Jul 20
United’s Malaysia Rematch
So the boys play another game today against the Malaysian XI to compensate for the loss of the Indonesian friendly. I wish I could look forward to it, but timezones don’t help.
The manager looks to ring in changes. Owen is expected to get his first start, as are Fabio and Gary Neville.
Pre-season is always interesting to me because I get to see some of the new arrivals or youngsters. Also it’s the first time one gets to watch the lads after a long summer break. The results of course won’t bother me much.
In other news, The Guardian reports that we are again in for Douglas Costa. Apparently his initial price has dropped down to £8m. I have a bad feeling about this player. I’ve heard a lot of negative reports, on how it may be a bit too early for us to get him. And the fact that he wasn’t able to make it to the Gremio first team regularly prior to his injury. It’s a bit too early for him, by most accounts, and hence even an £8m fee seems a bit steep. Also, since Chelsea and Real Madrid are in the fray, we won’t expect this price to go down.
The Guardian also has a nice interview with Owen. He’s been saying all the right things. It’s a question of him staying fit and doing the right things on the pitch. We shall see.
And the plaudits keep flowing for Owen. Rooney the latest one to heap praise on him. I think it’s too much of praise for me to stomach.
Finally SAF ends a day of too much praising — to the point of jinxing — by saying Rooney is destined for more. We always hear this at the beginning of every summer. There is something intrinsically Liverpool-esque, saying ‘this is going to be his season’. Yes, I said it. Sue me!
Related items from Red Rants:
- United touchdown in Malaysia, dodge potential disaster
- Man Utd Stories of the Day
- United Close Out U.S. Tour With Barcelona Rematch
- United’s debt situation explained
- Man Utd Headlines 27 May 2007
Tags: Manchester United News
Craig Mc (195)
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Ian (95)
I have been seriously impressed with Owen…its been ages since weve had a striker like him. The way he got on the end of tosics ball when he hit the post was vintage Owen
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@Grognard: u said it all man, the weather is too hot, the players have jet lag and its only pre season, dont look too much into it, and on a postive note owen got off the mark on his debut and only played 30mins
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@Grognard: That’s not a bad thought, mate.
Especially considering something like this…..
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/8158802.stm
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27-0? wtf was the other team doing eating kit-kats?!
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News flash…
Huntelaar off to Stuggart
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@Redrich: It’s very convenient to let the current negativity cloud every reaction to even pre-season games. (The Villarreal game was an outlier in an otherwise unremarkable series of friendlies for most big Prem clubs) I recall us losing to Orlando Pirates in pre-season once. And having average games against some Japanese side. Spurs blanked every team possible in their pre-season under Ramos only to be mired in a relegation dogfight before Redknapp saved them.
Liverpool lost to Rapid Vienna. City lost to some club, we continue to win our games, yet, we allow ourselves to pounce on the side as if we want it to be a proof of our negativity. Judge the team when the season proper starts (I’m sure there will be plenty ready to crucify the team right after the first game). Even cribbing over our teams transfer strategy can be more justifiable than pouncing on them over a meaningless pre-season friendly when the main objective of the manager and club is to give his players a run out and sell some shirts.
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owen scores, berba has yet too, i hope he doest flop again this year! but owen rooney partership should be lethal any way
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And one more thing… Anderson will never ever score… Jeez, It must be real hard to manage to miss from 6-7 yards…
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@AndyCR7: no that wasnt his fault! one of his brades got in the way lol
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@Redrich: At some point, like after scoring say 12 or 18 goals, they are just being assholes. 27-0? Show some restraint.
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@jamie lee: I share your concerns about berbatov, but honestly i do feel that in time he will come good. For the short term as i say yes it is a concern, i watched the entire game on the saturday and he really didnt do much, infact from what i saw in just one single match i think i can predict the rooney berbatov partnership going that way for the whole of the season. Its the same god damn thing it seems, berbatov playing deep with rooney playing up top almost as a lone striker and this concerns me.
For pretty much the entire season last year this is the way the two played, berba in an almost AM role and rooney almost as the lone man, the problem about that is rooney is more a second striker anyway so he will drift back aswell which meant at times we were playing without a man who was in the penalty box which was a big reason we didnt score as much as we had wanted.
For me though i have to ask two questions though if we are going to play berba and rooney in those roles again:
1- What the f**k is wrong with ferguson and the staff, surely they can see they are playing in the wrong positions, the role berbatov plays is rooneys favourite position and vice versa. Alot of people will say berbatov isnt a typical lead the line striker and maybe they have a point but from what i saw of him at spurs and the bits i saw when he was at leverkusen and for bulgaria he leads the line, he is not a second striker, an attacking midfielder, he is meant to stay up top and in the box and whilst hes not a goal poacher like an owen or huntelaar or whoever he will get alot more goals than he did last season playing up top with rooney behind also benefitting. I have to ask what the hell is wrong with fergie, phelan and the entire staff that they cant seem to tell they aint in their proper positions and having a word with them.
2- Is why the players arent having a word and saying they aint playing in their natural positions. Now i know the boss is the boss and he can play you where he likes but surely a word from berba saying how he feels hes playing a foreign position would help, i know rroney has made a few remarks about going to his SS position but it seems fergie isnt taking a bit of notice about that, and that really disappoints me.
For me for us to have a good season we have to play berba up top with rooney behind or start owen there, we simply cannot continue to play like last season with both rooney and berba playing in foreign positions which isnt allowing them to do their stuff to their maximum ability.
Sadly from what i saw on saturday and the small amount of time the two played together today it seems the manager isnt taking a blind bit of notice and for me i put this squarely down to the fact that he doesnt have a competent assistant working with him who can sort out the tactics, im sorry but phelan isnt that man.
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@Red Ranter: city lost to orlando pirates…
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@Matt: yes i agree with u, but a least rooney wasnt out on the left, which would be way worse! but i think fergie for a owen rooney partnership, which solves that dilema, and maybe berba will be behind both of them as the playmaker, who knows,
on another note, pool are in fr silva!!! wtf are we doing! he is class and we need a left sided player omg!!!!!
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who though nani played well??
He had the worst rating on this site
wtf did he do wrong, his corners were good, everyone hates him 4 some reason
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/2009/07/20/manchester-united-player-ratings-verdict-on-all-21-players-used-against-malaysia-xi-115875-21535504/
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sorry guys i know i keep asking but does anyone have a link for the real madrid game so i can see real fail against shamrock
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@Anthony Los:
http://www.justin.tv/vip_tenisss/old
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@Cyclops-Red: cheers
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thats right tevez you are not worth it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jul/20/sir-alex-ferguson-carlos-tevez
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@ROOOOONEY:
Some really interesting stuff in the Guardian. I’ve just read the other article on Owen and Ronaldo.
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@Anthony Los: Its a shame I couldn’t watch the game as I’ve learned to trust only mine eyes when it comes to player ratings (though dear olde JB back in the days and RR still do a pretty good job).
MEN however is the worst.
Dan, RR how did those following players perform?
Fabio
Macheda
Owen
Gibson
Giggs
Brown
.
..
.
Oh heck, why don’t someone do full player ratings with relevant points of the game… Did Scholes and Neville turn out decent performances or did they continue last season’s horror show?
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@Red Ranter: Your right, it’s pretty meaningless, but I just couldn’t resist, in light of Grogs comment!
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@Mountfort: Pretty amazing scoreline though, don’t you think?? It’s like scoring a goal every 3.5 mins until the final whistle.
How much additional time do you think the Ref added on, considering the amount of stoppages for kick-offs???
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@Mountfort: The bottom line is they shouldn’t be playing such a pushover as it does nothing in terms of helping them prepare for a season. Book some decent competition as opposed to a wheelchair select 11 for crying out loud.
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playing in asia, is like playing in water… it is so humid, you feel like you are drowning some times….
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@Grognard: I’m all for the cannon-fodder mate, it’s a good way to give everyone a lift at the beginning of proceedings, no one should get hurt, and will only add to the confidence of the strikers. Good for the fans too.
Imagine the chatter here if Owen scored 15 in his opener!!
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@Matt: I think the success/failure of the Berbatov/Rooney partnership will be the key to how we fare this season. I haven’t seen either of the first 2 games so what is your opinion of what you’ve seen so far. I sense that it’s more of the same, but do you see a possibility that it could flourish??
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Grognard Ive never understood friendlies either. The results always seem very strange. In my mind if the second best team in the world plays a random bunch of Asian part-timers we should wipe the floor and win 10-0 at least. But we are not unique. All the big clubs have similar scorelines in their pre-season games. Real Madrid only beat Shamrock 1-0 in the 87th minute. Ronaldo was apparentely marked out of the game.
My only guess is that we deliberately play in second gear to give the opposition a chance and so that the fans who came out to watch them don’t see their team getting creamed.
I have the same sort of questions about the FA Cup type games. Again youd expect Premiership teams to win by cricket scores against lower league opposition. But it never really happens and you get teams like Southend United knocking out Chelsea.
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@Gabriel: I hope Giggs has loads of memorable Mazy runs In the reserves. Frankly I don’t want to see the three “old amigos” even suit up this season on meaningful games.
And for those of you who think I’m being harsh, I suggest you go ask Milan fans how far sentiment has got them since there last CL victory.
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@Johnsom33: Problem is we still need them, mate!!
If we could have done some business for a CMF’er or two, Giggs and Scholes could still be in their deck-chairs!!
As for Neville, he needs to bow out gracefully before he ruins his rep amongst his admiring fans. (like me!!)
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@ Grog: hey mate, not a dig, but I just want to know what your thoughts of the team situation (or anyone elses thoughts) were when we first got Ronaldo, as an 18 yr old, with Rooney too.
I mean they weren’t proven, though they had plenty of promise.
What was the difference between the team then and now, Nistelrooy left and there was a big hole to fill, and these guys grew into them right? what’s stopping some of our young promising guys now from blossoming as well?
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New post up. Well not really a post, but just a fun thing I found and had to post.
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i simply don’t see why we should go for the three, namely cahill,arteta and worse still flamini. We should let our creative midfielders loose i.e. anderson and carrick and get defensive midfielder to cover and protect the defense much the same way as hargrieves does. Im pretty sure there’s another obi or essien just waiting to be discovered. the problem with united these days is that our mentality seems to be caution first then execute.Its a sensible approach thats why we dominate possesion but the just makes the whole game boring.
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@Redrich: Have you played organized sports mate? Seriously? I have been involved in quite few over the years and i have to say that on a personal level I have never gained anything positive from beating the crap out of a player or team that was well below mine. It is hollow and if one gains confidence over something like that, it just speaks about how simple and fickle they are. I much preferred a strong test against a team or individual who was better as it made one look at what they needed to work on and improve. Playing crappy competition just brings your own abilities down mate. There is nothing positive gained from it that a good pickup game with your teammates in training couldn’t accomplish.
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@Natzca: When Beckham left I was upset because I thought it was a terrible way for Fergie to treat a player who had meant so much to the team for so many seasons. I knew we would miss his crosses and free kicks. The difference however was that I still felt we had quality and class throughout the team and that Beckham although good, was not the world class talent that Ronaldo has been. We still had RVN, Keane, a younger Scholes, Giggs and Neville etc. Our midfield still looked awesome then and our attack with Rooney RVN, Saha and Ole gave me confidence.
When we signed Ronaldo I was wondering who he was but I was not upset because I had read some encouraging reports about him. But beklieve me when I say that I absolutely fell in love with Roony in his first ten minutes on the pitch. The moves, step overs and style just seduced me and I remember, telling a friend of mine that day that I predict that One day Ronaldo would be known as the best player in the world. Over the top praise for a ten minute intro but that is the kind of impact he had on me. I just knew it. So from that point I had little problem forgetting about Beckham.
There is nobody on our current team that is young that could even come close to WOWing me like Ronny did. Even Messi hasn’t had that kind of effect on me. Trust me when I say we have lost a true once in a generation player. Christ, he’s only 24 and has at least 6 excellent years left in him before he starts to decline. He will be deeply missed on the field if not in the hearts of many. Sure he wasn’t perfect and he could be very annoying but I think back to the beauty of his performances and the sheer brilliance and power of his overall game. A winger who is tall, incredibly agile and whop has the power and aerial ability of a striker but who can also dribble by anyone and exhibit finesse skills only short fast guys offer? Well, special is not a strong enough word to describe him and agony is not a strong enough word to describe my feelings now that he has left my beloved United. It’s like breaking up with my ex all over again. Totally heart breaking.
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@Grognard: fair point, i understand where you’re coming from.
here’s an article that may keep our spirits up: fergie won’t rule out a ronaldo return
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we cal em newbies
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