Jan 12
Man Utd 3-0 Chelsea: Blues Swatted Like Flies
Flashback to 2006. The month was April, if my memory serves me right. United were in with a chance — the minutest there may be, if any — of staging a miracle comeback to win the title. The task was always going to be improbable. Impossible, even. We had a sizeable point deficit with the league leaders Chelsea, who were in their peak, impenetrable days. We lost 3-0 at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea ran away with the title.
What was I thinking anyway; our midfield had Giggs and O’Shea!
The details escape me, but the margin of defeat hurts to this day. I always craved for the day we would humiliate them similarly. True, we beat them 2-0 in Avram Grant’s first game in charge, but that was 11 against 10 — Mikel’s red card mitigated the level of joy I’d have got.
But not yesterday. And we had Giggs and Fletcher in midfield. Of course, I had reservations about that selection but more on that later.
Fergie’s formation this season has been fairly predictable. He’s reverted to 4-4-2 unlike the more fluid formations of last season. I was befuddled with Giggsy’s selection. In pre-match talk Fergie went on about how Giggs seemed to get ‘better with age’, and indulged in showering praise on his old guard in a way we’ve grown accustomed to. The only difference this time being he meant every word of it. Or at least we saw what he meant, when he said the things he did about Giggsy, when the match played out.
The match, however, started in a way that was expected — cagey, both teams erring, passes going astray etc. And I was afraid that United’s lack of creativity shown in the past few weeks against lesser defences might prove to be their achilles heel. Moreover, Rio’s absence against a top side will always be a cause for worry. Yet, we created chances in the first half, while Chelsea with all the big names in the centre of the park, couldn’t do much of note. Which leads me to the next thing.
How absolutely shocking were Chelsea?! Now this is not to take anything from United’s victory, but I haven’t seen a more toothless Chelsea side. No, sorry, scratch that. I haven’t seen a more meek Chelsea side than this. They are generally boring to watch but when they go behind you can always count on them to show some heart and bounce back. This Chelsea side went down rather easily without much of a fight. And the defending! Oh my! Schoolboy stuff. Little wonder we scored all goals from set pieces.
Regarding the first disallowed goal, I am not sure if the kick taker is supposed to tell anything to the linesman, so I wouldn’t go into it. Suffice to say, if United planned it as a training ground exercise, then they ought to have known the rules regarding letting the linesman know before taking the kick. This would certainly be a talking point had that disallowed goal been precious, but we scored immediately from the ensuing re-kick, so all’s well.
A word on the crowd which was absolutely mental. Since I watched it from my living room I’m not in a position to judge, but I think this might have been the loudest our fans have sung since the semi-final against Barcelona. Season ticket holders, feel free to correct me on this. Kudos to the lads who froze their arses off in the terraces.
Another major talking point of the game, which got swept under the rug thanks to the result was the treatment meted out to Ronaldo. He had an excellent game, first of all. But I was livid when I saw the way Carvalho was tugging at his shirt only to see the ref give Ronaldo a talking to and award Carvalho (and Chelsea) a free kick. Ridiculous, and it’s stuff like this that makes players with footballing ability lose their trust in referees.
A very moving moment in the game was when the ‘Argentina’ chants gathered steam as Carlos Tevez warmed up along the touchline. The player applauded the fans’ continued support and it’s stuff like this that remind us how special our club is. I thought it might have been a nice touch to reward Tevez with some game time when we were already in cruise control.
This game has also been about incidents leading up to it. The Tevez contract rumours, John Terry’s ‘homecoming’ following his Moscow heroics, Evra’s return from his four match ban [which, of course, has a strong Chelsea connection] or something as recent as Benitez’s rant against Fergie — everything was brought up during the match at varying stages.
On individual performances, Park had a stormer defensively, and while he’s not the best when an open goal presents itself, he does other things that is absolutely crucial in games like these. Countless interceptions, persistence chasing lost causes, and work rate as good as anyone in modern football. And he was also good going forward. Evra made a much welcome return to the team and he proved his freshness with his relentless bursts of pace forging ahead. In fact, we seemed to miss that impetus he gives us on the left in December. His cross for our second goal was laser guided in it’s trajectory, with due credit to Ronaldo’s umpteenth back heel.
Rio’s absence has come as a boon for Jonny Evans. The young centre back was facing his greatest test in a United shirt against a certain Didier Drogba who’s known to wreck careers of fledgling defenders — ask Senderos. The clean sheet will give him confidence like no other game. But more importantly, he had a Serbian master by his side, to show him the way.
Which brings us to Nemanja Vidic. He was my man of the match by a mile, regardless of Giggs’ performance. This was perhaps Vidic’s best game of his United career. He’s known to be non-compromising in his defending. But yesterday he was the whole package. His reading of the game, tackling, organising of the defence and distribution was flawless. He’s had a stormer of a season already, but he’s taken up the mantle in Rio’s absence and, alongside an able deputy in Evans, our defence is in safe hands. A masterclass in defending from the Serb. And he’s been as good this season as Rio was last season. It’s reassuring to see our defence holding up despite Rio’s absence.
Overall though, it must be said that we won’t be afforded the kind of space we had yesterday, against opposition like Wigan and Bolton. January is a big month for us, and all these wins count for nothing if we can’t win against the lesser sides. Wigan is up next, and they are a side to be taken seriously. Brucey’s built a very good side that’s the right mix of graft and inventiveness. So Wednesday and Saturday will be good measures of how much our side has turned the corner. Bolton and Wigan will test us. Interesting times ahead, if you are a United fan. Not sure if I can say the same about Fat Spanish Waiters.
We’ll never die.
And just to remind those living under a rock the past few hours, congratulations Ronaldo on your own personal treble! So now that you’ve won everything I suppose it’s time for you to head off to Spain, eh? I kid, I kid.
Another announcement for those not aware, the writing competition is still on, and I still welcome entries. I have received some and will post them in the coming days, when time and space provides. Those of you interested, click here to read details about how to go about posting your pieces to the Red Rants writing competition.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Rooney Out For A Month
- Porto it is then…
- Man Utd Blog 2007/2008 Home Kit
- Man Utd 2-0 Chelsea (FT) : Tevez, Saha Score
- Sporting Lisbon vs Man Utd – Preview
Tags: Match Reports
Opti (541)
Stephen (479)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Craig Mc (345)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
is evra ok, with him limping off and all? i haven’t heard anything about the matter, good or bad.
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Excellent stuff! How wins make the week better and better!
Also, how about we refer to the Fat Spanish Waiter as Manuel (Fawlty towers)?
MANUEL!!!
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Yeah, Chelski well and truly sucked. But I wont take anything off the lads performance. I have not seen the team wanting to win this bad since the game against Bercelona! Fighting for every ball, attacking when they get the chance, using tactical brilliant moves(corner(disallowed) and free-kick goals) and everyone played at least 8/10. But my Man of the match is no question Nemanja Vidic! Didnt put a foot wrong, and after watching a reply of the game I am sure that if he was English it would be fuck off John Terry! His game has improved in so many aspects, he is faster, stronger, better positioning and what really impresses me is his goalscoring!
5 goals in 5 months for a defender, a centre back, is huge! Really huge, if he continues like this he may end up with 10 goals! Dont think so, but it would be nice. Nemanja is for me our player of the season so far, not only because no one else really has set the world alight, but because he simply has been magnificent. He is so good I cant find good enough superlatives! Well done Vida, you really are awsome!
Now, about the disallowe corner kick goal. Ive watched some replies of the incident and I really think Wayne should have Muhammed Ali`d the linesman.
It was legitimate, and if the assistant ref had been watching the game and not watching Bosingwas one eyebrow who covered his whole view, that would have ben put as a masterpiece of a goal. Such tactical thingys is not something you see very often now a days. Brilliant by Fergie and the lads! Even though it didnt turn out to a goal that time, I am really happy to see that our team is still capable of doing such unexpected things. Keep it up lads!
Berbatovs goal was true class. Really true class! Ronaldos free-kick was pure perfection, and what about that touch?! What about that finish! With the goals Berbatov is scoring at the moment you would think he was Chinese with all those kung-fu kicks! I still cant believe how he hit that ball so purely from that power on Ronaldos shot/cross. Credit to Vidic, who did brilliantly(again), but my mind still cant make up how he honestly hit that ball so purely so quick at that place. In the air, very many miles p/h and he hit it with the “sweet-spot”. I really cant think of any other player than Berbatov that can do that! Very good tactical match and Kevin Benitez better watch out. We are coming to get you…
Lastly, Ronaldos award. I really am happy for him. He has done brilliantly and you could see on his face when he recieved the price that this was something he wanted more than anythign else. It really looked like he had reached his goal in life! But he keeps saying that he always looks to improve and thinks he still can get better. I really hope so. He may not have scored against Chelski, but I think there is so much more to his game now that just dribbling and drustrating opponents. He is clever, working for the team, choosing the right options, playing the ball perfectly and using skills when he needs to, only. Plus, his heading and goalscoring skills are still there. His two disallowed goals were of the highest quality. Had not the linesmen been blind… Oh well! But what really surprised me today was his speech! He was really modest and kinda shy. He didnt speak so highly of himself, nor did he make any sign of arrogance. Has he grown up? Too soon to say for me. But I really think that car-crash has changed his life. He showed in the game against Chelski that every touch he made ment something for the outcome. I think and hope that he will appreciate every second of life from now on, and that he will stop these arrogant and pity statements. Because life can end in a flash! This car crash may have a really big thing to say in Ronaldo the person- and the player. I wish him everything well and I hope the game against Chelksi is the game he really found his confidence and form. VIVA RONALDO!!!
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lol the you coudn’t have written a better title!!
now, i predict another trashing next wednesday. This time wigan on the receiving end
Oli
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Everything “Manuel” is saying backfires at him!
I wish he would stop embarras himself… Come to think of it, I really dont! 
Keep it up Manuel, you are just a few more words from checking into the mental institution!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo1XhP7Q1EE
Viva Ronaldooooooo!!!!
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Nice write-up, RR. I would only add that Gary Neville reminded me why I love United so much. He was an absolute monster, unbeatable – and the look on his face after the 3rd goal was pure passion – he was out to destroy Chelsea. Awesome. That game will go some way to addressing the goal differential – not that we’ll need it.
A final pleasure was beating Chelski in front of that cynical prick, the arch-enemy of entertaining football, Jose Mourinho. God, I hope we crush Inter.
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Any news on Evra? The only thing I found was that he might miss Wigan game, which isn’t much.
Good post RR and congrets to Ronaldo, it makes it even better that Man Utd again makes a history for England.
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Very nice review RR. What I liked the most about the win was that we scored three but that we did it against a Chelsea side that was missing only one man from their full “A” squad. But boy did they ever miss the presence of Michael Essien. I think it’s official, he is the glue that keeps that outfit from totally falling apart.
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@Aleksandar Macedonia: hahahahaha that was good did you see ronny himself at :21 “i think hes the best player in the world mate” hahahaha this fucking guy i wish he was a friend of mine cuz he seems funny and a jokster but what balls this fuck has i guess i love him thogh.
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Any news on Wes Brown?? Seems like he just dropped off the face of the earth! I thought he was key at the end of last season and could be again this. With him & Gary Neville that right side could be shut down, period!
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Ronaldo should remember one VERY important fact. As good as he is there are very few clubs he would have been able to win those individual player honours with and Real Madrid is not one of them.
I also think this will be great publicity for the club. I think in the past there was a feeling you couldn’t win the individual awards playing in England and perhaps that put players off going to England even when the English league was in the ascendancy. But now any aspiring young player should know that if he wants to develop into the best player in the world Old Trafford is the place to do it!
It is such a shame Ronaldo pulled that shit this summer because my pride that we possess the best player in the world is tempered by a sadness that his heart is not at Old Trafford.
I guess it is the same sort of feeling you’d have if your girlfriend won a beauty contest but you knew she didn’t love you.
I really hope these individual awards make Ronaldo appreciate everything United has done for him. We took him in as a raw talent and in just five years we helped turn him into the best player in the world.
I do not know how long we will be able to keep him because it is very hard to keep a player against his will and while he seems happy to continue to play for us for this season and maybe next season sooner or later he’ll try and force the move and not accept no for an answer.
If that is the case I hope these individual awards add twenty or million or so to the selling price because I will not tolerate us selling Ronaldo when the day finally comes for anything less than 100 million.
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@Mountfort: Absolutely agree about Neville. He looked just like his days-of-yore. DESIRE, DETERMINATION, PASSION. If he could keep that up….. wow!!
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@colver: you mean 70 million pounds right… 100 million pounds is impossible – at least in the coming decade.
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@colver: Very good point. It’s important for all players around the world to know that if they attain greatness with an English club, especially from the North, that the awards will come their way now. I also think yesterday’s game did a lot for healing any wounds that may opened and which may have turned other players off from ever considering signing for United. But humiliating the Russian moneybags will go a long way in selling United as the in team and the choice for ambitious players looking to play in England.
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@Redrich: Neville had a great game and lets face it, both he and Giggs had lots to prove and were very pumped up for this game. Lets see how often this kind of performance comes out from both of them the rest of the way. Giggsy was spectacular but lets face it, he doesn’t have the legs anymore to do that on a consistent basis. Still, it’s great when he can rise up in a very big game and show flashes of what was once a world class super talent.
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Guess that was the longest blog by you in a long long time RR. Same goes for you Eddy, big one. And nice too. Didint get the chance as yet to listen to Ronaldo’s speech but I really thought he did well the other night. He played on when Carvalho kicked at him the first time. There were several times that I noticed that he actually played on even after being kicked. Now, that might really be a sign of Fergie doing his stuff with Ronaldo.
The point now is that, now that we have won, Fergie doing his homework seems to be very apparent. I mean, he said that he told Giggs and Fletch that they would be playing the Chelsea game like two weeks in advamce and that he was saving them for this match. And boy did they not pull it off spectacularly. After that match there must have been a lot of supporters who would have thought that Fergie was a tactical genius. But then, all of this looks good when it comes through. Had Chelsea played like they used to play a couple of seasons ago then perhaps we would all be baying for Fergies blood, not that literally.
Coming to Berbatov, I thought he had a relatively quiet bordering on a bad first half. He let a lot of passes get away. I felt he was trying too many tricks. Just like Ronaldo, who I think tries too many tricks. RR was spot on when he said his umpteenth bakc heel. I really feel that most of Ronaldo’s tricks dont come off. But then he does so much else that his little back heel give away doesnt hurt the team much. Coming back to Berba, in matches of this stature, even if you have a quiet half and in the end produce two assists and a goal then wow! I mean what else can a manager ask for. That goes to show that if we only logically interpolate his performance to him being effective for the entire match then I guess United will be 10-0 up every game. The guy is an absolute genius who can turn around a match with little sparsely placed pieces of genius.
I also thought that Tevez must have been brought on atleast for a couple of minutes. The crowd chanting his name and singing about Argentina and he warming up on the sidelines and then not playing must have been slightly embarrassing.
On a side note, was just going thu the premiership table and Wigan are a point away from Hull
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Congrats to Ronaldo. well deserved award. now show us what stuff yo made of in the second half of the season
RR i also have to mention that Neville had a comfortable game.The way he fought for every ball and intercepted Chelseas’ play was good to watch. I thinks he was more comfortable sunday night but still he needs to have more games like that to completely win my heart back. I’d have still played rafael.
good post match report
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Few thoughts:
1. Ronaldo was good at the reception, and lord knows he deserves the award, but I’m not kidding myself. As Guillem Balague is reporting (and others have said recently) Ronaldo and his agent have apparently agreed a deal for him to go to Real this summer. I had hoped that seeing how crap Real are, and well we’ve done over the past year would convince him, but I don’t think his heart is still here. He’s a good pro, so will play on at his high level, but I’d just like to get it over with. And I have no idea how we’re going to replace him.
2. We won 3-0 and probably deserved that, but some of our issues were still apparent. Hopefully it’s a step in the right direction, but a win against Wigan is an absolute must. A Wigan who are the most in form team in the league, have virtually no injury problems and a day more rest. So don’t think it’s going to be easy.
3. Evra dedicated the performance against Chelsea to the FA. Cute, and surely he can’t get into any trouble. He says his foot is okay to play Wednesday.
4. Evans is going to have a career defining day Wednsday, imo. Off the back of owning Drogba and Anelka, he’s going to be in the spotlight against one of hte most inform players in the prem (Zaki) and one of hte most physically dominant (Heskey). A solid showing from him and he’ll have won me (and probably a lot of other fans) over as a viable option, right now, for CB.
5. I think Nani is going to score on Wednesday. Just feeling it…
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@Beachryan: Guillem Balague is the worst scum of this earth a.k.a. lowest grade spanish journalism! Give ronnie transfer rumors a break man!!!
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Fucking yes! It’s very important victory and I hope that Man Utd will win witch Wigan ang Fulham and it will be great!
BTW: check this out Watch MUTV for free
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I’m really glad about the win, but moreso over the way we won it. The last 20 or so minutes was really bordering the type of entertainment we have come to expect from United over the years.
To me, the game had 2 real magical moments:
1. Rooney’s goal through Cole’s legs
2. Vidic blocking of Terry and Ballack (I think) like an American football player protecting his quarterback for Vidic to score. I think he should be granted the assist for that goal.
Because we won a game of this magnitude so emphatically, I will reserve criticism of our players (and manager). I only want to state that Vidic should get a rating of 10/10 for his performance.
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Just checked and looks like the Wigan game isn’t televised. Boo.
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Personally I am really don’t want to be negative, but I thought Fletcher played Ok, no fantastic. Giggsy was superb especially second half, but recently Fletch’s performances have been Ok, but not as good as he was first half of the season.
We are reliant on him playing at his capacity, which is all well and good because he is an intelligent lad and plays with heart, but if he falls below that level, and to be honest relies off his ability then games might bypass him somewhat, you could say the same with Giggsy, firstly he isn’t a natural centre midfielder and also he is 35.
Are we saying now this is our first choice pairing? Or are we still going to rotate, and leave out £37m worth of talent on the bench.
Maybe I am being negative and I certainly hope not because Sunday was amasing and all credit, but I feel we need a settled partnership in there and am not sure if Giggsy and Flectch are it.
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The important thing for us is to dominate Europe. Ambitious young players not only want to win the individual awards they also want to win the Champions League. Once every ten years or so and not even being runners up is just not good enough for a team of our stature.
Real Madrid won it three times in 1998, 2000 , 2002. AC Milan won it in 2003 and 2007 and reached the finals in 2005.
That is the sort of dominance we should be looking for. This year could be tough because Barcelona are so strong and Bayern and Inter will not be pushovers. But we have a strong defence and so long as we don’t get overrun in midfield and our forwards convert their chances we can beat anyone. Those are some big “ifs” but we have a good chance so long as we have Fergie and Ronaldo.
The big question is what are we going to do when Ronaldo goes? My hope is that we can delay this for at least another few years and hope by then a new wonderkid winger will emerge and we’ll be able to snap him up because other than Ribery I do not see anyone at the moment who could replace Ronaldo on the right wing.
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@Stephen: I guess it was apparent that this pair was saved for this match. Also , Fergie said that he wanted a midfielder who would sit in front of the back four and another one who could take on players. This might be the reason why Giggs was chosen ahead of Carrick. Carrick is good at defending but since the Chelsea midfield was crowded, it would’ve been difficult for him to pass it and get out of trouble or probably create chances. We know that this is not our first choice midfield, we’ve been playing with horses for courses in every match of this season. Anderson will more likely start on Wednesday alongside Carrick.
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it certainly is going to be a big loss if ronaldo goes, but what man utd has taught me over the years is that no player is greater than the team. we’ve lost ruud,becks,keano,stam, name them but evrytime man utd always comes back even stronger so i believe ronaldo can be replaced.
the trickiest of the two games is bolton, i aint saying that Wigan will be a walk over but coming from the big win sunday,morrale and momentum we should see wigan off comfortably.
Next time i look at that table i wanna see the scousers below us. Thank you benitez for playing with the tail of the devil, you made us roar..
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@Manchester United Fan: Will be intersting if they do start, more likely Carrick and Scholes? I just feel Fergie has lost faith with Anderson and Nani.
I agree horses for courses, good point, I am debating really with myself, do we need a settled midfield, or do we rotate the player we have?
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F365 reporting that Evra is out for 3 weeks.
http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_4788343,00.html
If true, its a major blow to us, especially in a crowded January schedule
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@Beachryan:
It is being shown in India on ESPN
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The corner kick was perfectly legitimate.
How would Rooney have told the linesman if it was on the other side.
Thee linesman just had a bad day at the office…..twice!
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@Vivek: Yeah, Skysports and other big newscentres bring it now. Evra is out for three weeks with a sparined metatarsal. Maybe a chance for Fabio to shine?
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Evra being out is a massive blow. O’Shea is a central defender being forced to play as a full back, in a system where full backs are crucial to the offense. And unfortuantely he offers very little.
I’ve got no idea if Fabio is ready, or if this is a good time to find out, but I believe we’ll struggle without Evra. Maybe the best bet is play the half with O’Shea and if we’ve not managed a lead, consider bringing on Fabio (or even Giggs if he’s ready to go again) as a more attackign option.
I wonder if Wigan will line up 442. Not many teams do at Old Trafford these days.
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With Wigan, Bolton, Derby, Spurs in the cup and then West Brom, he might be worth a look at, can’t be any worse than O’Shea.
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@Stephen: I just hope to feck that PIG is not in goal against Wigan, because he is rank bad at geeting to balls from corners or set pieces. Wigan will have big players in the area, and with Rio not being in defense I am concerned. Keep Edwin in there.
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@Stephen: I know Giggsy and Fletch are NOT IT, especially away from home, Giggsy is not the best in away games – sorry Giggsy lovers.
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@Beachryan: Beachy mate, Real M are reported as offering 115 million euros to United for Ronaldo. Personally mate, and I know all of the regulars on here will know how much I love and have supported Ronnie, but unless HE IS PREPARED to extend his contact with us and commit, then I think we should SELL while the price is sky high, because after next summer, he won’t have much time left on his present contract, and monies will drop dramatically. What does everyone else think. I think his agent is pushing this, because of all the money he will get for his cut, plus the extra under the counter in a brown paper bag.
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@colver: I’d go for Maxi Rodriguez off Atletico Madrid. Every time I’ve seen him he has been spectacular. He has a great shot on him with either foot and if given freedom can be an extremely effective player. It’s just when big clubs look at Atletico now all they see is Aguero but Maxi is their captain and a great player. Although I think he’s 27 or 28 so not a long term option
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I like this kid already!
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@Craig Mc: I’d fly him to Spain myself for that much money. I’d do my nest to bring home Aguero and Maxi Rodriguez too
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Well if Ronaldo goes we will have 105 million ideas of how to replace him. I love him and I don’t want him to leave but if any team is daft enough to pay 105 million for a player who this season anyway, looks in decline, by all means, let them have him. And with that money I buy Benzema or Aguero, Adler a few other players who can fill major holes and several blocks of fine real estate for the Glazer’s to play with.
I mean come on folks. If anybody is buying this, they need help. 105 million and then they plan to pay him 220,000 a week? That would go over good with Raul and the Real Clique Mafia he has kissing up to him. It’s fantasy bordering on science fiction. Although I do hear that scientists are fast at work developing a highly lethal virus that Fergie plans on presenting Senior Calderon as a gift for his continued rude and unprofessional behavior. As for his trained monkey Guillem Balague, it’s time the Sun hired him full time as he fits in well with their style of sleazoid journalism. What a fucking wanker!
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Craig for 115 million Euros, especially while the exchange rate is going against us we should accept rightaway. The fact is one day we will be forced to sell and if the player makes it clear he is unhappy and wants to leave it will be very difficult to get full value.
However IM not sure i believe it. This summer Real were talking £50 million which was well below his value. Real are so arrogant I think they believe that they can get Ronaldo on the cheap because he wants to join them.
We should take a lesson from Tottenham. Berbatov wanted to leave them and was sulking all summer and being such a jerk over it that Tottenham were forced to leave him out of the side.
Tottenham HAD to sell Berbatov but they managed to get well over his full value. I mean Berbatov is a great player but he is 27 with limited resale value. But we had to pay over 30 million!
We have to do the exact same thing to Real Madrid. We have to fleece them for every penny they have and leave them in so much debt that after Ronaldo they can forget about buying anyone else for at least a few seasons.
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@Karl: Jeez mate, sounds like you have been reading and borrowing from my post a few days back.
I totally agree. I already posted my ratings and like you I gave Vidic a perfect 10/10. I mean did he ever get anything wrong in the game. It was perfection. It must have felt like school yard football for him when he was 13 and the kids he was playing against were 6. That’s how dominant he was. I also wrote that I felt his performance at CB on Sunday was the best performance by a central defender I have ever seen. Only Stam’s performance against Arsenal in the epic 1999 FA semi-final comes close. I don’t count many a performance by Franz Beckenbauer over the years because he played sweeper which is in theory a central defensive position, but for me he always played the role like DMF and his greatness was God-like. Although, I would be challenged to remember back and recall him playing as good a game too. Vidic was awesome wasn’t he?
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@Grognard: Grog Ronnie has never denied his desire to play at Real M though has he?. He did the interview on mutv and said he is happy and staying with us, but that could be because he learned the cost of upsetting United fans by his comments etc last summer, and so has learned fast the diplomatic game. But the Spanish are complaining they want United at all cost, and are prepared to pay up to 115 million as I said. I believe we could lose massively if Ronnie really does want to go, but Fergie insists again he stay for another season. The price will go down. Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, strike while the irons hot, or take a chance on selling for less in final year of his contract?. Only thing I wish, is that it was anyone but Real M offering us this monetary deal
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@Beachryan: Where do you live mate because I am getting it on Setanta here in Canada?
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@Liam: Hahahahaha – Liam Bro, I thought you would say that
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@Liam: By the way Liam, you’d fly him to Spain yourself?. Mate are you a pilot then?
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@Stephen: You could say that about every player in the game mate. Intensity, focus and determination has to be at peak for all players to perform up to their capabilities. That’s why a long season is such a long grind. Ask yourself this as a spectator and supporter. Are you in form every time you watch a game? I know I certainly am not and it has alot to do with the moods I’m in when I sit and write on this blog. So for my money Fletcher has been pretty decent this year but yes, he’s no world beater. But for me Carrick isn’t either. Hopefully Hargo returns next season healthy as heck and rejuvenates the energy and drive that we have been missing in the middle of the park. If he doesn’t come back, then we need to seriously stop focusing on Benzema and start focusing on a player like Senna or DeRossi. Fletch has done what was asked of him and I think he has made tremendous gains in his overall game this season, but he is not a future full time starter for this team. If he is, Fergie is settleing for hamburger instead of steak.
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@Craig Mc: Totally agree mate. Look at him this season. As far as I am concerned I feel the best he has had to offer is behind him. His play this season has me thinking diminished return. Sure there have been valid reasons for his poor play compared to last year but ask yourself why it has taken half a season to find his form? Is it also possible that the league, how they play us now and how they concentrate on him is going to continue to hurt his game and keep him from ever attaining the heights he reached in 2007/08? I think for the best to still come out in him he needs to go to a League that doesn’t have 75% of the teams park the bus and also try to cripple him. He has also made enemies in this league of every referee and that does not help his future development. Signing him up for an extension may seem great when we first think of it, but accepting ludicrous money from Madrid for a player who I feel is on a decline while here in England is too good to pass up. with 105 or 115 million, whatever the total is, this team could delve into the player market and nap some real gems that would help us forget Ronny and help build our depth and dominance.
Those were just my thoughts on an alternative way of thinking. Personally, I hope he stays, but if he leaves this summer, I will not be as enraged as I was last summer when I never saw the betrayal coming. I am prepared for it now and in a sense, I am prepared for United to betray both Ronaldo and Tevez and take the money and go in a different direction. I just hope that part of the deal for Ronaldo calls for my boy Huntelaar to come to us. Why the Hell not?
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@Liam: Sorry to disagree with you mate but if Maxi was so great he wouldn’t be stuck playing with Atletico for what seems forever. I’ve seen him play many times and for me he is a ball of confusion and an incredibly inconsistent player who occasionally shows a moment of genius. Hardly worth the money or the risk I feel. Sorry to disagree with you on him but hell, I get the same from many about Riquelme, so sometimes I have to give back with love.
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