Jan 28
United 3-1 Spurs: Ronaldo Brace Sees United Through
It has become impossible for us to write match reports of United victories without a mention of a Ronaldo goal. In fact he has been so remarkably prolific that it led to Sir Alex himself recently admitting that he never saw his goal scoring potential when he initially bought him; his purchase was as a pure winger.
But as he approaches Best’s tally of 32 goals in a season for a winger — he reached the 25 goal mark yesterday — comparisons with the legendary winger will surely resurface, and that too for good reason.
However, what is truly interesting is his contribution for most part of the game. Ronaldo was once again anonymous, as he has been several times this season, but still managed to hit a brace, as he has done several times previously this season. In a way, he embodied our performance; we were below par, but we still did eke a win — as we’ve done many times before.
Juande Ramos’ side had momentum. Buoyed by demolishing their arch rivals they showed urgency and pace and got out of the blocks earlier. United, on the other hand, seemed like they were expecting a phone call from the airport’s lost baggage claim department. The Saudi trip seemingly made them look a disjoint unit. It also claimed Vidic, who was out with a virus. Brown partnered Rio with Evra and O’Shea as fullbacks.
The absence of Vidic was felt as Rio and Brown looked shaky as a partnership. However, it was Patrice Evra’s turn to have a stinker as Aaron Lennon’s runs brought us memories of the Frenchman’s debut against the bitters, way back in 05. He was culpable as Tottenham took the lead; Lennon skinned Evra and his excellent cross was tapped in by Robbie Keane. However, soon after, a lay off from Giggs helped Tevez equalize and we were back on track. Or rather should we say, Tottenham were sure to fuck up their early advantage.
And that was what exactly happened. Spurs continued to have chances that they ought to have put away while certain players like Hargreaves dozed off momentarily. But they didn’t and it wasn’t too long before Dawson’s wildly flinging arms pushed the ball away from Rooney in the box — earning him a straight red and a penalty for United. Oh, it was an excellent punt down the field by EVDS.
Ice-man Ronaldo converted it and added another soon after — something the ‘keeper should have saved.
Carrick and Hargreaves were paired in the centre, and I thought they had a fair game. Hargreaves did a reasonable job of getting at the Spurs players, despite occasional transgressions. The introduction of Paul Scholes of course was a moment a lot of us were waiting for, and it was nice to see that he was quite good. Anderson continues to amaze me with his ability at this age and it is encouraging to see a happy headache for Fergie, now that Scholesy’s returned. Will he continue with a midfield of Anderson and Hargreaves — a combination that has shown a lot of promise and is fairly settled — or will he go with both Scholes and Anderson? Or will it be Hargo and Scholes and will Carrick find a place in the mix? All very valid questions, something that will test the man management skills of the boss to the full.
On the match, it must be said that we won another game without stepping into high gear although a week (or so?) from now we must be better if we are to get a result from White Hart Lane in the more important league. Of course, we also have the small matter of dealing with Portsmouth in midweek.
* * *
Meanwhile Manucho has scored a brace as Angola shocked Senegal. I managed to catch bits of the game although I found his strike partner, Flavio, the more impressive one. Manucho is excellent in the air but I haven’t seen much of him to conclude if he is any good holding the ball or striking it into goal with his foot. Nonetheless, he is having a great ANC, and hopefully he does well for us too.
- Preview: Reds vs Spurs
- Tottenham 1-1 Man Utd: Preview
- Newcastle 1-5 Man Utd: Newcastle Taken To The Cleaners At Home
- The Week So Far: Benitez, Heinze, Strikers, Nani, EVDS, Ferdinand, Gibson, Saha and Spurs
- Tottenham 1-1 Man Utd: Tevez Rescues Point
Tags: Match Reports
January 28th, 2008 at 11:32
It’s too easy using the trip to Saudi Arabia as an explanation for the start of the game. Truth is we completely controlled the game after their goal. Yes so it may look as if the players were struck by Saudi decease, but it certainly isn’t the first game in which the opposition have put up a fight for the first 15 minutes and nothing more. Tottenham are a quality side, and it’s no wonder they scored an early goal, while they still had the strength to hold on to the ball. But as with so many other teams this season, we wear them down, and we had most of the posession for the rest of the match. We may not have been to threatening, but we still scored 3 goals in the game, which has become our strength this season. We win games comfortably, even when we don’t produce too much.
Remember that Tottenham demolished Arsenal a few days ago, but yesterday they hardly had a chance besides the goal. Yes I know they hit the post (or did it really hit Brown) and that they generally put us a little on the backheel in the last 10 minutes, but that’s only natural and has nothing to do with the trip.
I guess my argument is that we saw nothing yesterday that we haven’t seen before in these type of matches, and that the trip would have been a bad excuse, had we lost.
Oh and btw, the pitch looked really awful. Hope it’ll be better in a month when we really need to turn up the pace and precision of our game.
January 28th, 2008 at 11:58
i kind of agree with you RR, before we conceeded that goal, we never looked that sharp in the last third of the pitch. there was no urgency from our attackers and that encouraged Spurs to have a go at us.
We might chant praises of how good a side Spurs is but like many small teams, when against the bigger teams, they tend to put all the guys behind the ball.
I recall EVDS clearing the ball of the centre line and you wonder whether Spurs had come to defender or whether they thought 1 goal was enough against a team that scores for fun and to make matters worse in its own backyard.
As per Manucho, i have seen all Angola’s games what a can say is “he’s a cool lad, has an eye for goal and he’s good on the ball too, not forgetting his aerial prowess. For all of you who perhaps are seeing highlights of the games, the reason you dont see him often on the ball is that team have come with the strategy to man mark him coz he’s a danger man and of course Angola is using him as target man with his stike partner Flavio and their number 7 Ze Kalanga to ship in balls for him. otherwise he will be a nice replacement for Mr Glass(Saha).
January 28th, 2008 at 13:59
Tomas i agree about you with the pitch, HORRIBLE! Im surprised no body noticed this but we havent had an excellent pitch the whole season. I cannot remember one home game where our pitch was excellent. It certainly gets in the way of our flowing football. The emirates stadium pitch, as much as i hate to say it, is much better than ours.Their pitch is absolutely perfect and that even helped us when we played against arsenal as we had magnificent periods of play, the build up to ronaldo’s goal being one of them. that shows we play our best football when playing on a big and perfect pitch.
January 28th, 2008 at 14:33
Were playing Arsenal at home in 5th round! Hard fixture
January 28th, 2008 at 14:57
Its Arsenal at OT in the 5th round… Its like a given that we will draw a Premier League Team.. But the FA Cup win will be savoured more when we win after defeating them… Aah well…
January 28th, 2008 at 15:02
I think Hargo had a fairly bad game. Carrick on the other hand had a fairly good game.
It’s true that Brown and Rio had a shaky partnership, but I think individually they played ok. Brown especially had a very good game.
I’ve been watching Tevez the last couple of games and found it really amazing how he controls the game like a real “general”. He’s in defense, attack, here, there, everywhere. Same energy levels as Park. Everybody’s on about Ronaldo (and rightly so), but I think Tevez deserves a bit more credit than what he currently receives. Lately, he’s like a much more energetic version of Requelme. I know there’s always the following caim, but he really reminded me of Maradonna yesterday.
January 28th, 2008 at 15:04
Does anyone else feel it’s unfair that Adebayor was not punished by the FA (or so I hear) for the incident with Bendtner?
January 28th, 2008 at 15:07
Yup… Totally unfair.. rooney got suspended for touching Ben Haims Face a few years back.. .Ronaldo got Red for his altercation vs Pompey this season.. But a full fledged fight on the pitch goes un-noticed… But prefer that we dont use it as an excuse.. .
January 28th, 2008 at 15:23
I’m not going to use it as an excuse for anything, but, thing is, Zidane got disgraced and his award taken from him because of headbutting. Adebayor, nothing. Cantona got slapped a nine month ban for fighting with a fan, Adebayor nothing. Rooney got banned by the FA for an incident that happened in a friendly tournament, outside of FA jurisdiction. Adabayor nothing. WHY? Because he plays for Arsenal?
January 28th, 2008 at 15:34
Don’t think bcoz he’s from Arsenal.. Its just that the FA people have some wierd thing going on in their head… they said the head butt wasn’t captured on camera… It leads me to believe that a pixie came from the earth and chewed off Bendtners nose… Btw even Scholes got banned in the same game as Rooney…
January 28th, 2008 at 15:39
it is unfair that adebayor was not punished…and he is arsenal’s most important player at the moment.
Chelsea face huddersfield next in the FA cup.They seem to face lot of lower league opposition in cup competions whereas united play premiership sides most of the time I feel this is quiet suspicious
January 28th, 2008 at 16:13
What the fuck is going on!villa,spurs,arsenal?this is crazy.and then boring chelsea get huddersfield?and pool barnsley?luck cant be this bad,the same happened in the champions league with lyon ffs!the only plus is that its at Old Trafford.I totally disagree with those saying that hargreaves had a bad game.He was MOM for me.You cant blame him for jenas going through twice,where were the centerbacks?there was such a wide gap in the middle on both times and you cant expect him to follow a player for 90 mins.Hargreaves won the ball back and set up attacks on plenty occasions and for me today was probably his second best performance behind his debut.
January 28th, 2008 at 16:45
Anderson really is amazing… I really enjoyed his little cameo… that pass for Rooney over the top was sublime!!
What’s gonna be interesting is in Europe when Fergie is gonna play 4-5-1 I think Hargo-Scholes-Ando is gonna be a brilliant partnership and extremely well balanced.
January 28th, 2008 at 16:56
Nah adebayor had a scrap with a teammate so i don’t think he should have beeen punished. Perhaps he will be punished internally at arsenal, but i think its fair that nothing more has been done.
January 28th, 2008 at 17:04
Andy is great for the Premier League.. But i think SAF (Dont pounce on me for saying this), SAF would rather go for experience and play OH, Scholsey and Carrick…
January 28th, 2008 at 17:38
I disagree utsav,Sir alex always will go for quality.I recall the arsenal game as well as the liverpool where he chose to anderson to partner hargo ahead of carrick.
January 28th, 2008 at 17:42
I can’t believe we have got arsenal !!! How come chelsea get the crap teams. Its horribly suspicous. Blackburn beat arsenal …so why can’t we.
On the game we missed vidic although brown fit in ok. Its good to see Ronaldo scoring again but sometimes he gets too greedy I feel. When people are in way better positions he ignores them and tries to shoot. I know he’s good at shooting but he should also look at other players. Last season he was able to assist as well as get on the scoresheet. Otherwise our attack becomes very central ( How long has it been since evra gave a decent cross?). I hope gary comes back soon!!! Otherwise gr8 win and looking forward to kicking some arsenal BUTT!!!!
January 28th, 2008 at 17:52
There’s nothing suspecious about it… it’s simply the nature of a draw, and it certainly hasn’t been in our favour so far. On the other hand, tough draws demand more concentration from the lads, and so we’ll avoid embarresments like the ones Liverpool have had this season in the FA Cup. Obviously Arsenal are a tough fixture, but it’s at OT, and I really don’t fear anyone coming to our ground, and I’m pretty confident, we’ll send home Arsenal with a whoopin’.
Look at it from Arsenal’s perspective… they’re hardly satisfied with the draw either.
January 28th, 2008 at 18:05
I agree with karl the tevez doesn’t get as much credit as he should since he’s clearly a big game player who comes up with important goals and he really does run about all over the pitch drawing out defenders and creating spaces all the time, I’m quite sure alot of people wil disagree with me but right now I rate Tevez higher than Rooney, but the fact that we have them both is great
January 28th, 2008 at 18:09
Whatever happened to Grognard on these boards?
January 28th, 2008 at 18:46
some people used to bust his balls all the time and now that he is gone people miss him. funny how that works.
not sure.
January 28th, 2008 at 19:55
woodgate signs for spurs, so im guessing their starting line-up will be woodgate and king and dawson RB and bale left
January 28th, 2008 at 20:19
That will be Spurs back 4 until next weekend when Woodgate gets injured. I could never be scared
of a back 4 that includes Dawson, he is absolute rubbish, and I thought that before he gave us a
penalty and got himself Red Carded. I can’t believe Ramos hasn’t spent more this month trying to
get himself some defensive help. If Spurs could defend who knows where they would be.
January 28th, 2008 at 20:30
Would have to agree with conor on the Rooney and Tevez point, Tevez has been our best forward this season and i would go as far as to say that Wazza has been poor in a lot of games this season. As for Anderson, the time has come to realise that this kid is really something special and i think Uniteds midfield has greater energy and penetration when he is playing. I know he is only 19 but can anybody tell me which one of our central midfielders has played better than Anderson this season. If SAF handles this kid the right way and allows him to drive forward and influence the game higher up the pitch we will see the emergence of a superstar. That might sound a bit OTT, but thats how good I think the boy is, lightning quick, great close control, brilliant eye for a pass and a good decision maker for one so young. If Im not mistaken the 3 league matches we lost this season were games that Anderson did not start in. Hargreaves, Scholes and Carrick all are good players but all three have a tendency to play deep and this makes them easier to handle for the opposition, Only Anderson has the ability to drive and break from the middle of the park and this is always hard to defend against as we saw with Jenas yesterday and this is why SAF must start with Anderson from now on.
January 28th, 2008 at 20:35
Dan Dawson would be a rubbish right back! What’s wrong with chimbonda? And anyway why are talking about spurs’ team? Especially when our next match is against portsmouth, who we should definitely beat! Although I do think with Ledley King in their side spurs will be harder to beat, pompey right now are missing their african players alot, and we should beat them.
January 29th, 2008 at 0:33
Portsmouth should be an easy enough win. We just need to make sure Benjani is shut down.
January 29th, 2008 at 2:17
guys… do u think kaka is better than ronaldo? i dun think so… half of them(from youtube) agrees, come out with crazy reasons
January 29th, 2008 at 3:06
No way Alvin. Not this year at least. Ronaldo is easily the best player in the world right now.
Other then Vidic?!
January 29th, 2008 at 8:57
According to BBC.. Evra just asked for parity with the top players in his new contract i.e. 120,000 per week… Another saga?
January 29th, 2008 at 9:03
@[14. Tevez]
I understand what you’re saying, but I don’t quite see it that way…
(from the 2 examples I quoted):
Zidane’s charge after headbutting an opponent - ‘bringing the game in disrepute’
Cantona’s charge after kicking a fan - ‘bringing the game in direpute’
Does this mean that if I headbutt or fight with my own teammate during a live televised game in from of a massively filled statium then I am not bringing the game into disrepute?
What’s the difference between fighting with your teammate and fighting with another person? (I thought the focus was to get rid of fighting)?
I know I’m now sounding very petty, I can’t help it. I hate unfairness.
On the same argument, does this mean if SAF was wise and offered the Crystal Palace fan a ’silly’ quick contract (to sign him up as a United player) after the Cantona incident, then the FA could not have charged and banned him? (the other guy would then have been seen as a teammate…)
January 29th, 2008 at 9:15
I think Evra deserves to be paid in parity with the other players
IMO, Ronaldo is a much better player than Kaka this season. Dissapointed that we didn’t meet them in the next round. Would have loved to see the match-up between Kaka and a fully fit/rested Ronaldo.
January 29th, 2008 at 9:34
FA Cup tie is out, Arsenal at OT. Hopefully we can knock them out a week before AC repeat the punishment!
January 29th, 2008 at 12:51
The FA are just kidding me! if Ade and Bendtner are not banned coz they are from the same team why then did they have to act when Lee Bowyer exchanged blows with Kieron Dyer while both were West Ham players. Ooh, they are bright! why then cant they stop the court case between Dabo and Joey Burton since the fight was btn two players from the same club.
Anyways does it mean one should make the other a punching bag or forget about the ball and instead head someone just because they are “brothers in soccer”.
Come on Baxter! something needs to be done.