Jan 29
Kuyt Breaks United’s Hearts
Dirk Kuyt scored two minutes from time to knock United out of the FA Cup and send Liverpool through to the first round for the first time since 2008.
A makeshift United side was two minutes away from forcing a replay when the Dutchman pounced on Andy Carroll’s flick and made the most of some poor defending by Patrice Evra to slot the winner home.
Much had been said before the game about the tense atmosphere that awaited United – fans and players – and in particular Patrice Evra, following the racist abuse by Luis Suarez, which saw the Uruguayan hit by an 8 games ban.
Ferguson had written an appeal letter to the United fans travelling to Anfield, pledging for co-operation and responsibility, but it was the home fans who showed an appalling behaviour.
Evra was booed from the first to the final whistle, in a sad reminder of how Liverpool and their fans have tried to make racism look like a two clubs affair, rather than a pivotal issue for the football community. For a club always ready to cry out for – alleged – injustices, the contrast in terms of morals and ethics was striking.
According to Dalglish, the jeers and boos aimed at Evra were “friendly banter”, while chants directed to Suarez by West Brom fans were a “scandal which the FA should have stamped their authority on.”
The game itself was a scrappy affair, with Liverpool fielding a 4-3-3 which look more like a 5-4-1 and saw Jamie Carragher deployed in midfield, while United were forced by injuries to make do with what they had.
That meant DeGea in goal, Rafael,Evra,Smalling and Evans at the back with a 5-men midfield including Giggs,Scholes,Carrick,Park and Valencia with Welbeck alone up-front.
With Ferdinand on the bench and Rooney,Jones and Nani joining the long term absentees Cleverley,Vidic and Young on the sidelines it looked like United were in for a tough test on Merseyside.
United had the first opportunity of the game when Valencia ghosted past Henrique,only to see his shot striking the post with Reina all but beaten.
Liverpool were the to draw first blood though, as they went ahead after 21 minutes.
DeGea couldn’t push Carroll out of the way following a Gerrard corner and Agger rose above three United defenders to head the home team in front.
DeGea’s ability to deal with the physical approach of English football has been questioned since the young spaniard was signed in the summer, and it was again a major point of discussion today as he was constantly tested by high balls.
The goal wasn’t entirely his fault though, United should have defended the corner better.
Fergie’s men then started to see more of the ball and a sustained spell of possession brought the equaliser, six minutes before halftime.
Valencia played Rafael through with a back heel flick upon which the Brazilian fullback darted like a man possessed, shrugging off Henrique before delivering an excellent cross in the box, which Park converted with a first time finish.
The second half wasn’t exactly an advert for football, despite both teams tentatively going for the winner – Bellamy , Adam and Kuyt coming on for Liverpool, with Hernandez replacing Scholes after 75 minutes – but United saw their midfield strangle hold slip away as Liverpool committed men forward and were rewarded three minutes from time as Kuyt netted the winner.
Scholes’ departure deprived United of a man capable of dictating the play, as he had done for 75 minutes, keeping Liverpool at bay.
While the choice of going for the winner was a brave one, Scholes hadn’t looked tired and his replacement was arguably the turning point of the match.
United leave Anfield with a bitter taste in their mouth, despite the numerous absentees they were on the front foot for large chunks of the game and should have at least forced a replay.
They now have to regroup before focusing on launching a final assault at the league, hopefully with a few players coming back from injuries.
Meanwhile, who would have thought that, of the four of last season’s semi finalists, 12 months later only Bolton and Stoke would make it to the fifth round?
Daniele (@MUFC_dan87)
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Tags: Manchester United · Match Reports
The_Philosopher (407)
Redrich (221)
Opti (209)
Stephen (149)
Moscow (147)
Home fans showed appalling behavior did they? Correct me if I’m wrong but booing a player is nothing compared to the sickening Hillsborough chants sang by almost your entire away support quite a few times during the match. That & the fact that 3 arrests were made after United fans spitting on our Hillsborough memorial makes you trying to take to moral high ground a bit of a joke really.
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to Blood Red …. not a fact . 0 united fans were arrested after the match for spitting on the memorial according to a statement released by Merseyside Police – they said it was a hoax.Or are they part of the usual so called false claims always made against Scousers
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1 Liverpool fan arrested for making monkey gestures during the game and Merseyside Police say the twitter story about spitting on the memorial was untrue – so NOT a fact .Or are they part of the usual anti Liverpool conspiracy ?
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Munich chants. Paper aeroplanes flying around the Kop. “Munich 58″ flags at Heysel in 1985.
Always the victims, never your fault.
Three times without killing anyone YSB
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Jones Ferdinand Vidic Fabio
Nani Anderson Cleverley Young
Rooney Owen
That’s the full team of players we are missing. Not even mentioning Fletcher. I’m surprised we’ve gotten away with it for so long. Our players have been picking up injuries at an alarming rate for years.
It’s about damn time our medical team and training intensity is seriously looked at. Richard Hawkins (Head of human performance) and Rob Swire (Head Physiotherapist) should have their jobs under review.
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@Traverse: Really? Is their fault that players pick up injuries? This is football and we have to get on with it…
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@Stephen: We’ve been suffering with 10+ injuries at a time every season for the last 4 years. No other team has had this.
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For me we lost not due to Phelan or The medical staff which is the new blame mungers.
We lost due to:
Vidic down to bad luck is out for a year..
De Gea is out of his depth…
Rio is the best centre half in the World was not fit, due to wear and tear.
Rooney, who is overrated and does not score enough goals.. Oh and has been played from pillor to post, midfield, with numerous strike partners but has netted 17 in 25 games, which is still incredible was not available yesterday…
Nani was injured, enough said.
Evra was abused for 90 mins and is erratic to say the least..
No Fletch, Owen, Jones, Young, Cleverley and er Anderson….
Our midfield is not the best, but Carrick is at the moment on his game… Scholes looks great…
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@Stephen: My point is we take the same bumps as other teams but seem to come out way worse. Every player who joins us from another prem team says our training intensity is way higher and I wonder if we are sending our players out too highly strung physically.
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@Stephen: ummm…
“For me we lost not due to Phelan or The medical staff which is the new blame mungers.
We lost due to:
[list of injuries]”
We have had these injury loads for last 3 years at least — blame MUST come on EITHER Phelan (who runs our practice session) or medical staff (who ‘treat’ our players).
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We are just awful, how can we carry on losing to 3rd rate teams like liverpool, this is getting pathetic. We need to open our eyes and see that fergie hasn’t done anything for the this season, we need a change, we’re going backwards. When we need a centre attacking mid someone like snejider he goes and brings the way past it ginger ninja back, he’s lost the plot. Wake up Glazers, we need to make a change and fast before we fall too far behind city! I’m a first time poster, reader and just felt this had to be said.
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Scouser by any chance? Piss poor attempt at fishing mate, try somewhere else or stick to RAWK.
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Fergie has always said the players he is after aren’t available in January so he wont sign anyone. Sneijder was subbed at half time in Inters loss against Leece, and Ranieri said after the game he doesn’t know what to do with the player. Did he suddenly become available?
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We could probably get Sneijder for a relatively good price in the summer. Only sticking point would be his wages. But he would give us a lot of experience which is what we need if we are ever to break free of our dependence on Scholes and Giggs to shore up our midfield.
I’ve always felt there is something wrong with our medical staff/training. The frequency of injuries we have had this season is just ridiculous. We’ve consistently been top of the injury charts. And it is not like we are the only club playing a lot of games.
Regardless these injuries are exposing some of the problems with the depth of our squad. We look lightweight up front when Rooney is not playing or out of form. Without Nani we lack a matchwinner. Without Scholes we lack a player capable of bossing a midfield. Without Vidic or Rio we look vulnerable defensively. Evra is the only player who seems immune to injury but he looks very suspect at times and needs some serious competition for his place which he doesn’t get.
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Stephen
I wouldn’t pick Phelan out for no reason. First, besides this being public knowledge, as Opti points out, Phelan is the official First Team Coach. That means he coaches and trains the first team. There’s a reason why coaches exist, the same reason why they have commanders, generals and sergeants in the army, navy or air force. Or conductors in orchestras. It doesn’t matter how talented individuals can be, without the correct training and strategies, they will fail as a unit. Ask Argentina. And because Mike Phelan is the one responsible for training the first team, it shows in the way the team plays and he takes praise and blame.
Whom should I praise when the team is playing a fluent form of football, with seamless interchanging and imperious defending? The coach. If you drill your team the way Pep and Mourinho have, you’re doing a great coaching job. But on the other hand, if the team is disjointed, set up in completely ridiculous formats and totally mixed up roles and functions, whom should I blame? The coach. You can compile volumes of encyclopedia detailing the totality of the stupidity of the tactics in the game against City. Just that one game. Forget the magnificently idiotic midfield combination of Rafael and Park in midfield against Blackburn. It’s not that Mike Phelan is an average coach. No, that’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying he is the worst football coach I’ve ever seen. It pains me to have to debate that because, it’s abundantly clear. I guarantee in the next 3 games, 2 at least will have massive technical faults.
“When we went 10000 games without conceding a goal was that down to him?”
I assume you’re referring to the 2008-2009 season which is very good because it then makes my point even clearer. This was MP’s first season and he said this after his appointment :
“I decided not to change things massively. Why would you after what United achieved last season?”
And he was right. The season before we had a 4-2-3-1 or at times a 4-1-2-3 with Carrick holding,and the rest of the team in attack. Balanced. So when MP came, he tried to keep this system in place. Maintaining Carrick in holding sometimes with Fletcher harassing. The only problem with this was the lackluster attack. But defensively we were solid. The
VDS Neville-Rio-Vidic-Evra-Carrick shield was entering it’s 3rd almost unbroken season. They knew the routine. According to ex-players like Neville,CQ, was a perfectionist in training and they had been drilled to death on the defensive system. But the real challenge was to replicate the perfection in attack. I might have been a bit skeptical about Phelan when we announced his appointment because he didn’t register on the technical who’s who of football like say Guardiola or AVB. But I wasn’t about to judge him without giving him a chance.
And that’s where the problem is. He said he wasn’t going to change much and he didn’t alter the defence at all, but the changes made beyond that, were mostly failures. The real reason why Xavi says Carrick brings balance is not because he’s some superman. It’s his role or what it used to be. His role defines the whole team. Defence and attack. In front of the back four means protection, behind the attack leading to possession. Where Phelan failed in his strategies, was the latter part. Attack. First of all, Carrick’s partner in midfield had to have a primarily attack minded function and that didn’t work with Fletcher especially his assignments to destroy. Secondly,the failure to maintain the continental football style of pass and move for , at that time still subtle, crosses from wide. But the last straw for me was Dimitar Berbatov. Not only did they fail to integrate a fairly straightforward situation, but they admitted, on television, that they didn’t know how to use him. I was quite frankly shocked. Playing him in a shadow midfield role was a total technical screw up. They must have just thought “well he’s so creative, so we should play him deeper maybe”. Wrong. That’s why we were so boring and blunt in attack. As much as we didn’t concede, we didn’t score many either. Remember the long series of 1-0 victories.
We were consistent because defensively we were solid but created very little. But CR7 only needed half a chance and that was the advantage. Same applies to the next season. This time it was Rooney on point. Clinical finishing. But the cracks had begun to appear. In fact, think of it, everytime Phelan has deviated from CQ’s platform and brought his own changes, they’ve led to disaster. In 2010, we were, in my opinion, on course for a better finish in Europe. We were still maintaining the same defensive system. But the Bayern game in the first leg, best illustrates. We were controlling the game much like we were on Saturday. Only difference is we were leading by 0-1. Then came a similar technical blunder. With just over 20 minutes left, we took off Carrick and replaced him with Valencia. I think we even introduced Berbatov later. Big mistake. 6 minutes later, Bayern had scored. Sounds familiar? That’s why I’m always asking, do they ever learn anything. But you could see there was absolutely no respect for the holding role and was fast decreasing by that point. The next season being last, the holding role was completely extinguished in February. To be honest, the deterioration has been progressing and it’s progress increasing in intensity as the seasons passed. This season we have reached a new low. Now everything CQ had tried to build has been completely done away with. The defensive shield which was now our remaining strength, is now history. So you tell me, how Mike Phelan and his team are not responsible.
Everyone\\\\\\\'s talking about this one! - Join the debate.... Like or Dislke:
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@Jay wire: What has Mike Phelan ever doen to deserve his job, other than play for United and suck up to the boss? Hell, he’s played more games for Norwich or Burnley than he did for us. After retiring he followed Gary Megson about for a bit he joined our staff. As others have moved on he has taken step after step up the ladder. It’s a job for the boys appointment, and we’re Manchester United. We should get the best.
Queiroz was great for us in the way he understands European football and footballers in a way say Steve McClaren or Fergie never really did. It’s no coincidence that our great run in getting to the latter stages of European competitions coincides with his return to the position. You are absolutely right about Carricks holding position and it’s importance. Queiroz famously didn’t want to sell Makélélé, knowing how important that role is but was overruled. Madrid weren’t the same team without him and the galacticos collapsed, Chelsea were a much better with him.
Here’s hoping Phelan feels the same need to be a manager that Carlos did, that way we’ll get rid sooner. I fear he’ll be here as long as Fergie is.
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@Jay wire: brilliant stuff JayWire. If only Phelan would read this.
Fergie failure lies at the foot of Phelan. FFS!
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McClaren understands football a damn sight better than Mike Phelan. His success on the continent shows that. Don’t forget he got Middlesborough to the UEFA Cup final. Not to mention toppling Ajax in the Erevidisie. Not on the same level as Quieroz tactically. But not a total slouch.
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Jay Wire you are absolutely right. The bread and butter of continental football clubs is the ability to defend a lead. We made a total hash of it against Bayern. We did the same thing against Basel. And countless other examples.
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I’m not saying this as my opinion but, there’s an argument that that’s just not how the game is played in England (rightly or wrongly). Yes it appears at this moment in time that the more continental european style and philosophy is the way to go and the way that’s winning games, however, there will still be many people who believe there’s still a place for the good old fashioned English way of playing, it just requires the right players, unfortunately, it’s difficult to succeed with that way when you’re importing players, it boils down to the same thing time after time….England does not create players good enough to compete at the highest level in anywherenear enough numbers……and the reasons for that are ones of society, politics etc etc. a very sad state of affairs for a country that boasts the richest league in the world but has an assosiation in debt instead of being well looked after. This country should have schools of excellence on every street corner with the amount of cash the PL generates, instead youth/grass roots football is dying compared to 20yrs when the PL was introduced.
Government, The FA, The PL and the clubs should all be ashamed of themselves…..
….but not as ashamed as the players and managers who have siphoned all the money out of the game.
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@Ian: I think the “siphoning” effect is all down to policies set forth by Gov’t, FA, EPL. The players and managers are only taking so much money because that is how the clubs are rewarded. The gov’t or FA (if they care about the larger scope of improving lives through football), then should propose “fair play” schemes that tie together ticket prices/youth investments/grass roots with salary caps/profits/etc…
The more successful leagues (and clubs) should pay more towards grass roots (and most of that should benefit the local population). Manchester should be rife with grass root clubs and football events, since they have the two richest clubs in England (according to many metrics, including player salaries).
As Chaplin once said:
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Greed is the root of all that’s wrong with mankind imo, but we’ll be talking about bankers, oil theieves and bent politicians if we carry on, and I don’ fancy that!
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@Ian: Football, Football, Football, in that order
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While i agree that Queiroz and McClaren might be better tacticians than Phelan, some seem to forget that, according to Queiroz, Bebe was worth £7mil and that Anderson would turn into a world class player. Not trying to undermine the man here,as he certainly knows more about football than i do, but his flaws were exposed at Real Madrid – not the easiest club to manage by any means, but he should have done better – and with the national team.
As for Fergie, well he conquered Europe with Aberdeen. Aberdeen, for christ’s sake! You don’t topple the Old Firm and win a Cup Winner’s Cup with a good team – Aberdeen were an excellent side but nowhere near the best teams in Europe at the time in terms of quality – unless you’re also an excellent tactician.
What does the man have to do to deserve a bit of faith and recognition? Or would you rather have tactical masters such as AVB or Benitez, who couldn’t read a game if their lives depended on it?
And before anyone brings it up, Guardiola isn’t a great reader of the game either. And that’s because he doesn’t need to.
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@Daniele: good points, but CQ was discussed as his role as our First Team Coach, not as a replacement of Fergie. We all know of his poor record as manager (and the Bebe deal may hint as to why this is so — Fergie knows talent, CQ knows how to best structure training session and coach players to their best).
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You cannot coach defender everything. In the end, defender should predict the game by himself and defender need to understand each others.
It is all about prediction of the game, Smalling can make Kyut offside at 2nd goal, Evans challenge Carrol when he cannot interrupt the flick. Both center-half cannot predict the Liverpool forwards move and DDG cannot narrow shooting angle in time so we concede.
All in all, our defenders and goalie cannot see what might happen. Defending require agile brain and experience so we will suffer for while until our young center-half start to realize what kind of movement come from opposition.
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@Yang: overly simplistic in my mind. Through training sessions galore, one can build understanding between defenders and goal-keeper. Through proper coaching one can teach young players what to do in general situations you mention to MINIMIZE chance of making collective errors, which at the top levels prevents goals.
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Agree Opti, we switched off for 10secs and made 3 mistakes (1 each), but when that happens there’s no time to rectify it and no amount of coaching can legislate for it.
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@Opti: May be you are right but I don’t think coach explain detail every time. I feel so helpless because Nobody can help out our young back five against this route one football so they need to learn from mistakes. Vidic’s injury is fatal blow for the team.
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@jaywire
I can see your point and what you believe is wrong with the team. But what i believe is that just because everyone is doing something it doesn’t mean it’s the only way to do it. 10 years ago,this holding midfielder was virtually non existent, and the few teams who employed this tactic didnt have the role clearly defined as it is now. In the last 5 years ,the role has become prominent but you have to be kidding me if you want to say that a role that didnt exist in footy 10 years ago is a must have. It’s not. And having a holding midfielder is not the only way to succeed. Just like having a striker isn’t the only way to ensure you score,ask barca and stoke.
My main gripe with the anchor man is that he really does fuck all, we have players on the same pitch who will run 10 kilometers and we havd a lazy bugger doing an average of 3 kms and you want to tell me he is the most important man in there.
I actually commend phelan, he is trying to figure out a new system where all players are involved and no one player seems to just lazy around the pitch. Im sure carrick is quietly thanking him, he is now seen as a major contributor as opposed to the lazy annoying crab. I shudder to think what Carricks legacy will be if he is stuck in that role. One where fans dont respect you but atleast iniesta said u were great.
Phelan will not be the inventor of the next successful system of football, but to think that the anchorman formation is the only way to go is delusional. Someone will soon comeup with a more advanced system and we will soon call for the abolishment of the anchorman.
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A guy on twitter who is normally pretty good for information is saying that we’ll be signing 20 year old midfielder Thiago Alcantara in the summer, and have been scouting Celtic’s 25 year old Hounduran LB Emilio Izaguirre.
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@Traverse: Alcantara is a Barca-boy, right. So that will be 10 million + Barca is allowed to sign him back for free at anytime in the first 5 year of his contract. Signing from Barca
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@Opti: Agreed, we’ve had enough of players leaving us for their ‘dream club’
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Don’t suppose we’re after Izaguirre’s team mate Victor Wanyama are we? He will develop into a top class CM I reckon.
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OPEN QUESTION TO ALL, WOULD APPRECIATE SOME SIMPLE YES NO ANSWERS…
WOULD THE RETURN OF GROGNARD INTEREST YOU? WOULD IT BE WELCOME?
THERE MIGHT BE A CHANCE I CAN BRING HIM OUT OF RETIREMENT A LA PAUL SCHOLES…..JUST WONDERING WHAT THE REACTION MIGHT BE?
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@Ian: Yes
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@Ian:
never fails to bring out a chuckle when someone says should we bring grog back. and when he does return, speaks his mind he’ll be vilified and go into exile. Tut tut. There’s been a shit tonne of moaning about the “problems” United have. Midfield-this, SAF-that. Load of bull, its the fans that are the problem. sheesh
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@Ian: yes, with no reservations or demands from him.
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@Ian: 100% I just want to see him back sooner than rather than later
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@Ian: Yes
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Ian bring him back but in the interests of keeping the peace don’t let him write any articles! But as a regular commentator he is great to have on here.
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I’m thinking the opposite because:
1) I don’t think Grogs nature lends itself to the many keyboard warriors that patrol the web looking for opportunities to wind people up.
2) He is (on his day) someone who deserves to be taken seriously and published.
3) I’m selfish and his content will attract visitors to the site.
He’s agreed to return and do one article per week entitled ‘The Dark Side Chronicles’ where he gets to vent his anger or spread his love (sorry, that mental picture is probably not a welcome one!)…..it’s up to him. He’s suggested he won’t be using the comments to begin with, but I’m sure that won’t last forever, he won’t be able to resist!
A lot was said about the final article. It should never have been published, it should never have been written, it was great, it was poor, I hung him out to dry, it was misguided etc etc. It split opinion, but the fact is Grogs been contributing to this site for years and his absence was definitely felt in my opinion, not in numbers to the site because that’s actually on the increase, but the general atmosphere has definitely been lacking his presence.
When I only had Grog writing articles, they set the tone for the attitude and the tone of the comments and for me the place was becoming an unpleasant place to discuss things. As it is now, I’ve assembled more writers and there’s a structure forming, therefore the re-introduction of Grog is a viable option and one that I hope gives a balance to the views of everyone who reads and discusses the articles. Let’s face it….a lot of what Grog talks about is only *totally* dismissed by the naive and the blind and not something that is readily or anywhere near as vehemently written about by many fans/writers.
Anyway, look out for the first installment on Thursday…..
Thanks all.
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@Ian: So finally, after a period out, the Leader of Doom Merchant is coming back. I cant wait for it!!! Tbh I missed him as much as any one else here…
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@Ian: Weekly Dark Chronicles from and Monthly Macro/Micro analysis form JayWire… where’s the positive slant? Is that Eddy’s job?
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Big few hours in transfer rumour news. Ravel Morrison to West Ham is go. No idea if he’s signed a new contract and it’s a loan or if he’s being sold. We have apparently nicked a Swiss CB called Frederic Veseli from Citeh’s ‘Elite Development Squad’ and he’ll sign later today.
In further injury news the daily mail are going with a story that Lindegaard has suffered a serious injury in training and De Gea has a virus so it’s Amos or Kuszcszack against Stoke.
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@Traverse: FaRavel, au revoir, goodbye!
Injury front is getting ridic!!!
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M’thinks United should start looking at the FOOTWEAR the players are wearing, because I thought that the lack of balance and falling all over the place of many United players was down to the players lack of balance, but maybe the boots are playing a big part. I mean even Smalling is falling over at vital times now, Jones, Welbeck, the twins and Park seem very dodgy at staying upright
. We seem to be getting quite a good few ANKLE injuries – soooooooooooooooo!
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Ohhhh Craig… are we blaming everything now??? TBH I am seriously bemused by the way our players easily hit the canvas these days. Park took the cup though… I think we probably need a psychologist though the confidence of some of our players especially in big games has hit new lows and the falling is just a symptom.
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@Vida Dollar:
-you said it mate!
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Lindegaard out with ankle problem now – they are querying ligament damage – so this might not be our season all in all! So many of our best players out at important time of our season! Well perhaps the kids will get the opportunity they have been crying for, and we will get to see just what they are made of – or NOT made of
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Only OUTS so far this transfer window
Macheda
Gibson
Drinkwater
Diouf
No INS
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seems morrison is on his way to West Ham
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SSN now confirming that talks with Frederic Veseli are happening. The Ravel Morrison deal looks to be £600,000 rising to £2mil. Hell be on £10k a week rising to a possible £65k a week.over 4 years.
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What do you make of the ‘the agent is demanding £1m’ story? Any truth? Major stumbling block? Personally I reckon he’s gone, West Ham are stupid enough to pay extra for him I presume, they know what they’re getting after all, doesn’t matter if they pay an extra few quid, it’s a bargain if it works out either way, the lad’s worth 10x what they’re paying if you judge him solely on his talent.
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@Ian: Definitely true. This whole thing has been aggravated by his agent. The point of agents used to be getting the best for the client. The best for Ravel would have been to sign a contract at United and try and get into our first team. Moving to any other club benefits the agent as he gets a big payout.
Hopefully there is a barcelonaesq buyback clause in there.
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Pogba is in the squad for tonight’s game against Stoke. No Lindegaard or De Gea. Amos and the PIG instead. God help us.
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Oh shit….Amos would be my choice tbh, but neither of them rack up much to Crouch, Huth, Walters or Jerome etc do they?! Could be a tricky night, let’s just hope our solid defending continues……erm……oh shit!
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@Ian: Yeah, we are pretty much fucked. There is some net talk of us signing Shay Given.
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That wouldn’t surprise me, we always do things when it’s too late and after he’s available. I’d be happy to see him at United tbh.
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@Ian: I think it’s far more likely that we’ll try and bring VDS out of retirement.
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@Traverse: “He came to me and said that he missed playing football and begged to come back… after much thought, I allowed VDS to re-join the team. He is a great addition”
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@Opti:
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@Traverse: PIG is not bad (if his head is still in the right place). Amos on his best ain’t too bad.
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Another positive deadline day for MUFC, FFS!
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Jordan Rhodes is being linked with a bunch of teams, including us. Marco Marin may be available with Arsenal and us involved. Possibility of Barca letting Thiago Alcantara go out on loan.
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Thanks to those money gabbing Bastards The Glazers for their continuing total financial support of our club,
LUHG
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TBH well deserved outs at that. Dont think we made money on any of them though which shows just how talented these guys wearing United shirts are these days.
The inns are coming in the summer mate… But at least fewer pretenders for the rest of the season@Traverse:
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So many red devils here and still people make the basic mistakes! Everyone rushes to blame Mike Phelan but is he the coach???
As far as FACTs go,
Sir Alex is the MANAGER of Man Utd football club, not the coach.
Mike Phelan is DEPUTY MANAGER, stand-in when Sir Alex is not available. He is not the coach as well.
Rene Meulensteen is the head COACH! He has been coach for years now, he was coach when we won double in 2008 and he is the coach now. He is responsible for skill development since i dont know when!
I think players in their prime (say after they are 22-23) rarely do they need any “coaching” per se! I mean what really can somebody like Sir Alex teach Rooney when it comes to finishing? Aye Rooney hit the ball straight towards the goal, not outside the posts eh!
Its the same with most top level managers. Mourinho is hardly a coach, similarly Raijkard was hardly a coach. Only Guardiola is an exception. but then he was incredibly lucky to have the players at his disposal that he has. come to think of it, all top managers have been lucky in some sense or other. imagine sir alex’s fortunes if he had not got Cantona and Ronaldo. He bought these players, and struck gold. Imagine his achivements without these two. similarly raijkard got an unbelievable player in his prime in ronaldhino and won eerything in sight. i believe right now everything is going well for guardiola as stars conspired to get him the right team at the right time. but would he still be winning everything 10 years from now when the likes of xavi iniesta puyol etc have gone. only time will tell if he can get ‘lucky’ again. mourinho has been lucky as he has had a blank check everywhere he has been. but he has no reputation of “coaching” a young player to world class heights.
this time, it looks like, sir alex’s luck is finally deserting him. most of his young signings have hardly been good so far, be it de gea (bought to replace vds) or anderson (bought to replace scholes) or bebe (bought to replace ronaldo???)
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We are on a downward spiral. We can kiss that Premier League title goodbye.
Fergie, you stubborn, arrogant fucker. I fully expect you to have the audacity, after screwing around the whole of last summer, to cite overpriced valuations following the Euros. You really are a cowardly, and out of touch old geezer, who surrounds himself with a coaching staff of yes men and bans any critical media, thinking you’re putting yourself in a protective bubble.
Well, this club is NOT in a protective bubble, because we have failed to replace our retirees, and pissed away signings because the ownership wasn’t prepared to cough up an extra £10-20k in wages. An ownership which you fully endorse by the way, because it takes the pressure off as far as you’re concerned, which is identifying and recruiting world class players, players fit to wear the shirt.
It will take a long time to recover from the state we are in at the moment. I can’t see Fergie pulling us out of this, and nor do I trust him anymore, because he has chosen to defend himself by lying to the fans. Time is catching up with you old man.
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@Moscow is my heaven: I’m really looking forward to going back on this comment at the end of the season!
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@RedDevilEddy: Assuming that’s when we win the Premier League, I’m really looking forward to that as well.
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@Moscow is my heaven: Me to!
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@Moscow is my heaven: Someone on the rag? 3pts off the top and you write Man United and Ferguson off already. Wait when our 13 injured players come back (fresh!)… we will slaughter Man City at the Abu Dhabi Stadium
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@Opti: I remember celebrating when our Champions League group was announced.
We weren’t exactly in an injury crisis bar Vidic and Cleverley when they desecrated Old Trafford.
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@Moscow is my heaven: The Champions League is a cup not a league (tricky name!).
United to pip City. #fact!
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Oh, and as for Ravel Morrison, he can fuck off as far as I’m concerned, he’s proved diddly squat in his time here, and the sheer cheek to ask for higher wages at this stage of his career smells of a money-grabbing whore. All the more hilarious when you realise he will probably be behind bars when shit hits the fan at West Ham and the club do not have the will nor resources to save his ass.
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
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Fun fact of the day!
United have scored on the 27th minute against Stoke the last 3 times we’ve played them!
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Since most of our starters are out until Feb 12th (according to EPL Physioroom), my guess for our lineup (guess) is going to without Giggs who played too much against ‘Pool.
———–Amos———-
Smalling-Ferdinand-Evans-Evra
–Vally -Carrick-Scholes-POI–
—–Welbeck-Chicharito—–
Subs: Pogba, Berba, Giggs, Kuschcxzxcack, whatever we can scrape from the bin who isn’t injured (Keane, Friers?)
We should play with an aggressive striker pair and go through the middle as Stoke have an upper head in defense/attack. We should punish them with speed and quick passing and force them through middle to avoid crosses.
With Ferdinand back marshaling defense, Amos will be fine. Chicharito needs to score today, if he starts, to re-assert himself after a quiet first half of the season and stay on-side in the process.
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Spizzy
I’ll try and make this as short as possible.
“…just because everyone is doing something it doesn’t mean it’s the only way to do it.”
Everyone breathes,it seems the only way to get oxygen into your body, whether machine supported or not. Point is, everyone is using a holding mid or some form of deep lying midfielder, today and those who aren’t are failing dismal. Normally I don’t need further evidence of that being the best way to go.
“10 years ago this holding midfielder was virtually non-existant.”
I may be wrong, but it’s highly likely you don’t follow continental football. Dersailly,Makelele,Edgar Davids(at Juve), Redondo etc, were all high profile anchors pre-10 years ago. The role has been refined in the last 6 or so years but has been around for a while now.
“My main gripe with the anchor man is he really does **** all. We have players… who will run 10km and we have this lazy bugger averaging 3km and you want to tell me he’s the most important player.”
I have to assume you’re serious and this is your real opinion. Michael Carrick covered more ground than any United player last season in 4 out of 5 group stage games in the Champions League as a holding midfielder. Busquets was in the top 10 for distance covered in South Africa. Both players are normally in the top 2 passers for their respective teams in amount and accuracies. They also normally lead the defensive actions in their teams per game. The holding midfielder is definitely one of the most involved on the pitch.
“I actually commend Phelan for trying to figure out a new system where all the players are involved and no one player seems to just lazy around.”
The key word here is “seems”. You have your own idea of football,but it doesn’t always tally with the reality on the ground. Berbatov has always been accused of being lazy and not participative but after his first season, the stats delivered eggs. 4th on the distance covered, higher than Tevez and Rooney. Made more tackles per game than both players and created more chances than both combined. If Berbatov is lazy, Rooney is a statue. Commending Mike Phelan for anything other than relinquishing his position and turning himself over to the Greater Manchester Police for no-trial incarceration , should be considered high treason across the internet. No joke.
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