Dec 02
Ronaldo Wins Ballon d’Or
Finally.
A realisation of another of the many dreams the boy from Madeira might have had, Ronaldo now becomes only the first player since George Best to win the Ballon d’Or as a United player. This, in itself, is a shame and does a disservice to the vast number of outstanding players that wore the famous red shirt. But, then again it’s a great achievement, especially in an era where the likes of Platini and Blatter attempt to do everything in their power to undermine the growing power of English clubs in Europe.
Ronaldo would forever have his detractors; to be fair he hasn’t been a saint. But as a player he has been remarkably consistent and prolific over the past two years. And beyond a certain point, it really becomes hard to ignore what the lad has done for us. Like him or not, but when a player wins an award as overwhelmingly as he has done, it goes to show how bloody brilliant he’s been.
We United fans have been fortunate to be seeing such an outstanding talent who gets recognition for his greatness. So let’s savour this moment while it’s there in front of us. Kudos Ronaldo, may this be the first of many more.
Speaking of awards, Red Rants has been nominated in the 2008 Soccerlens Awards in the “Best Blog Community” category. It’s a fault on my part for being less prolific lately, but when the readers can be so committed while I was away on a brief vacation (or what I’d call, an escape from life) as to swell the comment count to over 800, I must say this blog’s certainly been a facilitator for a community to grow around it. Credit of course has to go to the readers — it’s your contributions below the fold that gave this place a community atmosphere. So, dear readers, if you feel that this community that you are a part of deserves votes, then go ahead and feel free to vote us up. It’s more a recognition of your efforts than mine, which is great to see. We are up against some biggies though, which include the likes of Arseblog (which averages 1000+ comments daily!), so I wouldn’t keep my expectations too high. Also, do look up other categories in the awards. There are some very good blogs out there.
To vote for us, click here.
Finally, a word on a personal front. I was extremely busy with personal commitments and once I got that load off my shoulders, I decided to take a breather and went on a brief jaunt to some icy peaks. As an aside, I learned that extreme cold weather is not my cup of tea, although I had fun skiing. I am back now, and I should be in a position to talk about United, Ronaldo, the City game (although it’s probably now too late to write a match report for it) and the season as a whole.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Ronaldo’s FifPro Award and Thoughts on the Player
- Roy Keane sings a song for Ronaldo
- Cantona: Domenech’s the worst coach since Louis XVI
- Ronaldo is really two humans in one body
- Breaking News: United accept 80m Ronaldo bid
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (542)
Stephen (500)
RedDevilEddy (462)
Craig Mc (349)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
@RedDevilEddy: No way am I going to agree with you on that one mate. He may not be your cup of tea but he sure is mine. But I still would have preferred Huntelaar.
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@RDJ: My feelings exactly. What a bunch of muppets not showing United vs Blackburn. Like I give a fuck about Watford. A total joke and totally motivated by the London media conspiracy.
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@RedDevilEddy: Eddy, how can you say Hargo, Tev and VDS haven’t performed well?. They were fecking fantastic for us last season, which is what you are making your claim from right?. I don’t agree with you on Nani either – last year he did good for us, 2nd highest assists and scored important early season goal for us to get us started. That win against spurs from his goal came at a time we were wobbling big time in our early league games
. This season, apart from VDS, none of these players have been given enough regular games to be able to really get some form and make a contribution.
Grog, I am going for a United win tonight, even though B’Burn will probably have most of their 1st teamers out. With a semi final at stake, and the quality of teams left in the competition, Fergie will know we can get to Wembley, and an opportunity to fill the clubs failing financial coffers. So with this in mind, I HOPE he doesn’t play silly buggars like he usually does, and puts out a decent team. After all people are paying good money to freeze their arses on the terraces tonight.
I will say once again, that Tev is really suffering from a massive loss of confidence, and this because even when Fergie plays him, he always hauls him off at some stage, rather than let him play a full game. After Tev fervour and what he did for us last season, Fergie is being a right bastard in the treatment he is dishing out to Tev. Pre season Tev was on fire. I know that United will not want to pay the exhorbitant fee the agents representing Tevez want, and rightly so, but Fergie’s treatment I am convinced is a way to get out of promises made by our club, hoping the treatment of Tev will drive him out. We talk about the way certain players treat us, the fans, but what about the way our club treat some of our players – bastardly. And you know who those players are, and good few left the club carrying much bitterness and hatred with them, and I for one don’t blame them for this. When Fergie wants to get his sticks out and start to prod them, like wounded bears they will respond. That is what Fergie does it for though
.
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Can anybody explain to me why Anderson is so good at keeping his balance, and control of the ball in all other areas of the pitch, and can make very good and accurate passes a lot of the time, but when it comes to shooting and trying to at least hit the target, he suddenly becomes a feckin Rugby footballer – please. This has gone on to long – why isn’t somebody at United working with him on this area of his game?. And please don’t suggest they probably are, because if they were, unless those helping him are muppets, there would be an improvement in his shooting, with a better ration of shots on target
.
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It’s painstaking to see Tevez reduced to rubbles as each week Fergie plays his mind games with him. What a way to reward a player, eh! Now even if MSI reduce Tevez’s asking price..how is the poor lad supposed to feel like signing permanently for this horror show he’s made to put up with? Utter travesty for our second best player of last season.
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@Rahul: How is Fergie playing mind games with him?, you are just specualting with no substance to that claim, he had a great pre season but has been poor since.
Our second best player last season was Rio and third Vida.
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@Craig Mc: i just think he is lacking confidence in that area, he needs a goal, you could have said the same to any player struggling to find the net, Shevchenko at Chelscum, Andy just needs a goal and his confidence will grow.
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@Craig Mc: Im makeing clains over last season and this one. Tevez has suffered from a massive loss of confidence, but he hasnt exactly performed, has he? I want him to get a chance to show his worth to the side. But I feel that he needs to do something quick.
About Ando, he hit the target twice against Villareal. Baby steps, baby steps…
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@Stephen: For me he was the second best player last season, he got us extremely crucial goals. (I personally don’t rank Rio/Vidic/Evra in these equations since they consistently outperformed even Ronaldo in the manner they kept goals to bare minimum).
Why is it that I’m speculating? We have differing opinions on this one, but that isn’t the same as speculation. What exactly is Fergie doing then with Tevez??? Giving him confidence by benching him, is he?? He has been poor since pre-season – right! He scored our only goal against Liverpool (and that wasn’t an easy tap in) and then he was taken on this still-to-end ride on the bench. How will he excel from the bench? feeding in on the odd 10 mins every alternate game wouldn’t help him shine through.. would it?
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@Grognard: Senna is over 30, De Rossi is 24, Diego is 23(I think) and Arshavin is 27. Andy is 20. What was Ronny 4 years ago? Or Rio? Rio was good, but he played like a muppet sometimes. Look at his change! And Evra? Couldnt even get into first team. Behind Slly for crying out loud! I know that Andy isnt at his best right now, but he will become one of the worlds best midfielders someday. If not, too bad for me. Give me a fork and make me eat my words. But if he does become great, well then I am correct. You know that when it comes to young players, only time will tell.
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@Rahul: To say an opinion is to specualate as it is not fact, also to engage in a course of reasoning often based on inconclusive evidence.
I still don’t understand that you can’t recognise a defender as a player of the season because they don’t scoe goals??
We all love Tevez he is a top lad but his form hasn’t been great and to simply blame the manager for his form is equally unfair, I do agree he hasn’t like Nani in my opinion played enough, but when they have played they havn’t recently taken their chances, and thats my opinion.
I want him to play more we all do but to blame Fergie for every players dip in form is simply a falsehood, Fergie like all managers gets things wrong sometimes, but he gets things right a lot of the times thats we awe are where we are today, down to him.
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@Stephen: Most of our rants are based on opinions backed by inconclusive evidence, aren’t they?? We are where we are because of Fergie, and none of us can take any of that away.
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@RDJ: Dude, they are showing Man Utd match on Zee Sports… 1.15 AM…
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@AndyCR7: Thank the Lord! I hope it’s confirmed.. 1:15 am is not a good time to be disappointed!
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@Rahul: Absolutly, but I agree mate Tevez needs a run in the side no doubt as does Nani, but I personally think we aren’t going to sign Carlos or we are trying to drive the price down, because if the rumours are correct the figure banded about is a lot of money.
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@Stephen: Ya i know the rumour mill says its 32 million (though 10 mil of that is paid already, and its 20 mil balance then) and that’s a truckload of money.
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@Rahul: It’s a truck load for a non starter which he currently is, but who will pay that for him?!??!?!??!? Real have Huntelaar(bastards)
Oh I forgot those idiots down the road, but would he sign for them? Maybe we are playing the game and trying to get £10m off the price which would be about right me thinks!!
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@Stephen: Shitty want Kaka, Ronaldinho, Messi, Etoo, Benzema, Drogba and Torres. I dont think Tevez fits in there.
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@RedDevilEddy: Don’t forget £129m for Casillas!
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Hurry people, vote for Ronny!
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@Stephen: I wont!
I think they want every player! Even those who cant be bought. Cristiano, Raul, Del Piero, Beckham, Gerrard, Berbatov, Villa, Silva, Gomes, Ronaldo(fatty), and me! 
But they wont get me, oh no. Never shitty! Local team over shit team. UNITED 4 LIFE
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@Craig Mc: Totally agree with you on Fergie’s treatment of Tevez. I don’t think he is going to field a number of 1st teamers. The Carling Cup is a chance for his young players and out of shape injured players to get valuable playing time. I also think he needs to be fair to the players that got the team this far in the competition. Now with that said, if they were to get to the final, then I think he will knuckle under to the seduction of yet another trophy and field more starters. I will be very surprised if we see more than 2 of our starting eleven out there today. And he better play Nani and Anderson.
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@Craig Mc: Having played many sports in my day I can answer that question with great confidence Bro. The bottom line is it has to do with two factors, composure and confidence. When you don’t practice those scenarios and situations enough, you will never have the composure necessary to deliver in a game situation. Anderson lacks the composure and thus his mechanics get set all out of whack because in that situation everything tends to speed up in time. Great play makers and goal scorers have the composure in areas like that but they also play the game as if time slows down in areas like that and they have the time and the vision to do what they do. Their mechanics are sound because their composure is so strong. I have felt this especially in the game of ice hockey. I for one was always very composed and a pretty good goal scorer when I was young. But when I practiced I worked very hard onm y finesse skills and shot in and around the net. I have complained for quite a while now that United players as good as they are, are incapable of hitting the side of a barn from 2 feet. They are terrible finishers because they lack the composure to score regularly. Evra, Anderson, Tevez, Carrick, Park, are the biggest culprits in this area. Super players most of them, but very panic stricken when in the red zone. I blame Fergie and his inept coaches for not working more on this part of the game. And I am positive they don’t work on it because I see no improvement in this are of the game from Anderson, Evra, Park and regression in Tevez game as well as Rooney and even Ronaldo has shown a real lack of sharpness this season. Ronaldo’s misses can be tied to rust and his injury but until Rooney got into his got streak, he was awful. Now he seems to have fallen into that bad spell again. I find it amazing that Anderson has not improved 1% in this area. It’s totally baffling.
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@RedDevilEddy: What are we talking about ten year old players? He hit the target twice with weak assed worm killers that wouldn’t have beaten a ten year old. His attempts have been pathetic and embarrassing for a supposed class player. He has the finishing skill of the most inefficient defensive defenders. He’s got two left feet and has no coordination in his mechanics in taking shots. If he is ever going to score I bet it will be on a header. Baby steps? Hell his goal scoring ability hasn’t even been born yet. He’s in the prenatal stage.
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@RedDevilEddy: I don’t care about ages mate, I care about production. There are areas of Anderson’s game I like but there is nothing that make me fall in love with that player. I especially hate his stupid hair cut.
I am a hard core supporter that isn’t patient and who likes to be fair to everyone. I say play the best and get rid of the worst. I say buy a Senna or a DeRossi regardless of age if it makes you a better team now. As for improvements, I have seen no improvement in two seasons from either Anderson, or Nani. In fact I have seen the reverse. I don’t blame the players for this entirely but they do have to take some of the blame. Anderson has clearly not improved in the areas he absolutely needed to improve in. I’m not saying get rid of him. I’m saying play a better players over him.
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@Grognard:
I tried to make it sound funny. Even me, a dead-hard Anderson fan, knows that he is a terrible finisher. I even made his finishing in FIFA 09 to 15! Thats how bad I think it is! 
But I think he has more to his game, or should I say he can do everything except shooting so I will look upon that. I really think he can go 10 years for us without scoring you know. 
After all the chances he has gotten to score, its a wonder he hasnt scored!
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@RedDevilEddy: I actually agree with this very much. I think patience with Fergie and patience to our youngins along with playing time will bring us back full circle to the days of young Beckham, Giggs, and Scholes.
@Grognard: I disagree here about Nani. I think Nani is getting better by improving facets of his game that may not have to do with crossing. He has become a much better team player. Much less of a show-boater too. That I like to see as improvement.
About Anderson, I have to agree. Perhaps he is not as good as first expected (but we did expect a lot!). While I don’t like the idea of buying our way out of problems, I am aware that Anderson has no real competition for the CM/AMF position (Scholes, Park? – where does Tosic’s mate play on the pitch?). Perhabs converting Tevez to an AMF to compete with Anderson, and have Campell, Manucho, and Wellbeck duke it out for 3rd striker is the best way.
Nonetheless, IN FERGUSON I TRUST!
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@Grognard: Ive not seen improvement from Nani, that I will admit. But from Anderson Ive seen both. He has become better defensivly and better to play the right passes, while his shooting should go into the history books as the worst finisher ever! He is very young and for someone his age, very consistent. He has a talent which is very important in modern football, that is quick thinking and speed in running both with and without the ball. And for Andy playing bad in some games I wont put the fault on mainly him. There he is one game playing DM, the suddenly next week he is a AM. Arsenal DM. QPR CF. I mean, what the heck is that. He will learn from it, Im sure he will. Last season he played consistently well because he had a free role in midfield. But I cant see that in this seasons Anderson, except for against Boro, Blackburn and Hull. When he learns how to play like that, you will see the player he can be sometimes on a regular basis. The same goes for Rooney. But he has learned it now from exprience, and that doesnt arrive right away. That needs time. And if you are not patient, too bad for you. Because Fergie is awfully patient, sometimes I think he is too patient. But I never question his decisions because it usually turns out for the best. So be optimistic, cheer up and watch time fly by and boys like Rafael, Anderson and Possebon become men.
Ever seen Saw Grog?
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@Madschester United: Tosic is a LM/LW.
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Last thing Im gonna say about Anderson, because we all know this can continue to the end of the world.
So best is just to stop now. But one last thing: If Anderson hadnt been bought for £18 million, but maybe £8-£10 million, then he would be called a steal! I think he justifies his price tag. And I believe in the future, it will be great. As long as Manchester United are United, we will always be right and the best ones there are.
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@RedDevilEddy: The problem mate is he can’t do everything except score. His vision and finesse around the attacking third is nowhere to be seen. He has no ability in slowing things down and having a real look before he does something. Everything is at full speed with no control. He needs to incorporate change of pace, finesse passing abilities and use better vision before I jump on his band wagon. I’ve seen more of that stuff from Possebon on just a few occasions than I have ever seen from Anderson.
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@RedDevilEddy: I don’t watch crappy horror flicks mate. Saw is two hours I’d never steal from myself.
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@RedDevilEddy: And you go with that mate if it helps you sleep better at night. I on the other hand sleep better knowing that Anderson was overrated and over priced Brazilian talent that was sold to us as something he is not. He’s not crap but he isn’t the god you make him out to be either. He’s a decent little footballer with some nice skills and a lot of missing elements to his game. It’s naive to believe that just because he is young these missing skills will somehow magically appear in time. He either has it or he doesn’t. And for me he is not what I want patrolling the center of midfield over far more qualified players that I have mentioned. And no cheering about his greatness and potential from you is going to change my opinion. I have followed this game for twice as long as you have been alive. I think I know what I know and I am rarely surprised by the development of a player. I knew within the first twenty minutes of Cristiano Ronaldo’s debut for United that he was one day going to be the best player in the world. I don’t see anything that makes whistle in glee about Anderson. I see more potential in Nani but even he will not ever be what a lot of us and especially my buddy Craig is hoping he will be. On the other hand if you want me to hype youngsters up who I feel will become great, here are a few names. Marin, Kroos, Rafael, Possebon, Bojan, Pato, Sanchez and Ramsey. What little I have seen of these players leaves me to predict greatness. I have watched Anderson for almost two years now and all I see is much ado over nothing. He’s a blue collar player with very little pedigree. End of discussion I feel.
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