Mar 20
Porto it is then…
United perhaps have the better draw than some of the other big favorites for the Champions’ League. They’ve drawn with Porto, who are a far cry from the side that sneaked past us last time round, whilst, we get to face either Villarreal or Arsenal in the semis. The other end of the draw makes for exciting viewing; well, at least Bayern-Barca will be mouthwatering, can’t say much about Liverpool-Chelsea.
All your thoughts, predictions, etc go here. I’ll try to put up an early preview of the Fulham away game, as I’ll have to catch a flight.
Here’s the draw, if you’ve not seen it yet:
Barça – Bayern
Liverpool – Chelsea
Man Utd – Porto
Villarreal – Arsenal
Semi-finals.
Barca/Bayern v Liverpool/Chelsea
Man Utd/Porto v Arsenal/Villarreal
Over to you folks.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Man Utd v Porto: Preview
- Nani’s Medical | Rossi’s Loan | Anderson’s Permit
- Owen Hargreaves – Made of Glass or Different Class?
- Brazilian Twins Spotted at Old Trafford | Neville to Play Liverpool | Anderson to Porto Fantasies | Keane Tips United Over Arsenal
- Sunderland Preview
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (541)
Stephen (479)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Craig Mc (345)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
@Rahul: Can u tell me what is the optimum resolution i should look for, if i am looking for a TV.especially to go well with such a system.
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@keith: You took the day off to avoid Scouse fans?? By that measure I’m guessing they dont turn up at work for half the season!!
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@despicable: Dude optimum resolution is decided by the money factor.. what ur budget?? Also it depends where u live, cuz different places have different brands floating around! I got a 40 inch Bravia last December, and it’s a dream I can tell you that!!
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@Rahul: How much that costed you? I hope one day i can see united playing in such a home theatre system.
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@Rahul: Bangalore! Go for the Bravia.. now the size of the Tv would depend on ur budget. And don’t get talked into buying low cost budget LCDs… you will live to regret them.
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Dude, I dunno abt Bangalore, state taxes would differ so you can expect a variation of upto 2 grand or so. I’m in Pune, I haggled and haggled and got it for 66K. I’m sure the prices would have reduced by now.
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@Rahul: Ya i know, I would rather wait and buy when i am ok with the same, Neways united really sucked whole of first half, The only Difference between united and Fools is that they start the game better and end it easy, I still think people will work there tactics of long balls soon,
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With our current form we should be concerned no matter who we play.
We went through this same thing when we were knocked out by Porto and Bayer Leverkusen.
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@Rahul: Also which model do u have?
I personally think,Fools are playing well because of Mascherano,Hope he gets injured in internationals.. They really suck if gerrard has to go back and cover them in defence.
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@AlphaRS: I wish we’d got Arsenal!
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@Rahul: No dear, Actually Arsenal are the most dangerous because of there unpredictibility, If van persie, adebayour, nasri, are there they can change game in a flash, they don’t need form etc to play well. they can produce moments, which we are lacking right now.
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@despicable: Yea that’s the point. They are more dangerous,and that would at least ensure that no one gets complacent! Although I would not call them the most dangerous… the most dangerous out there are Barca (apart from us, of course
).
Its a V series 40 inch Bravia.
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…..What was the point in droppin Tevez on sat when he took that Fulham team apart just a few days before???? theres so many fuck ups like that the more you think bout it
its enragin
cant get it out of my head @ all
what the hell is going on!??
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@realred: Its same with almost everyone, But this is time we should believe in the lads, one thing i liked about them that nobody came out and gave big statements , which means they know what they are upto and want to do it on the pitch.
I still wear the united jersey to office often as i did earlier because i know they will come good.
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@Rahul: I really doubt that, Barca is rarely streched in spanish league, Don’t you think team with Xavi and iniesta, can ne run over if u have 3 tough midfiels players, like chelscum or livfools, and if u don’t let messi run at you and stay close this will close them and after what united demonstrated to everyone last time, i think english teams can easily take care of Barca( apart from Arsenal may be). If open game is avoided, then there thin defence can be tested.
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@keith: I feel your frustrations man. We must just ‘believe’ that this was just a ‘once off’ and that our team has too much potential to stay in this rut. Let the scousers continue. Not only do they deserve it, but, it makes it ever so much sweeter when we finally fuck them to the PL and CL trophies.
@Rahul: I wish we got Liverpool in the quarters. That would have been sweet. Somehow I don’t fancy getting them in the final. Not that I for one moment think they’re a better team, but just because if a fluke happens (or we play as shit as we did against them) and they win, I will NEVER be able to take the humiliation.
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@Karl: That well said, I wouldn’t want it to happen, but just for imagination sake, How would be an end of season if it goes the same way as the last to last spanish league where Real won in dying moments and Barca couldn’t hold on the lead.
That would kill all the fools fans.
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@Karl: But the reverse will surely kill us, I can’t even imagine watching the last match… It would be more that any emotion i would have ever felt.
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@despicable: I feel that the sooner Pool gets kicked out of the running and competition, the better. I would not want them to get any more confident going into the next season. Would have been nice for it to be us kicking them out though.
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everyone always say that the referee is always on uniteds side so after the game on saturday and they still believe so why was rooneys red card given i hate when people say that. I can understand scholes being sent of but i think the ref just wanted to get his name in the papers as i felt the the most sensible thing would have been to give him a good talking to knowing how late in the game it was and what was at stake. As far as i am concerned there is nothing in the laws of the game that says that if you are throwing the ball to a freekick tacker as he was doing you cannot throw it hard and with agressuion , However on the other hand Rooney should know that the refs hate him and what he did was give the ref the opurtunity to give him a second yellow which led to a red. Rooney i think have too much passion for the team and i feel that if anybody has the red of united running through their viens it is rooney. that is what makes him what he is and to try and take that out of his will effect the way he play and he will not be the player that i have come to love.
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@Grognard: fuck off what the papers say. I know what I saw with my own eyes. The referee has said Rooney didn’t abuse him, so what is the card for? Nobody has clarified. Throwing the ball away? He threw it to where it needed to be retaken from. So as far as I’m concerned (not Andy Gray(Liverpool), Phil Thompson(Liverpool), Jamie Redknapp(Liverpool), Alan Hanson (Liverpool)) there is no reason for him to be sent off. Being angry in itself in not an offence. I’m glad he was angry. I was furious with our lacklustre limp wristed performance. Rooney was the only one who looked like he cares, and once again if Park had a shooting bone in his body we’d all be talking about how the Rooney show changed the game for us.
In an interesting side note, all those esteemed ex-Liverpool players who are our ‘experts’ agreed that Brad Friedel’s red card was right. The red card that was rescinded this morning by the FA.
Chumps.
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you know what takes calms me down , watching the season review of the last 2 years, some of you should do it
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I do not know about anyone esle but in the summer i can recall united being linked to Alex Sanchez a young chillian player who is dubbed the Chillian Ronaldo. i know this is off the topic but at this moment in time i am really pissed off with ronaldo maybe tommorrow i will feel different but if he does leave as i hope he dont as i believe he is still one of our best plauers but at this time he has played too many games and is being fouled so often that i think that will be his decision to leave if he does come the summer and if that does happen we need to be prepared. sanchez although is a young player i believe is very strong and could be what we need. Can someone please give me any information on him on whether they have seen him play and if he is united material. cheers in advance
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@Traverse: Phil Thompson is number one on my fight list, I hate gonzo Thompson more then anything on this earth, his ridiclous over biased views have been the bane of my life of late, Gray practically wears a Liverpool shirt with 8 gerrard on the back every game, and his commentry in the game against us was embarassing.
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@Traverse: Also now he will not be suspended to play us, remember how well he played for Blackburn against us? what are the odds.
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@keith: Giggs has been one of our most consistant players, and also you wanted Nani and Anderson to play, have they been consistant this season?
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@ROOOOONEY: You wanna know what calms me down after a defeat? 7-1, Roma.
Taped that game…
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@despicable: Xbox 360 all the way, PS3 is absolute kak to be honest!
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@Karl: Sometimes some of you guys amaze me. You are like MI5 agents who carry around a dossier on all my comments so that when the time comes, you can use them against me to defuse a bomb.
Yes I said that and I won’t deny it. I hate it when teams are so frakken friendly to each other you ask the question of whether they care as much as we do. On the other hand, acting like petulant children towards the referee is not my idea of being a sportsman or conducting yourself properly. I personally do not give a damn about being friendly and cordial to the opponent. But the referee is an independent supposedly neutral party (almost like a UN peace keeper) placed between the two teams to keep the peace and deal out justice. That has to be respected even if he does a poor job of it.
As for the opponents and managers, as long as they refrain from spitting, and violence, they can say or do anything, I honestly don’t care. Sportsmanship has it’s limits. Rivalries, especially hated ones are what make sports great and compelling. They elevate a sport above the traditional fixture and make it an event. To diffuse the players attitudes and feelings is to destroy a potentially great game. I’m not advocating wartime hatred, I just do not like this mutual love, hug and kisses mentality that I am seeing. This has been brought to English shores by the limp wrist Latino cultures where grown men openly hug and kiss each other in a non gay manner.
I am Greek and that is also very prominent in my culture but I for one am not big on it. Being born Canadian and having adopted the English and American way of life, I’m a little more harder and a lot more intolerant of men showing very feminine tendencies towards each other. I just find it silly after 90 minutes of war why anybody would feel the need to shake the enemies hand or give him a hug. Above all, why would I want to exchange sweaty stinky shirts?
Again I hide behind my North American way of doing things. There are no shaking hands and love ins before or after a game, except in the playoff at the end of a series. Sportsmanship is overrated when it comes to the way athletes respect fellow athletes on other teams. They should respect them but they should also hate them enough to want to beat them and despise them if they lose to them. Athletes who get paid to win should have and share the same feelings of hatred and respect for the opponent as the supporters do. What, all of a sudden players are supposed to be so intelligent and evolved that they are more enlightened about their opponent than supporters?
Rivalries and Derby’s have history and in many cases bitter history behind them. Supporters are the life blood of any rivalry or Derby and their feelings, passions and needs have to be considered at game time. I’m sorry if all of you think I’m wrong but United players have no business shaking the hands and acting all nice and friendly towards Liverpool players after a humiliating home loss. It just doesn’t sit well with me or with many other die hards who question the heart and the commitment of a club trying to win a game against an opponent they obviously wouldn’t mind have a few ales with and shooting some time in a pub with. It just smells and bugs me, right or wrong. Players should save the love for times in the off season or at least away from the park. But don’t go sticking a fork in all our collective backs by hugging Torres and shaking hands with Gerrard while exchanging shirts. For me that’s just BS.
Instead of hating our opponents like we should, Fergie has created a culture at United where the referee is Public Enemy #1 and the only one we should hold any hatred for. The excuse mill starts working even before the game begins because we already believe that the only one we have to worry about and beat up in the game is the referee. And when we fail at that, that is the only reason we lose games. It’s disgusting and that my friend, is the truest form of unsporting behavior. Roy Keane vs Patrick Vieira had it all right in their attitude towards the games and each other. And I do miss that.
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@Stephen: Beautiful mate, just beautiful. I love the Lombardi quote and here’s one from former baseball manager Leo Durocher, “Nice guys finish last”. The game is littered with do gooders and heartless slugs who go through the motions for a paycheck. Hate your opponent and hate losing even more. Above all, hate yourself for losing and never allow them to see your weaknesses. Rooney and Ronaldo expose their weaknesses every game. And taking your frustrations out on the referee, regardless of whether he is good or bad is just futile and stupid. I’d rather take out my frustration on Steven Gerrard and Shemale Torres. United however decided to give those two a free pass and has formed a full frontal assault on referees. Petty, childish and pathetic. The signs of a truly sad and desperate team.
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@Stephen: Rooney also needs to know that unlike Keane, he is not the team captain. Captains are allowed to complain and get a little more in the face of a ref. Rooney is just plain selfish, but he doesn’t realize it. He thinks everything he does is because he loves the team and is so determined to win. That’s when questions of judgment and IQ come into play. Remember, he comes from Liverpool and he isn’t the wisest owl in the forest. I honestly do not believe that stupidity can be exorcised out of him any more than a hot temper can be exorcised from an Irishman.
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@despicable: I trust you will be playing more than just Fifa so I would recommend the XBOX 360. Better games overall, although Sony is catching up. The PS3 does have the blueray capability which is a bonus but you also do pay for it. The 360 is a better buy.
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Shit shit shit! Freidel’s red card has been recinded!
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_5095062,00.html
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@Traverse: The referee said Rooney gave no verbal abuse. Fine, but he did show petulance in throwing the ball with force and intent overhand in a manner that conveyed frustration and anger and above all disrespect towards the referees decision to stop play and have a proper free kick taken. Regardless of whether he was aiming at the referee or not, try throwing a soccer ball over head with arm in a fast furious motion. It’s hard to aim and get it right, so where it ends up is irrelevant. It’s the attitude behind it that got punished. Any non United football fan in the world can see that.
So stop hiding behind our colors and call a spade a spade for crying out loud. This many United fans cannot be this fucking blind and lacking in objectivity. Is it so hard to believe that one of our own could resort to that? Or do you only reserve that feeling for John Terry and Ashley Cole? Unbelievable, truly unbelievable. I am amazed at many of you and truly shocked and disturbed. Hate Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal etc, but respect referees fore without them, the game would be uncontrolled chaos. Sure many of them are muppets but they all do a better job than any of us could do, and that’s a fact.
I say show less respect to your opponent who wants to beat and possibly embarrass you and spare the ref the moments of disrespect, petulance and horseshit that are common place for the Rooney’s and Ronaldo’s of the world. Above all, some of us need to get our eyes examined for signs of suggestive blindness. We see only what we want to see. I do not believe there is a prescription that can cure that form of double standard vision.
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@Traverse: Yes Rooney cares. He cares so much he brought us down to 9 men and also forces us to play without him in a key match vs Villa. I can do without so much of his caring thanks.
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@Traverse: And Brad Friedel’s red card should have been rescinded. As far as I was concerned, he never lunged or intentionally tried to foul Torres. He was down on one knee and motionless when Torres was clearly five yards away from him. Then Torres decides to barrel straight into him. I don’t see how Friedel did anything wrong and therefore the card being rescinded was the correct thing to do. It was a bad call. You just can’t go through a keeper and then call the keeper for a foul.
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@keith: Apparently United showed interest in Sanchez again only a few weeks ago. So you never know. However, I am starting to seriously question Fergies taste in wingers. He hasn’t exactly got a recent track record of success in that department. Remember, Ronaldo just fell into his lap because his players demanded they sign him. Nani, Anderson, Park and Tosic have all been disappointing to different degrees.
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@Dan: I agree with that.
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BLU-RAY IS TOSH!!!
Right plain and simple, Blu ray for films, A+, blu ray for gaming, F-
Why?
The Blu-ray is stacked with memory, it has loads of it, which is why movie makers love it so much, put some usless shite on it just to bring the price up. In games, it CAN make gamers bigger in terms of the map size, and longer in time to finish, but with every pro, theres a con, with all the memory it slows the game down. Im not talking, about a little lag on the online, im talking about bringing the game to a complete STOP in the SINGLE player. Play 1 hour of killzone and it will confirm it. EVERY checkpoint you hit, the game will stop for a few secs to catch up with your selves.
And the fact is, the extra stuff developers are putting are side quests most of the time.
Looks like my second faviourte hobby has come out
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Amazing what you can do with technology
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@Dan: What? Blu Rayhas nothing to do with the game play on a PS3. Its a separate component for movie going. HD is what is used for enhanced gaming. That is based on your tv and how ell it handles or if it handles HD. At least that is what I have always known.
Games are meant to played in HD, not Blue Ray. There is a difference, not only in technology but application.
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@Dan: Now if only technology could find it’s way into recharging the lads batteries so that they could wake up from their slumber and start playing like we know they can.
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To be honest, with gaming its all about preferences. My preference is Playstation and I wont be told otherwise.
But back to United, I dead worried about the Villa game, Freidel’s gonna play……..
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We need our supporters to help us beat Aston Villa next game. Things not looking so great with the internationals and suspensions. They need to scare friedel and then porto. Our home games have to count as they are on the trot. GGG Man United!… Ronaldo is a genius. He is bound to be arrogant. We should be lucky he on our team. He may not run back but what he does running forward is magnificient. Check his goals and assists this season. He can only get better. Have faith. And fergie sir plz dont play giggs and scholes ever again together. They are world class but not inept to play in the epl now cause of the pace. I know u played them cause they wont play games due to the international break. But give nani a chance sir! he can create havoc. We need faith in him. He is a better wing player then ronaldo. He sticks there and will only improve. The time is NOW
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@Grognard: I’d rather Rooney got sent off every other game because he cares we played like crap, than he pottered around a bit like Ballack at Chelsea, couldn’t care less went home at the end of the game and cashed his cheque.
If it had been Englands Brave John Terry ™ that threw the ball back for a freekick to be retaken and got sent off it would have been rescinded and the ref be demoted to league 1 by monday lunchtime.
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@Grognard: Sorry grog but your wrong, Blu ray has a lot to do with gaming, its the developers choice in terms of format because of its memory capabilities, lots of memory is good but it slows the game down.
Trust me grognard, this is my area of expertise, just like you and movies
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@edwin: thats because your stubborn, i use to be like that to. The playstation 2 was the best thing since fergie was born, then i expected the playstation 2 to be even better, and it wasnt. For a long, long time i wouldnt let up, i kept saying to my self that playstation 3 was the best and i believed it, but then i got my xbox, and everything changed, i saw the PS3 for exactly what it is, a Piece of Shit 3, POS3 for short.
If it wasnt for the PS2, sony would have been out of business a long, long time ago, the litlle ps3 sales that they have where buys from people with expectations rather then accurate information, it was common human behavior, the PS2 was good, so by default, the PS3 should be good, and as its the newer version, it must be better.
oh god im going on arent i…
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@Grognard: I completly agree mate, they have been behaving like a couple of girls eg the Olsen twins, a couple of girls who if they don’t get their own way stamp their feet and complain, real men raise an eyrbrow and say, Ok lets get on with it and lets show them what we are made of.
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@Traverse: But we all know that Terry and Gerrard get away with murfer, but Ronaldo has kicked out at least five times this season and has got away with them all, and Rooney hasn’t exactly been the model professional either.
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@Dan: Dont worry Dan mate, Im stickin with my PS3. I dont have 300 to spend on another machine. Plus, Ive been enjoying my Killzone. And I dont fancy paying for online play. See, its all about preferences. Lastly Dan, its okay to rant on about something you feel strongly about mate…..
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