Oct 26
United Let Everton off the Hook
It was built up to be Rooney’s day. It didn’t quite turn out that way. The former Blue was booed as usual, and the baiting worked to an extent, as he got quite worked up in the process. But the more important talking points will be of how United allowed Everton to claw their way back into a game when they were so rampant to begin with.
It is ever so tempting to revisit the Dr Jekyll and Hyde performances that’s been a feature of this United side — something I’ve been mentioning in the past match reports on how the team switches on and off almost suddenly, and inexplicably. Yesterday, we stomped all over Everton in the first half and it’s amazing how we went in at half time with only one goal to show.
Fletcher had a dream first half, Giggs was sublime, Berbatov was very much at the centre of all that was good. But all this was in the first half.
In the second, Everton suddenly sprung back to life and looked more the battlers of the past few seasons than the pedestrian outfit of the season so far and, to their credit, deserved the goal due to the pressure they exerted on the defence.
Rio Ferdinand had a game to forget, and tactics employed by Ferguson were questionable. The only good thing that could come of yesterday’s result would be a draw today when Chelsea and Liverpool clash. That should keep both table toppers at touching distance.
I felt taking off Rooney was a bad decision despite him having an off game. I thought Nani ought to have started instead of Park. If we are to get more out of Tevez, we need him to be playing more often. Clearly we can’t have him influence the game if he’s not starting. And while that’s difficult considering our striker pair’s form, he could have at least started the Celtic game in midweek.
I thought too much was being made of Phil Neville’s challenge on Ronaldo — who, for me, is still struggling. I am also not impressed by his exaggerated rolling and general whining when things don’t go his way.
All that said, it was a game we should have comfortably won — but we didn’t. Regardless of the position we were in, we should have won. I can’t say anything more because I am disappointed with the result. And that’s especially because of the manner in which we somehow threw away a glorious opportunity to come closer to at least one of the league leaders.
Credit to Everton for picking themselves up after a woeful first half. Sadly, the same couldn’t be said of United after an excellent first half. All it is now is just a case of what could have been…
Related items from Red Rants:
- Will United Leave It Late against Everton Again?
- Everton will not roll over for United
- Everton vs Reds: Appalling But Three Points
- The International Break Will Help United Significantly
- Manchester United did not break Premier League rules in Howard “deal”
Tags: Match Reports
Opti (541)
Stephen (485)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Craig Mc (348)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
@Stephen – Perhaps
I do agree with you on the CQ however. As much as I love and respect the man, and admit that he was the brains in the outfit, I also believe he will be the perfect no.2.
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@Karl: To be honest I would not want him back, he has left us twice and I think he was a brilliant number two, but I can be a little bitter @ times a feel he just can’t keep leaving and we just take him back when things do not work out for him elsewhere.
There aren’t many real candidates out there to be honest, it is a tough act to follow and it won’t be an easy job to take on.
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Oh its been a long time since Ive been here, anyway I dont get why people here talk about the price of a player when we arent paying a dime out of our pockets?!!
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@Karl: I feel given that its only 12 games or so played and he arrived so late in the season, he needs a bit of time to settle in the team, ergo you might be expecting too much. I do feel though that he drops down quite deeper than I would hope but his hold up play is a welcome sight. I suspect he wil come good. I dear say….money well spent.
Gullitt used to impress me with his punditry and insight but I don’t know him all that well as a manager. Falling in the MLS is nothing, I live in the US, its a weird system of football…er soccer here. I first saw O’Neill as a pundit, I thought he was smart and he came well recommended. After seeing him work in the EPL, I have to say he’s the man. He has show ability, top notch. But still Mourinho is a model manager, his merits outway his demerits much like Sir Fergie or Arsenhole Wenger.
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@Abu: Gullit also failed miserably @ Newcastle.
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@saudi red devil: But we are in the long-term. Extortionate money paid out by us for everything ranging from advertising to transfer fees will only end up raising ticket prices. You can’t honestly tell me you don’t care about the amount we have to pay for tickets?
@Stephen: He criticised him in public about being lazy and not helping out his team at all, which is typical Mouinho. SAF did the exact same thing when Nani did a few tricks against Arsenal even though he was our best player on the night along with Rooney, but not in public. Same ramifications – it helped them mature.
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@Conor: I whole heartle agree with response to Saudi Red Devil mate being a season ticket holder.
The problem with Mourinho is the football he plays is just not United and him being him will not change, it is not in his nature.
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@OllieY: Rooney was behaving like a feckin idiot with his crowd baiting antics at Everton. He was lucky not to be sent off, he already had a yellow. That is one thing I hate about Rooney, always loses his head and reverts to type. We lost him then for 20+ minutes, and a vital part of the game. What a clown he is sometimes. Players, I don’t care who they are, or from what clubs, should not be baiting fans. Shows their petulant immaturity, AND causes rioting amongst fans. Dickheads!.
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@Stephen: Stephen mi man, even United themselves, are not playing United football
. I am pissed off by the way they keep throwing the points away in games where they have taken the lead AWAY from home in the big games. L’Pool are doing what we did last year, fighting until the very last minute and coming back in games. They are ravenous to win the PL after the years of dearth.
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@Karl: Tell me another player like Saha, who involves himself in the build up play as well as he does?
Eto’o and Ibrahimovic are the only two players who have the physical presence to lead the line better than Rooney while still having the necessary ability before they arrive in the box to keep this team working as well as it does.
Tevez slows down the play more than he does in all honesty, he hold on to the ball for too long and makes wrong decisions more often than not.
@Stephen: Glad to hear it, I didn’t know there were any other season ticket holders here other than the ones I already knew.
That is a problem for Murinho, but if you look closely at his results and compare them to O’Neill’s over the years, I can be very sure that the amount of goals scored isn’t much higher on O’Neill’s side, if at all.
O’Neill plays open football, but he doesn’t play free flowing attractive football. what he does is base his game around pace and power up front and a winger to provide most of the damage.
It’s like watching Mourinho all over again without the defensive solidity. Hoof it up the pitch to Carew to knock it on to Agbonlahor or knock it back to Young to whip it in, and they relied heavily on set piece goals last season. Chelsea relied on the pace of Robben, the power of Drogba and the creativity of Lampard or Cole.
They all have their flaws.
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@Stephen:(what am I doing wrong with the names they stay inactive) Everyone fucks up at Newcastle….lol. But I do agree Ruud would be a wild card at best he’s very low on my list. I’d say O’Neill and Mourinho are my candidates. I would put CQ in there but his record as no. 1 is suspect.
How do you guys feel about Roovez last year? I felt it wasn’t a partnership that got enough time together on the pitch. I feel they can still work together as long as one stays up top long term. I would love to see all three at once but I think only Mourinho or O’Neill would utilize a system like this.
Imagine Berba leading the line, living on the last defender’s shoulder blade. Rooney in the hole right behind him. Tevez and Ronaldo as LF and RF, with two deep mids. The team is so fluid anyway that at all points players will swap and it’ll just be fluid. I mean out frontline is better than Carew, Agbonlahor, Young. OR Drogba, Malouda, Cole. But then I fear Fergie’s lone striker syndrome. He has to change it up if it doesn’t work at least.
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@Craig Mc: It looks that way matey, we were really good first half on Saturday but throwing away leads will be costly.
I am not sure about Liverpool and personally think it is still between us and Chelsea, I will tell Arteta is class and we missed a trick there, he was top draw Saturday.
We seem to have some sort of hangover from last season, we miss Carrick’s passing and Hargo energy, we also need Ronnie firing again, as it shows sometimes how reliant we are on him, last season that would have been a game we would have nicked I am sure of that, maybe time for Carlos the great to get a run, freshen things up.
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@Conor: Well you could argue that Mourinho has managed better teams who should score more, but Villa have scored 16 goals from 9 games and Inter 13 from 8, so pretty similar.
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@Stephen:
I agree mate Guillett (sexy football! WTF) a bad choice, CQ excellent no 2 but wouldn’t trust him with the main job at OT.
As much as I like Martin O’Neill as a person and a manager I would have doubts on his credentials on taking the helm of a massive global club like Utd.
Spot on with the special one. That just says it all really. Totally self obsessed plus the insipid football that was churned out under him at the bridge ever week was just unbearable.
The way things are going at the minute and if Capello keeps doing a good job with the England setup then I could maybe see him getting the nod from the Utd board.
Either way I think Fergie has to be closely consulted on this but once the decision is made then Fergie cannot be hovering in the shadows. Its going to be a tall enough order for the next Utd manager taking over from arguably from one of the greatest and most successful manager of all time without him looking over your shoulder.
Scary stuff, Utd without Ferguson just doesn’t seem right.
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@Conor : I have to disagree with your Tevez comments and i can justify myself by looking at the Utd review DVD. Berbatov as you said can add more to our attack, but is not settled with our team right now. By playing him ahead of a much more settled and proven Tevez for whole 90 minutes in important away matches like Everton is not the way to do it. He and Tevez should be rotated and depending upon the situation.
At Everton last week, we saw a rigid defense and defensive midfield shape from Everton in the second half (hail Moyes’ tactics for that). They were able to seperate Rooney from the play and allow Berbatov to run at them (who is not as effective as Rooney in that). Ronaldo was forced to play wide due to the lack of movement off and on the ball.What we really needed was Tevez who would hustle and hurry the defenders which causes lapse of concentration…Defenders however good they are, dont like forwards who keep running into space and running at pace to them (for which Rooney and Tevez are masters) ..
The off the ball movement and creative play from the 3 – Ronaldo,rooney and tevez- was so effective last season (of course + the creativity and range from Carrick and solid defense)..
Any defense in this world would break up when ball starts to come back at them time and again. thats what happened at Everton..Due to the lack of movement and space up front ,Giggs and Fletcher was asked to be more involved in attack trying to open up Everton defence which exposed our defense.
I still dont know why Fergie dont like the Rooney-Tevez pair and realise that it is that pairing that helped Ronaldo to score 42 goals and also helped win a double…Berbatov is an asset to have but not one without which we cannot play.
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@scoop: I agree with Fergie moving on we had a that problem with the spectre of Busby over O’Farrell.
The only thing with O’Neill he managed Celtic and they are a big club.
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@Stephen: One thing Mourinho will do though Stephen, IS KICK UNITED ARSE. He is a winner, and wouldn’t put up with some of the pissing about of the united forward players at the moment. He wouldn’t be sat down on the bench just absorbing it all that’s for sure. He would be up by the touchline, giving any WASTRELS on his team a verbal mugging. I have heard him, and he is so bloody good at it. People can say what they like about Tev, but he is a winner too, he cannot stand losing. That’s what I mean about kicking the arses of players who give up all too easily. Too much feckin success I guess. Fergie says he will boot out those players he sees have dropped their hunger levels – yeah right.
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@Stephen:
No disrespect to Celtic whatsoever who have been the best team in scotland for sometime now and their fan base worldwide is huge but I still wouldn’t put them up their on a par with your Utd’s, Real, Barc, AC’s etc etc.
The question is can Utd afford to have a punt on Martin O’Neill who could be sensational for us or do we go with a proven track record.
With our debt and reliance on success and silverware to manage that debt for me its a no brainer. Not worth the risk.
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@Craig Mc: @scoop: I agree with Mourinho being a winner and you can’t deny that, but his teams are efficient and hard-working.
Ok he won the EPC with Porto which was superb, but he spend millions with Chelsea, and he took over when they finished 2nd with Ranieri,
Inter won the league last year also.
Maybe I am picking holes simply because I dislike him and his style of play, and it is about him, not his team or club. Remember we won the league with 8 points to spare and in 3 years he spent £225m, but I am posibly being picky?
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@Stephen: Stephen Mourinho’s Chelsea were very unlucky though not to get to two CL finals. They were robbed against the dippers with disputed goals both times
. If they had got to those finals, as they should have, then I believe they would have a CL trophy under Mourinho 
. Same thing happened to Arsenal in their game against L’fool, they were done by a goal that never should have been in their CL leg at Anfield. Lucky bastards L’fool. They get so many ref decisions that are extremely suspect.
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@Shyam: I agree that they should be rotated, and Tevez should have played against Everton from the start in hindsight.
The thing is Tevez and Rooney never clicked the way Rooney and Berbatov have, and so they are the first choice partnership. Berbatov has already picked out Ronaldo’s runs on a number of occasions only for Ronaldo to mess up because he’s lacking in match fitness. This has nothing to do with Berbatov not being able to link up as well with Ronaldo, it’s just because he’s not match fit. Put last year’s Ronaldo in this team and he’d have already scored double the amount he has.
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@Craig Mc: We we done by a linesman at OT against his Porto side, if that had been allowed would he have been at Chelsea?.
I want to be convinced because I believe we would win under him, he also is a strong charater but his football ahhhhhhhhhhh!
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@Conor: To be fair to Ronnie that was not a straight forward chance, and sometimes we are so reliant on him, Berba was poor on Saturday and should have been taken off.
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@conor I live in Saudi Arabia so tickets dont concern me, now that I know I understand, thanks.
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@Stephen: I wasn’t talking about that chance at all, no blame attached to Ronaldo for the draw against Everton for me.
He’s missed a few other chances though, and had a few poor first touchs, it’s all part and parcel of missing pre-season and it’s not his fault at all. I was just making the point that all this bollocks about how we’re ruining the holy trinity just so we can play Berbatov, who clearly can’t become a part of this in some people’s minds, isn’t even close to the truth.
Berbatov’s vision is ideal for Ronaldo’s movement. Can’t say the same for Tevez.
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@Conor: Berba is class no doubt, if we win our game in hand we will be 2 points off Chelsea, and we have played Liverpool, Chelsea, Blackburn, Portsmouth and Everton away, so really things are not all bad.
Carlos needs a game to be honest, but it does look unlikely now, I could be wrong that we are going to sign him, I have a funny feeling that Fergie wants Benzema and is squeezing Carlito out.
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@Matthew: I don’t know mate, Abramovich’s meddling and the presence of AV Grant seemed to faze him pretty good. He’s also the Antichrist to attractive attacking football. A good manager but not be all and end all. I mean do I want to see United play like Chelsea in style? I don’t think so. His ideas and style of play are so embedded in that team’s DNA that even Big Phil can’t seem to exorcise those demons. I don’t think so. United need a man who understands the beauty of football and why the game needs attack and imagination to be attractive and successful.
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@RedDevilEddy: Your Anderson gravatar is showing to all of us mate. Try clearing your computer’s cache and wait for a few hours and it may show up for you.
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@RedDevilEddy: And I see a little humility also.
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Mourinho becoming United manager would ensure one thing. Great episodes of “I’m on Setanta Sports”. Be Champions!
And regarding all this Mourinho talk right now at this time I would like to answer with a a quote from the Special One. “SHUTUP!”.
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@Grognard: Well….
what is ture, should be said. 
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@Stephen: We will be 2 points off Chelsea, but 5 points off L’fool though INNIT
. I mean Chelski have been scoring a glut of goals lately, and had plenty of opportunity before Pool got their jammy goal against run of play. After that though, Pool could have had and should have had at least another 2. Was Kalou playing for Chelsea, because he seems to have got them quite a few goals lately. He is more likely to score than Anelka 
.
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Please someone tell me when Carrick will be back. Plus someone earlier mentioned Anderson as the most complete center midfielder at UNited. I have no doubt that presently that title belongs to Carrick. And yes Fergie remind us all of how bad the Rooney/Tevez partership was so bad. apparently it was so bad it won us EPL and CL. Please give Carlito a start.Please…
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Am i scared of Liverpool? Hell no. I am certain they owe me maximum points when they come to OT. Happy that Scolari has finally tasted defeat at the beloved bridge. We need to really get our act in gear and start picking up maximum points. Against West ham and Hull, 6 full points is what i expect. Anything short of that, then i am really scared for our title hopes. And lets all give Ronnie some more time. He’ll definitely get there.
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@Conor: No blame for Ronaldo at all? Not even for playing absolute shit the entire 90 minutes and not making one identifiable positive contribution? He was a girl in a red shirt on saturday mate, spent more time on the ground bitching and moaning about being touched than playing. Not to mention insisting on shooting with every free kick that was given inside the opposition half, no matter how far out and no matter that he has had one, repeat one, free kick all year that cleared the wall (celtic for berba’s second offside goal).
So yes, lots of blame for Ronaldo from me.
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@Craig Mc: Better question, was Ballack playing for them? He was no where to be seen. I loved watching the second half of that match just to watch the Chelski players having hissy fits all over the field. It was hilarious!! They were screaming at each other, diving, surrounding the ref, JT the cunt resorted to being a bully and trying to intimidate players, all in all very entertaining!!
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Oh, and once Carrick is back and 100% fit I want to see a CM partnership of him and Fletch. With Carrick sitting deep I think that will allow Fletcherinho the freedom to make his wild ass runs into the box. But I must say, its refreshing to see him make those runs, and to see his determination and will to win shinning through.
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@Drew Vader: Vader, Ballack is out because he had operations on both feet. I believe 3 weeks or something he will be out. Last time I heard anyway.
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@WhiteY: Says anything short of 6 points from next two games, and you will be really scared. Get prepared to be scared then mate
.
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@Drew Vader: None at all. If our midfield can’t keep hold of the ball then Ronaldo gets absolved of the blame.
That’s how it works for me.
I’m not going to blame a player like Ronaldo who relies on others to pick out his runs rather than the other way around, if no-one’s keeping hold of the ball. He’s more about relying on other people creating for him than creating things himself, although obviously when he’s on form he can be very creative. Never mind the fact he’s still not fully match sharp.
Rooney was anonymous, same for Berbatov and Park. That leaves our two centre mids to provide the creativity, and they couldn’t keep hold of the ball in the second half.
No blame from me.
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@Craig Mc: I meant Lampard! My bad. So my point looked idiotic.
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@Conor: Isn’t he a part of this midfield that couldn’t keep the ball?? By my eyes, we started with a standard 4-4-2 with Rooney Berba up top, Giggs and Fletch in CM, Park on the left and Ronaldo on the right. Sooooo is Ronaldo just allowed to sit and wait for the other lads to do the work then hand him the ball on a plate? Fuck that mate. He was one of the main culprits of losing the ball and giving possession right back to Everton with his constant falling over. And if he isn’t fit then fucking hell he should be working in training right? How many points are we going to sacrifice just trying to let him get fit?
I agree with you that Rooney, Berba and Park were all anonymous, but in the first half Fletch and Giggs kept the ball just fine and Ronaldo still didnt do a damn thing positive.
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@Conor: If our midfield can’t keep hold of the ball then Ronaldo gets absolved of the blame.
And I dont understand that argument at all….I mean seriously, if I held myself out to be the player on my team, (not to mention the best player in the world) and my coach asked me after the match why I played poorly and contributed nothing, and I responded with “Well its not my fault, my teammates couldn’t keep the ball” my coach, a guy from Leeds, would have fucking choked me. Right there on the spot he would have dropped me.
Seriously, I dont give a fuck if all 10 players on the pitch are half asleep, that is no excuse for that performance. If you’re a leader on the team and the self appointed best player in the universe, then fucking take your tampon out and play take some charge and start fucking playing. Good God man, that really got me all riled up!!
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Ohhh how I love the way we turn on our players after any set back. You know what, instead of score predictions why don’t we run a pool of who will get scapegoated the next time things go tits up
It sure is an open field, after all you would have thought the world player of the year and scorer of 42 goals last season, would have earned himself a bit more slack than a couple of poor games after returning from injury 
@colver: I would actually mark Joe Cole down as one of the few flair players who improved under Mourinho. But your point stands, Robben, Duff and Wright Phillips all arguably went backwards under the Special One.
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@Karl: You have listed a lot of things Anderson can do but you could argue that he doesn’t do many of them particularly well.
His passing, both long and short, is a cut below the likes of Scholes/Carrick. From an attacking point of view his actual output is horrendous. Looking at his work rate, he frequently tires after about 60 minutes in a game and fades badly (although he has improved this season in that respect). His shooting is nothing short of abysmal and he still disappears from games far too often.
All that being said, he is a major talent and has time on his side to work on various aspects of his game but to label him as the most complete midfielder there has been at United seems a bit OTT.
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Sorry Conor. But I cant live if I dont do this.
Everybody who plays FIFA 09 should watch and learn. If you can do this you are on my level. 
And just so you know, I did that on purpose. 
), this is the last FIFA 09 goal I will post. I promise! Take a look at it will ya. Please. 
Conor(aka PES fan
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Drew Vader, the fact that he’s worked extremely hard to get back a good month or so ahead of schedule and score 2 goals and get two assists, while being involved heavily in the build up to most of our best work, seems to have just gone right over your head. He’s getting no blame from me with the work ethic he’s shown in that, and on the pitch, up until now. Everyone has bad games, the fact is there are a lot of players who had worse games than him – Rio, Wes, Park, Rooney, Berbatov. I think i’ll stick to blaming Rio if I’m going to blame anyone for that result.
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@RedDevilEddy: Fair play mate, that’s a pretty nice goal. How’d you do that?! I’m a big Fifa fan, I’ve preferred it to PES right from the start. Why were you playing Vasco de Gama though?
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@Conor: Hihi.
You understand that Im proud of scoring those kind of goals. I have practiced the whole day just to do that. First off you do the rabone feint which you can learn on youtube(like I did). And I found out something on my own. The heel flick goals come when you press LT and RT and shoot without aiming. You have to time it perfectly and it is really difficult. The old saying “Practice makes perfect” is really true here. 
Thank God you are a FIFA fan. I dont get how people can still prefer PES over FIFA now a days. The game has become a joke.
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@Conor: I played Vasco da Gam cause Ive been playing all the teams in the brazillian leage lately. I played Corintians, Fluminense and Cruzeiro before, so Vasco was next in line to be defeated.
I look at the brasilian players because in the game they all seem to have so good ball control. So if I see a player that impresses me, and is young, I might buy him in Manager mode. Only met one player so far that really impressed me, the keeper on Cruzeiro. But he was old so.. my search still continues. 
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