Aug 17
Man Utd v Newcastle: Preview
So, aren’t you all excited? Can you even contain yourself? Well, I can’t wait for the 08/09 season (for United) to start. So let’s kick start our season, proper, with a brief preview of the Barcodes game.
Michael Owen looks like he won’t be playing for the Magpies; interestingly he has never started the season for Newcastle in his three seasons at the club. They’ve made a couple of signings in Coloccini and Jonas Gutierrez whilst we haven’t done much to speak of in the transfer market — apart from keeping hold of Ronaldo and signing Davide Petrucci.
Fergie wants Rooney to score more goals this season. But the bigger news is that Rooney will start. Rooney will partner Tevez up front, and that sight would be a relief. Tevez has been outstanding in pre-season, whilst Rooney has put in double training sessions. So there is a lot we can expect from our front two.
The big talking point, of course, is our lack of potent wingers that can hurt Newcastle. Nani is suspended, Park has just returned to training and Hargreaves remains crocked. That makes our options on the wing limited. This means Ryan Giggs will surely start. It could possibly mean we’ll play a 4-3-3 with Tevez and Giggs played wide and Rooney in front. This would mean, Scholes, Carrick and Fletcher will play in the centre of the park. The defence will consist of Evra, Rio, Vidic and Neville.
The lack of real penetrative wingers calls for moves through the middle of the park. And hopefully we just about get the job done.
Come on you reds!!!
Prediction: 1-0 to United. Tevez to score.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Update on Red Rants
- Man Utd v Stoke: Preview
- Man Utd vs Newcastle Utd: Preview
- Man Utd v Everton: Preview
- Man Utd v Spurs match thread
Tags: Site News
Craig Mc (195)
RedDevilEddy (170)
Opti (135)
Moscow is my heaven (96)
Ian (95)
Tomas, I think your missing the point a little mate. I agree that we have a lot of injuries, but what we don’t have, is the strength in depth of replacements. We were lucky last year, because we didn’t have many injuries, and so were able to get the job done. Even then though, we were extremely fortunate in the end. When we play 60+ games a season, we need a BIG squad. In my opinion, and the opinions of some other United fans, we don’t have that big squad. We have been a very good striker short for almost two seasons now. I doubt we are going to go for another long season of so many games, without picking up injuries. If you watch our youth teams Tomas, as I do, they are very promising players, but they are all lightweight. We have no big, strong, robust lads that I can see. United always seem to go for finesse and flair, and I don’t complain about that, but we need strong bulk ones too, real combatants to go with the flair players.
As for Berbatov, I do believe United have once again unsettled him big time, Spurs are right about that. We are also going about this in this same way L’Pool dealt with the Barry case. They broke Barry’s heart, and broke his relationship of many years with Villa fans to whom he was an idol. They could have lived with that, if L’Pool had done their business speedily as they had no trouble doing with Robbie Keane. But they have left Barry smarting, and it’s downright dastardly if you ask me. Berbatov is truly desperate for Spurs and United to get this settled. And United after chasing him all summer, and Fergie seeing how Berba has battled to get to play for us, is now looking like doing a L’Pool and leaving Berba high and dry. United should be ashamed of the way they have handled this matter. I have no respect for people being treated like that.
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@Red Ranter:
He was telling people to get off Rooneys back while being hypocritical and getting on Campbells back, who for his first competitive game in a United shirt in the Premiership did relatively well. He is a hypocrit, every time he posts he critises people for doing something and goes and does the exact same thing. He tells people to get off peoples backs and then turns on other players, he tells people they are blinkered and yet blindly states players are world class without them proving it, he insults people and then complains when he feels he has been insulted and he also complains when people disagree with him stating they are trying to force their opinion on him yet then he pulls his elitist attitude ion EVERY comment about how he knows better than everyone else
And TBH his ‘praise’ of Possebon shows his bias. He will criticise Campbell for anything cos he has a hard on for Huntelaar where as Possebon who had a worse game than Campbell gets his praise. Possebon looked assured in possession but looked like a deer in the headlights when it came to actually making decisions. His use of the ball wasnt really much better than O’Shea which is disappointing considering his play in the reserves and his pre season contribution
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@Grognard:
Despite what you think Berba is a good professional, as Jol himself stated. He is a player who has a a somewhat sullen personality and that sees people often label him as difficult but he is a player who just puts his head down and gets on with it. If his attitude is a cancer to the spurs dressing room then its always been and they have seemed to live with it.
Berba hasnt spoken out (Keane did I believe) and he has shown he will put his head down and play which is why Spurs are willing to wait it out unless they get what they want. United though quite understandably dont want to be held to ransom because every time we over pay we add millions to every player we go after, something we are currently struggling with due to seasons gone by
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@Tomas:
I think the issue though with Rooney is if his fitness was lacking then why didnt he play smarter. Fergie has come out and said he needs to be more selfish and when your lacking fitness that should be doubly so. He ran around like a headless chicken at times and was more inclined to run towards his own goal. With little wing pressence or breaks from central this meant that with Campbell looking to make forward runs there ended up being a massive gap and when the ball did end up with Campbell he often had no options. If he had played closer to Campbell and left the Midfield to do his tracking back (especially when O’shea was on). Rooney just didnt play smart enough when you take the conditions into account
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@wakey: Well, that’s all part of being young. You can say he should have played smarter, but Rooney plays with his heart in everything he does. That tired him yesterday, no question. There’s no way he could have lasted the entire match even if he had played smarter… he’s simply not fit for it yet. But he was required to play 90, because we had noone to sub him with, and because we had 3 injuries during the match.
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@Craig Mc: I would like to ask you, why “missing the point” has become such an over-used expression in here?
It’s not about missing points, it’s about differing opinions. Don’t tell me that I have missed the point, when my opinion is simply that our squad is big enough, once we have signed the striker that we all know, we’re missing.
Our squad is more than big enough. In fact, there’re very few larger squads with the quality in depth that we have. It just happens that atm we’re struck by injuries, a suspension and the Olympics.
If you count the players that are out, you’ll get to (Nani, Ronaldo, Tevez, Anderson, Carrick, Hargreaves, Park, Saha and Rooney off form) 9 players. It’s basically our entire attacking force and at least 5 -6 regular starters. Name me a team in Europe that could cope with that, please?
About Berbatov. There’s no way that our hanling of this affair can be likened to that of Liverpool’s handling of the Barry affair. Liverpool have talked about Barry all summer, and we have never mentioned Berbatov… it’s completely opposite. Berbatov may be unsettled, and if we don’t get him, it’s tough nuggets for him, but you can’t blame us for letting the cat out of the bag. In fact, it wasn’t made public that we were after him, until Levy sued us. It was his actions that told us that it was in fact, Berbatov, we were chasing. Up until that, it was merely speculation. Speculations in the media is not our fault, and miss-qoutations is not our fault either. Noone at United has mentioned Berbatov’s name – not before Levy opened the case, at least. If you want to be ashamed or upset, it should be at yourself for not finding the right information on the matter.
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@wakey: That’s not my problem with you. My problem is your crusade against him in trying to rub mud on his face. When you’ve had valid points I’ve accepted them and moved on. But calling him or anyone a hypocrite is clearly not on. No one likes being called a hypocrite. If you can’t come to terms with it then you are in the wrong place — especially when he’s decided not to reply to you.
And I have given him a dressing down when I felt he was out of line. It’s my job to decide who is out of line and who isn’t. If you have a problem you don’t deal with him, you come to me. I may choose to accept or reject your request. And this is not the first time I am mentioning this.
And you still called him a hypocrite — two wrongs don’t make a right.
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I think we all can agree Rooney wasn’t good today. I think we all can agree he has played better and we all expect better out of him. I think once he gets the players who were absent back he will return to his old self. This had to be a difficult summer not being in the Euro’s even with getting married. He is a footballer, through and through, and when true footballers are not allowed to play, frustration builds. I think Wayne is frustrated and its hurting his game. He needs to calm down, forget the refs, and play his game. When he gets back to doing that and stops trying to carry United on his shoulders he will play more loose and better.
I think rushing out into the transfer window is not what United nee. It would have made sense two-three weeks ago, but not now, when they key players are getting ready to return to Old Traffod. Nani, Tevez, and Anderson are key for us now that Carrick, Hargreaves, and possible Giggs’s hamstring. With Tevez back Wayne won’t have to do more than expected and he can focus on his game. Rooney had some good chances but he and Campbell just didn’t click, which could be a result of the virus that kept him out.
I think we all need to recognize why we lost, a lack of our top players, and realize things will turn around once the talent returns to the team. Patience is a virtue and Fergie has loads of it.
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@Tomas: I’m not blaming the draw on the lack of transfers. I’m just pointing out that our play indicated how much we need that forward in the box who knows what the hell to do with a crossed ball. Nobody should have had wild expectations about the game yesterday with all those players missing but somehow I believe that Berbatov would have made a difference in some of those situations instead of Campbell. Even at full strength, we need a tall striker.
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@Craig Mc: I have to agree with you 100% about the way United have gone about this and how they actually have treated Berbatov. They have unsettled the lad so much so that it just comes back to haunt us because it makes us look bad and it does make us look like we tapped him up, which we didn’t. You don’t have to tapp a player up these days. You can get the media to do it for you. They so filled him up with dreams of OT that no player with any kind of ambition and imagination could try to cope with it. And now they are stuck in reverse and it seems are prepared to do nothing about it. And people tell me I’m delusional about United having money problems. The pre Glazer United I remember would have dug deep and paid the outrageous money that Spurs are asking because they realized that the price for success was higher than for the rest. They just went out and paid the five or ten million more. But now they are so incredible stubborn and tight fisted that it makes me and others think about the possibility of other reasons why they have not already bought Berbatov? What the Hell is keeping this deal from being made? I honestly don’t believe it’s Levy. They just want over 30 million for him. I think United have become so incredibly tight fisted that it’s pathetic to witness. They have become a joke waiting and waiting and waiting while the price just kept increasing and increasing.
Honestly, I don’t know what the Hell is going on but I don’t like it and I think Fergie is starting to show signs of senility if he thinks we are fine and we don’t need a tall striker to compliment the wandering Hobbit brigade we have up front. Get of your old Scottish ass Boss and make this deal and end all our misery over this incredibly ridiculous and embarrassing escapade. We are better than to tease a player into submission and poison him so that he is of no good to his present team. That’s not the way we beat our opponents. It’s very sad. Enough already.
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@Red Ranter:
So Basically no-one allowed to reply to him, because we cant reply to him without him attacking us for things he is doing also and then moaning to you about us. He cant have his cake and eat it, he either has an issue with things people are doing and takes the moral high ground and doesn’t do it himself or he shuts up with his bitching.
I haven’t at any time tried to wind him up, but his smugness, his inability to listen to others even when they provide valid arguments (infact he talks down to anyone who tries to debate him and put them and their arguments down rather than debate the points) and the way he is quick to condemn certain players while giving others the complete benefit of the doubt winds me up. If he has a different of opinion then fine but his opinion is designed to wind people up, put people down and make himself seem all knowing by undermining peoples arguments with put downs and smugness and while others may just give in and let him win by refusing to debate thus allowing him to have the comments as his soapbox to preach from I’m not. I will continue to debate him and point out the flaws in his argument and his attotude
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@Grognard: To be honest, we were held to ransom more often than not when we were a Plc and transfers took longer and were forced to be more public than it is now. Anderson, Park, EVDS, Nani were all signed with minimum fuss. Tevez would have been signed easily but for the paperwork, Hargreaves and Berbatov have really been the only sagas I can think of in the Glazer regimes. And many clubs go through this sort of a thing. Especially since we are club that’s widely perceived to be loaded, we will have to bear this cross of being fleeced out of your minds.
I don’t think we are broke, but I think they are trying to tread the fine line between prudence and stupidity over the fee for Berbatov — from a financial point of view. I am pretty sure they are aware of the need for a striker. Perhaps, Levy’s waiting on a replacement. Who knows really?!
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@wakey:
When you call someone a hypocrite you wind him up.
I am pretty sure a lot on here approve of many of the stuff he posts. I never told anyone to not reply to him. Your tone of trying to find faults in him does not seem like you are honestly trying to bring up valid points. Most of the time your debate starts off with you are a hypocrite, or something to that effect.
If you want to continue this crusade be my guest. Just don’t count your chances of your longevity on this site.
I am aware of who is harmful to the community and who is not. And if I make a decision that hurts my site, then I will be the one that ultimately suffers.
And I am fully aware in my time running this site that he does not intentionally wind people up. And if I have seen instances I have been quick to point that out.
So if I feel a certain thing is ok then I am ok with it. If you have a problem with that, then I am sorry, you have to deal with it.
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@Kevin: All the players can return mate and we still lack depth and height at striker. We need a striker regardless. Your points on Rooney were good though. I do agree with you there. He needs to try less stop tracking back, retaliating physically or verbally to a bad challenge and relax more. Once he does that he will find and entirely different Rooney and he will be more successful.
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@Red Ranter: You are probably right but yes, there is a fine line or tightrope between prudence and stupidity and Fergie is walking it right now after several glasses of wine. Levy is waiting for a striker and really, he should know what an ass he’s being as Zenit are treating him like he is treating us. The ironies of doing business in todays footballing environment.
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@Red Ranter
EVERYONE of his posts has something to try and wind people up. He takes the most extremist views possible, makes the most daft statements possible and when you debate him he pulls the most smug and condensending replies possible and rather than debate your points he dismisses them and put them down and then bitches to you.
I’m a forum moderator for a large online game and people like Grog are the bane of forums as they are trolls. Their views are designed to provoke people by being irrational and to then allow them to put other posters views down to drive them away so they can go unchallenged with their views.
And yes most of my replies do pick faults with his views, but thats called debate. If someone posts something that’s ridiculous you reply to them pointing out why they are wrong with reasons, something I have done in pretty much all my posts. If a person is being hypocritical and thus their view/belief is either unfair or wrong you point out where they are being unfair and holding people in double standards. If someone is being hypocritical in their views and stance it undermines their whole opinion (And when I have called him hypocritical ive backed my view up with conflicting things he has said, on this article for example he has attacked Dan for being blinkered about some of the youth players while he has shown the same blinkers towards his favourite players and that he also said lay off Rooney while laying into a player himself who put in a better debut performance than about 80% of our recent strikers)
And its not a crusade against him. I just said I’m not willing to sit back and let him turn the comments into a “Grogs soapbox to spout extremist views unchallenged to help inflate his ego”. If he posts rubbish I will continue to point it out and if he has double standards I will continue to point it out no matter how much he continues to put down myself and others
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@wakey:
I’ve had my say. You’ll have to go with me on this. I know what’s right here and what’s not. Even if I am wrong you’ll have to accept my decision and move on. I have tried to see value in your points before but you seem to have made it a point to go after him with even a whiff. Trying to make it your life mission by targeting a specific individual is sad and I have no sympathy for such people. I have had my own share of heated exchanges with Grognard and I have found out that he is genuine and not a troll. I have seen plenty of instances where he has been polite. If you can’t take it there are plenty other forums dedicated to Man United you can go to. As I said, if you continue on your crusade by trying to find faults rather that trying to participate in civil discussion then feel free to move on.
Let me suggest some really good sites like RoM for instance.
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@ Red Ranter & Grog.- I agree and I think while we may not be broke there are financial concerns. Berba is a great player but in no way is he worth the 30 mil mark set by Tottenham. I agree we need a striker, but will it help us now, I don’t think it will. The team needs time to gel, which they never did due to players being absent from injuries and bla bla. I think we need a striker but we needed one in July, not after the season started, when it will take at least a month to see the best out of the man we bring in. Berba will help and would be a good signing, but height is not an issue if,and its a big if, Saha and Manucho can stay healthy and join the team. Bring in Berba but lets make sure we don’t pay over what he is worth. That is my only concern at this point, but your right we do need someone, but we needed him a month ago.
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@Kevin: I agree with you that we needed the striker in July. That is why I was bitching about Fergie and Gill taking holidays before dealing with Ronaldo and before buying that needed striker. I am not a big fan of procrastination and Fergie acts very confident and smug about how he goes about things but all it’s going to do at the end of the day is cost us more to get that striker. I am one of those that believes in filling our holes before trade or transfer deadlines. Who needs the anxiety, the escalating costs and the competition. Get your man early and watch the rest panic. I just don’t get it.
And forget about Saha mate. Thats a pipe dream and a Tolkienesque fantasy. He’s not Treebeard, he’s Balsabeard. 
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Haha, he may be but he finds ways to score and if he can find a way to stay healthy he will play well. The true shock will come if he can stay free from injury. I think signing Berba will happen and I hope the comments today might nudge, if ever so slightly, Tottenham to sell now. And hopefully for not to much.
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