Aug 17
United squeak past Brum
“I think everyone could see that it was a penalty. It was so clear. The other one you can excuse by saying that it was ball to hand, that could be. But the other one was so clear that it was unbelievable. We had a meeting the other day where we were told that we could not talk about the referee as a person and his decisions but I think everyone could see today. The fourth official is a young referee and maybe he needs to calm down a little bit. I don’t know why Sammy was sent off. The fourth official was too young. I don’t know how old he is, but I think he is too young.”
That’s the opening day, and Rafa Benitez for you. I couldn’t resist.
Moving on…
United began their post-Ronaldo era with a whimper. A win before we get the wrong ideas, nonetheless. But it was a much more laboured effort than the stats will reveal. If you’re interested, we had about 17 shots on goal with 11 saved by the Brum ‘keeper. However, despite wave after wave of attacks. It looked like little was going to happen. There were individual performances to feel encouraged about and that is hard to ignore. But the collective should bother Ferguson a bit.
- I won’t understand why Scholes was picked over Carrick. Fergie may have ‘wanted to try a different combo’ but I thought that was the whole point of a pre-season. He wasn’t in the squad altogether, which is puzzling. Scholes wasn’t bad, but Carrick is certainly a better option than the ageing Ninja.
- Fletcher was poor. He has this tendency of turning up when the stakes are extremely high, but slipping into a comfort zone against inferior opposition. Last season I got the feeling he’d ridden himself of that annoying habit but on yesterday’s evidence it was threatening to creep back.
- Patrice Evra and Ben Foster had pretty good games, in complete contrast of their mediocre Community shield outings. Foster was decisive when he came out to get the ball, and Evra was effective going forward. However, my contention is we need a solid full back on the other flank if we are to have Evra on the left. Fabio has good ability moving forward but he’s far too raw to have any positional sense to stay back. Against better sides we’d have been caught on the break far too easily. At the moment, Richie de Laet, who gave a good account of himself against Chelsea, would have been a better option than Fabio.
- Our wingers, Nani in particular, were impressive even though Valencia seemed to flit in and out of the game. I still like his directness, his willingness to go into tackles, win the 50-50s and run at defenders. Nani’s trickery on the other flank complements Valencia well, and this has to be our first choice wing pairing for this season — injuries notwithstanding. Nani faded a bit because he was feeling his shoulder but I have all reason to feel encouraged by our wingers even though they don’t have the x-factor that Ronaldo provided.
- And finally, on to our strikers. Berbatov showed more willingness going forward, and he was denied a clear-cut penalty. However, he needs to show a bit more dynamism if he is to link up well with Rooney. They did well in the first half, but we need to see more from the Bulgarian if we are to replicate our past successes.
- The lasting image in this game for me will be Michael Owen’s miss. Nine out of ten, he would bury it. He didn’t, and I hope it doesn’t rankle in his head. However, his movement, and ability to beat the offside trap should keep him in good stead, provided our central midfield — which is currently chock full of passengers — provides him enough service.
We’ve not gained notoriety for being chronic slow starters for nothing. And I never judge the side till I’ve seen a good few games to identify trends. So I will, true to type, hold off on my judgements for a good few weeks. Next up is Burnley. Their giant killing Cup run last year should make us wary of the challenges they could pose. But till then, here’s words from the manager during his post match:
Related items from Red Rants:
- Brum vs Reds: Preview
- Ben Foster to Sign for Birmingham | Fergie Parsed
- Brum 0-1 Reds: Another Scrappy One-Nil Win
- Giggs and Brown to Remain Reds | Ex-Reds Clash | Wenger Threat | Takeovers And Other Such Nonsense
- Burnley v Man Utd: Preview
Tags: Match Reports
Opti (541)
Stephen (485)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Craig Mc (348)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
I am a big Berbatov fan. I have been going as far back to his days with Bayer Leverkusen. The reasons are obvious when it comes to his silky smooth skill set and despite his languid style, his clever approach and incredible abilities have always won me over. But there comes a time when one has to ask the question is he the right fit for us? No he didn’t play poorly in any of the games he has featured for us so far this young season, but is he the answer to our needs? I am not dismissing him yet or demanding we buy another striker (although Aguero will always be on my mind). But I really feel that in my heart of hearts that Michael Owen is the right fit with Wayne Rooney. Owen’s ability to beat the off side trap and to play off the shoulder of a defender and compliment Rooney as an ideal partner is truly evident.
Michael Owen still has it and although he has missed a number of chances lately, he is getting chances and creating openings with his pace, timing and sheer ability to make things happen. I agree with Fergie when I say that the goals will eventually come. He has too much skill to be snake bit for too long. Other than a few glaring misses most of his bad luck can be attributed to good goalkeeping. Certainly Joe Hart’s save yesterday was sensational as it was early in the game on Berbatov. Owen however, seems to create more opportunities and he turns Rooney into not just a goal scorer himself but a play maker too. Berbatov doesn’t move forward enough and instinctively enough to bring out Rooney’s play making. And further more, he dawdles on the ball far too long at times (expertly so) with his head down and he doesn’t look for the quick outlet pass or one touch pass back to a Nani or Valencia. He truly does cut out the give and go and the pace out of our game. The man was truly born to play in Italy as his style is tailor made for the likes of Inter or Juventus.
I’m not saying playing Berbatov this year will be a massive failure but I honestly feel that a healthy Owen is a more dynamic player for us and will make Rooney and the whole team play better with his influence in the game. I’m open to debate but please understand, I love Berba. These are not insults directed at him. I just feel for the style of play we offer, he just doesn’t fit the puzzle with his piece. Like I have said numerous times before, Berbatov is a square peg trying to fit into a smaller round hole. It’s a struggle to get him to show up at his best consistently every week. Eventually I think Fergie will realize this or perhaps one of these days, it’s just all going to click. I honestly don’t know. What I do know is that Michael Owen needs to be given a better chance to show what he has rather than 20 minutes at the end of games. Give him a few full games to miss as much as he wants but with the number of opportunities he creates, he will score goals. Berbatov just doesn’t create enough chances over 90 minutes for my liking.
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@Craig Mc: Just like how nani more often then not, dilly dallys on the ball instead of just whipping in a cross. Works both ways.
Im just going by what i saw, nani kept going central when he should be on the wing.
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The Lancashire Senior cup is on MUTV tonight, with United playing the final against Bolton. The reason I am interested in this game, apart from the fact that I do follow our reserves avidly, is that Ole has got his strikers STEAMING! They are scoring goals for fun, and especially Cleverley and Brandy. It is great to have Ole coach these players, because he has certainly improved their games. Wish he was coaching our 1st team strikers to know as he did how to ply their trade!
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@Dan: I think you are mistaking Valencia for Nani. Nani did a good job and really stayed out on the wing most of the match. It’s Valencia who was caught moving in and even was caught on the left side a few times. Until Nani hurt his shoulder again, he was playing great and was delivering cross after cross. Besides, I like it when he cuts in because he has a great shot. We need that kind of dynamic play from our wingers so that they are not too predictable.
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@Grognard: I never thought that the day would came in which I totally agree with you. I feel exactly the same about Berbatov and think that Owen is a better partner for Rooney.
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@Grognard: No, i was talking about nani. Valencia didnt have the best of games either, mind you.
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@Grognard: I agree Grog! Owen in his cameo, gave Brummies GK Hart more FEAR and dithers, than anyone else. Before Owen came on, Rooney was the one the opposition was worried about, and they doubled, trebled on him in the area. Now suddenly they had someone else to worry about, because Owen can be a SHADOW, one puff and he is away
. I don’t know how he would be over 90 minutes yet, playing with Rooney, because we have to wait to see them play together more. Owen did say, that Rooney was phoning him up, so excited that he was signing for United, because they had a good strike partnership going in England games. I would love to see more of them together. Refresh my memory someone – did they play a game together on pre season tour, because I can’t remember Rooney/Owen in a game together. SAF won’t want to help England in world cup games 
, but he should not let this get in the way of United prospering from a partnership that could be really effective, if the telepathy between Rooney/Owen is worked on more consistently in playing time together. I don’t understand the SAF psyche sometimes as I have said, because he says that he has to give Berba/Rooney partnership an opportunity, because Berba has been at the club longer 
, and Michael will get his chances. Well excuse me SAF, but wasn’t that what last season was for, to see how Berba/Rooney worked together? Some of us can tell you, it doesn’t work. Others will feel differently of course.
Tell you what though, as for me, I LOVE seeing Little Mickey Owen break free from opposing defences, and bear down on goal. Even if he has been unlucky in harvesting goals at the moment, it nevertheless is just so bloody exciting to watch. Well to me it is anyway
.
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@ Craig – Yeah I’m planning on watching that, have the Sky+ set up to record it. Very keen to see how Macheda and Welbeck get on, as well as Tosic.
After taking the customary day to calm down, thoughts on yesterday:
1. I’m beginning to get over my Berba love, like Grognard. Watching him is a joy, entertainment in of itself, however he has become the most dangerous striker in world football that is never likely to score. As gorgeous as it is watching him dance effortlessly between 3 defenders, if all he does is then play it backwards or lose it, I’d kind of rather have someone productive. It’s obviously game 1, so not time to judge him, but he needs to get a bit more aggressive, and remember that he’s a striker, not a playmaker.
2. I have no idea where all this Fabio love ins come from. I think it’s projected desires, not based on fact. Yes, he can run quickly and yes he can get up the pitch when we’re attacking but his delivery was consistently shocking and left us exposed time and time again. I’m sure he’s great at keepy-uppies and 5-a-side and beach football, but that’s not really what I want from a RB. Gary Neville has not an ounce of his skill, but can cross and defend. Sorry, used to be able to cross and defend.
3. Valencia didn’t look very good. I hope he’ll get better. And I’m happy to give him a chance to. But a £16m winger he did not look yesterday.
4. Mickey Owen is still pretty quick. Good to know. I bet he’ll score 5 in 5 then be injured for the season (knocks on wood to ward off evil spirits).
5. Nani needs to get his shoulder sorted out. Now.
6. Between Vidic, Rio and Evans we have 3 very talented centre backs. All of whom are injured for a third of a season at a time. When you look at other clubs (say, Fulham or Villa) they manage to keep defenders playing in literally every single premiership game. What are we doing wrong?
7. Foster made a great save, and several good takes. He wasn’t perfect, but he was very much good enough to warrant a place Wednesday.
8. O’Shea and Brown are not fast enough to be a centre-back pairing. We’ll definitely be outpaced by a good striker. I’m not sure how quick Burnley’s forwards are, but I’m kind of scared.
9. They are, however, big and brave, so hopefully we’ll look like winning a header. Preferably starting with corners against us, where I’m 100% sure we’re going to concede at some point soon.
10. Not too much can be read into the first game of the season, but I’m always happy to be 3 points clear of Liverpool. All in all a decent weekend me thinks.
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@colver:
You are indeed right mate, and I have been mulling over the same thing for a while now.
Our formation, tactics and the personnel is something I feel Fergie isn’t quite sure of yet. First of all, are we playing 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1 ?? I’d like to think we can play both with the personnel we have.
In a 4-4-2, you need a midfield pairing full of energy, running and penetration. Similar to the Palacios/Huddlestone pairing for Tottenham yesterday. The problem is do we have such players?? I feel we mite just do. Hargo excluding, we have a few energetic players in Ando and Fletch, maybe Gibson and to a liitle extent Carrick. I feel in a 4-4-2, a pairing made up of any of those would be decent and should be able to close down opposition, keep possession, collect the ball from defense and also join in attack. A little too much to ask, well that’s the reason 4-4-2 is not a popular formation anymore with the Big teams who come across gifted players more often in other big teams, who usually have three in midfield; it asks too much of their central midfielders. The wingers would also be more side midfielders who have to help in defence/midfield and the full backs would also have to be more careful in their foraging upfield as one of the central midfielders would probably be busy further up the pitch to help stop any counter attacks. A very laboured formation I feel, especially as we don’t have that required energy in midfield.
Now, a 4-2-3-1 is a formation that I feel is more suited to our midfield personnel. We can have a ball winner and a creative player play deep together, similar to Liverpoo with Alonso and Mascherano. We could have Carrick and Fletch or any other combination as those two would be a little deep and should be good enough to boss midfield and get the ball to the forwards, all four of them. Carrick I feel will thrive in this formation as he will have an Alonso like role for us and he should do very well.
However, when it comes to the stevie-me role, we have a little problem, who would we drop?? The Roon or Berb?? Because we need a striker uptop who is hell-bent on leading the line ala Torres and not guilty of foraging into midfield like those two. Owen and Macheda are capable of doing this, but will Fergie be prepared to drop either of his best strikers?? I don’t think so. The solution should be to train Rooney to be more of a No.9. He is young enough to adapt (as opposed to Berba) and he alreday seems to be getting into good areas in the penalty box, heading better and has become a better poacher. If he can get that discipline, we might be unto something special. Plus, he will never lose that ability to create chances and playmake, so can always drop back to an SS-role when he is paired with Owen/Macheda.
The other two attacking wide players would also have to be goal-hungry and dynamic. They would be shun of all defensive duties as the central midfielders cover. They should be able to cut in and shoot as well as go wide and cross. We have two players who I feel are very capable in Nani and Valencia. Plus, in this formation, the full-backs have full license to bomb forward as the deep central midfielders are still covering for them, so they should be able to support the wide men without fear of leaving a gaping hole at the back.
The good thing is we can always alternate between both formations as we have a group of players dynamic enough to adapt even mid-game. I would go for this as my preferred formation/line-up:
Foster
Brown-Rio-Vida-Evra
Fletch-Carrick
Valencia-Berbatov-Nani
Rooney
A 4-2-3-1, with the option of pushing Berba further up, one of the central mids also and the wingers a bit back if we need to switch to a 4-4-2. That’s just me though
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@Beachryan: Yeah Beachy, it starts at 7pm, and it will be interesting to see the three you mentioned, Welbeck, Macheda and Tosic. I just wonder though if they will be playing, with Burnley and Wigan coming up in quick succession. Do you know for definate these lads are playing Beachy? I am looking forward to seeing Cleverley, Brandy, and a lad called Robbie Brady. That Brady lad really does look like a very good player, and I jest not, when I say he reminds me of young Rooney, same build and bit bulky, and he is a left footer, and a future marvelous prospect for that left wing spot
. You seen the lad Brady yet Beachy? He has a great eye for goal, and scores with aplomb, from what I have seen of him so far!
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Gabriel, Im glad we are on the same wavelength.
For me 4-4-2 seems like a bit of a step back to the 90s. And Im not sure it really works. We do not have two big strikers in the box. Our wingers’ delivery is not amazing. Our central midfielders are all fairly mediocre.
I guess my hope is that Anderson and Gibson turn into amazing midfielders, Carrick starts to play more like he did for Tottenham, Berbatov gets hungrier for goals and provides more of a target for our wingers, and Valencia shows he can step up a notch. But that is a lot of “ifs”.
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Reserves about to kick off their Lancashire Cup Final match against Bolton.
United have a very strong starting line up-
Amos
Chester
C Evans
Cathcart
Dudgeon
Stewart
Eikrem
James
Tosic
Macheda
Welbeck
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Tom Cleverly is loaned out to Watford…
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@Footy4Eddy: Its a good move for the lad.
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Two things:
1. Carrrick is in the dog-house. Fergie said: “Ask Carrick why he was not in the team”
2. We have a game wednesday against burnley, obviously, Fergie rested players for that game; hence, the funny line-up (injuries played their part as well).
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@Dan: I know you were talking about Nani but it wasn’t Nani who was cutting in all the time and playing out of position. It was Valencia.
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@Footy4Eddy: Very good move for the lad, plus I’m from Watford so when I’m not travelling up north to see United I can watch Cleverly at Vicarage Road as my brother is a Season Ticket Holder.
As long as they pass the ball to his feet he’ll do wonders for them
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@Craig Mc: The bottom line is that when Owen is out there, he gets his cracks at goal. Berba played 70 minutes and had one good header and a half chance. Owen is in there for a very short time and gets to great chances albeit, one was off side. And this has happened in other games where he has come in as a sub. He gets chances because defenses can’t contain both him and Rooney and their breakout pace.
Berba is a great player but he so slows us down. The problem with that is that is exactly what Fergie wants. He wants to play that slow deliberate Italian style. Then why is he setting the team up with an old English style 4-4-2 with wide wingers? It makes no sense. Especially when you know the team is all about ball retention yet the setup created too much width and space between players. In that scenario pace and speed is the way to go. Instead we were slow, methodical and completely moving at a continental pace. For the life of me, I don’t get it. It’s a mish mash of styles and I think it’s got Berba and the whole team confused.
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Jeez I wonder what Carrick did to get into Fergie’s doghouse? He doesn’t seem the type that gets himself in trouble.
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@Grognard: I think the quote that’s doing the rounds is a baseless wind-up rumour circulating the forums. I’ve emailed Scott to ask him if he has any idea on the source. The ESPN article that he linked to doesn’t have the quote either. And even the folks at Red Cafe are clueless about it. My instincts say it’s dodgy rumour mongering in some forums which have snowballed into others actually believing it. Otherwise this would be big news by now in the main media outlets. That said, with the amount of research the main media outlets do, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a lazy journo just copy-paste these quotes nonetheless.
I’ve emailed people about it. Let me see what my research throws up.
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@Red Ranter: I agreed with a lot of your game summary, although your comment about Evra’s performance bring in complete contrast with how he played against Chelsea was not right. I felt that he played well in both of those games and he appears ready to redeem himself for the awful 2nd half of last season.
Your comment about De Laet confused me too. I’m not sure he featured against Chelsea at all. I’m sure you meant the friendly against Valencia.
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@Red Ranter: I think Scholes’ selection was to prove to Carrick that SAF wants his MF’ers to have a go at goal once in a while. Carrick was so invisible in the Chelsea game I think it irked SAF into making a firm point here.
SAF knows that if his MF does not start to score, we’ll be in big trouble!!
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Vidic’s agent has said that Vida would be delighted to go to Barca as its his dream to play in spain!!
That would be sooo fucked…
http://www.goal.com/en/news/12/spain/2009/08/17/1445842/nemanja-vidic-would-be-delighted-to-join-barcelona-agent
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@Grognard: I just have to think that it’s 4-4-2 because we are so unfulfilled with talent in the middle of the pitch that a flanking attack is our best option at this point.
Your point about the slow methodical build up is well taken though, it truly makes no sense with that formation! I’d take it though, over the slow, clumsy build ups that I’ve been watching lately.
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@MoYa: I think that someone reported that Vidic’ wife can’t stand the English climate. Could be the soundings of a some itchy feet here!
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Ok just got confirmation. Looks like ESPN got it wrong re: the Carrick thing. They’ve pulled it out since. However, they’ve silently pulled it down rather than be upfront about their mistake — the sneaky bastards.
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@Redrich: Evra didn’t play poorly against Chelsea but he did make a couple of glaring mistakes that fortunately didn’t hurt us. The time he was out jumped for a header was really bad but fortunately the ball went over the net. He still finds himself out of position defensively to often. His attacking rushes were quite good though.
For me he was the man of the match yesterday. Not brilliant but pretty damned good and he did save a goal with his great goal line clearance. So although I am not a fan of the Skinned Sausage, I’ll give him credit when he deserves it. Yesterday the sausage didn’t get skinned.
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@Redrich: You could be right. The first thing I thought when he wasn’t even on the bench was injury. The second thought was he was being taught a lesson about not taking his starting position for granted. He has been sleep walking all pre season and i think Fergie decided it was time for an early wake up call.
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@Redrich: If you are going to play 4-4-2, you do use your wide players to create moe width and attack with pace. So why then were our wide players not attacking with pace? Quite often they were just standing with the ball and trying to find a teammate. It’s not the players fault, It’s the system they are being forced to play which is slow and plodding. Wait for the slow pokes in the middle to catch up with the play. I don’t like it when our forwards are playing with their backs to the goal. That’s why I want Michael Owen in there.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the European continental system of play, but not when it is completely Italianized. The German approach offers more speed and attack but the players aren’t spread out as far because frankly, they aren’t playing a wide 4-4-2. I still think the best formation for us is 4-3-3 where Valencia and Rooney play wide forward positions (not wingers, just wider) and Berbatov or Owen playing in the middle as a striker. I would go with a midfield of Nani on the left, Carrick in the middle and Hargreaves on the right when he returns (if he returns) or Fletcher. Again, the players are not super wide. They are more central because they need to interact together with close short passes. The difference in this formation is that Fletcher, Nani, Rooney and Valencia have the freedom to go as wide as they want and cut in as far as they want. You also would have our fullbacks playing the role of wingbacks and overlapping as much as possible to give us added width in our attack.
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@Grognard: If SAF wants to play that SLOW, deliberate, Italian style football, then somebody should tell Rooney, Nani, Evra and Valencia, because their brains are on the HEAT running thermo
.
As for Nemanjah and his SUDDEN Spanish love, I think MOST of the PL’s best football players will be OFF to Spain or Italy because of their sudden loss of HALF their salaries in a TAX on the rich in this country. To be very honest, if it was me, and I was a foreigner, no matter how much I loved my club, I would not be willing to GIVE UP HALF my salary to the taxman – would any of you lot – be honest now. It is a burden and one the top players will not be willing to pay. The reason they are willing to sign for City, is that the rich arabs negotiate high salaries after tax. So they are compensated for the loss!
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Wat abt this Burnley side????
Are they better than the last opponent???
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@Nick: Mmmmmm just when Cleverly starts scoring goals for fun, Fergie does his usual SHIP them out thing!
.
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Vida loss will be a major loss but really i dont think this is going to take place,especially to barca
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Valencia is a decent player from what I saw and I will be looking forward to seeing more of him!
As for Scholes/Carrick, Fergie should have given him half a match! Nevertheless, Scholes is still a good holding midfield.
As for the miss by Owen, don’t let it stick in your head mate! His first Premier League goal for us will be a good moment.
On a site note, the Liverpool result, hope it continues!
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@owen: Burnley BEAT a lot of very good PL teams in the cups last year mate, when they were in championship, and they should have beaten spurs, they deserved to. They are warriors, and will fight fiercely, and cover every blade of grass with blood, sweat and tears. They are Northeners, I would expect nothing less. These lads are TRIBAL, and United will have to fight like trojans to beat them, and I mean that! Their supporters are also tribal and will be on fire, so will our supporters too. Hope SAF doesn’t put any SOFTIES in the United team, we need our take no prisoners players
.
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@Grognard: I think Evra is making a concerted effort to bring back the physical part of his game and it seems to be making a difference overall. His positioning (or lack of it) is directly related to him attacking at any given opportunity. I did notice, though, he was making every effort to get back when the attack would break down, and really that’s all you can ask.
If you think back to the days before his slump, he was always that kind of player, and so in a sense, and if you want him in your side, you’ll take the good along with bad.
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Is that the same Vidic agent that came out about a month ago and said Vida is going nowhere, don’t even bother talking about it? Because I don’t think it’s the same name.
Goal.com is about as reliable as tribalfootball. The quotes worry me, but they could also be made up.
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@ Craig Mc says : If they r such as you mentioned,then we will miss vida and ferdinand….hope Andy starts and rule the midfield…
@ Redrich : I think Evra watched THE HULL game of last season and after watching De Laet ,would have thought of having a lot of competion there…so he is now taking games more seriously …
Also trying to convince his statstement that at Man utd ,everyone ( not only Ronaldo) are SUPERSTARS including him
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Oh and someone on the Caf made up the thing about Carrick to see if they could get these ‘reputable’ journalists to bite. Just goes to show you how incredibly dead journalism is. They should be lined up and, and all those who can pass a lie detector test as having never made up a story allowed ot leave, with the others sacrificing two of their typing fingers. They make me want to be a bad person.
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My apologies, it is the same agent (vidic). Worrying.
I’ve been to Barcelona. Twice. I don’t get the fascination. Anyway, I don’t think Barca could afford him tbh.
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Rafa is a complete joker and the ultimate master of excuses. FACT spurs deserved the win and had keane taken his chances the score could have been far worse. FACT Liverpool ain’t the same team without alonso who in my opinion was their best player last season and they will miss him dearly, aquilani is a good player but he isn’t quite ready yet. FACT their squad is weak and spurs hell even birmingham had a stronger bench CHUCHO!!!!!!. Back to our beloved united anderson needs to start over scholesy all day if he is ever going to fulfil his potential. nani looked excellent in pre season and hopefully he will continue to grow in confidence. I have always been a huge fan of nani although I know that eccolade has to go to CraigMC. Truth is last season he didnt get much of a chance and when he did i felt he often tried too hard to make an impact hence the lack of consistency in his performances. Also living in ronnie’s shadow didnt help the lad. What really impresses me is the partnership that nani and evra are developing they look frickin menacing.
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@ aron84 : Even Chelsea Manager is also a big joker…
he is trying to offer around 8 million + Carvalso for some other defender( i think Mexes)…
Carvalho is the best centre back in Premier league after Vida and I think equals Ferdinand….
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@Grognard: Well I think this is an issue that has more than just a few dimensions. To debate this with any real meaning I would like to wait for a few games.
My initial response to how poorly we started playing at the end of last season was to lay a good deal of blame on Berbatov’s lack luster style. I felt that we needed a player with much more impact going through the middle.
However the CL final exposed a very tepid CMF that allowed Barca to control the game and over run our defense.
Tactics is another strong suspect here especially if you consider that Berbatov was great with Spurs and is now finding life a OT a difficult one.
All in all my main concern is that the lack of real talent in the CM will draw a very simplified picture for opposition defenses to deal with. Leaving us to watch a midfield muddle that doesn’t serve any purpose!!
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@Beachryan: the first story his agent’s name was “Silvano Martina” http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=658729&cc=4716
now it is “Paolo Fabbri”
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@Beachryan: A lot of it is done to induce comment from the party(s) involved. Once the comment is made, they’ll then have something to report about!
Fuckers that they are, they’re just trying to pursue as story to write about!!
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So why was Carrick not on the bench?????
- Arsenal Celtic tomorrow
- United Burley day after next….
Gotta love it!
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@Beachryan: I was surprised Scott linked to the article in ESPN and there was no such quote in the linked article.
Even bloggers who are aware of the pitfalls of relying on forum posters fell for the trick.
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@Craig Mc: I agree. The thing most fans don’t understand is players are not like fans. In fact, there was a book – I can’t recall it’s name – where the author said many players can’t even stand the sight of fans. Their outlook towards the club is far different from the way we look at clubs. And this is especially true of modern footballers.
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@aron84: This is what happens for players, when they regularly get a run of games playing together. You find out if they fit or not, and Evra/Nani fit together like a pair of gloves. A bit more time together, and we will have a Red Nev/Beckham scenario, as they were when they were in their prime! Valencia hasn’t had that opportunity, because our right back is always changing from one player to another, and SAF when everybody is fit, needs to make his mind up. If he wants to see partnerships EVOLVING as he insists he does, then he has to be blind NOT to see that Evra/Nani have a nice little thing going on the left. It would be so much better, if Berba wouls stay where he is supposed to stay in the centre, and get the ball out more quickly to our wingers. Folk blame Nani for coming inside, but nobody says a feckin word when Berba is out occupying the wing berths
. I don’t know what has happened to Berba since his spurs days, but he was so much better then than now! I know many of you may not like to face up to this, because we all love Fergie. Yet we have to question why some really good players are missing their BEST performances under SAF’s tactics or positionings????
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@Red Ranter: I know all too well mate
.
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