Nov 07
Man Utd vs Dynamo Kyiv: Preview
I will keep this post short. I really have to. It’s been a tight little day, work-wise, although that shouldn’t prevent me from watching the match today.
Anyway, let’s quickly go over the preview of today’s game and some other random bits and bobs worth pondering about.
Louis Saha is expected to be in the 16 today and hopefully in the starting XI. So either Tevez or Rooney will be rested. Also there is a good chance of Carrick starting with either Hargreaves or Anderson rested. Nani should also start today in the place of Giggs. With Neville out again, this time with a calf strain, the back four will stay pretty much the same as the one that faced Arsenal.
A 4-4-2 formation looks the most logical option. It’s only the starting XI that is worth debating about. Anyhow, a wait for a few hours would give you the answer. (Yes, I know, it was a terribly inane statement.)
Meanwhile, John O’Shea is ‘flabbergasted’ at the longevity of SAF at Old Trafford. While I think it was an outstanding achievement for someone to be at the club for so long. I would certainly not be flabbergasted. You see, the word flabbergasted gives me a mental picture of someone, with his eyes popped out, running around the room like a lunatic. I wish I could say that about Sheasy, but he is too leaden footed to be running around the room.
I may be wrong about my mental picture of the word flabbergasted, but then who cares about that word anyway. It sure sounds ghastly.
Erm… moving on to talking some sense, SAF has called for seven subs in the Premier League. Sven had called for this earlier this week and I can certainly vouch for this. The Spanish League also allows seven subs. And as a Football Manager addict, I can say for sure that having seven players on the bench can make more players happier. Although I will leave this to you to discuss about.
Andrei Shevchenko has tipped United to win the Champions’ League. It’s sad (and perversely joyful) to see a player the level of Sheva descend to such depths in Chelsea that now he has to resort to punditry. But that’s what many failed footballers do these days, don’t they?
And finally Anderson assures us that he is not a diver. To be honest, we did see some theatrics from the Brazilian. But he also seems to be made of sterner stuff than is apparent from his boyish looks. The quotes in the article make interesting reading. He seems a determined lad, especially when he says this on South Americans who failed in United, “I am Anderson, not Veron or Kleberson. This is the difference. Perhaps I have arrived with more ambition than those two did.”
Good stuff from the lad. Hope he continues to walk the talk.
Back to the game, I expect nothing less than a caning from the reds. Kyiv were poor at home last time round. This time I expect nothing less than a caning. Especially since the dippers did it yesterday.
Prediction: 6-0 to United (Although I hope it’s 9-0!)
Related items from Red Rants:
- Dynamo Kyiv vs Manchester United: Preview
- United Stroll Past Kyiv; They Also Hit Four Goals
- Vidic Returns For Kiev | SAF’s Plan Sounds A Little Dodgy
- Man Utd v Stoke: Preview
- Man Utd v Everton: Preview
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Shyam; The key word you used was “ENJOY”. Just because they are professional athletes does not mean that they have to be turned into passionless 9 to 5 database administrators, stuck in a cubicle wishing they had a window view. Kudos to Fergie for not putting shackles on the creative tendencies of one Cristiano Ronaldo. There are times where caution and good sense have to take precedence, but to reduce every match to a slogging move and counter move is awful. What’s even more awful are the numerous fans of the game that tolerate and even support this negative way of thinking. They in fact watch the game like chartered accountants consumed with only one thing, the bottom line.
Before I continue let me first apologize to all Rangers fans and then add my condolences. Clearly your side is not as good as Barcelona, but Walter Smith’s tactics in both games was a crying shame and a disgrace to the game. Why? Because the players and the supporters should want more than just qualifying for the knockout stages where they will be knocked out where they don’t have a hope in Hell of winning the competition anyway. Why? Because they lack the courage (through their manager) to actually attempt to WIN a game. How do you win a football match? By scoring more goals than your opponent. To qualify for a stage where you have no chance of moving forward due to lack of quality and attacking ambition is just prolonging the inevitable. Unless of course you have a system in place that allows you to have two straight 0-0 games and then settling the tie with a penalty shootout. So why do teams play like this, because whether they are a great side or a pretender, they are playing to prolong their stay in the competition because of the money the club will make. This crappy mentality is caused by money and greed. It’s skillful accounting. It’s keeping a business operating with little cost, production and sales. It’s total RUBBISH. And it should be stamped out by the cowards at FIFA and UEFA.
Michel Platini, Sepp Blatter, rather than having more useless little nations or clubs involved in tournaments like the World Cup or Champions League, you should be concerned more about the dwindling numbers of goals that have ruined the game since it’s last great glory period, that being the 1970 World Cup. Lets promote goals and offer rewards for more goals rather than defending them. IT’S A SIMPLE CONCEPT REALLY! Bring back the fun in the game for fans and players.
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Yea ,well grognard its very easy to say that they should come out and play. and do this and that but that is just not the reality of the game.yes we all want to see open games with skill and goals….but for teams that dont have these players what are they expected to do?i dont see messi,ronaldinho,henry and co in rangers.do u?teams like rangers adopt tactics to the situation.in scotland they play open because the quality is way less. but against barca?at the nou camp?no wayz they goin to come out all guns blazing.they would get slaughtered!the reality is teams take the result.what do u expect them to do “we played open football and got beat 4 0?”which sane coach in their right mind would settle for that?
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And for u guys who didnt enjoy the 4 0 rout yesterday.i dont know what u want.didnt u see evra piece of skill?or rooneys?or maybe ronaldos goal?do u honestly expect the players to put in their all for a pointless game?when theres a game on the weekend?for wat?and against kiev?give me a break
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so what your saying is a system, like the amsterdam tournament, where a goal=1 point, it could be something along those lines, or maybe each 10 goals a team gets £50,000 prize money, that way teams would be banging in the goals so they can get funds to by players, or pay salaries
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Taehr; Perhaps teams that can’t compete by actually playing football with attacking intent should not be in the tournament. If it was up to me the Champions league would involve only 16 teams and would be a knockout only tournament where the teams that are drawn against each other play two games total goals and each goal counting for a point. The final would be like it is, one match on a predetermined location. Ths would reduce the Champions League to the workable status of a MAXIMUM 7 GAMES. The league is too long and the fatigue and constant resting of key players during league matches and vice versa is due to the fact that there are too many games being played. Remember how tired and lethargic United and Chelsea looked in the FA Cup. The FA Cup is around 7 matches for the teams that actually get to the final. For me it’s a fair measure of a team and getting a strong result.
Elite tournaments have no reason to allow all Champions. Let there be a secondary Champions League where the winner gets promoted and the team with the worst showing in the elite league gets demoted. If that happens to be a great team that just fell apart in the first round, then so be it. Bayern Munich is not in the Champions League this season. So a top 16 team that gets bounced out early and easily deserves a year in the B League. Simply put I want, no I demand a tournament of TRUE HIGH QUALITY CHAMPIONS, and not pretenders and wannabes. Let the cream of Europe’s crop fight it out and give them incentive to score goals in order to advance through to the next round. As for the final, broadcasters and UEFA should offer financial incentives to clubs and players for goal scoring. If money is all that matters, use it appropriately. For Gods sake, raise the bar of entertainment value before the whole world starts making rugby their first choice. I hope that also answers your question adil alhinai?
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[Taehr] The point is that you play all negative and get beaten 1-0 or 2-0 and make the game boring.
A game becomes entertaining when both the teams comes with a positive attitude and a fighting mentality. Do you remember the first game at 2002 World cup. France and Senegal were miles apart when you think about skill,ability and individuals. Did they use any negative tactics to create that win..Did Benfica beat United two seasons ago with negative tactics?? .To get best out of any player in the world he has to play from his heart and with passion and at the same time “enjoy” what he do on the pitch…This is the keyword for any player in any game – let him be a kid playing football in the streets or a world class player playing on a World cup final….Enjoy the game.. You may lose or win by doing that…but you lose knowing that you gave 100% of your ability…
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Taehr; We played open SLOW football because the opposition was total shit. They had a few half chances that they turned in to cow dung. Milan or others scored with those chances against us last season. It was comfortable evening walk for United. And that’s fine provided they still attempt to attack and try to score, which they did. It was a little dull because of the pace and because the opposition left little to be desired. A good team would have brought more out of the lads. Still, 4-0 is 4-0 and for that I am happy.
One more thing about the game. What I would give for Ronaldo to score a goal like that against a difficult opponent. He really needs to elevate his intensity and find ways to make more of an impact. He played alright against Arsenal and even though he scored and set up a goal, he was absent for most of the match. And he has been absent against Chelsea and top CL clubs over the past year except for the 7-1 game against Roma. Don’t get me wrong I love Ronny, but I think that either he or Fergie have to figure out a way to find him some space in which to operate more during tight contests.
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So just because a team does not (or attempt to) play an acceptable attacking version of the game means that should not be in the CL. Just because we do not like Rangers version of football against Barcelona doesn’t make them any less entitled to take part in the Champions League. You say Walter Smith lacks courage yet perhaps he is a pragmatist/realist who opted for the option that he thought gave them the most chance of taking something from the Nou Camp.
BTW Your top 16 for the CL, is it the Champions of the 16 top European leagues or is there a different criteria for selection.
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http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11667_2866730,00.html
somebody is sniffing some stuff
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JB; Please explain to me what the point is of playing a series of games against one opponent if there is no desire or intent to win those games. What you are saying is that Smith should be allowed to put up a wall to prevent embarrassment. I say he has no business playing at the Nou Camp until he has a team with the quality to compete and to try an out score it’s opponent. Simple concept really. To play for a draw just so they advance is just delaying the inevitable. Do they honestly have a rats chance in Hell of winning the CL with an attitude like that? So why take part in it. It’s totally done as to extend their run to their maximum because they want the money that comes with it. They should be playing for the trophy and for club pride and for the good of the players. What player wants to play that kind of game. To not attempt an attack and defend with eleven men is judt disgusting and it is shameful. Courage is developing a scheme where your team can attack, counter, do something to at least have a few cracks at goal. I’d be a little more sympathetic if they played like that after going in front 1-0. But Smith was never intending on trying to score. What’s even more shameful is that Rangers played the same way at home. That should be considered unforgivable to the supporters, if they weren’t already brain dead and suffering from delusions of grandeur.
The top 16 would be selected by a seeding system based on European rankings. Obviously current and recent form both in their league and the CL would come in to play as well as historical considerations. And no more than the top two teams from any one domestic league.
Enough of this garbage of four or five teams from Spain, Italy and England getting in. You have got to be a domestic champion or a runner up and of course the past CL champion gets a bye in to the tourney.
EXAMPLE BASED ON LAST SEASON’S STANDINGS.
1. AC MILAN (CL champion), 2. INTER, 3. AS ROMA 4.REAL MADRID, 5. BARCELONA, 6. MANCHESTER UTD, 7. CHELSEA, 8. VFB STUTTGART, 9. SCHALKE, 10. CELTIC, 11. PORTO, 12. SPORTING LISBON 13. PSV, 14. OLYMPIACOS, 15, LYON, 16. MARSEILLES,
Only 9 European nations have teams in the tournament but but the nations are based on their quality and the seedings of teams by UEFA and FIFA. Let their be a second tournament of 16 teams with only one team allowed from remaining nations qualified to participate based on rankings. The winner of that tourney would get promoted to the CL. It seems very fair to me and it is also a realistic measure of quality.
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That was a completetely crap performance with some noticable exceptions. No one has said it yet so I will: Ronaldo was absolute muck out there and looked like he had never seen a football out there. That was the least exciting 4-0 I have seen in my whole life and I can’t believe that more people aren’t as disappointed with it as I am.
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Rangers have been landed in the CL group of death and Walter Smith is doing his best to navigate it. Frankly 1 point against Barcelona is a hell of a lot better than I thought they would do. This is effectively a team of journeymen going to play the best passing team in the world in one of the most intimidating stadiums about. Remember this team a few weeks ago let 4 goals in away against Hearts. Realistically Rangers have no chance of winning the Champions League (attacking style or not) but then only 4 teams have a chance of winning the EPL and maybe 8 teams the FA Cup. Even the list you provided for the CL only has 8 teams at a stretch that have a realistic chance of winning it.
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JB; I don’t know if you realized this yet, but you just made my point. Journeyman teams have no chance of winning the trophy have no business in the Champions league. Domestic leagues have to be given a little more latitude because you cannot function with just four teams. They also have longer seasons and thus teams have time to build and rebuild, to improve and adapt. The CL is an elite privileged league. It is not necessarry for it to show political correctness or fairness. It’s for the cream of Europe. If you want I could pick 16 teams that all have a chance of winning it, but then we would only be talking about 4 or 5 countries. Sure Arsenal, Sevilla, Roma and Bayern deserve to be there, but lets be more liberal by having more nations represented. I do believe that those lesser clubs that I mentioned like Celtic, and Olympiakos can actually compete and are not afraid to attack at home and counter attack on the road. The whole point is to give back the prestige to the competition that it should have, shorten the competition and make it much more competitive.
The FA Cup is like the British Open. It allows all teams in all divisions to participate. Hell, there have even been surprises but then again, when you only play one game and somebody has to win, then something has to give. It forces teams to show some offensive enterprise. For me it’s a strong competition although it should have a seeding system that prevents early round meetings between the top 5 or 6 clubs in the EPL. When it’s all said and done the UK and the world still want to see Manchester United against Arsenal, Chelski or Liverpool.
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I’m still busy reading the ‘long’ posts. (I’m at post 60 now but feel the need to respond)
[Taehr]
“do u honestly expect the players to put in their all for a pointless game?”
Is that not the point Grognard is trying to make? It is a Champions League (filled with Champions you know), there should be NO pointless games. The fact that there are, its a problem imo.
Don’t get me wrong. I am happy for the win. I am happy with the lads. But the game was boring.
Perhaps Fifa should look at having a Uefa kind of competition just to enter into the CL, and then a world CL perhaps afterwards. I don’t know. I do know however that the current situation is kinda killing the beautiful game.
Also, somehow goals should be rewarded more.
As for the ‘not wanting to lose’ mentality, I still maintain that the best form of defense is offense.
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[59. Dan]
Forgive them. They know no better.
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Karl.i was talking bout the ppl who were angry with united for not playing on wednesday to their full.i dont think the 16 team champions league can work though.i enjoy games pointless or not and 16 teams would mean less games in a season.no thanks.
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What I meant was have 16 in the CL, and then have another FIFA World CL competition also with 16 teams. That will still provide enough games to enjoy. What do you think?
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pointless games happen everytime; After Casey Stoner crowned motogp champion, the rest of the races pointless. boring for me. expect NOT so boring matches after the group stage.
There are poor sides in CL, but i think it’s due to fifa balancing the participants on region base. if not, ideal World cup for me is Euro cup + Argentina + Brazil + either Mexico or Chile.
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After the G14 clubs , it is easy to find 16 other semi-deserving European clubs to play a home/away knockout tournament to establish the final entrants into the tournament. I’m only using the G14 as an example because they are the 14 most successful and richest clubs in European football. They could be replaced by the 14 best sides in Europe based on the standings of the past season from the major nations in the competition.
Let the 16 semi-deserving teams play their knockout tourney until January, and let the real Champions League begin when the usual knockout stage begins in February. It can be done. After all, it is only a maximum seven games to the tournament final included.
For the 16 semi-deserving league winner and runner-up teams it would be a longer season but
wouldn’t it be worth it. One wins a trophy for winning that competition and then it and the runner-up qualify for the big tourney as well. This solution may not add more goals and attacking flair, but it would get rid of undeserving teams from the competition (while allowing many of them to still attempt to get in)and would make all games meaningful and suspenseful regardless of the amount of scoring. It is vital to make every game in the Champions League important to the competition. Right now the last two games of the group stage mean nothing for Manchester United. That is wrong and poor full of poor logic in planning. I honestly believe my plan works and it doesn’t forget the lesser teams as they all get a crack at competing to qualify for the big show. It’s all about prestige and integrity.
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