Oct 04
Luck, Toil and A Bloodied Head as United March On
There is a hint of ruthlessness in the way United have played this season among piles of misplaced passes, over-hit shots, and sluggish movement. After starting on a blazing note at the beginning of the season, in terms of attacking verve, the lack of goals probably had a lot to do with an alarming drop in the kind of swagger that the team is known to display.
The Roma game, which by the way couldn’t have possibly been expected to go the way of last season’s encounter, nonetheless, promised a much open game than the fare that has been served thus far this season.
Thankfully, in terms of its openness, the game did deliver as advertised. And like most open games, there were plenty of nervy moments and close calls — another test, this time against genuinely good opposition, for a defence that has managed to hold fort quite admirably, this season.
While lots of Reds fans had hopes of a repeat performance after hearing about Inter hammering the Giallorossi (who were playing at home) 4-1, the Roma players surely weren’t going to be naive enough to let such a thing repeat. As is their wont, they started in their usual frenetic pace and clearly looked the better team for large parts of the first half.
The manager opted to start Nani instead of Giggs and Saha instead of Tevez. O’Shea was picked to take the place of an injured Brown and Vidic managed to clear fitness tests and return to the starting XI. The 4-4-2 was a sign of positive intent, given it was a European fixture against good opposition.
Our sluggishness early on didn’t help the cause either as Roma attacked with some quick one touch passing, Mancini being a constant menace to O’Shea on the left flank. However, to his credit, O’Shea stepped in and did the job required of him and kept him quiet for a good part of the game - despite the odd slip or so.
The first half was a mostly underwhelming one, with a couple of Nani’s good crosses that were to avail thanks to the lack of any player up front, or the ball moving slightly wide off Ronaldo’s head on an occasion.
The second half was faster paced than the first as Ronaldo made some jinking runs in an otherwise quiet night. He didn’t terrorize their, surprisingly, well-organised defence but had a few mazy runs down the flanks that were encouraging. Rooney was more or less invisible for much part and Saha was surprisingly uninvolved upto a certain extent.
The most eye catching player on the pitch, going forward, was undoubtedly Nani. The Portuguese had been forced into a steep learning curve after Ronaldo’s suspension and Rooney’s injury and his progress has been heartening. Yes, he still seems lost with the ball, or tends to give the ball away far too often. But then he has time to improve and his crosses (and corners) are getting better and better and there were at least three quality crosses that I could say off the top of my head that was begging to be struck. One was struck, but was blasted well over the goal on the volley, from a point blank range, by Rooney, with the keeper at his mercy. There was a deft (or audacious, however you choose to call it) attempt at goal over the ‘keeper from a tight angle that made the ball do a tantalising tight-rope walk on the crossbar before the Roma defence managed to heave a sigh of relief.
It’s been said many times before, on this site, that it is the sluggishness we show in our passing that has been our undoing. A perfect way to prove why we haven’t been scoring as much as we’d have liked is in the way we got our goal. Ronaldo initiated the move by sending it to his right to Carrick who promptly passed it back to him. Ronaldo proceeded to pass it on to Nani who took a touch and then flicked it forward to Rooney, who took a shot with his first touch. The directness that has so eluded us more often was there for all to see. A quick move that yielded a goal and more importantly, helped prise open the Roma defence.
While things were happening in the Roma half there were chances created in the other side of the pitch too. However, the Giallorossi showed a tendency to panic once the ball was at their feet inside the box. It was as if they had ants running all over their head and pants — biting every nook and crevice — forcing them into doing something stupid. They hit the ball in all directions except towards goal, and when they actually did, the immense Rio Ferdinand showed them why around 30 million quid was spent to rescue him from the scum, which also went by the name of Leeds United, many aeons ago. The man is playing like a champion and along with Vidic he gives so much assurance to our side. It’s a pity we aren’t making full use of this security at the back and playing more adventurously. TK had a decent game, although my heart did manage a flutter, or two, whenever I saw him not holding onto the ball cleanly enough. And oh, I hereby declare — if I haven’t already — Rio Ferdinand for Captain!
Carlos Tevez and Anderson, who came on as a late sub, showed us glimpses into their ability. Tevez skinned a defender or two and shot a powerful drive, from outside the box, that went over the post and Anderson did manage to jink past a player or two but was out-muscled due to a lack of support. The kid does have some pace and trickery, contrary to what has been said about him in the press of late. He needs more time that’s certain.
The match was played in good spirit apart from the bad elbow knock on Ronaldo. Yes, they were rough on the lad as most players are. It is a tough job being a good player isn’t it. There was also the odd play acting, but it was okay overall. On the whole, the team has been found wanting going forward, but - forgive the cliche - the performances are getting more assured. Hopefully we’ll manage to spank Wigan this weekend and set things right.
Huh? What do I hear? Carrick’s out for 6 weeks? An elbow injury? Someone please put his hand in a sling and throw him in back into training already!
Related items from Red Rants:- Manchester United’s tough, tough April fixtures list
- So What Does United Do Now?
- Citeh 1-0 Reds: Unbelievable
- Future Manchester United captain Rio Ferdinand named England skipper
- Manchester United 07/08 Season Review: The Defence
Tags: Match Reports
October 4th, 2007 at 11:25
Sorry to be a dick but Dude u need to be a bit quicker on this match reviews coz we already disscussed all this in the earlier posts
And yes Mid(life)Field Crisis is upon us
now which slim shady is gonna stand up is a question
O’shea in the middle and pique at place of gary/wes
But i hope brown’ll be back
October 4th, 2007 at 11:48
I guess that’s down to the fact that I have an offline life too, which at the moment is killing me
Kindly bear with the delays!
October 4th, 2007 at 12:04
fuck me- Caricks gon and broken his
elbow
October 4th, 2007 at 12:42
the strategy should be deploying nani and ronalde to deliver
crosses after crosses.offcourse they can cut inside and have a shot.
giggs tends to go more inside.thats not good,because rooney and tevez play there.
pique can play as a defensive midfielder
October 4th, 2007 at 12:55
this is really bad news. with the game at emirates looming and we got zero defensive midfielders left
October 4th, 2007 at 13:16
according to the canadian press online Fergie is also sick by us grinding 1-0 wins like those chelski bufoons used to. So i think something is in the offing (guess he us was in the same book as you when seeing that move that led to rooney scoring). Sad carrick is injured guess it will be upto Oshea or Anderson to fill the gap since hargreaves isnt around. Lets assess the Wigan game.
October 4th, 2007 at 14:28
now that carrick is injured,we r in trouble.most of u slagged him even when u knew he covered for the slow scholes,made our midfield fluid,and positioned himself well.i hope we can cope.give anderson a chance tho
October 4th, 2007 at 15:39
Our midfield has been decimated!fletcher,hargreaves now carrick!how i have to see o shea in midfield!
October 4th, 2007 at 15:41
Hate to see o shea in mid
October 4th, 2007 at 15:50
I’m pretty sure Pique played as a defensive midfielder for a fair few matches last seaon at Zaragoza. With his agent claiming he leaves if hes still on the bench by january I think he should be given a chance
October 4th, 2007 at 15:53
BLOODY HELL! C
October 4th, 2007 at 15:56
lets have pique in the cm, ryan giggs and scholes in the center will rui us, i prefer it when we have 1 defensive mid and an atacking mid so no to anderson but then again when carrick is playing we might aswell have 2 atacking mids since carrick dont do anything, i say pique cm with ohea at right back vice versa
October 4th, 2007 at 16:05
BLOODY HELL! Was there a worse time for Carrick to go and break his arm? If Hargreaves was coming back that would have been fine but with him also needing an extra month I just feel we are totally screwed. Hell Fletcher is also unavailable, so what will Fergie do? Everybody seems to think he will place O’Shea in Carrick’s spot. I have a feeling he will move Scholes to Carrrick’s spot and move Giggs into Scholes spot. Nani will patrol the left side instead of Giggs. Now if an injury occurs to any of the three, heaven help us as we are extremely thin in an area where we were once considered to be very solid.
I am not the biggest fan of Carrick’s but he certainly beats anything we had in reserve. If you thought we had a hard time scoring before you aint see nothing yet. This calamity is may be our undoing. If that sounds like panic, your god damn rights it is. How the heck does a central midfielder break his elbow playing footy anyway? This isn’t frikken rugby. JEEZ!
October 4th, 2007 at 16:09
I have a brave solution to the Carrick problem. Since both Rooney and Tevez like to play the role of an attacking midfielder, let one of them take up that role and the other teams up with Saha up front. This will allow Scholes to play back more and take up the role of a central defensive midfielder. This change would still offer us offensive flair. Then again, it’s time to see what Chris Eagles has to offer on a consistent basis because we need to have a striker in reserve.
October 4th, 2007 at 16:18
or maybe we could just use o’shea or pique or anderson? god, its not the end of the world.
October 4th, 2007 at 16:20
“Huh? What do I hear? Carrick’s out for 6 weeks? An elbow injury? Someone please put his hand in a sling and throw him in back into training already!”
HAHAHAH my sentiments exactly i’ve always wondered how an arm injury stopped anyone from playing.
if anyone’s going to have a real goal instead of trying to walk the ball into the net it’d be rooney.
o’shea to partner scholesy now that our 2 anchors are out?
October 4th, 2007 at 16:50
This may be a blessing in disguise and we might see an adventorous Wigan trying to make use of the midfield worry and allow our forwards and attackers a little more space. If we go with full strength they will be happy to play men behind ball and go home with a 0-0 draw..But anyway i am also not happy about this. Hope O’Shea can do the job for us.
October 4th, 2007 at 17:12
I have never been the biggest fan of Rio but he had some game there on Tuesday. He was making the kind of tackles I usually criticise him for not making. Anyway on the subject of the midfield crisis, it’s a hard one to call and O’Shea will probably be called in to cover but if Brown is fit then I think that a better option would be Rio in DM with Brown partnering Vidic at the back, O’Shea then at RB. Although that would take out O’Shea’s scoring threat
. I wouldn’t mind SAF giving Anderson a chance against Wigan though, maybe he can bring some unpredictability into the team.
I’m going over for the Wigan game so I hope it’s a good match but I have been trying to keep my hopes down because I’ve been saying for the past few weeks that we were going to kick into gear and it is yet to happen despite SAF telling us the team is gelling. There has been some isolated incidents that show that this team can do great things but apart from that there hasn’t been much to shout about
October 4th, 2007 at 18:25
Why cant we go to Wigan with a 4-3-3 with Saha,Rooney and Tevez play upfront?
October 4th, 2007 at 18:41
because then we lack width and our play gets clogged and its too easy for wigan to put 10 men behind the ball and go for the 0-0
honestly O’Shea in midfield isn’t that bad, god knows he deserves some playing time
tevez as an attacking midfielder is something i’d like to see though because he has that ability to create a little bit of space for a shot on goal, which means they’ll have to stick close to him which means someone else should be left opeb
October 4th, 2007 at 20:16
last time i checked he was a deep-lying/secon striker
October 5th, 2007 at 5:31
I agree with Furrball about putting Carrick’s arm in a sling (actually a cast) and have him suit up. If Franz Beckenbauer can play half a World Cup final in a sling because of a dislocated shoulder, then I believe Carrick can play too. Hell if a central defender like John Terry can play with a broken cheek bone at a position where he will constantly challenge for high balls than what the Hell is holding back Carrick? The way he plays he never challenges for high balls and rarely goes for difficult tackles. A cast would protect the area very well. The only thing I can see holding him back would be the league having a rule against players wearing casts on their arms and playing. Otherwise, no arm injury should affect a footballer. Sometimes players need to find a pair and suck it up. Take a little pain for the good of the team. This wouldn’t even have been an issue 20 years ago.
October 5th, 2007 at 7:57
i cant belive you people are saying this, he cant play like that, broken cheek bone you can play with, just put the shield on as he did, dislocated sholder, you CAN play with, just pop it back in, and play but you shouldnt do that because hell damage it, a broken elbow you CANT play with, espesially with a cast on, you wouldnt be able to run, then someone like rooney (strong kicker from other team)kick right at his elbow, is handball, its not handball, 1 things for certain, it will hurt like HELL and take longer to heal, do you people think before you type, have faith in players, when 1 door closes 2 doors(pique anderson) open.
October 5th, 2007 at 18:03
Sorry dan but I know of professionals as well as myself who have played American football with a broken arm and survived. And trust me that the American brand brand of football is a Hell of a lot more physically risky than footy. I wore a cast and had my arm stepped on, jammed and blocked and although there was some pain, it was very little because of a very good cast.
I am one of the few people I know in North America that likes to defend football soccer)against the many who feel it’s not a man’s sport. If Carrick is a man, he should at least attempt to play and see if he can go. With a cast on, there is very little chance he will damage the arm further. A ball hitting his arm is no big deal with the proper cast. Try having a 300lbs offensive tackle land on your arm while on the ground.
Sorry to disagree with you but footy is not that physical despite what you may think. And Carrick would not be the first player to play with a broken arm either. Many have before him. But of course that was a different era when men played the sport instead of today’s little girls who spend all their time either diving, play acting, pulling shirts etc. The game has become a joke. We need more injured players to actually suck up the pain a bit and play with some discomfort. They owe it to both their clubs and their supporters who pay them so well.
Today’s player is not willing to play even if he has a non leg related little knock. This is nothing more than BS. Play with some pain I say. I’m not saying play a player who has an injury like ligament damage, that if playing him will end up sidelining him for a long time. I salute players like John Terry who put on a mask and sacrificed himself for the good of the team. And I for one would not have insisted on him playing because a fractured cheek is far more vulnerable to further injury than a well protected broken arm is. After all, arms are considered out of play in footy. Heads are fair game. Where are the players with GUTS? The game needs more players with determined courage and the willingness to fight even if they aren’t 100% fit. Nuff said.
October 5th, 2007 at 20:03
Grognard: I get the distinct impression that there is a conscious attempt by Chelsea and the English media to build up the legend that is JT. The number of injuries he comes back from early defies belief, leading me to think that the diagnosis is often grossly exaggerated by Chelsea. There are precedents for playing with a face mask (Campo and Djorkaeff spring to mind) and the severity of the injury was never made apparent. The talk of 6 weeks out was paper hyperbole from what I could see was no evidence to back it up.
As for Carrick, you very rarely see football players with casts, the most you ever see is normally the thing Evra has on his arm at the moment and I would assume there is good reason for this. If the medical department believe he shouldn’t play then it is case closed for me. I for one would prefer players to look after their helath in the long term rather than recklessly rushing back from injuries.
October 5th, 2007 at 20:35
i stopped at american football, to different sports 2 fifferent types of rules and im sorry but your talking crap, playing with a broken elbow is ludacris.
October 6th, 2007 at 1:56
My question is simple. WHERE IN FOOTBALL DOES A PLAYER USE HIS ELBOW? Arms are use just for balance. All I am saying is that many players have worn casts in the past, but I admit that it was many years ago, when playing with pain and some discomfort was expected.
Today teams are stymied by insurance companies that will not protect their investment should further injury occur. Why? Because players are worth millions today and insurance companies don’t want to pay when they see what they term as negligence. I have seen Marco van Basten wear a cast, Willy vander Kerkhof wore one for the 1978 World Cup, Paul Breitner wore one for Bayern for an entire season in the early eighties. Perhaps I am showing my age but I remember these instances clearly. And they were forced to put padding on the outside of the cast to protect other players from incidental contact.
As far as Carrick is concerned, I have read that it’s only a hairline fracture. So tape him up and put him out there. Again I come from a culture where players who can’t play with injuries of that nature are called pussies. It’s wimpy shit like this that turns North America off when it comes to the beautiful game. Just send the lad a dozen roses and a get well card. Christ! The stories I could tell you of athletes playing with far more serious injuries would shock you. But then again you all probably don’t care.
And JB your comments on JT sounds like the musings of a typical Manchester United fan. I’m a fan too but I can respect a player from any opposition who plays the following game after he swallows his tongue on the field for all to see. I saw the photos right after he got hit in the cheek and his cheek did in fact looked depressed, so I think your comments are a bit unfair and smell of bitter rivalry. That said, please don’t think that I am a John Terry fan. I just admire his grit. Players like Steve Bruce and Gary Pallister are what I am talking about. Only a major concussion or severe leg injury would keep them out of a lineup.
The silver lining in all this will be the two week break for internationals. This will allow Hargreaves to mend and possibly make an appearance right after the break. Who knows, maybe Carrick will be ready by then too.
October 6th, 2007 at 10:03
Grog, I greatly admire your ability to play an american football game with a broken appendige. That took tremendous commitment. I have lived here on the continent that is turned off by wimpy shit for my whole life and i know few people who would have considered you a pussy for not playing with a broken arm.
I wish that Carrick could play. Surely Sir Alex, the team doctors and physios, the equpment personel, and even Michael himself have exhausted all available options in the effort to get our only available holding midfielder on the pitch. No matter how much we’d like him to carry on with this particular injury, the rules forbid it.
The fourth of FIFA’s Laws of the game (which can be read here: http://www.mccsiwakuni.com/docs/rsc/data/20061101171353fifarules.pdf) governs player’s equipment. In regards to non basic equipment (anything but shirt, shorts, socks, shinpads or boots) it states, “A player must not use equipment or wear anything that is dangerous to himself or another player.” In specific regards to protective gear it says, “Modern protective eqipment such as headgear, facemasks, knee and arm protectors made of soft, lightweight, padded material are not considered dangerous and are therefore permitted.” The words soft, lightweight and padded are the most relevant to Carrick’s situation. Obviously there is no suitable means of protecting Carrick’s broken elbow that referees would approve of. Even Petr Cech’s nerf-ball helmet was extensively scrutinized last year. I doubt that officials would approve of a hard cast when it considers leather bracelets, rubber bands, wedding rings, Scapulas and earrings potentially hazardous.
Don’t tell Cristiano Ronaldo about that earring thing though.
October 6th, 2007 at 11:12
The point is Grognard is that we do not know the severity of Terry’s injury. A player can have a hamstring injury but that does not mean the problem is the same. Sometimes it is a tight hamstring which needs 3/4 days rest other times it is a full tear that leaves a player on crutches and out for 10 weeks, facing surgery. It is just unusual that any time Terry has an injury the initial prognosis is as bad as it can get and then, lo and behold, he returns in a time consistent with a far less serious version of the injury.
Once, maybe twice you could chalk it down to a players own willpower, strength, determination or whatever you want to call it. However it happens so often that it suggests either Chelsea’s medical department is incompetent and incapable of making an accurate diagnosis or a blue propaganda machine is running in the background. Just because Terry loves playing football does not mean he can defy all medical logic every time he has an injury. I’m not trying to be bitter Grognard, I just don’t believe every bit of bullshit Chelsea seem to peddle with regards to injuries.
As an aside the reason why Carrick cannot wear a cast has probably been identified by Millz in his post.
October 6th, 2007 at 15:14
Something I found on a forum earlier on:
Graham Poll on R5 this morning.
“What would a referee do in a situation where John Terry requests permission to play in a mask?”
“I’d ask whether we could wire his mouth shut as well”
October 6th, 2007 at 17:17
Thanks Millz for pointing out the rules to me because I suspected that the very same thing. Remember that what I read was that he had a hairline fracture. Usually a very light cast is placed on an arm for a fracture where the bone has not been displaced. The rules on the other hand forbid the use of casts so then I totally understand why he can’t play. I realize that footy is not American football and to be honest, a different type of athlete plays the American game. Much bulkier and and physically stronger. Still I found it frustrating because I cannot get over the way players played the game 15 to 20 years ago and beyond. I appreciate you clearing that up for me and thus ending the controversy that I started.
And JB I also respect your point greatly. To be honest, a few years back a good friend of mine fractured his cheek bone playing basketball when he received a rather flagrant elbow.
Two days later his face was very swollen and balack and blue while his eye was bloodshot.
John Terry’s face didn’t look all that bad although I could tell there was a depression in his cheek at the time of the injury. Still, I wouldn’t put the tactics you talk about past Chelsea because they are very astute at gamesmanship. I still do be believe however that Terry is a real gamer because he does seem tough as nails, to me any anyway.
I am writing this right after United’s victory against Wigan and I am concerned about all our injuries today, especially Vidic. He had quite a bit of swelling on his cheek. I hope he didn’t fracture it. I kind of think he didn’t because it didn’t look depressed, but then again, it still could be a fracture. Apparently he was seeing stars so I am worried.
And yet again Balsa Boy Saha gets injured again before the match even started. Enough already!!!
October 6th, 2007 at 17:57
For once an international break is greatly received as we are beginning to run out of bodies. Two weeks off will hopefully give a few players a chance to recover.