Mar 09
Man Utd 0-1 Portsmouth: Muntari Penalty Sends Pompey Through
The silver lining that came from yesterday was Chelsea getting ousted from the FA Cup. The biggest upset of the day did, in some way, assuage the pain of getting knocked out by the sailor men from Portsmouth. Because, prior to the Chelsea game I was really angry, not especially because of us getting knocked out, but because the Blues would have their easiest passage towards defending their FA Cup crown.
For us though, after being given more than our fair share of draws against Premiership opposition, it had to happen some day. As much as I hate to say it, we were knocked out despite playing football that was many times superior than our opponents.
It’s easy to jump on players and the manager for a defeat and, in our club’s case, even a draw. But let us for a moment consider the chances we had before going any further. Here are some, off the top of my head, in no particular order of occurrence:
- Rooney’s one-on-one after being put through followed by Tevez’s shot cleared by Johnson
- Carrick’s goal line clearance
- A scramble from Nani’s corner followed by Ronaldo’s shot
- Evra’s shot saved by James
- Ronaldo while having a clear view of goal ‘passes’ the ball off target
- Free header for Ronaldo after Evra’s cut back
- Nani’s teasing ball in completely missed by Ronaldo from a tap in range.
- Ronaldo’s penalty appeal after being barged by Distin
If we assume that we converted even one third of these, we’d be singing a different tune today. To be honest, it was a performance we must be proud of despite not winning. Now I am not necessarily implying that there aren’t chinks in our armoury. But losing by literally running all over them should call for less negative reaction than losing with a disjointed display — like the City game.
Let’s look at our performance a little closely.
Fergie got the formation right. A 4-4-2, is what fans love and sending out a strong side also made our intentions in going out to win, clear. Positive intent, attacking mindset, Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez and Nani forming a pacy forward line — nothing wrong with that, is there?
Of course, selecting a formation is only a job half done. The players responded positively with a clutch of chances created throughout the game. Portsmouth, on the other hand, created precious little and attempted to hit us on the break. At the end of the day that worked because we over committed. David James’ outstanding clearance caught Rio and Vidic, who were guilty of over committing, leaving us with Anderson and Rooney to cover at the back. There was little that Kuszczak could do and the red card was as ridiculous a decision as I’ve ever seen.
But yes, our performance was certainly flawed — which is why we lost the game. The difference between us and a team like, say, Liverpool, has been the clinical efficiency of our goal scoring. There have been games where we’ve been found wanting but yet, managed to eke out wins. We didn’t take our chances and it was ultimately our undoing.
The other thing was the fact that our front four (plus Evra) practically carried our attacking burden and the central midfield were passengers for most part. Paul Scholes, the star against Fulham, was invisible. Hargreaves did alright for a bit, but I saw a lot of him sticking to players but not winning the ball. I am not being critical of him, because we were hardly threatened defensively, nor were we run over in midfield, but the pairing of Scholes and Hargreaves yesterday offered us little by way of attacking threat. Anderson and Carrick’s introduction gave us a little bit of an impetus — and Carrick did fluff a gilt-edged chance — but taking off a striker for a three man midfield looked more negative to me.
Which brings me to our front line. Tevez ran himself to the ground. I thought he was outstanding yesterday. He won tackles, beat players, ran in hard, and just ran like a terrier except when it mattered. He put Rooney in the clear only for him to take a touch too long to score. Nani was largely inconsistent in his delivery, but he did present two excellent cross that, on an other day, would have been converted. Ronaldo was not his usual clinical stuff, just like everyone else. And Rooney… what of him?
Many of us thought this would be his season. He did start in a rich vein of form, both for club and country, but injuries took the wind out of him this season. Rooney has not lost it. His troubles are in the mind, more than anything. He needs clarity in his role. SAF said a few weeks ago that he needs to avoid tracking back too often. He’s a striker first and foremost, and at times he’ll have to eschew his urge to be involved in every part of the park. He didn’t do too badly; I don’t know how many people remember his neat one-two with Ronaldo. He is such a good player that despite being out of form he can raise the performance of the team. But being a striker, he must score when presented with chances like he was yesterday. It’s bread and butter for players like him, but as I said he needs to clear his mind. Maybe some much needed rest could do him good? I don’t know. But he’s become more of an enigma to me than he’s been in the past.
I hope he finds his touch, because when he does, he usually tends to go on a run.
At the end of the day, I’d like to spin this more positively. A draw would have been the worst result, given our already hectic schedule. We still have the league, and the Champions’ League to go for — and so are the rest of the ‘Big Four’. So with the FA Cup out of the way it’s a nice way for our team to go on at full tilt and prove something.
We’ll Never Die.
Edit: Oh, and just to boost your spirits we have a nice surprise interview with someone very special, lined up for tomorrow. So do visit us for that.
Related items from Red Rants:- Man Utd v Portsmouth: Preview
- Man Utd v Portsmouth: FA Cup Preview
- Preview: Portsmouth v Man Utd
- United Take First ‘Trophy’ of Season
- Rooney Out For A Month
Tags: Match Reports
March 9th, 2008 at 10:30
Really sad about yesterday defeat to Portsmouth I really thought we could have win the treble this year. We played well but we lost too many chances and in that competition the chances that you lose will cost dearly.
March 9th, 2008 at 12:48
I have no complains from the perfomance apart from finishing
the truth is…we lost only due to the mistakes by inept referee martin atkinson…ronaldo incident was a definite penalty…on the other hand,PIG incidnt was no a penalty…it was a blatant dive…and how the hell it was a red card,with2 people behing PIG…i honestly have yet to see such a ridiculous decisin…Fergie has rightly blasted the refereeing…all fans must realise that the refeee cost us the game,not our players…martin atkinson should be banned for life
PS really glad barnsley beat chelsea…a true upset
March 9th, 2008 at 12:54
It summed it all up when 0-1 down with ten minutes to go Wayne was just lingerin around
the half way line, taking up position on the left wing. Its fukin mind bogglin, i just cant understand it! I mean Tevez wasnt even on the pitch by that point! Rooney was our lone striker but he was no where to be seen! Agree with your comment bout his problems all bein in his head tho, hes just gotta beleive in his ability, get back to basics n sack his bird!!Ronaldo’s gotta stop bein a selfish lazy wanker n start playn in his own position on the flanks. The balance of the team is ruined when Ronny starts thinkin hes a CF.
March 9th, 2008 at 13:34
its benching time for rooney in my opinion, until he sorts this out, im not blaming the loss on him, but had been 1/3 of what he use to be yesterday, it would have been a romp.
March 9th, 2008 at 14:30
Agree with Red Ranter wholeheartedly.
I do think that the post match madness from SAF and Quirozzzz was excessive.
Can’t we just accept that we were done, mainly cos we couldn’t finish one of loads of chances. Yes the first incident was a pen. Do you remember Ellery giving Eric his second pen in 94 when Andre was shoulder charged over in the box at Wembley? Just reminded me of that.
But apart from that I dont think the ref made a bad decision - though Baros did dive.
LeedsRed
March 9th, 2008 at 14:32
Lets get the other two now!
March 9th, 2008 at 14:36
Van der Sar is out for three weeks, so he will miss the `Pool game. PIG is only suspended for Derby game though. I hope Foster will play against Derby and every game until VDS is back.
And I just saw some stats that I had not been notising:
Anderson starts: 21
Win when starts: 17
Draw when starts: 2
Loss when starts: 2
Games without him starting: 20
Win without him: 12
Draw without him: 4
Loss without him: 4
He should start more often now.
March 9th, 2008 at 15:13
I’ve been trying for 12 hours to enter this site. My internet explorer just aint loading the site… Finally i got through Firefox.. anyone know whats wrong?.. or have i been banned ;-)?
Anyways.. its nothing much to worry..Derby will be beaten next week.. im a bit worried bout the scouses… Because they’ve hit a bit of form…
Im of the school of thought that Fregie needs to rap Rooney on his knuckles and tell him to stay in the top third of the pitch… There is no question that he’s brilliant… but he needs to be a striker
March 9th, 2008 at 16:00
For all those calling for a ‘natural finisher’ who supposedly will instantly solve all of our goal scoring problems, take Afaso Alves as an example, he was fantastic in the Dutch League, an absolute goal scoring machine, yet at Middlesbough he’s running around like a headless chicken, and once again it shows the gap in quality between the Premiership and the Eredivisie i.e you don’t just have to walk past a few defenders to find some space as in the Eredivise, you actually have to have some sense of movement and good positional sense. That’s the problem with finishers, if thats the only quality they bring to your team, it can become easy to cut out their threat completely if they don’t create chances for themselves.
Also, if we were to take out Rooney/Tevez for say, Huntelaar, we would be losing a lot of our creativity, I think more so with Rooney, so who knows if we will be able to create all these chances for people like him to score, it could in turn lead to him having no chances to score, and us complaining about our lack of chances, which we were doing at the start of the season when Rooney was injured.
And finally, lets hope all of these cup upsets transfer over to the league today and maybe, just maybe, Wigan may do the highly unlikely and beat Arsenal, making this weekend give us some satisfaction.
March 9th, 2008 at 16:02
Derby here we come to kick your ass up. After each bad result, Manu is up to the task to perform and deliver in the next match. Put foster in the cages, replace brown by simpson and lets roll on. We need a bit of more natural flare at the front to force things a bit. If Saha is fit, just let him play or give welbeck a change. We need someone to lead the line. Neither rooney or tevez are at the moment capable of doing that role without tracking back and thus letting the attack down with restricted options.
March 9th, 2008 at 16:05
It seems that the new scapegoat of the week is Wayne. Usual suspects O’Shea, Giggs, Fletcher and Carrick have all either been playing too well to get it in the neck, or have been absent. Scholes has received his bit, however Wayne seems to be the current favourite target. A couple of interesting points to consider.
Games without Rooney this season:
Portsmouth drew 1-1, City lost 1-0, Spurs won 1-0,
Sunderland won 1-0, Everton won 1-0, Blackburn won 2-0,
Bolton lost 1-0, Lisbon won 2-1, West Ham lost 1-0,
Birmingham won 1-0, Man City lost 1-0
That is an average of less than a goal a game without him. And what is the only thing worse than the results…… the performances, which were by and large abject. What did we have in there, a good first half against Pompey, a second half against Sporting, a good spell for a while against Blackburn and after that I’m stumped. We looked toothless up front in most of those games, and is it any coincidence that all the worst performances this season (bar away to Spurs and possibly Anfield) are encapsulated within that list? Added to that, Tevez played as the main striker in a fair few of those games and has generally been poor in the role.
Now his goal return:
2004/05 17 goals 43 games 0.40 goals a game
2005/06 19 goals 48 games 0.40 goals a game
2006/07 23 goals 55 games 0.42 goals a game
2007/08 13 goals 30 games 0.43 goals a game
What’s that?? His goal ratio is actually better than previous years, despite his season being more injury disrupted and being asked to play out of position. Even at 70 or 80% he is still one of the three most important players to the team (along with Ron and Rio).
March 9th, 2008 at 16:09
dont care what anybody says…. i think the ref was crazy or in someone’s pocket…. more likely the former… asshole
March 9th, 2008 at 16:12
can you believe it? what a weekend of cupsets. cardiff are leading boro 2-0 at half-time.that wittingham looks a great player.hope wigan can do something similar against arsenal
March 9th, 2008 at 16:24
JB, those are some very interesting stats on Rooney. But I don’t think that .43 goals per game is good enough if he is our out-and-out striker.
March 9th, 2008 at 16:32
That’s the point Kurt, he isn’t an out and out striker and the stats and his finishing reflect that. His ability, work rate and adaptability means he has been shunted around to suit the teams needs rather than his own. On a side note I would regards a 0.5 return as enough from our main striker, so he isn’t too far off.
He is the most flexible player in the squad (discounting O’Shea), and suffers as a result for it. The next striker bought should be to suit Wayne and the Tevez purchase essentially locked Rooney into being the line leader this season by default. In retrospect, we may well have benefited more from using the resources committed to Tevez and/or Hargreaves to try and secure a Berbatov or Anelka last summer. But what’s done is done and with Saha’s lack of fitness we have no other choice but to persevere.
March 9th, 2008 at 16:41
On the subject of benching Rooney, for whom do we replace him with exactly? An out of form Tevez, or an injured Saha? Or possibly Dan’s favourite player, Danny Welbeck, the completely unproven 17 year old reserve striker? Take a look at the results I mentioned previously, and consider the fact that we failed to add another striker this year and we do not have the luxury option of ‘resting’ him.
Drop Wayne now for a sustained length of time (i.e. beyond the Derby and Bolton games) and we WILL suffer big style. In fact if he was injured tomorrow and ruled out for the rest of the season, I would safely bet big money that we would end the season empty handed, regardless of his own form.
March 9th, 2008 at 16:43
JB: I totally agree. As well as Tevez has done for us, it just hasn’t suited Rooney. The point that Kurt is making and I agree with is that- For the rest of the season, we have to play with these players. Now, someone has to play that role upfront. Thus Rooney has to try to adapt. Its not fair on him but its circumstances. Its not a personal hatred for Roon, but we need someone to play an out and out striker and that happens to be Rooney this season.
March 9th, 2008 at 16:46
Also, many people say that since yorke and cole could play together, so can Rooney and Tevez. But for that the Midfield needs to get much further ahead… Scholes needs to be running into the box and the person playing at the opposite wing needs to get into the box. Many times yesterday, there were hardly any bodies in the box(except the pompey players, who btw might as well be wrestlers)
March 9th, 2008 at 16:53
Manu just need someone to kill of teams. At the moment there is only ronaldo firing all cylinders. Rooney is a striker. Hus role is to put goals. Whats the use of tracking back to get the ball in midfield and then there is no option forward. Also there is no need to put in the perfect gesture(to lob the keeper or to round him). Just test the goalkeeper. So Ronney just stay upfront and let the midfield manage the matter. A striker must make appeals and try to best the offside trap, make diagonal runs. A striker needs flair and positioning
March 9th, 2008 at 17:01
for this season rooney as yhe main striker is fine.but that is not his best not preferred position and we need an out-and-out striker for next season.maybe fergie has lined up manucho for that role. otherwise, its going to be an interesting summer. obviously, berbatov will be an ideal signing
March 9th, 2008 at 17:12
RR does van der sar’s injury and PIG’s red card mean that foster should play soon?
March 9th, 2008 at 17:26
i love the fa cup, the best fa cup weve had in years, for a change there WILL be a team in the final not from the top flight.
March 9th, 2008 at 17:37
Although I like Tevez as a player Rooney needs a goal scorer extraordinare along side him to allow him to do all the other valuable things that JB talks about. I guess goal scoring is a secondary thing for Wayne. So go out and get Huntelaar or Mario Gomez or Benzema but get somebody who will score twice as many goals as Rooney or close to that. That isn’t an outrageous statement. We need a repeat of something like the Rooney RVN partnership.
Also, note to FERGIE. Perhaps you should be creating a role for one of your best players that brings out his best rather than his mediocrity. Use him like a striker with a partner and he will perform better and more consistently. Use him as a lone attacker or on the wing is a complete waste of time and talent and as for tactics, borders on stupidity. There, I said it. BLASPHEMY!! How dare I????
March 9th, 2008 at 17:53
the option of benching Rooney does not exist this season so people should forget about that and just keep in mind that he is still young and has definately had to sacrifice his natural game for the good of the team.
On the pevious post I was bemoaning his lack of improvement since he signed but the more I think about it the more I believe that SAF has done him no favours by either playing him in his current position or sticking him on the left side. When we first signed him he played in the hole off the main striker, thats the position we bought him for and when he plays there he is definatley a better player. But its a along time since he has had a long run in this position coz SAF a while back played him a lot on the left hand side and it was the same then, yes he done the job, but his game suffered. Not once have I heard him complain about this but its getting to the point were people,including myself our starting to wonder about his ability, and the more I think about it the more I think that SAF has done him no favours and must take a fair chunk of the blame.
SAF has a bit of thinking and planning to do in the summer coz has anybody even thought that Rooney leaving OT might actually be good for HIM never mind United.
Its as simple as this, when Rooney played in the hole there was never a problem compared to when he has played out of position, where he put in functional displays but rarely inspirational. The most worrying thing for me in all this is not wether Rooney will progress the way we want, but wether SAF can actually see what is happening with Rooney and then do something about it.
March 9th, 2008 at 17:57
DAN, I agree with you 100 percent mate, SAF needs to act in the summer and make some big decisions
March 9th, 2008 at 18:27
Rooney is a fantastic player and we all know how much he brings into the team.
SAF tried to convert him into an CF who could lead the line, but I disagree as playing up front on his own doesn’t use him as effective as when just behind a strike partner.
As we all notice, mainly in Europe when Fergie plays only one striker, Rooney is not the ideal centre forward. He doesn’t win many headers, he’s too small and way better running at defenders than with his back towards goal.
When Rooney plays on the left his threat is minimal.
Fergie wants to play a 4-3-3 or rather a 4-2-3-1, which I have no problems with except we don’t possess that final piece, which is a big striker who can hold ball, lead the line, finish and trouble defenders with his presence.
The only problem lies with finding that perfect final player!
The best example would be Drogba…
March 9th, 2008 at 18:52
“FA to review ferguson rant” - i say they review my ass!, everytime united step out of line a little then they are on to it like a fly on shit.
March 9th, 2008 at 18:57
FULL-TIME
WIGAN 0 - ARSENAL 0
3 draws in a row!!
Arsenal - Wigan (A) Boro (H) Chelsea (A) Bolton (A)
AS i predicted March is the month for us !
This month fixtures
March 9th, 2008 at 18:58
haha GET IN!
THANKS WIGAN AND THE LEGEND THAT IS STEVE BRUCE
March 9th, 2008 at 19:02
WIGAN WIGAN WIGAN!!! Now how many would have taken a loss for United in the cup but Arsenal dropping points in the prem aswell as Chelsea losing to Barnsley I for one would have definately considered it!!! Not such a bad week-end after all eh?
March 9th, 2008 at 19:04
OH MANNN!!!!!!!! GOD is not that hard on us after all! I was praying that after our loss today, there should be injustice done to the other teams as well hehe…Awesome defending by Melchiot and Scharner, and Valencia was also pretty good in harassing Clichy…All thru the game i was yelling COME ON BRUCEY!! The Legend has certainly imparted some of his defending skills to his wards at wigan!
March 9th, 2008 at 19:22
The league trophy is just getting closer and closer…
March 9th, 2008 at 19:34
Grognard, it was you I was agreeing with in my last post, not Dan.
Cracking result today lads, its definately there for taking now, hopefully yesterdays and todays results will galvanise us
March 9th, 2008 at 19:34
theyre shittin it lads. oh what a day. Few good results made yesterdays disapointment feel a little better
March 9th, 2008 at 20:19
the week is looking slightly better with wigan holding arsenal and chelski getting knocked out as well…We could be one point ahead after the DERBY game with arsenal still to come to OT and go to Stamford Bridge….But i still would have loved to stay in the FA Cup…Hell even a 0-0 draw would have been OK with me even if it meant another game in the already tight schedule….In hindsight we could have walked away with the cup seeing the semi-final lineup…in my opinion we threw away a good chance to bring in easy silverware with all due respect to all the championship sides… On another note we could give young WELLBECK a run against DERBY next weekend along with FOSTER..Seeing the current form of Rooney he could do with a bit of rest to recharge his batteries and sort out the mental aspect of his game because he certainely doesn’t lack ability and skill. It will also show us whether WELLBECK has what it takes to perform on the big stage.It’s allright to do well in an inconsequential friendly in SAUDI ARABIA but it takes mettle to do well in the premiership for a team as huge as UNITED..Let’s see if he can grab the chance…But i don’t know what SAF will do..Afterall he;s the gaffer and not me…
March 9th, 2008 at 21:12
Fred the Red; What I am having a hard time with is WHY using Rooney in a role he is uncomfortable and ineffective in is good for the team? Using Ronaldo as RB would be a disaster yet Fergie doesn’t do that. Taking your second best player and wasting his talents on the pitch is not my idea of sound and positive strategic thinking. For me it is counterproductive. Unlike Fergie I would think utilizing his best assets properly would be the sound thing to do. Much of the problem is not Rooney’s to bare alone. A lot of the blame has to fall at the feet of SAF and Calos Queiroz. They are totally wasting and misusing a great talent. Further more, they are playing with his confidence and messing with his form. For great coaches they seem to be really doing a piss poor job in this area.
And if Fergie wasn’t already screwing the pooch enough, he now is now fighting very hard to get fined and receive another multiple game touchline ban. Shutup about the referee Fergie. Yes he did an awful job but crying about it is only going to piss off the league and FA and hurt your team in the end. Part of the problem is that over the years you have not taken players like Ronaldo, Evra and Nani into your office and instructed them to never dive or fake injury for fear of being fined or penalized by the club. Their past actions and drama queen attitudes to the game is what is causing these refereeing injustices on the pitch. Their reputations as divers and actors are following them to every ground they play on. So stop making things worse. Jeez some of our players and Fergie can act like real babies. Nobody like a whiner, and usually nobody listens to one either. They just react to them in a negative way. Learn from it already.
Now if only I’d practice what I’m preaching. NAH! I like being a whiner. It’s very Canadian.
March 9th, 2008 at 21:13
Obviously a big club wasn’t meant to win the FA cup this year. who would have predicted that pompey, barnsley, WBA and Cardiff City would be the last teams standing? It gives me a little bit of vindictive solice to know that since we didn’t win the FA cup, nobody else will either.
I am very thankful that God accepted my bargain of crashing out of the FA cup in exchange for Arsenal dropping points. My apologies to anyone who had their heart set on that particular peice of hardware, I guess my prayers are stronger than yours.
March 9th, 2008 at 21:15
hey Groggy, do you support any of the Canadian USL teams, or Toronto FC by any chance?
March 9th, 2008 at 21:20
Just thinking about it again, Rooney hasn’t really cost us anything this season. In the games he has played we have failed to win the following:
Reading 0-0: Comes off at half time with broken bone, biggest attacking threat in the first half.
Arsenal 2-2: Away to our title contenders, Rooney misses a headed half chance but other than that plays well. Defensive weaknesses cost us the win.
AS Roma 1-1: Dead rubber game.
Spurs 1-1: The team were extremely poor as a whole, poor finishing from Rooney not a major issue as he has no clear chances.
Lyon 1-1: Rooney misses a couple of good chances; however we ultimately progress after home leg.
Portsmouth 0-1: One poor finish, however some bizarre referring decisions and gravity defying clearances give Pompey the win.
He mightn’t be playing as well as he can, but by the looks of that, he must be the team’s lucky charm. Remember its better to be lucky than to be good
Millz: there is one other good thing about how the FA Cup went. It’ll be really difficult for the FA to fill Wembley three times with the sides that are left in the competition. Those corporate boxes might be particulary difficult to shift. What a shame, the poor FA
March 9th, 2008 at 21:20
We will be top of the log by Saturday night.The Rooney issue should be viewed from many aspect.1)Selfish Ronaldo is taking up Rooney’s positions i.e. CF by constantly cutting in and refusing 2 pass.2)Fergie’s frequent changing of his role over the years.3)A central mid which does not run into foward spaces clearly on Fergie’s instruction after being reliably advised by his pragmatic Italian counterparts that attacking futbol has no silverware merits
March 9th, 2008 at 21:47
guys, we could be 4 points clear at the top if we win are next 2 matches, thats assuming arsenal win their next 2 games AND if we beat pool and they lose to chelski we will be a whopping 7 points clear at the top, this is assuming that they beat the teesiders, and we beat bolton, if they get a draw borough we could be 9 points clear, but we will need to get maximum points in are next 3 game though.
March 9th, 2008 at 22:00
Grognard on the Rooney thing we are in total agreement but SAF done it with scholesy when Veron was there. Whenever I first saw Rooney play I thought he was one of the most natural and intelligent kids Id seen in years, but at the minute hes a shadow of his former self.
But as I said in my previous posts, I am worried about SAFs ability to realise that there is even a problem and that he has caused it. As I see it we will just have to go with the flow this season, but next season it should be a proper no9 plus Rooney OR Tevez.
That might sound to simple and I reaslise that most of the time we have done ok this season, but not having a proper no9 has definatley hindered us and SAF is not getting the full potential out of this squad.
March 9th, 2008 at 22:33
i like that line up alot, i would alternate hargreaves and carrick, thats my 1st choice formation, my 2nd would be
vds/foster
brown/bosingwa/lahm
rio
vida
evra
andy
hargo
carrick
ronny
tevez/the new no.9
nani.
March 9th, 2008 at 22:43
MESSED THAT LAST POST UP BIG TIME, ILL TRY AGAIN
THIS IS OUR BEST 11
EVDS
BROWN
EVRA
VIDIC
FERDINAND
NANI
ANDERSON
HARGREAVES
RONALDO TEVEZ
ROONEY
MY TEAM FOR NEXT SEASON WOULD BE
EVDS
LAHM OR BOSINGWA
VIDIC
FERDINAND
EVRA
NANI
ANDERSON
HARGREAVES
RONALDO
ROONEY OR TEVEZ
HUNTELAAR
THIS SEASON I WOULD MAKE HARGREAVES HOLD AND GIVE ANDY LICENSE TO GET FORWARD ALA SCHOLES AT HIS PEAK. I WOULD CARRY ON WITH ROONEY UP FRONT COZ WEVE GOT NO CHOICE, BUT NEXT YEAR I WOULD PLAY HIM BEHIND THE MAIN STRIKER AND TELL HIM TO GO AND ENJOY HIMSELF AGAIN.
OBVIOUSLY OUR TACTICS MIGHT CHANGE FOR CERTAIN MATCHES, BUT THIS WOULD BE MY BREAD AND BUTTER LINE UPS
March 9th, 2008 at 23:02
THE TEAM IS FINE AS IT IS!! The evidence is in the question- How bad has are season been?? Now answer that question in relation to the fact we have outscored are premiership rivals, we are favourites to win the EPL and have the squad to win the double. I think luck plays a huge part in the final third of a season so i’m not suggesting we’ve won the double!!
In relation to next season, having lost the last game through missed chances. Its idiotic to suggest we have a forward crisis or we need to burst the bank balance on a new strikeforce. When all is taken into consideration the 2 cups we are in were SAFs priority. With UTD on course for an exciting finale to the campaingn why doubt Fergie/Quiroz??
In other news: next season we will se development and opportunities for Foster, Simpson, Pique, Possebon, Fabio, Manucho and Wellbeck on top of an already STRONG squad. Manucho scored on his Panathiniakos debut but will start as a back-up.
Having taken this into consideration I wouldn’t be against signing a top CF like Benzema, but i don’t believe the management will!! or specificly need to rush into a BIG money signing!
March 9th, 2008 at 23:29
Dan: Why Tevez as the main striker? He has played there 5 or 6 times, we’ve scored about 3/4 goals in those games and the attacking performances have been very poor in all of them. We worry about Rooney not having the strength/size to lead the line, but putting Tevez in there would make the problem worse.
Fred the Red: Caps lock please, it’s very hard to read otherwise
AGP: I don’t think we need an entirely new strike force but we do need an extra striker. It’s hard to take into account games like yesterday, but if we had signed say Anelka in the summer, I believe we would be sitting here today with a nice 5/6 point buffer in the league. Under normal circumstances we would probably get away with what we have, but Saha’s fitness puts our forward line under a lot of pressure and leaves Rooney having to plough a lone furrow up top far too often.
March 9th, 2008 at 23:52
JB Fair comment, Anelka would have made a difference but i believe he will only have 2 seasons at chelsea anyways. My point being he would just have been filling a gap for a season or 2. Im a fan of Anelka despite hes played for every rival possible, but he along with Berbatov would have to start every game(this going-on their personalities) and may upset the rotation policy of SAF.
My biggest fear is echoed along with every Utd fan that if any of are FWs get injured then we may have problems. The numbers are low, but the window has gone and although no-one wants a situation like the derby(tevez lone striker) we will have to prayer they all stay fit.
I suggested i wouldn’t be fussed about a new CF, what i meant really was that i hope we get the right one, at the right time, for the right price. In reference Chelski have paid about 200 million on there 6 or so 30+ forwards, and I like to think we can find a great forward than pay over-the-odds for one.
March 10th, 2008 at 0:28
Fred, I like your line-up for next season except for your center midfield. Carrick is my first choice for CM. Anderson can play alongside him in the EPL, and we can play a three-man midfield in the CL with Hargo.
On the topic of strikers… 1)Rooney is not an out-and-out striker, 2) Tevez is not an out-and-out striker, 3)I’ve come to the conclusion that Saha has osteogenesis (brittle bones that are easily fractured in children, lol), and 4)Dong, Welbeck are not good enough.
Obviously Manucho will be here next season, but I don’t think that will be enough. My summer proposal: 1)Sell Saha, Silvestre, Brown; maybe we can get 12 mil from that?, 2)Buy Philip Lahm to replace Brown; 8 mil?, 3) Buy Klaas Jan Huntelaar; 12 mil. I believe that if we can manage to do this, we will be the best team in the world. We would spend a net of 8 mil which is definitely acceptable.
My team for next year:
VDS or Foster
Lahm Rio Vidic Evra
CR7 Carrick Anderson Nani
Rooney Huntelaar
Bench: PIG
Pique
Hargo
Park
Tevez
March 10th, 2008 at 0:33
Millz: No I do not support any teams in Canada or the US. I have no tolerance for low grade C-Level football. Just total rubbish. When it comes to the great game I have always been an elitist. In fact I am bloody well disgusted with the mediocrity remaining in the FA Cup. Congrats to the minnows that are left but please, wake me up when the final is over. Bore me to tears with 10 men in a box defending at ll costs and waiting for penalties is the mentality that will happen in the future games. How in Gods name a piece of crap like Barnsley can do to Chelsea and Scouserville what a lot of quality teams in the EPL and Europe cannot do has me at a total loss. I know there are plenty of people out there who love this and who think it is good for the game but I personally think it cheapens the tournament and allows the garbage to float to the top. The top clubs have only themselves to blame but it’s bad for the overall exposure of the FA Cup as it makes it look like a tournament of mediocrity. Wembley will be half full for this non spectacle. I for one couldn’t care less nor am I planning on watching. Hell, I would prefer to watch Toronto FC bore me to death instead. I feel the FA Cup should be like the CL second stage. A home and away tie system that will ensure more often than not that the cream rises to the top instead of the rubbish.
March 10th, 2008 at 0:43
I’m generally not one who likes to pck lineups or predict future ones but I will for next season’s United team. This is the team I’m hoping they have and the large print is the new signings I’m hoping they make.
GK van der Sar
RWB LAHM
CB Vidic
CB Rio
LWB Evra
RMF Ronaldo
DMF Hargreaves
AMF Carrick
LMF Nani
CF Rooney
ST HUNTELAAR
SUBS;
CF Tevez
MF Anderson
MF Fletcher
MF Giggs
GK Foster
DF O’Shea
DF Brown
ST MANUCHO
RW Park
MF Scholes
CB Pique
MF Eagles
GK BORUC (to take over EVDS when he retires)
March 10th, 2008 at 0:54
Grognard: To the British that is all part of the FA Cup’s charm, the ability for small teams to fight there way through to the latter stages. I know Cardiff v West Brom may not seem like appealing viewing, but the competition is an institution in England and the chances of lower league opposition pulling off a shock in a one off game is all part of the appeal.
March 10th, 2008 at 2:33
I see what your saying JB because even in North America people love to see the underdog prevail. I personally just hate it though. For me nothing is better than Man U vs Chelsea or Arsenal or Liverpool in an FA Cup Final. I love to see competition by the sport’s elite, not by some lucky Johnny come lately who will be here today and gone tomorrow. This caters to the blue collar worker who buys a lottery ticket hoping that he will win the big one some day. It’s for the dreamers. I prefer to watch quality perform against quality. Nevertheless, I can see that many in the UK will be interested. Still, I bet you it will be poorly attended and the tv viewing audience for the final will be the lowest ever. Also, it will get non existent viewing from the rest of the world who watched in record numbers last year when Chelsea played United. Barnsley, Wolverhampton etc just don’t light my fire.
March 10th, 2008 at 7:44
Grognard mate , u r being a lot harsh on Rooney . I agree ‘He is not doing the job , he is supposed to’ .
Please do remember the way Tevez/Rooney were in the beginning , they literally outshone Ronaldo . Their combination is the best at OT !
The reason why Tevez/Rooney combo is not working as of now :
Fergie is dropping Tevez because:
He’s actually played non stop for two years now, with no decent rests or any pre season!
Those two years have also included 1 World Cup, 1 Copa America, and trying to adapt to a new country and save them from relegation at the same time.
Basically, he just needs a good rest and a proper pre season, we will then see the best of him.
Problem with Rooney:
Ready to play anywhere for the club !
Please remember the way he started , all pundits said ‘This season belongs to Rooney’.
Injuries has messed up his first touch badly . He is ‘CONSCIOUS’ abt it more than anyone else ! Likes to contribute a lot to Ronaldo`s performance there by tracking back even more
He’s actually played non stop ! Hardest worker on the field ! Needs rest and his defensive duties have to reduced !
Saha is the trouble here ! If he had played at least 5-10 matches or at least plays 10 matches from now on , i think we can win both !
For next season:
Manucho is exactly what is not there in our attack . He is tall , can hold the ball really well.Excellent header.I can even see him as a first choice striker.
I don`t see us going after another striker however if we do ,
My head says Huntelaar where as my heart says Mario Gomez !
Gomez has been a revelation this season for Stuttgart .People who have tracked his performance will know about him .Has got excellent speed , can head the ball really well.The physical game in German League is more than Dutch !
In total this season he has played 24 times and scored 23 goals
Well ain’t it too early for transfer rumors
March 10th, 2008 at 8:02
Rick; As good as the Rooney and Tevez partnership has been, it has not been a goal bonanza. These two are just not prolific goal scorers. They offer a lot of other positives but scoring goals is not what they are both best at. Therefore you need to split them up and throw in a striker who can score. Gomez is a fantastic choice and to slightly correct you, he hasn’t been a revelation this year. He was Germany’s player of the year last year as well. The guy is a poacher and has skill and finesse to boot. Another correction, he has scored 13 goals not 23. 12 since January 1st. He scored a wonderful hattrick yesterday in the wild 6-3 win Stuttgart had over Bremen. Boy was that an old fashioned Bundesliga style game circa 1975. Still, Huntelaar is more predatory and I feel he is the one to help us really forget RVN. Either one would be fine but I don’t think Gomez is even on the United’s scouts or Fergie’s short list or radar. The other one the should really look at and in my opinion he is better than Benzema and would also cost a mint is Aguerro. What a talent!!
March 10th, 2008 at 8:56
Well Grognard u made a mistake their mate
.. I have clearly written this season he has scored 23 so far .. Well since u have been tracking him more i guess u knew abt him . This season I am more into German than Spanish . I can visualize him as the perfect fit for Utd. KJH is good however many matches i see him lacking a little bit of pace.
It is very good that a European Striker like Gomez is not mentioned at all and that too linked with us .The moment his name gets mentioned the prices will shoot up ! We already know for sure that KJH Benzema will be chased by top clubs this summer . Tottenham already have signed our 2 potential targets Hutton RB Bale LB
. I don’t want that to repeat again !Who knows , a move like the one with Anderson will help us snatch a deal !
Aguerro is also damn good however he is way too short
Another player i rate highly is the one of the few players i track in Scottish league , Steven Fletcher !
He is on Real Madrid top 10/20 list of young European talent.He is quick, good in the air, a suerpb left foot & technically excellent !
However still unproven to be considered for united !
March 10th, 2008 at 9:14
yea i reckon manucho might be 1st choice next season, thats if he can hack it in the premier league.
March 10th, 2008 at 10:56
Personally I think Fergie fluffed the midfield and shouldn’t have withdrawn Tevez but Scholes instead. Its was a good performance otherwise. Also the ref fucked us up. I love it that Fergie is all over him. He’s fighting for his players out there and I bet they love him for it. If he has a fine, I say the club put it up for him. Its the manager’s job to fight for the team. We wouldn’t want players talking out of turn now would we? (They get red cards for that) Also fuck Pompey’s luck. Fuck it twice!!
Moving on I agree Rooney needs something to get him up. If Saha were up to par I think he can be tested in place for Rooney just at least for the Derby game. That lone striker shit doesn’t work and as RR puts it Rooney just needs a rest and some mentality coaching. Tell the kid straight up I need you to be a striker or I’ll turn you into a midfielder. Rooney is capable of being a striker if his heart is in it. He just needs to focus. A second striker is needed for times like this would give Rooney competition and impetus.
All in all I’m disappointed that we blew this great opportunity to do the treble not all our fault a lot of things went wrong; but at least we have a maturing squad, barring Scholes, Neville and Giggs, will be challenging like this again in future seasons. Glory Glory Man United
March 10th, 2008 at 11:00
go on make excuses for rooney.his progress stopped two years ago.you can play him next to raul,or rvn,and he is still going to be childish.so much for british media hype.have u noticed how his peers have matured?30 mil????????
March 10th, 2008 at 11:16
Ronaldo, Nani, Tevez, Torres, Sergio Aguero even Anderson these are his peer in football. Those between 1984 and 1987 They all show similar development. Don’t ride Rooney so much he’ll fire soon enough and you’ll love him for it. But at the moment God knows I agree with you he’s pissing me off. And what’s worse he doesn’t have replacements. I mean look it, even Cole and Yorke had Solskjaer and Sheringham, what does Rooney have Saha and Welbeck, that’s whay too comfortable.
March 10th, 2008 at 11:36
I like statistics because they tend to give a more long-term picture, instead of focusing on one-off results. JB’s earlier post on Rooney’s average goal per game was really helpful. Here are some interesting statistics I found:
English Premier League
2003/2004 – Total Goals: 64; Goals per Game: 1.68
2004/2005 – Total Goals: 58; Goals per Game: 1.52
2005/2006 – Total Goals: 72, Goals per Game: 1.89
2006/2007 – Total Goals: 83, Goals per Game: 2.18
2007/2008 – Total Goals: 58, Goals per Game: 2.07
In the 2 seasons after RVN has left us, our average goals per game in the Premier League actually improved to above 2 goals per game. This season, despite only scoring 1 goal in our first 3 games, plus the slew of 1-0 victories in August/September, we have actually scored more goals on average than the last 3 seasons when RVN was playing.
When Fergie contemplated starting Saha instead of RVN towards the second half of the 2005/2006 season, the issue then was that while RVN was a first-class goal poacher, he didn’t add a lot more to the overall attacking play of the team. Saha’s value was that he was a more mobile player, with better vision than RVN. He could bring the other players into the game by either making runs to create space for them, or actually make that pass. An excellent recent example was his reverse pass to Evra against Arsenal at the Emirates earlier this season. Could RVN have done that? I doubt it.
So, towards the end of the 2005/2006 season, part of the decision then to sell RVN (fan favorite and top, top goal getter) was because Fergie wanted Man Utd to evolve into a team with a more fluid attack, instead of relying on a traditional out-and-out striker. Fergie wanted more movement upfront and attackers that can create in addition to score. The 2006/2007 season was really about that fluidity in attack and the flow was really a joy to watch. Defenders, who found it relatively easy to both keep in position among the back four while marking RVN, suddenly found themselves being pulled out of position by the movement of Man Utd’s attackers.
This season, the addition of Carlos Tevez was all about this new attack. Like Rooney, Tevez is not an RVN, and may not be among the top scorers at the end of this season. But both Rooney and Tevez’s contribution are pretty evident in the Assist department. From 4thegame.com, Rooney (8) and Tevez (7) have combined so far for 15 assists, or slightly more than a quarter of the goals scored so far (see link).
http://www.4thegame.com/statistics/premiership/assists/
In conclusion, it’s not like we’re not scoring as many goals as we used to with RVN. The statistics say otherwise. We play in a different style now, that’s for sure, and unless the goals dry up (and I don’t mean for just one game), Fergie is not going to change this. However, it’s always good to have a goal poacher – someone to clean things up in the box, just in case, which I believe is why Manucho was signed. But I don’t see Fergie selling Rooney, and I don’t see him buying Huntelaar.
March 10th, 2008 at 12:24
I thought if I wait till today I might feel better about the defeat. I don’t.
The game was just not meant for us. we had opportunities, played brilliantly and were just unlucky not to find the back of the net. As usual, we all need scapegoats and my scapegoat is Saha. I believe he got injured before the match. WTF!!! I am now fed up with this bullshit and no matter how good he is, I feel SAF should sell him at the end of the season.
The problem guys have raised about Rooney and our team cannot be solved by playing FIFA08 or Football Manager.
Problem is, Rooney is young. Tevez is young. SAF want to build a future around them. By getting another striker, we will definitely risk losing one of the two. Neither will be happy with playing off the bench. Not many high-profile strikers that we might get will be either. As you can see, that leaves us with a massive problem…
If Saha managed to stay fit for at lease one month, the problem would have been solved. Unfortunately, he’s not superhuman…he’s only Saha.
SAF feels he cannot throw Welbeck in because the pressure to perform it might break the lad. Well, he is excelent in nurturing talent so I’ll trust in his judgement.
The main reason why the Rooney/Tevez combo is not as effective as before is Ronaldo. Anyone noticed that he NEVER passes?
We want Rooney to be an out-and-out striker…to feed off what?
Our forwards are given instructions to “shoot-on-sight”. Rooney is too eager to just sit there and wait on nothing.
The only way SAF can accomodate his forwards is if he plays a 4231 type of formation with Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo taking up the 3 spots. For this however, you need a good striker like Drogba on top. We don’t have one.
Problem with this formation is, you leave your team short in defence. Therefore hhhhhwe will need to rotate formations often. Will a stiker like Drogba be happy with a bit-part role? To play him every week, will Rooney or Tevez be?
As you can see, SAF is in quite a predicament. SAF was desperate for Rooney to work in this role. Unfortunately it’s not working. His plan B was to push Ronaldo up, but now he lose Ronaldo in his best position.
Manucho have all the attributes to make this position his own. Wehter he will succeed is a totally different question however.
I highly doubt SAF will go for Benzema. Have a sneaky feeling he is after Ben Arfa. He need a replacement for Ronaldo who will either go on top, or get sold. To those who wish for another striker…sorry guys, I don’t see it happening soon (especially not if we win the league). I doubt even that SAF will buy a replacement for Saha.
March 10th, 2008 at 12:36
In effect:
* Tevez’ arrival messed up the striking dept. plans/chemistry - but how could SAF let him slip away?
* Anderson’s arrival messed up our midfield plans/chemistry - again, how could SAF let him slip away?
* Solksjaer’s retirement after Rossi/Smith sale caught SAF off-guard
* Ronaldo’s goal-scoring prowess caused further mayhem in the striker dept. plans - not necessarily a bad thing hey? Main reason why no striker was brought in during January (Larsson was indeed available).
March 10th, 2008 at 16:38
Hear! Hear!
Excellent analysis Redd75!
Exactly my point about RVN!
March 10th, 2008 at 18:11
Redd; There is an old saying where I come from that you should keep in mind. “Statistics are for losers”. Now don’t get bent out of shape I’m not calling you a loser. It’s just that in North America much research has gone in to the fact that statistics are very misleading and the team or teams with the better numbers don’t always win. Look at the New England Patriots from this past NFL season. Undefeated 16-0 with record points scored and players who broke unbreakable records. Yet they lost to a team in the Super Bowl that had a record of 13-6 going in to that game and who almost had fired their coach earlier in the season.
The reason we are scoring as many goals or more than the past is because of the developent of Cristiano Ronaldo into not only a fine player but a scoring machine. Our midfield is better at scoring goals in the past. That should be seen as a bonus and not something we should be dependent on. In the past we were dependent on funneling the ball in to RVN. Now we don’t have that striker we can depend on so we spread it around and put too much pressure on midfielders to pick up the slack left by our inefficient strikers lack of goal scoring prowess. Although they are not terrible, our forwards are not doing their fair share. It’s not about matching the past, it’s about trying to surpass it. Strive for total excellence and balance. That’s the key.
March 10th, 2008 at 20:55
This upheaval is turning ridiculous(sorry for spelling can’t be bothered..actually it is bothering just won’t change it) We have been fine this season and its really only misfortune the finds us out of the FA Cup. We do need a strike to A) Replace Saha and B)To provide competition and balance upfront. We play over 50 games a season its absurd to expect someone to play all those games and to think that 3-4 strikers cannot get their fair share of football. There will be injuries, lack of form and fatigue to provide ample space for every player to take part.
Finally Scholes should have been subbed for Anderson. Tevez’s removal was negative tactics and while we should have won anyway and it wasn’t a bad decision I can’t help but feel that Scholes was largely anonymous after the 60th and that had Tevez been around Rooney wouldn’t have turned into a left winger and Ronaldo a CF which is exactly what happened I have to match recorded I’m watching it over and over because I still can’t believe the bullshit in the FA for us this season
March 11th, 2008 at 0:22
Grognard: There is nothing wrong with statistics. They are nothing but information and data. The issues come in because people fail to analyses them correctly at times. They should never be taken as gospel, they are simply another element of an argument, food for thought if you will. For example in the case you quote, anyone who thought that the statistics could provide certainty in the result is a fool. They can indicate a favourite or a trend but never an exact result or conclusion. Anther example was when I was looking at some player stats after a couple of games this season and noticed that Carrick actually tended to have lower passing completion rates in games I though he had performed well in. The key isn’t in the information it is in the interpretation.
As for our midfield being better at scoring goals, one midfielder is better (Ronaldo), the rest have vastly underperformed in that department. As you have said yourself he plays more like a forward, so should we not analyse him as such now? Having looked at his positional data this season he has an average position comparable with Tevez and Rooney.
If we do consider the following. Our top 3 goal getters last season (Ron, Roon and Saha) scored 59 of 120 goals (50%). This season the top three (Roon, Tevez, Ron) have brought in 58 out of 81 goals (72%). You argue that the midfield is been put under pressure by inefficient strikers, yet I would have to say is it not vice versa? The goal return from Scholes last year is higher than what all five of our CMs have scored to date this season. Similarly our goal return from defenders is down (O’Shea’s and Vidic’s contributions particularly). Maybe if other people were chipping in, Rooney might be more relaxed? But as I said, it’s just food for thought.
March 11th, 2008 at 0:34
Personally I feel that for all our creativity the players lack discipline. If we are going to play Rooney and Tevez we need to play 4-4-2 or more like 4-4-1-1 with Tevez in the hole. In this formation Ronaldo and Nani/Giggs need to play as wingers.
If we are going to do the 4-3-3 thing we do not want Rooney or Tevez stuck on a wing, so we play Rooney up front and Nani and Ronaldo as floating forwards.
March 11th, 2008 at 0:41
JB; A lot of good all those numbers did United on Saturday eh! In the pinch stats go out the window. Just ask the New England Patriots and the New York Yankees (the past 7 seasons).
Look, whether you realize it or not, I am a statistics junkie, especially when it comes to American football and baseball. I eat it up. Still, I cannot tell you how many times stats have betrayed me in a game and over a season. They are a good barometer to judge by but they are not full proof and can be very misleading. They also go out the window in a big game. A perfect example that comes to mind was the last FA Cup where United lost to Arsenal
(Was it 2004 or 2005?). We so dominated that game in every positive statistical area yet the game was lost on penalties because Lehmann was fantastic on the day. The stats would have lied to everyone had they not known the score. People would have assumed United gave the Gooners a similar thrashing as they did a few weeks ago.
Still I can see how they do hold value by many purists who measure team success by those numbers.
March 11th, 2008 at 2:33
I definitely agree that statistics cannot be the ONLY thing to look at. Statistics certainly do not have a bearing on the next game. However, as I said, I like statistics because there is a value they can bring to an argument in that they illustrate a particular trend, and in this instance, address comments as to whether we need to revamp the strike force or not.
My point is, we definitely are scoring goals. Although we have only scored 1 goal in the last 2 games, there is no need for a knee-jerk reaction and start criticising our forwards. As had been pointed out, the problem actually, could very well be that our midfield has not chipped in enough goals to take the load off the top 3 goal getters.
Managers don’t look at short term, one-off games such as Portsmouth, when it comes to buying players. Good managers buy and sell players according to their needs over at least 1 season or beyond. Fergie certainly didn’t spend 30m for Rooney just so that he could score against Portsmouth in an FA Cup quarter final or for just goals alone. Fergie spent 30m for Rooney because over the long run, Rooney can come up with the goods in more games than not, because he has the temperament, determination and hunger to do so. I can’t say the same for someone like Anelka who strikes me as a rather lazy player.
Lastly, statistics certainly don’t say anything about luck and the ‘law of averages’. It’s hard to win 9 out of 10 games against any team. If we had played the way we did against Portsmouth, we could have won and by a healthy margin, on many other days. It’s just one of those days, an anamoly in an otherwise, pretty strong season so far.
March 11th, 2008 at 6:51
There is no problem with United scoring goals. All teams go in to slumps. No big deal. What is a big deal is that a team as good as ours is getting middle of the table production from it’s forwards. That’s not acceptable. In just the EPL alone Rooney should be scoring 20 goals and Tevez 15 a season. They have 28 between them in all competitions. Simply not good enough for United forwards. It’s good enough for Spurs, West Hame, Aston Villa and Blackburn. Not United. All our forwards should be combining for between 35 to 45 goals in a 38 game EPL season. The team is good enough to score between 80 to 90 goals a season. Half of the goals have to come from forwards. Thats proper balance.
March 11th, 2008 at 7:45
I did say earlier that we shouldn’t just be looking for the number of goals scored as a gauge of a striker’s quality. This is a team game, after all. Goals don’t come about just because we stick a good striker there. They come because a team defends well, keeps possession, creates chances and goals usually come as the end-result.
Likewise, Rooney and Tevez’s contribution shouldn’t just be measured by goals alone, but rather their contribution to the overall attack. Both Rooney and Tevez have scored 19 goals in the EPL, plus 15 assists, which means contribution to a total of 34 goals out of 58 - almost 60%! If that’s not good enough then I don’t know what is.
The problem I believe is more the fact that our other midfielders, apart from Ronaldo, are not scoring enough. I would actually like to see Scholes, Anderson, Carrick, Hargreaves, Giggs, Fletcher and Park chip in with more goals and give us a more varied attacking threat, rather than relying on Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo alone to produce the goods.
March 11th, 2008 at 9:52
agree to what redd75 says. its the midfield who have to score more! this season it has been a draught as far as giggs, scholes, carrick, anderson (has he ever scored a goal in his life???), nani and OH. Babel has scored more than 10 in his debut season but nani has only 2! simply too less.
just imagine if ronaldo wasnt in such great form this season we’d be out of all competitions by now. and yea i am more than happy with rooneys and tevezs contribution so far.