Feb 18
Rooney Wants Chelsea. Patient Fletch. Wenger Hates Showboating.
Rooney returned from suspension to help United put on a commanding performance to knock the Gunners out of the FA Cup. Buoyed by that success, he thinks it’s a good idea to be drawing Chelsea early in the competition. He’d rather take a home game against Chelsea now rather than meet them in the final.
“I hope we get Chelsea,†Rooney told MUTV. “Personally, I’d like to play them at home and try to knock them out. After that we’ll be through to the semi final and I’m sure we can take things from there.â€
I don’t think it’s that bad an idea, really. If we get a full strength team now, we can be better placed to beat Chelsea now rather than later in the competition. Let’s face it: the FA Cup final of last year was an exercise in attritional football and both sides’ players were so knackered that they couldn’t be bothered to gather themselves to hit a ball into an empty net, had a situation presented itself. Plus even if we get knocked out at this stage, it would be less gutting to me than it would if they lost in the final. All in all, not a bad idea facing Chelsea early. The draw is today and by the time you read this our quarter final opponents may be known. I may or may not update this as the news gets to me, but you always have the luxury of the comments section to fill it in.
Update: Unsurprisingly we got another Premiership club, Pompey, in the draw. Not the worst draw, I would think, but then Chelsea got Barnsley. The lucky bastards!
Darren Fletcher, who had a blinder against Arsenal, is willing to be patient for his chance and thinks that he will get them more as the season wears on. He’s had his critics but he’s mostly done a reasonable job when called upon. He’s got this uncanny knack of showing up in the big games, be it against a rampant Chelsea in the 05/06 season or Saturday — which makes one wonder how he actually does it. Remember the part on Saturday where he skinned a player, ran ahead and delivered a pin point cross from the right wing to Rooney, who scuffed the shot wide? Unbelievable! I was shocked out of my wits when I saw Fletcher do that.
And finally, Arsene Wenger let his anger known to one and all when he criticised Nani’s showboating. Now I don’t hate Wenger as much as say, Mourinho or Benitez. He is a proponent of beautiful football and it shows in his team. But I can never get his myopic view of things on the pitch. I admit that SAF has also done that at times, but he’s also chided his players when needed. I don’t see how he can justify Gallas’ kick on Nani and use Nani’s showboating as reason enough for his players to hit out at the Portuguese winger. I don’t even see how showboating was ‘wrong’ — especially in the context of the game. We were 4-0 up had nothing to lose from this point and there’s nothing wrong if our player felt comfortable enough doing what he likes. At least we weren’t lumping up the ball into touch and wasting time. We played good football, such tricks add to the entertainment value, and we played them off the park. End of.
Even SAF thought Nani’s showboating was unnecessary, but then his reasons may have been to ensure that the kid has his feet firmly on the ground for future challenges. Nani is far from perfect — he is still raw, tends to go easily to ground — but on that day his performance was excellent and he earned his seal dribble.
Oh well, let’s get over the Arsenal win and look ahead. Tomorrow is another day and we have the small matter of Lyon on Wednesday. So onward and upward from now on!
Related items from Red Rants:
- Inter v Man Utd: Preview
- Fletch Wants To Stay. Do You Want Him?
- Fletch For Everton? Pako for a ‘Thrilled’ Queiroz?
- Ron Writes off Chelsea | Drog Rubbishes Himself | Pique Is Patient | And A Slow Day
- Man Utd 0-0 Villarreal: Ronaldo Returns
Tags: Daily Roundup
February 18th, 2008 at 10:56
I absolutely agree with your take on Fletcher. I myself was gobsmacked to see him make that kind of a run and deliver the cross to Wayne Rooney; who I believe scuffed it wide as he was not really expecting Fletcher to deliver it on the plate for him, had it been Ronaldo instead of Fletcher, maybe Rooney would’ve known what to expect from that kind of a run. All said and done, brilliant play from Fletcher!
We could almost make a song out of Gallas..
to the tune of ‘Weasley is our king’…
Gallas is our king
Gallas is our king
He may think we’re arrogant
But he always heads it in!!
Considering our luck with draws, I think there is a sense of inevitability attached with us drawing against a Premiership opposition once again. Better now than in the final, for I would love to face Barnsley in the final
February 18th, 2008 at 11:11
heres a the vid of the nani seal/juggle.
February 18th, 2008 at 11:47
it seems wilkinson agrees with me on the subject on english players.
February 18th, 2008 at 13:54
First time reading your blog, It was a great performance on Saturday, makes you wonder what are best team really is,and dont forget Fletchers perfomance against Roma last season at OT, Anderson had Cesc in his back pocket, i dont know about you or anyone else, but I ahve supported man utd from a very early age purely because of the entertainment value, showboating??, yeah , bring it on , all the time, Nani doing the seal dribble???, did he loose the ball?, was he robbed?, did Arsenal score??, dont think so… let the showboating continue
February 18th, 2008 at 14:29
BRING ON YOU POMEPY!!
February 18th, 2008 at 14:31
Hosting Portsmouth, Chelsea get Barnsley. I know it’s random, but good lordy Chelsea get a nice run. Portsmouth will be tough, though they werewn’t very good yesterday…
February 18th, 2008 at 14:33
Since were playin Pompey at home, I think we allready are in the semis. Cant see how they can beat us at Old Trafford.
February 18th, 2008 at 14:34
yep chelsea have been lucky in their FA cup campaign, if its us and them in the final, it would mean more to us winning because we did it through hard work and mean less to them.
February 18th, 2008 at 14:49
Welcome back grognard, now this site is fully back
February 18th, 2008 at 14:52
Wow we get pompey at OT in the FA cup. Would have loved to play chelsea. Lets hope we get them in the semis. As i have always said, these draws are fixed. Tell me why we keep on getting prem teams. This should be looked into.
February 18th, 2008 at 14:56
As long as we dont play Chelsea in the final, Im happy to play any side!
February 18th, 2008 at 15:52
The draws seem rigged.. Another BPL opposition.. Not that we’re afraid but wtf
My Footie Blog
February 18th, 2008 at 16:41
Cups losses won’t effect Arsenal but will make them come in stronger in the League and CL. Arsenal had a terrible long list of injuries (which is a great reason not an excuse), plus playing with some Carling Cup players like Hoyte and Traore. And had a bigger fish to fry which is AC Milan, the team that slapped your red face club 3-0 last time out.
So if we beat AC Milan, you MU fans will shut up??. I don’t think so..you will celebrate this meaningless game that you won impressively all season long cse you will only have FA Cup to hide your faces when Arsenal win the league..and CL for MU this season?? Give me a break!
Now how was the feeling your local rivals man city (that we beat 3-1 at their ground earlier) kick your red asssess as well in the league game plus on a very historic day plus did double on you guys after some bloody years plus dropping points that can cause you the league????? Better than we feel when our team beaten by your team in a Cup game which was not a prirority and which many of us Arsenal fans knew we can lose it????? I don’t think so…lol!
February 18th, 2008 at 16:42
My goodness me. i dont know why some players and managers are againstskill yet its the skillful player that do help them win games.
Is it a crime if a player can do those dribbles in the tightest of situations.
I remember when a south american goal keeper was warning robinho that he will get hurt if he continues to pull those strange pedelattas, the so called step-over.
And ofcourse you all remember what happened to Ronaldo in last year’s FA cup tie between United and Boro
Now if you watch this… this is utmost insanity for thedefender.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig_caQlI8y4
February 18th, 2008 at 16:50
the thing is jay jay, kerlon did it to get past players nani did it for fun. what i believe is that the seal is a new type skill, and you cant lash out at someone just for skilling you up, skill is a reletivly new thing in the modern game of football its just something tthats apart of the game, some players are passers and just will are world class at it, someplayers are mainly skillful like ronny and nani, who will do skill that is world class, is it right to lash out at someone for passing the ball so well and leads to a goal, no! im suprised the whole team didnt try and crumble carrick.
February 18th, 2008 at 17:15
Hoyte was up nani’s ass thats why he did it he found the ball up and was closely marked so he played it up until he lost the defender then he was abused by 2 defenders
February 18th, 2008 at 18:07
I think u guys should know by now that we got Pompey at home. thank god its a home game for us. Chelsea got Bransley at their home against Chelski… i didn’t care to check the rest. Go read up urselfs. lol.
I would love Ronaldo to strike another freekick and watch James’s reaction again as we did earlier this season.
February 18th, 2008 at 18:20
im confident about pompey, their best striker is cup-tied… i reckon barnsley can pull off an upset against chelski.
February 18th, 2008 at 18:31
@ArsenalGeneral:
Saw your comment under another name on the republik site..
The very fact that you have nothing better to do than to go to United sites and seemingly defend your team shows that atleast fans like you did care about the FA cup andthe thrashing…
By your Milan logic, we should be scared of Sevilla and Sheffield United coz they beat the holy hell outta ya last time round…
Secondly, how come you don’t then admit that even we had injuries last year against milan
thirdly… We too fielded a weakened side..ie our bench strenght is better than yours…
4th.. We have bigger fish to fry…u aint winning a treble unless u win the FA Cup… u aint never repeating wht we did ever again
as far as the league.. just wait and watch..just wait and watch..
Now buzz of to your gooner site.. you’re welcome only if you aint abusing us without reason…
February 18th, 2008 at 18:35
[Utsav]
His was a wind up. Just ignore. He’s talking about a title when it is not yet in their grasp. Let us also not talk about something we have not won so far. We all know how much they celebrated when they held us to a draw at the Emirates. There’s nothing more they can say really. And it’s not so bad losing 2-1 to your bitter rivals than being drubbed 5-1, innit?
February 18th, 2008 at 18:42
Atleast they dint blame the pitch there… I bet they’ll go on to thrash Milan after their friendly against us, eh?
February 18th, 2008 at 19:02
I think it is disgraceful the way Arsenal tried to hack down Nani. Arsenal are just jealous because for all their pretty passing and movement they do not have anyone who can dribble past defenders at will the way Ronaldo, Nani and Tevez can.
February 18th, 2008 at 19:06
i think that dude needs to piss off, yea city beat us 2-1, spurs beat you 5-1, i wonder who should be more embarrassed?
February 18th, 2008 at 20:36
Gallas faces no punishment?wtf?!if it was rooney….
February 18th, 2008 at 21:08
Let the Arse idiot to get lost, What the hell this is not funny another EPL team.
February 18th, 2008 at 22:02
@arsenal general…
how long have you been watching football,
FA cup…meaningless?
And i ink showboating should not be considered wrong…its not against rules
February 18th, 2008 at 22:33
Can someone enlighten me, but i think that kerlon is a united player isnt he? He would be awesome if he was!
February 18th, 2008 at 22:48
Showboating, while technically not wrong, goes against an unwritten rule of football that you do not take the mickey out of a fellow professional/s. I don’t blame Arsenal for getting hacked off (no pun intended!) about Nani, I would probably have reacted the same if I was getting beat 4-0 and had that done to me…
Kai – i think you might have got mixed up with the Brazilian full back twins Fabio and Rafael, or our new signing Rodrigo. Kerlon has only been linked with us (inevitably i guess) in the past, due to his seal dribbling skills, though I can’t see him becoming a Utd player at all to be honest….
February 18th, 2008 at 23:43
nino, what unwritten book have you been reading! if that were true ronny wuld be hated by EVERYONE!
February 18th, 2008 at 23:58
Dan: If you cast your mind back to the Carling Cup final a couple of years ago, Ronaldo indulged in a bit of show boating when Wigan were 4-0 down and earned a rebuke from Giggs for it. There is a difference between some tricks etc and taking the mickey, although quite frankly Arsenal deserve everything they got.
February 19th, 2008 at 2:11
Dan – in case you havent realised, Ronaldo IS hated by practically every football fan in England outside of the red half of Manchester! How many times in the past have we heard Ronaldo being slagged off as an “arrogant showpony” by other (jealous) fans??
JB – you are right, there is indeed a difference between performing a few tricks to create space for yourself and overstepping the mark by blatantly disrespecting the opposition, but in the exceptional circumstances on saturday evening i.e. completely owning our biggest rivals, I dont think Nani did anything wrong, though again I reiterate that I can understand why Arsenal players reacted in the way they did.
February 19th, 2008 at 2:51
I’ll take Pompey at home, no problem and thank you very much. At the very least, we won’t get Benjani visiting again.
On Nani, frankly I did not think he was showboating on purpose. Tracking back and trying to control a fast pass which bounced up to his head level, he had to do something exceptional to keep possession and Traore at bay.
Nobody was close enough to lay the ball off or else he would have done so probably. He did not seal-dribble and run all the way to the by-line (to waste time, there was no point to do so at 4-0 up) and after bringing the ball down, did a great shimmy to get rid of Traore before attempting to dribble up and almost got scythed by Flamini.
It was a genuine skillful attempt to keep possession and turn defense into offense. So bite me.
February 19th, 2008 at 3:31
so now its official, SAF out with wanting Benzema…hmm..think saha is surely on his way…
soccernet news – http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=509261&cc=5901
February 19th, 2008 at 4:51
First off I’d like to say that I am not a conspiracy buff but what are the mathematical odds that United would draw a Prem team in the FA Cup every time since the beginning of last season’s campaign? What pisses me off is that Chelsea always seem to get a free ride to the final by drawing all the minnows. It just royally sucks. Pompey doesn’t scare me but it would have been nice to get an easy game in order to rest some of the key players.
As for Nani’s seal act, who bloody cares. The game is about bloody skill and the game markets it self by showcasing the great players exhibiting this skill in advertisements and such. We are living in the year 2008. 1950’s sensibilities have long been thrown out the window. As far as I’m concerned the game today lacks any kind of old time professionalism and class, so showboating and trash talking while shouting and abusing refs and flipping the crowd should all be second nature by now. It is the age of divers, drama queens and spoilt primadonnas. I love the game but it has been missing the class of players and ambassadors like Beckenbauer, Pele, Eusebio and Platini for a long time now. Nani’s little seal show will be forgotten in a week when the next clown comes out of the closet to show his lack of class. Now if all these players could actually use these skills to get by a defender that would be nice. Most of these players should practice shooting on goal more rather than these cheap theatrics. My pet peeve is watching a player exhibit unbelievable skill up until it is time to strike on goal. Then they make a meal of it. And people wonder why I prefer German soccer over that of Brazil and other such exotic sides. I have always preferred substance over style.
February 19th, 2008 at 8:07
oooh…. grognard’s back alright!!!(no pun intended!) nice to have you back man….
on a more serious note…. about the nani incident, why is everyone taking sides…. this is a case of two wrongs and blaming the other side isnt gonna change that…. yes, nani ws showboating and thats wrong…. arsenal are our rivals, they deserve our respect (not love…. respect)…. what nani did ws insulting and theres no point defending him for that….. what the arsenal players did in retaliation (especially gallas) wasnt all the classy either and its a miracle its gone unpunished….. all that has come out of this is the two top teams in england with egg on their faces…..
t_reason, u missed the last part of that article where benzema said he wasnt interested in a move (to united specifically) so i wuldnt bet on it going through…. it wuld be nice to see him here though!!!
February 19th, 2008 at 9:09
This goes to everyone that replied to my post above.
Yeah 5-1 in a Carling cup, not in the league asssholees!
4-0 in FA Cup not in the league which is your team to play catch up like dogs with Arsenal.
We was celebrating the 2-2 draw at Arsenal because after playing so bad we still make you losers lose 2 points that would be crucial in the league. And your team was so dissapointed as they lost the title that day itself! Booo!
The bottom line is you won the game (one match) but look at the long run in the league and you will find your team losing 5 games and us just 1 game.
If there is a choice for you MU fans and your red face manager, which situation will you prefer the most?. Leading us 5 points in the league and losing the FA Cup match againts us or rather being where your team are now??. Your answer will give yourself a good slap and open your eyes why Arsenal and Arsene Wenger was not up to the game where FA cup was not even the prirority before the match kicked off.
Talking about weakened team, we had the same situation facing Spurs in Carling cup as we fielded second string players there and get the trashing which is not important at all, we came back stronger and got the 5 point lead againts you. You got beaten by your local rivals as well againts your strong team, on a historic day (I guess everyone was crying more in your OLD trff after the game). Plus they make your team drop points which was very crucial as we won our matches! And you guys struggled so much with your strong team againts Spurs too and dropped another 2 points there. At least we was playing with our second string..lol
At least we was knocked out from the CC by a strong team (Scums) againts our kids…err..which team knocked your team out from the same competition??..lol!
February 19th, 2008 at 9:12
And i use the same name everywhere and this website doesn’t belong to your dad that i can’t come here and write down some facts.
CHEERS and HAVE FUN FACING CHELSEA IN THE FINAL WHILE WE WIN THE LEAGUE!!
February 19th, 2008 at 9:17
Arsenal_general, if we had a choice as you stated, I would choose to be in exactly the position that we are now.
Are you really that deluded to think we will let you win the league?
Don’t worry, I felt exactly like you when we got kicked out of the League cup by Coventry. Feels shit hey? At least I did not go around stating how I didn’t care about the useless competition…I DID care. That’s the difference between our clubs I suppose. We BELIEVE our team can win EVERYTHING. If you don’t have that much confidence in your team, then we should not even be having this conversation. So, either become constructive, OR Piss off!!!
February 19th, 2008 at 9:36
C’mon guys! Soccer isnt a love affair where when you
are annoyed by your patrner, you dont show it. in fact you suffer locally.
When Van Persie scored that equaliser against us at Fly Emirates last season, Thiery Henry ran to EVDS shouting at him “OK waste time any more” as EVDS lied on the ground agonisingly.Was that professinal? But EVDS never complained neither did SAF cry foul.
When Henry used to run with the ball towards the corner kick and steps on the ball and wait for his opponent to come when arsenal would be leading 2-1 and he would start ’shoving’ off opponents using his bam, did anyone complain about that?
Then why raise dust about what Nani did when infact he lunched on a very hard pass to control from Evra, and remember Hoyte was on his neck for the ball. Not forgetting that the ball was received close to our goal, so had Nani lost the ball who knows maybe our clean sheet woul have gone. The kid even never showed that he was showboating, because as soon as he lost his opponent he turned to arsenal’s goal and started to drive upfront in such for his maybe second goal and the fifth of the night.
Guys let’s call a spade a spade. If that was done by Rooney or any other English player, all the tabloids would be “what a skillful player the boy is” no one would talk about showboating. Recall when Utd was penalised and Rooney started juggling with the ball, we were 3 nil up at the time, now that is irritating and “mickeying” your opponent, but who talks about that? No one because it was done by an English!
So let’s cut the crap and Nani the boy to be. Why make a mountain out of mole.
February 19th, 2008 at 9:54
Jay-jay, I agree with you on the Rooney issue. How come no one mentioned his showboating and mickeying?
That was actually worse than Nani (who as you stated, was doing his job).
Anyway, we paid £17m (not £17) for player’s skill. Why the fuck can he not show it and entertain us? Besides, we needed to kinda humiliate Arsenal in order to bring them back to earth and prepare them for their league visit to us. I’m just sorry SAF couldn’t bring Ronaldo on as well to show-the-fuckin-boat off their Arse’s
I think more important questions would be:
* What’s going to happen to Eboue?
* Why didn’t anything happen to Adebayor when he headbutted his teammate during a game (televised live)?
February 19th, 2008 at 12:45
[Arsenal General]
This website actually does belong to me. More importantly, if you are a rival fan you can’t write just about anything, especially when the sole intention is to piss others off. Your tone and the way you write just about contributes zilch.
Your team hasn’t won anything so far this season. Neither has ours. So let’s reserve your wind ups when the season gets over. Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves, shall we? In the meantime you can learn to spend more time in your club forums.
Oh, and one more comment from you that’s not constructive will be deleted. I’ve had enough of your tripe.
February 19th, 2008 at 14:17
aaaw… look at the arsenal general crying over us celebrating our win… U idiot.. we are all United fans and WILL celebrate our comprehensive win.. Ur silly excuses dun matter to us… Even if we win no trophy this year, we WILL still celebrate this win.. COZ v are proud of our team.. If thats too much philosophy for you to understand, too bad
February 19th, 2008 at 14:37
Good one red ranter that’s telling him.pple like him
(arsenal general) abuse our basic fundermental rights of the
freedom of speech when nothing but drivel comes from every pore of
that degenerate mind of his.
its fine when he wants to express his views but if he is only
interested in winding up pple and not developing constructive discussion
February 19th, 2008 at 15:05
off topic but isn’t it interesting that fergie had his 100 F.A cup
game in charge on saturday,Giggs will have his 100th Champions
league game,Edwin will have his 100th league game for us on saturday.
Interesting isn’t it
February 19th, 2008 at 16:38
@ArsenalGeneral
Karl had answered your query…
And yes we defend our team, but what you’re doing is trying to hide behind millions of reasons.. Read our previous posts…read it “4″ times.., we name the players who have played bad , which you do not have the balls to do…
ummmmmmmmm… the truth does not have to be repeated “4″ times… so get the message and shut up…your last title was “4″ years ago…and like it or not, we still thumped your sorry ass 4 nil…ha.ha(Nelson from The Simpsons style)
February 19th, 2008 at 18:42
ARESENAL GENERAL.
First of all, i have to say that you are just a fucking wanking areholefan who talks and posts without his brains. I wonder what kind of job ur fucking ass is doing, guess it is not a white collar job or else you would think before u say u speak for other arshole fans.
First- Arshole fans numbering over 10,000 filled old trafford for the game. If the match, was not important, they would not embark on a journey which not only includes tickets which would fucking costs the lads over 50pounds to get, and not to mention travelling costs to manchester from london. This is to remind you that here in london some die hard wanker arshole fans take up loans to purchase season tickets to watch games (which gives them 1st hand opppourtunity in FA cup games & other cup competitions). So to loose (badly) to united would really leave a mark. Guess u r fucking ass is not from around here, or else you would not keep on ranting that cup games are not important, or else your fans wont travel hundreds of miles to watch games against totham (all ur tickets were sold out); against manutd (all ur tickets were sold out too). so before u open ur fucked up wanking ars mate, get ur facts right.
Secondly, You would probably say what u r saying bcos u have a fucked up gaffer (wenger) who has never had respect for this old long football tradition since we dumped ur ass out of the FA cup in ‘99 on our way to winning the treble (which u would never do) cos it is always man utd that keeps on putting a fucking spanner in ur treble hope (rem ur unbeaten season who dumped u out of the FA cup). ARSENE WANKER does not know the FA cup (as long as Arsenal is an english club ) is regarded to a true brit as the greatest competion in the word. Even Arshole funking lads down here would admit (IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, SOME OF UR FANS WERE IN FUCKING TEARS AT THE STADIUM). Also guess u saw at a point on ur fucking TV that most of ur fans left before the final whistle not cos they thought the game was over, it was bcos the lads couldnt take the chants of we lads anymore. IT fucking good the plan of the Fucking FA chief (to play games globally) didn’t work as FUCKING WANKERS LIKE U WHO JUST JOINED UR FUCKING CLUBS IN SUCCESS WOULD STOP CLAIMING U R THE TRUE FANS. Arshole back in the days was known for having good FA cup runs before the fucking wanker ARSENE (WHO CANT EVEN KEEP HIS HOME TOGETHER) now coming to tell we lads that the FA cup CUP and Carling cup don’t even matter.
Lastly- I would want to tell u that they r always sell out games evenif the U18s r playing ( remember u seeling out a game last season in the U-18s version of the FA cup against united). Would you say those lads had nothing to do? So before u take up sides with that wanker who dosen’t even have any hope that a young english talent can come up thru ur ranks (as ur team is stoked with the foriegn legion). Examine ur fucking brain. Or do u think die hard arshole fans down here don’t care that u don’t have any prospect that is ENGLISH in ur side.
So MATE EXAMINE UR FUCKING BRAIN BEFORE U COME INTO THIS BLOG AGAIN.
February 19th, 2008 at 20:05
The FA Cup is less important.
I saw nothing wrong with what nani did.
I saw nothing wrong with what flamini did.
Gallas kicked out off the ball and should be punished.
Arsenal General should fuck off