Jan 31
Man Utd 2-0 Portsmouth: Ronarrific!
Pardon the headline. I have no excuses, really.
United put on another excellent display to blow away Pompey and return to the summit of the Premier League, albeit on goal difference. To be accurate though, one would have to say that it was a splendid first half display followed by a little sedate second half.
We were breathtaking from the whistle and went 2-0 up in 13 minutes, with two goals coming in two minutes. The first one was a result of a neat one-two between Nani and Ronaldo, with Ronaldo finishing it off with the nerve of a genuine striker. The second, however, was magic. It would be unfair to say that the resulting free kick was unintended, just as it would be a stretch to say that Ronaldo precisely knew the trajectory the ball would take. He has been practicing a lot of free kicks in training, lately, and it shows in the frequency at which he’s managed to bang them in of late.
This one had a touch of audacity. The way he used the outside of his foot to give the ball a rip, in an attempt to lift it over the wall in itself needed some confidence. Of course I am not mentioning the technical ability needed to attempt such a shot with the appropriate power. It did David James — playing in his 500th game — little good as the ball swerved wickedly the other way to rifle into the top right hand corner. Pure magic, if I have not already mentioned it.
But let us talk about the not so glaringly obvious. Initially, I had my reservations when I looked into the team composition: Ronaldo and Rooney played up top — which wasn’t too concerning as that has happened before. The defensive end wasn’t anything to be worried about either. It was in the midfield. Park, Carrick, Scholes and Nani formed the midfield quartet. I was looking forward to Scholes’ full return to a starting role but Park and Nani’s inclusion was something I had to hold my breath over. Of course I also had my doubts about Carrick. The reasons were not because said players (I had reservations about) were crap; but it was because they may end up being too pretty for our own good.
But I guess there is a reason why I am sitting here writing about Manchester United in a blog, and SAF is there at Old Trafford, building another one of the great teams he’s built over the years — I am using the lines of one of the commenters here.
So it turns out that Nani had one of his best games for us. I think he played his best game for us so far, yesterday. He used to be guilty of giving the ball too often, dilly-dallying on the ball too often or showing a general lack of decision making. But I think enough work is going on in the training ground. So the results are there for all to see. Similarly Carrick had another great game. He has had more good games recently, and I think that can be attributed to a more continuous run of matches that he’s been getting. However, I would be interested to see if he has a good game when our team is playing poorly. I am still willing to stand by Carrick and want him to come good, and it would be great if he rises to the challenge of some other midfielders who are pushing for a more permanent berth.
Talking of midfielders, Scholes had a masterful game. It looks like he’s never been away. He initiated the move that led to our first goal and generally pinged passes around the pitch. The break has done him good, and at this age it’s nice to see him come back after a long ‘rest’. We all know what a destructive player he was last season when he returned from a lay off due to blurred vision. Here’s hoping a bit of the same during the second half of this season. A fresh Scholes is especially important when we head to Europe. Anderson showed some more glimpses of his outstanding abilities. He came extremely close to breaking his scoring duck. I guess that will have to wait a little longer. Nonetheless, he is making more runs into the box. Playing with the Ginga’ Ninja would help him become the Dreadlocked Ninja — a Paul Scholes MK II, albeit with better tackling.
We generally hogged possession and played them off the park. Which reminds me — Park was disappointing. I had expected more from him but, obviously, he is taking a lot of time to get going. Vidic played yesterday — shrugging off the virus like it was an annoying housefly sitting on his nose — and, along with Rio, looked rock solid. We need a lot of this kind of solidity if we are to keep Spurs at bay in the weekend.
The only regret at the end of the day was the scoreline. But then we United fans are certainly spoilt with success, aren’t we?
Related items from Red Rants:
- Man Utd v Portsmouth: FA Cup Preview
- Rooney Out For A Month
- The need for a right-back and a forward | Title race blown open
- Man Utd Blog 2007/2008 Home Kit
- Man Utd v Portsmouth: Preview
Tags: Match Reports
Craig Mc (195)
RedDevilEddy (170)
Opti (135)
Moscow is my heaven (96)
Ian (95)
On Ronaldo’s performance, Redknapp added: “[Ronaldo was] unplayable. The free-kick was unreal.”
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Hello everybody! The match was amazing and we should have scored a couple more goals… that would have been a great boost to our goal difference with the Arse. I know everybody talks about Ronaldo (he is the most important player we have), but he wouldn’t perform like he does for us in any other team.
Scholes was amazing yesterday and I love the guy, but I have such high expectations for Anderson… I just think he will be the better midfielder sooner rather than later. I mean he has everything Scholes has, but he can also make runs and is better at tackling. I know he is missing the goal, but that will come too.
I hope City can take something from the Arse at the weekend, because we have a hard game as well. Bye
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I was really imperssed with Nani, first time I can comfortably say that based on a whole match performance. His work ethic and tracking back was what stood out for me, everytime Portsmouth were in our half he was right alongside Evra offering support, and everytime we were up the other end he was in the midst too. Plus he is starting to play early balls rather than silly tricks. A familiar progression…
Unfortunately those early balls are coming into Rooney, who is looking and playing like an attacking midfielder at the moment. And finishing like a centre back. He had two chances that were ridiculously guilt edged, and instead of just putting his foot through them both times he fluffed. I love the boy, he’s probably our most effective player but it’s been almost a year as a CF and I’m not sure that he’s cut out for it. At least, not an all out striker position.
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Rooney has been fantastic i think he’s brilliant as a centre forward plus he’s been injured quite a few games he needs a couples of goals to build his confidence he’ll finish on 20 goals no probs one thing i feel is that the rest of the central midfielders and wingers should be chipping in a couple every now and then!
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RR – SAF actually praised Ji-Sung for his performance, so it couldn’t have been that bad.
Beachryan – It’s difficult with Rooney, because atm he cartainly doesn’t look like and out-and-out striker. But just before his most recent injury he had 8 goals in 7 games from the same position. I guess he’s in a bad patch of form goal scoring wise right now, and hopefully he’ll refind the pre-injury form soon enough to make his contribution to us winning the title again. With players of Rooney’s class, it’s usually just a matter of breaking the barrier, before the flow starts again. He certainly had the chances to make it happen yesterday, but it’ll happen at some point for sure.
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I don’t disagree, and he IS streaky, as we saw before his latest injury. It’s just the way he addresses chances. If you watch players like Raul, Van Nistlerooy, Villa – they look like they’re just alone on a practice pitch when the ball coems to them in the box. There’s no huffing and puffing, they seem almost calm. Owen was like that too. With Rooney you always feel like he’s running through his head if he should chip/shoot/pass into the net, or if he should dummy, or who’s behind him, or who’s ina good position, or where the goalie is and so forth. I mean, the chance when he got in behind off VDS hoof, he had so much time to just pass it to either side of James who was in no man’s land. But he clearly couldnt’ decide what to do, so ended up doing nothing. I feel like that’s a fundamental thing. There’s no doubting his skill, but he lacks composure. Maybe it’ll come with experience?
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yeah i was off my seat as anderson’s ball rolled past the post! arg! but signs are showing that he’s gna get his goal soon. i hope!
the whole team played excellent today, everyone had their fair share of work. thought evra could have provided rooney with a goal in the first half but he chose to blaze the ball into the stands.
hope this game will help lads like nani and jisung build confidence. nani is improving no doubt about that, just needs to use his pace to make runs down the flanks and send crosses into the area or cut inside and have a shot. jisung’s terrific work rate makes up for his lack of technical ability. has to really work on his first touch, as he’s getting into really good positions but his touch is just letting him down.
overall, breathtaking performance from the lads! (esp anderson HEH!)
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Beachryan – To me it looks more like a confidence issue atm, but I’ll agree that he’s not as composed as either one of those you mention. And he might never get there, but he offers so much more on the pitch than anyone of them, even at such a young age. To me, it’s natural that he may not have reached the level of composure, he’s capable of yet. Remember that this is his first season playing as the front man, and it’s been disrupted by a few injuries. Give him a year or two, and he’ll be an even better finisher, even though, as I wrote, I don’t see him ever being as composed as Villa, Raul or RVN, because it’s not in his nature. But he’s capable of scoring 25-30 goals in a season, I have no doubts about that.
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Call a spade a spade.rooney has been rubbish this year.even giggs has outperformed him.the reason he wont develope alot is people like you who dont want to annoy him by telling him the truth.in spain,u get booed by your fans for underperfoming.perharps he needs to be dropped once in a while so he can not take his position for granted.otherwise the game was good except that am worried we are over relying on cr7
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Saying that Rooney is rubbish is a bit harsh. The boy (because we shouldn’t forget that he’s still a boy) does everything on the pitch, and his only fault is that he always tries for the spectacular, but goals like the one against Newcastle some years ago are not common.
Over-reliance to Ronaldo is something to worry about, indeed.
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Rooney isn’t underperforming on the whole, and he is still better than anyone else that we can put in that role. It’s sometimes hard to notice, but his threat and movement is often the reason that Ronaldo can slip in and have so much space. His work rate is second to none, he tracks back, passes, is creative – a dream to have in your team. My point was just that I’ve still not seen signs that he is an out and out striker in the making. Still think he should sit just behind, like where Scholes played way back when, in his 20 goal seasons…
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Beachryan I agree with you.In the ten or so minutes that tevez had on the pitch, he nearly scored an outstanding goal, remember. I just think that Tevez’s first touch is sublime and is extremely better than rooney’s.
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(Donibrasco)
I dont know whats wrong with some United supporters. Rooney offers the team so much apart from his goals. Someone has rightly noted that he is more than capable of scoring more than 20 plus goals. But apart from that he stretches teams with his running and opens teams with excellent skill and creativity.
I cant believe you’re trying to say he is underperforming. Yes, he misses some guilt edge chances but you have to remember that he isnt a striker in the same way ronaldo isn’t a winger and tevez isnt a striker.
They team up with great movement and speed to create chances between the three of them and we as supporters hope that they will take a decent proportion and our defence will be tight enough to win us the game.
Focussing on Rooney and saying he underperforms because he misses chances is a joke in my opinion.
Some fans eh? Never happy.
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Man Utd lost 4 games this season, and all of them without Rooney on the pitch if i am not mistaken.
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Agree with Tomas that Rooney’s confidence is just a bit low due to the lack of goals. He will come good soon (providing he does not get injured again).
However, there is no way that he is underperforming. I agree that he is not scoring as much as we would have liked him to, but underperforming? Hell no.
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For those of you who missed Ronarrific strikes:-
http://www.goalcentre.com/manchester-united-vs-portsmouth-highlights/
Best goal of the season? ^^
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Thats exactly what am talking about.workrate this workrate that.get any neutral from arsenal and ask if he would trade adebayor for rooney,or liverpool can trade torres for our white pele.thats when u understand my point.dont get me wrong he is a good player but am afraid his development has stalled and assuring him a starting berth even if he is not playing well isnt helping matters.
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Donibrasco – Goals this and goals that. You seem to completely disregard that there’s more to football than goals. Goals are usually the result of a lot of movement and passing, two things Rooney is an expert at. And still, he’s scored 10 goals and assisted 8 so far this season in 22 matches… I wouldn’t exactly call that underperforming, when you consider his 2 injuries of a month each, from which he’s had to re-find his form. I don’t know, if you watch our games, but I’ve watched almost all of them this season, and he’s involved in everything. Yes he could’ve scored more goals, but as I wrote in another comment, this is his first season playing as front man, which is very different from his usual position.
And as I always say to people critisising players, who are amongst the first to be picked for a team like Man Utd’s starting line-up: Let the coaching staff decide who are the best and trust in their judgement. Don’t kid yourself that you can see things they can’t. When SAF continously states that Rooney is one of his absolute best players, there might be some truth to it.
And ask yourself this question: Would you trade Rooney for either one of Adebayor or Torres? If you would, I’d say you weren’t a true fan but only one who enjoys the good form of these years.
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How can it be some people saying Rooney is not good enough???!!!! The BOY is AMAZING. Sometimes I get the feeling this team has far to many “fans” who are just here for the fun of it and the only thing they do is critisise players.
As Tomas said Rooney has been injured for aproximately 2 months. Look at Fabregas, he had a very good first part of the season and after his injury he has not been the same. If you look at the contribution both of them are giving to their respective teams at the moment Rooney is by far better (compared to someone who has been the second best player of the season… not for me though).
He is not scoring that much, because Ronaldo is in the form of his life and he is the one banging them in. Wait till Ronaldo is not there and we are all going to see Rooney taking the team forward. I can’t believe some of you are comparing him to Adebayor for christ sake!! That guy has been playing very good for the last two months… before that he was not better than Crouch. And for Torres?? He is playing in a team whose Champions League place is very much in danger, so he cant be THAT good.
Rooney’s contract should run until 2020. Cheers
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Rooney has been playing well all season. He’s a very intelligent player and he is key when united play well. He hasn’t scored in a while, but as long as he contributes in other ways no one can really moan. There have been plenty of games this season when ronaldo has been extremely quiet but he still scores. Ronaldo is supposedly a winger but he doesn’t hug the touchline and put in crosses. As long as he keeps scoring i can’t moan about that. They are both contributing, ronaldo’s scoring so obviously he can do no wrong, but don’t underestimate rooney’s importance.
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o dear, anyone who says rooney is not good enough is an embarrassment.
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my match analysis is, we played great for 13 minutes, good and slow for the rest, we did not have to keep playing 100mph football with a lead like that, and the fact we have yet to conceed more than one goal at old trafford this season. but we played a good match nevertheless and im proud of the team
VDS- i think edwin had more of a chance of catching a tan in this weather than having to deal with a shot on target that match, quite game, with a few catched from crosses, did well
EVRA- decent game, got into alot of space during overlaps,was caught napping once, but nani was there to help him, his decision making in the final quater really let me down, choosing to pass when he should shoot, and vice verse, but still a solid game
RIO- played more of a defensive mid than centre back, you could see him spraying the ball from the half way mark alot, more times than carrick that is
VIDIC- kept baros and all the other pompy players out of the game nuff said for a player coming back from an illness
BROWN- for the first time i have nothing to complain about concerning brown, he was getting into space, alot up front, and was solid, im his number one fan, and i would rather simmo got a few games, but i gotta give credit where credit is due, brown was ok
SCHOLES- the ginger ninja is back, and has not skipped a beat, maybe he realised anderson is threatening his postion, which lead to a good performance, sprayed the ball everywhere, but still had a dogy tackle but he human
CARRICK- not great not good, caught out of position alot, out powered by diarra, passing of target sometimes, but still an ok performance, maybe next game he the inconsistent one will play well
NANI- fantastic game, at first i held my breath each time he held the ball, as time went on i was amazed his decision making has improved, still a long way to go, but you can see he is making progress, and is setting up goals along the way, and a second away from hitting a wonder goal out of no where, looking forward to seeing him get more playing time
PARK- i hold him in high regard but he really did disapoint me i was hoping he would make more of his opportunity, but was running around like a headless chicken, and could have better passing/finishing in the box, but still not much to complain about
ROONEY-the boy needs a goal fast, whether its a penalty or free kick tap in belter, he deserves a goal, he needs to stop trying to chip keepers, and place shots, but hes still young, thats the scary thing, his movement in the opening quater was terrifying, and he deserved a goal, shame it did not come, maybe at white heart lane
RONALDO- this guy is scary, thats all i need to say, 27 in his last 25, last time i saw stats like that, i was reading about a player from before i was born, the king pele, and he is well on his way to score 35+, i hope he can show up in the big games though,thats the only thing he lacks in his game, big match playability, as he tends to sway, but not to ruin a perfect performance, ronaldo deserves world player of the year 2008 and its not even february
SUBS- anderson anderson anderson, you deserve a goal and doubly quick, im so happy you came to old trafford, i know you can score great goals, what you did yesterday was the tip of the ice berg, and he will improve to one of the best ever, i hope he starts at spurs,tevez did really really really well when he came on, player like he has all season with authority and poise, him rooney and ronaldo is the best trio in the world, better than ronaldo kaka and pato, or messi ronaldinho and eto’o
feel free to post with any disagreements
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torres is a plague, where ever he goes, the team he plays for will ALLWAYS be in the uefa cup or lower lol.
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I wouldn’t trade Rooney for any player in the world, and I suspect that neither would SAF.
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There some truth in what DB is sayin.Rooney should not be guaranteed and i will repeat “Guaranteed”a starting place if he isnt playing well,which to be honest is the truth.He is messing up chances,his touch is poor and imo his overall play has dropped(I cant help but think ronaldos rise has something to do with this).These are just the facts as of NOW.I believe rooney was better when he first joined.He was much more clinical than he is right now.And whether you like it or not A STRIKERS JOB IS TO SCORE.if he has a good workrate,its a plus, but scoring should be first.people should not excuse rooney for missing such chances just because he is rooney. Do you also realise that his long range shots arent there anymore?that was something Ive always praised about him but I dont seem to recall him scoring a “screamer” recently.chances(he misses) are what cause teams to get knocked out of the champions league/fa cup.Remember the fa cup final against arsenal?in 05?we dominated everything but poor finishing…right now it doesnt matter too much because the team is playing well-ronaldo,tevez etc.and there are loads of chances but when there are in short supply you will understand doni’s point.Dont get me wrong I love the lads football-his aggression,the famous “workrate” and so on but sometimes i feel he really lets us down.I do hope he shuts me up by scoring a hatrick on saturday though.
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Manucho is going to Panathanikos on loan when he returns from the ACN. Or ANC. Or whatever it is.
Anyways, he’ll be there for the rest of season though I hope there is a recall option, incase Rooney breaks his foot again and assuming that Saha would be injured. Y’know.
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I’m dissapointed in the people talking down on Rooney, it’s not as if the other fans who still have belief in him and support him are showing blind faith, we can ignore the missed chances because nearly everything else he does is working well. Rooney wasn’t and probably never will be a goalscorer, Taehr you said before that he was a better player when he was younger, and thats just not true, just because he scored a few more screamers back then, his goalscoring record was actually not great, and he has improved at nearly everything else since then. None of our strikers are likely to be 25 goal a season players, Saha probably could’ve done that for us if he wasn’t the most injury prone player ever! Tevez isn’t that great a finisher either, but since he’s on form in the last few games people just say he’s a better finisher than Rooney, or that since Adebayor is having a good season he’s better, and it’s stupid. And the blatant truth is, we don’t have a striker better than him, and really nor do many other teams.
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Rooney is one of the best players in the world. Everybody that really knows what football is, should know that! If u only rate a player as “okey” when he clears off the line two times, makes the keeper do many save-of-the-season-conteders, sets up three goals and doesnt score in that game, theres something wrong with ya! Rooney hasnt done that ever but it was just an example. Rio and Vidic didnt score that many goals last season, but they were still amazing. Rooney scored 23 goals and set up 25(!). Evra has only scored 2 goals for United, but he is still one of the worlds greatest player. My point is that a great footballer cant be judged only by how many goals he scores, its about his off ball movement too. I know Rooney hasnt scored as many goals as we would like him to, but this is his first season as a clean striker! He needs time to get used to that. If Rooney attracts defenders to make room for others, gets like, lets say, 10 more assists, works hard to get the ball back and runs defenders and goalskeepers tired, but still doesnt score any more goals for us this season I must say,..I would be Okey! He is an amazing footballer, a great person and most other teams hate him
As long as we win two or three trophies this season, I would be very happy!
BTW….I read that some people are worried that we rely too much on Ronaldo, but I am not worried by that one bit. He is just many players tured into 1! Owen can take decent free kicks, Tevez, Nani, Andy and Rooney can all run past defenders, Rio and Vida can head the ball great, Scholes and Rooney has great vision….I think I dont need to say anymore. If we just field the right team, we should still manage to play great without the player of the years 2008-2050, the United legend: Cristiano Ronaldo!
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Hey you guys, read this article: http://therepublikofmancunia.com/the-capello-factor-whats-up-with-rooney/
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I think once Rooney scores 1 goal, the goals will start flowing for him again. Evidently you can see how frustrated he has been with himself in front of goal and nobody wants to score more then himself at the moment.
Anderson… What a freaken player… It’s just a different kind of feeling when you watching him play.
His burst of speed and skill when he nearly scored was just unreal!!
BTW duno if it was just me… But Carrick looked much better with Scholes next to him. In a positional sense as well and way more assured. A lot more like last season.
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Nice review Mr.Muhozi.
RR, once in a while u do such a thing (maybe for the big matches) where u review player’s performance individually and rate them.
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i believe you dont take me wrong.i love rooney like any united fan or even better,but these are facts we have to face.Taehr has broken it down.two years ago,what did u think rooney was going to become?probably world player of the year?just like me.the problem is, he has not had the same treatment given to young players.guarateing him a number no matter how bad he plays is suicide as he doesnt have to earn it.if u have noticed,the easiest sub at united is taking off carrick and tevez.time will tell.
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Two things: 1- I’m not saying Rooney isn’t an amazing footballer, he is, he’s one of the top players in the world, and far and away the best English player on the planet. I would also start him every game if I were the coach. However, I’m thinking round peg square hole in terms of a ‘centre-forward’. There are games where you really need a big presence that can hold the ball up and relieve pressure, particularly in Europe. We don’t have that option right now (i no longer count Saha as a player, just a headache for the med staff). I guess the biggestproblem with Rooney is that he’s TOO keen. He’ll happily go out and line up at the top of a 4-5-1 and try his heart out, but he’s just not made for that. I really think we could still use one more, big player. Maybe that is Manucho, I’ev not been able to see him yet, other than headers I can’t tell if he can make the ball ‘stick’ a la Berbatov, Luca Toni etc…
2. Carrick and Scholes were ridiculously commanding against Portsmouth. I have no idea who can say that either had a bad game. Portsmouth braely had a pass in our half. They seemed to know where the other was, and always made space for a pass if one got in trouble. Plus they were both pinging long balls like it’s easy (did anyone notice Carrick’s one touch over the top onto Ronaldo’s chest (he then had it taken off his toes). That was a terrifyingly perfect ball. That was the most composed our midfield has looked this season, and most balanced. I know it’s partly cause of the opposition, but still. I love Anderson, think he’s going to be amazing but I don’t know quite where he best fits into a 4-4-2 and with whom at the moment…
Oh and I was just curious – does anyone know how many goals RVN had at this point in his biggest year at the club – ie, is Ronaldo on track to outscore our most prolific CF?
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I’m not sure how many goals RVN had at this point of his best season, but he ended up scoring 44 in total (incl. 1 in the Carling Cup in which Ronaldo didn’t play), so it won’t be easy for Ronaldo to reach that tally. Surely at some point he’ll go a few games without scoring. Of course if he keeps his current rate going for the remainder of the season, he’ll overtake RVN.
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