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
- Rooney Out For A Month
- United to beat Portsmouth 3-1?
Tags: Match Reports
Opti (541)
Stephen (479)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Craig Mc (345)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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Lets get the other two now!
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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).
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dont care what anybody says…. i think the ref was crazy or in someone’s pocket…. more likely the former… asshole
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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)
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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
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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
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RR does van der sar’s injury and PIG’s red card mean that foster should play soon?
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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.
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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????
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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.
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DAN, I agree with you 100 percent mate, SAF needs to act in the summer and make some big decisions
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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…
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“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.
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FULL-TIME
WIGAN 0 – ARSENAL 0
3 draws in a row!!
AS i predicted March is the month for us !
This month fixtures
Arsenal – Wigan (A) Boro (H) Chelsea (A) Bolton (A)
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haha GET IN!
THANKS WIGAN AND THE LEGEND THAT IS STEVE BRUCE
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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?
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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!
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The league trophy is just getting closer and closer…
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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
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theyre shittin it lads. oh what a day. Few good results made yesterdays disapointment feel a little better
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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…
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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.
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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.
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hey Groggy, do you support any of the Canadian USL teams, or Toronto FC by any chance?
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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)
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