City had put away a lucky deflection in the first half, after Nemanja Vidic uncharacteristically shied away from the ball instead of putting in a tackle. The few blues that were in there were getting pretty giddy as the second half rolled out, despite seeing their team absolutely battered. Even if they could hang on for a draw at home against us, it would be a good result.
United had drawn their opening two games of the season against Reading and Portsmouth, so losing against City was not part of the plan. The defence of our league title was not off to a great start.
Carlos Tevez had made his debut for United just days before, following the injury to Wayne Rooney in the opening match of the season. Fergie was forced in to throwing him in at the deep end, with Tevez severely lacking match fitness after missing out on a pre-season because of his lengthy transfer resolution.
With minutes to go, the United fans are on their feet. Tevez has just equalised against the bitters! Jubilation! But as the side-netting stopped moving it was clear that the ball was not in young Schmeichel’s goal and Tevez had missed a sitter.
The Carlos Tevez we’re seeing a year is totally unrecognisable. Of all our players, he has arguably had the best pre-season. He is electric. Chasing down every ball, unleashing wicked shots from range, running the ball through numerous opponents, winning the ball in situations he has no right to, and generally just looking bloody fantastic on the pitch!
Following our victory against Portsmouth yesterday and Tevez’s man of the match performance, Sir Alex Ferguson has heaped praise on our Argentinian.
“Carlos came to us a year ago, straight after the Copa America,” said Ferguson. “His fitness now is light years ahead of where it was then and we are expecting big things from him. The great thing about Tevez is that he has a heart to play the game. He is not intimidated at all, he fights for every ball and is a real handful. The decision to make him man of the match was fully justified. It was a superb performance. He was a constant thorn to Portsmouth and it is just a pity he did not get a goal.”
Whilst much of the talk this summer has revolved around Cristiano Ronaldo, Tevez has quietly got on with his job. He has been a real terrier on the pitch, causing problems for all our opponents. Whilst the media will continue to focus on what impact Ronaldo will make on our season once he has recovered from his injury, our attention should be drawn to Tevez, who, if his pre-season is anything to go by, could be our most important player.
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Tevez is a complete delight to watch. Opponents are completely torn apart by him and I am really looking forward to our Carlito’s season. Like you said, Scott, the press will always have something negative to say. However, anyone who watches us play can’t help but be in awe/terror of Tevez. His work rate is immense and with full fitness this year, the man is truly unstoppable!
All of our players are important! Tevez form is very good, long may it last. But from Goal keeper to strikers, each player has a role to play to ensure the success of the team.
Lets’ hope Foster gets fit soon and that VDS can do the business again this season.
Our man Gary Neville is back and looked good. Fergie raving again about Ferdinand (I wonder will he continue to do it after the captain in named by Capello). Both he and Vidic will be key again this season. Evra did well and we now seem to have cover with Brown, O’Shea (hmmm) but also now our two brazilian twins and not forgetting Silvestre.
Midfield, I believe Scholes will be the key this season but if he is not up to it, we have others now that we can rely on too (while we wait for Ronaldo to get fit)
Rooney and Ronaldo surely will be just as important too and hopefully Berbatov will be on his way. I would like to see Manuchu come in the side this season in preparation for next season.
Nani looked sharp and Giggs is good cover so we are looking good in all areas which should bode well for competing on all fronts, especially if we get another striker!!!
Come on the Red Devils!!!
Tevez is a great player tbh i cnt pick ma fav player for united
i lyk the mighty VDS.. he is a fantastic goalkeeper
Vidic and his superb tackles
Ferdinand and his Wonderful headers
Evra and his pace
Gary and his captaincy
Carrick and all the key passes
Nani and his entertaining play
Anderson and his strong body
Scholes and his unmatchable vision
Ronaldo and all da Goals
Rooney and his Excellent passes
Tevez and his Good stamina
Hargreaves and the accurate free kicks
Only thing that worries me about Tev at the moment is his sudden outbursts of retaliation. I don’t know where this has suddenly come from, because it wasn’t in his game last season. Yet against Juve and yesterday against Pompey, he raised his hands and put them to the throat of players who he felt had fouled him. He normally would have got red cards for raising his hands, so this needs to be stamped out of his game pronto. Otherwise Tev is fast becoming a legend at United.
I just love this guy – he’s been even better than I imagined. I’d seen him play for both Boca and Argentina and knew that he would be an instant hit when he came to UTD. He may only be 23 but he is vastly experienced – he was a first-team player at Boca when he was 17, three times he’s been the South American player-of-the-year, and he is a fixture on his national team, too.
His partnership with Rooney has been excellent – and to think there were so called “experts” who wondered if they could play together ! Their terrier-like determination to track back and harry opponents has been an under-appreciated element in giving Ronaldo the time/space to play his game. Ronaldo is essentially a “luxury player” in that he doesn’t track back or harry opponents so the fact that BOTH Tevez and Rooney do so is a vital part of UTD’s approach.
Having come to UTD in contentious circumstances, he more-than-justified the hype and scored several key goals down the stretch for TheLads. But he came to UTD without having had any kind of holiday for three years; now he has had time to relax, recharge his batteries, and give his body time to be completely rested. In the pre-season we are seeing what a fully-fit Carlitos can mean to the team – a joy and a pleasure for our team but an incredible irritant to our opponents. He was good last year; he’ll be great this year.
@Craigmc-
“I don’t know where has suddenly come from…”
Maybe it is osmosis. I’m sure that that when you get him in the same room with Rooney there has to be almost too much passion. He just has that winners attitude and now that he has tasted the success of the double he can only see winning more. As far as the support he recieves from the fans to the manager can only feed this feeling.
But I totally agree, this needs to get stamped out with the quickness.