I was confident before the game. Barcelona had really struggled against Chelsea so it stood to reason they would really struggle against us. What I didn’t really account for was the fact Sir Alex Ferguson wasn’t going to play anywhere near as defensively as Chelsea did, meaning Barca would have more room to attack.
Within the first ten minutes, United had five shots on goal whilst Barca had zero. We started brightly, we looked good, we showed we weren’t going to be intimidated and we were really going for it.
Then with their first attack Barcelona scored.
I haven’t seen a replay of anything since Wednesday night so my recollection may not be brilliant, particularly considering I went on to get paralytic drunk, so be warned.
But I just remember feeling embarrassed at how easy it had been for them to score. Iniesta seemed to be on the ball forever without anyone making it difficult for him and Samuel Eto’o ran past Vidic like he was Bramble or Ben Haim. Christ almighty, it was going to be a long night.
The game wasn’t as one-sided as the press would like to make out. The possession was 53-47 in their favour, we had nine shots to their eleven. Our passing success was 83% to their 87%. However, we looked leagues apart. On the ball we looked edgy and nervous, struggling to create anything too exciting, whilst Barca were composed, relaxed and able to create with ease. It wasn’t how much of the ball either team had or how many shots there were, it was decided on what was done with the ball and what the shots were like.
Had one of our early chances gone in, it could have been a very different game, obviously. Equally, if Gibbs hadn’t slipped and let Park in during the semis, maybe we wouldn’t have been in the final at all. You can never estimate just how greatly one decision or one action can change a match. The match changed for us when we hadn’t scored with several attempts and they scored with their first. We never collected our nerve after that.
The tactics have been criticised by our players and fans alike and it is clear with hindsight that they weren’t good enough. Would we have looked so clueless with Carlos Queiroz calling the shots? I personally don’t think so. We either had to go for it, full-throttle, or we had to defend with every last ounce of our being, like Chelsea did. Instead, we saw a half arsed attempt. We’d attack a bit, but not ruthlessly enough, then we were too lenient with our defensive work. Our midfield three essentially did nothing which meant we couldn’t get the ball out to Rooney or Ronaldo.
Carlos Tevez came on at half-time and made no difference. I was pleased with the bravery of the manager to make such a big change so early on in the game but Barcelona are no Tottenham Hotspur and Tevez might as well have not been on the park. He was better than Anderson, but christ, to have a better game than Anderson wasn’t really a difficult task!
If the first goal was embarrassing then the second goal was humiliating. Lionel Messi is 5 foot 7. Nemanja Vidic is 6 foot 2. Rio Ferdinand is 6 foot 2.5. So why the fuck is Messi’s head on the end of a cross in to the box? It is completely unacceptable. Before that point there was always a chance, however slim, however undeserved. But the moment our giant centre backs gave all the room in the World to Barca’s midget, it was game over.
I’m not blaming the defence for everything though because the Barca defence was supposed to be shit. Yet our attacking players made light work of their defensive duties. They didn’t even really look like they were trying to keep us out. They were missing several players, they had a midfielder playing in the centre of their defence, and they didn’t really have to break in to a sweat to stop us.
Barcelona are a great side and there is no shame in losing to a team as talented as them. I’d agree with Rooney and say Iniesta is the best in the World, although Messi will certainly be awarded with that title at the end of the year. My only really negative opinion is directed at Carles Puyol, who is a cheating cunt. Must have learnt it from his team-mate.
I was drunk by the time of the final whistle. Whilst United fans will always have that little bit of hope, however small, until the whistle is blown, I had managed to numb myself enough with the copious amounts of Stella Artois and vodka to stop me getting my hopes up too much.
As soon as the final whistle blew, the DJ, who I had been oblivious to setting up, put on a Manchester United megamix CD. The screen which was just showing our crumpled players on the pitch was now showing highlights of the past 15 years. Giggs firing in to the roof of the net against Arsenal in 1999, John Terry slipping, Cantona’s goal against Liverpool in the FA Cup final, Steve Bruce scoring against Wednesday and Kidd going mental, Scholes’ goal against Barcelona etc. With the mood on a knife-edge, the blue DJ saved the evening.
People got up on the tables, singing along and cheering the goals as they went in. “CHAMPIONEES CHAMPIONEES, OLE, OLE, OLE!… 18 times and that’s a fact! 18 times and that’s a fact!” Even the odd City fan who had made the effort to show up was fairly quiet and offered nothing but a good-natured ribbing.
Outside in the smoking area, the chants got louder and more passionate, people throwing their arms around each other and jumping up and down. “We won the league, we won the league, we’re the famous Man United and we won the fucking league!… 33 years, fuck all, 33 years, fuck all, 33 years, fuck all, 33 years… 19 years, 19 years, 19 years, 19 years…”
I didn’t get out of bed until 1.30pm the next day after getting at God knows what time, but I had done a lot of thinking the night before, in my drunken stupor.
The drinking had continued and I found myself a happy drunk, instead of an angry one. It was a lot easier to be reflective and positive in this state. Yes, the match was shit for us and yes I was gutted we hadn’t won, but let’s get a fucking grip here. We’re the Champions of England, winning our 18th title, and that is far more important than any European Cup. If at the start of this season we were offered a chance to win the league or beat Barcelona in the Champions League final, it would have been no contest. If I was offered the same thing next season, I’d pick our 19th title. And I’d pick our 20th title. And our 21st title. And our 22nd title. To be the Champions of England and Europe in one season is a brilliant achievement and we managed it last year. For us to do that two years in a row would have been absolute madness. Brilliant madness but still shouldn’t be an expectation.
So our season ends with disappointment and we will carry that through the summer with us. The players will carry that through the summer also, with no International tournament to distract them. Whilst Liverpool fans will have thoroughly enjoyed Wednesday evening, it was really the worst thing that could have happened for them. They’re all talking about next season (for a change) and if United had the complacency of a team who didn’t even play very well yet still were crowned the Champions of England and Europe, maybe there would have been more of a threat in Liverpool’s talk. As it is, our players will spend the summer hurting and will come back in August as hungry and as desperate as ever.
We are The Champions!
The day after the final was one of the worst day of my life.
I couldn’t eat. Awful hangover.
Thanks costas.
“As it is, our players will spend the summer hurting and will come back in August as hungry and as desperate as ever.”
sums it all up.
We value the league vey highly but unfortunately some of our foreign players naturlly don’t, i.e. Ronaldo
great article. the reaction of the pool fans has illustrated a. their bitterness, and b. the genuine threat we now pose to them…
Once they scored,it was more or less over.Our players were deflated,and those bastards Xavi and Iniesta never give the ball away.
It’s been a horrible,horrible season,all we’ve managed to do is win the the Club World Cup,the Carling Cup,and the league,equalling Liverpool’s record in the process.How will we live with the shame of only 3 trophies?
No. I think 90% of the fans talked about the possible double. They weren’t interested to claim that the EPL is the most important, they wanted the double.
It is so easy to say that we rate the league highly after the game had already finished.
I personally rate the league higher because it is fair. 38 games not just one occasion.
But Fergie wanted them all badly and you can perfectly understand why.
Nearly every thread u write has the dippers in it, In fairness do your match report was spot on, No shame in bein beatin by the best, its better than gettin robbed on the night IMO, The worst thing about the night was the lack of fight,
Well said Scott, good to hear from you eventually! I think it was the way we lost more than the result that hurt the most, if we had really gone for it and lost 3-2 or 4-3 then I don’t think it would have been as bad. I believe that this will just inspire us to start all over again next year with a real determination to right the wrongs of this final defeat!
You are welcome Corea.I was feeling pretty shity myself.But Scott is right about gettin a grip.There are reports about Park and Nani leaving,not taking the option for Tevez and even some are talking about Scholes and Giggs.Why?This team doesn’t need major changes!We have the 2 Serbians coming in,the 2 Da Silvas with a season under their belts,Hargo and Brown back and if Tev leaves we will buy a striker.If Ronaldo leaves we will see what happens there,but please no panic moves.Barca didn’t tear down their team last year did they?
Hear hear scott! Personally I’ve lost my ability to articulate my disappointment over Wednesday night. One match away from unbelievable awesome-ness, but we disappeared after the first 10 minutes.
Rightly we ARE the Champions of ENGLAND & we will be back- hungry & stronger.
my poison was bacardi, kingfisher (indian beer) and hash..
oh and i missed the first ten minutes…there was a pre game party…so i missed the only watchable part of the game
Red card for Piqué. And lastly, I got to fart this one out. When Piqué obstructed Ronaldo being the last defender he was only (?) given a yellow card. I admit it would have been harsh, but could anybody have had any complaints? Consider at least the same situation in the other end – Vidic as the last defender blocking Messi going through. How many would have screamed (and I do mean screamed) for the red card?
http://www.mk-lauren.com/?p=70
@ costas
shocked about the news, but it is only the Mirror. (as always)
We can sell Nani, but why Park ?
Well said Scott.
I am gutted of course, but this isn’t the end of the world. We still had a great season, winning the league and all.
We all can look forward to the silly season where Ronaldo does his “I’ll go..I’ll stay” act again.
Well said yet again Scott.
As others have said, for me it was simply our inability to cope with going a goal down that was most disappointing. The midfield were knowhere to be found.
We’re champions, we HAVE had a tremendous season and we’ll never die! With or without Ronnie/Tevez, we are United.
Exactly corea.That’s why i think that the media are talking out of their asses again.Ferguson will think back to the 01-02 season.We had just won 3 in a row and Fergie had bought Ruud and Veron but despite that we had a bad season.The problem wasn’t that the players were complacent after so much success.The problem was that we lost Stam.So Fergie will have learned from that experience that you don’t lose your core players without having a replacement ready.And Rio,Vida,Carrick,Fletch,Rooney and Ronaldo are our core players.I can see Nani leaving to make room for Valencia but Park?No way.
exactly they will be hurting pretty bad, carrick looked distraught knowing he didn’t play well enough. this defeat will make them hungry and bring back the killer instinct for next season!!
great article scott!! echoes how were all feeling!!!! well said roll on next season.
Sobered up from Wednesday night.
I was disgusted with the performance that our lads put in. At least Scholes left a mark on them when he came on. Agree totally wioth the Puyol comments. Seemed he was trying to get CR7 sent off all night long. Hardman more like a littkle spainish pussy to me. Anyone ever watch the La Liga? Apparently cheating is allowed. even look at a player and he can drop to the floor clutching some part of his body. Alves is probably the worst there is but they all cheat.
The dippers have been having a wonderful time but when they say anything Ijust say yeah what have your wonder team won this year. Yes the double over United. compliment to united where that makes it a wonderfuil season for them.
looking 4ward to next season and winning the EPL again.
A little bit extra guts and aggressiveness won’t do Carrick any harm. He has to sort himself out or Fergie decide what exactly role he plays on the field.
But with Fletch and Hargo he can and must play as attacking midfielder. This doesn’t mean he doesn’t have to be agressive.
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11667_5353909,00.html
Manchester United midfielder Anderson has been ruled out of Brazil’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers.
He will also miss the Confederations Cup after picking up an injury in Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League final against Barcelona
Perhaps this explains a bit his disappointing game on Wednesday…
Fucking hell they have replaced him with Kleberson, how the might have fallen.
So Ando was injured on Wednesday.The change did seem a bit rushed.If it means that he will miss the Copa America,that’s good.The lad hasn’t had a summer’s rest in ages.Kleberson was someone i highly rated before he came.But like Veron,he never clicked in the Premiership.
Scott, my hat off mate. reading this it was like speaking via my mouth. absolutely agree. very nice article. I have nothing else to add
First, I don’t know if I am the only one to think this but Rio should not have started that game. It was well obvious from the start he wasn’t up for it. He just sorta strolled around the box during both of the goals.
Second, i was well surprised Fergie came through on his promise of playing Park and Oshea together. Maybe they were at their peaks and Fergie felt it was the right choice, but i felt let down when Fergie did exactly what he said he would do. I thought for sure he would surprise us all with some crazy team selections. We had nothing going down the right side. I’m sure they thought Puyol would be easy pickings, but when that didnt work out they should have come down the right side, but look who was there O’shea and Park, not exactly known for their attacking exploits.
Summed it up perfectly.
Great article.
And i hated Puyol aswell! He rolled over so many times!
Credit to Iniesta and Xabi, and i guess Messi aswell, they were superb.
18 times and thats a fact!
there were a lot worse players on the pitch than o’shea and park
I thought O’Shea was our best player on the pitch.
we stand together, united no matter what happens… Through thick and thin, our love for Man United will never die !
United lost the final. That is it.
Everyone got it wrong on Wednesday.
Therefore Barca got the better of us.
In Fergie we trust. (Get Quieroz in again!)
Carrick is the weakest link when you’ve got a non-suspended Fletcherinho, a healthy (?) Hargreaves, and an uninjured (?) Anderson. Even ThreeLungPark – and maybe Darron Gibson – would have offered more in the middle of the pitch in a game that was always going to be about pressing/harrying the opposition’s midfield.
The argument in favour of Carrick is that SAF sees him in “the Pirlo role” but, over the past three years, I can count his defence-splitting passes on the hand of Mordecai “Three-Finger” Brown. Rather like the contemporary versions of Scholes and Giggs, Carrick seems to play best in games where the opposition sits back and gives him time/space. Clearly what’s needed in midfield is more “horse power” in the engine room. Against Barcelona that deficiency was painfully obvious.
The other issue that the game brought to a head is “what to do with Berbatov” ? He’s clearly uncomfortable playing lead-the-line striker and the knock-on effect of playing Ronaldo in that role is that Rooney gets “down-graded” to the wing. I’m assuming that Tevez is leaving and that Ronaldo is staying so the “Berbatov question” has to be foremost in SAF’s planning for next year – unless he gets the go-ahead to sign Benzema and plays a new formation next year with Berbatov “in the hole” behind Benzema and deploys Ronaldo right and Rooney left/Rooney right and Ronaldo left.
Of course, all those bleating about Rooney’s isolation on the wing the other night might have a better case IF a few of the passes that were sent to him -diagonally and cross-field – ever reached him and IF, when they did, he didn’t almost immediately give the ball away.
Rooney – like Vidic – had a terrible, terrible, terrible game against Barcelona. Yet these two guys were arguably the two “most valuable players” on the team for the largest part of the year. It happens. What else can explain their MIA ? It happens; such is life.
Great article. We won 3 of 5! Whats so doom and gloom about that? We didnt play well but we are all humans and these days do happen. Lets just go again next season. G.G.M.U.
denton davey- absolute drivel about Carrick, defence splitting passes on one hand over 3 years? You must have a lot of fingers
Disappointing that United had to end a great season on a low.
Carrick has been superb this season and to give him credit he tried is heart out in the final, at least he was still passing the ball. He needs someone next to him, a sort of minder so he can get on the ball, but for me he is one our players of the season.
The world & football reruns on TV seem different after the defeat. I feel like canceling my cable TV. Then I read about Ronaldo by some opportunistic media-types who wants a story & I wanted to throw up. A L’pool fan at the office gave me a two finger peace sign as I walked in & I returned a ‘get-stuck’ in his direction. There were a few innocent office girls around him, but who cares. Did Chelsea fans felt this way last time? It must have been worse as they could have won it if not for tiny tears…
A ManU fan colleague was in Rome, it must have been terrible for him spending all that moola. At least in Dec when I was in Yokohama we won, though the FIFA Club World Cup is not the same as the CL. Now I read that Tevez, Nani & Park might be dumped to rebuilt the team……
Pretty good analysis of the game there Scott. For me the game bore similarities to our second leg against you in the semi. We actully did ok for 10 minutes then you scored and the game changed totally. It looked the same in the final, you lot started well but once they scored they took over.
On a different night it could of been totally different but at least you went down to a team that played great football on the night and at least you it wasn’t Chelsea. Some of the reactions from some United supporters have been very knee jerk, generally though most seem to accept it. Shit happens, you guys have had a great season and good run…..put it this way, every big game we have been involved in over the last 4 years we have failed. 3 titles on the bounce and a European cup is a very good haul.
Good insightful piece Gooner77.
Since there are no ROM reads of the day,people should look at this.For me,it’s the best article i have read ever since we got beat:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/2009/05/29/why-manchester-united-are-not-the-only-ones-who-should-be-eating-humble-pie-115875-21398692/
we got beat by the better team on the night!
we missed fletcher big style and i for one am looking forward to next season to see hargreaves back into the mist of things.
I have the great misfortune of being able to see the ‘council house’ from my kitchen and living room windows hence the name. So much for United fans not coming from Manchester! I enjoy reading what the regular posters have to say and I pay deserved respect to Scott the Red for the maintenance of the blog.
Anyway about Weds night. The Boss is a great manager we all know that and so does the world, as his record speaks for itself but I believe his selections and tactics were not suitable for this match. I also felt he came across way too relaxed before the game in the pre match press conference. I’m not sure if it was mind games but it didn’t instill confidence. I know it’s easier in hindsight but I have to say I felt like this before the game. We all have our opinions, some like Berba (I do) some like Carlito (I do) and some have given up on Berba which is a bit premature in my opinion. Anyway if you’d said to me at the start of the season we’d be in a Champions League final against Barca with both of these players on the bench I’d have said you were crazy! Ji is a good player but there was too much sentiment around his selection after not being in the squad last year as there was with Sheasy’s although to be fair there was no other option in regards to the right back position and he has been playing well. All the same I think it was poor management to let both players know weeks in advance that they were both as good as guaranteed starting berths. Players should always be kept on their toes. Maybe our success in the last 3 years has made the Gaffer lose his edge. If that’s the case I’m sure he’ll get it back as we all know there’s nothing he hates more than losing. Fletcherino (who was responsible for giving him that name, was it you Denton Davey? luv it!) was missed. Andy Gray said he would be a bigger miss than Alvez and Abidal combined and unfortunately he probably was right although the way Xavi and Iniesta played we still might not have won. I may be shot down here but I was kinda thinking of Gibson before the match particularly after he scored that screamer against Hull. I’m sort of a believer in signs. That’s probably why I’m not a manager of a premier league club! The only thing I’ve ever managed is a team of customer service advisers in an insurance call centre :0 I know many will say he hasn’t the big game experience but there were lots out there with big game experience and where did it get us. Just on a side note but also in relation to this, I’m a big fan of Anderson but when the camera panned on him when they were lining up before the start, well to me he looked like he was for want of a better description ’shittin it’. Was I imagining that or did anybody else get the same impression? I wonder if the occasion got to him as he normally looks so confident. I don’t know, Gibson just looks like he has a great temperament and he can score goals, I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. Also I probably would have chosen Scholes over Giggs. After all he is a genuine central midfielder. All this ravin about Xavi and Iniesta, deserved I know, but it got me thinking of Scholesy in his prime :0
Tactics have never been the the Gaffers strong suit in Europe. You need them more than in the premier league, it goes without saying. He even admits himself we should have won it more during his time. I wonder if we missed Carlos Queroz? I mean who is the number two, Mike Phelan or Rene? I know I’m clutching at straws but what can you do :0 Chelsea showed us how to beat them. I mean they did beat them didn’t they? I’m really frustrated. We’re better than that showing and as much as I respect the Gaffer, the buck has to stop with him even though the two individual errors for the goals didn’t help. It’s funny I thought I’d be devastated if we lost but I actually didn’t feel that much emotion after the game. I was sort of saying well done Barca to myself as I watched it alone (yes Billy no mates : 0 I think it’s experience, I’ve seen tactical and selection errors made before by the Gaffer but just not in a game of this magnitude. At least it sort of prepared me in a weird kind of way. Finally I believe we had the players in our squad to give a much better showing and if our tactics and selections had have been better, I probably wouldn’t be writing this now but reading all your entertaining comments about how wonderful it was to have won it 4 times. You just never know do you? I’m not Gaffer bashin’ either, I mean if we didn’t have him would we have even won it 3 times? We could be all sat here with just our 68′ triumph and not have drawn level with the ‘Unmentionables’ with 18. If we’d lost simply because they are better than us I could probably accept it better but I don’t think they’re any better than us. I really just believe they were better prepared on the night or is that my EastlandsRed blinkers?
ps All future posts will be shorter :0
I don’t understand some of the critics
-O’Shea did well, keeping Henry quiet, but I see critics
-Ronaldo was the only one on the pitch with some fight, and many want him out
-Carrick actually kept the ball better than Anderson, Rooney & Evra put together, yet some slat him
-Park was totally outclassed, no one slating him?
-Rooney couldn’t pass the ball to save his life, and no one says a thing?
-Evra was poor again, and again, and again, but escapes without much mention
-Tevez actually played in the 2nd half, anyone noticed?
-Berbatov found space on 2 occasions, which, apart from Ronaldo, was what no one else in our shirt could do, but many still say Tevez is better
True we are sad at the lack of fight, but lets keep our head. At least now we have something to aim for. Had we won, God knows what kind of complacency we might see next season. We have had a long long season. Lets see if Barca can cope with what we had to go through with. My guess is Barca will not be able to emulate what we did this year
Hey Eastlands Red- no worries on your post- I’m a Manchester born RED & expatriot at the moment & totally sick of the ‘True blue Manc’ crap I get tossed at me.
Love RoM & all my fellow reds for all their red tinted-ness!
You can find many excuses like 66 games played, the level of La Liga, Club World Cup etc. But we have 2 squads, what it’s for ?
The season is over. We have eventless summer till the start of the premiership. Let Fergie do the thinking, he has to do it even after the faultless seasons.
@ Marq
hi, mate. don’t compare La Liga with the premiership. they have a chance of repeating the feat. but nowadays it is so bloody hard to achieve.
any good anti-liverpool jokes, it is friday after all?
If it makes you guys feel any better, in my drunken state I did this on the 2nd most photographed clock in the world.
http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs010.snc1/4460_85079772878_514527878_1817626_1737845_n.jpg
and then moved on to this
http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v4460/167/47/514527878/n514527878_1817222_551534.jpg
took it down though cuz i wanted to keep my flag.
However I did stick my united shirt right at the top of the clock and it’s still there. It’s the old one from 2002ish and far too big for me so I wanted to hang it high!
costas going back to your earlier point, Barca didnt tear down there team last year got rid of Deco and Ronaldino and nearly got rid of etoo, Maybe we need to get rid if some of the big heads who think there as big as the club
@ John
you don’t get rid of the players because of that. mainly it’s because you want to refreshen the squad, to change something.
Well put Scott. Time is a great healer, and we’ll all get it in perspective by the beginning of next season. Especially the players. Roll on 2009/10, I can’t wait!
scottie! i know how you feel mate! was down in the dumps for a long while, but not bitter or angry at all. putting everything into perspective, im sure many other teams would love to be where we ended this season!
anyways, i, like the team will take a break from all things footie for a while, and let everything settle! im pretty sure the players will reflect on all that has been and wait for the manager to put in his two cents after the hols.
meanwhile, the endless transfer gossip has been riduculous as usual. nothing remotely logical and loads of bull again from the usual papers. interesting to hear that ac are interested in ronaldo – lol, i think the only way that will go through is if we have an exchange plus cash for kaka ;0
thanx for a great site and a fantastic season – many more years to come!
I totaly agree that barce wer by far the better side on the night…i have always said that they play the best football on the planet, but i did think they would strugle if our midfield enforced itself better and were abit more physical.
Thats in the past now… We have had a really succesful season, but to be really honest, have we had a good season?
I really dont think so. Most of our performances have been disjointed. Our success has been based on our defence instead of it being built upon our defence (if that makes sense) and based on our attack. IMO, far too many times this season, we have won because of moments of individual brilliance and maybe a little luck. It became apparent to me last year in the chelsea final, and again during key games this season (Arsenal and Liverpool in the league, barce, villa away, etc) that we need someone in the middle of the park who can take the game by the scruff of the neck and change the flow the way Gerrard and Mascherano does for liverpool, or Essien and Lampard for chelsea, the way Keano did for us (juve 1999 anyone?) We may already have that player in Rooney or even Carrick and Ando, we may need to buy someone, but whoever takes on the roll needs to have the right people supporting and complementing each other in the middle of the park (ie iniesta and xavi, keane and scholes, fletcher, ando and carrick vs arsenal in the semis)
United played the best football in 06/07 when we played with a set system with a constant defence midfield and attack. This season, i felt we rotated way too much and even though it kept us fresh, i found that with every game we played a slightly different system, which more often than not, marginalised rooney and kept him from playing in a role that i believe would benefit the team.
I hope next year SAF can decide on set system in which we play, and a settled ’spine’ of the team. Rotation is good and i believe we have the squad to challenge on all fronts. I just think that their is benefits to playing a set style/system no matter the opposition, they way the current barce team play, the way their dream team played, the way our treble team played…
this is said by Geoff Shreeves : I spoke to someone who was in the beaten finalists’ dressing room. Ferguson said: ‘I’m not going to get angry with you now because you have been magnificent all season, but I want you to go home and take a long hard look at yourselves because that was nowhere near good enough.’ Chilling words, indeed.
At least you ended up having a “happy” night, I myself had to watch the match in front of 40 barca fans, joined by ONE red, and had to sit for a latin exam minutes after the game (wich I most probably failed).
But there were 3 things that left my with a smile after the game: First, the fact that Ronaldo worked his ass off. Don’t care why it was, but I liked seeing do that. I know, he should’ve passed the ball more, but that’s another subject. Second, the fact that Henry went missing, and O’shea did fine against him. And finaly, although this one is bittersweet, it was Pique’s show. In my opinion Barca owe their cup to him, if it weren’t for him we would’ve scored at least once, and I have to say, I like the lad.
Well, that’s that… Now I’m counting the days ’till the next season starts (and till the day Manchester plays Boca, my youth team) so that we can make it 19!!!
Cheers little Red. It was my first post on ROM so it was nice of you to acknowledge my comments. Keep the red flag flying high!
@John: you are right about Ronaldinho and Deco.But they were players who had lost their way.I don’t think we have those types of players here.Maybe Nani but he is still young enough to get it right.But letting Park go?After we just rinewed his contract?That quote from Ferguson that Wazza just posted proves that maybe SAF knows that this squad doesn’t need many changes.I think everything will depend on what happens with Ronaldo and Tevez.
I am going to take some flak here I know, but this is what I think. Contrary to what some have said, its not that we’re missing Keano in the dressing room – we’re actually missing the real SAF. I think SAF has become cautious when it comes to player management, and my guess is that this is because he realizes he’s reaching the end of his management career (2-3 more years?) and he now desperately wants the trophies (especially the CL). He knows he no longer has a the time to build new teams, and he’s desperate now to keep this team together. The result is he’s suddenly willing to tolerate shit from people like Ronaldo and Tevez as long as they have some utility for us. The SAF of old would have gotten rid of them, or relegated them to the bench for such insubordination. He doesn’t do that anymore – and that is why these lads have the bollocks to speak up in public.
Having said this, I will also say that us fans need to take a long hard look at ourselves this off season. Every plonker who’s gone to Old Trafford and screamed for Tevez to be signed up has after a point created a situation where players think they’re bigger than Sir Alex. We are entitled to our opinion but there is a limit to its expression. There is a reason SAF is manager you’re not MORONS! He knows football to an extent we won’t in a million lifetimes. To then protest and sing for players, directly questioning the wisdom of the manager’s ways, does more harm that we imagine. A lot of fans are having a right go at SAF and the players without realizing the extent of responsibility they need to take for the power dynamics in the dressing room.
Scott this is great ,everything there is true…We should have the parade after winning EPL ,instead of that we will have a long summer with the same Ronaldo shit…GGMU
This was the final I had been hoping for, the champions of England versus the champions of Spain. I wasn’t filled with over confidence but I fancied our chances as we seemed to be equally matched, and given Barca’s lack of a full strength defense, it wasn’t too much of a stretch to think we could defend our title. The first ten minutes had me jumping in place because we were all over them and it felt as if it was only going to be a matter of time before we scored a goal; Valdes shouting at his defenders was an encouraging sign. That changed quickly though as Iniesta floated through our midfield and made the pass to Eto’o which put us down a goal early on. A goal in the first 10 minutes isn’t bad I thought because we would have plenty of time to get back into it, but my concern was what led to the goal and unfortunately the problems persisted throughout the remainder of the first 45 minutes. Memories of United looking nervous against continental sides in Champions League matches past started resurfacing and the Stellas weren’t making them go away. On to the second half I thought, Fergie would sort the players out and we’d come bouncing back. Right.
The nerves kicked in a bit when the players were ready for the kick off and I figured we’d know what kind of performance was to be expected by how they started. Well when I saw Barcelona once again passing at will and pressing my stomach kept sinking, but I still had hope because we were down by only one goal. Someone will score a goal for us I thought, and at that point I wouldn’t have cared if it was a poor kick by O’Shea that bounced off a Barca player’s tooth and gone in. All hope was lost for me when Messi’s goal went in, it was the insult to the injury; a brilliant run by him to make a goal no one could have defended against wouldn’t have been so bad but a header from a 5′5″ player to get through our defenders and keeper was a kick in the crotch.
When the whistle blew I left the pub as fast as I could, not because I was bitter but because the expectations I had for United’s performance were laid to waste.The champions of England should have put in a better fight, this talk of tactics has its point but the lack of hunger I saw out there didn’t seem like just tactics to me. My hats off to Barcelona, they’re a great side who I have respect for and I’d rather lose to them than witness that performance and loss to the likes of Chelsea. Like others have mentioned, we can’t let this lose overshadow the accomplishments of this season and though we lost we were once again in another Champions League final. Onward and upward, let’s look forward to breaking Liverpool’s league record next season!
We seemed to get caught between two tactics, we had the players on the pitch to play it tight in the middle and use Ronaldos pace up top but seemed to go for a free flowing attacking lineup. We either needed Giggs to be sitting back or we should have started with tevez and berba in place of Giggs and Park.
It would have been interesting what would have happened though if Park had of scored or Pique had of been sent off (as I believe he should have been. Toure isn’t quick and was behind both pique and ronaldo when Pique body checked Ronaldo, he was not around covering and would never have got round to cover) or If Pique hadn’t committed the foul and Ronaldo had taken then one on one and scored.
Would Giggs have played deeper then, as it did seem like maybe the tactic was designed to hit them quickly and get an early goal while they weren’t settled and perhaps the aim then would have been to then shut up shop and stop them playing and use Ronaldo to hit them on the break.
TBH the second half sub confused me even more. Perhaps it was the Injury that Anderson has now had to have surgery on but Tevez for Anderson seemed a bit half hearted to me. Giggs and Carrick lack bite and the change just made it easier for Barca to pass it Freely and Tevez isn’t great as a possible outlet to build an attack on. Berba would have been a better option or even better Park off as well and Berba and Tevez both on. With the 4 of them you have a good balance of hard work and tracking back that will pack the midfield areas and also the pace and skill and desire when going forward and we were a bit better when all 4 were on the pitch
emilys season review
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8uefxCOROU&
.
they should be given the open top bus for been world champions
+
18 time prem champions
you are so right about this
p.s.
im only in the door from this morning i went the beach with my kid
but after reading todays news and hearing what tevz said
G O
F U C K
O F F
who does he think he is
if they had of started him they would of won
does he think he’s better than the 10 outfield players
fuck him
@GHTT : Tevez is very very selfish prick. its just a waste spending 25 M on him and also with the attitude he shows.
are we going to have a complete re-structuring of the team? Nani, Tevez and Ronaldo out, Kaka and Ribery in?
Tevez was never in
Nani ? Who knows. Very talented but brainless player.
I adore Kaka but i would choose Ronaldo anyday with the right kind of attitude these days. Having both of them would be a dream but we are not a “dream team”. But seeing Kaka go to Real will hurt. Sorry, i can’t do anything with myself.
—
suhayl, you didn’t write to this thread so far.
Ive sad a million and one things on the analysis of the game and what wnet wrong.
Goal changed the game
Missed our holding players
Square pegs in round holes in midfield
We gave them too much credence and respect
Too much time and space
Too worried about them, rather than them us
Tactics wrong
Should have scored in first 10 mins
Lack of creativity
Lack of leadership in the engine room
ALL this and more. Im devastated……initially i acted ok and took it as best i could. Like someone dying, and a person acting normally, as if nothings happended. And people thinking there’s something wrong. Well thats how i reacted…but now all that bottling up is slowly imploding within me every minute of every day. Slowy this pain is now overcoming me and the nightmares and flashbacks have started. Guess it will last the whole summer.
@ suhayl
we start in august. a start similar to 5-1 in 06-07 season and we’ll get better.
wazza in 25 years being a united fan ive had nothing but 100% respect for someunited players
i named my daughter after george best
if she was a boy she would of been called denis
on the other hand ive been let down by some united players
ive been frestrated by actions or lake of actions by united players
but i dont think ive ever felt so angry at a united player and just want him to piss off, even to liverpool, as i feel with tevez
and heres the kicker
he’s not even a united player
i was in old trafford at the arsenal match and i couldnt hear what sir alex said at the end of the game with all the fergie sign him up chants
i did not chant because
1/ i respect sir alex enough to listen when he talks
2/ i didnt want him to sign him
why cant united keep ronaldo ,play him up front
and play kaka in the midfield
sorry im 21years a united fan
GHHT
it would be too great to be true. i don’t believу it will happen. i don’t believe in miracles nowadays. how much will it cost us ? 50 mln, 60, 70 ? We won’t pay this amount and i fear Real wouldn’t either.
And THAT is the BIG problem. This season we have ben business like and pragmatic….NOT fluent or deadly. Started the season ok….clge group stages poor…..hot and cold in prem games….good runs followed by blips and poor shows. Inter first leg good…2nd leg poor…porto the same.
Bar Arsenal 2 legs…..we havent let rip. We havent been the same utd of old.
Over the course we have been consistent…YET v the big teams and the big games we have been found wanting at times.
Listen im not going to criticise too much…all has been covered before in nearly 1000 commets on the last 2 days threads.
I know nobody would want to lose like chelsea did..with last ditch heartache or pain..or ref robbing them….or penalties.
But seriously id rather we did lose like that. Losing??? Everybody loses, all great teams lose, all great sportspeople in every sport lose. Thats the fine line in sport in success and failure.
What hurts is the not the losing. I havent read any ABU media since wed. ABU fans fans are jumping because we went out with such a lacklustre whimper and weak show.
For all the games NOT to turn up and play so pathetically, it was this.
Yes we won 3 trophies…brilliant lads. YES the other 3 in oure league havent won fuck all for 4 years. YES.
BUT infront of 500 mill viewers….why did we give such a bad account of ourselves. The utd Name was humiliated and emabarrased, Sir Matt would have turned in his grave, SAF was left angry and pissed and humiliated by his players.
Why let us down so badly.
Barca ar egood…BUT they’re not what people are making out….this so called dream team made by god…blah blah blah.
WE made them look fantastic…and anbody body in any sport given free license can do that. Nadal can..if you dont return the shots….Mayweather can if you dont fight back etc etc etc etc etc.
THATS what leaves such a bad taste in the summer mouth and months to come.
WE have really had a GREAT season…an unbelievable. We did our first objective and main objective as scott said…got the 18th league record and fucked the dippers. THAT was main priority. AND yes no one no utd fan could and should have ever expected us to make the final again 2 years running. That was just ridiculous dreams.
But when we did make THAT ridiculous dream come true. When we on the cusp of greatness..on the verge of history and legendary folklore and being the first and greatest defenders of the clge. And Becoming legends.
Why did we retreat like cowards and embarrassed infront of the world.
Losing is painful yes
Losing like we did hurts the most
@ suhayl
this was the remembering of the United of old. Outclassed in Europe. And it hurts.
I cant live a whole 3 months without putting the wrongs of that night right.
We need games now to right those wrongs….to bury those ghosts and mistakes and failings.
I disagree with scott. Winning the prem is great…But winning the european cup is what great teams are made off.
SAF always says it and he knows it and is soooooooooooooooo right.
Madrid 9
Milan 7
Dippers 5
Ajax 4
Bayern 4
UTD 3
Is NOT good enough for a club as big and a history and traditions we have.
Ofcourse the babes would have won atleast 3 european cups ATLEAST…if they hadnt died, RIP. as they were on the verge of world domination.
But since….tooooooooooo many close things but no cigar.
Seriously i wish i was a rich arab……id spend all my money to the last penny and spend it on utd over my lifetime…to make us 10 time european cup winners. DO everything and ANYTHING IN MY POWER to make us lauded and great and revered and respected and MAKE US THE GREATEST MOST SUCCESSFUL SIDE IN EUROPE. I want to eradicate that weak link in our history…..and that pains and bugs me the most.
corea
manchester united know business
and i think kaka is a fantastic investment
his age his skill the fact that he can play in difference roles
why cant united do it
they have won the premiership again for 3 year
they won the champions league last year
played in the final this year
won the league cup
the fifa world championsship
andonly really bought berbatov and 5 million on tevez
there is money there to be spent and when you see inesta v giggs on wednesday you can see it works out well in the future to get in a kaka type player
GHHT
who knows..
Teddy believes it should be Noble ))
@ suhayl
what can i say..
I actually like Noble as a player.I was impressed with him when we lost 2-1 at West Ham in 2007.I don’t know if he has what it takes to make it here.I think that we should look for a midfielder only if Scholes leaves for Stoke(a wild rumor that started last night) or Hargo continues to have problems.I think that our midfield is ok.We have done pretty well without a midfield leader in the last 3 years.Why change now?I think that eventually,Rooney will become the leader of this team on the pitch.
Eastlands Red @ 14:07 – I began calling TheScottishPlayer “Fletcherinho” when he scored two goals at the beginning of the season.
Jake @ 13:48 – sorry, mate, I’ve got the regulation four fingers and a thumb on both hands. BUT I stand by my point that Carrick’s long passing has been disappointing.
i need to know
whos jimmyunited
you always say the best things about emily
well only a few weeks a go all the papers, news channels etc that United have had meetings with Kaka’s advisors. I believe that Kaka would jump at the chance if United came calling. He states all the time about his admiration for the Premiership and United’s style of play. He is really good mates with Ando. Not to mention the Da silva twins that will be playing with him with Brazil eventually.
Since 2003 I’ve been a huge fan of Kaka’s. He carries that AC Milan side. He’s won all he can there. He plays football beautifully. Damn I hope we get him. Let’s just put a bid in and go from there.
YES clge is the hardest to attain and win…..BUT i dont want us to go another 10/15 years without winning it….whilst the others move on in numbers of wins. With our history we should have atleast won 7.
So the people in power at our club..please listen..this is an impassioned plea.
1. No more naivety in europe…like the old days
2. Play players in their proper positions. Rooney Ando etc
3. Sort the Ronaldo Tevez issue out either way, once and for all this summer
4. Sign who we have too
5. Bleed and play the Da Silva twins
6. Giggs and Scholes domestic cup games only
7. Sign a world class midfield enforcer..robbo keano like. Other teams have them…we dont anymore.
8. No more square pegs in round holes in centre mid
9. No more compromising the squad for the team. The great teams around the world, you can name their first 11 who play regularly. People would struggle to name our first 11…after 6-7 players
10 . Hargreaves please come back…we need you
11. Brown or Rafael please come back to claim the RB slot.
12. Play the Holy Trinity..or play Berba. No more cautious crap
13. Play with the utd attacking spirit
14. Make teams fear us
15. Nani and Anderson you have until xmas to prove your worth..or f off
16. Time for tosic to step up
17. Lllajic put him in in Jan
18. CQ? Bring him back
19. Mickey Phelan..start cleaning at carrington
20. 1 fuckin captain. Captains armband permanently to Rio….to bawl and shout.
21. Foster fuckin step up
22. Increase OT to 95.000
23. Fuck off Glazers.
24. Please come Rich Arabs
I want us to win the 19th title….and i want us at the bernabeu next season…making it FUCKIN 4!!!!!!
3 IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
If i dont die of sudden causes or and accident or illness. I guess ive still got 30 years to live. By the time i die…..i want us to be the most successful biggest club that ever was. I’ll die a happy old man..if that will be the case
Nothing else matters more to me in life than that.
@suhayl
23. Fuck off Glazers.
24. Please come Rich Arabs???????????????????????????????
/
united is tickin grand behind closed doors
i wouldnt change it
3 is good enough
2 champions leagues is super work when you think of the differences in champions league and european cup
what united did this season
last season
and in 99 to get to those finals
is super
google what liverpool had to do to win there european cups
what real and ajax had to do
its a different kettle of fish
united would of been higher up the list if it wasnt for 1958
been band from european cup for 5 years cause of someone else
@ suhayl
so many compromises
play this team next season.
Foster
Brown (Rafael) Rio Vida Evra (Fabio)
Ronaldo Hargo (Fletch) Carrick (Ando) Park (Nani)
Berbatov (Wellbeck) Rooney (Cambpell)
Let’s look at this line-up a little bit. Where do we have doubts ?
Ando/Carrick ? Buy Kaka ?
Park/Nani ? Buy Ribery ?
No cover in the striker’s department ? Buy Benzema ?
No challenger for the Evra’s position ? Is it Sheasy ? Is it 19 year old Fabio ?
There is only one area we just don’t need to add for my liking. And it’s DM. I really hope Hargo solved his problems.
Great article Scott.
Forget Kaka or Noble how about Steven Ireland?
Steven Ireland has just renewed his contract so i doubt he is going anywhere.
Manchester United will comeback. We are the greatest supporters on the planet. You know, we all love United, but as fans we are a class apart.
We are stuck in a mini transitional period (like a mini ice age). Scholes and Giggs are in the process of passing the torch to the younger generation. Add a new striker in Berbatov and never really knowing Ronaldo and Tevez’s future…and despite all this we have achieved a greatness not surpassed by many teams in history. Let’s be patient, let’s be patient. With a new campaign next year most of these variables will be straightened out.
oh man Kaka has to join Manchester United. I admire his style and attitude. He is an extremely religious guy, that’s why he does that celebration. I can imagine all the kids copying the celebration.
Guys,i like Kaka also.But are we sure he can play in England?Veron also looked a fantastic player on paper,but the English style didn’t suit him.
costas
id take the risk
where is Jake ? he knows all about Kaka.
Arsenal fan here. So what if Ireland signed a new contract? Its a way of getting more money for him.
When we signed Rosicky, he signed a new deal a month before. That brought his value up.
GHTT we are not talking about 28 million pounds as we did with Veron.A deal with Kaka could be in the range of 50-60 million.And at a time when the club is in debt,which wasn’t the case in 2001.I can never know what’s inside the manager’s mind,but i do remember him saying that there won’t be any major transfers in the summer.My guess is that we will make a move only if we lose Tev or Ronaldo.If we do move for Kaka,i will get behind him with all my heart because unlike Ronaldo he is a true role model and i will hope that he comes good.
Pat that could be true.But signing a new contract is usually a sign of good faith by the player that he will stay.At least for the forthcoming season.Besides,City are not in need to seel anyone are they?1 year ago,i wanted Richards to join us and he did seem to have some problems with City but it never happened.Players very rarely go directly from United to City and vice versa.
how do we know its 50-60million
id say if united offered between 30-40 talks would open
it doesnt have to be stupid money like the bitters put on the table
and kaka could be alot more interester to leave for the permiership to go to a team that are the toip of the premiership the last 3 seasons and in the last 2 champions league finals
So many good comments on here lads, we are all sharing a common pain.
i think we need to put perspective on some points though. Firstly we were 1 good performance and a bad penalty decision in the FA cup semis away from the chance of winning the lot, an unbelievable effort from the lads. Secondly Ronaldo has said he is staying and Fergie wouldn’t sell Real ‘a virus’! Well that is that as far as I am concerned, but if the press keep asking the same stupid question why not give them a stupid answer? I would. Thirdly I believe in Fergie and The Tevez situation is that he will stay if that is best for the club and go if he has somebody better in mind for similar money. Lastly this squad is the best Fergie has seen in his time at O.T. and he is the best manager the world has ever seen so no worries there then. So, a few little adjustments here and there close season and we will be even better next year. We all feel shit right now, we went to Rome to have a diamond encrusted cherry to put on the cake the lads made this season, we didn’t get it but we still have an awesome cake to enjoy!!
I think some of you are overreacting. Talking about paying through the nose for Kaka and Ribery? You don’t need them. You don’t need to take a gamble on Benzema. You were awesome this season- still ruthlessly efficient as ever and that fact that you got beaten on the night by the finest midfield in world football doesn’t mean you need big changes. I admire you’re desire to win but you have a fine youth setup with some top quality footballers coming through and theres no need to increase your debt at this point.
GHTT i talked about 50-60 million because Shity offered close to 100 for him.The truth is we don’t know how much he is worth.But when you hear Bayern say that they would sell only one of Ribery’s legs for 50mil euros,you have to say that Kaka would be in that range too.I agree with Jonny on this.We have to be sensible.
jonny
im going to go out on a limb here
your not a liverpool fan?
But we can not stay still. What will you choose ? We need to refresh the squad somehow. I don’t stand 1-0’s anymore.
Give Campbell, Wellbeck, Macheda more chances. Will SAF thake risks relying on 2 world class (at the moment) forwards ? i don’t think so and sadly the player like Frazer doesn’t have much chance. SAF must be angry at what he saw on Wednesday. There will be some changes.
haha no, I’m an Arsenal fan. So I know a little bit about fans panicking when things don’t go our way. You don’t need to try to become a world XI, leave that to City (and i emphasise the ‘try’ with that). From the looks of things your scouting network is coming along and finding some great talent, and your youth academy has been exemplary for many years.
@Corea:We have the squad to win by more that 1-0.If you look at the second half against Spurs,you will see that this team can be an attacking force if Fergie decides it.he should be angry,but at the same time,look at why we have had 119 goals this season when we could have had 140.It was a case of bad finishing as well as sitting back as soon as we went 1-0 up.
Jonny: Hope you lot get your shit together next year I miss the rivalry between our clubs!
Explain to me please what role do this friendly games before the start of the season have ? How can this young players show the manager what they are really worth ? We are all pretty relaxed in summer and no one works his socks off.
I mean it. Campbell was quite good in the off season, didn’t score in the game agaist Newcastle and i think his chances may be limited. Maybe i am stupid ? We are ManUnited. Beeing simply good is not enough. Maybe that’s the answer.
Mickey Phelan..start cleaning at carrington hahahahahahaha hahahaha suhayl am dying over here. I cant help laughing aloud after reading this. suhayl hope u are arnd for the summer. Thank you mate, thank you for making me laugh.
Cheers Rob. Vieira vs Keane was magic. Realistically we’ve got a lot of maturing to do before we’re up to those old standards though.
@ Jonny
you were really close 2 seasons ago. i mean it. i was frightened during that days. You didn’t have any luck at all. we’ve had it in the CL final last year and during last 2 seasons. 2006-2007 we fully deserved it, but the next 2 seasons were shacky. Really strange but we won it 18 times and it’s a fact.
Just sort the issue of beeing outclassed in Europe out please. Pride!
Jonny, maybe in the future Anderson vs Fabregas will be equally magic.
Jonny: Yes it was erm, lively shall we say? A defense and a bit more consistency is required I reckon.
Corea: With Hargreaves and Fletch in the side nobody would outclass us.
Corea, if you mean back last February when we drew at Birmingham and lost our way from there, I don’t really look at it as bad luck. The age of the team, the lack of league experience and the painful lack of leadership made me always see our lead at the top as temporary. Sad for me to admit. I really thought we’d kick on from that season and really give it a push this season, but we lost our fight when Flamini left, and a lot of skill when Hleb went.
Yeah costas, those 2 already have a rivalry!
Lively, passionate, determined, pure class. Great players, great matches, great football!
@ Jonny
you had every chance that season. i believe you did. but i truly understand your point.
and of course, you aren’t trying to criticise the manager, do you ?
Don’t feel bad about Hleb Jonny.For me, you got a better player(albiet less experienced) in Nasri.And what did Hleb manage?Oh yeah,he wasn’t even on the bench on Wednesday.Flamini’s exit was a bit tougher though.That was a blow.But he also hasn’t dona much since leaving.
@ Rob the Red
i hope it will be the case but they are not Gods. And must score this fucking goals.
Please start with 5-1 or something like that as we did in 06-07.
Hleb had a vision than Nasri lacks- always on the look out for that killer ball. No goalscorer but I really do miss him. Flamini should’ve known better than to think he could walk into a Milan team with Gattuso, Pirlo and Ambrosini.
Corea: We will be fine!
Corea is right about the 5-1 scoreline.I don’t miss that scoreline.I miss ruthless United.We were 4-0 up after 20 minutes!
Even Ando will score next season!!!!
Wonder if Scott is compus mentis yet? or still on the Vodka ‘n’ Stella
He has to Rob.He owes us a strip show.
@ costas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXUr68gmI7M
what hapened with that team ?
i have tears.
Costas: That was only the final? Although torres has done a private one for beneathus to get more money!
All that extra money AND a runners up medal to PROVE he is a loser at a second rate club!!
@Corea.That team had Saha.We don’t have that striker anymore.And we also don’t have that ruthless instinct anymore.Only when we are in danger of losing.You know what game i am always nostalgic about?The 6-0 win over Newcastle.What a performance.
@Rob:Lol.Torres must be giving him one every time he scores.Yes,the Ando thing was just for the final.Damn,i really thought it was his time.
Me too
@ costas
Saha is not God. There has to be another answer. We bought Tevez – maybe it ? I can only think of the goal against Boro. every other goals were scored from as close as 5 metres from the corners etc.
Rooney – Berba upfront. Make it true, Fergie. It can be done!
@suhayl Said,
May 29th, 2009 @18:01 : excellent post mate. you were spot on.
why the Arsnl fans are on in here today posting comments ? you lot like everything about United, don’t you ?
and Pat, who is the biggest twat was abusing the United users the other day on the Evra article and today he wants to have a friendly chat, how sad
costa you make some very good points
its nice to get a nice bit of banter back on this site
i missed it
I’m too lazy to read all the comments here, but I just want to say one thing:
Scott, you’re fucking brilliant! Reading such an article wrote by a guy like you, makes it obvious that Manchester United have the best supporters in the world. No doubt about it. Absolutely great fans of the best club.
Thanks for that article. We are the Champions of England!
fair play to barca but to be fair i think we didn’t turn up. bad thing to do in a euro cup final
. at least we tried to keep possession and attack barca unlike those plastic rentboys in semis.
did we miss fletcher? or hargreaves? perhaps…
we are being slaughtered all over the internet for being an average side. luck, refereeing decisions, 5+ min. injury time etc. etc. FUCK this ABU world.
well if we are average, then p00l and chelski are shit. FACT
18 times…
Yes. Some weeks ago i was wondering how can i read all of the threads here. Now i am so hungry for more. I am just staying near this fucking computer the whole day. What a joke.
wazza, personally I’m on here to see different opinions on the final. Very little interest in your club, big interest in football.
Jonny it wasn’t about you.If it was,waszza got it wrong.But there have been lots of decent Arsenal fans here in the last few days.More decent than Liverpool fans that’s for sure!
If you think you had it rough, you should try being a Man Utd fan in the middle east.
Every since AlJazeera Sport got rights to the La Liga and made their subscription to as low as 25$ (15 Pounds) a month back in 2005-06.
Every, and when I say every I really mean EVERY, Arab was malignantly transformed into a Barcelona fan.
I blame Jazeera’s extreme bias towards Barcelona (Since they were winning that season) in the commentary and analysis as the cause of this brainwashing.
Commentators would sing poems about Ronaldinho and Messi during the game, that sort of bullshit.
During the final, when Xavi hit the post, the commentator said “OH DEAR!! IF THAT GOALPOST WAS A MAN, I WOULD KILL IT”, yes that sort of bullshit
Anyways fastforwad to today, everyone everywhere is a Barcelona fan. And you can understand how hard it is going to Uni the day after, but I went there wearing my United ‘Scholes’ shirt, and I survived.
Corea ROM is going to be our sanctuary these days.Plenty of shit to deal with before we play football again.Ronaldo and Tevez’s futures are two of them.
@ KJ
how proud i was when Scholesy scored that goal against Barca last year. I was wearing his shirt and when i went to the WC everyone looked at me and i smiled to their faces.
It will be one of the saddest days of my life.
Many of us crave the retirement for Giggs and Scholes but the day will come and we’ll cry for the players like them and realize what legends played for us.
@ costas
and Scott is our shining star. our beloved godfather.
@Jonny : what about this you said earlier when you have very little interest in our club.suggesting who we need and don’t need. do you think any of the United fans going on an Arsnl blog and suggesting them such things.never. i would not even want to know the blog leave opening it.
Jonny Said,
May 29th, 2009 @19:06
I think some of you are overreacting. Talking about paying through the nose for Kaka and Ribery? You don’t need them. You don’t need to take a gamble on Benzema. You were awesome this season- still ruthlessly efficient as ever and that fact that you got beaten on the night by the finest midfield in world football doesn’t mean you need big changes. I admire you’re desire to win but you have a fine youth setup with some top quality footballers coming through and theres no need to increase your debt at this point.
Corea given how we behave from time to time,i think that Scott is more like our babysitter!
I don’t need knowledge or interest in your club to know that Ferguson would be a moron to pay £50 million plus for Kaka or Ribery, or £15 million plus for Benzema. I don’t generally come on here to offer up my opinion on United related things, but did tonight. If you resent that, then fine. I’m not too fussed.
Considering that they didn’t get the open top bus ride that they deserved last year,they should have had one this time with their haul of trophies at the front.You can bet that Everton or Chelski will be doing on sunday after the F.A.cup final.
@ Donbaino 14:23 Looserpool are discussing having an open top bus ride with St.Stevie’s Player of the Season award at the front.
Good night to all. Nothing happens, i’m off.
Goodnight Corea.
Forget Kaka or Ribery – the first guy won’t leave Milan; Franck is going to play with TheVirus. Good luck to them. They’re not what UTD need, in order:
Someone like Daniele di Rossi (or that Brazilian guy at Porto who was awesome against UTD), a healthy Hargreaves, an uninjured Anderson and Fletcherinho to put real steel into the midfield. The absence of this horse-power in midfield was sadly evident in the CLFinal
A big, strong, reliable keeper – Buffon would be my choice.
And, maybe a lead-the-line bulldozer so that Ronaldo, Rooney, and Berbatov don’t have to do that job. Karim Benzema is the pick of the crop.
am i out of the loop because i dont know this one
but based on what sir alex said
is real madrid called the virus?
Yes GHTT.Last summer when asked about selling Ronaldo to Real,he replied that he wouldn’t sell them a virus!Legend!
costas mate ive never asked ya how you took the wednesday game
what went wrong etc
i think manchester united were set up by sir alex perfectly to win that game
but not really set up to chase the game
what did you think brother
gotta hate tiny tevez are you the artist that was formally known as gotta hate tiny tears ?!
yeah man i am
tevez just pissed me off so much today with his 100% disrespect to the starting line up on wednesday
and sir alex ferguson
on a more serious note do you think tevez leaked our tactic to barcelona?
could messi have provoked him to do so by saying that sir alex dont respect u?
I don’t know if you are still here GHTT.I just saw your question.
What can i say?All year long,i was saying “lets win the premiership and then a final against Barcelona will be enough for me”.But it hurts.All day long i was telling myself,”something has got to give.We can’t win every final”.And in the end i was right.I think that after the Emirates game,SAF did something that most girls do when they are complimented about a dress:He wore the Emirates system over and over again.I would have never thought that Barca were the ones who were going to make surprise changes in the final.I thought that he would prefer Scholes or start Berba because we wanted players with ball retention.You are right that he set the team up to win the game.But he got caught in two minds.If you want to take the game to Barca,you have to make them chase you.We had a hard time getting the ball off of them.But if Scholes and Berba had started,they would have had the same problem.
In the end GHTT,it was a bad day at the office for everyone.For Wayne,for Vida and Rio(Messi scoring a header against them is one of the lowest points of that partnership) and for SAF.I was distraught the day after.Being here with you guys helps a lot though.
PS The Scholes rumors persist.Now they are also talking about Bolton.No matter what has happened,the day Scholes leaves the club,it will be a day United lost a part of it’s spirit.I hope it’s all just crap.
easy guys hows it goin, personally i think if man united played the way they played at the emirates barca would have been brushed aside, its all ifs buts and maybes, but even though the tactics were slightly different the players could have done a lot better anyway,i just dont think man united players had a good day,something during that day put them off their game,apart from playing eto wider than usual and messi more uptop so eto could track back on the right wing barca didnt do a lot to stop man united playing
lol kapti
Tevez can get stuffed for criticising Fergie but I’m not sure Ronaldo said too much wrong – although it wouldn’t have hurt him to say something better
Anyway – from what I could hear on the TV on Sky the Utd fans didn’t sound as good as they usually do… I could hear them at the start of the game and in the last 5 but other than that they seemed quiet – most unlike our fans especially when clearly the team needed a lift.
Was this because of how Sky rigged the sound? I could hear Barca’s fans more than ours.
Kevin,either two things happened:1)The Italians were with Barca.Not hard to understand why given out rivalry with Roma.2)The Barcelona fans were closer to the cameras and the microphones.It didn’t sound good though,i agree.
sure we got beat, i accept that. the thing that makes me mad is barca’s whole philosophy of “beautiful football”. they said they wanted to win with beautiful football, but to fucking clamp down for the better part of 90 minutes does not name for beautiful football in my book. when they werent passing the ball to death they were clamping all 11 men down in their own 25 yards.
the fact that they can score impressively on the counterattack (i.e. the midget’s header) does not discard the fact that they play absolutely atrociously ugly football for most of the game.
i am extremely mindful of the fact that we beat them last year home in this very same way. i just dont appreciate a team saying theyre going to play beautiful football and NOT doing so in any way.
I haven’t read all the comments, but for all the transfer talk there’s a couple of players who are quality, are 100% certain to leave their club in the summer, wouldn’t cost a ridiculous amount, and have never been mentioned yet. I’m talking about David Villa and David Silva, 2 European Champions. Valencia are in massive financial trouble and have to off load all their big players this summer, and these 2 are the best they have. Villa has said he’d rather stay in Spain, but that doesn’t mean it’s a certainty that he will, Benzema has said he wants to go to Italy but people still bring his name up. Only Eto’o has out scored Villa in Spain in the last 6 years combined, the guy is pure class, and Silva ia an excellent wide man, about 100% better than Park and Nani combined ( I like Park for his work rate and energy but lets be serious, he is not exactly a Giggs, Beckham, Kanchelskis, or Ronaldo is he?). These 2 would be perfect additions to our TEAM, not squad. Sell Nani ( see if Spurs are still interested), Campbell ( sure Hull would be happy to take him) and let Tevez leave, and buy Silva and Villa, a combined bid of around 50-60 million should be enough, and play the same 4-2-3-1 formation that the scum play, it works well against the big teams, and 4-4-2 against everyone else, so
Foster/VDS
Brown/Rafael Rio Vidic Evra
Hargreaves/Carrick Fletcher/Anderson
Ronaldo Rooney Silva
Villa
with Nev, Evans, Fabio, Park, Tosic, Ljajic, Gibson, Possebon, Giggs, Scholes, Wellbeck, Macheda, and Berbatov to come in as well.
I haven’t gone through the comments yet, but just wanted to say this was brilliant Scott. You got me all riled up for next season.
ROLL ON AUGUST!!!
I won’t understand why do we need De Rossi ? Fit Hargo and Fletch would be enough for me. But summer is long. We’ll see what will happen with Hargo and then SAF will decide what to do.
Talking about Porto. What do you think of a guy called Hulk ?
@corea : he is not the Incredible Hulk, lol
he is not good enough for me.
It was an awful night that started so well.I wasn’t that confident before the game but when we kicked off I was feeling good.
First attack and they scored but I was still saying we’ll be ok and get at least one goal in 80 minutes…..it never happened.
I thought our possession was terrible and have to say Carrick was fucking gash.The amount of times he miss-placed a pass was criminal in a game like this.
The thing that annoyed me most was that we looked like we had given up after 10 minutes.It was like the players new they couldnt come back against a side like Barca,who I thought didnt really do much apart from keep the ball well.
Still I felt at the start of the season if we retained the league we would have had a good season,its just because we take the league for granted now that it dosent seem as sweet.
@ wazza
remember. we need the fird choice striker. i will consider that option. and he may come for cheap.
* fird – third of course
Hulk is more like a winger i guess. i would like some Spanish players. Fergie will sought out the players this summer
I think we need hargreaves back. Because anderson is not and never has been a defensive midfielder. he is an attacking midfielder who likes to play just behind the front two and when was the last time he was able to do that?
he needs a good defensive midfielder to let him go forward and attack (something he did against arsenal when fletcher has his back)
so owen get those knees sorted so we can see the best from anderson
@doncobaino : totally agree mate. Ando should be given the licence from next season to play more attacking and not much defending. we need Hargo and Fletch/Carrick as dmf and Ando can go forward. hope Hargo plays some part in pre season matches and gets up to the mark.
good article about anderson
because i know a lot of people will be after him because of wednesday
but where giggs was on wed night is where anderson should have been
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/timvickery/2009/05/anderson.html?page=17
For whatever reason we lost. Let’s get it right next time.
Great teams come back again and again and again.
Remember that.
just like the friendly “england” lost 2-0 to “spain”
we didnt enjoy this year’s champions league final and the same last year when ronaldo started talking
Corea @ 8:41 – the reason why I’ve been bigging-up di Rossi is that he a better player than Anderson/Hargreaves/Fletcherinho/Carrick, plain and simple. He’s in his mid-20s and has been a fixture in a WorldCup winning team’s engine room. He’s hard, strong, and skilled with a great engine – basically, he’s a version of Essien and losing him to the RentBoyz has been one of the two transfer disasters of the last five/six years – the other one being the inability to get full-time service from LouisLouisHaHa, who was a fantastic player when/if he was fit.
di Rossi is so good that his presence has sent Gennaro Gattuso to the bench ! Enuf said, eh ?
3 TROPHIES AINT BAD!
Go Man U!!!
Glad to hear your fans made so much noise in the pub. They didnt make any in the stadium
OWENSLEFTFOOT…..GO JOG ON…
You wouldnt you prick…seeing we only had 20.000 utd fans…outnumbered by 40.000 barca fans….20.000 barca fans and 20.000 ’supposed’ neutral italians who hate the english.
Make sense to you now..muppet