Jan 05
Taking stock, post-Leeds.
I woke up at 6:45am in time for the 7am kickoff, my local time. I was up late the previous night; stayed up till 4am, in fact. But late nights are quite common during weekends, by my standards. About 60 minutes into the game, overwhelmed by a combination of weariness and an unprecedented ennui watching the game, I gave in and involuntarily dozed off. In my mind the game played on as Rooney fashioned a comeback 3-1 win.
When I woke up, I carried on with my day, only to fire up the Guardian a few hours later to read the match report. Only then did the 0-1 scoreline dawn on me. Funny story — not much on poignance value — but true.
A few hours later I watched the rest of the match and what I witnessed was an extension of the pre-slumber blur, earlier in the day.
But this was supposed to be less a match report and more a description of trends I’ve been observing this season. You’ve read the match reports everywhere. So another one will only be redundant. In case you haven’t read this already, Cockney-Red, who writes for the refreshingly honest blog When Seagulls Follow the Trawler (and who has often faced unfair flak in the past for calling a spade a spade) has hit the nail on the head with his match report.
Even the proud optimist, Scott, on RoM was mightily pissed off at the result.
Therefore, when Ferguson decides to talk about added time under the circumstances, I squirmed much more than I’ve ever squirmed before when the manager complained about added time.
He, however, did go on to direct his ire at the players for their shoddy performance. But anyone would have to be either blind or have the brain of a housefly if they didn’t think we played shit. A loss to Leeds hurt, although not as much as it would have years ago, but United’s capitulation, while unexpected, upon reflection seemed unsurprising.
Following more convincing wins against Wigan and Hull I wondered if they were for real. The nature of our season has been such. I had high praise for the lads after the Wigan demolition, but I felt compelled to pour a little cold water over it because it was hard to believe they were precursors to a revival. Five premier league losses by December — some of them, comprehensive — can do that to a United fan.
So when you think of the Leeds defeat, all you can do is sigh, and go, “Oh dear… what next?”
We can only go so far as to blame squad selection. In past seasons it didn’t matter what side Ferguson put out — they’d find out a way to win. In past seasons we could put out a similar side and win 10 times over against that Leeds outfit. This season I think we might win six times and lose four. It’s that random. We are a random side this season.
We might very well win the league, and if we do, then it would also be the greatest shooting in the foot our rivals would have done, since Hitler marched his troops to Russia. [Of course, I exaggerate. But the fact that we're two points off the pace after five defeats says a lot.] But that sort of misses the point. It also doesn’t have anything to do with a general improvement of the Premiership. Well, it has to a point, but not to the extent that we’d lose five by December.
But what was more galling from the Leeds defeat was the complete lack of passion. Neville, Evans, Brown, Welbeck, Gibson are all players who’re expected to get the importance of the game. Every Leeds player was first on the ball, pressed like their life depended on it. (Which makes sense because this is a massive game for them considering their league status.) But the rivalry was built up prior to the game by managers and fans alike. Even if a player wasn’t aware Leeds United existed, it would have been force fed right into his bloodstream under threat of castration.
Also, Welbeck on the wing? Really? If anything, now that we’ve established he’s as useful on the wing against League One full backs as a skunk in a pan-animal-kingdom body odour contest, we can safely send him back to the reserves to play in his proper position. There have been instances of players like Henry who’ve started out on the wing and gone on to become great strikers. But Welbeck has always been shit on the wing. Why not play him in a position he’s used to playing?
We were supposed to be playing our “kids” against Man City. There’s the familiar spiel from the manager about nurturing youth and developing them when quizzed about transfers. You will hear the familiar, “we don’t have value in the market,” when there is ample evidence to prove there is value when you look for it. Ferguson can be stubborn like that. [I've long nurtured a secret hope where I've interpreted his "we won't be buying players to resolve our defensive crisis" as "we might, however, explore options on the attacking end." I'll hold out hope on that front till the 31st of January]
As mentioned earlier this season, we have deficiencies in our attacking end that need to be plugged. I am still confident about our defence when it eventually comes together, which it should in the coming weeks.
The newspapers have been awash with the MUTV caller that kicked off the post-Leeds inquisition with a “Ferguson must be sacked” comment. I think that’s a ridiculous remark and I wouldn’t go as far, but I can sympathise with a lot of fans who have been less than satisfied by the manner of our performances this season. MUTV have since then edited out those uncomfortable moments Lou Macari and Co. had to negotiate in their repeat airs. But, in those comments, despite their causticity, lies a giant grain of truth that not all is well.
Related items from Red Rants:
- United End 2009 With a Flourish
- United Sleepwalk to Defeat
- David Gill’s “Out of Context” Cop-Out
- The Chatroom Experiment
- Southampton v Man Utd FA Cup Match Thread
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (542)
Stephen (500)
RedDevilEddy (462)
Craig Mc (349)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
@Stephen: Who is saying SAF should leave though Stephen????? He does need to start playing the same team EVERY game if they are available, until we get into winning established mode again! But yes, over rotation and not so great reserve players takes its own toll But Fergie is so stubborn Stephen, and truly believes that his squad are good enough IN DEPTH! That is what has me worried mate
Like?
0 
0
@Sir Red: berba has been playing for us in the hole between midfield and upfront striker rooney it has worked for some extent but to get rich results berba should be played up top coz if u have seen wigan match berba was making good runs & was effective and rooney playing deep.
but if u play two strikers an amf(berba) should aslo be able to track back which is a problem
Like?
0 
0
@Sir Red: Nani has NEVER been given a fair SHOT at living up to his potential mate, because he certainly contributed greatly in his 1st season with us. Nani will do a Tevez and show his true form when he goes to his new club who will give the lad a fair shot, (I really do believe that Bro and am not just being controversial for the sake of it) – something SAF has never done, he has never encouraged Nani and made him feel as wanted as others who never produce the goods for us, but SAF takes a liking to them!
Like?
0 
0
@CraigMc: The first eleven of VDS, Brown, Vida, Rio, Evra, Carrick, Fletch, Valencia, Giggs, Rooney and Berba are no bad but lack creativity and true grit bar Wazza.
If Rooney doesn’t play well we don’t, Berba as much as I like him is not suited to United and his goalscoring record this season is poor to say the least especially if you throw the fee into the argument.
Fergie is subborn mate but he is also a politician, he is getting near the holy grail of 19 titles so he can “knock Liverpool off the feckin perch” and he will not upset the apple cart or Glaziers to achieve his lifes work.
Like?
0 
0
@CraigMc: In fairness Nani might be the shot in the arm the team needs, some creativity and flair.
Like?
0 
0
@Sir Red: That would be an interesting experiment. I sincerely think he’s the best creative passer in our team, even ahead of Giggs, but for that to work he must clearly be told to act as an offensive midfielder/ linchpin by Fergie, which I don’t think we’ll ever see.
Also it goes against our past formations be it 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 or 4-5-1, we never really accommodated a creative AM/CF behind two strikers. Maybe Scholes in his heyday, but I can’t really see it happening.
Another factor playing against Berbatov maybe, would be his height. Everybody expects a tall player like him to be physical and a potent header of the ball, which I think by now we know its not the case.
As I said, it would be really interesting and I would look forward to it, but I really can’t see it happening.
Like?
0 
0
@vanderberg: I’ve been saying it for ages now, but our midfield is the one most important area where we need serious improvement in quality.
I’ve given up on Anderson and if Nani is indeed going to be shipped off then we need a Left Mid/Winger as well.
@vanderberg: To be fiar, Scholes has never been a great defensive midfielder, and I clearly remember a stat from last season showing that Berbatov had more successful tackles than Tevez or Rooney!
Like?
0 
0
@Stephen: Regarding Berbatov, yes the jury is still out, but I will point out that he rarely played bad when he had a good midfield behind him.
Everytime the midfield played well,/ did its job, so did Berbatov.
For years we took the quality we had in midfield for granted as since the mid90′s we were never left wanting there.
I wonder how would a Sheringham or a Solskjaer perform with the kind of service we have nowadays.
Like?
0 
0
@NicoQB: I don’t buy thay argument mate, you can always blame different factors for anything but his work rate at times is negligible which he can only be accountable for, he certainly worked harder at Spurs and scored more goals and more important goals.
Like?
0 
0
@Stephen: Yes, but in the instances that his work rate has been poor, more often than not the midfield were not having a great day either.
The one argument where I think we’ll all agree is that he needs to get stuck in more in the final third, as in diving in to head those crosses and not doing his statuesque, goal shy impersonations.
When he’s on the edge of the box or lower he’s ok in my book, he does those great lay offs and first passes that often lead to dangerous opportunities, as shown by his service to Valencia recently.
The Wigan game is a great example as in he did well on the whole, even made some runs which were not spotted, thanks to Mr. Park. Then you get the Leeds no-show, which, once again was a team fiasco. Pretty much resumes the whole situation with him.
Like?
0 
0
@NicoQB: Spot on mate, with the L**ds game it was crying out for him to perform and he simply didn’t he needs to start scoring goals in games like that in my opinion step up to the plate as we are so reliant on Rooney at the moment.
Like?
0 
0
@Stephen: What I meant was that he was in effect, poor against leeds (loved your ** gimmick
), but it just showed that it was in line with the other player’s poor performance.
What we would all like is for him to be the catalyst of great performances, when the team plays bad, but bar Rooney, and occasionally Giggs and Fletcher, no one really stands out as such.
But I’ll stick to what I;ve said: if the midfield sorts itself out (or SAF does) then we’ll see a better Berbatov. If not, then, and only then, I’ll finally admit defeat.
Like?
0 
0
@NicoQB: And so you should! The latest theory that Berbatov will play better if everybody around plays better and lays the ball directly to his feet or head is astonishing. Kinda like saying I’ll be able to save more money if someone else pays my bills. Nice thought, but ridiculous as well.
I just assume that this is surely the final straw in the arsenal of excuses I’ve heard about this man. We have just about exhausted every possible idea for making his stay at OT a successful one – it’s now time to move on.
I will now refuse to comment further on the Berbatov issue. There is really no point. The biggest ally I have in proving his worthlessness is … Berbatov himself, every time he sets foot on the pitch!!
Like?
0 
0
@CraigMc: I understand where you’re coming from bro. Tis’ a shame since Nani has it in him to be great.
Like?
0 
0
@NicoQB: I too think he’s our best passer in the last third and if we had people making runs ahead of him, he’ll pick out pretty and effective passes but…will we get to see that? Like you said, probably not.
Like?
0 
0
Off topic (if ever there was one): How good/ not good is Kris Boyd?
Like?
0 
0
@Redrich: Fine then, let us turn a blind eye to a Michael Carrick who’s nowhere as good as he was 3-4 years ago, Ji Sung Park for being Ji Sung Park, Scholes damaging his legacy week in week out, Giggs playing underwhelmingingly on the whole but squeezing out an assist , Gibson being oblivious to the meaning of a pass when nearing the box…
As a matter of fact its all berbatov’s fault, it is…
Like?
0 
0
@NicoQB: Yea it is. The problem with Berbatov … is Berbatov!!
Like?
0 
0
@Redrich: Yet another style over substance statement…
I hate random generalisations…
Like?
0 
0
@Sir Red: Mate if SAF had taken Nani under his wing, like he did CR7, and built up the lads confidence by telling him he really could develop into another great winger for us, and back him giving him challenges like he did with Ronnie, then the Lil Man would have felt confident enough to do some of the good things he started to do in his first season with us. I know he is not another CR7, but he does have some giftedness, and more flair than some of our other players that SAF sticks on the wings. He needed to be encouraged not hated by the boss and United fans. I feel confident for him that he will come really into his own with another club that he feels part of. He is a good player for Portugal, who made the goals or scored them that got the Portuguese to the world cup in CR7′s absence! I’d really like to see the lad do well.
Like?
0 
0
Poor berbatov, the team is filled with medicore players and they have been there for years and suddenly he is the main problem.
Like?
0 
0
@ROOOOONEY: see —->@NicoQB:
Like?
0 
0
@CraigMc: Yes but mate, in fairness to Fergie Ronaldo was teachable and open to instructions and was very respectful and patient with his manager. Nani is moody, quiet, withdrawn and stubborn because he has not shown a willingness to be coached out of his bad habits and into Fergie’s heart. I love Nani but the problem is equally both their faults.
Like?
0 
0
@Redrich: The fact mate is that Spurs and Levrkusen did exactly that and he averaged 20 goals a season in the league alone. It is a fact that if you give him proper service in an attack oriented attack he does deliver the goods. Now your criticism is fair enough and I do see where you are coming from but please remember, the player has a very impressive track record but it’s obvious that his style and how he is being used is what is causing the problem. I wrote a while ago how I experienced the same thing one year in mens basketball. I was being completely misused and it hurt me greatly but the team still was pretty good. The following year I took over as player coach and not only did my points improve by ten more per game, but we won the championship easily and scored twenty more points per game on average. All because i knew how to utilize my skills better to help the team and also by taking the shackles off the team and scrapping the slow paced buildup game we were playing for a run and gun fast break in your face attack. Lets face it, I was a coaching genius.
Like?
0 
0