Jul 17
United touchdown in Malaysia, dodge potential disaster
Update: United cancel Indonesia visit. Club working on revised itinerary outside Indonesia.
Every now and then we get hit by news that brings us down to reality. At the time of writing, nine people were killed in bombings of two luxury hotels in Indonesia.
It’s more shocking if you realize United were scheduled to stay at the Ritz in Jakarta. The cause, people behind these attacks aren’t yet known, so we’ll have to wait for further details to be revealed.
Whether United would tour Indonesia is also up in the air.
A spokesman for the Indonesian organizers, Souraiya Farina, told AFP they had not had any information yet from the team on whether they would cancel their visit. ‘We have had no confirmation of what they might be doing and noone has indicated to us that they will cancel their visit,’ she said. ‘They may move to another hotel,’ she added, citing the Pacific Hotel as an alternative.[link]
Meanwhile, United kick off pre-season in Malaysia with a match on Saturday. We will hopefully have mini-reports of the preseason friendlies.
Travelling squad: Edwin van der Sar, Tomasz Kuszczak, Ben Foster; Jonny Evans, Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville, Wes Brown, John O’Shea, Fabio da Silva; Nani, Zoran Tosic, Darren Fletcher, Anderson, Darron Gibson, Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick, Ryan Giggs; Michael Owen, Dimitar Berbatov, Federico Macheda, Wayne Rooney.
We will look to update this post as an when we get to hear about United’s plans to tour Indonesia. Watch this space.
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Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (541)
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RedDevilEddy (459)
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Moscow is my heaven (272)
@Anthony Los: Everybody can watch it, so enjoy!
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Grognard I qualified my comment by saying IF the Owen’s stay fit. Which is a very big IF. When i say stay fit im talking 30-40 games a season for each player.
Of course the more likely scenario is they’ll manage 15-20 games or so and that will mean we’ll finish 3rd or 4th and be out of the title race by Christmas.
I think Ronaldo’s loss will be most felt in the big games where he gave us that little bit extra which won us matches.
That is why I think we will flop in Europe next season. Over the course of the Premier League campaign our greatest strength remains our squad depth. Chelsea have players off to African Nations which will hinder their Premiership campaign and Liverpool are still more of a cup team and will drop points against bottom-feeders.
You are right these players could not possibly replace Ronaldo. But I think next season we will play more as a team and players will come out of Ronaldo’s shadow.
Last season Ronaldo really only came into his own in the European games. In the Premier League although prolific he was less effective because opposition players kicked him off the pitch and he spend most of the time rolling on the floor and complaining at refs.
But Im also pessimistic about relying on two injury prone players like Owen and Hargreaves and i have a feeling that injuries will derail our season, expose the lack of quality in our squad and result in a disappointing season.
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@colver: you should check your facts before you say things like this. Your definition of a fit player is a player that plays “30-40 games a season,” fine. Owen has played over 30 games for the last two seasons, so according to your logic, how can he be injury prone?
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http://goal.com/en/news/9/england/2009/07/19/1391050/carlos-tevez-takes-fresh-swipe-at-sir-alex-ferguson
You’re not fit to shake his hand you ugly mug
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A bit of a quiz, what do all these players have in common other then playing for united?
Vidic, Neville, Nani, Giggs, Valencia, Tosic, Carrick, Fabio, Gibson, Simpson
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I hope…
Anderson has a break out season,
Hargreaves returns to boss the midfield
Nani has more reasons than last season to entertain us with his flips
Valencia fits right into our system seamlessly
Berba and Rooney compete with each other for team scoring titles
the twins start claiming their places in either side of the backline (not too sure about this one)
Owen slots in a few match winners
We find a suitable heir for VDS in his final season
We go back to the United way of playing… ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK!!
personally, those would make for a good entertaining season, and hopefully a few more trophies.
’tis all easier said than done though, guess we’ll have to wait n see
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@colver: Assuming the Glazer haven’t already gobbled everything up, there should be money to take corrective measures in January, which I suspect will be the case.
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Does anyone know when and at what time the next friendly match for United is?
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@Roge9: Keep in mind we have both a midfielder and a striker coming in January already.
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@RichmondRed: 13:45 monday
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@Grognard: haha nice!
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@Dan: They have got an i in their name…
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Dan, he may have played 30 games but do you really think he was match-fit for many of those? That is the reason Capello never selected him.
Every season gets broken up by injuries and while he may manage more games than people give him credit for, because he is always coming back from various lay-offs he rarely gets long enough run to hit top form.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/2009/07/14/not-prone-to-injury-but-often-injured-115875-21518418/
This gives you a flavour.
If you look at his statistics he managed 21 Premier League appearances last season.
In four years for Newcastle he managed only 71 appearances.
IN the end it won’t really matter because if Fergie uses him as an impact sub match-fitness is not such an issue and a player of Owen’s experience will always retain that sharpness in front of goal.
But if he managed a season without any injuries I think he could make much more of a contribution to our team. He is too good (when fit) to be just an impact sub.
On a lighter note, what do all those players have in common?
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@RedDevilEddy:
I bet you where sitting there googling and checking wikipedia before you realised 
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@colver: Mate, 71 appearences for a team that never goes far in cup competitions, and is not in europe in 4 years shows you’re not injury prone.
Think about this, 38 games in the league, on average, you’ll play 20-30 games in the league. In his last two seasons at the club he played 29 and 27 games for them in the league, far from injury prone.
FYI, no one knows why owen isnt picked by capello, he played consecutively last year, not stop go like you and others make out, and he still wasnt picked.
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@Dan: Sorry mate, it was just too obvious. Didnt need google.
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Dan you are counting substitute appearances…..he started 21 games..but actually last season he was pretty similar to Rooney (who himself picks up injuries fairly regularly). So yeah you are right it is nowhere near as bad as people make out.
If Owen gets a good pre-season that will do wonders for his match fitness…as he missed a lot of pre-season last season with a thigh injury.
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@RedDevilEddy: WOW!
That was frakken awesome mate. Well done! You just captured the beauty that is the Kun to perfection. A terrific job and the nice touch at the end with him kissing the United jersey made me all misty. Great goals, great moves, great linkups just fantastic. Only one minor knock and that was you got the wrong mix of “I like it like that” That seemed like a remix version of the original. The original had more of the lead singer Buster Poindexter singing “I like it like that throughout the song. But a very minor quibble. Truly outstanding mate and I cannot thank you enough. I especially appreciate the credits at the end and you included my plea to Man Utd. Well done mate, well done. And thanks again. 
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@colver: You can never base Ronaldo’s impact in EPL games on just his goal scoring. He was far more than a prolific scorer, his presence and impact would cause teams to focus on him and this would help free others or give them a little more space and time. Also, teams would play 100% park the bus football against us because they knew Ronaldo and the counter had to be taken away. Now no teams are going to have to fear us like that. Sure we should still have some success in the counter but Ronaldo and Tevez presence against teams would force them into a defensive posture. That is no longer going to be the case.
As for Owen, yes the qualifies is “if” he stays healthy. A major if because lets face it, he has a serious track record of injury and we need to face that. Either way though, even if he was to play every game, he and the others are not good enough replacements for the best player in the game. And lets not forget the free kicks and penalties that Ronaldo offered us. Not an easy thing to do to find someone who can hit free kicks like him and even though he had a few misses from the spot, he was also an excellent taker of penalties. How on Earth is the team supposed to replace all these elements that helped us dominate the League despite the fact that last year as a team, we struggled to score goals. With him, we are expected to be as good or better? I think not mate.
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Wouldnt it be a bitch if manucho scored 15-20 goals in la liga!
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@Grognard: No problem mate, happy to do it!
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@Grognard: BTW, hope you noticed the many assists that Riquelme made. It was at least 3 top notch through balls!
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@Dan: Most defintely, he will!!!
I pray that no mid-table team in Spain come up with a 10million£ bid for Nani as Fergie would probably be happy to offload him….
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Grognard, it’s not a question of replacing. Tevez and Ronaldo (well certainly Ronaldo) are unique players that can’t be replaced like for like. The team has to evolve, just like we did when Keano quit and Ruud left. Fergie knows what he’s doing.
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@Dan: could only raise the prices of future united castoffs wont be any different than forlan and rossi
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@username: Nice username
Is your password : password?
cos mine is…
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I dont care if its pre season, the scouse are 1-0 down!
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scratch that, 2-0
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bastard gave offside!
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@Dan: Seriously?! Against which team?
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@RedDevilEddy: exactly!
i think they are a team called rapid from albania or some country like that!
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@Dan: Holy shit, that is awsome!!!
Keep us updated mate!
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end result rapid 1-0 liverpool
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@RichmondRed: Yes, but they are young and we can’t really expect them to be saviors.
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@username: Evolution presupposes having the appropriate genetic combination for your environment. Our environment has not changed, but our gene pool has been severely diluted. As mentioned before, we are not only losing a goalscorer, but also his general presence, hunger and stunning efficiency, subtracting too his creative abilities as one of the top 5 dead ball specialist equally adept with both feet….you lost the nucleus and your atom becomes unstable. From what I see we are far more on a path of regression than evolution.
My observation is that Rafa B. learned more about his squad last season than any season before that. Don’t expect to see an unsettling rotation policy this time around. The players too will learn from their errors and now understand how to sustain a title challenge, made all the worse because Torres and Gerrard will be at full fitness from the go. ‘Pool will be more aggressive against lesser sides they adopted a conservative approach against and consquently drop points. They also believe, rightly or wrongly, that they have the psychological edge over us, chelsea and Arsenal. And with their hunger at heights previously not seen, and our overconfidence in full steam, we may be in for a rude awakenening. (and please spare me the “you must be/sound like a scouser fan” rhetoric)
Continuing, Rooney needs a ” scottie pippen” figure of sorts. To stretch the analogy, if you think back Pippen could only carry the team so far on his, which is the position I feel Rooney essentially finds himself. Every team needs at least a twin force of inspiration: Lampard & Terry, Gerrard & Torres, we had Ronaldo & Rooney, and I don’t see anyone stepping comfortably into the void
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@Roge9: it could be rooney and aguero
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@Anthony Los: but we’re NOT buy aguero, which is the prob.
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@Roge9: ye ure right just hoping
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Heh, Pippen, eh? You must be a yank
I don’t worry too much about other teams, all we can do is play to our full capabilities and hope to pick up as many points as possible. We have a good squad capable of challenging for trophies. We’ve won the last three championships, a stunning feat, and it’s only natural that it’ll be harder for us to make it four in a row. Not many teams can even win back-to-back titles, yet under Fergie we’ve twice won the Premier League three times in a row.
We have the best manager in the world who’s proved the doubters wrong time and time again. He’s the one I trust and why I choose to see the potential of this squad and not be bogged down in negativity.
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@username: im jamaican actually. and who was the principle catalyst behind our success apart from Fergie? The very man we lost.
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@Roge9:
Charmed:)
It’s sad that you think our success these last few years was down to just player. He was important to us and I’ll always value his contribution but the arrival of players of Vidic and Carrick’s calibre was just as imporant a factor as Ronaldo’s rise.
No one player is bigger than the team. We’ve lost great players before and returned stronger. Maybe we’ll struggle without Ronaldo in the short term, we’ll almost certainly need a little time to adjust, but inevitably we’ll be back in the long term. That’s the United way. We build teams, we don’t buy galacticos or do “projects” like City do.
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what on earth are we going to do without ronaldo giving the ball away to defenders then sitting on the pitch with his hands up wanting a foul while our team tries to defend.
he was great but he is gone we have to move on.
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@username: “I don’t worry too much about other teams, all we can do is play to our full capabilities”
Pity Fergie don’t share that sentiment. At least not last season where he time and time again showed way too much respect to other ‘strong’ teams, and caused us to abondaon our style of play, thereby not trusting in our players to play to our full capabilities.
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@gator: My sentiments exactly. I also wondered how boring the games will become because he is no longer there to infuriate me with that antics.
Am I wrong in my observation that Ronaldo seemed to have lost his passing-a-man-with-his-dribbling skills during the second half of the season?
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@gator: Spot on mate. Ronaldo frustrated me equally as he gave me joy. I for one am happy to move on even if it means we regress somewhat. Fergie will build another winner.
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@Karl: Now that you mention it…you are right, I believe he did. I will miss him hitting the ball directly into the wall during free kicks the most though
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@RedDevilEddy: Yes I noticed. Very nice indeed.
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@Roge9: WOW! We are on the same wave length.. The other day I was thinking the same thing. We just lost Michael Jordan and now we are putting all the pressure and hopes on to Scotty Pippen. Fact is Jordan was all world and irreplaceable and Ronaldo is as close to this sport’s version of Jordan and we have just lost him for good. So now we are asked to put up with a team minus Ronaldo and we are expected to believe that they will be as good if not better.
People should go back and check the season’s Chicago had after Jordan retired. It wasn’t pretty and their coach was Phil Jackson a legend in his sport as Fergie is in football. You just cannot expect to play up to par when you have lost the catalyst, the straw that stirs the drink, the one the only go to guy on our team and expect things to remain the same. And to do nothing in regards to replacing him is just unforgivable considering the money we had to work with. These are indeed, sad and sorry times to be a supporter of Manchester United.
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@Anthony Los: The problem is it’s not Rooney or Aguero. I wish…….
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@gator: We could have moved on by at least attempting to replace him. Seriously, how can you have 80 million + on hand then purchase only obertan, owen and valencia? It’s madness This was supposed to be the greatest summer of our lives, yet its another of lament, lack of imagination and frustration.
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