It feels like months since United’s last outing. I’m not sure whether that’s because of the boredom the International break breaks or the need we’ve felt to bury our last game to the back of our memories. Losing against your title rivals is always going to be painful but to lose how we did, at the hands of poor officiating, is even harder to take.
It’s obviously not just the fans that are hurting though, with Wayne Rooney making his feelings very clear to the Sky Sports camera as he left the field. But they need to bounce back now and for Rooney, there probably couldn’t be a better team for us to face next!
When not playing against Everton, I seem to kid myself in to feeling some sort of affection for them. I think David Moyes comes across well and he’s done a great job with such little money, Phil Neville is their captain, they have former reds I was fairly fond of, Tim Howard and Louis Saha, in their squad, and essentially, we share a common enemy.
But on match day, it’s different. Whilst not Liverpool scouse, you remember they are scousers when they start singing about Manchester being full of shit. You hear the dog’s abuse they give Rooney, chanting about him dying and it suddenly becomes easier to dislike them.
United need all three points today without question, to make sure we keep within touching distance of Chelsea and Arsenal. Our time to over take them will come around February, hopefully, but for now we just need to make sure we’re keeping up. It’s November and therefore pretty daft to think of a game as a ‘must win’ but that is the mentality our players and fans will have as five o’clock nears.
Rooney will of course be centre of attention, as always, when we play Everton. You can already play out the goal and badge kissing that will follow in your head, but the most important thing is for him to keep his cool. He was not a happy chappy at Stamford Bridge and if things start to go against us this evening you can imagine him boiling over. A Rooney suspension is the last thing we need, so here’s to him adding to his goals tally, which currently sees him fourth highest scorer in the league. He’s scored twice in the eight games he’s played against Everton since joining us so will obviously be eager to improve that record.
After becoming Bulgaria’s top scorer with two goals against Malta, Dimitar Berbatov will likely partner Rooney up front and will be looking to better him position within the top 15 scorers in the league this season. Given Everton’s bottom half of the table status, you would be wrong to assume their defence has been at fault. Everton boast a defensive record as strong as fourth placed Spurs so it will be Berbatov’s job to get the ball behind their back line.
Darren Fletcher was given the run around when representing Scotland during the week, with that Welsh lad who turned us down showing him up. But he’s now two games in to his recovery from that fairly lengthy injury so we’ll be relying on him to protect our back four, which could be fairly shakey. John O’Shea and Jonny Evans were both hurt whilst on International duty, with Rio Ferdinand being tipped to miss the rest of 2009 by some areas of the press. That could leave just Patrice Evra, Wes Brown and Nemanja Vidic, hopefully returning, meaning maybe Rafael could come in at right back, with Neville still suspended. We’re very thin defensively though so will need Fletch to help out.
Michael Carrick was one of the several players to travel with England for that friendly against Brazil, although picked up an injury whilst there so unlikely to feature for us this afternoon. Owen Hargreaves may be inching closer but the manager believes it’s his lacking confidence slowing him down. So that suggests a well rested Paul Scholes should return to the first team which means I’d rather see Ryan Giggs left out. Bring Giggsy on if we need him but we should trust our younger wingers today. Nani and Valencia to start for me but of course I’d like to see Obertan get a run out. Much to the dismay of others, I’m sticking with my Nani campaign, although it may be in vain given his recent falling out with the manager and whinge in the press.
Louis Saha should get a good welcome from the crowd. Whilst plenty of fans became frustrated with him because of the injuries, there is no denying he is a quality player who worked hard for our club during a trying period. Louis described his move to Everton as “a step down” which reflects his feelings towards our club. He bided his time on our bench, waiting for his chance, and when it came he took it. He never threw the temper tantrum Ruud did and had it not been for his unreliability in terms of fitness, I’m sure Saha would still be here now. The fact he’s scored as many league goals as Rooney and Van Persie this season is testament to that!
Points are the most important thing, certainly, but I really, really would like to see a performance today. We put on a great display at Stamford Bridge and it would be brilliant if we could build on that today. Everton are not having a good season and we need to take advantage of that, score early, and see what we can do to our goal difference. But United are far too unpredictable these days for us to forecast any possible result!
Wayne Rooney – Once a blue always a red t-shirts
jellybean
I remember during a pre season friendly in America on mutv the commentary went down and the started to use the local Commentary and it was the funniest thing Ive ever heard the never once called Giggs by his name the kept calling him the welsh wizard , like he was a wrestler, and thats were i learned the phrase spinning on a 6 pence and a P.K.
ghtt’s birthday on Tuesday people
greatest present ever
A LIVERPOOL LOSS
@ GHTT
I think they’re also responsible for this horrible “assist” word. When I was a kid it was called a “set-up”!
@ Redbeard
I don’t know how you can be bothered conversing with the wee goon.
I’m away for now
Early happy birthday Ghtt.
what did people think of Owens performance?
Pat — I think you lot can easily beat the rent boys, and I hope you do. You lot seem to play to the level of the opposition sometimes, so I imagine youwill be all fired up for it. Is it at the emirates?
I think it has the makings of a very tight 3 team race this year. I’m not saying we “need” a signing, but if we were to dip into the Ronaldo cash and bring in someone with a little bit extra, we could go on a good run. And Chelski will hopefully drop some points in the ACN, even though their opposition is shit in that time. Or maybe even Drogba will pick up an injury whilst there… one can hope.
Tony — I thought he played well. He was always looking to get involved and found himself in some good spaces. Those chances were nothing greater than half chances, most of them on his left foot. But overall I was pleased.
Obertan on the other hand…. I just don’t see what everyone else on here does. Oh well, he’s young I guess and still finding his feet. Maybe I’m just being a bit harsh.
@ Tony Starks
Great effort – I’m not sure he’s ever worked this hard in his career, but a bit short on product. He was hardly the only one who played the odd wayward ball today (especially up-front) but he played his fair share. It’d be nice to see him work the keeper a bit more – I know he’s still fairly new, but this “settling in” can’t go on forever.
@ Tony Starks
Got into the right positions but was very unlucky not to score the dozen of the chances he missed, however he’s now got 90 minutes under his belt.
@ jandsdad
I think it must be my inner social-worker! Keeps him off the streets, dunnit?
Nobody’s talking about the real story today:
VALENCIA CRACKED A SMILE! – TWICE!
@ tony sparks- owen was alright, he was very energetic and all over the place but made a few bad decisions like when he ran too far, he should’ve just chipped it over the keeper. he also misplaced a few passes here and there, but not more than rooney. i think baby kai has been giving him some sleepless nights. evra was BRILLIANT, i thought he’d be tired after playing for two hours against ireland, but he was tireless…galloping down the left wing as always.
@GHTT- lol @ the thought of giggsy being a wrestler! they always use this american commentator for la liga games along with a scottish guy (i forget his name), and he’s soo disdainful towards the american. keeps telling him to shut up..it’s hilarious, and what is with this “P.K” nonsense?? just call it a bloody penalty :@ hope you get your birthday present and pool crash out of the champions league.
on a side note, can i just say i’m sick of fans from other teams calling fletcher shite?! my gooner friend tells me today that fletcher isn’t fit to wear our jersey? WHAT!!!?!?!? his goal aside today (which was just BRILLIANT), we are unplayable when he’s in midfield. anybody else have friends who annoy you with their stupid opinions?
@tony starks
thought owen played fairly well, and his movement as usual was spot on, and caused some problems for tim howard.
his best goal chance of the match looked identical to the winner against man city, too bad he couldn’t get that same result.
btw- big fan of the your username…
introducing the ghost… face.. killaaaaaah!
JELLYBEAN
If an Arsenal player says Fletcher is shite then he must not have watch any Manchester United arsenal games in the last 2-3 years
@ Jellybean
Fletch is gonna get this for a while to come I’m afraid. He got a bit of a reputation for being shit a few years back and it seems to have stuck! Unfortunately most football fans don’t take the time to form their own assessment – they just parrot the crap they’ve heard in the media. Once the media starts giving him the recognition he deserves (it’s starting to happen), wait about another 18 months and window lickers will start catching on. They’ll never give him too much credit though – He’s still a United player, don’t forget!
yeah i would like to reiterate redbean.. Valencia’s smile says it all. fullstop
One of the better home performances this season, though not happy with the final result. We should have had at least 6.
We could do with a better play in the final third of the pitch. Scholes was immense when he came on. I think we can now go on a long wining run.
@ GHTT
Im from Hungary and im really sure Debrecen will be fired up for this game against the dippers after conceding 14 goals so far in the CL, so i think there is a good chance you’ll have your wishes fullfilled for your birthday.
superb performance…..thought valencia looked on the money today and alot faster than normal.
A couple of cracking goals that will stand out in my memory for a while.
Evra my man of the match….up and down that wing all game and skillful as fuck!
Just got back home from the game.
Saw some crowd trouble in the Everton section of support.
Never seen anything like it at Old Trafford.
Twice it kicked off with the stewards and the fuzz.
Wonder what happened.
@United4eva
true that is… Fletcher is the new king of the Man Utd midfield
Alpha Rs- It was the Everton fans surging by all accounts. Why the chants of “murderers” today? Thought that was a bit off. No more than them wishing death on Kai though.
Ever been to a game and sat next to somebody who targets a single player for criticism?
Sat near a guy today who wouldn’t stop going on about Vidic getting closer to his man. Every bloody time, a comment about Vidic giving him space. Alright, even IF that’s the case, just shut the fuck up!
I love the club, but we have some proper wankers for fans.
Bebeto – Yeah I agree mate, some real pricks there. One geezer two seats down was fast asleep for the whole first half pissed up and the other was incessantly singing the Wes song but the WRONG fucking words. “Orange Everywhere”. Clowns.
Pat – I cannot believe you are back on the United site on a fucking match day. How arrogant are you that you think you will just turn Bolton over? You probably will but even so. Furthermore you can’t have been watching Football too long if you think the run in “will be easy”. It is notoriously difficult as players are either injured, off form or just plain fucked. You ain’t the strength in depth to overcome this. Finally I remember you slating Fletch the other night. You know nothing my friend. Best box to box midfielder in the league.
The world, King Eric, in the world.
@ Bebeto
He probably heard the phrase on TV and liked the sound of it – that’s usually how it works!
Tell you what, who’d've thought No Scholes, Owen starting and the quality of our midfield play today, Fergie is a master of selecting his team now, he knows what each game needs and Owen was quality today, his movement is fantastic, I hope the kids pick up on his movement as was highlighted on MOTD, overall though I must admit he was disappointing but he’s always in the chances and it’s fantastic to see, when Tevez left and we replaced him with Owen I was cautious as many were, now I wouldn’t swap Owen for many strikers, we have 3 top strikers and all are happy, still early in the race and i’m still confident we can nail it.
@King Eric
Couldn’t see from where I was sitting in E37.
Murderer’s chant was distasteful but so was some of their chanting too.
That kinda stuff will never change. How you can wish death on a baby and not feel ashamed of yourself I do not know.
But on to the game 3 goals from midfiled players. Nice to see them having a go at scoring too!