Apr 07
Manchester United vs Bayern Munich: Preview
The second-leg of the Champions League quarter-final is almost upon us, and their will be much anticipation over an encounter that could in theory make or break out season. Manchester United welcome Bayern Munich to Old Trafford hoping that the 2-1 first leg defeat can be overturned, and the ‘spirit of 1999’ rekindled.
It promises to be very tough indeed, both teams are dangerous on the attack but also partook in top-of-the-table clashes over the weekend. United lost their encounter with title rivals Chelsea, but Bayern were victorious over Schalke and even played a large part of the game with ten men. So United will be aware of the threat they pose especially with the attacking talent they have.
Looking to stop the Bayern forward line will be Edwin van der Sar, who in the first leg was by far United’s best player and kept us in the tie with a string of wonderful saves.
Supporting the Dutchman will be first choice central defensive partnership Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, who will be looking to dominate the Bayern attack and provide the platform for the attacking players to build. After a couple of below-par displays it seems Gary Neville will not start this evening, in fact, youngster Rafael will get the chance to pit his wits against the likes of Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben. As always, Patrice Evra will be ever reliable at left back.
The midfield will be crucial in deciding the outcome of this match, an obvious statement you would think. But after being dominated against Chelsea and being non-existent in Germany, the United central midfielders have a point to prove.
Michael Carrick should be recalled to the side in place of Paul Scholes, Darren Fletcher will keep his place in the middle along with Ji-Sung Park who needs to provide a more dynamic and intelligent performance, possibly replicating form shown in recent matches against Liverpool and AC Milan in particular.
It will fall to the wingers to provide support to the lone frontman, Antonio Valencia on the right and Nani on the left. The Portuguese was exciting and gave United more attacking impetus when he was brought on at the weekend, up against Philip Lahm he faces a defender who likes a foray into the opponents half, so Nani should look to exploit this trait.
Now, there have been rumours that Wayne Rooney could start the match, making a miraculous recovery as such. The best he can expect is a place on the bench, and this may only be a means to unsettle the Bayern management and give them something extra to think about.
He didn’t train with the team and Sir Alex Ferguson stated he will not be risked:
“No. We have made some good progress with the lad. The medical team have done some fantastic work, but I’m not prepared to take a risk on a player that’s not 100 per cent fit. We’re looking more at the Manchester City game, or maybe Blackburn as a sub. The boy is making good progress, but it’s an ankle injury. It’s no different to any other ankle injury. I can’t take a risk.” Ferguson stated.
As a result, expect Dimitar Berbatov to be in the starting line-up, and let’s hope he can step up to the plate
Bayern Munich on the other hand welcome back their most potent attacking threat, Arjen Robben. The Dutchman missed the first leg and was absent at the weekends game against Schalke, but he is widely expected to start against United. Along with Robben, Bayern welcome back midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger, who missed the first match through suspension.
Mark van Bommel was fantastic in Munich and will look to use all his experience and dominate the midfield once more, but Bayern coach still sees United as favourites for the tie. When asked, he retorted,
“Yes. They have scored an away goal and they are a great team. They have a lot of experience playing big games at home and of course, they will have the support of the crowd. Our team is quite a young one in that it consists of young players, so that is a different situation.”
Lets hope the lads can get the job done and a trip to France can be booked at the end of the month.
Prediction: 3-1 United
Probable Line Up: van der Sar, Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic, Rafael; Nani, Carrick, Fletcher, Park, Valencia; Berbatov
***
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- It’s Owen Hargreaves…again
- Bayern Munich vs Manchester United: Preview
- Hargreaves’ Injury History Is Shocking
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (541)
Stephen (479)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Craig Mc (345)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
@colver: For a few years now this club has managed to win a lot despite there being two major weaknesses on the team. The fact we have not had a RB we can fully trust and also a central midfielder that can partner up with Fletcher and close down opposing teams and literally take the pressure off our back four. I personally think if Feltcher were teamed up with an emerging box to box superstar in Jack Rodwell, a lot of our defensive woes would go away. Instead we are stuck with the slow and plodding Carrick who can add being careless to his CV, a complete muppet with no defensive skill and no attacking skill other than being able to use his big ass to protect the ball in Anderson, an over the hill and well past expiry date legend in Paul Scholes and then there is Gibson who has his moments but does not have the total package.
United need to address this problem because it is killing us against good teams that like to attack and it also hurts us against minnows who park the bus and we search for a player with the vision and finesse of an Arteta or Fabregas to deliver the telling through ball, or lob chip to an attacker who gets behind such a wall of bodies. We need a midfielder who can track back and help Fletcher sweep up trouble and enforce a physical presence but then have the ability to start a counter and show up in the box for the occasional header or volley.
As for RB, well I think the future will belong to Rafael. The talent is there if not the maturity and experience. The problem is the team needs a quality caretaker to man that position for a majority of games but who is also better than Gary Neville, John O’Shea or Wes Brown. That’s not that tall an order if you ask me. I am personally tired of watching our fullbacks continuously getting skinned and also being caught out of position. I can forgive Evra because he does go on long runs where he is great but those odd game where his form just deserts him also concerns me. Fix these problem and i think the club looks much better and much tougher to score on. Yes we could use another striker but still, goal scoring hasn’t been this team’s biggest problem this year. I think our defensive play has been much poorer than many would like to admit. I think Rio is showing his age and Vidic even had his bad run of form and injury to deal with. EVDS is 40 for gods sake and he really should not be counted on as much as he is.
For a club as great and as prestigious as United, having to rely on players like EVDS, Neville, Scholes and Giggs is a bit embarrassing. This kind of nonsense never existed up to about three years ago. Fergie was always quick to offload aging players or malcontents. He was not one to fall to sentimentality. He was always looking for ways to make the club better by adding a few great players every year. Some of them worked out and some were busts, but the effort was there.
Now we are in a stand pat mentality because of our owners attempt to extort every dime form the club before they are finally forced to get the fuck out of England. And this is a situation I can no longer tolerate. I am not a West Ham or Bolton fan, I chose Manchester United 35 years ago for a reason. I have been very die hard supporter for the past 20 years for a reason. I knew the club had a desire to win, play entertaining attacking football and always replenish itself with great players. I never bought in to the present state of affairs and so I personally feel betrayed and let down by the club, Fergie and especially the Glazer’s. I’ve personally had enough. It hurts to be a United fan today because I have been spoilt rotten by this team and frankly I want to keep on gorging myself but the buffet is running out of food it seems. It used to be an endless supply of goodies but now I find many heating trays empty and nobody is restocking them. Sad times these are, but perhaps an unknown Mexifry striker will be the our saviour. Whoopie Ding! Yet more bargain basement bonanza’s.
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@colver: When did diouf and obertan become flops? Every new signing can’t hit the ground running like Valencia.
Now if you want to talk about flops, let me introduce you to dimitar berbatov…
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: He doesnt look that short, well hes taller than Rooney and looks good in the air. Lets not forget height doesnt equal good in the air,ie Berbatov. If he can play he can support Rooney I think. Well anythings an improvement on Berba. Man I hate the way he plays!!
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@Traverse: Better them than us I guess. All I know is it could have been us who were going to lose 4-0 in the final this year. It’s not and I am sort of relieved.
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@Johnsom33: Well said!!
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@Will: Oh right, thanks for that info mate!
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@Traverse: I really don’t care what you think mate. I know in my heart that our club is not nearly as good as it once was and that we lost to a good Bayern team but a team that was in theory and on paper inferior to us. What does that say about us or any ambitions for the future that we may carry with this present bunch? Bayern are good but not great. They have several holes in their lineup and those holes were not exploited at all in the first game. Why wait until you are at home and 2-1 down to realize that attacking with our wingers was the secret instead of starting useless gits like Park who offered up nothing creative. The best team doesn’t always win if the manager hasn’t got a clue? And poking fun at Bayern at my expense because i am known for supporting them is low and just shows what poor losers many United fans are and they have the gall to make fun of Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea fans for being carbon copies.
What this blog and all United blogs need is a wake up call and a reality check. It’s one thing to be a passionate supporter. It’s another thing to be a blind biased and hopelessly naive supporter. Stupidity is not something I personally would like to carry around and flaunt. Apparently many United supporters do. The truth sucks.
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@Grognard: Thank you Grognard for seeing the bright side to a bitter defeat.
Let Barca rule europe this season and let’s get better next season and challenge them again. No way we can compete against a 200 million dollar team with our meager 20 million + Berbatov
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: I personally love to polish my stick. I like it having a nice sheen when I ram it up doubters backsides.
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@rsg: I’m not mentioning berba anywhere in the bad formation. Many times we’ve played poorly with rooney in the side as a 4-5-1.
The problem there has nothing to do with the striker, but with the midfield’s tendency to drop deep and defend a frail lead, when it should have really been ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK!
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: My big worry is that we will not be better next year unless substantial money is spent to improve the club’s weaknesses. Until that happens I’m officially pessimistic.
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: I hate when United spend 5 million here and 6 million there on forlorn hopes. I’d rather combine that money and buy a much better and proven player. Enough with the kiddy corps, has Fergie learned nothing from Wengers failure?
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: If you think that trophies are won by spending massive amounts of money, I have nothing to tell you.
Spending, yes, but within reason. Just look at city and madrid. What more proof do you need? And until a week ago, most people agreed that last year’s barca were better than this year’s. (Ibra = Eto’o+40million? No fucing chance!)
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: Benzema will cost a hell of a lot more than 3 million, trust me. He will probably be sold for just under 20 million. His value isn’t that diminished because he is sitting on the bench of a team that has a stacked lineup. No real shame in being forced to sit due to Higuain. But i think he will ask to leave and that he would now be very open to moving to United. This alone would give us a great chance in securing his services if we indeed had the money. A major IF to be honest.
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@Stephen: I am not in charge of one of the most prestigious and respected teams in the world and I am not under any pressure to behave myself like he should. The man should show some class and dignity once in a while. At least on this point I admire Wenger. As for my wanting Mourinho, yes I want him but only when Fergie retires. At times after a loss I am mad enough to wish he would retire sooner like after the last Chelsea game, but my concern with Fergie holding off retirement is that Mourinho will not wait forever and it’s true, I want him to replace Fergie. I see no other man have the confidence, the hubris and the quality to take over a great job but one filled with incredibly high and unrealistic expectations. And trust me, if he knocks out Barcelona in a few weeks time, the demand for his services will be a lot more louder than just my voice. I don’t think he will but just in case he does, prepare for an avalanche of “We Want Mourinho” propaganda to swarm the blogosphere.
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: 200 million team? And who would that be?
Barca’s success, if you’re not aware of this, is built around Xavi, Iniesta, and Messi, all of which cost peanuts.
Their hallmark signings like Henry and Ibra are all expendable imo.
For information, I do believe in the need to break the bank once in a while to secure the signature of a great player; but only when its clear for all to see they are the real mccoy. But throwing about 5 or 6 names of latin players all costing above 20 million is just ridiculous.
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@Johnsom33: Agreed on both points, Obertan needs a run of games, Diouf probably needs a season on loan.
Did anyone expect Berba to score on Wednesday, I certainly didn’t.
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@Grognard: That wasn’t my poinr mate, you said “I am sick of this man always bitching about referees and trying to bully officials into seeing things his way. He is as poor a sportsman as I have ever seen but you know what, no matter what I say about him in moments of rage and frustration,”
I said Mourinho does that as well, so what it is Ok for Mourinho to do that and not Fergie?
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@NicoQB: If I recall, we beat Barca 2 years ago in semis that was with a younger Messi, Ronaldinho, Iniesta, Xavi and Valdes. Then Barca went to the transfer market and bought for 90 million euros: Alves, Abidal, Pique, Hleb and a couple youngsters – last season Henry (bought) did amazingly well for Barca and Pique, Alves, and Abidal are all major reason why Barca are where they are – they shut up shot at the price of 55 million. Alves alone was 35 million euros!
They won the treble for 90 million euros.
Next, they sell (in my book) the worlds best forward Eto’o plus 40 million for Ibrahimovic – horrible decision – but still spent a total of ca. 100 million euros and look set to win the European double.
To say that Barca got their success via homegrown talents is true (they were good in 2007/08 too), but they got their trophies for 200 million whether you like it or not. They are miles beyond us this season and the only way we can keep up is by spending (wisely, I might add!) on quality ST, CM, and GK.
I am not advocating buying / selling half the squad. I want a striker (Chicharito does it for me but a Benzema for 20 million + Berbatov
would be fine too), a good midfielder (break the bank here! ) and a quality GK (Neuer/Adler/Lloris ~ 12 million). Besides, Silva, I do not think I spewed the name of latin players.
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Barcelona_season_2008–09#Players_in_and_out
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Barcelona_season_2009–10#Players_in_and_out
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@Grognard: regarding signing German players, don’t we have 21 year old goal keeper Zieler???
I guess, Fergie is not all out anti-german
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@Grognard: BEEP
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@Stephen: Mourinho is nothing like Fergie. Mourinho shows heat of the moment temper during a game but he also offers a sense of humour afterwards and will complain about a ref by say he got it wrong, not that he needs to lose weight or get his eyes examined like Fergie does. Nobody should let refs get away with murder but Fergie is relentless. He is a class a bully and thats fine if he thinks that gives him an edge. These days however, I do not think it does. Refs are out to get us because of the stink Fergie has created. Mourinho may say things and then he comes out and apologies or tries to build bridges again. Fergie is just a ornery old bugger who could care less about anyone other than himself and his team. God knows he stopped giving a damn about the team’s supporters a long time ago. He just infuriates me right now.
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a mexican huh? i can dig it he has great stats and highlights we shall see how he can do. macheda is a great prospect as well and should see some playing time in roonys absence as we need to score as much as poss
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: You have got to be kidding me right? In 25 years of managing and with all the great players Germany has produced, all we have to show is a 5th string goalkeeper? Seriously mate, Fergie never even sees him or knows of his existence. Now has he ever bought a really great or even passable German player ever? Ask yourself that question. We have had Argentines, Spaniards, Italians, Frenchmen, Dutch, Brazilians and even American’s, Koreans and Canadians on this club but we haven’t had a single recognizable player from a nation that has won 3 World Cups, 3 Euros, and has been in the World Cup final a record 7 times? Just unbelievable if you ask me. If football was run by politicians there would be an inquiry done to see if their was any political incorrectness or bias regarding this obvious slight of a great footballing power.
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Eddyskååå is back!!!
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Grognard I agree with you. As a bare minimum we need a great central midfielder because that is where we always get undone against big teams and it does make such a HUGE difference.
The way we operate in the transfer market it is likely we will sign either Rodwell or Milner this summer (probably as our only major signing…as we’ve bought Hernandez and Smalling midseason). Now that would be an improvement over Carrick and give us an extra body in the middle.
But I would be much happier if we went one step further and also bought a creative midfielder to replace the creative outlet Scholes and Giggs have been giving us the last couple of seasons. Gourcuff or Diego are the names that come to mind.
As for this Hernandez fellow, Im trying to be positive about it. He’s scored four goals in four appearances for Mexico and is on his way to the World Cup. Chelsea and Liverpool were both after him. And all of South America take their football very seriously so he will be able to handle the pressure over here.
The important thing is to make sure Macheda and Hernandez get games, even if that means resting Rooney.
We might as well accept that we are not going to be able to spend big while the Glazers are in charge. So we need to start showing some faith in the young players we do have such as Gibson, Macheda, Hernandez, Obertan, Smalling and the twins.
We also need to start saving up for an expensive world class keeper because that is one position where you need to buy the finished article
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@Grognard: i want to start a campaign NO MOANER FOR UNITED. Mourinho strangles the game and turns neutrals into anti’s. He is gicen too much credit given the playing squads he has had compared to the rest of the squads in the leagues. Mourinho hates Italy because Italians have not given him the credits he craves for. NO MOANER FOR UNITED NO MOANER FOR UNITED NO MOANER FOR UNITED NO MOANER FOR UNITED NO MOANER FOR UNITED NO MOANER FOR UNITED NO MOANER FOR UNITED
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@colver: Would like to see Marek Hamsik at OT
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Grognard, you can add Mexicans to the list now!!
It seems to me we have launched a global campaign to find cheap unknowns to save the Glazers’ some cash. Manucho, Obertan, Diouf, Macheda, Tosic, and now Hernandez!!!!
I don’t think Fergie has an anti-German bias. The problem is that the big German clubs poach the best German talent and do not let go of them. Manchester United has never had much pulling power. The same applies for Spaniards. How many Spaniards have we had at the club? How many Italians have we had?
Manchester United has always sourced its players from Eastern Europe, France, Britain and Holland….and more recently after Quieroz’s influence the Latin countries. We do it because it is easiest to get talents from there and the German clubs don’t get dibs.
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FredtheRed I agree. The problem with setting up with an British central midfield is that possession just isn’t in the vocabulary of British players so you get shown up when you come up against a continental team who know how to keep ball. That is why the English national team despite having players like Gerrard and Lampard does rubbishly. Bringing in a continental to add some creativity and passing ability to our central midfield would be more than welcome. Id prefer Gourcuff or Diego but Hamsik would work as a cheaper option.
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@colver: The infuriating thing is that if you add up all the dribs and dabs, we could have bought ourselves a couple of WC players that would start 30 – 40 games a year for us!!
Pound foolish, but Penny wise.
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@colver: best argument I have seen for buying non-english midfielder. So true. Only exception is Hargo, but he is not really british, eh
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@Grognard: I heard that on one occaision SAF enjoyed a lovely Rhine Riesling with a generous helping of Wiener Schnitzel.
The man is almost half German, mate!!
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: Are we forgetting Scholes too??
I reality, though, there are no top notch English CMF’ers outside of Lampard and Gerrard – and I’m afraid they’re both untouchable!
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@colver: Not to be a party pooper but can you name me 10 recent (last 14 years – so from 1996) german player who were world class but did not play outside of German? To start off, we should have Oliver Kahn, Klose, Lahm,
My point is two-fold:
1. It is not that there is something wrong with us not getting germans, but the vast majority of german stars stay in Germany.
2. When there finally is a world class German ready to leave Germany (i.e. Klinsmann and Ballack), you usually have too much competition for him
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@colver: I doubt Hamsik would be much cheaper mate, he has a maasive reputation in Italy and is possibly more the type needed at OT. I thought our widemen were smoking hot last night and would like to see them and a fit a Rooney playing from the base of a fit Hargreves and Fletcher and a Hamsik, Gourcuff or Diego type pulling the strings, looks good to me anyway
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@colver: In fact if you look at our starting 11 last night, which contained none of the outfield golden oldies, then I think we have the platform in place. Add a couple of quality players to that team last night and maybe SAF is right, it needs a tweek here and there, as long as the tweeks are in the right places.
As for the Hernandez signing, one paper is saying that we moved now because Barca and Real were interested. The kid is being tipped by some to have a good world cup and his dutch club coach recommended him to PSV.
Dont know were some on here are getting the fee of 3 million from, it is stated at being around 10 million.
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@Fred the Red: Diego started out amazingly well with Juve this year but has flopped since… maybe it was injury-related. I drooled over him early on but am giving him the cold shoulder now.
I watched Lyon – BDX last night and Gourcouff is a beast – physically strong and can pass like a putty-cat.
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@Fred the Red: We are a squad made up of either experienced players, who are waning in their skills – or very young players who have some time to go before they can be relied on extensively.
We opted to start with the youth over experience, and of course, it cost us the tie. We are in a twilight zone right now, with no good combination of youth and experience to fall on.
So tweaking doesn’t really help our situation, we need an influx of experience to help the youngsters gain confidence, without putting their feet to the fire in massive games, that we can’t afford to lose.
Rafael’s growth as a player, has probably been issued quite a blow, by the airing of his immaturity on the world stage.
That said, if we all don’t mind watching them progress as players, and the team lose out on trophies perennially, until their coming of age, I guess a tweak hear and there would be OK!!
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OPT you just repeated my entire argument re German players! Glad we see things alike.
Fred I like the sound of your new look team.
But I very much doubt we will buy continental. We always seem to buy British central midfielders (Keane, Ince, Carrick, Fletcher) and the only time we departed from that policy (Kleberson, Veron, Djemba Djemba) we got burnt. So Im sure Fergie will go for either Milner or Rodwell and call it a day. Which is a shame because id love someone like Gourcuff or Hamsik adding some class to our midfield.
Redrich, it was a bad day for us personally, but it is the best possible thing that could happen for Rafael. He has been too physical in the way he plays for some time and this way he learns his lesson. Beckham and Rooney got sent off in important games for England and arguably lost us those games and haven’t been sent off since.
While you are apportioning blame, do not forget the oldies who messed up the first leg. There were no youngsters playing in the first leg and we got completely outplayed. Players like Scholes, Fletcher and Carrick who should no better completely failed to keep the ball in midfield and let Bayern have all the possession. While Neville and Evra made stupid defensive errors.
As for Berbatov he played in both fixtures and did absolutely nothing.
If we had played the first leg properly and got a draw then even with the sending off we would have got through to the semis.
What the hell was Fergie thinking in the first leg taking off two midfielders and replacing them with Giggs and Berbatov when we were already struggling to contain Bayern?
I don’t want to dwell on the Bayern game but I think it is our so called veterans and our veteran manager who have a lot to answer for.
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@colver: The midfield meltdown against Munich (first game) and Chelsea was because the likes of Scholes, and Giggs, and Carrick not doing their job, simple as!!
SAF then decides on his only alternative course of action, and plays youth over his aging veterans – whether you think so, or not, Rafael’s sending off cost us the tie.
My point is, that we don’t have a balance of youth with experience – we have either/or. Rafael’s long walk yesterday will haunt him, not teach him. He is struggling to break into our first team and a major faux pas will hurt his selection and his confidence.
You can’t blame the veterans, if they are selected. You can’t blame the manager if his selection possibilities are limited!!
What we can blame, are the circumstances that have led us to have such a thin squad in the first place!!
By the way, you’re absolutely right about Berbatov, although we can’t blame him, we can’t thank him either – can we??
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@Redrich: Im afraid thats what usually happens during a transitional peroid. While you are waiting on young players to mature you get fluctuations in form. Not good if you are spoilt by success, but a necessary evil in the long run. Although I tend to think that 2 or 3 quality additions to last nights starting eleven would keep us competitive, because apart from Barca, we would still beat most of the others on our day. This season was always going to be a good yardstick to see were we are at, and my early season predictions have been proven correct. We competed for the Prem, made last 8 in Europe, but are falling short of what we were. We are at a crossroads, if SAF makes the right decisions in the summer then we will be OK, if he gets it wrong then we could start to slide, but lets wait and see.
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Why is Berbatov not the player he was? How can he come to a better club and play like a decrepit old man. I like the guy as well it’s just a massive shame he’s not the player that he once was.
We should hold out for one more season and see if he settles I think. If he rediscovers his form then we will have an extremely potent attacking force, but right now he seems to just drift off the radar in most games that he’s in. I feel sorry for the guy when I read interviews with him saying how much he fears being a flop at United. He needs to just get over that and try harder than he ever has before.
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@Fred the Red: Mostly agreed, Fred, but I will maintain that a club like ours, with its legacy of success, should not need to wait for maturity to insure it’s ongoing wellness.
We should be investing in our immediate future constantly. As the form and longevity of our players subside, we should not wait, at all, to maintain our high standards. Investing as necessary to keep a constant high level of excellence.
If we just want to have a spurt of success for a few years, and then a hiatus for a few more while we wait for our youngsters to grow, then this wait and see idea could be palatable.
But the thing is, we are United, supposedly one of the top teams in the world. I’m used to things being that way, and if you have to tell me to wait for 2/3 years until things start to improve, I’m not going to take that idea sitting down!!
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@Harry Carrick: He doesn’t have the bottle to play for united. We need to ship him off this off season if want to get any of our money back.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/apr/09/manchester-united-david-villa
nooooooooo, glazers out now!
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@Johnsom33: If you want to get to the truth of any situation, I would say “FOLLOW THE MONEY” – or in our case, “FOLLOW THE LACK OF MONEY”.
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40 million for a 29 year old??? Are we Chelsea, hell no! For 20 million, we can talk.
40 million is stupid money for Villa. That would make the tevez deal look like sensical business.
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@tom: Whatever floats your boat.
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@colver: The two midfielders for me is the way to go. It seems like Fergie has fallen in love with 4-5-1 as well as 4-3-3 so really, with Berbatov, Owen, Macheda, Hernandez and even Diouf, I feel we have more than enough forwards. Forwards are only as good as their supply and even a languid soul like Berbatov would benefit great from a major upgrade in our central midfield. My obvious choices for those two midfield slots would be Rodwell and Gourcuff but David Silva or somebody else with attacking skill and genius would be welcome. Rodwell however is a must. I love his box to box style of play and i think he partnered with Fletcher would be lights out for any creative midfield trying to break us down. Those two would be more than enough cover as well as support for a creative midfielder playing just behind Rooney. Add our two wingers of Nani and Valencia into the attack and rotate them once in a while with someone like a Joe Cole and I see nobody coming close to us in England anyways. The final piece to that puzzle can wait a year and that is goalkeeper. After Fergie’s little tirade against Germans I seriously doubt we will be seeing Neuer or Adler here anytime soon, unless they are playing for the opposition.
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