Jan 03
Ode to a Prince
The Dutch appreciate space more than any other, centuries of foraging for their own has given them an undeniable sense and acute awareness of space and how best to utilize it. In his tremendous book “Brilliant orange” David Winner marks space as the unique defining element of Dutch football. Flexible space was the mantra of one of the greatest club sides ever seen, the hypnotic rhythm of Ajax led by Cruyff et al passed and moved their way to three consecutive European cups, and as one casts their eyes over the current European champions it is that same special awareness that is the hallmark of a ginger beacon that has shone at old trafford for more than a decade.
There is something magnetic about watching Paul Scholes kill a football with his in-step, move away from the plodder hunting him and then play a simple pass which will inevitably roll onto a team-mates foot. “Fantasti” or the controller is what the Italians used to describe Gianni Rivera; Maestro is the only apt word to describe Scholes. A player so horribly under-appreciated by some of fleet streets finest that it verges on criminal, He has been the finest midfield player in England in the past fifteen years yet he has no individual awards to show for it. No matter, he has delivered moments of mesmerising motion that will live long in the memory, three of which best sum him up.
There have been so many seminal Scholes moments, many involving the perfected volleying technique so devastatingly shown against Bradford and more recently Aston Villa yet the three do not involve goal scoring, strange as that may seem given his penchant for the spectacular. The argument for Scholes being an all time great is based more on his peripheral vision then say that arching arrow which broke Catalan hearts. The first is the most recent and is the most simple in both its premise and execution. Wes Brown is taking a throw-in twenty metres in the Chelsea half in the 2008 Champions league final, He throws it to Scholes who is being heavily marked, Scholes nonchantly flicks back to Brown who returns the favour. Scholes is now backed in with Brown on the move. Any other would have controlled tried to turn and win another throw-in, this is not any other, Scholes darts a flick between two Chelsea players to send Brown into an acre of Dutch heaven, the rest is history. It is a moment already forgotten by most yet this simple flick could only be executed by Scholes. It was understated, almost modest yet it was compelling.
The second moment is again from this year Champions League, this time in the hostile environment of the Olimpico in Rome. Scholes finds himself on the left-hand side of Roma’s penalty area, he and every other united player is surrounded by the suffocating Italians, Scholes clips a cross over the penalty spot to no-one in particular or so it seems, Cristiano Ronaldo arrives like a steam train to shudder an unstoppable header past the goalkeeper. Ronaldo’s header is heroic but his superman act would never have taken off without the perfect human launch pad.
If there is one moment to encapsulate the celebration of pure technique that is Paul Scholes then it was surely conceived in the mammoth Champions league semi-final tie in April 2007 between United and A.C Milan, Losing 1-2 to the Kaka inspired giants, United were on the ropes. Cue the ginger prince, picking the ball up just outside Milan’s box the options seemed bare, until one swish of a right boot scooped a delicious lob over the hapless Nesta and onto the onrushing Rooney’s chest; the rest as always was simple, because the little man makes it so.
Submitted by: Paul Ring.
This is a submission for the Red Rants Writing competition. To take part, click here.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Roy Keane sings a song for Ronaldo
- Moscow, we’re going to Moscow!
- Rangers 0-1 Manchester United: Roo To Be Thankful For?
- Red Rants Writing Competition
- Scholes & Co. Stomp All Over Sailorboys
Tags: Red Rants Writing Competition
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Craig Mc (345)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
It amazes me the lack of individual awards he has recieved in his career, considering twats like Ginola winning both awards in 1999. What the fuck is that all about. Scholes is majestic. Best one touch in the game.
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Very nice article mate,very nice.Individual awards or not there’s only one scholes.how i wish he was 10 years younger. People talk about fabregas but for me it is going to take quite a while before we see a player like that.he is simply a rare breed. I will forever remember that flick against ac milan,pure masterclass. Another amazing fact about him is he doesnt have those pesky agents and hardly gives interviews.brilliant given how the media are all up in the faces of players
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yea, many old trafford players say that hes the best in manchester, not ronaldo. scholes is a master of the game, but because hes an honest player and not greedy, he’s not in the media a lot so he doesnt get recognised. is happy that fergie has englands toop 3 midfielders all at one club. No one can control the game like scholes, pass like carrick, and defend like hargreaves. He is such a shy character paul is, but on the field his presence is known.
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Great article!
I dont really think Scholes cares about individual prizes. I feel that I know the person so well that he wouldnt give a rats arse for a PFA award. He only wants to enjoy himself, to help the team. Says a lot that too! You just gotta luv the guy, he is magnificent. Oh how I wish he was a little younger. 28, 27. Then he not only picked a marvellous pass but also scored tons of goals. Im happy we have the best midfielder in England, it should be so becuase we are the best in England. 
Those three points up there makes me remember back in time. Although I agree that are his best moments, it is also sooo many moer things we can put up there. CL semi final goal vs Barca, many match winning goals during his years and pass against Everton in December 2005, when Giggs scored with that impetious flick. I will never, ever forget that pass. It was truly masterclass.
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This might be highly controversial an ‘award’ that he deserves is to retire the shirt number 18 after he hangs up the boots.Other players deserve this too but there’s no harm on it being the first(this will be the first isnt it?)
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@Nelson: Giggs may retire at the end of the season, Gaz too but Scholes has a contract to 2010. So number 2 and 11 will probably dissapear first.
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@dan(u-ol): Dan mate, left you reply in the last article about the Serbs.
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Terrific article, mate. If you want to know Scholesy’s true worth, ask his team mates or better still, ask Sir Alex. A young Paul Scholes would serenade (that’s his style) his way into any side in the world, but I feel the vision, composure and masterly ball distribution abilities of the current Scholes make him every bit a manager’s dream as the younger one.
As a Red Rants faithful, I surel do wish you make the cut.
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Right now, if you offer arsene wenger Paul scholes to replace fabregas, he will gladly take him,no questions asked.hell he can brake the transfer fee record to get him
, haha!
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Top notch article and it is nice to see a few of the less headline grabbing contributions made by Scholes get highlighted. He may be ageing and a fading force but, in the right arena, the Ginger Prince still has much to give the club.
Quotes about Paul Scholes
@Nelson: If I remember correctly the only person he brings to contract negotiations is his accountant.
@Nelson: I believe the press asked SAF about retiring the shirts of Giggs and Scholes. I believe his response was ‘No that’s bollocks’
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we will all remember the ginger prince. most recently…..i LOVE that winning goal against Barca in the UCL ’08. it was so beautiful that i cried when i replayed it 20 times. most recent disappointment was when he was trying to replicate that Hand of God my Maradona. he will always be remembered. we love you ginger prince
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@Jb.Thats a cold one from fergie.since you are the facts and stats provider for redrants, i would like to get from you the list of players that have worn jerseys numbered 11,14 and 18.hope it aint too much to ask
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@Nelson: That’s a difficult one to answer. Prior to 1992-3 there was no strict squad number requirement in place. The FA required the starting 11 to wear shirt numbers one through to eleven based on their tactical positions. Since then the FA has switched to a persistent squad number system which remains in use to this day and has been rolled out to foreign leagues.
Since the inception of the PL and persistent squad number system Ryan Giggs is the only player to have held the number 11 shirt for United. George Best was the most famous to wear the number 11 shirt previously (although it wasn’t his regular number).
Paul Scholes has held the number 18 shirt since 1996-97 and I can’t think of who else has held it previously. The number 14 shirt has been worn by Jordi Cruyff, Andy Goram, David May, Tim Howard and Alan Smith in recent years.
The practice of retiring shirt numbers is fairly rare in English football. The majority of the cases that spring to mind were awarded posthumously (including West Ham retiring the number 6 for Bobby Moore and Man City retiring number 26 after Marc Vivien Foe’s untimely death in 2003).
Although he put it rather harsly, I agree with SAF’s sentiment on not retiring shirt numbers. Some see it as a mark of respect but I would rather that the legacy of the shirt number continued, as it has been most famously with our number 7’s.
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@Nelson: Adem Lijic will surely pick up the number 18 after scholes?
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Thanks mate. I wasnt serious when i said fergie was cold, i forgot to put a smiley. Still i appreciate your answers.very informative.cheers
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@will. That aint a bad idea but what do you think of ando taking it then ljajic gets the 8.Even Carrick can take it to signify the new ‘pass-master’.
:happy:
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Yeah love scholes, he is the only player who i base my play on when i am playing outfield (i play goalkeeper as my main position). When playing at school, every1 was always trying to be the henry, ronaldo, messis of this world. The player and position i always used to play in and try to copy was always scholes. The central midfielder who made the squad tick. In my opinion the greatest english player this country has produced in the last 15 years, maybe ever. When he was in his prime the only player who was close to him was zidane and he went to madrid for £47million, so maybe you get an idea of how much scholes would have cost a team had we ever sold him. It will be a sad day when he retires because i only see 1 player similar to him and that is fabregas, when he leaves we better have 1 hell of a player replacing him.
Does any1 know when his contract with us ends. I heard him say he has always wanted to play for oldham when his contract with us finishes? Is that correct or was it some other team. I dont know but i swear it was oldham. Anyway great player, love the guy, proper legend.
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BBC says Fergie is offering new deals to G Neville and Ji Sung Park
Talk of old age 
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I love the FA Cup, so far its Man City 0-2 Nottm Forest
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@Man-U-cho: Good, Park fully deserves an extension.
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yep agree with you Man-U-cho, shouldnt we be hurring up with the contract for tevez before offering contracts to nev and park. Nev has been pretty awful all season, although yes he has started to find his form a little bit of late, but still for me he is 3rd choice RB in my opinion as i would much prefer rafael or brown over him.
As for park, well most people know my feelings of him. Maybe i use him as a scapegoat too much, i dont know but there is something about him that really annoys me. Its not his fault, its just that he consistently gets praised for his hard work but his actual footballing ability is so poor he would struggle to get into bottomhalf prem teams. Yes hes a hard worker but he is a pretty hopeless player. I cant believe why fergie is spending time on these deals when of more concern is the tevez deals. If i was manager i probably wouldnt even offer these 2 new deals but im not manager so its not my choice, but i definitely feel we should be finishing the tevez deal before completing any others.
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@Matthew: There is a major difference, all that needs done with Neville and Park is to have contracts renegotiated and extended, generally a fairly routine task for the type of players we are talking about.
Tevez on the other hand has a fee somewhere in the range of £20-32m tagged onto him to extend his contract, along with the complications of making his current ‘unusual’ arrangement into a full time standard contract and an agent that is less than easy to work with. Little wonder his transfer is taking so long and if his fee is at the higher end of the price range I wouldn’t be surprised if the deal didn’t go through at all. I would say that is why the deal is going so slowly, not interference from a couple of routine, low profile contract extensions.
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JB, yeah im well aware about all the bollocks with the tevez contract and i understand where your coming from mate, i just think that instead of spending time on these contracts we should be doing all we can with the tevez contract if that is we want him full time, but the words from fergie tells me we do want him full time.
How must tevez feel when he is seeing 2 players that are a lot lower standard below him getting new contracts and his not even getting discussed. If the club didnt want him full time, then fine fair enough, but ferguson was just saying a few days ago that he would be negotiating the tevez contract as soon as possible. In all fairness anyway neville and park would probably be more prepared to wait for their new contracts because they dont want to go anywhere else. I personally do not feel that either deserve their contracts renewed and the money saved from their contratcs and selling players of their like would raise a decent amount needed to finalise the contract for tevez.
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three nil at home to forrest!!! citeh are a MASSIVE club, gonna turn Manchester into Milan dontchaknow!
The even better news is an extra game for Chelsea as they drew at home to Southend!
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Nice article. Nice to see something written with some flair and appreciation for history. Well done.
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@Matthew: Well you will get virtually nothing for selling Neville because of age/injuries and Park because there is only a year left on his contract.
You are also assuming that the club is incapable of negotiating more than one contract at once, it’s not as if there is only one person working there
As I said, neither Neville or Park are likely to be particularly difficult to agree contracts with so why should they be detracting from the efforts for Tevez. SAF said in the same interview as he mentioned Park/Neville contract extensions that they were trying to bring Tevez’s contract forward.
Sorry but I had a similar argument with a couple of people this morning elsewhere and I find the reasoning that Neville and Park getting contracts means we aren’t trying on Tevez is absurd.
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Jb, im just looking at it from tevez’s point of view, how must he be feeling when he sees 2 players that in my opinion are not good enough for us any more being offered new contratcs that i think they hardly deserve, and in tevez’s mind he will feel like they want to sort their contratcs out before his. I know about all the fee and that needing to be sorted out, but we knew about that when we first loaned him. If i am honest if it meant us loosing nev and park for the permanent transfer of tevez then i would prefer we got tevez in than those 2.
I hear fergie saying that park and nev have been excellent, well i have to disagree with him there. Neville has been abysmal, an 18 year old kid in his first season over here has outshined him and he looks nothing like the neville of old. I know he had a terrible injury but he looks nothing like his old self. Some players never return back to their best and i think he never will and for him to be given a new contract in my opinion is just out of sentimentality. No way in hell would any1 else be offered a new contract with some of his performances if he wasnt club captain, i think fergie is getting too sentimental in this case and not rewarding a player a new contract because he actually deserves it.
As for park, well he does what he always does, he runs around, gives his all and thats it. Is that really all you need to do to be a first team player at our club these days. He is a squad player at best, but to be our 1st team LM is pathetic. He would never get in chelseas, pools or arsenals first 11 so why does he get into ours even though we are a better team than the other 3. Now that tosic has come in i just feel we have nani and tosic and that is plenty. He is good for all his running around and that but nothing else, you need more than that at this club and i cant believe some people are happy with him playing even though that is all he does.
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@Nelson: i don’t really put significance upon players numbers, more of a signifier to where they should play, i.e. rooney has number 10 so he should play just behind the front man a la the brazilian way. but (perhaps growing up with scholes) as number 18 i have always seen it as an attacking midfielders number which, is what i am led to believe Adem Lijic is, so i’d give him that. carrick and ando are fine with the numbers they have… after all ando showed us last year against shiteigarss and stevie ‘im innocent ‘onest’ G that he could piss the oppostion off by hounding them just like nicky butt still does.
by the by City getting twated at home.. moment of the week? i think so!
closely followed by yet another lethargic performance by joker scolari’s rentboys.. now all we need is preston to stun luckypool and this will be the best start to a new year in a long time!
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@Matthew: If I was Tevez I would be more worried about my form not being good enough to warrant the fee required to make my move permanent. I would also be concerned that I am no longer in the first 11 and so why would the club shell out that much money for a sub? What I wouldn’t care about is Park/Neville as they are getting bog standard contract extensions that are part of the clubs normal business and the impact they are having on my situation is negligible.
Is the issue that you are genuinely concerned that sorting out contracts for Neville/Park is taking away from attention on Tevez? Or are you just pissed off that two players you don’t rate are getting extensions and one you do rate hasn’t had his move made permanent yet?
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@Matthew: i totally agree with you about Park, sure he runs around in circles alot, but then so did Smuge and i dare say its all Djemba-Djemba did when he got a look in. especially as now we have announced Tosic coming in, it smacks of fergie moving to reasure Park of his place in the team, what with another winger coming in… which further worries me about Nani… is he injured as my mate says or has he just been dropped for internal disputes or what? yes his desision making seems a bit inept but surely if you took him to one side and said… i want you to run with the ball as fast as you can and put in a cross.. or if noone else is about just stick a shot in between the posts…. very crude idea but surely with his speed and shot he could get more goals than park… actually sratch that.. it would be too easy as park cannot score anymore.
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Tough luck man shitty.hahahahohohohehehe.how are the live-like-fools doing?
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@JB: park and neville hardly deserve an extension do they? all park has done is displace a player better then him and run around like chicken.
Neville missed all of last season, has come back this season and has been crap tbh, he also cost us 3 vital points against arsenal.
Tevez has been patient and has repeatedly said his future is at old trafford despite being on the bench. He brought us through in the carling cup and got us 3 vital points at stoke.
out of the 3, i only want tevez to sign. but the alleged asking price is outrageous.
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Giggs and Neville should retire at the end of the season
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@dan(u-ol): Dan(u)ol mi man, Scholesy defend/tackle like Hargo – that is the biggest laugh of the century Bro, if that is what you mean. Or did I read you wrong
.
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@RedDevilEddy: Mmmmmm, I’m not so sure Eddy Bro, I think most great players would like to be acknowledged as the best, and receive the awards that go with it. Scholesy will always no doubt feel he has been robbed, as indeed he has
.
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@JB: Park deserves an extension! Yeah Jb, he’s the new water bottles carrier I believe –
. Couldn’t resist the jesting – soz 
.
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@JB: Ho-Hum, pack your bags Tev mi man.
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@Traverse: Man SLIPPY, poor ole Mark Hughes eh. Saw sky news showing Slippy fans all baying for Hughes’s blood.
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@JB: Jb, it was probably the same interview by Fergie on these transfers as I was mentioning earlier. He was very dismissive of discussing the Tevez sorting of permanant contract, because he said they had been trying to get it sorted, but nothing doing. I got the impression to be honest, that Fergie knew more than he was saying, and I didn’t get good vibes from his attitude. So I shall wait and see
. United as usual, are haggling about the price asked, whereas they had agreed the fee when they made the down payment. According to some media insiders, they believe United are now baulking at the discussed price, because they feel he was overvalued intitially. So we will have to wait and see as I said.
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Paul good topic article for discussion. Scholesy has been a master for United all down the years, and England too. He deserves all the accolade he gets. Also the moments of greatness you chose to highlight for us in the article, were very VINTAGE scholesy indeed. Enjoyed the article mate
.
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Great article and JB thanks for the link to that forum in Redcafe. It was great to see the admiration the rival players had for Scholes. I love the goal that he scored against Blackburn in the league in the 06-07 season…
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Award panels may be blind to the truth in front of their eyes but fans and opponents are in total agreement as to his stature. To be so exceptionally good, whilst having no pace and being a modern day Lilliputian in the land of Gullivers is testamony to his sublime touch, his timing and his uncanny vision. His shyness, and oddly enough his terrible tackling only add to the legend that is our Ginger Prince.
A great article about a dying breed. In the 60s and 70s many teams in the English top flight had a playmaker of great technique that controlled matches. A well composed and opportune tribute to our nineties and noughties artist.
Does Park remind anyone else of Kuyt, minus the goals and the strength? Tevez is no bigger than Ji Sung but he is about 50 times stronger.
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@dan(u-ol): No, Park has displaced a player who has performed poorly and regressed from last season. Christ you’d think Park was the Anti-Christ at times
Secondly, although he is starting too often for my tastes, Park is a useful squad member and tactical option to have. So I don’t see the point in letting him go for free.
Finally you make the point yourself at the end of your comment. We are not paying anymore in transfer fees to sign Park/Neville, we are for Tevez (a ridiculous amount at that). Is it any wonder that one set of negotiations are taking so much longer?
@the three Rs: Although Kuyt scores a few more than Park and has improved this season in particular, goals is not a word I would associate with him since he arrived in the PL.
@Craig Mc: I can’t blame them for baulking at the price. The initial valuation seems to be based on Tevez, the three times South American player of the year and the man who kept West Ham in the division almost single handed. He has performed reasonably well at United but not IMO to that type of level.
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Too old and clearly past it, should retire from the team ASAP
@Will: But what do we gain from losing him??? He’s a handy squad player to have and as long as he’s not getting greedy and demanding more, we can as well keep him here, its almost like the people saying we should sell O’Shea when there were interest from other clubs last season, imagine if we had sold him now with Evra and his ban. Neville, I’m not sure about since I think his best days are behind him. And on Smithy, he was clearly a good player before his injury and offered more than just running around. But after that he was on a decline.
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Rd, You’re right, our loyal squad players have been a vital part of our success and have allowed us to pursue all the trophies available in a way no other club in England has managed.
What worries the fans is seeing first team fringe players appearing more than they should and therefore at the expense of perceived better players. Park would seem to get the nod for his defensive reliability but surely that is one of the last things we look for in a winger?
Gary may have picked up his game again – both the defensive side and his crossing were markedly better in the last two games he’s played. He has a lot of positional savvy and should be able to help young Rafael in that regard. He’s been out a long time after that horrible late tackle by Speed that nothing was made of at the time. He seems to take great pride in his performance and if he does not reach a satisfactory standard I suspect he will be the first to know it.
I can understand Fergie giving him time to prove himself but it must be measured. Anelka ran him absolutely ragged and it could easily have cost us and got him sent off into the bargain.
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For those who are interested in knowing more about the serbs can head over to goal.com.I am using my phone so i cant use links.you can view it on manchester united news section. Good night guys
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the three Rs, good points and i agree with you entrirely. Despite what i have said i actually do like park as i think he is very under rated. I would have no problem seeing him play against chelsea tomorrow week and inter at the san siro, but i cannot stand seeing him playing in home games against crappy teams that just sit back for 90 mins. What the hell is his use in these games, we dont need his defensive work, we need a nani who will attack, attack, attack all game which would probably create us more chances and thus more goals. Maybe when fans see us struggling to boro and their like and only getting 1-0 wins we look for a scape goat at times. Some look at berbatov, i look more at the parks and fletchers of this world. It is not their fault really, they just arent good enough to be first team players, they cant really be blamed can they, they just do what they always do but really they should only play in games when we are playing against an attacking team or away from home. Hate saying it but the blame should probably go down to ferguson for playing them in the wrong games in the first place. Us fans just wanna see the right players playing in the right games so by all means play park in games away from home or in champions league games where we may be on the back foot at times but its pathetic to pick him in games when we should be attacking more just because he runs around alot, it doesnt matter in games against the boros of this world because the opposition will rarely threaten us anyway so we dont need the defensive option of park so he doesnt need to play.
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Shitty lose 3-0 at home to Forest, Chelski draw 1-1 against Southend and Liverpool win 2-0. Mixed say. But even though Liverpool won, I must say I have enjoyed today. Not only did Shitty and Chelski humiliate themselves, but i have humilliated many others on FIFA 09. Behold! You are reading the words written by one the top 40 FIFA 09 players in the world! For this month.
Dan, you where right. I am not gonna brag about how my games against you went, but you may understand what position I am in when it comes to FIFA. It is a proud day for me, and I honestly hope United now pick it up. Start with 2 or 3 or more goals against Soton tomorrow and we are gonna see some brilliant football by the most brilliant team in the world. Cheers.
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@Matthew: You see I can appreciate comments like that and agree with them to an extent. To be honest Park has been overused but there are certain mitigating reasons for this (Hargreaves injury, Nani form, putting an extra runner in to cover for Berbatov etc). What annoys me is that the constructive criticism and acknowledgement of Park’s qualities seem to morph into an attitude of ‘he is completely useless’.
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I think Tevez is off at the end o the season unless we get the price down to £20 million.
There is no way that SAF will pay £32million for a player who he clearly believes is backup to Rooney and Berbatov. I just can’t see it happening. Campbell is clearly in his short term plans as he refuses to contemplate the nearly £10mil offers that come in for him.
The only team who can afford to pay the sort of money Joorbachian wants at the drop of a hat in the current climate is Man City, and Tevez doesn’t want to play there. Real just signed Huntelaar, Barca don’t need a striker, Arsenal don’t have money to buy one.
Maybe Chelsea? They just made £15 mil for selling Wayne Bridge (if thats what he’s worth then I am worth at least £7million) and if Drogba goes they’d have the money and an opening.
I’d love him to stay, and he’s scored some important goals, but not only is the fee astronomical but I don’t think we can afford to spend £32mil of our transfer budget on a plan B.
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