Jan 30
Man Utd v Portsmouth: Preview
Today’s midweek game features Portsmouth, a team we lost 2-1 drew 1-1 in our last encounter this season. It was also a game that saw the dismissal of Ronaldo to a head butt. Those were early days in the season when we got off to a rocky start. Things have changed drastically since then.
Portsmouth, who had an excellent start to the season now sit in ninth place. They have lost the likes of Kanu, Muntari, Utaka, Bouba Diop to the African Cup of Nations — which is akin to ripping the heart of the team. Portsmouth’s African contingent have been their star performers and their loss has been fairly telling. Only Benjani remains.
All this should come as good news to us. It’s a home fixture against a weakened Pompey side. One couldn’t have asked for a better time to be facing them.
The team composition will be interesting for the first time — especially in central midfield. Scholes’ return leaves Fergie with a happy headache. I would imagine Fergie going with Scholes and Hargreaves, but with it being a home game he could also play both Anderson and Scholes. Oh well, your guess is as good as mine.
Vidic is unlikely to play as he continues to recover from the virus. Rio and Brown in the centre were unconvincing against Spurs, as a pair. Let’s hope they do better today. Ronaldo and Giggs could play in the wings, although one would want to ask the question as to when Ronaldo would really get a rest. The lad’s been playing virtually every single game for us, in recent times, while being kicked all over the park.
Michael Carrick has spoken about meeting our short term goals of securing maximum points this week; one against Pompey and another against Spurs in the weekend. He talks a lot to the press, doesn’t he?
And O’Shea has also been talking. With him it has been about the fact that we can pick maximum points from now on. (I know, it sounds boring, but read it if you want to.)
Prediction: 2-0 to United
Related items from Red Rants:- Man Utd v Everton: Preview
- 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
- Derby County v Man Utd: Preview
Tags: Game Preview
January 30th, 2008 at 10:30
COOL
January 30th, 2008 at 10:35
“Today’s midweek game features Portsmouth, a team we lost 2-1 in our last encounter this season” i think you need to go back in time and look over you results this season think you will find it was 1-1
January 30th, 2008 at 10:43
quote
“Today’s midweek game features Portsmouth, a team we lost 2-1 in our last encounter this season.”
we drew 1 - 1
January 30th, 2008 at 11:05
Didn’t we draw 1-1 at pompey this season?
January 30th, 2008 at 11:32
yeah we drew 1-1 with them.
Possible line-up:
VDS
O’Shea - Rio - Brown - Evra
Ronaldo - Carrick - Anderson - Nani
Tevez - Rooney
I think Giggs and Hargo will be rested, because we have a very difficult tie at Spurs in just 3 days. They’ll probably be on the bench with Scholes (who needs maybe 30 mins. in this game to up his match fitness), Simpson and ?. Whatever happened to Pique? And what about Saha?
January 30th, 2008 at 11:38
United played 1-1 against POmpey this season- not 2-1! And Evra cant play. Hes suspended. And Rooney has 4 yellow cards this season, he should watch it!
January 30th, 2008 at 12:38
Doesn’t the 5 yellow card thing get reset at some point in the middle of the season? I was pretty sure it did…
Can’t help but think an early goal for us could signal a romp, don’t think Pompey are too bothered about the game, and if they see they’re not going to get anything they should go into damage limitation mode.
January 30th, 2008 at 15:53
Brown not convincing but he’ll have to play, since Pique is still recovering.
I don’t expect it to be a hard game. So a good chance to rest Ronnie.
But will he?
January 30th, 2008 at 15:59
it’s time fer anderson to get his first goal for the club!
hope to see the brazilian kid running around in most united matches, no?
January 30th, 2008 at 16:10
i think either anderson or scholes will start. the pairing of carrick n hargreaves don’t seem that effective.
January 30th, 2008 at 17:03
The day Anderson scores will be a special day for me! He is my fave United player! I believe this will be tonights team:
VDS; Simmo,Rio, Brown, Sheasy; Ronnie, Owen, Carrick, Nani; Anderson, Rooney. Tevez deserves a rest, so I think Andy will partner Rooney up front, Scholes is not ready to start a game yet, and Evra is suspended!
January 30th, 2008 at 17:35
just seen there- Lyon have picked up a brazilian boy Ederson. Hes a class act. Hope he aint
available for our up n coming tie! Hope tonight goes well- Nani needs a start, gotta let him
stretch his legs! Gettin excited bout Manucho…..Gives us the “plan B” weve been lookin for.
January 30th, 2008 at 17:51
red devil andersons your favourite player, i tell you, ever since robinho joined real madrid, ive been looking for a favourite player, and when i watched the 2005 under 17 world cup and saw anderson play, i was mesmerised, he is much better than what he is playing now, i was so happy when we signed him this summer, if you look back at the transfer posts, i was aying we should buy anderson and people disagreed now listen to them, i was under the name adil alhinai, in my opinion he will be world player of the year in at least 2-5 years time bearing he does not get any injuries a la kleberson,
but anyways on tonights game ill be watching on sky sports i belive/hope/pray our team will be: VDS SIMMO RIO BROWN O’SHEA GIGGS anderson scholes/hargo ronaldo tevez and roon-a-roo
January 30th, 2008 at 20:16
Team News:
VDS
Brown
Rio
Vidic
Evra
Park
Scholes
Carrick
Nani
Rooney
Ronaldo
Subs: PIG, Anderson, O’Shea, Tevez, Hargreaves
January 30th, 2008 at 20:21
FFS carrick again why fergie why and isnt evra suspended or does it take a week for it to process
January 30th, 2008 at 20:24
Real Red
Ederson won’t be available to play against us in the Champions League because Lyon have loaned him back to Nice for the remainder of the season.
January 30th, 2008 at 20:47
FFS WHATS WITH FERGIES LOVE OF CARRICK, HE’S SHITE, GET OVER IT!!!
January 30th, 2008 at 20:48
Is there anywhere online to watch this match for free, I don’t have sky sports
January 30th, 2008 at 20:51
http://www.myp2p.eu download sopcast tv ants or TVU or u can watch it on windows media player
http://www.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=5428&part=sports theres a direct link liam enjoy 3-0 to UNITED
January 30th, 2008 at 20:51
Maybe Fergie wants to see if Carrick finally can play a great game, with Scholes. I think tonights gae will be very important for Carricks future. If he doesnt play well, I am afraid he might not get that much faith from the manager(GO ANDERSON!).
January 30th, 2008 at 20:52
please give me some way to watch it online. Is Sopcast any good? The dickhead broadcaster is showing the liverpool game!
January 30th, 2008 at 20:56
Maybe there is a reason why SAF is one of the most succesful managers in the history of football and we are a bunch of plebs sitting typing on an online blog…………
January 30th, 2008 at 21:01
Your right JB!
January 30th, 2008 at 21:15
Of course it always helps SAF when you have Ronaldo to back you up!!!!
January 30th, 2008 at 21:35
30 minutes passed, correct me if I’m wrong but I think that the crowd is majestic today. The 2 early goals may have helped.
January 30th, 2008 at 21:36
I’m watching it over TV Ants. Try it. I forget the link…I think its Eurosoccer Channel. RONALDO!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 30th, 2008 at 21:48
All I’m getting from tv ants is “please wait while buffering” maybe my broadband isn’t fast enough
January 30th, 2008 at 22:00
Well I am watching the game, so I will give you some of my opinions. Ronaldo no comment…two goals within 15 minutes, both of them beutiful one of them from free kick. Rooney, Park and Nani could have done better. They have 7-10 waisted chances between them. Carrick is having a good game so does Scholes and Evra. The rest are as good as always. Rooney needs to score to boost his confidence and Portsmouth is really dead. I hope we score couple of more.
January 30th, 2008 at 22:04
Use the TV Ants and Eurosoccer link. Where are you (country) and what’s the service?
January 30th, 2008 at 22:14
Ronaldo’s First Goal
How fuckin’ brilliant has he been! And how many times will we have to keep saying this!
Will post the others when I find ‘em.
January 30th, 2008 at 22:19
what is the highest number of goals scored in a season for us? i read george best with 32 goals is the leading goal scorer for a winger. what is the number for a striker? whatever the number is, ronaldo is all set to break it.
January 30th, 2008 at 22:40
We have played fantastically! It’s one of the matches you just love to watch, but I think a special mention has to go out to VDS because in these last two matches especially, his distribution has been fantastic, both of our goals from spurs came from him and Rooney could have had 2 - should have had 1 - from long kicks up the field. Everyone deserves praise and although we’ve missed so many chances I don’t think we should have a harsh word for any of our players. Just hope Rooney starts to score soon, so that’ll he’ll be on a run when the big games come up, especially the champions league opnes, but his work rate truly is a joy to see.
January 30th, 2008 at 22:41
2nd goal
bloody hell
January 30th, 2008 at 22:45
Pool have lost again ha ha ha ha
January 30th, 2008 at 22:48
Fuckin hell anderson!what skill he deserved a goal.fuckin kid is fast!
January 30th, 2008 at 22:54
Only was able to watch the last 10 minutes or so. Looked very good. I heard Rooney and Ronaldo were great up front together?
January 30th, 2008 at 23:01
Agree with you Taehr, now he’s got some confidence he just get’s better and better, it really was a bit like a goal Maradona would’ve scored. Glad to have scholes back too, he’s carrick with just that little bit extra, brilliant.
January 30th, 2008 at 23:01
Great match, I enjoyed watchin it! Ronaldo with a goal of the season contender(THAT free kick!), fantastic play in almost every attack. Anderson showed great skills and could have made this day a really fantastic game. Still, I feel sorry for Rooney, he needs a goal. He hasnt scored at Old Trafford since early November.
January 30th, 2008 at 23:03
Ah fuck!todays game was one of those you just dont want to end.The skill on show today was fantastic.nani,anderson at the end was what football should be like.manutd are such a frustating team to watch,the ability we have we should be thrashing teams week in week out.The amount of “easy”chances we miss is amazing.ronaldo is ronaldo nothing more to say on him.rooney needs to improve,he really does.He has too many off days.scholesy was superb ,so was carrick.And even Nani!The shot and the end was close.Anderson was sooooo close,but what acceleration the kid has.We should try him up top sometime.especially with our quality midfield.next up spurs!
January 30th, 2008 at 23:12
Rooney needs to take the penalties…? I don’t know what to do with the kid. He’s fantastic…until he has to finish. What is it?? Do we need to pray for him?
January 30th, 2008 at 23:13
Thanks guys I caught most of the second half. To be fair it was a stroll in the park and we never got out of second gear but if you can get a stroll in the park at this stage of the season you should take it. Rooney is becoming too fond of trying to chip the keeper. In the last couple of matches he has tried it 4 or 5 times and it’s gone straight to the keeper.
January 30th, 2008 at 23:19
Liam he has always tried to chip the keeper, and quite alot of the time it worked out in the past, but he really does try it too much I agree. To tell you the truth I really don’t care that much about him scoring, it’d be an added bonus but he bringgs so much more to our team than goals, and once he gets a goal you know he’ll score a few in a row.
January 30th, 2008 at 23:31
I bet he will score a hat trick against City :-D. I bet we all would enjoy that to end his goalscoring drought at Old Trafford!
January 31st, 2008 at 0:25
Ronney is a brilliant footballer, but his finishing is a little lackluster for a striker of his calibre. and Ronaldo’s free kick… wow wow wow. I think everyone has run out of superlatives. he is hands down the worlds best right now.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:12
Arsenal fan in Peace.
Interesting fact.
On saturday, we play each other’s biggest rivals.You play the Spu*s and we play man city(both away).
So here’s to us thrashing our respective opponents.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:39
Here here Fab!
Quick question guys. Do you all ever think Fergie would play a 4-3-3? I think we would play well in this formation with our normal back 4, Rooney Tevez and Ronaldo up front, and any 3 man combo of Carrick, Hargo, Anderson, or Scholes in the midfield?
January 31st, 2008 at 1:45
Kurt I doubt it, but I think it’s a good option
January 31st, 2008 at 2:07
I think it’s a terrible option! As proved before, we end up playing it in europe quite often but it leaves the middle front man fairly isolated and only Saha can play that role well, Rooney fairly poor at it and Tevez even worse. It’s just a way of accomodating more cm’s in our team, to be more defensively stable, but why change a winning formation?
January 31st, 2008 at 6:01
How many bloody goals has ronaldo scored in those orange boots… he is killing it man
January 31st, 2008 at 6:32
27 goals so far… and people ask WHY?
Ronaldo says… WHY NOT?
January 31st, 2008 at 6:45
40 for him this season. Small problem!
January 31st, 2008 at 6:58
Can someone please post the video link of Ronnie’s free-kick? You Tube is blocked at my place, please post link from a low-key site. Thanks in advance.
January 31st, 2008 at 7:37
check my blog!
You can see both of his goals! Enjoy:-
http://www.goalcentre.com/manchester-united-vs-portsmouth-highlights/
January 31st, 2008 at 8:55
IMO, the problem with Rooney is, as soon as he gets some sort of rythm of scoring, he gets himself injured. (he always seem to take a while to get back into scoring after a lay-off).
Other than that, I am amazed at his abilities. He is a real natural and I wouldn’t trade him for any other striker on this planet even if he doesn’t score for the entire season. He’ll make others score. He is just that good. (I’m pretty sure the Ronaldo free-kick was his idea). I feel that, where Ronaldo is skillful, Rooney has the vision (perhaps even better than Scholes). That also explains how he and Tevez can link up so well, without speaking the same language. They both seem to share some sort of natural understanding of the game.
January 31st, 2008 at 9:01
it was a really boring match tbh, none of our players played particularly, bad but some players could of played better.
January 31st, 2008 at 9:02
I almost went ballistic when Anderson’s ball almost creeped in. I was breathless for a couple of minutes afterwards. Damn. I’m sure he’ll score soon. When that happens, I’m going to have myself a ’samba party’.
Mr.Muhozi, at the time, I read everything you had to say about Anderson. You could not have been more right. He is a brilliant lad. I’ve gone so far as to order myself, my son, and my wife Anderson shirts. He is going to be amazing!
Do you guys know..have we had any other Brazilians before Kleberson and Anderson? I can’t recall.
January 31st, 2008 at 9:31
the best in the world. simply the best. thats what can be said of ronaldo. unbelievable free kick.
January 31st, 2008 at 9:33
On Ronaldo’s performance, Redknapp added: “[Ronaldo was] unplayable. The free-kick was unreal.”
January 31st, 2008 at 9:57
Dan: I’m not sure what you want to see from a match. We may not have run up a cricket score but the passing and movement in the first half was of the absolute highest quality, a real pleasure to watch. The backline were exemplary, Carrick and Scholes superb in the engine room and the attackers were a constant menace.
January 31st, 2008 at 12:00
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!)
January 31st, 2008 at 17:26
sorry jb, but in my opinion it was a match i didnt really enjoy that much.