Apr 13
On Ronaldo’s Fergal Treatment
Since it’s already been reported by every conceivable media outlet, I suppose most readers would already be familiar with this bit of news.
The long and short of it is this: Ferguson made comments in the media about Ronaldo’s general behaviour this season and, for a change, actually said something without being cloyingly appreciative of him. Here’s the meat of what he’s had to say on Ronaldo, that I’ll quote for those who haven’t read this before:
“I don’t accept that he will give goals away because of the player he is. I speak to him about it. I don’t accept that from anyone. In European football, if you give the ball away it takes a long time to get it back.“He always feels he’s not getting the proper protection from referees and I think that, maybe, in quite a few cases he is right, and a few cases he is not right. It’s hard when a player who wants to entertain doesn’t get everything his own way. But you can’t get everything your own way. He understands that and there’s not a problem with that. It’s just a frustration that he feels he doesn’t get the decision and he gets upset about it.
“I think, obviously, he doesn’t enjoy that and he knows he’s letting himself down more than anything. He holds his hands up. I have had to remind him about that but I’m not getting into what has been said.”
It is a rare public occasion where Ferguson has admitted that he’s actually said stuff to Ronaldo other than, ‘You are the best player in the world and the world is out to get you. Don’t worry son, it’s just an alien conspiracy and it will pass.’ That, papers have proclaimed it’s a bust up between Fergie and Ronaldo and, that Ronaldo being benched against Sunderland was a punishment of some sort is just hyperbole and wishful thinking, respectively.
There are two things to note here. First, Ferguson has in fact made one more remark on Ronaldo that could be construed as, let us say, mildly negative when, in the CNN interview, he admitted that the Real Madrid distractions did affect him on the pitch, a bit.
Now to the most discerning of the United faithful, the above statements are like the Pope saying, the fact that man has now seen the earth from outer space could mean the earth may have been round since the beginning of time, or me saying the fact that Phil Collins writes bad music could mean he may be a shite artist. Nonetheless, it is something Ferguson has said in public, whether it is stating the blind obvious or not. So, in the least, it could translate to him not being very pleased with the way things have transpired since last summer.
Secondly, Ferguson saying what he has said in the media does not make the ‘bust up’ (if you can call it that) a very recent event. If both United fans and journalists alike can spot a bit of tiredness, slackness or a more than usual whingeing, there is a good chance that a manager like Ferguson, during the course of the season, would have stopped for a moment and gone, ‘hey, hold on. Now, that doesn’t look right…’. While there may have been a lot of critics questioning Ferguson’s lack of tactical nous, the one aspect of his management that tends to always stand the test of time and personnel, is his man management skills. So, to antagonise an important player at this crucial point of our season is not something he’d do.
What might have happened, if I may speculate, is Ferguson sitting down and having an adult discussion with Ronaldo. No flying hair dryers like the media would love to cream themselves about.
The papers have been quick to link these quotes with Ferguson benching Ronaldo for Sunderland because of this alleged ‘bust up’. It’s not too different from Mark Lawrensen’s (in)famous remarks, a few days ago, on how ‘everyone knew there was a bust up between Fergie and Rooney’. So I would not waste too much of my time with all this. I’ll just point to an important game in mid week that would need our star winger to be at his freshest best in a squad bulging with jaded players. If he’s benched for Porto, though, then it’s worth debating whether Fergie’s bust up with Ronaldo is indeed true.
Till then, let us be relieved that Fergie does recognise Ronaldo is capable of much more than he’s shown so far this season.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Jonny Evans: on Manchester United, Northern Ireland, Ferguson…
- Ronaldo’s career to end by February
- Dream on…
- Ferguson joins fight against cancer
- Privacy Policy
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (541)
Stephen (479)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Craig Mc (345)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
@Redrich: Honestly, I don’t even worry about what Liverpool does. As far as I’m concerned the EPL is ours to lose. We need to get the train back on the tracks and play like we are capable of playing. We have a game in hand and we need to take advantage of that game. As I see it, the Arsenal game will make us or break us. W eneed to win that game or get at least a point. Arsenal have turned their whole season around and there isa good chance we will have to play them four more times. The league game at OT, twice in the cl Semi-finals, and possibly in the FA Cup. We could be sick and tired of Arsene Wenger by the time the season is over. He’d like nothing more than to destroy our season. And here we are worrying about Liverpool. Liverpool is history if we want to make them history. It’s our old rivals from Arsenal and possibly even Chelsea a couple more times that matters most.
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@Redrich: Well, this actually bodes well for ‘pool. If we continue to be playing like this, it’s going to be tough; we should remember that we’re going to be playing 2 matches every week for quite sometime now. Of course, if we get back to our vintage ways, starting with Porto, then it wouldn’t matter one bit.
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@Grognard: hear hear! Arsenal is the team to beat right now. Unfortunately, just as they are about to play Liverpool they have an injury crisis in defence… I just hope Pool will get a draw and we beat Portsmouth (über-important!) to add pressure to the Arse-Pool game.
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@Grognard: Conflict of interest, yes, but at least he was consistent even if some of the yellow cards were dubious. Interestingly, all the whistle blowing didn’t kill the game…
As for the penalty, I personally think it was a too soft. Yes Ivanoic was draped all over alonso (or whoever it was that won the penalty), but he made a meal of it to earn the call, not to mention Skertel happened to be pulling ivanoic’s shirt simultaneously. Given how the ref called the game, I can understand whhy he awarded it.
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@Grognard: I read an article a couple of days ago where they looked more closely on the Torres-to-United “saga”. It is believed that when Torres was ready to leave( 2006), Fergie didnt have the guts to pay for the transfer. Atletico wanted £25 million, but Fergie thought he wasnt worth it. So the story went like this:
2004: Too young.
2005: Too young
2006: Too much money.
2007: Lost his patience.
2008: Cursing that he didnt buy him in 2006.
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Hello everyone.This is my first post though i have been a reader of this site for a long time.
I was reading the comments about yesterdays game and just didnot see Drogba’s name come up.He was immense yesterday.Strong,skillful and set up two of the goals(i think) and a delightful chance for ballack.Also abt the attacking aspect.to me it seemed that the last two liverpool goals were more downto chelsea lack of concentration(Itseemed to me that they had switched off)rather than any brilliant work by liverfool.
But enough abt these two shit teams.I realy hope we put out an attacking line up tomorrow.Both nani and ando should start(Pls not park again).Whether we all like it or not Berba if fit WILL start.Fergie just wont leave him out for reasons best known to him.
I am just hoping what Grognard haspredicted comes true(It does most of the time)and yes Grognard mate i just love most of your rants and more often than not i find myself completely agreeing with you.
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@Grognard: Actually the score was 4-4 then Grog. It wouldn’t have mattered too much if it became 5-4.
But to second what you were saying, I would take the example of the beginning of the 2nd half. Cech came off his line and looked totally foolish when he was stranded there. Luckily for him the ball into the box wasn’t good and Pool didn’t go 3-0 up. That would have killed Chelsea.
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Seems Ando scored a blinder yesterday in training. What would I not give to see him get a winner (and his first goal in open play for us) tomorrow!!!!!
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I’ve got a feeling that Ando is gonna bag tonight!
Thats where my lucky pound is going! Come on the lads!
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@RedDevilEddy: I was all for the better because I for one don’t believe in having girls play for us.
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I love the Ando-contingent… they always believe he will score. While I am no expert in Probability, I do find it VERY likely that he will score in the next game… every game he does not score makes it more likely that he will score…
Is there a record for most games without a goal for a midfielder/attacker?
Anyways. Bed-time and let’s go United!
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@Kartikey: Welcome aboard mate. Glad to see you finally popped your cherry and have decided to contribute. I certainly look forward to reading your posts as you seem to know the game and you are a United fan. The more the merrier.
Thanks for the kind words. Don’t feel shy about contributing and even disagreeing with me. Good points on Drogba and on Chelsea basically switching off once they got up 3-2. They seem to lose their focus and fall asleep but lets face it, Petr Cech is making them look a lot worse than they are defensively. Seven goals given up in the last two games and four of them were direct Cech goofs. He has been a total nightmare in goal.
I still think Chelsea will beat Barcelona. I think Barca will try to play their champagne football but the reality will be that Chelsea’s size and physical domination will take it’s toll on them. Then again, if Barca win, it will be because of Cech. Any coach can see the way to beating Chelsea is cross balls into the box because Cech is joke at handling them.
As for United, lets hope I am right. I’ll be missing the game live as I will be out for most of the day, but here’s hoping that when I come back, I have a memorable classic recorded and ready to watch.
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@antsBoy: I stand corrected. Still, Cech was a riot to watch. Man I haven’t seem bad goalkeeping like that since Calamity James about five years ago. It’s sad to see because Cech truly was an intimidating goalkeeper before his head injury. He was unbeatable. Now the only thing he has in his arsenal is good reflexes. Everything else isn’t good enough to secure a job in the Coca Cola Divisions.
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@m34ch: See, now I just can’t throw money away like that.
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@Madschester United: OK, so what will happen first?
A) Anderson scores a goal
B) A cure for Cancer is found
C) Liverpool win the EPL
D) Man lands on Mars
e) Fergie retires
Personally I feel that all four of the others will happen before Anderson scores.
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@Grognard: Hahaha, it has to happen one day surely!
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@ Grognard: E,D,B,A,C
(anderson’s own goal gifting the title to Liverpool on the last day of the season in 2020)
@ Stephen: Congrats!
Last night’s match was one of the very best CL games I’ve ever seen, a real advertisement for the virtues of the premier league and football in general. Cracking game. I want nothing like that tonight, a simple 2-0 will do me just fine thanks!
Don’t care how we do it tonight, just want a win. Actually, in a perfect world Porto would have a wonderfully good goal incorrectly ruled out for offside, and we’d capitalise off a terrible goal keeping mistake in stoppage time to win 1-0.
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@Beachryan: Phew, don’t think my nerves would like all that drama!
I hate to say it, but I see a Leverkuesen/Porto mishap happening again. We score first and then they get a late (or not) equalizer. Therefore, if we do get a goal first, we should just go for the kill and make it 2-0. Could take a leaf out of pool’s book for that..
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@Redrich: I would never marry a non beliver mate, thanks!
@Red Ranter: Thanks RR, but happy and married life never should be put together in the same sentence!
@Beachryan: Many thanks bro!!
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All sites are blocked in office, any news about the squad today..
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@ Despicable – We won’t get anything until around 6pm I don’t think, so plenty of time to sort out your internet woes!
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@Grognard:
Well said. I bet the reason he went to Liverpool was that he could find some friends with his interests. 
Fucking transvetite…
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I hope Andy scores tonight.
Im gonna jump on the bandwagon and bet £5 he will score. With these odds, I will be a millionare at the end of the day! 
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@RedDevilEddy: Andy is 25-1 to be the first goalscorer tonight mate, feeling lucky!!!???
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I think I know the secret to Ando’s scoring. I’ve carefully been analysing Fellaini and Jo this season. Both have been absolutely tosh whenever their hair is braided, but have been scoring machines when it is allowed to be free and fro-ey. If Anderson truly wants to break his duck and score, he needs to release his inner fro, seize the sansom-esque power of it and let it all hang out.
Go forth Anderson my son, and use the fro.
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wow can the day go any faster,want to know what happens tonite,so i can be exhilarated if we win or depressed if we lose till the next game Vs Everton.
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@Beachryan: Ha ha go fro And(y) prosper??!!! er maybe not.
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I really don’t think we had a hope to sign Torres even if we’d made a ridiculously high bid. The player had no interest in joining us. The moment Liverpool come along with a bid he’s declaring his boyhood love of Liverpool and his respect for Benitez. You just can’t kiss all the girls.
Im confident going into tonight for the following reasons
1) We are twice as rested as we were going into the first leg. Four days of rest after a relatively easy game against Sunderland compared to two days after a Villa game where we were run off the pitch after just coming back from the international break which always screws our players up
2) We have Rio back to steady our defence. Rio and Vidic in the middle. Evans has been superb this season but recently he’s showed his lack of experience when it matters and is still our third choice central defender.
3) Ronaldo owes us a performance and in front of Portuguese fans I think he will give it, especially if they start booing him!
4) Against Inter we played them off the park at San Siro but were hopeless at home and lucky to win. Sometimes I think when a team is lacking in confidence like we are it is easier to play away than in front of your own fans when there is more pressure to perform and win.
5) The first leg we played shit and loads of players were playing well below their capabilities. I am sure the momentum of the occasion (win or else we get knocked out) will encourage our players to rise to the occasion and produce a much better performance. Porto on the other hand were playing close to their best. They can only play worse. We can only play better.
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@Grognard: It took Forlan long enough, but when they came they came. Didn’t Anderson used to be a Porto player? Another reason he should start, he’ll be very used to their stadium and atmosphere. What a place to get his first United goal!
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@Traverse: To a degree this could be the making of the lad, a sort shit or bust senario for him. Give him the chance to prove himself on the biggest stage against his old club and if he takes his chance this could be a spring board to bigger and better things. On the flip side if he doesn’t then he only has himself to blame and maybe it is time to say thanks but time to give soemone else a chance.
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Nobody knows our starting eleven?!!
Anyone has any predictions on that?
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Mine would be:
GK Van der sar
LB Evra
CB Ferdinand
CB Vidic
RB Rafael if fit if not Oshea
CM Anderson
CM Carick
LM Nani
RM Ronaldo
CF Tevez
CF Rooney
Subs: Foster, Berbatov, Macheda, Giggs, Evans, Scholes and Oshea or Rafael
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@Hannoodi: All I know is that Rio is destined to start. Fergie said it in the pre-match press confereance.
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@Hannoodi: Berbatov if fit will start, I said this yesterday these are the games Fergie bought him for.
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Stephen, yeah i would be pretty surprised if berbatov doesnt start today. He was brought off early against sunderland so he could rest i think so i would expect him and rooney to start up top today, probably in a 4-3-3 with ronaldo on the right of the front 3, rooney on the left. Fletcher is out so hopefully we will see anderson take his place, and i reckon the other 2 midfield spots will go to carrick and giggs. Giggs has been rested recently i think in preperation for this game. In defence i hear ferdinand is starting which is good news, but i dont expect any other changes at RB or anything. This is the team i expect to see anyway:
VDS
OSHEA RIO VIDIC EVRA
ANDERSON CARRICK GIGGS
RONALDO BERBATOV ROONEY
Would love to see us go 4-4-2 and bring nani into the squad but i cant see us going 4-4-2 away from home. We definitely play better in a 4-4-2 but we seem to play with the 3 midfielders in europe which if im honest dont feel suits us. Sometimes i wish we were a bit more like barca, we dont go defensive where ever we play, we go for it home or away. As we saw in the home game vs porto we went 4-3-3 and i think it was cos of this we ended up with a draw. We have to play to our strengths and go 4-4-2 because we have to score today. Looking at our last few games we have conceeded atleast 1 goal a game so in effect we need atleast 2 and in a more defensive 4-3-3 formation i cant see that.
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@Stephen: Congratulations on your engagement!
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@Beachryan: Its Already 6 in my regions timings..
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@Stephen: Happy and married life should never be put together??????? Well THANK YOU Stephen Bro, you just put me off proposing to the GF, which I had planned for later this year
.
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Have you people seen Fergies statement regarding the way porto played against athletico, He is playing mind games, He wants them to come at us, leaving spaces.
I doubt that, especially when they showed in first leg that they can attack with 4 people leaving others to defend, seems like a good idea especially if rooney and ronaldo comes back to defend, leaving us with no chance of counter, especially with Berba is there… Tie looks difficult.
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@Kartikey: Anybody who recognises like I had LONG AGO that the scousers real name and city is called LiverFOOL will do me
. Welcome aboard mate!
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I’ve been away on holiday for the easter and only got back today. Just finnished reading all the posts I missed (sad to hear I always whine @Rd, maybe if the team put in a ‘United style’ performance tonight, win or lose, I won’t).
Firstly, Wow! what a game? I hate Pool and Chelsea, but what a game? Drogba was immense, and although I loathe him as person, he just emphasised to me that he is exactly what we needed to get in the summer.
Watching the game, I actially got quite scared at the thought of meeting one of those two teams in the finals…
I don’t know if anyone noticed, but I was quite surprised at Ronaldo’s performance on Saturday? He actually defended. When he got tackled, he actually got up and got on with it. After reading what Fergie said, I think it must have had an effect on him. If he continues like this, he will again be the player we all love to love.
I’m not too confident about tonight, but I believe we can snatch it. Would be great to impose a whipping on Porto, but a slender win will do. And what I won’t give for Anderson to be the one giving us the slender win
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@Grognard: Fat, Daft, Rafa has one mission in life, TO OUTSMART FERGIE. He is UNHEALTHILY obsessed over Fergie –
.
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@Craig Mc: Ya and the obsession seems to have increased every match
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I think, just for today, we’ll leave the scousers out of it.
The worst case scenario for our line up is a 4-5-1. If it’s that, Fergie is done, he bottled it, he choked, retire please. 4-4-2 please. Attack with Ronaldo and Nani on the wings. Rooney and Tevez up top.. (although we all know it’ll be the Berb), and as Anderson – Carrick/Giggs midfield. Evans Right back.
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berba will prove all of you doubters wrong!
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@ROOOOONEY: Hopefully..
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@ROOOOONEY: yeah right bro you wish!!!.HE is a classic case of *cough* a……………. CHOKER
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Berba is a team player, a thinker, shame he has to take it upon himself to be the attacking midfielder because no one else is there.
If it carries on like this then he will continue to appear crap. I hope he doesn’t play injured cause that just makes him look even worse.
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Thanks for the kind welcome Grognard and Craig Mc.
I feel its a little harsh on berba.No,I am not defending him because I too am fed up of his attitude.He slows our attack down.But i feel the problem is somewhere else because i remember in the start of the year he won a lot of plaudits for his play from pundits and fans alike.But as the season has progressed he has faded away and looks trigger shy.Just for that I’d start Tevez(who agreed doesnt look better than berba these days) but atleast he give us something defensively.Not that it helps Berba if Fergie continues to play him(and some others and now we all know who they are)out of position.
But Berba will start bcos he has one thing in his favour-He is our highest goalscorer in the champions league.
My line up would be
VDS
O’Shea Rio Vidic Evra
Carrick Anderson Nani
Ronaldo Rooney Tevez
.I know we could get caught out defensively but hell we forgotten to defend anyway.We should just try and outscore them.
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Thoughts on formation/tactics for tonight:
Porto were able to attack us using only 3 players last week. So it was usually 4 on 3 from our defense, yet they were still able to create chances. This afforded them the luxury of leaving 3 midfielders in defensive/preventative positions and nullifying our counter/general attack. Worked a charm. But our 4 defenders should be easily able to handle only 3 attackers. I expect a much better showing on that end.
Porto tended to use 2 or even 3 players in DMF positions, led by the outstanding Fernandes (i think?). They always had two players sitting in that middle position, nicking the ball away. This causes us one very major problem, which is lack of space down the centre. It would likely completely cut Berbatov out of the game, because that is where he operates. What it should mean is that we use width to just avoid this area. The danger of that approach is taht you minimise Ronaldo’s effectiveness and really, we don’t score much from crosses. Tough one.
Porto’s defence looks shakey, if we can get at the back 4 without their shield of midfielders. Therefore we need to start getting up the pitch faster. We’re not Barcelona and don’t have the ability to pass around teams defending with 9 in the box, nor do we have Lampard’s uncanny ability to score from range via deflection. We need VDS, Rio and Carrick to be pinging balls up the field to FEET or SPACE as quickly as possible. Note Edwin, that does not mean hoof it towards our 5’9″ double teamed scouse centre forward. You idiot.
Anyone else think Ronaldo is going to dive like a baby tonight?
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