter. I am sure I could keep control of Ibrahimobitch. 
They`re fucking shite, and United rule! And Chelski, who do you think you are?! Its been 50 long years, its gonna end in tears, you`ll never be as good as Man United! Fuck you Mourinho you son of a bitch!!! Fuck Inter Milan and Pascal Cygan! UNITED RULE!!!!
February 22nd, 2009 at 18:39
@RedDevilEddy: OK mate, I challenge your bias with mine. Evra is not the best LB in the world, he’s the second best. Lahm is the best and deep down inside you know it too.
Evra is #2 though and that’s still pretty good but he lacks a lot of the extras that Lahm offers like great finishing ability and the use of both feet equally well.
February 22nd, 2009 at 18:40
@Grognard: Abidal is fucking class mate!!! Its just that Barca need cover there. Milito is no where near a LB, and they struggle for cover in that position. Pique, Marquez and Puyol can all play CB and RB, and the only cover they have for LB is Sylvinho. I seriously doubt they would go for Evra, because they would only use him as cover there. I think they need a top quality LB, but Evra is not the answer. Just rumours…
February 22nd, 2009 at 18:42
@Dan: I guess our timing has been pretty bad for 22 bloody years. Dan you are dreaming if you think there is no German bias. Absolutely dreaming. When I think of the world class players that have come out of Germany in the last 22 years and the only one we have been seriously linked to was Ballack, I just shudder.
Give me a break mate.
February 22nd, 2009 at 18:43
i said I wouldnt sell him , thats not being dumb thats my opinion.
February 22nd, 2009 at 18:45
@Grognard: I accept your challange.
Lahm may be better with both feet, and have better finishing ability. But he does not have the leap or aerial power of Pat. Neither is he as fast. I know Lahm is fast, but Evra must be one of the fastest players in the world! Also, I think Lahm is good defensivly, but Evra has better positioning. It has improved greatly the last year, and I think he is nearly the complete LB. Lahm is very good, but I still feel Evra is better. Now you must remember that I judge on the few Germany and Bayern games I have seen, and you are in a fairly better position to judge. I just speak from what I have seen. 
February 22nd, 2009 at 18:48
Thanks to Rafa for bottling it yet once more. Another useless draw at Anfield and now the lead is 7 points. I more win for us and one more loss or draw for them and I will be officially ready to sing “Turn out the lights, the party ’s over” by Waylon Jennings. Like I dsaid yesterday, the difference between United playing poorly at home and others playing poorly at home, is we still find a way to win. We have become very much like Mourinho’s Chelsea, almost bloody invincible and basically unbeatable at home despite the odd stinker performance. We just manage to find ways to get the job done. As long as we keep our focus and concentrate, there should be no collapse and we are home and dry this season. Lets face it, Liverpool are not good enough and Chelsea dug too deep a hole for Guus to get them out of. And when it’s all said and done the EPL was won in the first half when we lost only two games despite a bias and very brutal away schedule. The fact we came out of that laughing, is absolutely amazing and speaks wonders about how great a team we are. By the tie we meet Liverpool I would not be surprised if our lead is over ten points because this draw today must be sending all kinds of doubts and fears through Scouserpool tonight.
February 22nd, 2009 at 18:50
Im sorry if some of you guys feel that me posting my FIFA 09 goals on this site is annoying, or just unecessary. But I just want you guys to look at this goal scored by me yesterday, before the Blackburn game was played. Do you guys also see a similarity in which manner the goal was scored and the position?
I dont post these goals so often anymore, but please feel free to watch. 
February 22nd, 2009 at 18:53
@Grognard: I remember you talking in November about how difficult for us it would be to win the League… And I was telling you to see why we would win it. We had a little argument about why we were gonna win it/not win it. Funny you have seen my point now! Im glad.
February 22nd, 2009 at 18:57
@realred: Mate, if we ever were to meet in person, remember to remind me that I want to buy you a steak dinner.
I love Huntelaar and i couldn’t agree more. Just the nature of his two goals yesterday were what we lack, a true poaching predator in the box who picks up scrap and has aerial supremacy. Berba offers a little of that and a lot of other intangibles but I still feel that goal poacher extraordinaire is what this team needed most. A lot of those 1-0 wins would have been more comfortable 2-0 or even 3-0 wins with his immense presence in the box. And he’s also so capable of scoring with screamers out of the box or with a overhead kick. He has quite the creative arsenal. Of course he would never make Dan’s reserve squad, but then again, that’s Dan, not me. I take what I say more seriously. 
February 22nd, 2009 at 19:00
@Liam: Even with Mourinho, I really don’t think this Inter team is that much better than the Roma team we destroyed 7-1 a few years ago. I could see us lose the first leg 1-0 2-0 or 2-1 and come back and beat them on the road because Mourinho will park the bus like he did so many times with Chelsea on the road supporting a 1-0 lead.
February 22nd, 2009 at 19:03
@RedDevilEddy: sick goals you got there mate! i viewed your berba goal, ronaldo fk, and the nani one was sick!
cheers!
February 22nd, 2009 at 19:24
I was just looking through our next games. Check this out:
Inter(a) CL
Spurs(W) CC
Newcastle(a) PL
Swansea or Fulham(a) FAC
Inter(h) CL
Liverpool(h) PL
These next games will make or break our season. We can win the Carling cup, we can go through to the semi finals of the FA cup, if we beat Inter the quarter finals of the Champions League are there waiting, and the Premier League games against Newcastle and Liverpool may put us up to 12 points clear, with a game in hand. Let me explain why.
Next weekend we face Sprus in the Carling Cup final. While we have that game, Liverpool are gonna play Boro away. Now, I dont rate Boro very highly this season. Actuallu, I think they are gonna get relegated. But they seem to have that “big teams breaker”. They seem to play well at the Riverside against the likes of Chelski, Arsenal, Liverpool and United. So I really think Boro can win that one. That puts us 7 points clear with a game in hand. When we face Newcastle, they face Sunderland at home. And from watching Sunderland this season, they can be massive trouble for Liverpool. The way they park the bus must be the most amazing thing Ive seen since Scholes` goal agaisnt Barca!
They nearly got a draw out of us, and they got a draw out of Arsenal. Liverpool are lacking that luck they had before, so I realy feel Sunderland can get a result there. And then its Liverpool at Old Trafford. If results go as I predict them too(Liverpool lose one and draw one, we win against Newcastle) we can be 9 points ahead of Liverpool with a game in hand before the Old Trafford clash. I mean, that puts us in a position to be 12 points ahead with a game in hand(Pompey home) when we reach my bithday! How good will that be?! Of cource, I am speaking best case scenario. But, in the words of The Special One Puppet, “why not”? 
Anybody with me on this?
February 22nd, 2009 at 19:25
@john freakin’ o’shea: Thanks mate.
I only aim for the spectacular… 
February 22nd, 2009 at 19:30
@Matthew: thanks. i think we are going to play giggs in the midfield with schooles on the bench. they seem to be rotating places now-a-day. park will probz play on the right with ronny on the left. rooney and berba up front. but i have no idea who is going to play in defence. rio and evra will but im not sure about rafael at right back. he has lots of potential and is lethl in attack but seems to be poor defensively. im scared about that other CB place though.
February 22nd, 2009 at 19:39
Good game from City and more points for us.
On Evra argument. I think Pat is the best LB in the world and has been for the past 2 years. We will never get 100 Mil offer for him so no need to comment on it. We are not a selling club, so we should not sell our best players in their prime. I think he is greatly underrated by France, then again I don’t rate Domenich much. Abidal is good too, but Evra is more consistent. The consistency is a problem for Lahm too and the games that I watched this season of Bundesliga, he was at best average.
February 22nd, 2009 at 20:02
@Grognard: Lahm was terrible this week end. Just watched some highlights and the opposition player made a fool out of him and to top it all he didn’t look motivated. Now I know he’s two footed and all, has a great shot and is a good crosser but I’d take a capable defending LB (Denis Irwin) over an erstewhile full back with bags of skill.
Right now, in my books Rafael has been very disappointing – I really hope he can sort out his marking as we won’t always have two world class CBs in Vida and Rio. When the day comes that these two will be on the wane – let’s hope it takes ages – our full backs will have to be a bit more able defensively to hold the house.
February 22nd, 2009 at 20:11
@Grognard: No grognard, what i want is Big boy money for evra, and a lahm in return. Fabio playing was just a suggestion, what i want, is lahm.
February 22nd, 2009 at 20:17
@Grognard: too right grognard!
February 22nd, 2009 at 21:11
@Dan: We all talk about player loyalty and I’m sure you’ll undoubtedly get pissed if a player were to leave us to move to a new club for more money, but now you want to sell Evra who has been faithful because of money? We’re not exactly cash strapped, so I wouldn’t take it.
@RedDevilEddy:Nothing funny about it, its kinda true, his attacking side is very underrated, though he can’t finish to save his life
@realred: I agree to, I’ve always wanted Huntelaar, maybe just maybe if we don’t sign Tevez and the Huntelaar being unhappy at Real Madrid rumours are true, then Fergie could put in a bid? Doubt it though.
February 22nd, 2009 at 21:30
Eddy I only think we are going to lose because we are a central defender short and we are not that great on the road in Europe. At Home with a fully fit defence we will overcome any deficit and win the tie.
The key is to get an away goal because that will force Mourinho to come to Old Trafford having to score and that will allow us to rip them apart on the counter. We are not so good against teams that part the bus and if they do that and our strikers are off form 0-0 is a likely result.
My predictions are we’ll lose 2-1 on Tuesday and win 1-0 in the return fixture, perhaps 2-0 if we are on song. Either way we’ll go through
February 22nd, 2009 at 21:31
I was jsut looking through some statistics. Do you guys know that we have won 10 Premier League games in a row now? If we win 4 more we will have reached a new Premier League record. The record of most consecutive wins is 13, by Arsenal in 2003/04. Would be great if we could beat that… I like records!
Chelski also stand at 13, from their 2004/05 season. If things continue like they have done this year, we might end up with more than 100 poins!!! 
I know its unlikely, and shouldnt be possible considering the class and quality this League has. But going 14 games without conceding shouldnt have happend as well, so….
February 22nd, 2009 at 21:34
@colver: We are actually not that bad out in Europe. We are actually unbeaten in 10 games away from Old Trafford in the Champions League, winning 5 of those games. And as you might understand, the other 5 were draws. And one of those draws led to a win. On penalties…
February 22nd, 2009 at 21:36
I know there are lots of IFs in my commments, but life is actually mostly based on IFs. So there!
February 22nd, 2009 at 21:44
I know people are pashing Ronaldo for his free-kick taking this season. I have been one of those people.
But he has actually not done that bad. He has gotten some assists from free-kicks this season, the Berbatov goal agaisnt Chelski springing most obviously to my mind. But when he gets his free-kicks over the wall, it usually turns dangerous. And getting back to the point that his free-kick taking this season hasnt been bad, he has scored 3 free-kicks this season. Although 2 of those came in one game against Stoke. Last season Cristiano scored 5 free-kick goals. Sporting, Sunderland, Newcastle, Pompey and Bolton were those who suffered from it. And he still has got 3 months to better that. I dont think he had many good free-kicks last season, albeit from those he actually scored. But we had more variation with Hargo then. Now its only Ronny. All in all we scored 7 free-kick goals(direct shot) last season. This season we only have 3, as noted all scored by Ronaldo. So I think people(me included) should not be as hard on Ronaldo. He may hit the wall lots of times, but even the greats like Becks and Juninho havent scored more than 7 free-kicks a season. So Ronaldo this season hasnt actually been that bad. I just hope he scores more often from now on. I understand he doesnt like oppositions, and wants to hit them hard with his free-kick shots. But I would really appreciate it if he could avoid injuring opponents this way. I rather like it when he scores. 
February 22nd, 2009 at 21:45
@RedDevilEddy: Not only will we win this title running away, but Chelsea will finish second and Liverpool will struggle to keep on to third. I really believe that Chelsea will improve greatly under Hiddink and threaten Liverpool. I think Villa will eventually collapse due to lack of depth and that Arsenal as poor as they are will improve enough to reclaim their CL status with the injection of Arshavin in the attack.
February 22nd, 2009 at 21:49
@Orez: How many games of Lahm’s did you see? I watch them all and he is head over heels better than Evra and Evra is super. Lahm is frakken fantastic but he will occasionally have a poor game or get skinned by an attacker. Every fullback suffers that once in a while. Lahm’s attacking prowess, finishing ability and superior crossing places him above Evra by a considerable amount. As good as Evra is, his finishing is terrible, he has no long range shot and his elevated crosses are average at best. As for marking, he’s equal to Lahm but Lahm is superior in the air. So forgive me if I don’t think you are spouting a little United bias there. Whats next Rafael and Brown are better than Daniel Alves and Maicon?
February 22nd, 2009 at 21:52
Asked this earlier but didnt get any response, is oshea definitely ruled out. Ive heard brown and nev are definitely out with evans extremely doubtful but still no word of oshea, cant believe im saying this but we do need him bad. If hes out i dont know what the hell we will do, we cant even recall a loan player cos they wont be registered to play in the champs league. So annoying vidic is suspended, we need him more than ever now. Atleast we can take consolation in knowing that inter also have a problem with their CB positions, it is definitely their weakest point. For me the game will be won or lost in the midfield. We will definitely match them in going for a 4-3-3, and like inter we need to make sure our middle 3 is exactly right. From watching inter i have to say their strongest unit is the middle 3. They protect their dodgy CBs so we need to do the same now to protect our make shift CB position.
I can see fergie getting this middle 3 completely wrong probably being sentimental going for giggs or scholes but these 2 are completely not suited for this game. I hope we see park, carrick & fletcher in the middle, these 3 will do the job fine. Ive said b4 but with taking injuries into account i hope we line up like this:
VDS
RAFAEL RIO OSHEA EVRA
PARK CARRICK FLETCHER
RONALDO BERBA ROONEY
I can see us lining up like this though:
VDS
RAFAEL RIO OSHEA EVRA
CARRICK GIGGS FLETCHER
RONALDO ROONEY PARK
Dunno why but i reckon we will play for the draw and leave out berbatov. Not my pick but thats how i reckon we will go, anyway i hope we go for this cos ive watched inter alot and they are very over rated, if we went for it we could honeslty score 2 or 3 goals cos defensively they are very poor. Just hope fergie gets his tactics right anyway.
February 22nd, 2009 at 21:53
@NicoQB: Why compare him to a player who is retired? And why judge him based on a poor game this week. Bayern as a team have played terrible since the second half begun. It;’s a team problem, not Lahm. Rafael had a terrible game yesterday. If we all judged his ability based ont hat one game, he wouldn’t be as high on our lists as he is. One has to watch a player a lot to get a true feeling of their abilities and their form. I am a huge Bayern fan so I watch Bayern every week and trust me when i say, Lahm is close to being the team’s MVP this year. If it weren’t for him and Ribery linking up on the left side, Bayern would be in bigger trouble than they are.
February 22nd, 2009 at 21:53
@Grognard: I think there is a big difference between comparing Evra to Lahm and comparing Rafael to Alves…
And despite all you might say, I will still feel that Evra is the best LB in the world. FACT! And not some Spanish waitor fact, we are talking real fact. A fact that is as true as you being wise.
But not on this subject. 
February 22nd, 2009 at 21:54
@Dan: I do to but we will never get him as long as Fergie is running the show.
February 22nd, 2009 at 22:01
@RedDevilEddy: You are just spouting bias my friend. You watch Evra every week who also happens to play for your favorite team. You hardly ever see Lahm and you disregard the world opinion that ranks Lahm as the number 1 LB in the world while Evra isn’t even considered the best one in France. So you are welcome to your opinion mate but sorry if I feel it blows chunks and smells of bias cheese. I love Evra too but he is not Lahm’s league. Lahm is to the LB spot what ALves is to the RB spot. He is dynamic and can turn a game around by himself. If you watched him 50 times a season like I do you might agree. If he played for United you would think he was a God. People like to point out the fact he got burned by Torres in the EURO final. To any of you who want to use that one on me et me remind you of the fact that 15 minutes before he gave up that goal to Torres he cut his foot so bad it need 14 stitches at halftime and then was unable to continue. But to the eyes of the uninformed and ignorant, he got beaten badly by the Girly Man. Lahm is a frakken God and the best German player in the world at the moment. Yes, even better than my beloved Ballack.
And you do not base your information on FACTS. I do. And that is most definitely FACT. JES!
February 22nd, 2009 at 22:08
@Grognard: Maybe you are basing your opinion on Lahm being the best LB in the world because of your Bayern bias. You are also a Bayern fan, right? If not, I have gotten many things wrong!
You have your opinion, and I have mine. And I feel Evra is the best left back in the world. I feel Lahm isnt even close to his quality! Okey, I may have pulled it a little far there. But so did you with your sentance: “I love Evra too but he is not Lahm’s league.” You know you dont feel that. They are very close in quality, and prbably the two best LBs in the world. That you gotta agree on!
February 22nd, 2009 at 22:17
@RedDevilEddy:
So it IS you on the FIFA top ten videos.
How’d you pull that off?
I’m a pretty good player, but I dont score fancy goals often.
February 22nd, 2009 at 22:34
@Grognard: I have not seen many Bundesliga games and yes, there is bias. I have watched almost all of the United games, so there is no wander that Evra impressed me more. I would agree with you that Lahm’s finishing is better, but defender’s job is to defend 1st. Also the fact that the quality, of the opposition of Bundesliga is lower, takes points from Lahm. To put it simply, Evra is facing better opponents week in week out. I am not bashing Bundesliga, just stating facts. He was very average in the Semi’s of last year Uefa Cup and they only played limited opposition in CL this season, while Evra has been performing at the highest level (2 EPL and 1 CL). I am not judging players by what they won, I am just saying that in the past 2.5 years Evra has been playing better opposition domestically and in Europe then any other LB and performed at least as good as any other great LB anywhere in the world, including Lahm. That is why I believe he is the best LB in the world.
February 22nd, 2009 at 22:37
@MUFC Fan in America: That is me alright!!!
I have a habit of scoring some real nice goals, because I am so confident in my own playing ability that I go for some shots and attempts that may look really stupid when they dont come off. 
But when they go in, they are all worth it! Really liked that free kick I recently scored, defo one of my better ones. Do you play?
February 22nd, 2009 at 22:44
I will concede that Rafael had an off night games yesterday, but calling it a horror show is a bit harsh. The only horror show I saw yesterday was PIG. I am dying to know what he was thinking on that goal. I am not a goalie so forgive my ignorance, but I dont get the angle he was charging at, ferdinand was funneling him to the post and PIG basically left the front door wide open for him.
I have my doubts about Foster, but none when it comes to pig. He just isnt good enough for United. His decision making and command of the back line just arent up to snuff.
February 22nd, 2009 at 22:47
@RedDevilEddy: hey whats your gamertag?? you play on xbox 360 correct? give me your gamertag and well play
February 22nd, 2009 at 22:50
Wouldnt it be the shit if ritchie de laet(sp) made his debut tomorrow. that lad couldnt get into the stoke team, and could make his debut tomorrow night in the CL
Isnt it funny how we sold shawcross to stoke(which to this day still annoys me) and in return, we got a player that wasnt good enough for them?
February 22nd, 2009 at 22:57
Fuck, lets just play rooney at CB!
February 22nd, 2009 at 23:02
@Dan: I think one of the guys will come through, not sure which one though. Would be a waste to put Carrick there, so I hope Evans makes it back on time.
February 22nd, 2009 at 23:04
Dan, is that de laet kid even in our champions league registration list?
February 22nd, 2009 at 23:22
@RedDevilEddy: Trust me mate, it’s not due to my bias. If a player is better and plays on a team i hate, I will admit it. Lahm may play for Bayern but he could play for Liverpool and i would say the same thing. Just like I say that Essien is the most dominating box to box midfielder in the world. I hate the guy and the fact he plays for Chelsea. But I also base my opinion on the fact that I have seen a lot and I mean a lot of Philip Lahm play. And I have seen a lot of Evra play. And there is no comparison. I’m sorry. You can disagree all you like mate and I respect that but you are definitely 100% WRONG. Believe that.
February 22nd, 2009 at 23:26
@Orez: The bundesliga jibe doesn’t work with me mate. Lahm ahas been chosen on the top eleven of the last World Cup and last EUROS. He has produced at the very highest level and continues to do so. It’s harder to defend in Germany than it is England. In Germany even the bottom feeders will come at you and attack unlike England where they park the bus. And he isn’t just a better finisher, crosser and passer, he defends as well with better aerial ability and overall balance. Both have equal pace and mobility. I’d rate Lahm a 9/10 in terms of LB’s and Evra would be a 7.5/10.
February 22nd, 2009 at 23:28
@Dan: One of the injured guys will be miraculously ready to play against Inter. No worries.
February 22nd, 2009 at 23:37
@Matthew: I gave some kind of reply to your comment earlier, but Ill post it again.
Injury update is that Neville, Vidic and Brown definately are out. There are still some doubts about Oshea and Evans. Oshea is still suffering from the injury he got against Fulham, while Evans will have a scan tomorrow. He maaaaaaay be able to play, but I wouldnt hold my breath. I would love it if at least one of them recover, but if both are fully fit to play that game I would use Oshea at RB and Evans as CB with Rio, because I feel that Rafael is still not ready for the physical approach of Inter. Adriano, Zlatan and Cruz may be too much to handle for a 18 year old Brasillian… But we will see what happens! My preffered defense for Inter would be Gaz, Rio, Vidic and Evra, but we are defo gonna miss two of them. I am quite sure that if either Evans or Oshea recovers in time we will beat Inter 2-0 in Milan. They are very weak defensivly, and had Milan not had one of their worst days in finishing history, I feel they might have won that game. If we take our chances we will probably win. Zlatan doesnt scare me, and neither does Adriano. Rio can handle him.
February 22nd, 2009 at 23:42
@Grognard: You cant be fucking honest!!!
To rate Evra as only 7.5 is simply madness!!! I respect your opinion, you know that from past comments. But giving Evra a 75 out of 100 and Lahm 90 of 100 is something I will never understand. I watch a lot of Germany games, and I will admit that he is great. He was actually, along with Torres, my dream signing until last summer. But come on, you cant possibly rate Evra that low. You know, and I know, that Evra has everything needed to be a LB. Lahm may be better attacking, but we are talking about a defender here. I wouldnt call Ruud the best defender in the world just because he is fairly good at tackling, good positioning and one of the most deadly finishers seen by mankind. You surprise me Grog, more often than not lately. But this… sorry, but that comment there is just too confusing to understand! I rate Evra 9/10. Lahm only get an 8 from me. Because we are talking about defenders, not wingers or strikers.
February 22nd, 2009 at 23:45
@Grognard: World cup and Euro? Why do you use these competitions to rate someone. You said that you use facts, but many great players play for weak national teams and might never appear in these competition.In Evra case he wasn’t played in France, because Domenich rates Abidal higher and we all know how great “France” is under him. Also clubs are much stronger than national teams. The fact that Bundesliga lower teams have more courage then EPL-s doesn’t mean that Lahm is better. I already said the quality in Bundesliga is lower. The proof is their horrible record in the past several years in Europe…
These kind of argument is subjective. You have your point I have mine and we can use different methods, to rate differently, so there is no end to it. If we meet Bayern in CL, we will have chance to judge and even then I don’t think we will change our opinions.
February 23rd, 2009 at 0:32
@Orez: Their record in Europe over the past couple of years is no worse than Italy’s…
February 23rd, 2009 at 0:36
@RedDevilEddy: I’m sorry Mate but when I grade I grade on a lot of factors. Problem is that Evra has a lot missing in his game. You only focus on his strengths but you don’t say anything about his weaknesses. A fullback that can’t cross a ball worth shit is pretty important. A fullback that can’t use both feet to shoot or pass is limiting and he has nowhere near the capacity Lahm has to score goals. Even when he dribbles and cuts inside, it’s not with the drive and confidence that Lahm has nor does it always end up with the finished result of a Lahm surge. Look at his World Cup goal or his winning goal against Turkey or the goal he scored for Bayern a few weeks ago where he dribbled fity yards went through everybody and then scored a cracker. O r the numerous crosses that have found the head of Toni or Klose for goals.
I’m kind of insulted that you would question me about this. You say you respect my knowledge and wisdom yet you question me on this when I am absolutely positive that I am right. I don’t get it. Trust and faith mate. Don’t just say you respect my opinion value my opinion and then trash it when it doesn’t agree with your clearly biased opinion of Evra. He is currently the number 3 choice for France for crying out loud. Yes he’s good but he has holes in his game. His off the ball marking is terrible at times and it was yesterday too. Lahm is not perfect but he’s pretty close. He has a bad game once ina while but his great games far outnumber his bad. Had you watched as many games as I have you would not question that.
@Orez:
Sorry mate but the World Cup and the EUROS has defined greatness in the sport for decades now. Players have won European Player of the Year and even World Player of the Year because of their performances in these tournaments alone. It is a tremendous measuring stick under the greatest pressure of all. The fact you dismiss this FACT, tells me how unaware you are of the importance of playing at the highest level. It’s tough for some players that are stuck playing for small countries who are not big on the World stage. But that is not the problem in comparing Lahm to Evra. Lahm has been outstanding for his country, Evra has had to sit on the bench mostly for his. Lahm excels for his club team and Evra excels for his but Lahm means much much more for Bayern because he truly is their best German player. Only Ribery is a better player on that team filled with stars. Evra is not in the top five players on United. And still, I think Evra is a very good player. But please, don’t try to convince me and others who watch the world game that Evra is better than Lahm because that is just laughable. The fact that German teams show more attacking courage forces Lahm to be tested more on the defensive side of the game. His marking is as good as Evra on the ball but he is also superior to Evra off the ball in marking and in the air. That is a fact. You can have your rating and thats fine. I respect that but I disagree with it and I don’t need a one game or two game challenge in the CL to prove me right or wrong. A player can never be judged by a game or two. The fact that world opinion by FIFA UEFA, and the world footballing media agrees with me. That’s good enough for me. They watch both players and know far more than a United fan who just happens to be taking sides based on his loyalty. I happen to be united fan and Bayern fan. I am more of United fan but there is no question in my mind, Philip Lahm is superior to Evra. This is not subjective at all. It’s obvious and a fact.
Only significant time and a change of form for both of these players will change my mind. Sorry.
February 23rd, 2009 at 0:47
I rate Lahm above Evra. But really I cannot think of anyone else Id rather have as our left back. That January transfer window in which we bought Evra and Vidic for a shade over 10 million in total was some of our best business this decade.
God knows why we got De Laet. We sell Silvestre who for all his slips and injury proneness is an experienced central defender with a bunch of international caps and we buy a kid who only really has competitive experience in the Belgian league. This is not the first time we’ve had defensive injuries pile up and we should sort it out and get a bit more cover.
February 23rd, 2009 at 1:05
RedDevilEddy, ok then cheers then mate for getting back to me. I would hope at least 1 player gets back in time for the game, they must be a bit hopeful for the game or they would be completely ruled out already like brown and neville. Why do we always seem to get injuries in the defence in the latter stages of the champions league, is it a curse? We had like 3 players out at the san siro last time against AC, last year against barca we had vidic out, and this year we have vidic suspended, brown and neville out, with evans and brown doubtful. Wish we would have taken up the option of getting panucci, he can play anywhere across the back 4.
February 23rd, 2009 at 2:19
@Liam: What you mean, cause I am sure Milan won CL 2 years ago, but don’t remember anything like that for Bundesliga clubs.
@Grognard:
European Player of the Year and World Player of the Year is being decided by several hundred people (reporters, coaches and captains of national teams). Opinions of couple of hundred people are not facts. There are many other holes like these in your argument. I am not going to point it out, because I believe arguements on the web are pointless (my personal opinion and I am not trying to insult anyone). I only replied not to be rude, seeing that you spend time typing that all. I have read it all and I just don’t agree with you.
February 23rd, 2009 at 4:24
@Orez: Who cares who selects the awards and how many. The bottom line is they take those competitions a lot seriously than you do for judging talent. Those competitions are crunch time. When the cream rises to the top. They are perfect stages to showcase one’s brilliance. Sorry but there are absolutely no holes in my argument whether you think there are or not. You have yet to validate your position with one bit of common sense and proof that stands up to my argument. I don’t want to argue with you but next time don’t bring a knife to a gunfight OK.
It sounds like you will put down any selection or voting institution if it does not agree with you. So you don’t agree with me, that’s fine mate. But that doesn’t make you right. Because you have simply never made your argument. All you did was put down my argument without actually offering a valid and constructive point of view that one can look at and examine and compare. I too am not trying to be rude but it must come across that I am because I cannot figure out any other way of letting you know that you landed on your butt with this one. Honestly, the world footballing body has acknowledged Philip Lahm as the best LB in the world. This in not just hundreds of people. Every football magazine, every professional web site has acknowledged that he’s the man. So why can’t you agree with this? These are the same people that have given awards and praise to the Pele’s, Maradona’s, Ronaldo’s, Beckenbauer’s Cruyff’s Platini’s, Zidane’s etc. I think FIFA has a better network of judges who evaluate the best players in the world and award them accordingly. Yes there is a little bit of regional bias there I’m sure, but overall they get things right most of the time. I have mty favorites and my biased opinions too but Philip Lahm is not picked from that emotional criteria. I pick him because after seeing him play at least over 100 times, there is no doubt in my mind that he is the best. Now when you go watch the Abidal’s, Zambrotta’s, Grosso’s, Lahm’s, Clichy’s, Evra’s, Chivu, A Cole’s, etc, I hope you make your decision based on many hours of knowledge watching all of them and not your personal gut feeling based on your personal preference. That my friend is the easy way out. I love Evra and yes Lahm is my favorite but having watched all these players many times leaves me to one conclusion, Lahm is the best and Zambrotta is number two. I do feel however that Evra is better than Abidal but not by much.
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:07
@Grognard: Fine then how’s about we say Lahm’s the best RB in the world and Evra’s the best LB. A bit of diplomacy never did any harm
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:58
@Liam: To Hell with diplomacy. I’m right.
Besides, Alves and Maicon are better RB’s than Lahm. Now where is my bias for all those thinking I’m picking Lahm out of bias? 
February 23rd, 2009 at 6:24
@Grognard: I already put my argument before. In your opinion national teams is where the players realize their full potential and in my opinion clubs are. My argument is simple. Evra has been playing in the highest standard then any other LB in the world and won much more then anyone else. The EPL and CL winner employed him for over 2 years in one of the tightest defenses in the world. These are facts. EPL is the best league and we won it twice and we are also semi finalist and winners of CL. The only thing you put as your argument are either your own opinions or personal opinions of other people. FIFA and UEFA are one of the biggest biased and full of shit organizations ever. I make my own judgment who is the best player in any position. You talk about their judgment, but where was their judgment, when in CL team 2008, there was only Ronaldo from our team. Where was their judgment, when in 2007 Kaka(having great season in CL, but being horrible in Seria A) won best player while Ronaldo, scoring more then 25 goals and shining in both competitions came 3 after Messi who didn’t do shit that year. In the end seeing that you trust their judgment so much, you can just say that Lahm is the best cause FIFA says it and I will just say that I don’t agree with FIFA. If we had a chance to meet in real life, I would have been glad to spend hours to try proof my point, but as I said before, arguements on the web are pointless.
February 23rd, 2009 at 7:51
Hello boyz!! Long time since I visited these hallowed threads.. and I’ve got some news to see if anyone else has come across this.
This is Fergie quoted in an interview with a French magazine whose readers voted him as the best manager in the world:
““He is an excellent footballer. He reminds me of [Zinedine] Zidane in the way that he positions his body – the ball seems to be glued between his feet. Defenders can’t get near him. But whatever you do, don’t say that I want to buy him.””
Guess who he is talking about????
February 23rd, 2009 at 7:52
@Orez: Because he is fortunate enough to play for the best team in Europe does not automatically make him the best LB in the world. The fact he does play along side Vidic, Rio and Rafael, Evans, Neville and Brown only strengthens my argument as Lahm’s defender teammates are good at Bayern but not as good as United’s. Your arguments against UEFA and FIFA smell of bitterness and anger as a United fan who believes more of our players deserve consideration. Perhaps but remember that football is a team game and perhaps the best compliment that our team gets is that it doesn’t get as many personal accolades for it’s players because we stand out more as a unit. Their are hundreds of other teams with great players so one can imagine how difficult it is to select more than one player from one team to an all start selected squad. In 2007 Messi did much more than shit. He had a very fine year and scored some of the most breathtaking goals of that year. And yes Ronaldo got screwed. Why? Because KAKA won those awards for the fine games he had in a small little tournament called the Champions League. Like the World Cup and the EUROS, that tournament is much more magnified in importance than the 40 odd other games a team and a player play that year. That is my entire point regarding awards being given for these high profile moments.
It is too bad we couldn’t meet and discuss our passion for the game and for the players over a few beers and a couple of laughs. You sound like an intelligent person who certainly knows what he likes and what he believes and although we don’t agree on the Lahm vs Evra point, i’m sure we would agree on lots of other points. After all, we do live and breath Man Utd red. And in that case we are united like brothers. And I wouldn’t say we were arguing mate. Just a passionate debate which the web unfortunately limits the showing of our truest intentions and feelings. Still, I do respect what you have to say and look forward to chatting with you in the future on all things United. Cheers!.
February 23rd, 2009 at 8:43
@Grognard: Fair enough mate. I am also sure that we will agree on many issues. I tend to agree with you more then not, specifically on your long posts when you rate players
@Rahul: Benzema I presume? I haven’t seen that article, but I heard SAF had a go on Wenger on the same article too.
February 23rd, 2009 at 8:43
@Rahul: Who is he talking about?? Benzema??
February 23rd, 2009 at 8:49
I have watched Benzema play enough to say that he in now ay whatsoever reminds me of Zinedine Zidane. Not even close. That’s Fergie trying to charm the little bastard enough to make him want to come and play for him. Fergie is sly and smart enough to know tha Zidane is Benzema’s idol and that comparing him to him would go down good with the moody bastard. I hate Benzema and only hope he snubs Fergie for Spain. United can do better than that Real Madrid loving French/Algerian piece of moody egotistical trash.
February 23rd, 2009 at 8:50
@Grognard: Yes that seems to be the case, Also i feel people now are rating Alves very highly, i want to see him perform when Barcelona goes through a lean patch, that will give the exact picture of the character of the player.
February 23rd, 2009 at 8:53
@Grognard: Ya that’s absolutely right about benzema, Especially in this kind of economic pressure, buying him will be pressure on the club both from fees and salaries point of view. As in my view we have to shell out good amount for him if spanish teams are in competition.
February 23rd, 2009 at 9:37
http://therepublikofmancunia.com/milking-it/
another great video from RoM, similar to the one i shared here couple of days ago, enjoy!
February 23rd, 2009 at 10:15
I still don’t get Fergie’s strange fascination with Benzema. The boy has no urge to come to United, would clearly clash with our team ethic and spirit and those two things have to be major considerations. Can you imagine him and Ronaldo getting along? Absolutely not. All I hope is that Fergie is running diversion, and our real target will come quietly at the beginning of the summer. Whoever that may be.
Any bets the press harp on about Ronaldo long enough for something to get done about it? Biggest worry for me is him being suspended for 3 games. That’s about the only thing that could dent our title hopes…
February 23rd, 2009 at 10:21
@despicable: Actually Barca is going through a lean patch right now. They lost on the weekend and have squeaked through some difficult games of late. Alves has looked pretty good and very dangerous in all those games. He is the real deal but I for one prefer Maicon who has more power in his game
February 23rd, 2009 at 10:22
@Beachryan: How do you know that, he has not come out and stateed his desire to sign him.
February 23rd, 2009 at 10:24
@despicable: And even if we were to somehow get him, how long will it be before he complains about life in England, English food, women and the rain? And then how long will it take before he complains about not starting every game and how much better he would feel in Madrid? The guy just has bad attitude and trouble written all over him. I just don’t see why Fergie would want this kind of player knowing what the potential for trouble is?
February 23rd, 2009 at 10:26
@Beachryan: That’s a good point mate. Fergie could be using this as a big diversion to keep the Madrid’s and others focusing on Benzema while Fergie swoops in on somebody else like Aguero and buys him before the others can react fast enough. You never know.
February 23rd, 2009 at 10:30
I would prefer Agbonlahor, English quick and oh yes good!
February 23rd, 2009 at 10:31
@Grognard: I would like to know what back four you would play if you knew that O’Shea is injured. Would you pit James Chester into the bull ring? Because what bigger stage than the Champions league? Or would you be wise and careful and put someone like Fletcher at CB? Or would you altogether take a different route and put Evra in the middle and play both the twins?
February 23rd, 2009 at 10:35
@Stephen: In the same article that Rahul shared, Fergie said something about Lyon doing good business. Seems the owners wanted 55 mil for him. He said, ” In that case, I am not buying him”. Or something very similar. Couple with this the blasphemous comparison with Zidane, it does show that he is pretty interested in Benzema.
February 23rd, 2009 at 10:39
@Grognard: I doubt that, we already have 1 shorty and may be even 2.
@Stephen: Not good enough. Agbonlahor seems like someone who needs confidence to be of any use and for that he will need to play a lot of games, which I don’t think will happen, unless someone is injured.
I think that SAF is waiting the end of our season, for competition money to resolve Tevez issue. If we have a great season, I think he will be signed, then again it will depend on other transfers too. I do hope pricks at Bernabeo will concentrate on Kaka this summer and let us rest for a change.
February 23rd, 2009 at 10:40
Ferdinand, Evra, O’Shea, Evans, Fabio, Eckersley – Those are the defenders travelling to the San Siro.
Rafael is also injured, just in case we thought it was only one position we had to fill with an emergency choice – it’s actually two. I’m guessing therefore we’ll play:
————VDS————-
-Fabio–Rio–Eckersley-Evra-
——-Carrick-Fletcher—-
———–Giggs———–
-Ronaldo———–Rooney-
———–Berbatov——–
With Park and Tevez likely to feature, as Rooney and Giggs will be forced to continually track back. I’m most worried abotu set pieces and corners. Evra and Fabio are fairly mediocre in the air, and who knows who the other centre back will be. Does anyone watch enough reserves to give an opinion of Eckersley?
February 23rd, 2009 at 10:45
@Orez: He is only 22 mate, and has everthing.
February 23rd, 2009 at 12:48
Now we do not even seem to have Rafael. So we don’t even have a natural right back in the squad! Why does this always happen to us. There is something seriously messed up with our physio/fitness guys because we seem to go down with more injuries than any other team.
We only have six defenders in the squad. Two of those are carrying injuries. Two are reserve players who have as far as I can recall never played a single game in Europe and very few games in the Premier League…and almost certainly never come up against strikers of the calibre of Ibra and Adriano.
I’m really really scared.
We need two tall central defenders to deal with the aerial threat of Ibra and Adriano. Id go for Fletcher and Rio in the middle and then go with Fabio and Evra on the flanks.
February 23rd, 2009 at 13:09
Heres hoping Rio remains fit, doesn’t slip on soap in the shower and break his hip which would just bring us to a point that we just have to forfeit the game. I can’t have that insufferable maddeningly self-obsessed freak Mourinho gleefully declaring his team’s superiority over us!
February 23rd, 2009 at 13:16
@Mihir: I am really scared, it reminds me of our last visit to san siro, when we had second choice defence which KAKA ripped through.
February 23rd, 2009 at 13:50
Against Milan at the San Siro our defence was Brown, Vidic, O’Shea, Heinze
We conceded three goals with that defence. God knows how many goals we’ll concede with Evra, Rio, Eckersley, Fabio
We gotta pray Ibrahomivitch and Adriano have off-days (which isn’t exactly unusual for them) and Mourinho is too chicken to really put our defence to the sword.
As they say attack is the best form of defence and as we have a full strength midfield and attack we can put them on the backfoot for most of the game. The worst thing for us to do is try and soak up the pressure because defenders as inexperienced as Eckersley and Fabio will crack.
February 23rd, 2009 at 14:24
@colver: O’Shea has travelled so I guess he plays, Rio, O’Shea, Evra and Fletcher at the back is not great but no other option.
February 23rd, 2009 at 14:41
So has Evans, so might be Ok.
February 23rd, 2009 at 14:44
Sorry i could not respond earlier,.. my internet connection went kaput.
Although everyone has figured out it is ‘that slut Benzema’!!
Grog i hope ur right about Fergie using this as a diversion. But it could also be the genuine desire to sign him… he seems to be in the mood of signing players who ‘keep the ball well’ or ‘get between the ball and the defenders’ these days.. as he said of Berbatov and Tosic. And there lies my fear (apparently for a lot of the regulars here as well) that he is indeed fascinated by the slut.
I see nothing of Zinadine Zidane in him…. If Fergie wants a Zidane type player, he should buy Gourcuff instead (Laurent Blanc will understand and sell him to us for a reasonable fee). He’s the only one player who reminds me of Zidane’s style, technique and ability (somewhat cuz he is still unproven).
February 23rd, 2009 at 14:46
@Rahul: Gourcuff is on loan from Milan.
February 23rd, 2009 at 14:47
@despicable: Exactly what i remember as well mate!!! the only grace is Inter have no one the likes of Kaka. Otherwise it has ill-omens cuz Adriano can be a bitch to defenders smaller than him and Ibrahimovic is being well fed by Mourinho the only thing he lacks to perform on big occassions – confidence.
February 23rd, 2009 at 14:51
@Stephen: yea mate I know.. but the loan deal says that they can make the loan permanent if Bordeaux want him (for 15 million if I remember correctly). And I don’t see why Bordeaux won’t take the option (I read it somewhere credible that Milan don’t have the right of refusal if Bordeaux wanna make it permanent). But yes, he cannot be bought straightaway. I was just looking at the Zidane element anyways.. no real hopes of landing him.
February 23rd, 2009 at 14:52
@colver: Worrying news…
Im really gettins cared right now. Rafael may not be good in Europe, and against Inter he may be exposed many times. But with him at least we have a natural RB! We have got to fill that spot too now. Im gonna make two lineups, one for the best case scenario, and one for the worst. Here goes!
Best case scenario: Oshea and Evans passes fit and are able to play the game.
Oshea-Evans-Rio-Evra
Now that is not a bad defense. It has the power and strenght to handle Inters front line. Evra, Rio and Evans are all very quick, and shouldnt have so much problem.
Worst case scenario: Oshea and Evans are still injured and cant make the game. Then I would think/hope this defense.
Fabio-Carrick-Rio-Evra
Some people may think its best with Fletch there, but Im not so sure. He does too much running to be a CB, and would be caught out lots of times. Positioning isnt Fletchers stringest point, but chasing other players is. While Carrick is good positioner, and can do lots of defensive jobs like tackling, heading and clearing the ball. And hopefully Fabio can show some of the signs he did against Spurs. We will just ahve to wait…
February 23rd, 2009 at 14:57
@Rahul: I do like the player mate and think he would be a decent punt obviously depending on the Hargo situation in the summer if he ever gets back to the player he was.
@RedDevilEddy: If your worst case senario is our back four then god help us!
Playing Fletch instead of Fabio is logical, he has experience and is also right footed to gives us balance but not ideal.
February 23rd, 2009 at 15:01
@Stephen: Ah Hargreaves! I pray he is back to his old level after the surgeries he’s had. He is exceptional when 100% fit.
February 23rd, 2009 at 15:04
@Rahul: Superb and he said in the summer he wasn’t fit last season, if he gets fully fit then jeez we will have a superb player, dare I say like a new signing.@colver: We have injuries like all sides, probably just down to bad luck, we have never had theis problem in the past and I doubt we are doing anything different.
February 23rd, 2009 at 15:12
Concerning Benzema, I dunno what to say. I watched Lyon a lot last season, and have watched them sometimes this season. Benzema is the ultimate striker, in a way. He can keep the ball, he is strong. Lighting speed and deadly finishing is for me a perfect attacker. He can also head the ball well, and has a Ruud type of positioning in front of goal. He also comes deep to get the ball, because he wants to win all the time. Bad thing is he is a fuckign moron, a wanker, a puff, a “gangster” in the words of a former Lyon player. I dont want his personality at our club, but his skills are not something I would reject. He is not worth more than £35 million, and if he could change his fucking personal style(which he probably wont), I dont want him at our club.
Good thing though is that Fergie in that interview also said that Franck Ribery was a great player, and would do well in the Premier League. He said some more cool stuff about Ribery, and said he admired him. Who knows? If we get rid of Tevez this summer, while Nani and Campbell leaves I wouldnt be too upset if we got Ribery and Benzema. If there is anybody who could get some sense and logic into Benzies head, its Fergie and that is why I dont have very much against him coming to our club. Of cource he is not my preffered layer for us to buy, but I wouldnt say no thanks if the money and mentality is right. But I would LOVE IT if Fergie moved for Ribery. He is class!!!
February 23rd, 2009 at 15:32
I think with our defensive injury crisis, the Milan game might turn into a damage limitations exercise, I could see it being a dull 0-0 and then we take them at Old Trafford with Vida and Raphael back.
February 23rd, 2009 at 18:33
@UnitedUnited: Honestly, I Believe one of our wounded will suit up for the game. It’s times like this when a manager looks deep into his wounded players eyes and asks one of them if he can gut it out and take one for the team. Flatcher or any other player at CB would be a calamity for sure and something Mourinho would try to take advantage of. You tape up Evans or O’Shea or Neville up real good, give them a few pain killers and send one of them out to fight like a warrior.
At least, that’s what they used to do before players became pussies and teams became slaves to insurance companies.
February 23rd, 2009 at 19:01
@Orez: Shortness is not a problem for United because of the style of football we play. We don’t play with your typical target man approach and we rarely serve up high balls into the box. Fergie would be looking for a better version of Tevez and that would be the Man Utd loving Aguero who with all due respect to Tevez, is twice the player Carlito is for almost the same price. Pursuing Benzema may be all smoke and mirrors so that fewer big teams take notice of United’s primary target thus ensuring a better chance at capturing whomever that may be.
February 23rd, 2009 at 19:02
Guys. Here is Fergie speaking on Ribery and Benzema…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1153305/It-high-time-Wenger-bought-defender-taunts-United-boss-Ferguson.html
Look in the end. Does this mean that Ribery is lined up for ronaldo?
February 23rd, 2009 at 19:07
@Rahul: I believe Gourcuff’s rights are owned by AC Milan who have loaned him to the French club. So I seriously doubt that Blanc has any say in the matter. Unless things have changed and I was not aware of it. And yes Gourcuff is much more of a Zidane copy than Exzema is. For me the best choice would be Ribery but that would be raping my other favorite club Bayern.
February 23rd, 2009 at 19:13
@Rahul: Noneof the injuries are leg breaks or muscle tears. Tape one of them up real good, give him a shot and put him out there. Like I said earlier, ther comes a time when a player sometimes needs to suck it up and sacrifice himself for the club. I find it completely unbeleivable that not one of Neville, Brown, O’Shea or Evans is available in an emergency situation. Hell I played hockey with a torn cartilage in my knee and I also played US football with a dislocated shoulder that was popped into place on the sidelines and I was thrown back into the game. I have played with a broken toe, shin splints, and both groin and hamstring pulls. Painful each and every one of them but with a decent tape job and a Tylenol #3 workable. One of these boys is going to have MAN UP and suit up. Nuff said. I doubt any of those injuries would have kept Vidic from playing because he is a hard man. We need hard men, not girly men who can’t take a bit of pain and discomfort for the cause.
February 23rd, 2009 at 19:19
@RedDevilEddy: Rafael has done fine in the past against good teams because he is more focused and less aggressive offensively. Inter doesn’t play with a great deal of width so I am not to concerned about him. It’s the CB situation with their height and finesse up front that concerns me. But then again, when did Ibrahimovich ever show up in a vital big game for all the marbles? Answer? NEVER. United are going to come out of the San Siro with either a draw or no worse than a one goal deficit. I am actually hoping for a 1-1 draw or 1-2 loss rather than 0-0 or 0-1. Get that all important away goal and leave it to the boys to score the 1-0 win at home.
February 23rd, 2009 at 19:22
@Rahul: I’vve stated months ago that the lack of Hargreaves would not hurt us in the EPL or domestic cup competitions but would be catastrophic in the second stage of the Champions League. His versatility and specific skill set is just what is needed against Mourinhio’s Inter or Barca or Real. And you want to know who could have fit in at CB in a squeeze? I’ve seen him play sweeper for Bayern and he was almost Beckenbauer like. God I miss Hargo.
February 23rd, 2009 at 19:35
@RedDevilEddy: Ribery would be a great buy but would also break my heart as my boy Klinsy needs him at Bayern. Yes United is still my #1 but i would prefer they go after players anywhere but Bayern. I wasn’t all that happy watching Hargo leave the Bavarian capital but I also knew that he had played far too long in one place and needed to be tested in England. As he was a Canadian hero of mine, I was so overjoyed when I read that if he was ever to leave Bayern, which he loved, it would only be for United. So no wonder why he is my favorite United player.
As for Ribery, he has been grumbling of late because he doesn’t think Bayern are doing enough to sign more big players for the future. Sorry Franck but you are an ugly little French frog of an idiot. How quickly he forgot how Bayern broke the bank to get him, Toni, Klose, Altintop, Jensen and ZeRoberto last season and how they added Borowski and Oddo this year and how they already have added Olic and the exceptional DMF Tymoschuk for next season. If nobody is that familiar with Tymoschuk, he plays for Zenit and is a Makalele like presence in the midfield with a offensive ability and a great shot. Bayern have replaced Podolski with Olic who is fast and skillful and more willing to accept the role of #3 striker/winger and all Bayern really need to be complete is replace Rensing in goal with somebody like Adler or Sebastian Frey who I know they have shown interest in. Goalkeeping or lack of,is the reason they are not in first in the Bundesliga. Rensing is just not very good. So Ribery is surrounded by great players and more are on the way. They are in good shape in the CL and are within striking distance in Germany. Yet that is not good enough for Franck. Well, perhaps a move to United is the answer.
Trust me when I say that the only missing links for United’s future are replacing EVDS with a great keeper in a year and Franck Ribery patrolling the left side of the midfield. That would free up Ronaldo much more and give us equal potency on both flanks with both of them capable of reversing sides and not skipping a beat when necessary. Still, I would prefer Ribery stay in Germany so that both my teams are top of the pyramid.
February 23rd, 2009 at 19:40
Crikey, now i read that Rafael is injured. Could this be a series of mind games by Fergie to make Mourinho feel over confident and then zap him with a fully fit squad? God I hope I’m right.
I also read that Arteta is out for the season for Everton. Bad news for them and for England as it appears he had need naturalized and was now able to play for England. Arteta is a quality player and that injury will just crush Everton.
February 23rd, 2009 at 19:43
Proof positive about how cunning the old fox is and why I wouldn’t worry too much about what I am reading regarding injuries. Fergie never exposes his true hand until it’s time. I love this remark;
“ALEX FERGUSON would love to send on Fabio Da Silva as a half-time sub for his identical twin Rafael — without notifying the referee.
The Manchester United boss said: “We have two great Brazilian defenders in Fabio and Rafael and it’s impossible to distinguish who is who.
“My dream would be to start one and replace him with the other without anyone noticing. They are extraordinary, they really adore football.”
Seeing as they are both right footed, it could work when one is injured. It would allow us four subs in a game. Love it.
February 23rd, 2009 at 20:00
This Inter clash at the San Siro was setup last year by the way the team played at Barcelona. Here is what Mourinho is saying.
“The sides meet at the San Siro on Tuesday, but Mourinho believes United will play defensively ahead of the return leg at Old Trafford on 11 March. Nothing will be decided tomorrow. I don’t think Manchester will come to try to win. They’ll play very defensively.
OK, considering our defensive woes, would we not be playing right into his hands by doing exactly what all of us and he are expecting United to do? Therefore, why not risk it all and shock the world by a full speed offensive display that puts enough pressure on them and forces them on their heels a bit. What better way to take the expected pressure of our decimated back four. Take the shackles off of Ronaldo and Rooney and then “Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war”. I say we go for it as if we were playing Stoke. It’s the last thing they would expect and if we got that early lead, then we could go back into a defensive posture and protect that lead knowing we got that all important away goal. This is why the Grognard should have the position presently being manned by one Mike Phelan.
February 23rd, 2009 at 20:20
Hey guys. Some thoughts on tomorrows game. Evans and O’shea will play, I think/I hope, cause I doubt SAF would have taken them if they were not “fit”. They might not be 100%, but still. These is very important game for Mourinho too. He can’t afford to loose. After opening his big mouth there will be no excuses, for him to loose. He wouldn’t want a draw either. He knows he needs and advantage to bring to OT, so he will try to win and preferably comfortable win. I think they will try to play possession/controlling game, with 4-5-1 formation, most likely it will be the same team, that was against Milan couple of weeks ago, but one of Adriano and Ibra will be playing a little deeper. It’s up to SAF to think of way to counter these. 3 in the center is one way, but I doubt it will happen. I think that both Berba and Rooney will start. Giggs and Park has been rested last week, so I think they will start too and if we add our 2 automatic inclusions Ronaldo and Carrick, we will have our team. All of these is highly speculative though, we just need to wait for 24 hours.
February 23rd, 2009 at 20:22
@Grognard: Could you imagine the outcry if Arteta was picked ahead of Gerrard or Lampard for England? not gonna happen
@Grognard: I actually thought of that before, only what I was saying was that because Fabio was apparently the more talented of the 2 that he was playing for Rafael to make him look good. Although I seriously doubt that switching them would work unless they switched shorts at HT
February 23rd, 2009 at 20:28
@Liam: All Arteta offers England is some depth but now with a Capello as manager and even a Canadian (Yes Hargo is and always will be a Canadian) at DMF, I doubt English fans care. All they want is to finally win something. If they have to import a winning formula from Italy and Spain, they will. Gerrard and Lampard have won them absolutely nothing. And Capello knows this. And what outcry? Their would be an outcry in Chelsea and Liverpool. I don’t think the rest of England would give a damn.
February 23rd, 2009 at 20:31
@Grognard: you are right about our injury “crisis”. its a smoke screen. Oshea has a bruised heel? thats the best they could come up with? Squad players like him dont have the luxury of not playing, he is lucky whenever SAF decides to throw him a bone. I also am 90% confident that Evans will start. judging from the way he left the blackburn game I am guessing he came off as a cautionary measure. Then again he could have easily pulled a groin, but I hope not.
February 23rd, 2009 at 20:31
Yep orez agree with u mate, i reckon we will see oshea come in at RB and evans will make it in time to play at CB. That would be alright for me, nowhere near as bad as i was fearing it would be. Rafael hasnt travelled and evans and oshea have so they must be close to fitness or they wouldnt have ever travelled. If evans doesnt make it i guess we will see fletcher come in at RB which is why i hope we see both evans and oshea in defence with fletcher coming in the midfield position. I know i have posted team sheets alot in the last few days so i apologise for posting another but im nervous about this game and we need to get the team sheet exactly right. I want to see:
VDS
OSHEA RIO EVANS EVRA
FLETCHER CARRICK PARK
RONALDO BERBA ROONEY
You might think it a bit weird playing park in effect as a CM, but i think we need him there to mark the excellent maicon, whilst not using him in a front 3 as this would take away our attacking threat. Fletcher on the other side can help out oshea. Carrick of course will start and hopefully he will produce some of his recent brilliant performances. I think the above team is strong enough to get a good result.
As a regular watcher of inter i gotta say the only parts of their team which is very strong is ibra in the middle, the wingers and wing backs and the CM trio usually of muntari, cambiasso and stankovic is imcredibly strong which is why i dont want to see the oldies giggs or scholes against them cos they could get over run there. Seriously inter are extremely over rated and i just hope we dont sit back.
February 23rd, 2009 at 20:32
@Grognard: I read it somewhere decent that Bordeaux have the option of making Gourcuff’s loan permanent if they want and Milan can’t refuse. But that’s off limits anyways, even if they do get him permanent, Blanc will not sell him to us immediately.. so it’s premature to talk about him comin here.
And we all miss Hargreaves.
February 23rd, 2009 at 20:56
@Grognard: We would mate not many can get over a foreign manager, having a Spanish player playing for us is noteven an option.
Also I am sure rteta has more to him than that and would rather break into his own National side than play International football for the sake of it, he has more class than Deco, and Hargo is more English than German or Canadian due to his parents.
February 23rd, 2009 at 21:06
If Fabio is right footed he can surely play as right back with Evra as left back and then Evans and O’Shea can play a half each at centre back.
February 23rd, 2009 at 21:54
The issue with Benzema is simple as I see it, he is a good player no doubt great shape but playing in a pub league do hard to judge him, the main issue with him is that he is an arrogant arsehole but what do I expect he is French.
February 23rd, 2009 at 22:53
@Stephen: Excuse me but Hargo is more Canadian than anything because he was born in Canada. I couldn’t care less if his parents were from England or Mars. He was born in my country, grew up in my country so don’t feel because his folks come from England that you can steal that right from us too. My parents are both from Greece but I am Canadian first and foremost. I take national pride and identity very seriously. Footballers will play for the best country available because it’s in their mercenary nature. If Canada had anything resembling a football team, Hargo would have represented the country of his birth. So lets get that settled now shall we.
February 23rd, 2009 at 23:01
@Grognard: Why did he not play for Germany when he played in that country and qualified to represent them?
Some players feel they have a need to play for their parents country as they feel it is where they come from and it is essentially who they are.
I agree the choice would be more difficult if Canada had a better national side.
February 23rd, 2009 at 23:19
Does anyone have any belief that we will win tomorrow??? i dont see what is so wrong about thinking we could nick a win off inter?
February 24th, 2009 at 0:13
@Grognard: who are you, his agent? haha
February 24th, 2009 at 1:10
Stephen, with hargreaves i thought his parents were welsh? Maybe im getting totally confused but i thought i heard he could have played for wales as well, but as i say i may be getting confused with someone else. He is a quality player anyway, we could have used him even at RB cos he looks quality where ever he plays, he really is a key player for us, defo in the top 3 of our most important midfield players after ronaldo and carrick. Wish we had him tomorrow.
February 24th, 2009 at 2:20
In Arsenal’s game against Roma, the only English-born player is Perotta, for Roma. And this after Wenger claimed they’re the only club in the champions league “educating young players”. Roma have De Rossi, Totti and Aquilani as products of their youth system; Arsenal have a lot of good youngsters that they nicked from other clubs. I know this has nothing to do with anything, but still. I hate how sanctimonious Wenger is about his youth policy. Where are the players from Highbury? He’s had 13 years, and not one proper homegrown star, just a cream of Europe’s crop because he can give 17 year olds big contracts…
February 24th, 2009 at 2:24
@Stephen: He obviously feels close to his English roots and Canada has given him no reason to be loyal to that country when it comes to soccer. Had he been a hockey player I can guarantee you England would not have been his National Team of choice.
February 24th, 2009 at 2:25
@benjd: No I’m his part time lover.
February 24th, 2009 at 2:31
http://www.epltalk.com/new-manchester-united-away-shirt-0910-season/4584
Go to the above address and take a look at United away kit for next year. I found this at EPL talk and I assume it’s true. If not, it’s a nice design and what I would call a true away kit with the right colors for a change. Now if they can just get rid of AIG
February 24th, 2009 at 2:41
“CRISTIANO RONALDO reckons it is time to ‘kill or be killed’ in the Champions League.
And the Portuguese superstar predicts Manchester United will deal the fatal blow to Inter Milan when they clash in the San Siro tonight.
Ronaldo said: “We have a more experienced team and are the reigning champions. “It’s time to kill or be killed. Whoever loses will exit the competition — and we don’t want to lose. “It will be a difficult game but I think Manchester United have a better team. “They’re a team with very experienced players but we also have our aces and great players. “It will be a good game, a well-contested game, and the better team will triumph.”
Way to go Ronny. Damn straight! Why the Hell should we be worried? We are the defending champions as well as the best team in the world and we need to fear Inter Fucking Milan? I don’t think so. I think they should be shitting bricks over having to face us and getting prepared for such a rude awaking and quick exit. What have they won other than their own diminishing in reputation and class league? United will prevail in this tie because they are simply far superior. Mourinho be damned. This tie will seal his return to England for next season. I’m hoping it’s Liverpool once Benitez is bounced because I’d love to really hate the Scousers with passion knowing the “Special One” is in charge there. Go ahead Jose, make my millennium.
February 24th, 2009 at 4:44
@Grognard: Agreed. Jose should have known that we have our own big mouth Portuguese, before opening his own mouth
. I am sure the guys will be worried because of our defensive issues, but we should pull through. As I said before Jose will be massacred by Italian press if he loses or even if it’s a draw, so they will try to win. The problem will arise if we show them to much respect, which happens a lot in Europe. Let’s hope the guys deliver.
I doubt Jose will take over scousers, the only job he wants in EPL is SAF’s. I have no doubt about it. Everything else is either too risky or not good enough. I for one, would like to see him after SAF retires. I know a lot of you will jump at me, but let me just say, that The Special One is a winner and I believe will appreciate the traditions at Man Utd.
February 24th, 2009 at 4:55
@Orez: I have a strange feeling that we are going to nick the game somehow, i expect ron/roon to step up and berba to run show.
February 24th, 2009 at 4:57
@Grognard: This shows the boy has grown and wishes to take responsibility, they are the good signs for now.
February 24th, 2009 at 11:03
@Grognard: Ha ha spot on!
February 25th, 2009 at 14:07
I was in bed with the flu for a couple of days and could not go onto the internet. Just wanted to add something to all those who claim Tevez is a crappy ‘over-priced’ striker. Let’s compare his United career with those of our other two 30m pound strikers:
—TEVEZ—
Premier League Starts : 44
Permier League Goals : 17
Premier League Goals per start percentage : 38.6%
Overall Starts : 64
Overall Goals : 29
Overall Goals per start percentage : 45.31%
—ROONEY—
Premier League Starts : 133
Permier League Goals : 61
Premier League Goals per start percentage : 45.86%
Overall Starts : 195
Overall Goals : 91
Overall Goals per start percentage : 46.66%
—BERBATOV—
Premier League Starts : 22
Permier League Goals : 7
Premier League Goals per start percentage : 31.8%
Overall Starts : 27
Overall Goals : 12
Overall Goals per start percentage : 44.4%
How bad is Tevez really?