Sep 17
Man Utd v Villarreal: Preview
We return to Old Trafford after the misadventure in Anfield to meet the Yellow Submarines (as they are called) with several points to prove. It’s a strange thing — having to prove points that is — when we are the defending English and European champions.
But let that not mask the fact that whilst we still are a very good side, there are still quite a few concerns that need to be addressed.
But we may not yet have to face that today, what with Berbatov ‘unlikely to play’. This development is in itself rather curious because I recall the Mail publishing training pictures from yesterday where Berba was present.
We also had Manucho in training as well as some boy that goes by the name Cristiano Ronaldo. Fergie said that the United fans will warm up to that boy. I don’t know honestly if everyone will warm up to him, but considering the situation we’re in, it is sort of ironic to see that most United fans could shed a sigh of relief at his return ahead of Chelsea because of the way we got off the blocks this season.
Make no mistake, Ronaldo’s return is very significant. I just hope the boy doesn’t succumb to impatience in rushing his comeback and thus subject his ankle to a longer term injury.
In team news, Scholes is suspended for his volleyball antics against Zenit. Anderson, Hargreaves, Possebon and Fletcher remain our midfield options. I can’t really be sure of Hargreaves’ fitness — so we’ll have to wait and see.
If Berba doesn’t play then our tactics should be straightforward. We’ll play a flat 4-4-2 with Tevez and Rooney playing upfront. SAF could play Giggs on the left (because he loves Giggs) and Nani on the right. Ronaldo could always come off the bench if Giggs doesn’t impress. Personally, I’d take a fit Park over Giggs.
In midfield I would play Anderson and Hargreaves (if he’s fit). If Evra’s absent, then O’Shea would play there with Fergie surely going for experience by playing Brown and Rio in the centre. The right back would be a big question mark. I don’t think Fergie rates Neville that high anymore. It’s sad that his United career is taking such a path, but such is the game and if he’s not up to it, then even Fergie’s loyalty to his old charges won’t help him.
EDIT: Still hungover from the Liverpool defeat, I somehow thought Vidic would be absent from today. He’s not, and I suppose we’ll play a back four of O’Shea, Rio, Vidic and Brown.
About the opposition, Rossi is ruled out which is a shame because I was looking forward to seeing him play against us. Other than that, familiar foe Bobby Pires is back for them. They cannot be underestimated because they play very well as a unit. Rooney was red carded in an encounter in the ill fated 05/06 season and it would be some thing he’d want to set right.
Right, on to my predictions for the day: United to win 2-0.
Come on you reds!!!
Related items from Red Rants:
- Porto it is then…
- Man Utd v Stoke: Preview
- Man Utd v Everton: Preview
- Man Utd v Spurs match thread
- Rooney Out For A Month
Tags: UEFA Champions' League
Opti (541)
Stephen (479)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Craig Mc (345)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
HOW ARE WE NOT INFRONT???
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ladies and gentlemen boo all you want, but we are a one man-ish team, this one man makes this team have that va va vooom and they become complete
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@Mr.Muhozi: exactly
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the referee in the Celtic match is a shambles. He sent off the wrong player after Samaras was tackled while clean through
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WTF Evans!
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what a fuckin sitter. HE looks pish, weak soft looking lad.
Fuckin hate watchin rooney whip in shit crosses to nobody….its fukin useless
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giggs i love you but, i think it’s time you should retire, do what ole did and become a coach, i have not seen much from you to justify why you are still playing
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a great performance in reality but just not the result to go with it
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game over and the streak is over, i can’t be arsed to do a match report, but we are a one man team, i’m looking forward to sunday, let’s hope we score goals then, not wes brown own goals
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a girl can kick the ball better than Anderson…
Ronaldo brings some kinda magic into the team… We created more chances when he came on…
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@Mr.Muhozi: To be honest, Ronaldo didn’t do much when he came on, but it lifted our whole team. It’s almost as if everyone believes they need him to win now. Rooney esp came alive in the last 25min…
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We are a one man team. Ronaldo was the only reason United gave Villareal problems in the second half. Neville’s crossing is as good as Vandersar’s long kicks – atrocious. He lacked the confidence to execute what used to be his most potent attacking contribution. Nani’s crossing was equally bollocks. His corners and freekick were all off target. Giggs tends to seem lost in the game. He dribbles into no man’s land, and lags when it comes to making the crucial pass or touch. He still has a bit of pace left in him, but not the agility Ronaldo has when it comes to unlocking defenses.
The only takeaway from this is that Ronaldo is back – and that means fluidity once again. It’s his short bursts of energy in his runs that draws the defense to him and opens up the play. He doesn’t need to dribble all the way to the goal, but his runs creates space so even he can pass defense-splitting balls (e.g. to Rooney, who set up Tevez, only for the ball to be hacked off the line). We need Ronaldo’s fit the entire season, just like last, if we are to mount a challenge on any front. He is our catalyst. He’s the man to get us going, and for me, he didn’t disappoint today; not at all.
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Hmmm, bit of a non event that however I would still would expect to get out of the group fairly easily. From a positive point of view the team looked to have a lot better shape and structure today and of course Ronaldo is back. Probably doesn’t even merit proper ratings so abridged ratings with smilies today.
VDS:
Nothing to rate.
Neville:
Crap crosses to midgets = no goals!
We could probably just copy his rating across every week
Not much to judge but happy enough to put him in at the weekend.
Good attacking threat down the left.
Ferdinand:
Evans:
Evra:
Park:
Give the man a penalty!!
One of his better games, normally does not boss games like these but did very well today.
Didn’t really notice he was there (no bad thing for a DM in this type of game to be fair).
Inconsisent.
Fletcher
Hargreaves:
Nani:
Tevez:
Would have used a throwing up smiley if there was one. Poor.
Ok, helped alot when Ronaldo was on the pitch to link up with.
Rooney:
Subs:
Some inconsistent and wayward passing at times.
Meh, same level as the man he replaced.
Thank god he’s back!
Anderson:
Giggs:
Ronaldo:
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I have no words for Tevez…..I mean wtf is this??????
grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
touch and re-touch re-touch re-touch re-touch and then shoot………WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?????? Thank gid we bought Berbatov.
Giggs , go to your home play the old editions of Pro Evolution Soccer so as to remember what you were like some time ago…..Please mate……….Some time ago you could lead Wales to wins…..Now you cant’even cross the ball if you re marked
Rooney you re the best my man…..Loved it when the stadium chanted his name
Ronaldo , I’m sorry to say this (cause u re a little cunt) but we need you to win…….even if it is only psychological factor ….we need you….
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@realred: @OllieY:
Have you guys been watching the same gane as I’ve been watching?
Park’s been good, not great, but certainly not bad. In fact he definitely brings more to our creative play than Anderson, or even Fletcher. The way he times his attacking runs also means that he’s always lokiely to get fouled by his immediate opponents and think about what that means when we’ve agot a free kick in a good position with Hargo or Ronaldo the almighty slave in the team…
As for Evans, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by his performance!
OK he may not have shown much defensively today (or correct me if some of you have, bad tv reception), but he looks comfortable on the ball, perhaps more than Brown, and certainly looks a threat coming forward, a la Vidic! THe fact that he did not score on these two occasions (one on a corner) does not diminish the fact that he has good positioning going forward, something which Rio the best defender in the world is actually quite poor in.
On the whole an encouraging performance despite the disappointing result
Best player: Nani (or Evra)
Worst player: Hard to tell, its a toss between Fletcher and Rooney, both were a bit underwhelming imho.
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@Nico QB: Whoa, maybe you had bad reception…worst player either Fletcher or Rooney? No way mate! In fact, there wasn’t any standout worst player..just a couple of average performances. However, Tevez was indeed SUPER FRUSTRATING…he does tend to get the ball under his feet many at times, take one touch too many, and then a wrong option pass…tell the guy to calm down a bit!
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Guys remember that we played the runners up of the Primera Liga today, Considering our recent poor form a nil nil draw could be expected, but I take heart from the decent performance. Sure Ronaldo makes all the difference, but I thought that we could have scored without him.
Question: Should Tevez be benched against Chelsea?
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@Nico QB: That would depend on if Berbatov is fit for Sunday. If he isn’t then there isn’t really much of a choice to be made. And I’m not convinced Ronaldo is ready for more than 45 minutes yet.
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Rooney impressed me a lot. He was creating chances and was involved in many of our best moves. He will go up another level once Ronaldo is back on full song. Really for me Rooney is best when he has someone predatory to work with. Ronaldo fits the bill but im interested how he will combine with Berbatov. I think that game was made for Berbatov
Ronaldo oh my god I got excited every time he touched the ball. But he is still rusty. The tricks aren’t all coming off, her overran a few dribbles, he would have scored those half chances and we’d have won.
Anderson is out of his depth in Europe. Poor passes, can’t shoot, too impatient.
This season Fletcher >> Anderson.
Nani on the other hand is on song. Lots of courage, sweet crosses, has the confidence to toy with defenders and makes space for himself.
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@antsBoy: OK perhaps I was a bit harsh on Roo and Fletch.
Heh, its pouring rain here in Mauritius and that causes satellite TV to screw transmission! 
My view about Rooney is that he was once again running around, showing nice touches, but not staying put as SS which we all know is what he should be doing. Tevez really frustrates the opposition too and I think he, more than Rooney, should be sacrificed as attacking midfield when needed. Because clearly when it comes to making the last pass (that which can end up being an assist) Rooney is miles ahead of Tevez.
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@Nico QB: I didn’t think Rooney pulling wide was too big an issue today because we were piling good numbers of players into the box to compensate.
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@Nico QB: Fuckin abysmal. I was sat down with most of the crowd for long periods, nothing to shout about at all. My mates and I left before Ronnie came on, because we wanted to get a shotgun and feckin shoot Rooney, perhaps a few pellets up his arse might have got some decent response out of him. I have never left United early, but I was just feckin sickened. Rooney should be benched against Chelsea, because he has really played garbage for United for some time now. I am sorry Rooney fans, but it’s a feckin fact. We had wide players today, so why wasn’t Rooney in the striker position he should have been in?. My girlfriend thinks its her birthday, I returned home early, and didn’t call in the pub on the way. I was depressed though
. Well couple of glasses of wine, and early night, I should feel more friendly in the morning 
.
By the way Jaywire, your oft quote Viva Roovez – no feckin way Bro on tonights showing.
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Frustrating, but much better than we’ve seen before. Ronave made a serious impact, could have come in sooner. We had endevour but lacked the sharpness infront of a very packed defence. I expect this to come though, missed Berba tonight i thought. I hope he’s fit for the rent boys. Make no mistake, this is our hardest game of the season. Great reception from the crowd for Ronaldo, his appearance lifted the team. He is our catalyst and he added impetus and drive to our attack.
We definitely could have done with 3 pts but on the whole, after a draw at celtic park, we’re alright. Its a slow start, but not looking too bad. I didn’t understand why we had no striker on the bench tonight! What the fuck? Plan b was Ronaldo, who isn’t match fit. What about Manucho? Surely some of those crosses which made it, would have been better served with someone tall in the box on the end of them! Even O’Shea!!
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@colver: Colver Bro, were you at the game perchance, because Rooney was so not what you described. Everyone was pissed off with him where we were sitting. But Tev too caused a lot of frustration tonight. Evans – bloody good, but then he is one of the fighting Irish
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@JB: Yep I guess you’re right.
On the one hand I see Rooney as more essential to our team play despite him being poor in front of goal, on the other Tevez brings a physical harassment which I’m looking forward to piss the hell out of EBJT.
Oh, the sweetness of selection dilemmas!
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@ Criag Mc : But it wasnt as bad as you described. AS JB said above, there were many people in the box anyways.
And Rooney does not have to nail himself onto the six-yard box to please you, he and Tevez usually take turns to be the final striker. So your depression is indeed depressing
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@Craig Mc:
If you had stayed for the last half hour and given the boys some encouragement you would have seen some better attacking football to get you on your feet and im sure you would have left much more optomistic than you have! See if you can watch the 30mins somewhere then make your better judgements. Only player I thought was poor tonight was Neville. Best player on the pitch? I’d prob say Nani even though he drifted in and out the game, I though he kept the ball better, was more direct and put some dangerous balls over. Would love to see some consistency from him this season and I think Berbs will thrieve on his delivery.
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@rg: Well thank you professor. I take it you were at the match then Bro?. There may have been many people in the box mate, all but the people who should have been in there. Rooney should be in or around the box, he’s a feckin striker supposedly, not a defender or winger.
Perhaps things improved in the last 25 minutes after we left rg, when Ronnie the maestro came on. We were listening to Radio on the way home, and all the commentators were continually saying that Rooney needs to decide what kind of a player he really is. If he is a striker, he should be round and about the 18 yard line to be effective, but is he wants to work himself into a frazzel running here there and feckin everywhere box to box, then he needs to become a midfielder and United replace him with another striker. Both Paul Parker and Alex Stepney said on MUTV after match debate, that Rooney needs to be benched for a few games, until he comes into form again. So it is not just me being biased is it rg?. The professionals agreed Rooney is not doing it at the moment for UNited. Any by the way, you seldom here any of the pro’s on MUTV say a player should be benched, but they felt so and said so after tonight. They recognise he has not been how he can be for a while. By the way rg, its amazing what a few glasses of wine and a few cuddles of sympathy from the GF can do to cure the depression
.
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@JB: @Craig Mc: @phoenix red: HA! Your differing views of Rooney just sums up my half frustration about him. Somehow I cannot picture Tevez as establishing himself as a long term (more than 4 years) at Old Trafford as his playing, all be it very good, was just him doing his stuff on his own.
Rooney on the other hand is vital to our game, yet somehow he manages to disappoint by being played out of position. Wonder if the next manager will be able to sort things out his game to make him fulfill his formidable potential.
And Phoenix Red, definitely agree with you, the game was just begging for Manucho to be introduced. And also I think its now absolutely clear why Possebon should be ahead of Anderson, for the momeent at least.
Oh, and finally where’s Andrei when we need him?
In 20 min his claim of Rooney – better than Ronaldo was put in recipient filled with liquid concrete, allowed to solidified (with the occasional small whiny little “Roonemmphh bttpphh than phhnal…….”) and dumped down the depths of some random river … 
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Has the Grog taken some more time off?
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@Craig Mc: Just one point on that, Paul Parker is a know nothing, rent a quote, fuckwit………. for want of a nicer description
As for the bit about Rooney being a defender, he may have pulled out wide on occassion but he wasn’t haring about in the full back positions today.
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@Ryan: Mate, were you at the game. I have never left a match EVER before the end, but all the lads were so feckin frustrated, and I was riding with them in the one auto, so had to go when they did. I was happy to go anyway Ryan, because it was just another of a series of NOTHINGNESS games. Our staying and cheering wouldn’t have made any difference to the result mate. Fergie should FINE Rooney and Tev £1000 quid every time they miss a sitter, or shoot off target when they have a free shot on goal. Either they would finish the season penniless, or we would AT FECKIN LONG LAST see the ball in the back of the net more
.
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@JB:
I think with Rooney, if we had a central striker i.e, Ruud, Saha, now Berbs in a central striker position then you dont mind him pulling wide, dropping deep as much but when he plays with Tevez(who also disapears wide and deep) it leaves no striker in the box which is when we all think – why the hell is he out wide when he should be in there! With Berbs I dont think it will be as frustrating if either Tevez or Rooney disapear wide because he will stay central and push on the last defender and always be a target for us in the box. Did that make any sense?!
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@JB: It wasn’t just Paul though, it was Alex Stepney and the radio commentators too. As for not playing in defence, JB he was in Nevilles position 2 or 3 times
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@Craig Mc: Hahaha I read my coment back and wondered if you would take it as a dig! No offense meant as I know from reading on here that you obviously spend alot of money following united and going to most of the games. But with Ronaldo due to come on surely you would have wanted to see what kind of effect he was gonna have on the game?
4 competative games in and Fletcher is still top goalscorer
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@Ryan: It makes sense and I do agree to a point. But when we are playing well, players are fluidly interchanging positions and we are scoring plenty of goals then everybody gushes over the flexibility of the team and ‘Total Football’ etc. Yet when we are playing badly some of the lads get lambasted for moving away from the designated positions. We can’t have it both ways.
@Craig Mc: If the play develops so that Rooney is the only one available to fill/support at right back would you rather he stood watching and scratching instead? The issue is those daft 60/70 yard runs he makes after players when he looses the ball and don’t recall any of them tonight.
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@JB: Yea I think with Neville’s lack of pace now he had to cover him a few times!
The flexibility and movement of the side works best when Ronaldo joins those 2(the holy trinity!). That was obvious to see when he came on. I think with Ronaldo now back and Berbs only going to get better these negative discussions will be a thing of the past…..
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@Ryan: Well if we can get out of SB with a draw then the fixture list starts to look a bit nicer for a while so hopefully we can build up a bit of momentumn then.
As an aside what back line would people go for on Sunday?
Brown, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra
or
Neville, Ferdinand, Brown, Evra
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It was awesome to see Ronaldo come on today. Because the team had begun to look sluggish and Villarreal was feeling themselves more and more. From the looks of things on TV, Ronaldo got the rousing praise and reception that he has earned to show how important he is to us.
It’s time for some of you to face it. We are simply not the same team without Ronaldo. We are sluggish, sloppy and non-threatening. With Ronaldo, we have the piece that makes our steamroller crush all in our path. The movement is better, the attack is more fluid, hell the players even look more excited when he’s on the field. He created 2 opportunities that on any other day would’ve been goals (one of which was thwarted by a great hustle play for a Villarreal defender)
The whole Rooney>Ronaldo thing was nothing but a farce and a joke anyway and if anyone believed that then I question their intelligence.
We head to Stamford Bridge, hopefully to take 3 points.
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JB, we had Park and Nani to fall back and support their fullbacks tonight. So Rooney had no business being out there. When he moves out there, our WIDE players (who are better than the Roon from the wings), have to then move inside to take up positions they shouldn’t take up. Are we saying that all thr ex pro’s are wrong too, because they were all saying it. Rooney should be up and around the 18 yard line, and not all over the place but where he should be. My complaint is JB, the Roon isn’t where he should be when he should be. The great game he had for England recently, was because Capello was up his arse and after him to keep his discipline. Joe Cole admitted that Capello kicked his and Wayne’s arses to stay where they should be. I give up anyway, let him do whatever, because some of you don’t seem to be too bothered about the shit he is dishing up lately.
Ryan,
, I wasn’t offended by it bro, in fact I appreciated the empathy of depression you felt with me, not that you were depressed by the game 
, but that you felt depressed I was depressed, SO FINE mate 
.
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@Ryan, yes i agree with that. We have two similiar types of player with tendencies to do frustratingly similiar things. When you add Ronaldo as an attacking trio, it makes more sense. But for me Rooney > Teves(it was a toss up tonight!) ,Rooney can be very frustrating when he’s out of position, but has better vision than Teves. Add Berba into the mix, and we shouldn’t have this problem. Rooneys’ game needs someone to feed off.
Team for Chelski
VDS
Brown, Rio, Evans, Evra
Ronaldo,Hargo,Scholes,Nani
Rooney
Berbatov
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JB. I just read back thru my last post, and I think the wine is hitting the ole head now
. The he isnt where he should be, when he should be where he isn’t. I know it sounded like double dutch on read back, so if you can’t understand it, I fully understand Bro 
.
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@JB:
I wouldnt go with either i’d choose -
Hargreaves Brown Rio Evra
However I think with Carrick out Hargreaves will be asked to do a job on Deco/Lampard in the middle of the pitch so if I had to choose i’d prob play Neville just because of his experience.
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@Craig Mc: What I’m saying is that when that works everyone goes on about how the fluid formation confuses the opposition, makes us hard to work etc. When it doesn’t it is Rooney’s fault, the big oaf. Also worth noting that his excellent game for England had him in his preferred position, not shunted about to accomodate Berbatov and Tevez.
Incidentally the Telegraphs positional data had him virtually dead centre (and most advanced), with a preference for linking up with the left hand side of the attack.
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@Ryan: I agree, I dont think we can afford to have Hargreaves back there given Carrick’s absence. I also think that Fletcher can consider himself unlucky if he is dropped (which he probably will be) for Sunday.
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@Craig Mc: Thats ok, I think I got the jist of it
Hmmm, time for a Becks I think 
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@JB: I agree with that JB, and that’s why if you remember I refused to criticise him after the L’Pool game or games where Fergie has played him on right or left side of midfield. We criticised him tonight, because he was supposed to be in his preferred position, but little played there. Whatever the Telegraph says bro, we were there, we SAW IT
.
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@JB:
I think you could see Fergie match Chelsea and go for a midfield 3 of Hargreave Fletcher and Scholes with a front 3 of Ronaldo, Berbatov and Rooney. Of course it all depends on Ronaldo’s and Berbs fitness….
Just thinking about it I wouldnt be suprised if Giggs is chucked in the mix somewhere……
I’ve not even mentioned Tevez, Nani, Park or Anderson….. shit we have a strong squad when all fit and available…..
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@Craig Mc: I have to disagree, his preferred position is where Tevez was tonight.
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@Ryan: Mate if Giggs is in before Nani, then Fergie deserves for us to lose at Chelski. O heck, I’m being summoned
, gotta get to bed. Night Ryan, JB, and all. Talk again soon 
.
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