May 12
Wigan 0-2 Man Utd: Reds Seal Title
I am still too happy to write a match report. I was also a nervous wreck while watching the match yesterday. So expect very little sense from this report.
Fergie came up with the biggest surprise of all while naming his XI — Wayne Rooney started. So did Vidic. It was a 4-4-2 formation and the plan was clear: attack from the outset. So with EVDS, a back four of Evra-Vidic-Rio-Brown, midfield of Park-Carrick-Scholes-Ronaldo and front two of Tevez and Rooney we had the best XI in our side in a long time. And what a time for it all to come together!
True to expectations (of mine, that is, not of the media), Wigan had a go and were inspired. Overall they would really be kicking themselves for not putting away a few chances that came their way. Surprisingly, we seemed ill at ease with the aerial bombardment from Valencia, Koumas and co; Bent and Heskey created enough problems for our defence. Ballack and Drogba might be rubbing their hands if they saw that yesterday.
Scholes was perhaps lucky to stay on the pitch as he could have easily have been sent off for a second yellow card offence — it really was touch and go, to be honest. Of course, Steve Bennett didn’t have a particularly memorable match as he clearly missed a stonewall penalty when Scholes was hacked to the ground by Shitus Bramble in the box.
Earlier, Ronaldo converted from the spot, when Rooney was brought to ground, to net his 41st of an extraordinary season. However with Wigan threatening a 1-0 was always going to be nerve-wracking. It’s really hard to enjoy games like these when they are being played out. 1-0 was too little a margin for me to breathe easy. Which was why my joy knew no bounds when Rooney sent Giggs through and the Welshman made no mistake when he was one on one with the ‘keeper.
Giggsy has faced a lot of stick from fans — and more often than not, they were deserved — but on his record equalling appearance for United when he scored only his third of the season it adds another touch of poignancy to the win. We won our Champions’ League in ’99 on Sir Matt Busby’s 90th birth anniversary. Paul Scholes, who was otherwise quiet this season from a goalscoring point of view and missed that night in ’99, scored a screamer against Barcelona to take us into Moscow. (Where we have the chance to win it on the 50th anniversary year of the Munich disaster.) And now, another stalwart, and a member of the ‘old guard’, scores the goal that seals the deal and makes us all breathe a sigh of relief. Giggs, you beauty, you are forever a United legend.
If you are one for sentiment and poignancy, well, here you are — feast yourself for there couldn’t have been a better script.
More important, at the end of the day, was the man behind it all. The man who brought us just one shy of Liverpool’s record of 18 titles. The boss, whose name today has been all over the papers today, awash with encomiums and in his ability to adapt to the changing times. It was very moving to see the desire, the hunger and the pride in Sir Alex Ferguson’s face. And for this sight alone, I think the players owe him another Champions’ League crown.
So Moscow, here we come. Full speed ahead.
Come on you reds!
Here’s a link to the MOTD video. Download it while it lasts.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Crunch time for United and Rooney
- Rooney Out For A Month
- Wigan Athletic v Man Utd: Preview
- Man Utd v Wigan
- Man Utd Blog 2007/2008 Home Kit
Tags: Match Reports
Craig Mc (195)
RedDevilEddy (170)
Opti (135)
Moscow is my heaven (96)
Ian (95)
You gotta wonder if Chelsea even have their own scouting system at all. Oh well, I’m not too disappointed about Bosingwa. I’ve just got this feeling he’ll be another Mikel, Ballack, Wright-Phillips or any number of players who go stale at the talent graveyard of Chelsea.
Now onto our own situation. I think we’re basically sorted at the back, because I have faith in Brown. His ability to double up as a centreback works well, because when Evra bombs forward, Brown can fall back and form a rock solid 3 with Rio and Vidic. Brown’s aerial height is also a great bonus for defending set-pieces. The short-arse full backs out there can’t offer that, and we’d effectively be a man down at set plays. That said, I wouldn’t mind Lahm for the pure fact that he could cover both left and right back. We need cover for Evra, and it would be a bonus if the player could cover right back as well.
Not too keen on the Richards idea. He just seems like a bit of a playboy, with his diamond stud ear-rings and his roasting antics. He’s also a City player with links to Arsenal. Just doesn’t seem United material at all in my opinion. Maybe I could come round to the idea should it happen, but I’d prefer us to look at other targets.
Now onto the more interesting debate, concerning what striker we should get. Fergie gave a big hint in his comments this week. Here are his comments: “We will buy. Along with Carlos Tevez and Wayne Rooney, we may need experience in one forward position, somebody to take over from Ryan Giggs eventually.”
Now the interesting thing here is the word experience. That almost certainly rules out Gomez, and Huntelaar as well probably (though at 24, he’s got some experience). I think we’re more in Berbatov territory, or maybe the rumours about Owen are more than just rumours. I’m ambivalent towards Michael Owen. He’s a top finisher for sure, and would put away chances for us, but there’s question marks over his fitness, and I’m not totally convinced he’s still got the same love for the game. Seems more caught up with his horses these days. He doesn’t exactly offer us the aerial presence that we seem to lack either.
So Berbatov would seem another obvious choice, perhaps Fabiano or Eto’o either, but they would represent a high-risk and possibly don’t have the correct temperament or personality for United. My personal choice would be Berbatov. If he could settle and find his groove at our club, we really could play football on another level to what we currently see. The guy has the BEST first touch in the Premier League, and one of the best first touches I’ve ever seen. His ability to link-up with those around him is second to none. The clever flicks and the incisive one-touch passing that this guy would offer would be a perfect foil for the likes of Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez. He also has the necessary experience to fit the bill of keeping our nice blend of youth and experience.
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RedAddict: Diamond earrings and roasting sessions? Sounds awful like a younger and less mature Rio Ferdinand.
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if Richards were to come to the club i think Rio, and to a much greater extent SAF would make sure that his potential would be reached whilst knocking out of him the party boy life style that he seems to have at city.
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>>RedAddict: Diamond earrings and roasting sessions? Sounds awful like a younger and less mature Rio Ferdinand.
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True, I suppose. It’s the Arsenal supporting and City thing that probably sits less easy with me. I dunno, maybe I’m just not convinced about him. Is he really such a great defender? Sure, City started real well, but they’ve been pish for months, and Richards has not been receiving any of the early season accolades he was getting. His star burned brightly, but not for all that long. He played a blinder against us, but was shockingly bad against Arsenal and Chelsea for example. I think there’s better options out there.
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Another long term replacement for giggs could be aiden mcgeedy? what do u guys think of him? Has been fantastic for Celtic this season(albeit in a shit league!)
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The reserves won the senior cup today does anyone have a highlight link??
Apparently Rodrigo excelled and got his first Utd goal.
I posted the transfer dealings i believe the coaching staff will go for earlier, I only hope they aren’t rushed into it with all this eagarness to sign players early(benitez, wenger)
giggs future replacement? will he walk away if we secure the double? He sure has the ability and hunger to continue, If I was to sign a LW replacement today I would root for Ashley Young..
A Forward is the priority>> Huntelaar or Benzema please> Klass more likely though!
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Ashley Young has done very well for Villa, if he has another good season next year then im sure the big clubs will be in for him. Would command a big fee though.
From what i hear Fergie will have about 40m to spend this summer so we could do either -
Berbatov(20-25m)
+
Lahm(5-8m)
or
Huntelaar(12-15m)
+
Richards(20m)
Then with the sales we will have enough left for another squad player…..
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About:
Abidal – have you guys seen any of Barcelona’s La Liga games? He is one of the only players on that team who knows what the fuck he is doing. In my opinion he is the best left-back in the world (inches ahead of Evra).
dos Santos – I don’t really like that kid. I follow La Liga and he just does not inspire me much, maybe it is because he is young but I don’t think he will become a world class player like many believe.
Richards – no wonder nobody sang his praises since the new year… he had surgery sometime in February. Oh, and does anybody remember the monster of a job he did against us? I think that kid is class and if Real Madrid paid 30 million Euros for Ramos, then we should pay the same amount for an identical player (because they are exact replicas of each other).
Kewell? – that guy is out of contract and he is a massive talent. The only downside is that he played for Liverpool, but worse comes to wrose, he could pair up with Saha on the injury table, and while we’re at it, let’s also buy Cisse!
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—————-Van Der Sar—————–
Lahm——Ferdinand—Vidic——-Evra
———–Carrick———Scholes———–
Ronaldo———Rooney————–Nani
——————–Berbatov——————-
Good thing about next season is the new 7 subs rule so a bench of -
Tevez, Giggs, Anderson, Hargreaves, Brown, Silvestre, Foster
Tell me that doesnt excite you?
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Abidal best left back in the world? he is so average its untrue! He is good on football manager but thats about it!!!
There is more chance of seeing Lee Sharpe making a comeback for us next season then Kewell playing for us! haha.
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This doesnt inpire me very much –
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/article1155152.ece
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More about it on here -
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article3919725.ece
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A nice collection of Wallpapers from manutd.com.
If the page doesn’t load with images click on the Page 1 link top right of page.
Well worth the look!
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Fabiano could be a good buy. I’m sure we’d get him a lot cheaper than Berbatov (maybe around 10-15 million) and he’d make a decent third striker as he’d give us something a bit different.
Villa would be another interesting option but I don’t think he’d move to us. Seems more of a Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool signing. Also has an inflated opinion of himself so wouldn’t settle for being third striker.
Huntelaar seems to have it all but is unproven. Maybe if he has a good Euro championships we’ll show more interest.
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for those who want to relive how it all happened this year…this website has all the goals from the first friendly match at the start of the season (against Urawa Reds) to the Wigan match…
http://www.mbovo.fw.hu/
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Clover, if he scores 10 goals at the Euro Championships, then his value will be 2039485703 million, rather that the current, reasonable 16 mil evaluation.
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Are there any chances that Sergio Aguero from Atletico is in the market? Or is he too overpriced?
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latest news…the mirror claims we are set to complete the signing of cardiff youngster aaron ramsey.
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personal opinion:
in order of preference
Most imptly At CF : Klaas, eto, benzema, villa (never heard of gomez)
next at RB : Richards, Alves, Lahm
third at LB: Lahm
i ABSOLUTELY think we need another striker… one of proven class. all other positions we seem to be able to cope in some way or another…
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Thanks for the insight about silvestre’s nickname! I actually prefer the Easter-Island Head one, but hey they’re all good!
I’d like to make a case for Nani’s defence as some of you (a certain Mr. G ) are quick get on his back. Let’s be honest, the guy has real talent: he’s quick, trickery, delivers excellent crosses/corners, has a good shot from distance, and it seems to me , can also develop an aerial threat a la Ronaldo.
Now, we all know his flaws. What he did against West Ham was indefensible. And he looks a bit like Ronaldo 1.0 in his selfish days.
But the important partis that SAF is a master at refining personality flaws of players and converting any kind of frustration into a craving for success.
And we all know that when a certain player sees himself as above the team he’s quickly shownm the door out of the club.
Where I’m going is that if SAF can effectively sieve out those negative aspects of his game he will be a more than valuable asset to have, considering the fact that until the recent advent of the 4-3-3, Utd.’s play revolved around therats coming from the wings. Let’s be frank, true (talented) wingers are a rare commodity these days. (ask the dippers)
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Hmm and about Abidal—
At Lyon, together with Malouda, this guy formed one of, if not the best left sided partnership in any league. His defence was very solid, he could attack on the wing (overlap), and had a terrific jump. He was like a more physically blessed and a definitely better defender than Evra. Evra’s recent progress at defense, with Abidal’s alleged slump in form at Barca makes it that Evra seems to have the edge on him at the moment.
But if Abidal was to play in team having some defensive cohesion (in oppositon to let’s attack and we’ll score one more than the opposition at Barca) he would defenitely be world class.
Oh and Chelski also spoiled Malouda.
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