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
- Rooney Out For A Month
- Preview: Portsmouth v Man Utd
- United to beat Portsmouth 3-1?
Tags: Match Reports
Opti (89)
Craig Mc (26)
Ian (18)
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.
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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.
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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
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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!!
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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 !
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yea i reckon manucho might be 1st choice next season, thats if he can hack it in the premier league.
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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
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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????????
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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Hear! Hear!
Excellent analysis Redd75!
Exactly my point about RVN!
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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