De Gea, Rafael, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra, Jones, Kagawa, Carrick, Welbeck, Rooney, Van Persie.
Subs: Lindegaard, Smalling, Valencia, Anderson, Giggs, Cleverley, Hernandez.
Diego López; Arbeloa, Varane, Ramos, Coentrão; Xabi Alonso, Khedira, Özil, Di María, Ronaldo Benzema.
Subs: Adán, Pepe, Carvalho, Kaká, Essien, Modrić, Higuaín.
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so no Vidic. even not among the subs. quite surprising.
hmm not sure about this – new.
Looks like a 4-5-1 that can spring into a 4-3-3, have to say – I didn’t expect Heskey to start!
No Nani even on bench? Vidic must be injury risk.
Interesting formation 4-3-3 ….. lets see! Ready to RUMBLE.
4-3-3 that can become a 4-4-2 with subs.
Their goalie will make mistakes and be our bitch. Come on de gea, show the critics you were wrong.
Very attacking line up to me……
Lets see what comes of it!!!!!
Prediction- 2-1 UNITED
I hope Vidic is not injured.
They are 4-4-2
Wow, this could be scary but RVP, Welbeck and Rooney can all defend from the front with pace.
Bit disappointed to see Wellbeck in the starting line-up; don’t see what he will bring to the team. I was hoping for a full strength XI and to take the game to Madrid, now I wonder what the tactics are… Just over 30 to go so will see soon enough I guess! Come on Reds!
Omg intresting line ups jones to mark ronnie hope we do well c’mon reds GGMU !!!!!
We maybe – 4 -2 – 3 – 1
livestream anyone?
Taking a risk with that line up. Lets hope it works.
No Vida..? little bit worried about Ferdinand cause this game could be speed game.
Come on Reds.. Attack them..!
Come on United!
Kagawa or Rooney left.
Probably Kagawa based on this season I guess.
looks like a defensive squad that can counter on the fly. Wellbeck is a surprise, but he’s fantastic going back and helping out Evra and with his speed and control on the wing, it makes sense with Kagawa, Roo and RVP up front. But if you like defense, why not Vidic? unless 3 days is not enough time off for his knee.
Vidic injured?
Perfect line up, I’ve been predicting it all day and I think Danny will play behind Robin to put pressure on Alonzo, maybe not. Good luck to the lads
I would have played Cleverly instead of Danny as midfield 3 along with Carrick and jones with rooney on the left, kagawa on the right and RVP upfront.
We need to be really careful not to concede early else it could be long 90 minutes.
Before I saw the team I thought we could get a 2-1 victory but now I think it’ll be a 2-2 draw.
I have a feeling kagawa might score today.
Vidic must be injured, to not even be amongst subs is very strange. Giggs deserves place in line-up over Nani on the back his performances and he’s a big game lad when he needs to be. Valencia hasn’t been setting the world on fire but I think we’ll see him later. Fergie put on Welbeck for his work rate, we’ll need him.
We’ll see how it goes anyway.
Hope Jones is up to the task!!methinks Danny’s pace and Kagawa’s ability to retain possession is key to our game, well technically its kinda precautionary approach from Fergie although we are looking sharp on the front-line.
I’ll go out on a limb and say i don’t like this. Never played this team before. Our best games this season are when we have either cleverley or Anderson to carry the ball to our forwards. Lets hope kagawa can do that today.
Nani not even on the bench,quite surprising….
If the boys play it right it mean RM have to attack from wings. When they do Jones and One more will step back as cover. Long balls and direct approach harder for RM, balls through centre harder, areas they can run into centrally more crowded, back more exposed. Means their attacks will be slower, less direct, give us more time, allow us to play counter attack at higher level and shut off their supply. Hopefully Yeah!
OK bitches, am dumpling my Valentine at this hotel and off to find place showing match. This is where you risk your life for the team, maybe won’t notice I am gone, but can’t stay in stupid hotel with no footie.
4-2-3-1 with Rooney CAM ? 4-4-2 Diamond with Kagawa at the tip? 4-5-1 with Kagawa and Welbeck wide carsick, jones and Rooney clogging up the middle, traditional 4-4-2 jones and Carrick in the middle? Who Knows? But there is steel, talent and goals in that line-up. And versatility. Glory, Glory Man Utd.
would prefer to see chica start
Great line up
We need to contain them this first half and make sure we don’t concede early
I heard a few folks complain about the midfield choice, but imo its a well balanced line-up
Jones is a beast fast and furious he also has defensive qualities which I admire a lot he’s that kind of player who like rooney will cover all the DM alone and still has the stamina to charge forward when need be
Welbeck at the other hand is one beast of a player aswell, technically sound and very very skilful he can defend aswell
Kagawa is erm once magical midfielder who is able to spot a pass which non of us can in a flash he can strip off an opponent with a single touch of magic he’ll be very useful in counters as he’s the only in the team who knows how to do his things
Carrick well…. Everybody knows what he’s capable of, so In that area I think we are great.
Come on you reds!!!!!!!
As the reds go marching on, on, on!!!!!
More than happy with that team.3 0 United.
Called it a couple of days ago, Welbeck with the start. Proper Red, puts in a shift every fookin time, “Oh Danny boy!!!”
@ Redmotor “don’t see what Danny brings to the team” – pace, size, work rate, he’s a Mancunian Ji-Sung Park
The lads will be up for this, great two-legged tie in front of us. Come on you Reds!!!!
He’s better since he got shingles.
Ronnie playing against us is just sick god I wish we stop him today ,,got welbeck and jones ,rafa three players to work him out go get him ,,,,in fergie we trust GGMU !!!!!
Game on lads. Get in
@ididnotzeeit I just think he struggles a bit under pressure and lacks the strength to really hold the ball. Who knows, he may surprise us. Can’t fault his work ethic I’ll give you that. Surprised Nani didn’t even make the bench…
@ Redmotor
Nani not making the bench is a result of Giggs being in blidning form on the left flank. If we had to swap like for like right now, SAF has his faith in Sir Ryan, end of.
Incredible that as good as Nani is, he can’t get a look in on this squad but that’s how good Giggs has been the last 8 weeks.
In fairness both lineups are strong, and both have strong benches!
They might be both playing 4-2-3-1, and it could just come down to who turns up and wants it more!
Bring it on…ForzaUtd!!
@NBI Red Onion
http://livetv.ru/en/eventinfo/151204_real_madrid_manchester_utd/
@ididnotzeeit That’s very true. Says a lot about our season really with so many players on top form. I fancy our chances tonight it’s not like the media have give us a chance in hell so we can go out there and prove everyone wrong!
Oh god this is risky.
Well atleast this should be a goal filled game. I just hope they go in the right net. Madrid’s lineup surprisingly more conservative than I expected.
Alonso, Khedira , Ozil are the key. Disrupt their flow and RM struggle for ideas and will resort to over the top.
As previously mentioned , our line up is defense first and hit them on the break.
Here we go people! Believe!
Not a fan of Nike, but those all-black track suit tops look mean!!
Big game for jones.Feel a bit sad for clevs.He has been consistent this season.Well that’s that.Now come on United.
Although I think he will come on for kagawa at some stage of the game.
Nervous and pumped up at the same time.
DE GEA WHAT A SAVE
De Gea
That’s why he’s van der sar’s successor. Amazing shot stopper.
Come on ref, soft yellow for RVP, yet none for Ramos.
WELBECK !!!!!! SCORE IT MATTERS FINALLY
Danny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Doubters eat your words!!!
Danny Welbeck haters say what?! Get in there….!
Heskeeeey!!!
If i ever again hear from anyone here, that Welbeck is not good enough…i will personally brake his legs
This why welbeck started woooooooo united 1-0 madrid thats the way to go guys c’mon you reds danyyyyyyyy
For al the welbeck haters. Eat that! Get in there son!
Ofcourse in defence we are shit…but i hope we will be lucky…
Rooney doesn’t look fit!!!but come on lads.
Lets defence nicely. If we can stay like this till 2nd half it will be positive for us.
If we can get 1-1, we can win at OT. If we can win 0-1 it could be awesome!
De gea……
I think United have to be safe in the game which is why nani didnt make it. Needed a better defensive player to cover the back.
Shit!!!
Its Ronaldo!!!what can you say:(
Our attack cant get any ball atm.
Fuck u ref!!
Our midfield need a player who can bring the ball forward. Anderson come on in the 2nd half.
Like i said in defence we are shit…
Please can someone cut G Nevilles mike
That was poor defending gave him so much room to cross and evra ..well less said than better …
The ref is bloody annoying , all you need to do is breathe on real madrid players and you get a foul against you
@ Kel that is why i always talking about our midfield…even no brain man knows that our midfield is shit…we cant fight with best teams with good tehinical skils in mid section…
Should get rooney kagawa and rvp into the game and play the ball to their feet random launching them from the back
David has been superb so far. Keep it up boy!
I dont understand how come they are always alone…if they are on the wing, alone…if they are in the middle of our box, alone again…
We are playing erratically!!
Hope we can change things in the next period.
They killing us on wings…in the middle we can t nothing…
Why we waiting in front of our box that they put theirself in good position..
We have no middle…
Seriously we can beat this team. We just need to KEEP THE FUCKING BALL. stop with these stupid fucking long balls for fuck’s sake. Can Phil Jones no longer pass to the right man anymore? Pass to the man in the red shirt. STOP with the long balls. It’s is killing us. we are giving them back the ball without even passing it around for up to ten seconds. FUCK.
At least we have the away goal. Well taken goal from Welbz too.
I want this o nthe second half
DDG
Jones Rio Evans Evra
Valencia Carrick Cleverley Welbeck
Rooney
RVP
if we want tot take that draw.
Rafael having a bad game, Jones getting run and Kagawa unfortunately is in the shadows.
Otherwise, let’s fight!!!!!!
Dann yWelbeck RVP and Carrick and the moment our best players.
@mara yeah its been hard to find a good midfield player who are strong and commanding. Its been a few years since we need that kind of player.
Fuck the commentator, clear inclination toward Real Madrid.
We need anderson fast!!!!!!
EVeryone relax, remember this game is on their turf, it was always going to be edgy. 1-1 at half time I’d have taken, we have an away goal and the look on Murinho’s face when it went in said it all. He knows old trafford is going to be a fortress for the return fixture regardless of the result.
I don’t think the scoring is over yet…. unfortunately i can see them scoring too tho….. but the very few times we’ve gotten the ball up there we are dangerous.
The problem is that whenever we win the ball back we give it back to them with a hopefull long ball. That is not helping .. we have not been able to get rooney, van persie and kagawa into the game , they want the ball on the ground ..
Jones hasnt been that effective , rather a bit hampering to the passing. Would be nice to see cleverly or ando come on who can get the ball from the defense and pass it around to the front four players
@dela you’re right, but to get that draw or 2-1 win or not to concedee more, we need to do this
DDG
Jones Rio Evans Evra
Valencia Carrick Cleverley Welbeck
Rooney
RVP
Rafael having a bad game, Jones getting run and Kagawa unfortunately is in the shadows.
Gotta get our act together. Come on lads
Both backlines look suspect, we need to expose thiers more. I get the feeling thw crowd could turn if we can get another and move the ball bettet. I know we can and we should be.
I haven’t been so nervous watching United play for a long time. It seems as though United are all over the place and Real could score at any time. Some composure and belief in self ability required the second half. Also as I said on another thread RVP booked cheaply. He has to be careful now because they will be trying their best to get him sent off.
We are playing like bunch of school boys ,,rafa showing that he still needs time again defending shit over comitting I understand pressing but still not like this just kicking them ,,goodness me stop ozil and di maria they are killing us really anderson for kagawa plzzzzz need some to move with the ball I cant even see carrick in the game just shitty midfield
We are not keeping the ball at all.
We need Rooney more into the game, some of the balls he played early on were excellent. We just have to stop these fuckers
@ xluciusx – thanks dude.
Not bad, we are doing ok, however, RVP seems a bit overwhelmed by occasion as does Ronnie a tad, they are playing a difficult position but we are doing counter attack, need a few moments of brilliance, we are getting chances, it will be about who an finish them. RVP crosses are poor and his passing and Roo’s have been below par.
Ronnie -v- Evra – come on defence! He gets up early, Rio, Jones mark Ronnie. Nothing Evra could do against that height and power and him getting up so early.
Welbeck doing well could have had 2, they have no plan for him. I think we will play within ourselves till last bit when SAF will decide whether or not we go for it.
I think we are doing ok. Their goal was a lesson that we must concentrate – we now know we will get opportunities to score.
Whenever we have played the ball to the player upfront we have looked dangerous with welbeck , rvp and kagawa .. but unfortunately that we have played the ball to them only a few times apart from hopeful pin balls from the back
Tactically Jose out played his master, let us be honest.but we can kill them and win this game the ugly way.
Good 1st half overall.. Just need to maintain concentration..referee not helping allowing Ramos to act like a fool.
We ARE capable of getting another goal or two.. But need to keep it tight!!
Cmon the reds!!
Evra is struggling with Ronnie. Who wouldn’t… Welbeck has ran his fucking socks off. He deserves another goal. So unlucky. Their keeper didnt have a clue bout that 2nd chance he had. We are on the ropes abit. Do we twist or stick? Would clevs give us more possession in the middle? Fuck knows. All i know is we have got an away goal! C,mon boys dig in and play like its the fucking final! Believe!
Boys relax, we are still in this. I agree we are being over run, especially in midfield. I really think Shinji needs to be subbed to put a third man deeper in midfield as Shinji hasn’t been dropping deep enough to help (though I’m pretty sure has been tactical as everytime we put a long ball on Shinji has been running off RVP trying to get flick ons and a few times it has worked). But we are most definitely getting over run and I really think we need Danny and Rooneys energy on the wings so for me, Shinji would be subbed. It would be good to see Ando come on, but I really don’t know how match fit Ando is at the moment.
Happy so far. Could have been one ahead, could have been one behind. On balance 1-1 about right. Rafael is having a hard time of it. De Gea having a geat game.Kagawa faded out a little bit last 15 minutes.
If we keep them out another 20-25 minutes, they will start leaving gaps at the back.
We are just handing them the initiative with the long balls when they are pressing.It’s southampton all over again.Need to regroup in the second half.And keep the ball.Make them sweat a little.
can’t believe players in Spain go down so easily.. It is impossible to tackle..
Really man we just get excited on our players but really we need new players in the summer this just very ordinary looking side we put ,,,,take off kagawa put rooney up and bring on valencia plzzzz fergie do something we need magic
Wish we had more possession for RvP to work with. That said this is the berenbau and another goal even if we lost tonight would be invaluable. Rafael having a good night imo. More goals to come.
Slim – We got to make a change second half, we are not holding onto the ball, and we are making long balls, and its going straight to madrid and its like a pinball machine. I would move jones at fullback, and bring cleverly on, because no one is holding onto the ball, and that is what I have feared, jones has been very poor in cm, and our lack of posession is showing, and madrid are attacking us at will. Second half. DDG jones ferdinand evans evra carrick cleverly kagwa rooney welbeck rvp
Kinf of lucky to be level at half time. Our shape is weird and we’ve lost far too many battles. Have to tighten up in midfield and not allow them to reach the final third so easily.
On the plus side, well done Danny. Deserved a goal in a huge game like this.
@ Andromeda agree…tactically we need more
Our players need a buck up. They are overshadow by the opponent. They seems tired being run.
Need a player to pull them up. Fergie hairdryer and a player.
Not enough pressure on the ball. They’re building from the back and moving the ball 50, 60 yards without a challenge, we need more belief in ourselves because Madrid look just as shaky as us in defence.
Good so far BUT UTD should hold onto the ball better and do a much, much better job of connecting midfield with forwards. Too often, the ball goes out and then comes right back.
Not much NinjaEvra could do about CR7′s header – he slipped and Ronaldo read the pass much better.
DannyTHeLad has done well but KagawaBunga has been pretty invisible because the defensive players can’t get the ball forward; RVP has been pretty awful and I’d consider bringing on Chicharito for him not just because he has a yellow card.
In the second half, TheLads have to do a better job of keeping hold of the ball which seems pretty obvious, eh ?
The away-goal is HUGE but it’s pretty important to shut up shop and keep them from scoring more. Going back to OT with a one-goal “advantage” would be pretty much the best we can hope for. I sure SAF would show us his sporran for that !
Rafa is not doing well at all. and jines is playing like a typical english hoof the ball type player right now. Bring on ando or something and push off rafa and jones to right bacl. We are getting overrun like this, need more assertion in the middle of thw field
So depressing to see us resort to hitting it long and hopefully over the top, reminds me of the last final against Barca.
It always makes a mockery on a night like this of the myth that the Premier league is so much faster than elsewhere, we are getting closed down at a pace we very rarely see in domestic football.
We look like lower tier team. =(
We are too soft.
That was a fucking foul !
Sums up the ref – what do you have to do to foul?
why the fuck do we CONTINUE to hit long balls. Are we adamant? Is there a problem with keeping the ball on the ground and passing it around and getting a feel for the ball? are we allergic to the ball? we are giving it away an sitting TOO DEEP. don’t be scared lads. ATTACK!!!
shouldv’e been a foul there on Paddy
@Red Neville So agree,
This refs twat
This ref , hardly give us anything , piece of shit
Now do we miss Nani?
Carrick is a good player but i always feel he doesnt suit in this type of game. He poses no threat from midfield cause he cant shoot from far and doesnt seems brave and fast enough to attack. In this type of game i mean.
Our best player is DDG, RVP and Welbeck.
Reffing disappoint but
Did De Gea just pull off another masterpiece? Holy crap.
Welbeck best game for us. He should be consider a better player than the rest. Idk what Rooney and co. is doing really.
kung fu De Gea!
Seriously. I wish we had 11 players with Van Persie’s ability to hold up play and bring others into the game. His hold up play is absolutely fantastic despite feeding on scrape the whole fucking game.
Premier league is so much faster than elsewhere but it seems the opposite. We look so slower and Madrid are like F1 while our team like totoise?
Danny is our best player and best performer.
Feel like its unfair to say Mourinho out planned Fergie. His tool box is just deeper. Decent performance though. Maybe kagawa would have been a great power sub.
Expect a chicha sub on for welbeck.
Wellbeck ran his socks off, fair play to the lad.
omg. Almost@@@@@@@@@@@@@
what a miss ORVP
how did van persie miss that??
See what happens when we put the ball on the ground and play VP nearly scores. COME ON BOYS!!!
Rooney has been poor , misplaced passes .. so many of them
DDG man of the match! No one can say he shit. Save our asses atm! So many world class save. Eat this lol
However this ends up DeGea has been a fuckin hero
Forget the tie….bring in Chicho. Let’s win this, Fergie.
Chicha??
Finally Anderson!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rooney is shit in the game. Pardon me for saying this.
I hate conservative football. We need to get the win. Too late now, Anderson just came on.
Believe me, if Anderson get enough of the ball and do his magic, RVP will score.
Rooney definitely has a terrible game. Jones played as well as could be expected though his passing game is really letting us down and making me miss fletcher.
We can win this tie though. Feel better after this game.
Just hold on for a draw. If not effort will be wasted..Come on!!
Fuck this ref and ramos , fucking piece of shit , goes down like a sissy
Valencia has not done ONE single noteworthy thing since coming on. UGH.
Chica needs to go to another team to get more playing time, otherwise he is going to rust at United.
Jones save of the game!
Anyone else hate that we have to have Van persie do the corners?
RVP really play a good game with limited chances. Omg. almost score again!
PROUD!!!!
That ref is a cunt of the highest order! Total farce! Who paid him off? Joke!
This ref is a fucking bastard. Why didn’t he allow us take the corner? Son of a bitch. He would have allowed Madrid to take theirs though. FUCK YOU PIECE OF SHIT REF.
Wonder if the ref would have allowed Real to take the corner?!?!
what the fuck?let us take a corner for god’s sake
Wtf no corner? The hell is this. That’s absurd!
Stupid referee. Biased earned referee? Some time left and full time whistle at their corners? lol
But overall its a good result. If we win 1-0 at OT we go through. Other than that, we need to win. Good result. MOTM DDG, Welbeck, RVP, Jones.
Well done reds… Some big chances missed. Ref was a complete arse!
Good performances from Jones, Welbeck and De Gea was immense!
referee’s decision to end the game feels like match fixing to me, but I’ll take this result. 1-1 is a great result
1-1… fucking 1-1… FUCKING 1-1…. NOT GOOD ENOUGH JOSE!!!
Advantage UNITED. Fucking delighted. And fuck that fucking ref, we should have been allowed to take the corner!!
Fuckin great result in the end. DeGea MOTM. Think we’ll av em at OT. Just need a fair ref!!!
The ref freaked out and blew for the whistle in case they conceded. How obvious can it be that the ref was with Real?
Well, the referee somehow managed to prove without doubt that he’s ‘pro’-madrid. Idiot, bufoon, bastard, cunt,.fool…
stupid german cunt.he hardly gave us a single important decision throughout the game.
Fuckin filthy ref
@Toms
alright, let me rephrase my statement.in the first half Jose has out played Fergie tactically.we are talking about statistic and the ball possession, we ain’t to get emotional after all.but as we all know we are playing to the last second, so Fergie has obviously changed a lot of things in the second half.anyway, great performance from the lads specially Danny and De Gea.and the latter should definitely be MOTM in my opinion.
RVP should’ve scored twice for us but what can you do. Ronnie could’ve buried us with that last chance he had but he fucked that up, so I think the result is fair. We have to play better going forward at home. But we’re in a great position to move forward to the next round.
Real was faaaar better…it is sad when i see that we defend, it is ofending for club like Manchester. But we had good chances, we was also dangerous, so i dont understand why we didnt do more- try to attack, because we could score. We had less chances, but we had good positions. It is start to piss me off when i see how RVP missing chances…i expected more…
That ref was a prick.. What is his fucking reason not to let us have that corner! Not to mention giving out yellows everytime ramos goes to the floor holding his face.
Also interesting ronaldo covering his mouth talking to evra at the end.
Good result. Wellbeck was excellent. Too many passes from Rooney went astray. May be time to play wellbeck alongside rvp on a regular basis.
Fantastic. We deserved to win. Robin very unlucky not to get at least one. Great performance from everyone especially De Gea, Danny Welbeck, Johnny Evans, Phil Jones, Rio, Patrice, bloody everyone.
Bent ref, we should have won.
tv advertisments refs are told to blow on the 93rd minute
Very good result, Carrick, De Gea, and Welbeck all had good games, which must piss the ABU’s off as they all said we would be hammered .
Must admit I wasn’t too confident, but well done lads !
Give us a fair referee and we will batter Madrid at Oldtrafford.
jones was unfuckenbelievable… soo was DDG… our future is already here…. Let’s lift the trophy twice at Wembley this year
de gea,jones,carrick,welbeck and our centre backs were the best performers today.RVP held the ball well and linked up play but failed to finish off some chances he had.
A German referee blew right on the third minute mark. Efficient timekeeping, no surprise.
Jones done a great job on Ronnie. Evra played far better the second half. Welbeck was amazing. How can any Red not want him in the team?? And Degea is the man. In Degea we trust! Happy with a draw, but who paid the ref off??
Blah Blah Blah mara go fuck off. We played the perfect away match in a 2 legged tie, defend like beasts and look dangerous on the counter, should have ended it 1-2 if RvP could have connected on that absolute sitter of a chance but oh well, 1-1 sets us up perfectly for the return leg.
Mara – fuck off you wanker
The ref is perez son in law
@andromeda spot on.
first half was garbage tactics from SAF
Rafael was asleep and like a little boy, Kagawa nowhere to seen and Jones couldn’t hold the ball.
Second half was good, still Ithink we should have played Cleverley there instead of Jones.
DE GEA AND WELBECK BECAME MEN today! bloody hell, great to see players that you wish to do well, but needs a sparkle establish themselves.
I said we need to get Valencia on, but DAMN IT, Valencia needs to be o nthe stands and Nani playing or on the bench, Valencia has lost it unfortunately.
1-1 is a great result, can’t wait the returning leg. It is ours to take guys!
Don’t forget we will have vidic for next game
We will be in a better position. Fuck Abu media cunts de gea was the man
We are lucky the lovely brazilian jogging and dreaming on the pitch nearly cost us
Congratulations everyone for a well fought victory
Hopefully we ll play better at Old Trafford
Much much better in the 2nd half. Well done United. Pity RVP didn’t finish them off when he had the chance.
The ref can go fuck himself. The 3 minutes weren’t even up. Not to mention the other 2 major decisions that went their way. German twat.
Rvp should have scored but over all he was crucial for us with holding the ball and played really well. Welbeck was class , justifies his selection, all his haters can shut up now. Jones did his job very well. DDG save our ass a plenty of times. We were dangerous whenever we attacked , so we have take credit for that . Rooney was largely dissappointing , his passing was totally sloppy everytime giving the ball away.
Defense was better in the second half. Rafael regained in the second half compared to his first.
Ref was a fucking asshole, hardly gave us any 50-50. Dont get it how we didnt get a foul on evra, and if anybody goes near ramos and co we were penalized with needless yellow.
For all said, Real are a decent team , it is either ronaldo are bust .. apart from him they are good team. Effective on counter attack but when given the ball they seem bit clueless. Did well to keep ronaldo quiet for most part of the game
Away goal , draw , great result for united, if RvP had scored , would have been even more sweeter .. but no regrets . can finish them at OT
fucking referee should be investigated
next time, @In David We Trust, it’s liek you knew rafael won’t do wel li nthis game
his second half was a bit better.
My observations says it should be like this next time.
DDG
Rafael/Jones Rio/Evans Vidic Evra
Welbeck Cleverley Carrick Kagawa/Nani
Rooney
RVP
Btw did any one shit when they say Pepe coming in ???
when evra got through past the madrid defence and was brought down by varane,i was sure as hell he was fouled.replays showed varane hardly touched the ball.im chuffed to bits with the draw at a tough place to play at but i cant help but feel we were robbed of more chances to score by some poor refereeing.
who’d take a 0-0 in 3 weeks time?
PS
another referee this season going to my
Black boook.
How many referees will be liek this on the remaining of the season????
corrections in my above most : Congratulations for a well fought draw
Will everyone start laying off De Gea now , the lad is only 22 and is still learning, I would shit lights playing away at Madrid at 22 !, and so would all his know it all ABU critics, the lad was brilliant today
I admit I’ve been a critic in the past , but admit i’ve been wrong.
Give it a couple of years and he will be the worlds best keeper .
That blatant push on evra by varane completely evaded the eyes of the ref.Should have at least been an yellow.Absolute joke.
The 3 minutes was not even up, and add to that the time taken to prepare for the corner.
The ref was definitely fixed up
What goes around comes around.
Premier league refs in Uniteds pocket.. FIFA refs in Spain’s pocket !
Only if Giggs had hit the ball on his first touch
must say i been slatin welbeck
but he and de gea were outstanding
carrick was amazing and evans was a rock
well done lads
we shdve won but unlucky!
come the fuck down. Its a good result. the match barely over yet theres someone here thinks he knows better than SAF. Just fucking enjoy it while it lasts.
Tonight was the answer to the question of those who wonder what the point of Danny Welbeck is. A player who listens to his manager.
Alright, rant over. Good result considering our record in Spain. Could have been better had Rvp been able to hit the ball cleanly or Giggs had taken his chance with a first time shot. But a much improved second half and a fantastic performance by DDG. Ronaldo would not have scored that goal if Vidic was on, so more to look forward to in the 2nd leg. Well done lads!
@andro
Fair point. Second half did shape up much neater.
Saw this interview. Really enjoy it even if it will never come to fruitition.
“I can’t say I’m never going back to Man United, but I can say I’m good here and I want to be here.
“Let’s leave it at that and see what God gives me in the future, but I repeat I am happy here at Madrid.”
@mara –> It’s all tactics mate. Fergie outsmarted Jose tonight, they caught us with that Ronaldo header (to be fair.. what a beautiful header… exactly like the one he scored against Chelsea in 08, delicious) but other than that in the second half they really were struggling to deal with us. These guys play on the counter and they do it effectively, but the lads made them work for their chances, and David de Gea proved his class tonight when they did break through.
If put Tom ahead jones we will lost at lease 3 goals because football not only about holding the ball can u see jones terminate virus attack how many time?
I thought that SAF could have brought on Chicharito for RVP instead of Anderson for Rooney – the only time Anderson touched the ball he immediately gave it away to Modric (the AshleyBloodyYoung of RM).
Overall, a very good result – a very different result if RVP had hit that ball full-on rather than bouncing it for Alonso to clear off the line.
Anyhow, MrJones and DDG did their jobs well, LittleRedRafa was not quite on-song and a bit reckless but he pretty much handled CR7 although he got skinned by Fabio Coentrao a couple of times. The central pairing of Rio/Evans was very good too.
SO, overall, job done. Now to attend to the bum squeaks.
Anyway Danny done extreme good for us
@We are united How you doing mate?hope you enjoy it like I did. I was pretty nervous, and phew!!that was a fantastic team performance, I can’t believe it though we came out of it 1-1 to be honest. We had many dangerous chances and RVP had a great game as usual.things could have been different if it was not for De Gea. Few days before this game I warned about Rooney’s fitness being involved in so many matches already and some of the fellow reds have not agreed with me, you all seen how he looked tired with many lapse of losing concentration. Anyway, I see a very bright future for the likes of Jones and Danny, they were both fantastic.keep it up boys.finally, this result is good but its still a dangerous one, we all seen what Real Madrid is capable of.hopefully though we are at home next time and should hurt them dearly.
WeAreUnited – real madrid play a very high intensity game, its not technical, its not nice on the eye, its very direct and powerful. They double teamed Rafeal has I expected, ronaldo targeted the little bazilian, and I still think he had a good game. What I wanted second half I did half get, we did keep it allot better, but we really did miss the distribution of a cleverly, who is not afraid to carry the ball through the middle, and it gets guys like welbeck rooney RVP into the game more. Jones had a poor first half, second he got more into the game more, and he was sensational. Kagwa had a decent game, but welbeck for me has possibly given united a new dimension out wide, which I never though he had, he is actually what I was asking, ability to nick the ball and bring PPL into game, but we defiantly missed another linch pin, just to calm everyone down. Giggs for me, brought so much com[poser to the team, we looked confident, and we could have won the game 3 1. This side has shown, they are built for the big games, and they have shown they can compete with the big boys, EAT YOUR HEART OUT PATTY AND DUMBFREE
what kind of of fucking ending was that!? this referee has an unnatural love for madrid there. There shouldve been a corner there, the time was NOT over. and the bias towards Ramos is not appreciated. the bookings for RvP and Tony V were too soft.
as for the game, not much of a game really. the whole 90mins seemed to have been spent on nullification, mind that was done to quite a wonderful level, that the Man United defence we’ve been looking for this season, great tactics. that said though, the tactics also seemed have a very negative effect on our gameplay also. the powers of rooney and van persie were pretty nullified too. kagawa was very encourgaing for me in the early precedings but he faded out quite quickly. his movement and touch is quite a sight though. jones was frustrating, especially in the 1st half. he seemed a lil star struck lost his positioning a bit and kept hoofing the ball and messed up our possessions and all. but i felt he inproved a lot as an anchor man in the midfield in the 2nd half. he, along with the brilliant evans and the reliable ferdi were a fucking wall. jones was the terrier, the prancing madristas did not appreciate it at all!
watching ozil getting floored was nice. the tough british character shown through him. using him to help pack our defensive 3rd and helped snuff them out.
welbeck must be commended for his efforts. its just too bad he couldnt be more deadly and score a few more. made some very mazy and mesmerizing runs and made varane feel a bit out of sorts more than once. (although it must be said its too bad we missed out on varane cause he is on his way to the Thuram levels of skill). he ran his socks and had alonso in his pocket. along with jones, i felt he was probably the other that contributed hugely in nullifying one of madrid’s key attacking threats.
all in all a pretty dull game entertainment-wise but was one helluva tactical battle and SAF gave Mou a good one. giving Mou a run at his money for his trademark trick of defending. Well United! and Real is gonna eat it at the theatre of dreams.
Chuffed danny got the goal and showed some real class.
Id take the result but a bit disappointed we didnt won it to be honest. Real were suspect at the back just as our MF is our achiles so is their defence.
Wingers are truly awful this year. Tony v typfied this. Hoping someone gets some form going because its quite good enough out there on the wings. Danny played well there though. Really like to see him partner RVP. Let rooney do the donkey work. He seems much interested and apparently, suited for that kind of thing. Our wingers are not quite up to it so why not. Stick roo on the left and play danny/rvp up top
Oh and fuck the ref. Asshole
Not that it was a flawless tactical display out there. The way we used Kagawa in the first half was one of the reasons we were cut open so easily. Instead of bridging the gap between attack and defence, he was playing next to RVP. To be honest, I am not sure Fergie has yet figured out what’s the best way to use him.
Good decision to bring Anderson on. It was obvious that Mourinho was stuffing his midfield, so we had to take a counter measure. Could have brought him on 5-10 minutes earlier too.
UnitedFaithful @ 22:49: “That blatant push on evra by varane completely evaded the eyes of the ref.Should have at least been an yellow.Absolute joke.”
True that. It could have been a red as Varane was the last man and he was behind NinjaEvra, too.
Reffs a stupid fucking cunt really varane should have been given red card one on one with patrice really im proud of our players when I see the likes of sissy girl ramos and pepe ,,,,but we need to defend great next time vidic back and cleverly and we are good and yeah a good reff or we will kill him at OT c’mon guys play better and rafa still looked like a school boy rash rash rash rash same old same old
1) What a save by DDG for the shot by Coentrao.. Excellent throughout the game too.
2) Robin really should have made it 1-2, hopefully it won’t prove decisive in the end.
3) What the fuck was that by the German twat of a referee? Where was the (by CL standards) red for Varane’s tackle on Evra when he was through on goal? Wtf was the yellow to RVP for in the opening minutes? Why the fuck did he whistle when we had a corner and there was still at least 5 seconds on the clock left? Should be gassed the idiot.
4) Great game by Welbeck, a shame he could get a second one.
thecrazywolfe @ 23:03: “the bookings for RvP and Tony V were too soft.”
Yeah, but Ramos “led with his chin”; he was clearly looking for the fouls and got them. The bookings were like a cherry-on-top.
That German cunt has denied at least three crucial decisions for us.I was very upset, the pundits were all supporting Madrid, so as the fucking commentator and now that timid German, bet he was a Bayern fan:/
Fucking arsehole ref!! And unsurprisingly, not one pundit or newspaper decided to even so much as mention the referee and his poor decisions.
Ref can go fuck himself, we got a 1-1 and I daresay it gives us a slight advantage over them for the return leg.
It is,Even more so now.
Ref was a twat but great result – Feel sorry for Rooney a little – he is the player sacrificed positionally – RioEvansJones immense – Really not sure what Kagawa and Valencia bringingat mo – Nani showing signs at Fulham and we dont see him again and others are preferred whose output minimal. Danny Welbeck immense too
im proud of the effort the team has put in.i pray we get a better ref for the return leg.that german twat robbed us.
Yeah, so, pretty much useless DDG is…
http://footygifs.co.uk/img/degeasave.gif
Can’t believe there are people on here moaning about the performance and the tactics.
That was an excellent, professional performance. YES there was probably another 5% or so which would have made a difference. But if Giggsy and Van Persie had buried their chances we would be dancing on the tables right now.
Welbeck was absolutely awesome and it was little wonder he succumbed to cramp in the end, he absolutely ran his legs off for the team, and was excellent on the ball all night. I thought Phil Jones was perhaps the difference at times, was a really integral cog and performed his ‘destroyer’ role with quite some discipline and maturity. Even Rafael, who gets a bit of stick from the aforementioned bulbs above, stuck to his task admirably, even when things weren’t falling for him.
The ref was awful all game, I thought. I hope we get a better ref in the second leg. They got away with murder at times, should have had a man sent off for bringing down Evra in nose-bleed territory.
But yep, Big Dave really looked good tonight. This nonsense about not holding crosses – punching/deflecting the ball clear is absolutely the right policy if you’re under pressure and can’t guarantee catching the ball. Worst thing you can do is flap and drop the cross at the feet of one of their forwards. He was absolutely impeccable tonight in every single respect.
@Voice of Reason
Yeah I don’t see how anyone could justify using Valencia instead of Nani anymore.
and what’s wrong with tony ???? has nt found the usual gear all season long now… num 7 pressure??
So as far as I see De Gea is much better in his European performances rather than domestic performances as top european clubs don’t cross the ball that often.And his decision making will gradually develop.I won’t replace him with any world class keeper.
One thing for sure”Real Madrid without Ronaldo is like a ship without a navigator”I am not sure how they gonna make it in the next stage with all those dependency.
At times when he was with us, he was surely a great player and we depended so much on him but we were still playing as a team and we were not entirely reliant on his sole efforts.thats the main difference in my opinion, we should exploit that weakness and cut off their wings.if we can shut off Di Maria and Ronaldo then we have a great chance.
Also, for me Kagawa, although a risky choice, nearly paid off. First half he linked play really nicely and made himself available on plenty of occasions. For me there is no-one I’d rather have with the ball at their feet and a high line of defenders retreating against the likes of Welbs and Van Persie. I can see why SAF swapped Welbs and Kagawa quite quickly though, as that high line looked a gift for someone with the pace of Welbeck – again nearly paid off on a few occasions.
Tactically for me, against a slippery side (positional play between Ronaldo/Di Maria/Ozil was mesmerising at times) it was spot on. A very clever line up, tactically astute and like I say, nearly paid off. It wouldn’t have been a surprise to me if we’d come away stealing 3 or 4 goals.
@andromeda
nothing much mate, I’m great and happy with the 1-1. How are you mate
?
A nervous first half for me and basically I was yelling to rafael all the time ( love the lad, but the first haf was his worst since ever), and also Kagawa and Jones.
I said earlier, that today I got what I have always asked from DannyWelbeck, a game to remember and score also. The lad was immense and became a man today. As for DDG, well I always have knew he got it, only those stupid pundits, but he’s now walking i nthe eyes of everybody. I loved the moments when camera picked him after every save, just for the fun of those ABU’s hahah.
Second half was like you said it -> fantastic team performance!
@In David We Trust
Yeah, it was the change of Kagawa to the left which brought us the composure, Jones did well, btu we need the drive of Cleverley, how people don’t see that, he’s always close the players and will never get rid of them, so he’s basically like Jones with a better technique. Agree though that his second half was good, but I think the tactical change made everyone better.
Rafael’s second half was good, I was expecting more from him and maybe that’s why I got disappointed, but it’s 1 game and he played a decent one.
When Welbeck didn’t score, I was demandong him to be a winger, and people bashed me off, look at him now, + he was immense as a second striker also!! HE’s A MAN NOW!
I agree mate, that Giggsy kept the ball, and we need that from players, I expected that Kagawa would keep the ball more, but he lost it too many times, we need players who can hold it like Carrick wh owas CRAZY GOOD! and the likes of Cleverley
anyway very happy with the 1-1 draw, even though I couldn’t believe how RVP missed that one and Giggsy decided to become the 20-old RyanGiggs
jokes aside, I think SAF wil lrealise better the tactics from now on and play a stronger first half at OT.
peace.
And nani vs valencia,it was case of nani’s attacking abilities vs valencia’s defensive abilities.Boss went for the latter.
funny how people on here were criticising fergie for starting welbeck. fuck me that was an absolute world class performance from the wee man best player on the pitch. im fumin though even though i should be happy. giggs is a fuckin numpty what was he doing at the end why didnt he shoot? really cant understand his decision making at times. love him to death though. we were poor first half but great second half. rafa had an absolute shocker and that was surprising as he has been a 9/10 all season. carrick was good again as was jones. but i wish the press would rite something positive about wee DDG because what a performance from him with several worldie saves. good lad. iand lastly that fuckin ref is a disgrace, booking 4 united players and not a single madrid player! really…what a cunt, varane should have been red carded but to not even give a foul is a disgrace and then to blow on a corner…cunt and hoddle said at half time the ref was all unite…fuckin fat piece of shit he is..although i am super angry for sum reason tat was a great champions league tie and a good performance to go with it. well done boys well done
@voice of reason
Nani showing signs at Fulham and we dont see him again and others are preferred whose output minimal
I agree on this!
But he’s suffering at the moment of trust issues with SAF like at the beginnign of his career unfortunately and can’t get his position back, even though Valencia has been awful and not contributing than defensive wise, and not that good also liek he used to.
that being said, our best wingers this season have been Giggsy and Young. Welbeck showed glimpses today as a winger and a striker.
MOTM DDG, Welbeck, Carrick.
so much typos o nmy comments that ignore them
*a case*
Damn Typos.
and also well done ronnie son, great goal and we all still love u boy. cant wait to see you back at OT were u belong
I thought once Giggs came on for Shinji and we went to a midfield three and matched RM, we played much better. We were getting over run earlier as we had our boys too far forward leaving Carrick nand Jones exposed. By the way, that Giggs tackle on Ozil when they were one on one was fucken epic. Then to instantly put the ball around Arbeloa and beat him for pace made it, for me, Giggs’ finest moment this season.
Should say, replacing kagawa for Giggs was a very clever and decisive.once the golden oldie came in, so many things dramatically changed.one great thing about Giggs is his movement on the pitch, he created a lot of space and he also defended very well and hail to some Madrid fans for giving a standing ovation for our legend.later on bringing Anderson, that was the another tactical genius from the manager.
Not bad but I hope we will not regret all those missed chances,
Few things that frustrated me tonight:
- we were not closing them down quickly enough (Rooney could have prevented that cross).
- we are consistently giving ball away from throw ins
- at times we were playing to dangerously too close too our goal; Rio and Carrick were nearly caught needlessly in possession in a very dangerous areas.
-there were at least two instances when rather than going forward and attacking from a decent positions, we played the ball back to no avail!
-surely Nani would have been suited fro this match. We all want old Tony back, but will we get him, I don’t know.
-Giggsy not hitting that ball first time?
-the ref! While some may argue that he was a strong one, he helped the home side by not punishing blatant fouls. Varane should have been sent off! He should have let us take the final corner!
-Maureen, I cannot stand him. I hope this will be his last ever visit to OT!
DeGea was great tonight, but apart from two outstanding saves, the rest were a routine saves for him.
Nevertheless, lets hope we are strong enough to finish them properly off at OT.
@Costas, Yeah I also think like that, with Tony performance its better to using Nani.
Thanks to amazing De gea you save us from humiliated.
All those fuckers either degrading or wishing him to fail, well welbeck shows he has the temprament, workrate and quality yet again. He adds speed along with technical skills. Troubled real’s defence all night, popping in several positions, showing real flexibility. Took his header well too, i giess we could write the season off as a pure centre forward as he’s been barged around different positions, that has affected his game in terms of having the confidence to score goal scoring but he never sulks, takes the role he gets given with bundles of enthusiasm. He does need to add extra decisive finishing and composure, these are issues i do not dispute and i think he will hopefully sort it out but the talent the boy possesses cannot be denied, i hope he takes confidence from his display and goal in order to kick on.
Jones was superb, especially in the 2nd half. Brings that mobility, power, determination and robustness in midfield. Tracks players, tackles, runs and marshals players. I think he’s key to the compactness united need against a very dangerous madrid side.
De gea was fantastic. Unorthodox keeper but a talent whose ability comes to the fore in the biggest of games. The saves tonight were very good, especially that coentrao one. I just think, as united fans, people should rally around him, has the potential to hopefully go to the top.
@UnitedFaithful –> De Gea struggled a little bit with the physicality of the premier league, he doesnt seem to enjoy fighting for the ball when it comes in. Tonight he played against real madrid, who he played against with athletico before, and the difference is clear, he doesnt need to go out for every corner to get through 2 or 3 huge guys to get to the ball. He’s a superb shot stopper, his reflexes are so quick, his flexibility is RIDICULOUS! if they toughen him up, make him come out with fucking chuck norris punches on the ball, make defenders afraid of him, he’ll be in the Hall of FAME when he retires!
Giggs what a legend comes on and gets applauded by Madrid fans.
The real problem to me was not to whether include Nani or not.Rooney was totally silent today and most of the time he was retreating into a defending position.if that is the case then playing Anderson was much better.as I said and keep repeat that”Rooney was not ready and his match fitness was utterly questionable”but big games need big names, and that was a compromise in my opinion.
@Georgejoseph –> Ye, fair play to Madrid fans, we call them a virus and all that but when Giggsy came on there wasn’t a boo in the house, just applause. Serious respect for that!
Ronaldo just can’t be boo’ed at Old Trafford. He celebrated a bit after the goal tonight and that’s fair enough, they are under pressure, but he’s a class act, he’ll go down as one of the greatest of all time, and who amongst us doesn’t love that asshole?
@Andromeda –> Disagree. Rooney starts. Simple as. He didn’t get a chance to get more involved tonight outside of our half of the pitch, but blame the midfielders for that. Who put in the corner for Danny’s goal?
What was most encouraging to me about tonight’s match – apart from the result – was the play of DDG, DannyTheLad, MrJones and even LittleRedRafa (who wasn’t on-song but competed like a tiger). These four guys are under 22 ! AND now they’re getting the kind of invaluable experience that will enable them to be the core of SAF’s next UTD. Furthermore, both Welbeck and Jones were playing “out of position” which showed that, like TheWayneBoy, they’re footballers – not robots – who are adaptable to the manager’s tactical plans.
This group might not be as entertaining as some of the earlier teams that SAF has fielded but they yield to none of their predecessors in spirit, determination, and togetherness. It’s worked in the past, it’s working in the present and it WILL work in the future. Thankfully, SAF has another 19 years before he’s turning 90 !
We were much better second half than first.
Kagawa wasn’t awful – he made some sloppy mistakes in the first half (who didn’t?), but in the second half he was a bit better. Offered quite a good outlet AT TIMES. He will slowly grow into himself.
Rooney unimpressive. Yes, he was played out of position, but was often carless with the pass and possession. Could’ve closed down better for their goal-making cross as well. Don’t get me wrong, I love Wazza, but this wasn’t one of his better games.
RVP was fairly quiet – as to be expected, with the defensive way we played – but had a few half chances you’d expect him to bury. Especially the scuffed volley where he beat the offside.
Giggs changed the game, but how he didn’t take that one-on-one shot I do not know! Nice of Madrid fans to applaud his introduction though.
Terrible first half from Rafa, but better second. Not too upset with him, as he has been one of our most improved players this year.
Often unsung heroes really made this game. The ones that the pricks on this website are often too quick to slate – Welbeck, Evans, Rio, Jones and Carrick – were outstanding. Any of the knee-jerk idiots care to defend their position now?
De Gea was brilliant FOR THE UMPTEENTH TIME THIS SEASON. Hope that the media will finally give him some credit for his performances … won’t hold my breath though, as he isn’t England’s blue-eyed-boy, Joe Hart.
Tactically astute and although I was terrified in the first half, we settled down and imposed ourselves more in the second.
Roll on the next leg … !
Must add that Evra really struggled but against the players he had to mark, it was expected!
DDG and Welbeck were great tonight, credit to them. Rafa has been terrific all year, and much of last year aswell but he just went missing today, Rooney wasn’t at his best either. It just goes to show how important it is to have a team, a squad, players who are ready to give it everything when a teammate might be having an off day. Good team performance, could have been 4-4, spectacular goalkeeping at both ends, and a few spurned opportunities. Advantage United, Reading on monday, 12 points clear…life is sweet.
Did I miss something thought Tony V came on with 8 fucking minutes left,wtf is wrong with half of you.Utd just tied away from home with a team that was supposed to wipe the floorwith us.Second half Utd contained very easy, Madrid looked like fuck all.This is a excellent result,all the trolls and cunts come out matchday don’t even know half of the user names.Just a bunch of cunts or as thick as fuck,jesus there’s some fucking retards that show up on here
@Dela
focus on what I wrote mate, I am talking about Rooney who played 90minutes international football against Brazil, 90minutes against Everton.moreove I was watching him tonight, he was unable to run at many occasion.that was my point, when your top star is physically not there its worthwhle to consider the alternative.
@Dela
focus on what I wrote mate, I am talking about Rooney who played 90minutes international football against Brazil, 90minutes against Everton.moreove I was watching him tonight, he was unable to run at many occasion.that was my point, when your top star is physically not there its worthwhle to consider the alternative.if you still don’t agree then we can agree to disagree, but you can see all those incidents by yourself.
We have a better measure of them now, we will deal better at OT. Boys did well. This was a really fast high tempo game very direct and played at pace. The youngsters will learn. Our MF was good defensively, distribution was not great, but then Jones is not a natural MF passing wise and it will take more time for that side of his game to develop.
Remember Evra, RVP, Roon, Rafa, all played a very tough game against Everton on Sunday and had little rest, then had to travel, we can now relax a bit in the league I hope and SAF will hopefully rest more players before the home leg, no doubt he will, 3 weeks to go, would be great to have extended our lead in the league by then.
What the hell happened to Valencia we knew? I thought we did well overall, just needed to be more clinical. Job done. We have given ourselves a platform to win at OT. Varane was a straight red, last defender, clipped Pat’s heel right infront of ref. RVP had the easiest chance of the night, a sitter, but he has had a full on few weeks. When we got the ball in the final third we attacked at will, could have had a few more shots from distance, Carrick could have tried one or two when well positioned.
People being critical of Rooney, he was end to end and defending v Everton, he also provided the assist to the goal. Given that, this was a really good result, we should be fresher and know them better next time, we have a diverse enough squad to keep them guessing, they will play pretty much same.
@Andromeda –> Oh I’m sorry mate! I’ve had a “few!” to drink
Fair play to Fergie, said we didn’t have the possession we should have, and said there was some disappointing things about the game.. but also said we’ll score at Old Trafford and gave praise to that boy Ronaldo for that gorgeous header.
Lads, that OT game is going to be immense!!
FERG ON DE GEA ” You have to listen to some IDIOTS in the game” message sent to GARY NEVILLE And Co…….
fergie knows he can’t mess with Maureen’s head, but he can mess with Ronnie’s.
Jose got the better tactics?? Just fuck off! Fuckin bernabeu n we got a draw over
two legs! We cld hav nicked it if not for some fuck refereeing! Ronnie’s goal shldnt.
hav been, ball was out for throw. They can’t break us down. Lucky to have 11men on
e field. RVP simply unlucky. Stop whining n enjoy e priceless advantage we got! Sir Alex
Is a genius! Who wld have bet on Danny to start!! Jonesy monster!! We will make Ronnie
cry on his return!! What a nite!! Too much of FIFA 13 plyrs in here. Expecting Utd to attack
all e time. Just one glitch…Wazza! Come back stronger n get us to Wembly!!
What to say.. Jones=MONSTER.. Some performance in all fairness..Rem the comparison to DC
Wellbeck too, and DeGea..And Rio.. Evans..Kagawa held poseesion well most of the night..bar RVP chance he was sublime tonight and looked diff classs..Rooney out of position.. thought our subs were pretty much fairly harmless ..
In first half when Rvp beat two on line saw Real Madrid fan stand up and clap respect…
Thought Danny was immense tonight and played his heart like a manc so i bend over so ya can kiss me hairy arse ya dirty fuckers to those who slag him off reguarly..
thought SAF was Tactically brillant tonight, they overran us in first half and in second we contained them, this is what Celtic and Inter did to Barca so found it funny that Mourinho should slag us for been tactically astute when he will do exactly the same thing should they take a lead the next night..
come on united!!!!
comparisons to DE.. JD taking its effect:)
Great game by all, and would not change a thing, but i cant help but feeling sorry for the little Pea.. It seems that the world forgot he exists! I think he deserved at least 10 minutes.
Am I the only one who thought Giggs chance was every bit as easy as van Persie.
@dela
Ronaldo just can’t be boo’ed at Old Trafford. He celebrated a bit after the goal tonight and that’s fair enough, they are under pressure, but he’s a class act, he’ll go down as one of the greatest of all time, and who amongst us doesn’t love that asshole?
“Ye, fair play to Madrid fans, we call them a virus and all that but when Giggsy came on there wasn’t a boo in the house, just applause. Serious respect for that!”
exaclty. BIG respect for that.
@in general
and why all are on the bandwagon of saying f”’ off to welbeck haters, I don’t recall anyone hating Welbeck, and if someone did, they were trolls. Slating is one thing but constructive critisism is welcomed. It’s another thing to separate those: fakes and those who wants the best from the lad and expect alot from him, on the Internet.
I speak by my behalf, and admit being a pain in the ass about Welbs, but have never ever slated him and today he did what I expect of a talented prospect like him. Score a goal and play an outsanding game! He has had those kind of games earlier this season, but now he did also score.
Once again I will say it, he became a man, and let’s hope that from now on we have 4 deadly strikers for the remaining of the season and he has the confident boost!
PS. Miss Chicharito, but I reckon that there will be more moments when the lad saves us, and I hope it’s in the finals of the season and in the CL-final
dreaming of that 99 night when it turns into the 2013 night.
peace. and stay UNITED!
@ Dela if you look at result, it is fer. Ref was shit, unlike result
But i know it is all tactics, but they could score. It s big gamble to play like this with team like RM. We were lucky today. They need small chance to score, so we, but we defend, and they attacked us…another thing is that we should be more brave, and we could score. I can t see us defending….it is not us, humiliating is when they put you in the box…no matter what result is. That is my opinion. Welbeck was top player.
In one way i want us win..then we can reach final, but when i see our middle against RM, i m asking myself what is going to happen when Barca come. I can t see us loseing third time from them. But our middle can t do shit against Barca. We struggled with RM. I feel so desperate…i can t buy mid player. We have good workers in the middle, but we need 2-3 tehnical players and then we have all to fight with best.We always say that we are the one of the best clubs in the world…but then we have to be able to win RM or Barca..they are now maybe top..and Bayern and us.
I just didnt saw game like you all did, that we played great. 1st half..shit, 2 nd half goood
No. Giggs had two men closing in fast.
Jones is going to be immense in another couple of years
I have got to say was nervous about tonights tie. Madrid have incredible pace down the wings. Varane, coentrao, ronaldo, dimaria, all can cut a flank open. And Ozil gives them the ability to stab you in the center while you’re trying to keep the wingers out. It was all down to that first save by DDG. If that had been a goal it wouldve been a completely different match. Best aspect for me was that unlike when we faced Barca and Bilbao, we were not even close to outplayed. Tactical, focused and compact best describes it. In fact even when concentration wavered Madrid didn’t look good enough to take advantage. And on the break we sliced them open a number of times. Initially it looked like the occasion was getting to a few of the lads on both teams, but am proud how they stood up and were counted. Shorn of their traditional counterattacking, with Jones and Carrick hunting them down, Madrid looked devoid of ideas.
DDG looked to be in his element back at Madrid, and Van Persie looked like he belonged and on another day couldve have truly shone. As others have mentioned Rooney and RVP looked tired. Surprisingly so did Madrid in the second half. Finally Welbeck looks like he is ready to make the step up. Also there were defensive substitutions form Madrid recognizing the danger United posed. Mourinho will be more careful next time. Hopefully with Vida back, our lads more composed and a rested RVP, United could will hurt them in the return leg. Am hoping Cleverley gets a chance to play as well.
Madrid are a side to be respected but not feared. But now with twelve points to play with we should be able to rest and prepare better. Ronaldo could always be a difference maker. Today showed though that we have a few of our own.
“We sat back off them too much in the first half and they had a lot of play around the edge of our box which is not healthy or good to watch. It was unlike us in many ways …”
See, even SAF agrees with me
Real had 29 efforts on goal with 14 on target. We’ll have a very good night if we manage the same against them at OT.
Valencia seems to have arrived at a crisis point with his confidence and self belief, could it simply be that everyone now knows that they just need to force him onto his left side? Surely this can’t be the first time in his career that this tactic has been used wholesale on him. Maybe Rafael needs to make more runs inside to drag players away from the flank – giving Valencia more space to run into. He’s getting contained far too easily.
And i m really ssorry that RVP didnt score at least once…
@mara
I’m glad Fergie admitted that. I was thinking the same at half time. Maybe it was because the midfielders were still trying to figure out what their individual duties were, but Real were finding it too easy to reach our penalty box.
Yeah that’s right Tony V comes on for 8 mins and I can clearly tell he has a confidence problem.FFS there’s been many stupid things said on Rom but even bringing Tony V into any equation in regards to the game is about as stupid as it gets let alone judging he’s lost his confidence.He was on the pitch for 8 mins jesus wept,
Well Einstein, where did I say I was just talking about tonight? What an idiot.
Brilliant result. But I’m pretty sure after today we can put to rest the Welbeck/DDG shit. They obviously just dont have it takes to lead United to any sort of resul…wait a second. Seriously though, was that ref not the worst ever? Red for Varane? Blowing the fucking whistle with 4 seconds to go, right as RVP tries to take the kick? (any other year, it be like, ah fuck it, but Evra seems to grow a foot for corners now a days haha).
German referee’s a Bayern fan…Suddenly memories start rolling back!!!
He had a good game against Everton so what game are you talking about you fucking muppet,I only have to read your comment at 21.49 to tell me what kind of cunt you are,
Fergie got his tactics spot on. Players mostly executed to perfection. The ref really sucked.
The cunt ref needs to be investigated. No red for Varane, stupid yellow cards to RvP and Valencia, and the fucking stupid corner at the end.
Platini really fucking hates the English.
I don’t get why the FA is doing nothing about his clear bias against English clubs?
Redhot – Knew there had to be something a little off about him, probably been waiting for this for years
Did he even book anyone else besides RVP?
fairly decent result.i must say evans has really improved.danny and de gea were just immense.that solo run by wellbeck where he went past 3 players was awesome.
peeps on here say rooney played shit but cmon give him some credit..took the corner 4 wellbeck’s goal..also put rvp thru on goal and if he’d scored y’all be singing rooney by now.he def misplaced alot of passes but u cant fault his work rate.all in all he put in a good shift.
good to see giggsy ..prolly shld have come on a lil bit earlier….impressive work by jones yet again but the guy cant pick a decent forward pass to save his life.
As for valencia give him a break .y’all just love to go ham on a player..he came in with 9 mins to play..had a decent game against everton and i’m backing him to get some form back.
di maria ran rings around us.didnt know he was that good.relieved to see him go off
The 2nd leg is poised on the edge, what approach should fergie take? Certainly can’t go all gung-ho, it has to be a methodical and tactical way in the 2nd leg as we’ve seen, madrid are devastating on the counter attack. It’s all about being solid and picking the right moment to attack added with the fact that possession has to be cherished a little more. Same defensive shift will be needed, same heroics off de gea and his outfield counterparts will be needed, fortune will be needed, the entire madrid team not clicking will be needed (easier said than done) but ultimately, united have to take their chances, squandering them isn’t good, need to be clinical. I can see the positive side to the draw but reality means i’m also reserved, the quality of the oppositiob cannot be underestimated on the biggest of stages, still on the knife edge.
There you go again Albert. He was one of the first names on the team sheet last season, now he is no longer a regular, maybe you disagree with Fergie? You then pick out one game as proof of something as if it applies to the whole season – hardly scientific is it?
Besides Albert, what do you thing this is N. Korea or the Third Reich? Everybody is entitled to an opinion here, even you Albert.
Phony cunt,plastic cunt,daft cunt and by what I’ve been reading clueless cunt or maybe all of the above
Albert, that’s a very articulate and convincing argument you’ve put across there, congratulations. Tell me, are you a scouser or were you just born without a brain?
Oh oh its so depressing watching Utd reduced to playing long ball,oh oh it makes a mockery of the Premier league,that’s either Troll material or you’re just fucking clueless.Utd didn’t go there to play footbal they went to get a result .Utd will be a different animal at OT,I forgot negative cunt.
I know the ref decision is not good but you don’t need too much moaning about that.
we just scored one goal and its a fact.
That’s it? can’t you go and get your dad or someone to help you put some sense into your posts?
Mate my posts make perfect sense and like I said all anyone has to read your post at 21.49 to figure you out.Who gives a fuck if Madrid had 29 shots on goal what a fucking useless stat when the score was 1-1 why even bring it up unless its to reinforce oh its so depressing Utd are reduced to long ball you troll cunt
Utd did what they had to do so fuck off
As far as I can see you have 2 posts at 21.49 and 00.59 both posts are knocking Utd and praising Madrid,in the 00.59 post decide to take shots at Tony V and Rafa so apart from your user name I see nothing showing me your a Utd fan
Funny that considering most ABU’s weren’t giving Utd any chance and as a long time Red its a brilliant result and I’m proud of the lads
A little humour to end the show.
Luis Suarez has warned Liverpool players to expect racist abuse on their trip to Zenit St Petersburg.
“Four hours of listening to him call me a negro then”, added Raheem Sterling…
Pilib de Brún @Malachians
(Twitter)
“Spoke to an ex Utd player after the game tonight and he says that Chicharito is not happy at his playing time and is considering his future”
For what it’s worth …
Is it me or has van persie’s lethal finishing gone down a notch in the past few games? I mean this is not a criticsm and we have been spoilt rotten but could do with him with putting his hammer of a left foot through the ball and hitting shots accurately, clinical finishing is needed by all members as we trundle through the crucial stage of the season.
Yes hernandez is unlikely to be dancing around due to the fierce competition but he’ll always face this in every big club he moves to, parts and parcel of being at a big club, he has to realise he’s part of a squad and he has had enough games this season anyway and i will hardly take the advice of “an ex united player”, always one fool trying to derail united.
Theredderdevil says:
Heskeeeey!!!”
What a cunt, when that goal flew in and the boy putting in yet another great performance must have kicked you up the fanny and OH yeah, we can also safely say emile has achieved more than you ever will.
@Samuel
I think Van Persie is starting to feel the pressure. Not saying he’s not up for it but you have to remember what a typical February was for Van Persie. He was part of a side that kept bottling it in multiple competitions during this time of the year. This is the first time in his career that he’s part of a team that has chance to win something.
He should be ok. He has the kind of character to make sure that miss fires him up. I was gutted to see him miss, but better him than Welbeck. Can you imagine the shitstorm in here if RVP scored and Welbeck missed that chance yesterday?
Gary Neville :
It was a foul by Varane no doubt. But had the referee given it, he would have had to sent Varane off which is not the easiest thing to do at the Bernabeau in such a big game. Maybe the pressure got to him.
I agree. Referee had an absolute howler. Even late in the 2nd half, Evra ran clear and was blatantly bought down by Arbeloa to stop the counter. Everyone in the stadium thought it was a foul except the referee. Ramos clearly elbowed Evans right in the front of the referee and still got away with it while RvP and Valencia were booked for the same offense.
Areboa – 8 fouls, no card, Coentrao – 4 fouls, no card.
Rafael – booked for just his 2nd challenge.
Hope we get a strong referee in the 2nd leg….
And finally, Sergio Ramos is a pussy.. an absolute wanker
A good result to bring back but the tie is not over yet as RM could be more deadly at OT if United leave spaces at the back in trying to play too much attacking football. Was impressed by Varane however, he’s young yet he’s got the maturity of someone playing for many years. RvP needs to get a grip on himself and may be some rest as well, so that he can fire Utd to the next round when these 2 sides meet again
The referee was poor right from the start and was erring on the side of caution the whole night in favour of Madrid. There was no way he was going to pull them up over anything unless it was nothing short of murder. The cards we received were very soft and yes, Sergio Ramos is a cunt. He’s a big tough bastard when he wants to be and he’s a squirming little pussy when it suits.
i just cant get over the performance from welbeck last night. i mean fuck me that for me was as goos a performace as ive seen from a united player in years and considering it was at the galatifags ground tells you alot. fergie must be like fuck me my heads pickled. also great to see ronnie and fergie hug last night. nearly brought a tear to my eye. and was it just me or did the madrid fans give giggs a great reception when he came on.. respect to them for that
MORNING REDS! AHHHHH SWEET MORNING OF RED ADULATION!
United are the flavor of the month on all the radio feeds….. NICE
Check this one:
Pedro Pinto @pedrocnn
I was wrong and I admit it. Manchester United were very good and deserved a draw at the Bernabeu. Look forward to 2nd leg! @CNNFC
Positives:
Fergie handing big jobs over to youth and them stepping up.
Phil Jones! Job done v Ronaldo and kept concentration to the 93rd minute. Big job done.
Danny Welbeck! Trained for this since he was 8. Viral infestation? NO PROBLEM! Born and Red.
Jonny Evans! Handed big jobs last 2 weeks, been stepping up all season in my view. Pique who? Born and Red.
MR DAVID DE GEA ladies and gentlemen. Fergie took him to the press conference and presented him to Madrid. Said this is what we do at Manchester United. Didn’t let Fergie down did he!
Should have won it on our own account. The Ref was doing his upmost to make sure that didn’t happen. Very very poor from the Ref.
@ Costas
Spot on. That is what i m talking about. They are very dangerous. So if you give them a space, what we did, you can get hurt. Things could go the other way, they could score and than we would be in big problems. 2nd half was far better.
I hope Nani plays in the 2nd leg. Who can bring the ball forward at wing? Atm not valencia or young.
Kungfoocantona.
I thought RM whistled at every United substitution.
Including the legend that is Sir Ryan.
I shouted at the TV saying have respect and then I voiced on how we
gave Ronaldo’s hat trick a standing ovation at OT in 03.
Maybe I got it wrong and there was no need for my rant
Very emotional match.
Have a few mate who were there, I will ask them.
Viva Welbeck!!!
I think we had a game plan and stuck to it – score an away goal, be content with a draw, a win would be a bonus but above all else have something we can build on to take back for the return at Old Trafford. As a plan it worked although by the end of evening I had a nagging feeling that Real Madrid are overrated and we should have put them out of the tie, RVP miss or no ( RVP’s miss was just one of of those things fellas, it happens to the best of them sooner or later). Suffice to say, I fully expect us to beat RM at OT, this time playing to OUR strengths, as opposed to nullifying theirs. And we’ll have to win as expecting RM not to score is too risky to hope for. We made a lot of adjustments yesterday in deference to playing RM on their park (e.g. playing Rooney deeper out of position, effectively nullifying his goal threat) that I fully expect SAF will amend.
Good result and a good performance by some of the players but again an English team
has been shown to be years behind their continental counterparts in terms of ball retention
and control of the play. I don’t think we strung more than 3 or 4 passes together all night
before losing it or hitting it long.
De Gea was outstanding – apart from a few flaps in the first half his saves and handling were
excellent.
Welbeck – Once he scored the goal he really came into it and was great at holding up the ball
and linking the play. Died on his feet out there.
Van Persie – the only player we have with real skill and fluidity of movement and though isolated
he always looked dangerous and got his chances which he couldn’t take. It was a pity he tried to
burst the volley from 8 yards when getting it on target would have done.
In defence we were ok with the exception of rafa who was rash on too many occasions.
I thought we stood off too much but got it together in the second half and forced Madrid back.
Evans was probably the best of the lot.
Rooney took another one for the team and spent the night closing down and chasing and had no real
opportunity to play football.
Kagawa did ok but made no real impression.
Carrick needs someone beside him and I was surprised it wasn’t Cleverly. Those two together can take some control of the midfield but Carrick on his own struggled.
Jones played well, not a central midfield player as he doesn’t have the vision or passing skills but
put in a huge effort all night.
Of the subs only Giggs did anything of note and a pity he didn’t shoot first time when he had his chance. Neither Valencia nor Anderson did anything and never got near the pace of the game.
The one thing I can’t understand is that when we pass the ball we just stand around looking. No-one shows in support of the player on the ball and they are left to fend for themselves and end playing a poor pass under pressure,a long ball or losing it. Everytime Madrid, Barca etc get the ball they support the player on it always providing an outlet and this is one of the reasons we can’t retain posession in midfield.
Ex-United player on Pea is probably Tevez.
Glad Pea wants more playing time, but yeah as noted above it will be same at other big clubs, I would expect Barca to bid for him though, he will offer them something different. He could certainly start more games at Chelsea than Torres.
From Jose comments he clearly was not prepared for how we set up, but then who was, I would say SAF clearly outfoxed him, honours even, if this was the second leg, we would be through. In the end Maureen was making defensive changes and we were getting more chances, SAF genius master high lord, Maureen eye poker and 3 term punter of the highest order. Finish him SAF!
I think we gave RM too much respect, they are not as good as Barca. The boys will learn.
Between now and the second leg on 5th March, there’ll be plenty of comments coming from Mourinho’s mouth, hoping to put doubts into the minds of United players and fans. It started immediately after last night’s game, when he said that lots of teams come to Old Trafford and score. Whilst that may be true this season, he conveniently forgot to say that United usually score more than the visitors.
Fergie’s too wise to fall into the trap of responding to every comment made by Mourinho. Look how relaxed he was at the pre-match press conference in Madrid, with some witty responses to questions about Rooney and De Gea. His comments about Rooney not being able to read Spanish and De Dea being able to walk now, were classic put downs, and if the media were hoping for an angry or controversial reply, they must have been disappointed as Fergie gave the aura of being a confident man, completely in control.
Yes, the game is delicately poised at 1-1, but significantly the return leg is at home. When Fergie uses the words “we’ve got a great chance” you know exactly what he means, and over the years we’ve come to trust him.
But let’s not underestimate the effect of the crowd on 5th March. If you’re lucky enough to get a ticket for the match, don’t just come to watch United. Make sure you come to support United.
Fans with longer memories will remember the unbelievable noise at Old Trafford when Barcelona came to protect a 2-0 first leg lead in a Cup-Winners Cup tie in the 80s, and were promptly blown away 3-0 in the return match. I remember the players describing the pitch as shaking, and for me, it remains one of the best atmospheres I’ve ever seen in my life. I went in the Stretford End with 2 mates, and after Robson scored the first goal, everyone surged down the packed terraces and we never saw each other again until after the match.
Standing areas may have gone, and being able to go to a game with groups of friends may have gone, but the capacity at Old Trafford is now much higher than it was in the 80s. Let’s give them a real ‘Welcome To Manchester’ on the night.
Fergie reminding us all that he can still be a wily tactical fox when he wants to me.
Experimented with opening up the game in the first half, got it 1-1, then slowed it right down in the second. For all the passes they had in front of us, their penetration was rare, and we could’ve (should’ve) snatched the win through RvP.
Rooney wasn’t great but, as so often in Europe, his creativity and dynamism was sacrificed for the good of the team. We should be grateful that he accepts this role so readily in these kinds of matches.
Also interesting to hear Fergie say that he plonked Welbeck on Alonso in the second half. Could well explain why Ronaldo saw so much less of the ball in that period.
Rafael scared me at times. Was clearly trying a little too hard. I think he’ll be a lot more comfortable at OT.
It would be very dangerous for the prospect of a 0-0 to be in any of our players’ minds during the next leg. We must set out to score. Will be fascinating to see how we set up in 3 weeks’ time.
Its still 50:50 in my opinion, Real Madrid are obviously not in a good position to come to Oldtrafford and defend, its certain that they will come and attack but we must all remember that Jose is a kind of manager that when he attacks he doesn’t give the opponents so much space, they can punish us at home quite easily.we should be ready for all the expectations.
Personally I would rather fancy the manager to go with a mildly cautious lineup.We have all seen their stormy pace and tempo, they have exploited the flanks in the best way, tormenting Rafa and Evra altogether, but the lads stood still and raise to the occasion particularly in the second period were Fergie has outwitted Mou.
Overall we did very well, Danny has been the rocket that kept buzzing all the time, sticking to every defender’s ass.his energy and enthusiasm has lifted us to another level.Jones were fantastic too, he kept watching Ronnie as he was his shadow, his personality and perfect body status has provided him with the needed composure and stability, at the first half he was a bit slow to be honest but once got the instruction at the break, he flamboyantly nullify Ronnie’s threat.Both Evans and Rio were up to the task, they were brave like lions and tough like nails, their positional play and degree of concentration were spot on.De Ge, phew!!!!what a reflex and natural prediction for a goal keeper, his heroic acts kept us on our toes, as Fergie said he is evolving all the time, within a couple of years his doubters should literally bite their hands.Our full backs had a difficult time in trying to contain the likes of Di Maria, Ronnie and Ozil, nevertheless terrific performance from the lads, they never gave up chasing the ball.RVP as always had a great game, although he missed two important chances but his controlling of the ball and dribbling power is second to none.
@Manc Harvin
Wise and encouraging words mate, happy to see so much mature fans here.hopefully we will batter them at Oldtrafford, but as you said we shouldn’t underestimate them.the three key points are
Concentration, concentration and concentration.
Giggs did get a get a great ovation from RM crowd.
Got that one wrong. Oh well my bad @ 10.06
Costas – you’re right on RVP about not being involved in the nitty gritty part of the season, he could be feeling the nerves but he needs shake it off, let’s hope he’s just having a mini blip and is back to his razor sharp best as quick as possible. Yes, if that welbeck, i think we’d have seen some of the ballerinas on here throwing out their tampons.
New FIFA Rankings Just out! After beating Brazil in a friendly with 4 United players, England are up to 4th.
1. Spain (Inesta),
2. Germany (Podolski)
3. Argentina(Messi)
4. England (DannyWelbeck!)
Had to happen!
NBI – you can’t afford not to respect them, they may not be barca but who is? They’ve expensively assembled a squad of talented players capable with individual ability. A ronaldo, an ozil, a di maria e.t.c are more than capable of carving things open, this is why united have to produce another solid all round shift, united cannot go gung-ho because i still think, despite the away goal, the match is still on the edge. Real will come with a counter attacking approach and we’d be foolish to assume they aren’t dangerous. The 2nd leg will be pumped up, i would gladly take a nil nil and a dull affair but we know this won’t be case, it’s all about restricting real and resisting them from Scoring more than one whilst hoping united can score more.
Costas Interesting thoughts on RvP. But I’m not so sure it’s not just a cyclic issue that shouldn’t concern much. He was close enough on at least 2 occasions last night and IF he had scored your thesis would be in the bin.
Easy to be critical of strikers. Everyone says Rooney is having an off season, but he has been crucial in the last month in my view. RvP scored for fun between Sept and Dec., Rooney is scoring for fun in Jan-Feb. Not too bothered if they miss a couple of games. And what about Danny? Only scored 2 this season, but that one last night will do for awhile won’t it!
Incredible performance from the youngsters last night. If we win this tie, won’t be too worried about the manner of it.
Manc harvin – absolute spot on, got to have oldtrafford rocking and loud, i think another one of those atmospheres was the 1-0 win against barca and the waves of “believe” could be seen everywhere, we can’t underestimate the ability of fans pushing the players over the line and of course i’m not deluded to assume that’s enough to conquer madrid and yes, performances and effort have to match the fans’ support but it does help.
Puh!!Marca blames the referee for making two mistakes against Real Madrid!!
Bullshit Spanish Journals always complaining.
I would love to have the match ticket for Oldtrafford game, but by time I will be in the middle of something:(
However I would love to see the fans neither jeering nor cheering Cristiano, We must give their whole players a difficult time though.We must show them our class.
great game and result
we are back in europe
we could have win it by 3 or 4
ddg is just brilliant
welbeck in 2 years he should be the best fw in the world he just lack goals
rio is a legand for me absolute class sign him on
jones. fucking awsome and we forget that he is only 20
@andromeda
You have to say, if Jones on Di Maria had happened the other way round, you’d have wanted a penalty. It was by no means nailed on though.
On the other hand, there were two yellows against us (RvP on Ramos?!), the complete bottling of the Varane/Evra incident, and the bizarre full-time whistle before we took the corner. Never seen that from a ref before. Real had looked shocking under corners for the whole game.
Agree with all the comments about how poor the ref was, unbelievable that no Real players were booked & when Varonne brought Evra down that was a nailed on red card. Anyone notice the RVP booking, he touched Ramos just under his chin & then Ramos is rolling around on the floor like a big girls blouse holding his nose, even though his nose wasn’t touched & amazingly the incompetent ref falls for it & shows the yellow.
Something that annopyed me while wathcing on Sky was that at half time they were going on about how the corner where Danny scored shouldn’t have been given because Kagawa touched the ball last, yet they didn’t say a word about the fact the ball clearly went out of play & so should have been a United throw just prior to the Real Madrid goal.
Love is in the air, everywhere I look around
Love is in the air, every game at every ground
And I don’t care if I’m being foolish
I don’t care if I’m being wise
Coz United is what I believe in
And I will ’til the day my heart dies.
Happy Valentines day United, love of my life!
@kanchelskis
In my opinion the Jones-Di Maria Incident was quite legal from a football point of view, the former being tough and has a well formed body building, so it makes sense to me that any subtle contact will be literally put on to spot light, however I agree with you, if it was the other way around I wouldn’t be so pleased but nevertheless truth is truth, after all Jones did use his shoulder, didn’t he?
As for Varane-Evra incident, I was utterly disappointed.it should have been a foul with at least a yellow card, but too little too late.The referee was already under too much pressure, trying to justify something lurking on his head.
@markynorbs
I cant be certain mate because i was in the pub but it looked like they did. but if they didnt then i take it back and there still a bunch of cunts.lol.
I don’t think the Jones/Di Maria contact was a penalty..it was more shoulder to shoulder than anythign else. He’s a big lad against a light forward runnning at full tilt and who’s not afraid to go down.
Take Me Home, United Road
To The Place I Belong
To Old Trafford
To See United
Take Me Home, United Road
Happy Valentine to all the fellow Reds<3
Jones/Di Marie was never a penalty. completely legitimate challenge from Jones, I certainly wouldn’t have expected a penalty if it happened the other way round.
Totally agree with Manc Harvin,
Time for OT crowd to shake off the cobwebs, and become the proverbial 12th man that we only seem to see at really big games.
Well it doesn’t get much bigger!
Those lucky enough to be going, remember its your obligation and responsibility to play your part!
God willing we can make it another magical night like ’84, that future generations might reminisce about too!
ForzaUtd!
A couple of weeks ago Scott voiced concerns about Jones becoming a John O’Shea type figure. Shunted around the field as a utility player, without ever specialising.
Last night gave me confidence that he can be so, so much more than that. It was one of those occasions where were he reminded me – in a good way – of John Terry. Tenacious, energetic, uncompromising and determined to the last. I think – eventually – he, Evans and Smalling will settle as our CB trio, rotated according to their individual talents. Smalling for his height and ability on the ball. Jones for the qualities mentioned above. And Evans for his positioning, distribution and all-round game.
I have questions to my fellow Reds,after such heroic performance, does inclusion of Phil Jones is a necessity at Oldtrafford?if not, what are the alternative tactical man marking?and how can we improve our attacking style?
It’s hard to believe Jones is only 20. He plays with great confidence and no fear whatsoever. Personnally though I’d prefer to see him at centre back. Ferdinand and Vidic mightn’t have much left and Jones would be perfect. I don’t think he has the passing skills or positional sense required for midfield.
@andromeda
I think he has to be one of the first names on the teamsheet at OT.
Speaking of teamsheets, will be interesting to see how we set up against Reading on Monday. Some of the players will be knackered after that game. Surely Rio, RvP, Carrick, at the very least, have to rest?
Lindy (cup keeper)
Rafael
Vidic
Smalling
Buttner (?)
Young
Clev
Ando
Nani
Chico
Welbz
Mark Robins is the new Huddersfield Manager
United striker, youth player and FA Cup hero in the late 80′s
Sir Alex has a share in a number of racehorses, two of which – Harry The Viking and What A Friend – are slated to run in this year’s prestigious Grand National at Aintree. The Grand National is a handicap steeplechase race run over four miles and four furlongs. It has been held at the Aintree Racecourse since 1839. The race is to be held on Saturday, April 6.
The handicappers at Betfred consider Prince De Beauchene as the most likely winner with odds of 12/1. On His Own, Seabass and Tidal Bay are presently clustered at 14/1. The current odds for Sir Alex’s horses are: Harry The Viking 25/1 and What A Friend 40/1.
“I was in Manchester for six years so tonight was very emotional for me” Ronaldo said last night. “I scored a goal but I didn’t celebrate out of respect. Maybe United are favourites now, maybe not. Anything can happen. Sometimes we are better away than at home so we will see. It will be amazing to play at Old Trafford again after four years. It will be another emotional night.”
Sir Alex Ferguson revealed that Ronaldo came into the dressing room after the match: “I spoke to him. He is sitting in our dressing room, talking to the lads. He had six years with us and I am proud of how he flourished. I blamed Patrice Evra for not challenging for his goal until I saw the replay and felt a bit stupid. His knee is about as high as Evra’s head – phenomenal. I don’t think any other player in the world can do that, certainly not Messi.”
“I don’t think any other player in the world can do that, certainly not Messi.”
Understandable given that Messi makes Evra look like Crouch. Let’s be real, though, Messi’s still the better player.
And it is so obvious that Ronaldo wants back in at OT that it’s making me gag.
RedRiverRed
>>> And it is so obvious that Ronaldo wants back in at OT that it’s making me gag. <<<
Hahaha, love this. Entire Viral press is writing stories about how their only inform strike wishes he had never left us. Can't buy publicity like this.
Sadly, the economics just don't look likely. On top of that, We Never Look Back!
(well, except for Sparky! ) Ha!
Think De Gea was a very happy lad after the trip as well. Fergie 1 Mourinho 0 in my book
Anyone seeing this stuff about Wee Wes interview
1. Story is that he gave an interview with a Turkish news paper in which he confirms that United put in a 20M euro offer, but that Milan wanted 50M.
2. Minute the ink is dry on that, his twiter account claims he never gave an interview.
Wee Wes, HA
Off topic. United report their profits today. Good numbers, debt down and the commercial side really driving growth.
“First-half pre-tax profit has surged by more than 70 per cent at Manchester United following a jump in revenues during the second quarter.
The club, which also saw debts fall by more than £70m year-on-year, reported pre-tax profit of £22.3m for the six months to 31 December 2012, up from £12.8m for the same period a year earlier.
Revenues jumped 6.5 per cent to £186.4m for the same periods, driven by a 29 per cent increase in commercial sales and a 4.8 per cent rise in broadcasting income.
The club’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) hit £66.5m during the first-half, up 3.6 per cent compared with 2011 figures.”
http://beautifullyred.co.uk/2013/02/14/de-gea-wonder-save-rvp-skill-and-more-united-gifs-from-the-madrid-game/
We’ve really become a more solid unit over the last few weeks, need to keep this up. We were a big threat on the counter as well….I just wish we’d got a second away goal though. Madrid are almost certain to score at our place so really we’ve just cancelled that out in advance lol. I’m hoping we don’t pay for those misses.
I thought the second half we actually stifled them well. In the first half Kagawa, (who was pretty promising going forward) didn’t do a lot defensively. This meant Jones kept getting dragged forward to Alonso and left Ozil with acres of space behind him. I was really worried with the amount of space they were getting in front of our defence (especially coz Rio and Evans like to hang back and not close players down early)
But then Fergie changed it…..Welbeck did a much better defensive job at the top of the midfield than Kagawa….this meant Jones didn’t get need to get dragged forward, he could stay tight. Kept our shape, kept our discipline (well done to Rafael for a good second half despite being on a booking).
The spine of our team was brilliant – De Gea, Rio, Evans, Carrick, Jones and Welbeck. Rooney was poor, passing was off and didn’t do as well defensively as I expected. I’d play him on the left in the second leg, his attacking play is a lot better from there.
kagawa need to improve his touch is sublime but his workr rate…………….
i think in the 2end leg young will be fit wich will give us option
if rvery body stay fit i would love to see a
kagawa need to improve his touch is sublime but his workr rate…………….
i think in the 2end leg young will be fit wich will give us option
if rvery body stay fit i would love to see a formation like that
ddg
rafa mr rio vida evra
nani carrick tom young
rooney
rvp
Interesting read on pressure on Referees.
Basically says that Mourinho considers refs bought and paid for
You definitely got the impression that Feliz Brych was feeling pressure last night.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2278577/How-Jose-Mourinho-influences-referees–Graham-Poll.html
Gutted. No tickets for me for the return leg!!!!
Wanted so much to be there to see the fascist team slaughtered!!!
@iced earth
Why on earth would Jones not play after last night’s performance?
I think from now till the day of the match, mourinho will playing every game to get a psychological edge, it is imperatice united ignore what he and the madrid contingent have to say and do talking on the pitch. United have to focus on the next game at loftus road, it’s a game that some changes will be required but it’s a,game united can’t take lightly, that game will likely to be hard fought and scrappy against a team fighting for points, must not underestimate them
kanchelskis
we are at home and we should keep the ball
tom is better at keeping the ball
he could come in the 2end half when the job is done and give us more solidity
he was top class yestarday he is only 20 he can devlope into world class cb in the nxt 2 years
Kanchelskis – the worry of jones being a “jack of all trade”, his flexibilty may be a block in his part to being a regular centre back and i think on the long run, he wants to be a centre back. I don’t think he’s a midfielder but due to his flexibility, he can play that role and do a job but i hope people aren’t looking at him to some sort of long term solution.
Proper game. Both sides could have nicked it really, but was very happy to see our so-called under-performers rise to the occasion: DDG, Welbz, and Carrick. Looking at the entire squad, not just a perfect XI, we deffo have what it takes to optimize any game plan we need to deploy. I think we got our tactics right last night, just some poor moments which thankfully didn’t cost us dearly (Rafa getting arsed over a bit), and won’t cost us over both legs (some misses that 99% of the time go in).
Let’s not forget that we had some let-offs too, and I expect pure attacking at Old Trafford. An away goal with a 1-1 draw is meaningless to me because there will never be a 0-0 in the second leg with either a Man United or a Real Madrid in the tie… much less against each other.
Let’s stay healthy boys, and give’em hell in two weeks.
Jones gave us great power and defensive ability, but we did miss the possession play of a Cleverley. For the second leg I’d be very tempted to bring Cleverley back in, but when you consider the situation, you’ve gotta go with Jones.
Also, a point on RVP. For the last few weeks his performance levels have been down, even when he scored vs Spurs and Everton. Last night he didn’t score but his all round performance was very good. Held up the ball and kept it very well. Need him to grab a few goals before the second leg, so he’s in a rich vein….can’t afford to be as wasteful as we were last night.
@iced earth
If we line up something like we did yesterday, we should have enough players to keep the ball (Carrick, Kagawa, RvP, Welbz), while still accommodating Jones’s ball-winning ability.
hey did anyone see htc one promo, i am truly excited about all the hype, i think htc one will be one of the top smartphones this year…not sure which android version it be running though….
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2278536/Real-Madrid-v-Manchester-United-The-football-boots-worn-Cristiano-Ronaldo-Wayne-Rooney-co.html
kanchelskis
but i think that the like s of tom young and nani are a better option
we lacked wing game yestarday wich caused us much trouble in the first half young and nani will test there full back s and provide a good help to rafa and evra
rooney will drop to help tom and carrick and give us good balence and more goal threat than kagawa
he was at his best when sir alex give him that role aginst shity and chelski
i think Jones’s ball-winning ability and power is more needed against the like s of west ham stoke…
the boy will play a crucial part in our final match s i have any doubt about that but i see him as a world class cb
wanayma will play cdm nxt year!!
@ iced earth
Was interesting to see Nani out of the squad altogether last night. I thought he’d done well against Fulham and might at least be rewarded with a place in the squad. But the way we were set up, we needed wingers to offer tenacity and solidity, for which he’s not exactly renowned!
He’ll surely start against Reading, who could well be playing a second-string XI, with a huge match against Wigan on the horizon. Could be a nice confidence-booster for him.
kanchelskis
reading qpr norwich will give sir alex the chance to rotate his squad
if we could get 6 points from qpr and norwich match the epl trophy is ours
i think nani will have a frech legs and could cause trouble to the likes of arbeloa and marselo
we should also beat reading to FA Cup sixth round
we are in good shape to win more than a trophy this year
reading game is on monday every body can get a proper rest
team vs reading
lindy
valencia smalling vida buttner
nani tom ando young
welbeck
chicharito
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2278639/Manchester-United-record-significant-rises-income-profits-Champions-League-run.html
Rumors that United have signed a new training kit sponsor.
Reuters are reporting the period will be 8 years, but is not revealing the name or the value of the deal.
One rumor is that is bwin official online gaming and betting partner.
I surely hope this is wrong as I never liked the message of teams in bed with betting concerns, but I do realize it is just a legal avenue for sponsorship.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/14/manchesterunited-sponsorship-idUSL5N0BEBJG20130214
http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1340156?cc=3888
I agree with @samuel and @iced earth and we have discussed this issue also with @in david we trust
that Tom Cleverley should be there holding the ball and not Jones, Joens DI an amazing job, but don’t go and think that he should be the long term solution, cause he’s our long term solution for the CB spot.
Anyway, great job from the lads! 1-1 is for me fantasitc even though we had the chances for more.
dg
rafa mr rio vida evra
nani carrick tom young
rooney
rvp
This is not far from what I want to see, only that, Danny Welbeck deserves his starting place and the line-up should be
DDG
Rafa Rio Vida Evra
Young Carrick Tom Welbeck
Rooney
Rvp
@Fletch
De Gea had every right to be ecstatic, didn’t he? MOTM for me. Can’t be happier for the lad.
I usually try to avoid the spanish sports news on some channels as it’s a bit like the The Sun or The Mirror on Tv. They were fairly fair to be honest and highlighted the ref’s mistakes against both sides, the ovation for Giggs, de Gea etc. There was hassle outside though. A lot of United fans with no tickets were outside the stadium and looking a bit the worse for wear and were disrupting the access of ticket holders for both sets of fans.
samuel @ 15:15: “the worry of jones being a “jack of all trade”, his flexibilty may be a block in his part to being a regular centre back and i think on the long run, he wants to be a centre back. I don’t think he’s a midfielder but due to his flexibility, he can play that role and do a job but i hope people aren’t looking at him to some sort of long term solution.”
I have to disagree – “doing a job” might not be ideal for his career but the team comes first and having another John O’Shea-type guy wouldn’t be a bad thing.
FWIW, I think that it’s as impossible to look into the middle-future as it is to predict SAF’s game line-up. Who knows what midfielder out there might be considered “value in the market” and signed this summer.
For the return leg, I’d go with a midfield-three of MC16, MrJones and YoungTom (in place of KagawaBunga who didn’t exactly cover himself in glory). I’d also like to see Chicharito see game-time as he’d have a field day against Ramos/Varane who play a very high line. Anyhow, that’s a story for another day – today, it’s basking in glory, glory.
Second leg Cleverley in place of Phil Jones, Valencia to not be in the team altogether. Nani to see some game time. Kagawa did fine to me. He played WAAY better than Rooney did. He held the ball up much better despite being far smaller and lighter than Rooney.
One thing that comes out of this all the cunts who moan and complain about how bad this squad is and all the ABU’s who said Utd didn’t have a chance all need to eat crow
Simple fact is 2nd half Utd handled Madrid easy and should’ve won the game,possession stats were only 54 to 46 in Madrids favor
Thought Madrid was supposed to be part of the best 2 teams on the planet by lots,well I didn’t see it last night and have no doubt Utd will take them out.Its about time people started giving this squad the respect they deserve,very hard team to beat
@iced earth – bit of a misnomer calling them boots….more like carpet slippers.
I remember when I was 10 playing for first game with heavy boots that had belonged to my brother from 5 or 6 years before. They were two sizes too big and weighing all the more with mud and shit stuck to them. Had to wear two pairs of socks so they would be a bit tighter and with the shin guards aswell I could barely move my legs.
Cleverly on for kagawa in the return leg and maybe Nani for Welbeck although Nani’s situation is a puzzler and I don’t think Ferguson is counting on him.
Leaving him out last night was a bit of a Berbatov moment.
I think people are making too much of the nani exclusion, he simply wasn’t part of the tactical plan fergie had away from home. One or two players are always going to be left out, it’s daft to assume every player will play.
Denton – it may not be a bad thing for manchester united but it’s a stumbling block for a burgoening phil jones looking to be a first choice, being an utility player means your development as a player isn’t ideal as you would want, your hope of being a first choice could wither away as you are tasked to fill gaps, it’s simple logic of football.
@samuel
Good point. Our squad is of a size now where top players are going to end up not in the matchday squad. Vidic and Nani last night, for example. Could be part of a tactical outlook, or could be because Nani didn’t look particularly sharp in training. Either way, I’m sure it’s nothing terminal.
Still think jones (hopefully fit) will be giving an anchoring role, we would be naive tu o assume the flow of the tie will go one way. If abything, madrid will be more dangerous on the break. It’s a dilemma, you go for jones and get robustness and defensive solidity in midfield. In cleverley, you get good distribution and better position but he hasn’t got the defensive know-how, speed and physicality to shackle those creative madrid players. I personally would go with defensive solidity and a tactical plan, cannot leave gaps and be exploited by madrid’s speed, have to balance attacking and defending well, it’s imperative. United fortune too, you need it against top teams like madrid.
I think Nani’s lapse at the end of the Carling Cup game against Chelsea has gone against him.
In a really tight game like last nights I don’t think Fergie had faith in him to have the required discipline and last night while we were run ragged at times was all about discipline.
danny – and who set up the goal? exactly. Rooney was asked to do a job, not look to win united the game, that was RVP’s job, and he almost done it. So in all, the entire team done its job, it was missing a linchpin like a cleverly who could hold the ball, and make those telling passes and get our front players into the game
samuel – I still feel we were missing cleverly yesterday, because everytime the CM got the ball, they looked nervous and lacking idea’s and none of them wanted the ball. We were so missing someone who could take the pressure off the ball, jones did a great job, but both carrick and jones needed another midfielder who could also sit deep and make those telling balls. For me second leg I feel we should have jones get that free role, let carrick and cleverly sit deep, and have welbeck rooney and RVP have a free reign. It gives better control of the ball, but far better protection of the defense
so looking at the game, the side I would go into the second leg, should be?
DDG
rafeal ferdinand evans evra
carrick cleverly
jones
welbeck RVP rooney
Make no mistake about it, Rooney was poor. I usually back him when he gets unfair stick on here but there’s no suger coating that performance. Passing was off, and I don’t think his defensive work was very good either.
BUT – he set up our goal, and RVP’s chance when he hit the bar. That’s him on an off day.
If Valencia’s form is a bit better by the time the second leg comes around – I’d put him on the right and move Rooney to the left, where I think we can make use of his attacking talents a bit better.
@In David We Trust – I’d go with that line-up but I’d stick Jones behind Carrick and Cleverly to stop those pierning runs from the likes of Di Maria and Ronaldo.
If we sit back they’ll find it hard to break us open like last night. If we play high up the pitch and they break they’ll murder us. That’s how they love to play and a large part of why they were more dangerous in the first half and struggled in the second.
Bobby Charlton’s combover – I think if we started cleverly I think we would have won, I am in the minority I thought the boss got his team wrong, playing kagwa without the main 2 linchpins was a huge error from the boss, we just could not keep the ball, and while carrick is good, he is not the most mobile of players, this is where cleverly comes in, he has been one of the main reasons why we are so far ahead, his mobility to close teams down, his energy to go box to box, and he is fantastic carrying the ball through the middle and bringing our attacking players into the game, with those telling passes. Jones while he is very mobile, he is very erratic with the ball, and not a great passer, we needed composer to take the pressure off the defense. And if we are going to progress, we are going to need players who can keep a calm head, and pass the ball, last night we were like England with the ball, and that is not Manchester united Cleverly is a huge cog in this united side, and it was crazy from the boss to leave him out, and it almost cost us
@InDavidWeTrust – You make some good points tbh. I don’t think we were like England with the ball last night though – we had 47% of the ball and had some decent spells of possession at times. What you have to remember is that keeping the ball for long periods wasn’t really our game plan (see the Barca games back in 08)
Like I said, you do make a good point about Cleverley, and like Bobby’s Combover said – it may be a decent bet playing him just in front of Carrick and Jones. The only problem is – that means Welbeck would go out wide, and I think we’re best placed to play him where he was in the second half yesterday. Just behind RVP, shutting down Alonso, and running at them on the break.
@In David We Trust
Carrick not that mobile? He covered more distance than any other United player on the pitch last night, according to UEFA stats. Only Sami Khedira covered more.
@In David We Trust
Agree that cleverley has been absolutely vital this season. Fair play to the manager though, Cleverley needs to be in the center to influence the game. Altering Kagawas position showed immediate improvement. So ultimately the person who would’ve had to make way was Jones, but Jones was crucial in shutting down madrid in the final third. Without him we would’ve suffered. If the result wouldve been different i wouldve definitely criticized Cleverleys exclusion, so i accept that. We certainly missed his ball retention in the midfield but feel we won out because of how effectively Madrid were nullified. Wouldve still liked to see Cleverley in place of Anderson perhaps since Anderson looked off the pace, but thats hindsight for you. So far so good though, we got the result. Hopefully on the return leg we can see Cleverley test himself, with maybe Vida behind him. Ball retention though has remained a broader concern and has been for a while against teams that press. Its why we are forced to defend deep.
HTC ONE RULES!
Fibes – carrick is not that mobile in a driving sense, his best work is sitting deep, keeping the team ticking, and letting the other players win the battle. That is why cleverly is a vital cog in this big red machine, he does the work for carrick, and carrick can just clean up and keep the team ticking.
Sparkz and medumtum – we still could have kept the ball while sitting deep better esp first half, it does the same job. I just do not think it is a wise move, having very little possession and riding your luck, we got to improve better. I do feel playing kagwa actually was a bad move, as he never got into the game, I do not think it makes much of a difference if welbeck played wide, but we got to use much better of the ball, so our attacking players can hurt them. We have shown how deadly we can be when we take the game to sides, as the chelsea and shitty games have shown
@In David We trust
Agreed. As i think Costas pointed out earlier, we just dont know how to use Kags yet. Particularly in a match like this. He relies on a sharp incisive game, and for that to work he needs possession and understanding with the players around him. Also his best position, as i feel might be the case with cleverley, is prolly in the hole where it is unlikely he will get a chance. Performance definitely improved once he was off. Possibly at home we can push against them. With the result as it stands, and the incredible ability Madrid have to counter, am afraid there might be a temptation to play for the nil-nil. Madrid certainly have to be shown respect, but like you i would like to see us try and hurt them at home. Unfortunately European football is more about pragmatism than flair. Difficult decisions.
Well, nani is hardly renowned for a “disciplined” role, he’s a creative player and you can analyse it as much as you want, fact is, he wasn’t part of the tactical set up against a dangerous madrid side away from home.
medumtum – I cannot pridict the future, but I do feel the team of
cleverly carrick
jones
welbeck rooney
RVP
It gives us the teeth to hurt Madrid, but we would have far greater control of the midfield, because having the 2 linchpins who sit deep,gives jones a free role to press madrid’s midfield, and with welbeck’s pace, along with the ruthless edge rooney and RVP brings to the table, we can hurt Madrid in many ways
guys read this you will crack LOL
http://www.marca.com/2013/02/13/en/football/real_madrid/1360792476.html
how on earth can this cheap publication become a major news provider in football? LOL
@in general
very good points
In the first half we were a bit asleep, but after putting Kagawa to the left, we got better. But we need Cleverley and is this means to this line-up which yet again In David We Trust got it right, then do it, only that, let’s play like madrid and put 2 defensive players and one for attack.
Rooney is vital, even though he looked a bit tired, btu his job was to hold the left side and his game was based o nthat. He assisted and put rvp for a scoring opportunity. good job in his “off” day
Jones and Carrick can hold up the play and Jones can go up like Khedira and Carraick stay behind, let cleverley float. Danny Welbeck is a mustmust, unless someone puts aa great shift before the second tie and Danny’s form reduces.
I think Young has still his say for the game and also Kagawa, but I think this looks also good by swithcing Cleverley and Jones
we would have Jones and Carrick breaking plays and Carrick with Cleverley holding the ball.
Rooney can hold it and put it forward same with Welbeck. RVP does his scoring job!
Jones Carrick
Cleverley
Welbeck Rooney
RVP
BTW
was thinking today, that besides Barcelona, there’s no other team who can hold the ball all the time, and maybe because of Barcelona and that we are ManUtd, we expect that a great team like us should hold the ball 100%, even though when 2 great teams face each other, you rarely see one team dominating the play all the time, besides Barcelona.
I myself and maybe many more should realise that we can’t contain the ball against big teams all the time, even though Manchester United should do that and not hit long balls.
That was missing i nthe first half, and that’s why we need to field a team or change the tactics so that we have players who can contain the ball more and counter even more.
peace.
@In David We Trust and Weareunited
Thats a good line up and certainly the line up that could be used preferably as a shifting 4-2-3-1. The only thing about it that bothers me is that it means sacrificing a winger. Rooney prolly will be expected to put in a shift wide with Welbeck being asked to play behind RVP. A five man midfield is the other solution but that hasnt really worked for us. I actually feel that either one of Nani or Valencia can give us the ability to slice open Madrid and Nani retains possession well. If defensive cover is the issue then i think Valencia is a good option, if, and thats a big if, he manages to regain some form. Width can be very important. Certainly we can start out with the formation you guys gave above and add wingers as and if necessary. Knowing Fergie though we might as well expect Giggs to start.
@In David we trust. Rooney was not very good last night AT ALL. Sure his corner was on the money but other than that he didn’t do much else. Yeah he was defensively solid but every player minus rafael was defensively solid yesterday. There were three times when rooney lost the ball and did not chase the defender down to try and at least pressure him into a bad pass. It just wasn’t his day yesterday but Kagawa played FAR BETTER than Rooney did in my opinion.
Keeping in line with the discussion on kags. I’d say our MF isnt quite there yet to be honest
There is a reason why silva- last season anyway and ozil and the likes seem more effective. Those guys have got real steel backing thwm up. Its unfortunate cos hes a tidy player but in order to get the best out of him we (as a team) need to pay much more attention to our ball retention.
Break neck speed is all well and good but there are many times when a more considered approach is needed.
The barcelona team `s play has bnow been studied bno wonder why they are loosing come on real bit them
If real madrid wins again against barca on saturday then win @ old trafford i will be the happiest man on the footballing planet
UP OZIL AND C.RONALDO MADRID 3 MAN U 1