Aug 18
Man Utd 1-1 Newcastle: Deja vu?
A start similar to last season, only improved by the fact that this was a score draw unlike the 0-0 start against Reading.
On a day when Chelsea thumped a piss poor Pompey, it’s sad when the only good thing one can report was Aston Villa’s dismantling of City. Personally the day was made worse when I found, to my horror, that I am #121 out of the #173 members that had signed up for the RR Fantasy League.
Many United fans have been quick to laugh off claims that Chelsea are among the favourites for the title this season. It would be foolish to write off the Blues, but not because they are playing earth shattering football, but because we lack some key components that will make a big difference to our side.
Ronaldo is not the key component, though. He is an important player, without doubt, but we are more than that. It would be cowardly to hide behind the oft stated injury excuse too. But any team, shorn of so many players will struggle. And a poor pre-season, where we couldn’t play with anything approaching our preferred starting XI partly exposed some obvious flaws in our preparation for the new season. The absence of Carlos Tevez (who had to leave due to a family bereavement) exposed those flaws.
The team started off brightly with neat and crisp passing, and had Rooney’s pin point cross with the outside of his foot (that Campbell met with his head) gone in, then we’d have been in a different mood today. But it hit the head of Shay Given rather than the ‘keeper attempting to stop it, and instead, it was the Barcodes that took the lead off a corner. Again the corner, prior to Newcastle’s goal, was not dealt with properly, with EVDS looking suspect dealing with a high ball.
To be really honest, United’s goal appeared out of the blue because, for all our superior possession, I couldn’t really see where we were going to get a goal. Steve Taylor was off the pitch briefly and we took advantage of the centre back’s absence (and a brief period of indecision in the Newcastle box) to sneak in a goal through Fletcher.
The second half saw an even more dire performance. True, Michael Carrick and Ryan Giggs — who were among the better performers on the day — limped off and the enforced substitutes were either incompetent (John O’Shea) or were too inexperienced (Possebon and da Silva) and too late to make any sort of an impression to affect the proceedings. But the team seemed incapable of moving the ball even into the box leave alone creating chances. Rafael da Silva was brought on far too late and saw too little of the ball. Although his run did see him get felled on the edge of the area. But it was a case of too little too late.
We were poor, and we hardly gave the visitors’ defence anything to worry about. And considering they had they 5974th defensive pairing in the last couple of years, they should have been tested more than they actually were. Rooney picked up a needless yellow card and he’ll have to rein in some of that temper if he plans to avoid early showers in this new Respect-themed Premier League season.
So are there positives to take from today? Well, thanks to the seven subs rule we could blood some youngsters into the team. Rodrigo Possebon looked very good technically. He looks like a Paul Scholes of the good old days. But yesterday he played like a Carrick of his early United days — more sideway passes than forward. But I will put that down to the fact that it was his Premiership debut and he’s just 19. Decision making will improve with games. Rafael da Silva looked lively on the few seconds that he actually got the ball. But bringing him on in the 85th minute was always going to be asking too much of the lad.
I wasn’t pleased with the way we played yesterday, but if Tevez returns we could certainly win against Portsmouth, who have looked wank the two times we played them in pre-season and against Chelsea. We’d however, have to hope that we sign Berbatov this week and hope he gels in instantly in time for Anfield and Stamford Bridge.
We are definitely title contenders, but we need someone like Berbatov if we have to mount a sustained challenge on all fronts. Let’s not make any pretence about it.
* * *
In other news, speaking of Berbatov, he likened himself to Cantona yesterday as he broke his silence on his intent to ‘follow his dream’.
“I’m now at Tottenham but no one can disagree with me wanting to follow my dream. I’m not angry about the decision of Juande Ramos to name me as a subsitute. I’m not crying. I only show my emotions to my close friends and family. If I had been laughing when I was on the bench, people would say I was an idiot. Eric Cantona never smiled, but I don’t know if anyone ever asked him why he didn’t look happier.”
The Cantona comparison is extremely teasing, not to mention what club is in the back of his mind. The dreams part though, was straight out of the Ronaldo book, don’t you think?
Related items from Red Rants:
- Update on Red Rants
- Rooney Out For A Month
- Man Utd vs Newcastle Utd: Preview
- Man Utd 2010/11 Season Fixtures Announced
- Keegan ‘I’d Love It’ Returns To Geordie-land. Heh!
Tags: Match Reports
Craig Mc (195)
RedDevilEddy (170)
Opti (138)
Ian (97)
Moscow is my heaven (97)
RD – ummmm, we won the match at Fulham without Rooney, he only came on for last 20 minutes when United were well ahead. We have won another later match too, because I remember Fergie saying that it was good to erode the myth that United don’t win without Rooney.
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@Rd: Nani was playing in the community shield mate.
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Liam, honestly mate, I think you are in for a rude awakening if you think we are going to play like world beaters at Pompey and teach them a footballing lesson. We have a very poor record at Pompey, and they will be fired up and all over us. But who knows, maybe we will get lucky. I mean, we will only be missing Carrick, Giggs, Hargo, Park, RONALDO, Nani, Anderson, Saha, and ??? Tevez. And who knows who will come back from the internationals injured. Call me a pessimist if you like, but I don’t fancy those odds.
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@tevez: Sorry my mistake, i totally forgot he did, so he’s out for Pompey then
@Craig Mc: I didn’t know Fergie ever said that, but I’m sure if we check the stats we’d probably see that we’ve won more games with Ronaldo absent than with Rooney absent
@Craig MC: Any news on Giggs, Carrick is out for 2-3weeks, but i haven’t seen anything on Giggs yet
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@Rd: Evra doesn’t make a good winger because he can’t cross or finish. From what i have seen of Da Silva , he can do both.
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@Red Diablo: And if he doesn’t remember to call him and tell him the Grognard is pissed and furious.
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@tevez: Manucho is too unproven for my liking. I would prefer they loan him out for a year in England so we can see what he truly has to offer. Until then, I wouldn’t touch him with a ten foot pole. I want proven talent up front, not ???????
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@tevez: They still played very well and moved the ball a lot better and with more purpose than they have before. At times I couldn’t believe I was watching Chelsea. But it is true, Pompey was shit. So much shit in fact that we had to go to penalty kicks to beat them. Does that create any fear?
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Yeah ive seen the four striker quote a week ago. Well we are two short. One short if you are going to count Ronaldo as a striker, but if we are going to do that we need to buy another winger.
Lets calm down about the twins. They are hot prospects but they are fresh off the boat and at this stage reserve football and domestic cup outings is quite sufficient to keep their development on track.
Anderson and Nani are different. They may have been fast tracked into action but they both had a season in the Portuguese league and some European experience before joining us.
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Any thoughts on Thiago Neves currently playing as a left-sided mid for Brazil in the Olympics? He looks a pretty tidy outside mid.
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penalties to win the Charity shield and then a home draw?
we are gonna win the double again then by all indications…
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For 2 billion, the saudis could have bought the club. The glazers would have bitten there hand off.
@Don: Thiago Neves is a quality player, anybody who saw the Copa Libertadores final can attest to that. I heard he is a handful off the field. Tim Vickery off the BBC said he is a outstanding talent but he questions if he had the temperment to play in Europe.
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I have been watching Brasil in the Olympics and they have played well! If you dont know, Anderson has played just behind the striker, in “the-hole”. He has done pretty well, created chances and he has scored a goal. His shooting has gotten better too! Maybe Fergie plans to use Andy as a striker if we are in need. I would still take Berba though, Andy is more of a DM…
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@RedDevil: where u watchin it?
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@RedDevil: Andy is no way “more of a DM”. Last season was probably the first time he has been played consistently in that position and it’s been documented how surprised all of the Brazilian coaches have been to see him deployed there… and how well he adapted to it.
His true position is attacking midfielder and is quite comfortable in the hole, or on the left wing. I hope we’re going to see a whole lot more of him in an attacking role this year, but with Hargreaves and Carrick now out, I don’t suppose it’s likely in the short term…
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Just watched the match and here’s my first-ever player ratings:
Van der Sar (6) Not much to do in way of actual saves, but was pressured into an untimely punch when catching the ball may have been best. This lead to the corner that Martins capitalized on. Nothing he could do about the goal however.
Brown (6) No major mistakes but no major contributions either. Was booked and must raise his game to keep Neville out of the team. I’m betting Brown knows this.
Vidic (8) Once again the central defense was United’s best. Made an impressive tackle on Gutierrez in the box that was sublime and got forward as usual on a set piece to hit the bar. One of the few United players who made a threat on goal.
Ferdinand (8) Not much to do in terms of saving tackles but calm and composed as usual. The shouting match with Giggs symbolized United’s frustration on the day.
Evra (7) Bonus points here for getting forward and playing the last twenty minutes with some competence as a winger. Got a shot on goal and was steady at the back. Not his best though.
Fletcher (7) Was lax in marking Martins in the box (but why was he marking him anyway?) but made an impressive run to get the crucial goal. If United had won we all would have pointed to his goal as the turning point that ended Newcastle’s momentum.
Carrick (NR) Not on the pitch enough unfortunately. Looked tidy in midfield but did nothing of note in 25 minutes. Hopefully won’t be out too long.
Scholes (6) Was stuck playing too far back in almost a defensive midfield role in the diamond. Distributed the ball well as we would expect but never a threat to score. One shot was so wayward in hit Rooney and almost deflected in.
Giggs (7) Played in some menacing balls including the one that Fletcher ran on to. Was the creative force in midfield but appeared to tweak his hamstring in the second half.
Rooney (7) Wasn’t as awful as some would proclaim. The one player who had the creativity to create and it just didn’t come off today. Had good energy but the yellow cards could add up.
Campbell (7) Again actually one of United’s better players. Had the best two scoring chances of the match and had lots of energy. On another day would have scored. The key for young Frazier is to see the same effort and consistency day in and day out. Would like to see him in the team more.
SUBS
O’Shea (6) Did the job in central midfield and at left back. Not a world beating performance by any means but what did you expect? He will be a key player for United this season.
Possebon (6) Solid debut. Needs to work on getting forward but looked calm on the ball. Never a threat to score from midfield.
Rafael (NR) Came on too late to rate. Almost won a penalty though and actually had some verve going forward when he got the ball.
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@Gabriel: Norwegian telly, NRK.
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hey this is just a chelsea fan looking over at how things are on the other side. i saw the united game, and i think that they played well, but they were’nt the same as last season. they played, really, like chelsea under avram grant. chelsea however, played like man utd did last year, when they were steamrolling teams anywhere they went. therefore, i think that the EPL trophy is headed back to london.
good luck to your boys anyway
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@RedDevil: @Jay: Anderson is not a DM nor did he play there last season for us. He played as an attacking central midfielder. Brazilian coaches were stunned because they considered his best position to be a free role like kaka. Just because he’s not getting a free role, doesn’t mean he’s not attacking. Central midfield carries defensive responsibility, but that doesn’t mean he is a DM or that he doesn’t have freedom to get forward.
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@blueisthecolour: Well lets see, we never had Ronaldo, Tevez, Hargreaves, Anderson, Park and Carrick only played 20 minutes. I guess we weren’t the same team as last year. And we would have to be dead to play the way the Blues played under Avram Grant. We are also without Queiroz anymore. I think you can say that right now, we are not who we should be, but very soon, we will be. We will be.
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Blueisthecolour – don’t get too confident yet mate. We were missing Ronaldo, Nani, Anderson, Hargreaves, Park, Tevez, sicknote Saha, and Giggs and Carrick for 2nd half. So mostly our 2nd string. Anyway, it was the first game, but this may be a good season for you blues to get a decent head start, but it will not be because you beat our 1st choice X1 for the whole season. It is a bit early for you to be saying though that we are playing like you did under Avram. Lets see if you can say that at the end of the season, when it matters. However, if Fergie doesn’t sort our striker problem, you may be able to gloat come end of season. It’s a long hard season though, and you have got a lot of players 30+ ish. So you may not go all the way without injuries.
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Wow, just reading the first few comments but I’m glad I’m seeing a few reliable voices (Traverse, Dan, Jay…)coming into Campbell’s defence! On the previous post I got the impression that certain “important” posters wanted to dismiss Campbell’s performance as crap, which it clearly wasn’t.
And no, that doesn’t mean the lad is the solution to our striking problems, but just useful to have as backup.
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Watched the match yesterday and have to echo what alot of people are saying here.
Man Utd were not good enough, toothless in front of goal. To have to use Frasier lead the front line shows how desperate SAF is for options. Although I suspect he might not of played had Tevez been available stil shows how weak in depth the squad is (with the current injuries). I don’t think Berba would be the best option for Utd but certainly better than none at all!
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