Mar 25
Oh Well, Let’s Throw the Kitchen Sink at United
My twitter followers may have been aware, but I was away for the weekend on an important trip, which resulted in me being cut off entirely from the telly, as well as having only brief shots at the internets. The upside from all that was I got to sidestep another rubbish result that somehow contrived to turn, what seemed like another title at a canter, to a sack race that entails much huffing and puffing from here on.
Despite the gloomy nature of losing to Fulham (I can’t believe I’d be writing this after we pummelled them into submission in the cup), I had to see the recorded game at least to see what the boys were upto. I really don’t have much to say on the game though. It seems as inexplicable now as it was when I first rubbed my eyes upon looking at the scoreline.
The loss to Liverpool was something that could be instantly dismissed as a blip had we won at Fulham. But, more than Liverpool, the Craven Cottage defeat would have stung. If anything, it seems to have given other sides encouragement to have a go at us. It’s what rewarded Fulham the other day; home games against Tottenham, Villa, City and Arsenal beckon. A few days ago, we would have dismissed at least half of those names. It’s not so right now.
So should I blame someone? Well, I’m honestly tired of finding people to blame. Because if I start I wouldn’t know where to draw a line. I’ll only say this: I would have expected a response from the United players. What I saw was petulance. And I will say no more, because, as I said I could go on about it.
What I think we, as fans, should do right now though, is to give our wholehearted support to the club and players. This is when we need to absolutely get behind our players. It’s been smooth sailing until Liverpool. Of course, it made me cringe when fans were in for Fergie/Phelan’s head when we had an underwhelming start to the season. But all that’s behind. Yes, we’ve fucked it up ourselves, and we need to get ourselves out of it.
As fans, all we can do is get behind our team as best we can. I’ve skimmed through some of the other United blogs around, and there was a sense of a witch hunt against certain players, some of whom are our best ones. I know they haven’t been perfect this season; in fact, after Vidic’s balls-up against the dippers, no one’s been perfect so far. But I still can’t spew this much venom. Not yet. I was disgusted with some of the conduct of the players on the pitch, and I don’t condone it either. But I’d save my venom for now. We still have the title technically in our hands, and I’ll wait for an actual suicide mission to unfold before I make random utterances of “this player is shite”, and “Fergie out!”
At the end of the day, one would have to hope the experience of the manager in this situation (like us gifting it to Arsenal in 97/98) would help us through this mess.
I feel terribly disappointed about our boys not responding against Fulham, but my kitchen sink will still be with me; I’ve got dishes to wash.
Note: Regarding the slowness of the thread over the past couple of days, sorry, my mistake. I wasn’t near the system for prolonged periods. Regarding the writing contest that was up, certain things came up over the past month that made me rethink some of the things I was doing with the site. I have some other ideas that I thought might be better alternatives. So if my dilly-dallying has offended people, which I’m sure it may have, I apologise profusely.
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- Man Utd v Stoke: Preview
- What Ails Manchester United?
- Ronaldo to Madrid — Again
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (542)
Stephen (494)
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Craig Mc (349)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
The Dutch, German players go down like a hooker on prom night, so saying only Latin players dive is utter rubbish.
Rooney is cetainly one of the top four strikers in this country no doubt.
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@Rahul: Bro – “this isn’t exactly American Idol here” – REALLY? I could have sworn it was, with the mention of Britney Spears and GirlsAloud’s gorgeous Kimberley Walsh
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As for Nani, I was serious about selling the lad in the summer, for his own sake, progression, and playing time, he needs to be the fuck anywhere but United!
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@Stephen: Now Stephen Bro – how do you know so much about how hookers go down on prom nights?
. Your missus could be reading this 
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@Craig Mc: Good point, that post was from another Stephen!! Imposter!!
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@Craig Mc: Its E!news!
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@Craig Mc: I would give Nani a few games, he is the best crosser at the club, we have a 6ft 2 striker why not get some crosses into him?
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Whats with all the noise about Rooney and Fergie’s quarrel doing the rounds??
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My point remains,whichever player we bring in that is not used to the British style of play will be criticized of diving if he is clobbered by the no nonsense defenders.
The days of hard men like keane are long gone so what we have now is a new crop of players that are more concerned about staying fit and their future.Skillful players though.
You wonder why instead of john hatson we have torres,and instead of beckham we have ronaldo?the answer is simple.This league is officially the best.We have the best players and they come with a baggage.
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Was Van Nistelroy a diver?
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@Stephen: FFS Stephen, add something to your signature name for posting, I want to know it is YOU I am talking to. I am so confused just now Bro – so please, add a letter to your name or something –
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Stephen, what about Stephen (not the imposter) sig, so we all know its you Bro
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Capello seems to be getting something out of Rooney that Fergie isn’t and I don’t think it’s just down to the position he’s being given on the field. I love Rooney but I don’t enjoy watching him when his dander is too much up.
I have taught for 32 years and the more recent of those have seen an annual growth of pupils with serious anger issues. The very worst way to relate to them is by out-shouting them. They need a calm environment to flourish. My fear is that Fergie is too volatile for the likes of Rooney and it is the Italian’s calmer approach that has both gained Roo’s respect and allowed him to play with a smile on his face.
Fabio has publicly spoken very highly of Rooney and obviously sees him as an outstanding talent. He said he will sacore goals – and hey presto, that is exactly what he has done. Neither was Rooney’s England performance lacking in chasing down opponents, as many seem to suggest is what happens if he reins in his spikiness.
For me, Rooney is far and away our most important player. Even last year, Ronnie was not half the player without him. If his discipline issues are sorted out he will prove to be a Utd legend and an all-time great. I would like to see Capello here to oversee that rise to the top of the game.
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@donibrasco: Yes
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@Craig Mc: Ha ha it is me mate!!
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New post up folks.
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@Craig Mc: I love Germany but I hate my domestic season being interrupted by these annoying friendly matches as well as these bloated overloaded World Cup Qualifiers. Germany should never have to play an outfit like frakken Liechtenstein. It’s a joke and a huge waste of time. Another tier of world cup qualifying needs to be introduced that will place 20 or so of these European Minnows like San Marino, Liechtenstein etc and from them perhaps 2 move on to and get into a qualifying round with Europe’s elite. It would mean fewer teams and fewer games to qualify. Above all, it would require fewer interruptions of domestic seasons, especially this late in a season. Yes I love the World Cup but I am not impressed with the long useless road that is traveled to get there. I also am not a big fan of having great and tested teams needing to qualify. Why should Italy, Germany, England, France, Holland and Spain have to? Fuck fairness, these teams have history and pedigree and should automatically be invited to a tournament like that as should Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. All past winner in fact should definitely get an automatic exemption. Let them schedule friendlies when it’s convenient in order to prepare their teams instead of risking injuries in these often bitter qualifiers. For me protecting the interests of Manchester United and Bayern are number one and international teams can sod off. Fatigue and injuries and making a season already too long even longer is screwing up the game.
Why can’t they schedule all the qualifiers for a month of football after the EPL season. This could shorten the EPL season in terms of weeks by eliminating those international breaks and tightening the EPL campaign so much so, that the season could end in April rather than May. Internationals could be played in May and the player could still have two months off afterwards. Seems to make sense to me without messing with club team’s potential for silverware by risking further injuries and fatigue amongst it’s star players.
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@Craig Mc: Has he considered Newcastle?
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@Stephen: Thats a false accusations. Every country has some players that dive but German players are not generally divers and very few dutch players are either. Yes there are always the Robben’s and the Klinsmann’s who like to dive a bit but these countries do not have an epidemic of divers and cheats like Latin speaking countries do or even some of the Greeks and Turks. What the Dutch and Germans will do is fake in jury or cry bloody murder when they are fouled. They often make a mountain out of a molehill but they are not serial divers. That’s not to say that foreigners in their leagues don’t dive however.
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@TheThreeRs: Rooney’s supporting cast with England plays a different game than United and is designed around getting the ball into spece and crossing into the box as much as possible. They play with less selfishness than United do. Look at Rooney’s two goals for England. A great cross from Becks that Rooney never headed straight to the keeper like he does for us, but instead found the corner and a great pass from Lampard that found a composed Rooney take his time and make a great move before calmly placing the ball in the goal rather than try to kill it when he plays with us. Better service and more composure under Capello is my point.
For United Rooney lacks the composure and lets face it, he does not get that kind of service, especially crosses that lead to goals. And although he still scores for us, he does have a tendency to try to hard and be asked to expound too much energy doing the work of others instead of concentrating on his own. Capello knows his strategy and tactics and he obviously has the power and respect to get his players to fear him or they will not be picked in the future. Rooney doesn’t have a worry with Fergie it seems. It seems that he can get away with murder and there lies the problem. A breakdown in discipline and it all leads to a manager who was the best that ever was but who I personally feel has bottled it of late and gone ultra conservative and overly calm. He needs to twist off a bit and let players like Rooney and Ronaldo know that they do not run the asylum. When he does that, he will get the Rooney you see playing for England. As for Ronaldo, he seems a lost cause to me.
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@Grognard: rooney does need that firm hand but I agree with you that Ronnie seems a bit of a lost cause now. The amount of heartache he has caused genuine Utd fans since last year’s double is immeasurable. He’s not enough of a team player for me and his petulance is cringeworthy.
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@Stephen: You fecker, you mean there isn’t a Stephen imposter, just you playing silly devils?
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@Craig Mc:
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