All I want for Christmas is… a fit defence? Well, I’d be disappointed! Despite Rio Ferdinand insisting that he will be back for the World Cup (glad to see he has got his priorities straight), it appears as though there isn’t actually a return date for our centre back.
Just last week Rio claimed: “The treatment on my injury is going well. It’s been quite slowly slowly but we’re getting there. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Yet today, the manager has a different opinion: “There is no light at the end of the tunnel and it is difficult to put a timescale on a back injury.”
The problem is, United don’t really seem to know what the problem is. It is a calf injury that has ruled him out since the Liverpool defeat but they’re supposed to clear up after a couple of weeks. So in November, they started to investigate whether there was a connection between his back injury and his calf problem, or whether his calf injury was something to do with his nerves.
The Guardian reported last week that Ferdinand was seeing a calf specialist regarding his injury, but today Ferguson has claimed it’s a back injury keeping him out of the team.
In other news, The Sun has today reported that Dimitar Berbatov is facing three months out with knee surgery required. Berbatov has apparently been playing through the pain on injections but will need to have the surgery at some point. The good news is that Bulgaria aren’t going to the World Cup, so there’s the possibility we could wait until the end of the season before booking him in.
Man Utd News 24/7
Fuck the WC, I want Rio back for the UCL knockouts.
FUCK.What is going on this season?. Our luck with injuries is getting worse.Berba will play through the pain barrier but wont it affect his level of performances?. of course it will.Better to let him have his operation rather than putting his long term future at risk.He is 29 so a serious injury could well end his career.
Will we ever see Rio back to his best?
Will we ever see hargo back?
Will we ever see Berba replicate his Spurs form at united?
So many questions and no answer. A worrying scenario this.IF SAF himself feels this way then i am not too optimistic about Rio and hargo
oh,God,what else,I’m afraid to open ROM,or my friends FB- cos they’ll send me something about new injury- but this year is over and the new will be better for sure.We just need 2 wins in this 09- don’t we???!!!
I’m thinking Berba’s injury could be real cos there were unexplainable misses from the starting lines recently
Are these confirmed reports,
I’m under the impression rios days may be numbered at united, not due to fittness but the Leeds days attitude seems to be back this season
rob swire and the team must be cursing their luck now. it seems the treatment room had been packed with big names. do we need to strengthen the team in the windows? yes please.
a short term solution ala larsson case is probably the way to go. any suggestion lads?
i do believe rio still a little bit to offer. but the baton now definitely will be passed to evans-vida partnership. with wes not getting any younger, he even had reach 30′s if i not mistaken, we need a batch of youngsters to up the ante. corry evans, chester, reece brown and da silvas brothers are definitely for the future, but are they a first team material?
So Berbatov has been playing through Injury all this time! theres me thinking he was useless. He got injured 2 years ago right?
Another worrying one is Van Der Sar who had to go to Holland for a second opinion. The good news is that according to Fergie, Jonny could be back by the Leeds game.
Berba’s useless anyway. We need Rio back desperately. At his best, he is the best, it’s as simple as that.
why nobody worries about Nani’s injury????
Costas.i am not too worried about van der sar as kus is doing well and there are many keeper options we can sign.vds is closing in on 40 so we have to find someone to replace him.his experience in europe will be vital though.hope he is back by then
Lidija.hope nani gets back soon.atleast we can sell him and use whatever little money we get for him.his united career is over anyway.
vds will be gone sooner rather than later. plus, kus is doing quite well, except he didnt had the pleasure of all first choice backline at his disposal. nani? well i try to think he will be gone, if not in the windows, at the end of the season i supposed.
So, could this be the team against Hull?
Kuszack
Evra Vidic De Laet Rafael
Obertan Carrick Fletcher Valencia
Rooney Macheda/Welbeck
Nani and Giggs are both out, Park is not playing well at the moment, so hopefully we’ll see Obertan start. The most important thing is to see Fletcher back in midfield.
These injuries to be honest are becoming an absolute joke. Why do we suddenly have half of our squad out? We dont need any new signings in January we just need our whole squad fit, which is something that would never happen by the looks of it. Berba has been injured and we just about find out now, and from the sun? Something needs to be done regarding our increasing injury list otherwise we wont be able to retain the title and then we would be only be blaming ourselves. Its highly unlikely but i really hope those Rent-boys drop points today.
Those of you who claim Berbatov is useless, please open your eyes. Did you ever watch him play? How can you not see this man’s talent? Out of all the players at utd, I love watching him the most. He is magical. It’s not easy playing for the biggest club in the world with a 30 million tag on your forehead. He did NOT ask to be bought for that amount. I would not swap him for any other player in the world. Not for Ribery, Villa or anyone else. I hope the surgery goes well and he is back by the end of March.
On our injuries, there is nothing we can do except hope for the return of the injured as soon as possible. How strange that our rock defence of last season, which arguably won us the title, has been ripped to shreds by oppositions because of the lack of experienced defenders in there. It’s also affected the whole team. Players like Rooney and Anderson aren’t confident enough to go forward because the defence is not stable, so they keep dropping deep to cover.
Maybe it’s the medical staff’s fault, maybe it’s the players fault for not training properly, maybe it’s just our luck that all these defenders got injured at the same time. Losing Berbatov is not such a blow, because we have back-up strikers. But we are currently short of defenders. The good news is that Fabio, Rafael, and possibly Vidic are fit. Wes and Jonny could be back for the leeds game. Hopefully they’ll stay fit for the remaining months of thi season.
Honestly, none of it will matter if the refs keep cheating for Chav$ki the way they’re doing now. It’s fucking disgraceful.
And surely we must sign somebody in the transfer window now?
Yeah, that linesman is so not a Chelsea fan. How many times is it now has Birmingham player was called offside when he is totally onside. Denied a legit goal too.
Fze123 – what are you talking about? Better to watch than Rooney, Giggs or Evra? Bullsh*t!
He has great technique, and brings players into play really well, that is unquestionable. But his effectiveness in a game is so slim its incredible. His finishing is poor, his ability to get into and movement in the box is poor, his final ball has been poor this season too.
So often he drops too deep, lays the ball off sideways of backwards, slowing down the tempo of our breaks allowing the defence to get behind the ball. How often when the ball comes into the box is he drifting about 10-15yrds outside the box. Its unforgivable, he’s our tallest centre forward and I don’t remember him scoring a single header so far.
As for the £30m price tag and it not being easy to cope playing for Manchester Utd – if he can’t do it, then he can f*ck off. We don’t want players who haven’t got shoulders broad enough to play for Utd, and so far, Berbatov has shown he hasn’t got it.
Fze123
I am in complete agreement with you about Berbatov. He is a joy to watch and brings so much to the team. Yes, he is not exactly doing what he was bought to do but hes a fantastic talent nonetheless. I’m sure he will start scoring goals eventually. It just pisses me off when he decides to pass rather than shoot like he would at Spurs, and tbh those “united fan” that shout abuse at him are not helping at all. He needs to play with confidence and get the fans behind him then perhaps we might see him banging in goals regularly like at Spurs.
Btw, did Evans get a surgery yet?
I’m exasperated!is it some kind of curse or what?berbd playing thru the pain barrier is a catastrophe.he better gets his surgery.if only we could recover from these defensive injuries by 5th of Jan then we wouldnt have to buy anyone.i’m not realy keen on new signings in Jan coz we do have a fantastic squad.i’m yearning for the day when we shall field this starting line-up: VDS wes,rio,vidic,evra valnc,hargo,flexie,gig, berba, wayne BENCH: kusc,rafael,obertan,park,evans,macheda,carrick,anderson,owen. With that fit team no one stands a chance;not even Barca.IT’S HALF TIME 0_0 BTWN birminhm & the rent boys & the ref is enjoying his christmas gift from Abramovich!(extremely biased)
The Berbatov story appeared in the Bulgarian press weeks ago and has been dismissed by his agent as nothing.
Surely this is the golden chance for Michael Owen to shine isn’t it?
I do hope Berba and Rio come back sooner than later.
As far as Berbatov is concerned, i personally prefer to see him fit and leave it to Fergie to sort it out. His injury isn’t doing us any favors, because it’s not like we are going to buy a top class striker. He might fade out of matches, but he can make one special move that can shift a game in our favor.
@Sketch: Evans didn’t get operated. Fergie is expecting him back by the Leeds game. And then, God knows how long he can stay fit.
@AIG:
Kus has done well in the last 2 months, but to be honest, i only feel safe with VDS in goal. He is the only one who guides the defence. Like you, i really hope he is back for the European games.
Don’t surprise if these officials award a penalty to Chelsea. How come they disallowed a 100% goal for Birmingham! FA sucks…
@ North Stand Tier 2
Yes, I enjoy watching Berbatov the most. Rooney, Giggs and Evra come close behind. Calling my opinion “bullshit” is quite insulting. Anyway, you say his finishing is poor, his final ball is poor. But this has been the case in our performances this season even when he was not playing. Why the fuck is he always singled out and called shit? Is it because he doesn’t run around, is it because he costs 30 million, or is it because he doesn’t score too often? When Rooney has a bad game, the majority of fans point that out, but not in the way that they slate Berbatov. I love Rooney, but he has been woeful in his recent performances too. Rooney drops too deep too.
To some players, costing 30 million or more is quite a big thing. It affects their self esteem. Someone on this blog said before that Ronaldo fully accepted costing 80 million, becoming the most expensive player in the world. That does not affects him, considering his personality. Berbatov is different. He did not want to be bought for that amount. It lingers on his mind. Not all players are the same.
@ Sketch
Fergie said he’s still feeling pain, but they’re trying to get him through that and could be available for the leeds game. So maybe he hasn’t done the surgery yet. Not too sure really.
@fze & north stand tier 2, berba is class and if he is injured, we’ll miss him badly. Thought we needed a striker and winger in january anyway and this news strengthens my belief. Owen is shite, a gamble worth takin which hasn’t paid off. Welbeck needs to bulk up and macheda’s spent his life since sunderland away last year with his head up his arse. The other one’s diouf but surely if he was any good he’d be off to the cup of nations? Even manucho did and he was horse shit.
By my reckoning the list of our players that are currently injured/recently injured is: Van der Sar, Neville, Rio, Wes, Vidic, Evans, O’Shea, Rafael, Fabio, Hargreaves, Nani, Macheda and Berbatov.
A couple of you have mentioned what “bad luck” our injury crisis is.
One or two injuries is bad luck. Three or four injuries is rotten luck. Five or six is concerning. But THIRTEEN fucking injuries? This is not bad luck. Some serious questions need to be asked of our medical team. The biggest football club in the world should have the best physios and medical staff.
Bad luck my arse. Hargreaves, Ferdinand, Evans and now Berbatov are all examples of players who have been playing (through the pain) in spite of bad injuries that required operations. Players are continually rushed back before they are ready and end up getting more injuries. Ferguson has admitted this on many occasions.
I think the club’s medical set-up needs a complete overhaul.
the big number of injuried player makes me really reckon that the preparation for this season wasn’t as perfect as it shuld be …
just a thought
“Why the fuck is he always singled out and called shit? Is it because he doesn’t run around, is it because he costs 30 million, or is it because he doesn’t score too often?”
All of the above because he is expected to run around at a minimum, and score goals as a result of the fact he is centre forward for Manchester Utd. The fact that he cost £30m means we should expect more than 4 goals at Christmas. This is his second season, we needed him to step up his game this year, and his performances have been worse than last year.
Fucks sake even Michael Owen has scored more goals than him, and whilst he’s done well and exceeded expectations, surely nobody thinks he’s good enough to start for Utd?? Great hat trick in the CL, but one swallow doesn’t make a summer.
And the reason people don’t mind when Rooney has a bad game is because you know he’s always giving 100% and contributing to defending from the front, it’s the least you can expect for £100k a week.
All these arguments and lamentations a3e pointless while our midfield continues to produce uninspired perfomances lacking fluidity and creativity. The best form of defence if offense and that has helped us over the past 3 terms.
The injuries will die down eventually but what needs to be addressed asap is our dismal midfield. Fletch needs to be in the middle of the park alongside scholes/ando. Carrick has been sorry thus far.
Fixing the midfield should be priority numero uno.
Get your priorites right Rio, United>England!
@Big Bad Wesley Brown:
Very well said and i have the same opinion on the matter. I have mentioned it before, but i think it was telling that Edwin had to go to Holland to get a second opinion.
@United Road:
I have also wondered about pre season, but the fact is that there ae certain players who are healthy and strong as a horse. Like Evra, Carrick and Fletcher. So, i think that our pre season program was as strong as usual. The problem is what happens once a player gets injured. We can’t seem to get them back 100%.
@Fze123
“Why the fuck is [Berbatov] always singled out and called shit? Is it because he doesn’t run around, is it because he costs 30 million, or is it because he doesn’t score too often?”
Yes. It’s all those reasons. And many more, such as the fact that he moans at team-mates despite being the most frustrating player on the pitch. The fact that he can’t even dominate games against the likes of Stoke, let alone big games. The fact that he doesn’t fit our style of play. The fact that his arrival heralded the break up of our brilliant 2008 double winning side. The fact that he doesn’t seem to care. There are many more reasons.
And I’m not even his biggest critic, in fact I used to defend him like you do.
And you say Berbatov didn’t want to cost 30m? Boo hoo! Cry me a fucking river. If he didn’t want to cost us £30m, he shouldn’t have turned us down in 2006 when he was going for a much more reasonable £11m.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/2337114/Berbatov-turned-down-United.html
“I can reveal now that I had an offer from Manchester United and everyone knows what it means. But after talking to Martin I decided to choose Spurs. We went to see them against United last month and afterwards I met Martin. It was our first meeting but I realised that he’s a very special man.”
So the lure of playing for Martin fucking Jol was more enticing to Berbatov than the prospect of joining United. What a guy. I can see why you rate him higher than Rooney. I mean what’s that shit, lazy Scouse cunt ever done for United, right?
Fred – He may have said that afterwards to make the Spurs fans like him more, but when he signed for Spurs he said that United hadn’t come in for him yet, despite sniffing around. He signed for Spurs in May when Ruud was still a United player and his future hadn’t been sorted yet. We didn’t put a bid in for Ruud’s replacement when Ruud was still at the club. We just assumed that we could get Berb to sign for us so left him to it, whereas Spurs kept on going to visit him and offered him a contract… something we didn’t do.
Well said Fred, I agree with you entirely.
Didn’t even consider that it was he that broke the Tevez (dirty Citeh scum, but awesome in his first season), Rooney, Ronaldo trifecta that dominated world football.
In all fairness to him, that was Fergie’s fault not Berbatov’s.
Well, the rentboys dropped points again. It’s a given now we’ll lose to Hull tomorrow.
Yes all hail Birmingham
We are on people – told you so ; )
Great. Chelsea fucked it up again. Time to move close!
Berbatov did say that he feels the price tag is a burden but you have to credit the rags for sticking it up on his forehead at every turn. Rooney cost 27 million and Rio cost 30 million, but you barely heard how much they cost from the press. I honestly wonder if Rio and Wayne ever felt like they cost too much. I know i would be. And given that we dragged the saga until the last day of the summer, it was either pay 30mil for Berba or stay with Rooney, Tevez and Welbeck for 4 months…
@Fred:
He didn’t join us in 2006 but he chose us instead of shitty didn’t he. So the lure of playing for utd was more enticing to Berbatov than the prospect of joining City. And may I ask, where did I say that I rate that “shit, lazy Scouse cunt” over Berbatov? I would use the word “frustrating” for Nani.
@hurr: I hope not! It’s about time we capitalised on them slipping up. And without Malouda, Drogba, Kalou and Anelka against Fulham, hopefully they will drop 2 moe points.
chelsea dropped points. now let make the most out of that.
i do think we need a creative midfielder and a backup defender. but at the moment, permitting injuries, we never need anyone else. our current team is good enough IMO. maybe new crop of youngsters could give us a magic in the next games, ala macheda anyone for mame diouf?
Chelsea draw.another invitation to get back in the title race.hope we make this one count.the wheels are coming off at chelsea.exact replica of last season
lol at Chelsea, bottling it big time now.
Were be top by Wenesday.
Thank you Scott. I didn’t know that myself actually.
@ North Stand Tier 2
Even if Berbatov didn’t join utd, the “Rooney, Ronaldo trifecta that dominated world football” wouldn’t have lasted. Infact, the 07/08 season was the last season we ever saw it. After we won the champions league, Ronaldo did not want to be at utd anymore. Had Berbatov not joined, I don’t think the team form of 07/08 would have been repeated.
hope fletch will move back into his original position. its killing me seeing scholesy brutally mugged by YSB murphy last week. rafael is ok and he should start at right back, and pls give back fletch the anchor role in the midfield, something not even thinkable years ago. fletch had been our mainstay player nowadays.
I have not seen the chelsea match. How did they play? Chuffed they dropped points. However, this will mean nothing if we too fail to win tomorow. I hope we see a better performance.
Anyone know how good this Diouf guy is? I’ve seen a few videos and he looks like he can finish, and is really strong in the air. I was pleasantly surprised by Obertan as I wasn’t expecting too much, you don’t get a lot for £3.5m anymore – so hopefully he could turn out to be a bargain and more than another Manucho!
they unstucked by the very discipline burm side. even joe hart playing out of his skin. got malouda sent off for 2 yellow cards. should have been burm wins if not for a very stupid decision by the linesman.
@Fze123
They weren’t that brilliant and was saved by the crappy linesman. Birmingham was denied a legit goal and another 1-on-1 chance for offside when the player in question was indeed offside.
*onside I mean.
diouf: more than manucho he is i think. he is avery straight forward striker, more like drogba mould IMO, good shot, and never afraid to shoot or even tried a bicycle kick. hope another gem from Molde after our beloved ole
I was thinking today about what Rio said about getting fit for the world cup – this is not the first time he has put country before club – I also recall him talking about fighting his ban in 2004 to be available for the European Championships that summer. That’s why I still have a bit of beef with him. I have two words for that: FUCK ENGLAND!
Chelsea dropped more points today, I sincerely hope we can capitalise on this tomorrow, as the last time they dropped points before playing us, we fucked up against Villa later in the evening. Hopefully Wes and Vida will be back, coupled with Rafael and Fabio being available, meaning that Fletcher can return to the centre of midfield where he has been sorely missed. Come on United!
@Fze
90 point Chelsea played okay – they dominated play at times – given – and pressed up and quick – however at the same time Birmingham responded by counter attacking and did score a goal that the linesman chalked off for offside – rubbish – it was a goal.
Chelsea’s best chance was a 30 plus yard free kick that hit the post – Alex I think – apart from that only a Lampard chance – he was surprised that he was onside when he was played through – but Hart saved brilliantly – again Birmingham had a few chances like that as well.
In all though – they are not the team everyone say they are – and also they are not the power-house team from Mourinho – even Grant’s reign. We have problems because we have no first and second choice defence – Chelsea are playing good football but not overpowering football – simply because the defence and Cech are not as strong as they used to be. I know that’s funny when you think they out defended us – but there you go
Hi all just logged off my ps3 and took a shower,Went on eurosport and CHELSEA 0 BRUM 0
HAPPY BLOODY CHRISTMAS !!!!!
@ hurr, so they were saved by the linesman. Oh well, it’s becoming the norm now. A big thankyou to birmingham for keeping them out.
Alright.
Surprised to see Berbatov made the scapegoat again. However even I am getting a bit fed up. He really needs to influence games more , a couple of touches here and there is not enough. Regardless of his fee. Come on Berba lad.
As for blaming the medical staff, come on! Do you honestly think it is down to them? It is just absolutely awful luck. Just need the lads to turn up tomorrow now and get a win. 2 points in it then. Just need to get a couple of players back and the lads to get in their groove. Chelsea look like dropping points every time they run out now.
What has happened to “Europes strongest team” tm? The fucking over rated rentboy cunts. 1 win in7 now. They look devoid of ideas. Even worse now considering they will have no strikers for a month. Taking Fat Frank off as well. That didn’t go down well. What if they got a penalty ? Joe Cole dropped for Malouda? Fucking fat idiot Ancelotti.
Another amusing thing is the fact that Mancini has dropped their best player by some distance this season Bellamy! Priceless.
How good is Roger Johnson playing?
“diouf: more than manucho he is i think.”
Who are you, Yoda? LOL!
I hope you have used your Jedi senses and you are right… Whilst I HATE Dogba, he’s a hell of a player and we could use someone with similar attributes to him.
@ MG, cheers mate. They are most likely going to drop points against Fulham, too. But they’ll still finish second, with 90 points. As for first place, it’s obviously liverpool. Oh no, they’re 8th in the league, no?
North Stand Tier 2: certainly i am not a Yoda, nor a Jedi. but i hope the Force will be with us come tomorrow..hahaha
We are crucified with injuries so you would imagine the 60 million ‘kitty’ from the Ronaldo injury would surely be at least partly used in January.But we have Ferguson coming out saying he cant get value.Value my hole,Benzema was a snip for 35 mill in the summer but I think we all should have copped on by now,the club is in serious trouble and any money generated will go into servicing Mr Glazers debts.
Chelsea dropped points.Now I hope that for our own sweet sake we capitalise.
Diouf looks like a strong lad, however, as we know (or some of us do), anyone can make a YouTube compilation- remember how everyone was harping on Huntelaar? Where the f*ck is he now? Can’t even get into the starting eleven at the San Siro retirement home. Sir Alex said Diouf’s been looking good in training, so that’s more important than any videos I’ve seen. Hopefully he’ll turn out to be another shrewd piece of business from Sir Alex.
I have said my two cents on berbatov what is the point in repeating myself, it is a shame but I will say this time and time again fergie never give the rooney and berbatov atnership time to gell he always rotated berbatov which has never helped berbatov get into a rythem.
in another note check some idiot on redcafe said about fletcher it made me laugh.
http://www.redcafe.net/f6/fletcher-does-anyone-here-still-think-hes-not-good-enough-start-280073/
@King Eric: And lets not forget that if it weren’t for a couple of referee blunders, then we would have already surpassed Chelsea. Anyway, here’s hoping that we win our next two and that they fail against Fulham. They will miss a lot of players for that one. And lets not forget that Arsemal are close too. They will be tested tomorrow.
I have to disagree with you about the medical stuff though. There have been cases of bad luck(Vida discocating his shoulder, Sheasy getting injured with Ireland or Neville damaging his calf), but we are talking about our 3rd major injury crisis in 3 years(the other two were in April of 07 and January of 09). That can’t be bad luck. Case in point, how long does it take for them to figure out the true source of Edwin, Rio and Berbatov’s problems? They are trained professionals on that sort of stuff.
@King Eric
They can’t blame the usual suspect (Nani) so they find another target. Funny when he only played like 30 mins per game. How much influence do people expected from him.
whelldrinkadrink – Benzema a “snip” at 35 million? What has he done?
Costas – I can see what you are saying about the medical staff and you have to wonder. But surely they are the best out there?
the premiership title is like the leprosy disease no one wants to touch it
Anyone know when Rio’s contract is up..? Got a feeling it might be time for him to be moved on…..before you all jump down my throat….. let me say that WHEN he is fit he was world class, but for a whilw now he seems to be crocked all the time and what with his outside interests, ageing legs, lack of fitness ….. maybe time to clear the decks….. any one else thinking the same.??
if SAF does let him go who could we bring in to replace him as Evans is out till the next year….
anyone heard anything about Hargo’s return yet….Fuck me that’s a saga ain’t it…
Berbatov is something else after all. If he can still work some magic with the pain barrier, I see no reason why we should be slagging him. No wonder he has been on the bench for some matches.
King Eric,
did you ever see Benzema play for Lyon.As regards what has he done?Well he has a few french leagues under his belt for a start.He is only early 20s and would have been brilliant for us.
@weeeldrinkadrinkadrink
He wanted to go to Madrid and Lyon’s success was more to Juninho than him and haha at the mention of Ligue 1. Out of Madrid’s player aside from Ronnie, I’d rather have Higuain than him.
@King Eric:
I would like to think so, but you never know. There aren’t many top class teams in United’s league that go through this stuff at least once a year. Hopefully Fergie will take a look into it soon and decide whether he should take any action. On a season where we lost our best player and had to depend on our back 5 to give us a platform to win matches, we could have done without this.
On the Sun story about Berba – that story was in some Bulgarian papers a couple weeks ago. Not sure how real it is but, definitely going to be a blow if he is out for an extended period. I know some don’t like him and think it would be a blessing but, bringing in another striker mid-season is not going to be good for United.
Benzema is doing well for real in the last few games.will buy him for 25 million.not a penny more than that.as for the berba issue i am sick of commenting on it.those who know that he is a class player but not worth that money will not raise that same issue.we all know it was our fault we had to pay that much for him.why blame him? All the tevez loving fans with nothing better to do wil keep on raising the same issue until berba scores 100 goals and 50 assists and runs as fast as usain bolt. Better ignore them.
There is a site called physioroom.com that lists the injuries for each team. I took the liberty of counting down the injuries for United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.
For the year 2009, we have:
Arsenal: 80 injuries.
United: 70 injuries.
Chelsea: 49 injuries.
Liverpool: 46 injuries.
At least Wenger has had it worse!
wheeldrinkadrink – I am not saying he wouldn’t have been good but thirty five million ain’t a snip. You cannot put the French league wins just down to him. As hurr already said he WANTED to join the fascists. What can you do?
As for Benzema. ANOTHER car crash on the way to a party. 2 in a month. Prick.
Great result at St Andrews for us, let’s hope we can get the result at Hull
Afternoon all and I hope you have all had a merry Christmas with your families.
I know this is the wrong topic for me to answer this but i was just reading previous posts and regarding my support for Benfica and manchester United someone asked me(i can’t remember the name), between Benfica and Manchester United where does my loyalty lies. Well I will be as honest as I am.
I get really frustrated when both clubs are involved. Because I grew up supporting both. So my heart gets divided. I have a hard time, a really hard time. Have you ever loved two people at the same time? Thats me I have two lovers and I want both to do well, its all ok when they are in different places, the problem is when they are in the same road and I have to choose. For example when United played Benfica a couple of years ago in the Champions League, I can honestly tell you I did not watch the game because how would I be cheering for one team and not for the other? Thats just heartbreaking for me.
Some may think i am an idiot for supporting two teams but that’s who I am. I have been supporting both since I was a child. I grew up in a football mad family. My Dad supported both Benfica and Manchester United and I grew up in the same.
I love both clubs. Heart aches when they lose and goes mad with joy when they win.
Some of you may not agree with my double life but thats just who I am and who I have always been.
As for loyalty, I am loyal to my heart and my heart loves both…
Yet again, the referees help Chelsea get something from a match. This is becoming disgraceful. Injured or not, the Chelsea player was playing the Birmingham player on side. For once I agree with Keegan who said that he did not think the goal would have been ruled out had Chelsea scored it.
On possible new signings, I think Fergie should buy a decent center back, as It looks like there won’t be much of RIO this season.
“It [the title race] is not over and I believe, on what I have seen of Chelsea, that the team can drop points,” ~ Some unknown guy.
Portugeseprincess. That fine.its ur choice.that dosent make you any less a united fan.atleast you admitted that.not unusual for united fans outside england from spain,holland,germany,italy to support a team from their home country.
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/649772/FREY-AGENT-PLAYS-DOWN-UNITED-REPORTS.html
what do you think about him ?
Brio, I don’t like his haircut. Also, he does not become a free agent until 2013 so not much chance of us signing him.
I think we will go for the cheapest available keeper from Hugo Lloris, Manuel Neuer and Igor Akinfeev. Although, maybe Fergie (Glazer) thinks these players do not offer good “value” and we will sign David James on a free.
Until then, have faith in Tomasz Kuszczak.
@portugueseprincess:
Don’t worry about it. As AIG says, it’s natural for people being born outside the UK to have a “double life” as you call it. For example, as a Greek, i have a soft spot for AEK Athens. They met with Benfica recently. And thankfully, they have never played Manchester United. United is my first love because i started following them first. And then i started liking AEK because they were my beloved grandfather’s favorite team. Sometimes you have to do that because you can’t start bantering with friends about football and support only a foreign team like Man United. They call you a glory hunter. So you learn to support a local club too. I am just club i was never put in the position you were in 05 and 06.
*I am just glad* i meant
@ AIG and Costas, thanks for understanding. I hate it when people consider me less of a supporter and fan because of the fact that I support both clubs. They should blame my dad not me
portugueseprincess I dont think you are the ones I call less of a supporter is when they want fergie out that is when they are crossing the line
I hear the Wolves fans singing “Feed the scousers!”
i dont believe you can support two clubs equally,its not possible,if they were both in the champions league final well you cant just be neutral, i have a soft spot for auxerre,we had this great player once named cantona,after leaving he went right off the radar, by the way berbatov will be missed if its a full 3months and how comes that guy is so good on fifa?
feck it , Wolves deserve a goal really !
can’t imagine how we missed 3 points out of liverpool trip…they can’t even creat a chance..
we must win tomowz tho
Fuck me. Wolves player commits 2 fouls and is sent off. Fucking cunt stevie me has been lunging at Wolves players making horrible tackles hasnt even be booked.
FUCK STEVEN GERRARD.HOPE HE NEVER WINS A LEAGUE TITLE
aig agreed mate
lucas made more than 3 intentional fouls and never got booked
i don’t really know why refs always ignore bookin em..
Can someone remind Stevie Me that he has scored against Wolves. My word the way he celebrated.Anyways expect the tabloids to say that their season is back on track and then they will be brought back down to earth by villa on Wednesday
^^
they’re playin villa on tuesday mate
arsene wenger I do have great respect for barca because they produce homegrown players and they do feel like the peoples club, when any club allows you to tour the stadium for how long has you lik and you get a free roam around the place, you can even go into the commentators box.
Beating Wolves? It’s back on! The season starts here! In Rafa we trust! YNWA!
Shit, their repertoire is too extensive to bother taking the piss out of. I give up.
United Road.
Right mate. Thanks. Got a bit confused between Portsmouth vs arsenal and Villa Vs Liverpool. Arsenal play on Wednesday
RTNK
There is a difference between linking and having respect. Most of us respect barca for their style and as you said raising home grown players but that comes no where near the love for United
just like what happened against Bolton earlier this season , scorin afeter an opponent’s player gets sent off..
The refereeing standard in Premiership has become a big big joke.
If we were to get our way, just a third of decisions that we should with a fair referee, we would have been leading the Premiership by at least 5 points (despite our poor season by our own standards).
The way they were playing, Looserpool would not have scored even if they played until tomorrow. It’s Christmas, so perhaps the ref decided to gift wrap and hand hungry scousers three points.
Wasnt this marriner the same ref who was in charge of our game against dippers?
The point I was really trying to make as regards us not buying Benzema is I believe our spending days are over for a few years at least.Sir Alex saying hean’t get value is just a euphanism for ‘the club is broke’.If the next Pele or GeorgeBest came on the market in January for 30 million, still don’t believe we would buy him.
Still an all if we can get a full(ish) squad fitby the end of January,we will win the league by 7 or 8 points as I believe it to be the weakest in 12/13years.
Good evening all. Liverpool will win the premier league.
Dont care at all about getting a performance tomorrow, all we NEED is the 3 points. I will be over the moon with a 1-0 win off a first minute own goal.
@weeeldrinkadrinkadrink – really how come united bid for benzama but he decided to go to madrid, and why do you desperatly want a player who does not want to play for united. man utd will buy big on a striker in the summer, because the likes of berbatov has had his chance and has not taken it.
Costas: “And lets not forget that if it weren’t for a couple of referee blunders, then we would have already surpassed Chelsea. Anyway, here’s hoping that we win our next two and that they fail against Fulham.”
That’s right Costas, mate; look on the bright side. Last summer – 2008 -Fergy was pilloried for saying that the RentBoyz were “experienced” and likely wouldn’t improve. SAF’s words were twisted to make it out that he had said that the RentBoyz were “old”. Well, they’re now 18-months older and this season seems to be rather like a repeat of last season’s early dawn and early nightfall – deja vue, all over again.
On the striker issue – how could we notice that Berbatov was injured ? He’s been missing-in-action for almost the whole time he’s played for UTD. IF there is any truth to the three-month rumour then this looks like a big opportunity for one of KikoTheKid, LittleMikey, and – gasp ! – Mame Biram Diouf (whoever he might be). It also looks like a chance for UTD to change the way the games are being played and use a “proper” #9 and let Wayne Rooney do his wanderlust-thing because he seems to be best when given a free rein (of course, he also seems to be unable to play in his own position).
Now that the Glazers’ own the club, there is no reason for divulging any transfer dealings before they’re done-and-dusted.
Perhaps SAF isn’t planning to buy another defender – that’s what he seemed to say. He didn’t say that he wouldn’t buy another midfielder or forward or keeper.
Perhaps the Nani plus money for Angel di Maria is already done and that’s why Nani has developed this mysterious injury.
But, perhaps SAF’s just blowing smoke.
We’ll find out in a few days. In the meanwhile, there are six points on offer tomorrow and Wednesday. Get them in the bag and watch the RentBoyz squirm.
Oh, yeah, let’s hope that Villa can do to TheArse what they did to us a fortnight ago.
Liverpool will also win the Europa League, ’cause Rafa’s a tactical genius, innit.
Brilliant start to the season…
everyone loves barca’s style,and the spanish ways are much more relaxed, but at boardroom level neither barca or madrid get my respect @rooney the new king
watching liverpool caused the pundit on setanta to get ill, best wishes to his recovery
arsene wenger well barcas structure in terms of the boardroom is a lot more realistic than madrids, you have never seen barcelona try and spend 300 million on players in one season, and that mysterious money madrid seemed to have found which it seems madrid stole that money.
on the team the likes of nani ferdinand hargreaves berbatov I would not be suprised if they were sold in the summer. but I will say this in the next 2 summers I can see both ferdinand and vidic moved on, for me vidic is a lot more important to the team and ferdinand physically has declined, so I think fergie will keep vidic and move ferdinand on.
shit chelsea 2 keep drog, kalou and obi for fulham game! hopefully they will still drop points…but we got to stuff hull moro
arsene wenger what did the pundits say about liverpool was it that bad of a game
its realistic but its tactics are just as low,they tap up and unsettle players and then haggle on the price of an unhappy player ,at least madrid pay top dollar @rooney the new king
asidfg
Where diid you read that? Ancelotti was very confident in the ability of his young lads? what happened now.looks like abramovich is ready to pay the countries to keep the players back
best news i heard all day berbaslob injured the guys more waste of money that veron was slow coach , hope owen gets a good run of games and that diouf looks good. shame bout selling tosic though the guys def one for the future. bye bye berbaslob end of your united career should have took the deal with atlectico for him and cash for aguero.
they guy who presents for espn got ill durin the game, the game was crap from what i saw, stevie me goal should have been disalowed for elbowin the defender in the back of the head@rooney,just a poor game,0-0 all over it until the ref cocked up
the guy got sent off for 2 fouls only, the second was not even a yellow card or a dive,the ref booked the worng player and pepe reindeer ran the length of the field to tell the ref he booked the wrong player and they surrounded the ref and made him change his mind
was a dive,not or a dive
arsene wenger
dont forget that stevie me made some horrible lunges. should have been booked and possibly sent off. although that rarely happens at Anfield.
dont worry about chelsea,they are out of breath already, this new style they play has themoldies puttin in more milage on the pitch, their burnt already, that old wanker drogba will be happy to get back to long balls when ray wilkins is put in temporary charge after rom sacks ancelloti
the worst thing is the ref spoke to steve me 2 or 3 times after them lunges and didnt do a thing,that guy was sent off for less,although wolves are possibly the worst promoted team i have seen,i think their second string has a better suprise element than the first 11
arsene wenger
are you really an Arsenal supporter?. usually most of them are pathetic to say the least but your reasoning and comments seem very sensible and logical.
aig i love arsenal and i hate liverpool,in life i dont hate a lot but liverpool is quite a sickening thing, the rest of the world i look at from a reasonable point of view
the only other thing that annoys me lately is on fifa10 when dimitar berbatov outpaces my whole defence and they even have a headstart on him,apart from that i dont moan too much
arsene wenger – HAHA EA dont know much about football players when berbatov out paces the arsenal defence, I stick to football manager. but evolution soccer is addictive. I cant stand liverpool tony evans and that alison of the times sums up how pethetic that set of fans are
arsene wenger
lol.dimi outpacing clichy,sagna and gallas.i cant even imagine that.
aig alex is god – yea haha impossible, berbatov could not outpace gary neville currently no offence.
are you all serious??
how can u compare berbatov to rooney?
rooney nearly plays the WHOLE 90 MINUTES
and berba comes on for 30mins and you expect him to do more than rooney?
are u kidding me??.. last couple of games.. rooney has played nearly the whole 90 minutes and hasnt done fuk all!!
why isnt anybody slating rooney?.. berba is class.. he just needs more time on the pitch.. once fergie actually plays him regularly.. then you will see the real berba.. even tho in the 30mins or so he does play.. he always brings class to the team.. fergie just needs to play rooney and berbatov together because lets be honest.. they are our best strikers.. owen’s good but in the last two games i havent even noticed him touch the ball the whole time hes been on the pitch!!
COME ON UNITED
hopefully we can win on sunday and wednesday and go top if chelsea slip up again!! no drogba no anelka no mikel no deco no essien no kalou
looks good!!
Obertanthenewstar
Berba is 29 now so he cant play every game plus he is having litle niggles here and there which has forced us to play just one up front quite a lot of times. Rooney hasnt done badly at all playing up front on his own.Berba has to be fit consistently for the 2 of them to play. Havent clicked well enough whenever i have seen them.Maybe SAF has to tell Rooney or Berba to stop dropping deep and stay forward more. That will help their partnership blossom. They are 2 players who like to drop deep rather than staying close to the box
rooney the new king.
yeah mate. neville is quick enough for a 33 year old though. berba isnt slow but it is his languid style that makes us feel that way. The only time i saw him sprint was in the CL quarters against Porto away last season.
arsene wenger
Dont know what you think but i found fifa 10 a bit disappointing.fifa 09 was better and i still prefer playing 09 more than 10
obertanthenewstar – because rooney is far better on so many levels than berbatov, rooney wins united matches he has got over 12 goals this season to berbatovs average 4. the only thing I have defended berbatov is he has never been given time on the pitch with rooney and they have never gelled has a patnership.
- but rooney plays better with a no 9, and berbatov not only does he drop deep he has not get the pace or the energy to go from box to box making him very static and easy for defenders to play against him, much like van nistlerooy in the 05/06 season.
@aig alex is god – yea haha I should have said o shea can outpace berbatov. I hate talking about this subject on berbatov because I hate repeating the same thing, the sad fact with berbatov is he is now a backup striker no longer can be trusted to be a starter which means united will need to sign a striker, when united finally sort out the defence and get a world class goalscorer we will win titles for years to come.
- I have not bothered with any of the football games for the consoles the only football game that I love is football manager games.
@obertanthenewstar:
“how can u compare berbatov to rooney?
rooney nearly plays the WHOLE 90 MINUTES
and berba comes on for 30mins and you expect him to do more than rooney?
are u kidding me??.. last couple of games.. rooney has played nearly the whole 90 minutes and hasnt done fuk all!!
why isnt anybody slating rooney?”
Are you fucking serious? Rooney has been an absolute star for us for the past five years or so, arguably our best player in all that time. His commitment, talent and importance to the team are beyond question.
Berbatov, on the other hand, has done jack shit for United. That’s why more and more people are starting to get seriously pissed off with him.
…
Re: Liverpool 2-0 Wolves
Yes, today’s referee who helped the Dippers win when they never even looked like scoring was none other than ANDRE MARRINER, the same cunt who screwed us at Anfailed.
rooney the new king
The sad thing is there arent many strikers available for the right price.You have to pay ridiculous amounts to sign players now especially with madrid and city in the market. We may need an emergency striker though if berba is injured and going to be out for 3 months.Cant think of any though. Diouf is a good prospect but lets not put pressure on him and say he is the next so and so. Lets give him time and i am sure he will come good
Manager games? thats strange.
“today’s referee who helped the Dippers win when they never even looked like scoring was none other than ANDRE MARRINER, the same cunt who screwed us at Anfailed.”
Gee, d’ya think that was coincidental ?
Is ANDRE MARRINER a Liverpool fan?
How many oppostion players has he sent off at anusfield?
How many penalties has he not given against the scum?
How many decisions does he give in favour of the shits?
Denton davey
As soon as i saw the refree booking the wolves player and then sending him off without a warning i had doubts in my mind. When i saw that he wasnt booking stevie me despite his wild lunges on wolves players the thought of how our players were booked and lucas wasnt despite commiting atleast 20 fouls came to my mind. I dont think the ref is good enough. he is just 25 and needs more experience before taking charge of PL games
@aig alex is god
you take all the success we have had the past phew years, the tv money homegates with old trafford expanded, the players united sold and united should have a fortune to spend. and I did not even include the ronaldo money.
- well if united are to be succesful for the next phew years united will have to spend a little over the top, united did get 80 million from ronaldo so why cant united go and get the best. If I was the owner of a cruise liner company do you keep the ships the way they are? no you have to maintain the ships and keep them up to date to keep the buisness succesful, same goes football squads.
dont forget united did spend for players over the price they were worth, the likes of hargreaves anderson carrick nani and berbatov.
these are the prices united should have paid for them
(berbatovs worth when he was at spurs 14 million)
(carricks worth when he was at spurs 8 million)
(hargreaves worth when he was at bayern 6 million)
(andersons worth when he was at porto 12 million)
(nani’s worth at sporting 8 million)
rooney the new king
cant disagree much but i feel United have been a club known for making shrewd signings. There were a few exceptions like berba,veron and some others but most of our signings have been at the right price. The problem is with our sucess clubs now want us to pay more and that increases a players value by 5-7 million just because United want to sign him and sadly thats the way it will be.Also we are known to make World class players not to buy readymade World class players and i dont think that philosophy will change either. Just like the difference between real and Barca. Our lack of spending is a worry but if SAF says he has funds but dosent feel players are available at the right prices, i am satisfied with that explanation for now
Try Windows Messenger, lads.
@aig alex is god – I was not saying if they have been succesful or not carrick out of that lot has been a good signing the rest of berbatov nani anderson hargreaves questions still have to be asked. I ment that united have payed over the odds on what they are worth.
Well if Berba needs surgery, why is the sun the only paper that has reported it?
Give berba some rest, soon he will start banging em in..
we still need to play him differently though.. like when we played blackburn back in october/november, and he had many chances, then he took the hardest one (evra assist) …
for those who says that berba is third choice.. well, maybe because he has been coming back from injury? Rooney and berba are first choices when fully fit, no doubt about it
we know fuk all till it happens (proof)
@ Bebeto. Lol.
Evening.
aig – Is Andre Marriner only 25 years old? He can’t be, he looks about 45.
What was with the Wolves fans singing “sign on, sign on” , The Nemanja song, and “he’s just a fat Spanish waiter” ? The dippers would not have broken down an 11 man Wolves team. Torres looks pissed off. Constantly moaning and bitching.
And SAF says that we’re not buying anyone this season -_- What is he thinking when we have key players injured
He’s thinking we don’t really have the money to spend.
He’s also thinking that he would have a massive fucking headache rotating a squad even bigger than the current one, what with the majority of those injured players returning within a month.
I guess he could also be thinking the introduction of new players requires new and old heads to create a synergy, which isn’t something you do at the business end of the season.
Lastly, I think he thinks about wiping his ass with all of the newspapers that print stories which never, ever come to fruition.
Only three of them might be true.
RE:Costas
“Rooney cost 27 million and Rio cost 30 million, but you barely heard how much they cost from the press.”
to be fair rio used to get it a lot in his early united career. But then he started improving and less was said about it and his form in 2007-08 was sensational. Before you knew it, it was forgotten. Rooney has always been brilliant for united so his price tag was never in question. Not to mention the fact that both were young when we bought them so even if they weren’t delivering for us at the start, people could always say ‘they are young’. If Berbatov wants the same to happen to him, he knows what he has to do. But I am starting to think he can’t help it. Maybe he just doesn’t fit in to this United team. Not every good player fits in to every club.
I reckon we will know more about Berbatov’s future soon enough. Because I can’t help but think it said everything that we were looking at Benzema last summer. If SAF was so delighted with Berbatov, why look at Benzema? He knew after Tevez, that big name strikers aren’t going to be happy on the bench. SAF always defends his players publically so I don’t expect him to say anything but how pleased he is with Berbatov. He did it with Veron. Not to mention the fact that we have been looking still at players like Dzeko, another player who you can’t exactly use as a super-sub. Berbatov replacements are being looked at and have been since last summer I feel and if SAF can get value for money action will be taken.
If SAF lets Berbatov have his operation before the season is out, that will speak volumes for me. Other players in the past have been made to wait until the summer because they are so important to the team. If Berbatov isn’t, it will suggest SAF doesn’t see him as a key man in the squad.
RE:North Stand Tier 2
Agree about Rio. At his best, the only defender in world football who I would rate on a par with him is Nesta.
@spencer:
Yeah, i have no doubt that Rio and Wayne more than made up for their transfer fee. And in my opinion, given the crucial wins he helped us gain last season, so did Berbatov. Now whether he was born for this club or not, is another issue. I won’t have a clear opinion until his days as a United player are over.
What i meant was that for the tabloids, some players carry their transfer fee more than others. And while Rio and Wayne aren’t great examples, i think that players like Robinho and Tevez(both of whom probably cost more than Berbatov) haven’t endured the critisism from the press that Berbatov has. Or is Lescott playing like a 22-24 million pound defender? Again, i haven’t seem much critisism. That’s what really bugs me about this situation.
football is a contact sport, given the nature of this or any other sport at the top level , it’s unrealistic to expect all our players to be it all of the time
berbs hargreaves nani brown vidic etc some will be missing but some need to realise , sometimes you have to grit your teeth and play when your not 100%
you get paid big money now earn it by going through the pain barrier
Hi guys,
Sorry if this posted already, since I didn’t have the time to go thru all the posts. In some site I read that Berba amd Nani + 15m will be offered to Valencia for Silva and Villa. I am not sure how much reliable this is, but what do u think of it? I feel it maybe be good, and then I feel its stupid. Don’t know what to make of it
I’ve spunked better stories. Don’t ask me how it works.
Go United Go, maybe if we add Oliver Gill to the bargain Valencia will throw in Juan Mata as well – fingers crossed!
So PLEASE let Berbatov undergo his surgery if he needs to… Hopefully that will make Fergie change his mind to bring in some top class STRIKER (not merely forward) like Villa…
Rationale : If Fergie is going to bring in somebody sooner or later, might as well do it on January instead of in summer especially after the WC, because no matter who is it, you would expect that “target” to do well in WC and the price would soar up even higher after that…
King Eric.
Apologies mate. You are spot on. I got confused between Stuart Atwell and Andre Marriner. Marriner is 38 years old and Atwell is 26.Both were promoted to take charge of PL games at the same time
@ Bebeto: I agree with the first three reasons (which pisses me off) but the last reason I’m not sure LOL.
Regarding to what SAF said recently about other teams slipping and dropping points, he’s right as the Rent Boys are drawing a lot. But he shouldn’t depend on other teams’ results. That’s just not how UNITED win the league.
I thank god that berba is injured now we can have an excuse for him being a total spud. We may have just improved his re-sale price.
Gives wellbeck and macheda games.
themarkedman – I can assure you pal, it isn’t a good thing Berbatov is injured. What if Rooney gets injured?
@themarkedman72 I also don’t agree it’s a good thing Berba is injured, he may not be the world’s greatest player but he had been playing well this season up to the international break.
rooney berbatov starting up front!!
rafael brown vidic evra
valencia fletcher carrick giggs
PIG in goal
loooking good!! finally we got fletcher back in midfield:)
lets see wot berbatov can do;)
Injury can’t be too bad as Berbatov is starting today, really hope he puts a proper performance in today!
bchilds, about that “proper performance” you were hoping for from Berbatov today – how’d that work out again? An absolutely wretched display from the £30m man.
I suspect more worshippers at the altar of “BerbaGod” lost their faith today.
Fred,why should We?
He got only two chances in the game and took one of them. For me it’s more than enough. I have to admit that the partnership with Rooney didn’t look fine, though (despite the third goal)
guys I was being tongue in cheek. I dont really wish Berbatov to be injured.
I was serious about it being a good excuse for his alarmingly poor form however.
We are lucky Chelsea not looking so hot, we have a chance to push now for title but I agree berba rooney partnership not really working I m always pleasantly surprised when berba scores. Great to win though!