In response to the doom and gloom articles being written about us in the papers, I thought I would share a thing or two written about us in the summer of 2006.
We had just finished second in the league and won the League Cup, after finishing third the season before and winning nothing.
Ruud van Nistelrooy had been sold and no replacement had been brought in. After searching far and wide for “the next Roy Keane”, we settled on Michael Carrick for an initial £14 million, with the potential to reach £18.6 million.
Things had got “so bad” for United, that we were predicted to finish fifth in the 2006-2007 season by The Guardian, and fourth by Sky Sports. Our glory days were apparently over. Gutted.
Almost everything about the club reeks of disarray. Owned by the Glazers, who push buttons from a remote hideaway like Dr Evil; run by a manager who shreds his legacy at every turn; almost exclusively represented by the inadequate (Darren Fletcher and Kieran Richardson) and the odious (Rio Ferdinand); unable to close a deal for West Brom’s reserve keeper, never mind the new Roy Keane. The signing of Michael Carrick, a Pirlo when a Gattuso was needed, is a band aid for a bullet wound, and a ludicrously expensive one at that.
Darren Fletcher, fighting it out with Wayne Rooney for United’s best performing and most important player this season. Michael Carrick’s signing has coincided with one of United’s most successful ever periods, playing 144 games in his first three seasons, an average of 48 games a season. You don’t play almost 50 games a season during a time when your team wins as many trophies as United have, if you don’t have anything to add to the team.
If anything, it’s a surprise that United have bought anyone at all. This summer, they have been like a pathetic drunk lumbering across a dancefloor at 1.45am, trying to get off with everything that moves. No matter how many people they move in for – and if reports are to be believed, United have made offers for dozens of players – nobody wants to go near them. And the one person who surely would, Damien Duff, was allowed to slip into the arms of Newcastle for less than United paid for Patrice Evra. You couldn’t make it up. You don’t have to.
Oh yes, Damien Duff, who had a brilliant time at Newcastle, averaging just over 20 games a season, ravaged with injury. He did play in 30 of the 38 Premiership games last season… as they were relegated. These were the days when Evra was generally seen has useless and a bad buy from the manager. Now he’s the best left back in the world.
United finished second last season, but that as much about the deficiency of the Premiership as their own quality. Arsenal will surely not have a four-month blind spot this season, while all evidence suggests that Liverpool’s gradient will continue on its upward trajectory. With Tottenham getting stronger, even with the loss of Carrick, it is conceivable that, if they start slowly and get significant injuries, United could finish fifth; in today’s environment, that would be disastrous.
I think Arsenal would have loved to have just a four-month blind spot in the season that followed, with them winning only half of their league games! Finishing fourth, more than 20 points behind the champions, with a goal difference worse by 28, Arsenal were dreadful. Liverpool weren’t much better, finishing on the same points as Arsenal but finishing third because a record better by two goals. Spurs finished nowhere, 29 points behind the champions, with a pathetic goal difference of just 3.
It is an increasingly inescapable conclusion that, unwittingly or otherwise, Ferguson is winding down, a prizefighter who no longer has the stomach or the wit for an admittedly enormous challenge which, once upon a time, he would have fervently inhaled. Like he did with Liverpool. Ferguson’s almost maniacal yearning to “knock Liverpool off their fucking perch” was arguably the single most important factor in United’s 1990s renaissance. It makes it all the more vicious an irony that, 10 years later, he should knock United off the perch he had made for them through increasingly rank mismanagement.
How to respond? Will a smug grin do?
Indeed, it must irk him beyond belief that United are making exactly the same mistakes that Liverpool did: lack of pheromones in the transfer market; laughable, fall-back signings at suspicious and ridiculous prices; deluded ramblings (“we are as good as Chelsea, no question”) – and, worst of all, a dressing-room where playing the field seems as important as playing the game. Liverpool’s Spice Boys were bad, but they have nothing on Merk Berks like Ferdinand, Richardson and Wes Brown.
Those fall-back signings at suspicious prices are presumably Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra, who cost just £12 million for the pair. Vidic has featured in the PFA Team of the Season every year since, Evra twice out of three years. Rio Ferdinand went on to lift the European Cup in Moscow, Wes Brown played more games for United than any other player during the second most successful season in our club’s history. How’s that for a Merk Berk? And how wrong Ferguson was to claim that we were as good as Chelsea – quite frankly, we were far better!
And the thing is, it is only going to get worse: Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham have all made shrewd, cheap signings and are going in one direction. United are going the other way: they are hugely dependent on Ferdinand and Rooney, but no number of Carling Cup medals is going to sate their ambition. Then there is the Glazer factor, the full, inevitable horror of which is only just beginning to emerge. United fans think this season is going to be bad. It hasn’t even started.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Players that you have written off can go on to do great things. Decisions that seem ridiculous can pay off. Things people say might sound stupid but turn out to be true.
United are currently second in the league, two points behind Chelsea, despite us spending a month or so without a defence. United are in the semi-finals of the League Cup, with just City, Blackburn and Villa the other teams left in the competition. United are through to the next round of the European Cup after finishing top of the group. Whilst the financial situation is a massive worry (and something I will get around to depressing myself over in writing about), what is happening on the field is fairly promising. We’ve had better seasons, definitely, and we’re adjusting to playing without The Best Player In The World, but we’re not bad. At least we have excuses for our situation but what about Chelsea? Could it be that they’re actually just not that good?
Just because we proved everybody wrong following being written off in 2006, I’m not for one second arguing the same must be said of now. The debt may see us go under (although I’m in the fairytale world of believing that there are too many rich and greedy people out there prepared to save us because of the money making machine we are), our players may not prove to be good enough, this might be the end of the glory years… but I can’t see it. That may be because I’m an optimist, fine, I’m happy to admit that, but it might also be because I’m right. Again, hindsight. We will see.
The above article was written by Rob Smyth for The Guardian, who we now know to be a good egg. He is a red who was voicing his frustrations and worry for a club he loves, the same way we do on here daily. In the summer of 2006, I was singing from a different hymn sheet (unpredictably!) and you should take a look at my ramblings. These were the days when maybe four people read RoM and I didn’t know what I was doing (so don’t judge!). I’m not trying to claim that I know it all, because I don’t, but that there’s no harm in looking to the bright side. (Although I scoffed at the idea of us winning the European Cup in THREE years time (let alone two!) and slagged Fletch off something rotten. Makes for quite embarrassing reading now to be honest).
Since that summer, we have won the Premiership every single season. We’ve won the European Cup and played in another final. We’ve won the League Cup. We’ve been in the FA Cup final.
Rob admitted the error of his ways two months later and at the end of the season, and last night gave me his blessing to rip his article to shreds, telling me he deserves everything he gets for writing that! I hope we’ll be reading similar acknowledgements at the end of this season, like we did from Oliver Holt at the end of the 2008 season.
To be a “proper fan”, it doesn’t mean never criticising the team. You may all feel you have more than enough reasons to criticise the team, but do hold the thought in the back of your mind that you could be wrong. We’re in a much better position now than we were the summer of 2006, so don’t be too quick to buy in to the doom and gloom stories… again.
We’ll never die.
The Sun, Daily Mail, Times, Telegraph and Daily Mirror adn all the remaining tabloids
You are a load of shit and so are most of your half witted bastard writers who know nothing about football.
Doom and gloom indeed
Fucking idiots.
Fantastic Read!
Scott we shall be celebrating in May with the 19th title
good call Scott,i know that sometimes we should just bite our lips and keep it shut,but as you know yourself sometimes it’s a difficult thing to do.I was one who left a crap comment about Berbatov last week,but today i’m more than happy to give him another chance in the hope he proves me wrong.Onwards and upwards lets get the three points today then they can write what they want about us…shit,no direction but top of the league.
A good slogan stops analysis for 50 years. Thats exactly what “knock Liverpool off their fuckin’ perch” was! It drives the team on to perform better and outbattle others!
And the irony is absolutely beautiful.. Even God loves irony!
Brilliant article Scott..
boo hoo
its all over. i cant stop crying. some one please save United. Please stop United from getting relegated and a mauling at the hands of the mighty Man city and AC Milan
Fair play to Rob Smyth for realising his mistake and even allowing us to comment on the article.
One of the main things I have grown up realising, is to never write off Man. United. But lets be honest. During the summer of 2006, very few of us were confident about the upcoming season. And it’s not wrong to feel like that as long as you acknowledge your mistake afterwards. I have. Sometimes it bothers me when I hear comments like “Fergie will get it right, he always does” or “We are always stronger in the second half of the season”. Both of these comments are generalisations and they are never guaranteed.
Here’s my opinion on the doom and gloom week we just experienced. I don’t care about the Leeds defeat anymore. Knowing our FA cup record in recent seasons, it was inevitable that we would slip up at some point. The team is NOT as bad as some are making it out. We have lost 2 players and we have lost even more due to injuries, but when the team has it’s core 8 fit(VDS,Vidic,Evra,Valencia,Carrick,Fletcher,Giggs and Rooney) it’s very strong and can push for the title until the end.
However, the debt issue is a humongous elephant in the room that we can’t ignore forever.
Quality posting, Scott! And that was written by a red – imagine what the ABUs were writing at the time…
Now entering squeeky-bum time, I think the hunger will start to show in our players. Each of them have different reasons to start performing at their best: It could be from being left too much on the bench (Anderson, Macheda), coming back from injury (Vida, Rio, Evans) or simply already written off and scared to death from being sold this summer (Berba, Nani, Owen). There are the new signings eager to impress (Valencia, Obertan, Diouf). Finally, there are the proven winners in our team (Rooney, Fletch, Evra, Giggs, Scholes) that simply refuse to loose. All of them must be pretty embarrassed of performances such as against Leeds and Liverpool and are keen to show their true colors.
Funny thing about United, we may not always play pretty and fun football but we WILL WIN THE THROPHIES! 4 in a row!
On the debt issue, this situation is only like this because Glazer wants to own the club 100% and have full control. Once he decides to let somebody else in (only if he HAS to, I guess) it is very easy to rectify – he will bring in some new investors or even do an IPO. As long as United generates as much cash as it does and with the probably strongest brand name in sports (so long, Tiger
there will be plenty of interest to either join hands with Glazer or buy him out (as the rumored Asian financiers waiting to pounce). So for me the debt is actually a non-issue, apart from where it impacts size of our transfer kitty. And we might hate Glazer for putting his debts on the club, but he has proven to be a smart owner – just look at our results since he took over.
great read
best post in a while
Nobody has ever won anything at this stage of the season.
I support Manchester United Football Club – no need to worry.
Good article yet again Scott – Flying start to 2010 – Pullitzer prize this year mate.
one thing he was right about, kieron richardson. what a cunt.
good post though. i can see why he would right an article like that at the time, as i reckon it represents how most reds were feeling at the time. just shows that no matter how many times we think SAF has lost it, he knows best!
keep the red flag flying high.
I’m not all too worried by the debt issue, in facti think the bond issue would actually be a great idea especially at a time when interest rates are at the their lowest levels ever..I’d much rather the club paid 7% interest on a bond issue then 14% on part of the debt as is being paid now.
I very much doubt that the glazer’s are gonna let the club go bust..God knows how many financial advisers and analysts they have so i’m pretty sure they wont let it go tits up..sure they might not take decisions in the fans best interest but at the end of the day they have an investment in the club and its in their interest to ensure its stability and well being…if teh worst comes to pass they can always relist the club or if in dire straits sell it off for less than its alleged 1.3 billion valuation..i’m not saying i’m happy bout the situation..far from it but i’m saying that there are options available.
I’m more concerned about the team’s performance, we seem to have lost that fear factor and our play has very often been too lethargic..players like anderson & berbatov havent lived up to their billing in my opinion and even ferguson said today that we are reliant on Rooney and yet have no one to step in if he gets injured..think about what we’d be like without him this season
Whats surprising is that given this SAF doesnt seem too inclined to buy anyone (unless he’s playing games with us) even though he insists he has money to spend claiming there’s no value in the market…well if thats the case i’m afraid to say that is partly our doing..selling ronaldo for 80 million was always going to distort the market..every time the transfer fee record has been broken player prices have risen..i’m not saying that we should have sold him for less obviously but we do have to deal with the consequences and the circumstances..we’re lucky that through the market distortion(which is not jus due to the ronaldo fee..city played a very big part in it too) we benefited from it. Does SAF think there’s going to be value in the market after the World Cup?! Can we go 2 transfer windows without a significant buy given the current position we found ourselves in where one of our best players is 36 ?!
I’d personaly be happy if we spent 40 mill to buy aguero..of course everyone has his own opinion on that but i think we’d benefit from his playmaking abilities..I’d also like to see some of the youngsters blooded in more..Macheda hardly played this season, Wellbeck very often played out of position on the wing, Cleverly seems to be doing well at Watford whilst after getting caught up in the initial hype it doesnt seem like Gibson has what it takes because apart from a cracking shot he doesnt offer much else & seems pretty average.
The left wing spot is also a very big concern as we have NO left winger capable of filling that role (SAF should stick to what he said and keep Giggs in the middle as his best performance have come from there in recent years) and it needs to sorted out ..park does a decent enough job but he’s no 1st team starter in my opinion
I dont mind if we lose the league to a better team this season but what annoys me is that THERE IS NO BETTER TEAM ! We’re lucky in that given the squad isnt the strongest we’ve had in recent years ( in terms of quality) we’re playing in one of the weakest leagues in recent years ! Despite all this IN SAF I TRUST & WE’LL NEVER DIE !!!
this just prooves the media aren’t always right… if ever at all. last summer all we read in the papers was…. the dippers are gunna win the league… enough said!!
The worrying thing about the debt isn’t that Manchester United might go under as a company. That won’t happen because it won’t benefit anyone. However, it will (and it probably has already) impact the team’s budget. I don’t think Man United will suffer a decline ala Leeds, but it’s quite possible that we won’t be able to be competitive as we were for the past 20 years.
good read, fuck the critics we,ll stick it up em when we take 4 in a row
important thing today is a solid performance and 3 pts, diouf to play a part today only young but looks decent-
fergusons mame birame!
the cream will always rise to the top.
great read Scott, thanks for that.
It brings back memories of the 3 years between 2004-2006 we didn’t win the league and only took in one league cup. This coincided with the Glazers taking over and saddling us with debt and team re-building (Van Nistelrooy and Keano leaving, Fletcher and Ronaldo still raw). Watching us do a guard-of-honour for the newly-crowned champions Chelsea was gut-wrentching. Those were dark and gloomy days.
Exploits on the pitch and our legendary fight and heart was what made United the team for me as a young boy in the 1990s. Growing up in this period of great success, I am arguably a ’spoilt fan’ who thought it was our damn right to win the league title and contest every European cup. Having discussed this with my mates who shared those dark days of pain with me, we know better now….we savour every game and success and will never, ever, take it for granted. That being said, all i want this season is number 19.
As Scott has posted numerous times, this season is only halfway through and we are in a great position in the league and European Cup. So fuck all the doomsday folk who say our 2nd? decline has begun after a few bad losses, my emphaty to fans who let it get under their skin and believe it..We are united, and we’ll never die!
Scott, that’s great!! I’d like to request all united fans to support all of our players who underperform, coz if flatcher made it, who do you think can’t make it? Or which young player do you think can’t make it?
Heard we made a killer signing…, goes by name of Hargreaves dno if anyone’s heard of this guy. Cost a bargain in the transfers, check him out at reserves.
I’ve been saving some of this years ‘greatest articles’ to read in May while I drink champagne to celebrate the 19th.
Great article Scott, a thoroughly good read. We shall never die, long live United!
nice one scott!
as far as supporting manchester united, i’m as biased and cheerfully positive as they come, but it’s great to have your blog to reinforce my belief at times. the two lean so-called ‘chelsea era’ years where all we won was a carling cup was hard to take but you could see the foundation being laid for a new dynasty. i just have to believe that fergie is now building his newest creation. financial woes or not, fergie will find a way to get it done. terrible about the fa cup, but we still have plenty of silverware to strive for this season.
we will never fucking die!
You understand the importance of winning when you lose some and go through a really bad period. I know it is going to happen sometime but sometimes you need to make sacrifices in order to come back stronger. Every team needs a refreshment sooner rather than later. Frank Rijkaard said that when Barca won CL in 2006. There are many things you can lose. The only thing that matters is keeping the dignity and traditions no matter what.
scott you just get better
The only bad signing we have at the moment is berbatov he isn’t man utd quality he just frustrates the shit out o me. yeh we might not be signing anyone just now but thats because every team seems to think that their players are valued at £40 million i think depending on how we are doing this month we might still get 1 player. Personally i would like to see edin dzeko come in he is a goalscorer and is young and powerful. Also i hope mame biram diouf is as good as fergie makes him out to be. Would love a hat trick from him tonight if he starts
This snow could be a blessing in disguise for us. Hopefully we win today and go above Chelsea, putting pressure on them.
Seeing how many games are called off, I am hoping we are not walking into a trap. A statement by Birmingham says that the pitch is in good condition and I sure hope it is.
Costas – on BBC there are Arsenal and Everton squads for today’s game. So we’ll have at least one game.
And you know it wasn’t mainly the pitch condition that was the problem.
The Arsenal V Everton game will go ahead.
Corea
Yeah I know. I just don’t want the pitch to be an obstacle for the kind of football we are playing.
Costas – sorry. didn’t get the message, mate.
There is a bit of snow in London. Game goes ahead.
Corea
It’s ok. Hopefully the conditions at the Emirates will affect Arsenal. We could do with them dropping some points.
It’s weird how the conditions in England are different compared to here. Most of the day I just wear my t-shirt!
BELIEVE is just one word that we use as fans, I always do, I feel Anderson, Carrick and Fletcher in the centre, we’ve got quality battling for the centremid, I hope we sort out our wingers, Valencia has true quality but the others are questionable. Up front I wouldn’t mind a target man or someone that’s just that different/creative, Berbatov just isn’t there for me when it matters and I love the bloke, I want to see him be a pain like he was against us! I love our team but I think 3 years winning trophy after trophy I think there isn’t the urgency there was 3 years ago when we came out straight away battling and thrashed Fulham 5-1 and were just awesome, this season we’ve only looked good against Wigan and they just didn’t turn up, we’ve not looked good against the big teams, Arsenal I still don’t know how we won and Liverpool the less said the better. I know we’ve had our injuries and I appreciate that no other team missing 8 first team defenders, resorting to midfielders in defense would be closer to the bottom rather than 2 points off the top, I just feel even our best 11 are lacking a certain bite. I hope we do get someone in that can give us that bite or creativity in the side, we rely too much on The Best Player In The League, or ROOOONEY as we call him!
Arsenal are 1-0 down
Costas, “It’s weird how the conditions in England are different compared to here. Most of the day I just wear my t-shirt!
Er Ok mate don’t rub it in it is feckin freezing here!!
@Stephen
Sorry mate! But there are two sides to every coin. You’ve had your fair share of snow over there, but it never snows in Greece! My brother could use a big snowball in his face every now and then!
Arsenal have equalised.
great read scott!
It makes me laugh. Week in, week out, referees endure unequalled criticism – some of which they bring on themselves.
If the media – which so readily accentuates criticism of referees – was ever placed in such a setting as a football stadium, the fans would laugh them off the pitch. I feel sorry for those who are a credit to the profession of sports journalism. Sadly, rational reporters are a rarity, dwarfed by a breed that won’t produce a cogent story at any point in their undeserved careers. I wouldn’t mind if their opinions were restricted to traditional predictions. Alas, they have to make outlandish predictions and statements in order to justify their salaries.
If only they would stop thinking they know best. Scientists can’t predict the future, so self-opinionated hacks stand little chance. Nobody can make statements like those above with any conviction, however much they treasure their own opinions.
Bbc says berbatov will be dropped today.rooney alone up front.
anyone got the lineup for todays game yet ??
great read scot .. as always
@Mhihrh
I think it doesn’t have to do with Berbatov as much as it does with Fergie playing 4-5-1. He has done it in most of our away games this season to good effect.
By the way, 4-5-1 could still work with Rooney on the left, but Fergie doesn’t want to play him on the wing anymore.
Costas
think the same way.that formation has worked in most of the away games
*thought* not think
2-1 Everton!
“United are currently second in the league, two points behind Chelsea, despite us spending a month or so without a defence. United are in the semi-finals of the League Cup, with just City, Blackburn and Villa the other teams left in the competition. United are through to the next round of the European Cup after finishing top of the group. Whilst the financial situation is a massive worry (and something I will get around to depressing myself over in writing about), what is happening on the field is fairly promising.”
Everything except the last part makes sense.What’s happening on the field is fairly promising?! We’re lucky because Chelsea’s form hasn’t been that great either.If they had played any better,we’d be a lot more behind than just a mere 2 points.
“We’re in a much better position now than we were the summer of 2006″
Scott,I hope you’re kidding me because back in the 2006-07 season,we had the aura of champions about ourselves.This season,we’re finding it difficult to just string a couple of victories together !
what a goal from Pienaar!
hmm. Gooners 2-1 down. Not much time left now
Sir Alex has made seven changes for the Birmingham game after the Leeds defeat, Berba not even on the bench!
Haven’t seen the game, but from the live commentary I get the impression that Everton had a real go at Arsenal. Credit to them.
Kus-Rafael,Brown,Evans,Evra-Valencia,Carrick,Fletch,Scholes,Park-Rooney
From BBC Sport:
Dimitar Berbatov has indeed dropped out of the Manchester United team – and isn’t even on the bench. Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs come into the team, as Wayne Rooney plays in the middle of what looks like a front three. Birmingham unchanged
Where have all the Gooners gone? You’d think the five minutes of injury time was allocated especially for them to get to their cars.
2-2 at Arsenal, fuck!
Bench:
Amos,Fabio,Neville,Giggs,Anderson,Owen and Diouf!
I wonder if Berba is injured again.
Costas
yeah. Everton were good today. had the same no of shots on targeta s the gooners and more shots off target, more corners and nearly same amount of the ball. Very
Rosicky has equalised just now though
@Costas
According to BBC Giggs starts, not on the bench!
There you go.. don’t leave early.
2-2
bchilds
Skysports has him on the bench. Maybe someone got unjured in the warm up?
Kuszczak
Evra
Rafael
Brown
Evans
Park
Carrick
Fletcher
Scholes
Valencia
Rooney
costas
thanks for the team .didnt post as i knew you would beat me to it.lol.
Park playing ahead of giggs?. maybe due to his impressive showing against Wigan. As expected though. No major surprises
Yea maybe, we’ll soon find out! According to Sky the above is the team for today!
Diouf on the bench!!!. Maybe he will make his debut today
AIG
It’s the official Premier League website mate. They are the ones who post the starting line ups very quick. I think you should try it next time.
The Giggs thing is a weird one, but maybe he is not 100% over his injury? This 4-5-1 is a bit lightweight attacking wise. I hope someone like Scholesy will make a lot of runs to the Brum box.
Thankfully Arsenal dropped 2 points, although I hear that Everton feel that they could have won it. Still a good result for us. Means that they can’t surpass us when they play their game in hand.
Everton should have won it…but given the 6-1 mauling earlier in the season, I guess they can take it in their stride.
Now, it is up to us to perform.
I don’t think we’ll see Diouf make an appearance today, he’s probably only on the bench to soak up the match-day experience
Diouf on the bench? Hopefully we won’t need a Macheda moment. If we do…..
Costas
Yeah. Great chance to put pressure on the teams below us. Hopeful that Brum will feel the full backlash of last weekends defeat.Brum have 3 up front in Mcfadden, Jerome and Benitez so Wes and Evans have to be at the top of their game
Don’t think Berba is injured – even if that’s what SAF ultimately says. Even as a supporter of Berbatov, I think it’s time something like this happened. It’s a kick in the ass type of move that needed to happen sooner rather than later. It’s halfway through the season and even taking the injuries into consideration, Berba has not stepped up the way it was expected of him this season.
No Berba on the bench means that for one Saturday, all the post match reaction won’t be about him.
Great post Scott. Summed everything perfectly. We are somehow in a slightly similar situation from 05 and 06. The similar thing is that Fergie is slowly building a new Utd, and the constant squad rotation isn’t just resting players, but also shows that he is testing different formations and line-ups.
Just when I thought Everton would take the 3 points, the gooners equalised. Missing Alex Song? Maybe. Only watched the second half but they Everton played very well. Didn’t look like the team we thrashed earlier in the season.
AIG
Yeah, I also hope we see United try to rectify what happened with Leeds. It’s not an easy ground. Apart from a League Cup game, we usually win there by a single goal. And we have had a couple of draws too.
Nani is still injured presumably…
phil neville had a great tackle in the box today….i still like him and would not have minded if he was on our bench today…arsenal were pretty flat and unorganized on defence, but the last surge in injury time gave them a goal, which by the way was another deflection..great result for us, lets take advantage of this!
Great read Scott !!!! You’re on mad form
We’ll Never Die
Fergie said that Berba’s exclusion has to do with a slight knock he has been carrying for the last 2 weeks. Make of it what you will. Why did he start against Leeds then?
Does anyone have a link to an English stream?
Costas
Yeah, good point. I think he’s been dropped because he’s not pulling his weight and he to send a message that he needs to step up.
We’ve now gone a 100 games without naming the same line up in 2 consecutive games.
Scott thanks for the in detailed post – something I’ve been saying for a week
We win they hate us
We loose they hate us further
Ronaldo was here – they hated him
Ronaldo gone they love him
We win they say we won’t again
We keep on winning they say but Ronaldo’s gone
We win and Fergie’s on borrowed time
We loose and the debt is killing us
We win they say we play rubbish
We loose and they say Fergie has no money to spend
That is exactly the same as 2006 – read Van Nistelrooy instead of Ronaldo.
It was exactly the same in 2003 – read Beckham instead of Ronaldo and Van Nistelrooy and instead of the debt the PLC’s refusal to back SAF buy spending big – sound familiar?
In 2005 when Mourinho came the press equated Rooney at United as the right player in the wrong time at United – they didn’t even talk about Ronaldo!
The end of 04 was the same – how would United ever beet the invincibles of Arsenal?
Go further back and in the summer of 08 United were again inferior to Arsenal.
Every time they knock us we come back.
It is the very nature of the club to be knocked down and be written off and then rise and soar above the all – those that do not believe in us.
They ridicule Munich – they despise the greatest team that never were as a vehicle to make money from. They insult our dead and us and laugh at the tragedy and then they assume that this debt will kill us.
It won’t. It never will. If this club belonged to SAF we would be bigger than we are now. First the PLC had it’s issues but there was no debt – and now we have no one to answer too but we are in debt.
Time – time will guide this club into the hands of someone that believes the way we do. We do not need sugar daddy’s – we need someone who just gets it.
Chi up then.
I fancy a 2 1 win, wazza and valencia to get the goals.
Read chin up then instead of Chi up : )
Nectarine
I also look at it from an injury standpoint. There have been rumors about Berba carrying a knee injury for a few weeks now. If that’s the case, in my opinion he should have been protected against Leeds because our main focus is the league. However, I don’t think he would have started today anyway.
Ok, enough about Berba. Lets get the 3 points today and make it easy for ourselves!
Good to see Diouf on the bench. Even if he turns out to be another Manucho, I’m sure he’ll put in a better shift than Berbatov. I doubt Berbatov is injured either. After last weeks display its what he deserves
MG
GREAT comment. So true and puts things in perspective.
Lucky arsenal again.
Spot on Scott…..Red Always and Forever! Fuck me, Arsenal got an injury time deflected equalizer! They were BAD today!! So….one up front today, SAF says Berba’s omission is due to him having a slight knock. Amos on the bench again!?
Come on United, do us proud!
I salute you MG!!
Excellent post mate!
COME ON UNITED!!!
All I’m asking for today is some fighting spirit and some guts, sorely lacking last weekend. COME ON!
United vs. B’burn live streams:
http://bit.ly/6PHE4W
lads, any decent stream?
And extra big credit to Fred, who posted this article yesterday.
http://www.nshout.com/
plenty of streams here
myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=60587&part=sports
Good post MG!
cheers
Should have scored there Rooney. What a ball by Valencia
We have to score now as we are dominating. There will be a spell when we will be under pressure. We should be up by then. Completely bossing the game
Much better performance so far from United, really taking charge of the game. Wazza should have put us 1-0 up, 67% possesion – first goal here is going to be very important!
Carrick looks very impressive in an attacking role!
The boys in good voice today!! Neville gettin plenty of support….good to hear after some of the muppet comments on hear over the last few days.
Valencia has been brilliant both attacking and defending. Birmingham are really a very well organised side.Think if we get the first goal Brum will crumble
We have absolutely battered them and laid a siege to their goal. I sense a goal coming
Park off Diouf on at half please. Rooney needs a partner up top for interplay.
How the fuck is it still 0-0.All birmingham are doing is throwing bodies in the box. Common lads. Hope we dont regret not scoring when we are on top
rafael showin great determination then
FUCK!!!
exactly what i said. Dont score when we dominate and we pay for it.
@20legend99
I personally think Park’s been ok, not fantastic but he’s had a decent half. I’d keep it as it is going into the 2nd half.
1-0 Birmingham, how the fuck has that happened!
Typical of our season! Come on boys, these are here for the taking!!!
fuk were shite
there first attempt at goal – there first corner compared to how many weve had – and there are 1-0 up – fuk sakes – get park off he doesnt offer us anything
Evra saved us there. Could have been 2
there are two teams that have gone on to win after scoring the first goal those teams are Manchester United and Birmingham City so we could be fucked
I don’t understand why we can’t score anymore? I can understand conceeding the odd goal as we have our second choice centre back pairing and third choice keeper. But we should be scoring!
We need two up top. It’s fucking Brum, and I know they’re on form but if we can’t play attacking against them how the fuck are we going to last against Milan?
Park’s rapist touch is costing us. Two up top, Diouf and Rooney. Park off, I think he’s been rubbish.
we’ll fuck this up. this is an unvelievable weak team.
I mean ours.
If only Berba was playing.
park has been okay? what match have u been watchin m8
rooney has not been good,
all the wingers, obertan tosic even giggs
who does he play.. PARK
against birmingham? oh yeh because their really a CHELSEA arent they??
blame goes to fergie again im afraid
like it or not.. we are shite and the formation/teams do not help at all
we need to bring diouf on second half and lets see what the boy can do
COME ON UNITED!!
oh for fucks sake….. what the fuck is happening…. seems to me the rest of the premiership has susses out how to play against us….
I think I’m right in saying that every game we’ve lost this season we have failed to score in.
Credit to Birmingham. Its just the 8th goal they have scored at home but their defence has been brilliant. Didnt expect us to keep a clean sheet anway so that dosent make much of a difference.
Dont expect much lads. Brum have won all the games in which they have scored first
Chin up lads. We werent bad at all, and certainly dont deserve to be losing. I think Fergie should take off Park and bring on a striker. We should of finished our chances but we didnt and conceded a stupid goal. Why do we always make things harder for ourselves? Come on UNITED!
Sigh…What the hell do we actually lack, seriously? Chances after chances, we just can’t seem to break the opponent up. They had one chance and they scored.
bchilds
yes. you are right and we havent exactly come back from being a goal down like we did in the last 2 seasons. So there isnt much hope
lol SAF was spot on on the tactics. Park is playing brilliantly. I dont know which game are you watching if you are saying he is not.
the culprit is ROONEY.
I won’t say how the fuck this happened.
I will just ask why the fuck, why the fuck we can’t head the ball on either end? That’s what’s cost us. The first time the ball comes into our box, they score. No Vidic, ho header hey?
i agree, I,m getting a niggle that Fergie has not got the dressing room behind him ….no-one deems to be bothered to try it seems to me I’m afraid….. two or three timed this season iI have felt that SAF had fucked up team selection, in playing silly buggers with
Sketch Said,
January 9th, 2010 @19:22
sure. but we’ll lose, that’s almost for sure. we don’t have flair and activity.
we’d need 2 fuckin strikers. we need creativity.
this is an average-class team. let’s hope we’ll be in the first 3. but we can easily fuck that up too.
this is our weakest team in 15 years.
fuck this is frustrating
sketch
till last year we always used to make things harder but in the end got the job done by coming back and winning. Cant be said of this season though. Burnley, Chelsea and Villa were all games we didnt deserve to lose but we lost them
Come on lads, why all the negativity. We’ve played pretty well, dominated the game and Brum have had one corner and scored from it, if we cointinue to play this way in the second half we’ll get back into it.
@obertanthenewstar
“blame goes to fergie again im afraid
like it or not.. we are shite and the formation/teams do not help at all
we need to bring diouf on second half and lets see what the boy can do”
It’s only half time mate, cheer up and what exactly is Fergies fault? Bit of support mate, we have the world’s best manager you don’t know how lucky we are!
rooney needs support we need to bring owen on
don’t panic we’re by far the better side and have been unlucky not to take our chances. The shirts are playing much better and trying harder than last week and their goal was a flukey panicked tap in. If we play the same tempo we’ll get the win
AIG
At some point they will lose a game after scoring first. But they won’t lose if we keep wasting chances like that.
We have scored a lot of goals this season, but the first goal is ALWAYS a difficult one to get. I just hope Brum will tire after a point in the match.
Nobody among you guys are brave enough to ask SAF to take off Rooney hahaha.. because he is our start now. the fact is, our star now is not good enough to be the leading star of Manchester United. He has the potential, the talent and all. But he is just not matured enough YET.
So for the second half, lets sing for Rooney. Back him up, give him the encouragement he needs because he is still our little boy, needs a lot of encouragement to shine.
@obertanthenewstar
I dont blame Fergie at all. I fully understand why you would be pissed but to blame Fergie is a tad bit daft. Park has played tremendous football with Evra but doesnt stand a chance when he is physically shoved which was the case for their goal. You mention Obertan. But i would very much prefer Park on instead. Obertan was extremely disappointing against Leeds and im glad he didnt start today. Giggs again cant play EVERY game and i really do not know the case with Tosic. Is he being loaned out ? Is he injured? Is he still ALIVE?! I blame the players for not finishing and taking their chances.
Stop blaming Fergie for everything!
I was really pleased to see Carrick bombing forward and playing with more enthusiasm.
Costas
Hope so. But this was exactly the way they played against Chelsea, the only difference was Chelsea didnt concede. Brum are a well organised hard working side. They wont tire, we have to do better and take our chances
oneunited Said,
Owen AND Diouf, I don’t care, how, but we MUST WIN this fuckin game
otherwise it WILL be over for us. good time.
I have a feeling that in may we’ll be happy to defend… our 2. position in the league.
You know what else is really pissing me off. The commentators.
When Birmingham threw out body to block the shot, it was brilliant. When Scholes blocked the shot to deny Jerome, Jerome was brilliant. WTF!
When Jerome scored, the commentator said Birmingham got the ability. Ability my EFFIN a$$. It was an effin BLIP! That what it was. If you put any team into a defensive mode with all 11 players, it’s always gonna be difficult to penetrate. It’s not an ability, it’s sucks for football that what it is.
The worse one was actually at Wigan, one of the commentators could not just stop talking. Seriously, I’ve never heard that type of commentating before, the guy was just like a broken radio.
Pissed me off.
And what the heck with the camera angle????
Some people on here sicken me. “Fergie has lost the dressing room” and “Park is shit, get Obertan on”. Yeah like he would make all the difference. Gonna have a break from here for a while. Come on you Reds!!
cantona7
Rooney is like Ronaldo. He is someone, who even on a bad day, can make something happen with one move. We need him out there, just more clinical.
All the ball in the world means nowt if you do nowt wiv it. Time for diouf and giggs, need something out of this match.
@Sketch
Good post mate. Carrick has looked good in a more attacking role I agree.
Yea doom and gloom don’t make sense but we need to get in behind their back line and get someone in the middle who can finish it off. Brum have played an incredible defensive lineup. Formation is not the problem, in fact it has lead to us dominating position, shots, corners, and nearly every other category. The officiating is horrid and some how Raf Da Silva gets warned for 3 no nothing tackles but Carr is allowed to clatter through us with nothing being said to him. Seems to me we just got lucked so far and we need to keep at it. Chances are being created we just need Rooney to be on the end of it rather then Carrick. Valencia has done well and we need to feed the beast as its known. I would like to see Diouf as from the high light reels i have watched his heading ability might be exactly what we need. I would like to see Anderson got on as his passing/creativity could help in the middle but I am sure some changes will come early in the second if a break through isn’t achieved.
COME ON UNITED!!!!!!!
TheRadLegion – Don’t get me started on Chris Waddle. Stick to practicing penalties you mullet haired cunt.
Cant blame SAf. All he can tell the team is to go out straight and attack and they did that and should continue to do that. The fact that we cant put the ball in the back of the net is not his fault.
Fuck, even those cunts Toure and Lescott kept a clean sheet against St Andrews
against Brum, not ST andrews
@KING ERIC
I wholeheartedly agree. If these peeps think managing a football team is easy.. yeah right.
We actually did very well, I have no idea how many shots were blocked, and most of them were on target. When you play against a team who defend with its 10 players, even if you put Kaka and Ronaldo together it won’t be easy.
I’m gutted because for one effin BLIP they scored, F that.
If we let the Gooners overtake us, I’m gonna be pissed!
AIG
Then we really have to dig deep. And actually this reminded me of our game with Chelsea. So much possesion, yet we get sucker punched.
People are angry with our players when they lose games like the Leeds one. I am moe pissed off whey they lose games like this. They are doing themselves and their performaces a big injustice today.
Looks like Fletcher is injured too, possibly Giggs on for Fletch for the second half
no team can be great without spending money. we are not spending money, we back off from transfers, we try to sign “talents” who might be useful in some time.
like fuckin Arsenal.
under Ferige United always used to be able to sign whoever the manager wants. he brought us talents, he brought us world class players, and sometimes he bouhgt shit players.
today the fuckin glazers say who can we sign, who can we AFFORD.
ManUnited can not afford to buy a star, who’d be usefule.
sounds crazy. sounds real.
wot do you mean cheer up?
we are playin BRUM.. not chelsea
why the fuck are we playing defensive???
for fucks sake.. rooney is playin shite
and so is park.. and why no giggs?
LET ME ADD
OH I WISH BERBATOV WAS ON THE PITCH
OH BERBA U ARE THE KING
seriously.. berbatov gets dropped but not rooney?
lets just hope we win
Well it was a bit of a lucky goal for them and a crazy bad piece of defending. Evans should have pushed up but instead stayed on the line and it cost us a goal. One mistake and we conceded. Hopefully we can exploit any mistake they may make.
King Eric.
I thought you were going to the game. Good to see you though. Your comments make me feel better and positive although i am more of a pessimist
TheRadLegion
Ahaha, couldnt agree more. Are you watching Fox Sport? The guy is retarded. Wouldnt complement united and keeps banging on about how great Birmingham are. What is this? Birmingham TV? He needs some sense knocked into him.
@Costas yeah i know he IS the one who can make the difference. Well he is the difference now, because he wasted that one-on-one hahahahaha..
But comparing him to Ronaldo is too far.. Ronaldo is matured, consistent and composed. Rooney is not matured enough just yet, not consistent and lose his composure easily. But Rooney is way more talented than Ronaldo.
Or right king eric thought you were at the match mate, dont listen to some of the clowns on this blog, were not beat yet.
come on lets get behind em, dont think its the worst team in 15 years, course we can get 2, all over them up until the goal, get another 1 up front and get at them and they are there for the taking
this time we dont have a ronaldo coming through…simple as that…no one is gonna score the goals for us now…we are dead and buried…
@Obertan:
Defensive? it was 13-77% or something like that for United. k back to wacthing
I don’t think we are playing defensively. Carrick is pushed up right behind Rooney and Valencia and Park are playing very high up the pitch. If anything we are playing an incredible attacking philosophy. The formation is not the problem. The players finishing chances and taking chances is the problem, nothing more, nothing left. No Brum can sit back and hold out for a win or if not that a draw. It is going to be a tough second half.
For fuck sake this is Birmingham they are shite and they are up for the taking.
I was actually counting the minutes until they reached our penalty box. 38 minutes. The goal came at 39. Damn it!
Anyway, I am off for the second half. Lets pray we finally make them pay.
COME ON UNITED!!
Cmon you reds!
COME ON UNITED!!!
@Sketch:
Im on FSC too, you notice the camera angle is kinda funny? It’s like not wide enough or something.
@Sketch and RedLegion
of course the commentator says like that. Because we are Manchester United, we are expected to steamroll Birmingham! we are not expected to make those kinds of last-ditch blocks. And even though Birmingham is expected to make lots of blocks, we are still expected to score buckets of goals against them. So, the comments are justified. It is us who are not living up to expectations.
Park makes me puke!!
2 minutes gone, we never made it to their half.
fuckin fuck…
OH NICE PASS ROONEY!!!
URTHE BEST PLAYER EVEER
Fuck, that quite easily could have been 2!
Come on obertanthenewstar, Wazza is a top top player get behind him!
Obertanthenewstar – Sit the fuck down!!!! We’ve not played well in terms of attacking play (Haven’t done all season) but lets not start slaggin the lads off!!! If you’d sooner have Berba in the team than Rooney tonight, your seriously deluded! Park hasn’t been the worst player on the pitch and Brum have got lucky so chill the fuck out. I don’t think Scholes has had the best of games! I’d throw Owen up front and sacrifice Scholes or Park. I’ve heard Valencia can play down the middle???!!
please take park off!
bchilds
and we could have scored from that position
so you dont want to score????
seriously get a fucking grip lad
we’re 100 million pounds away from the league title. 2 world class and 1 good player’s transfer fee.
this amount of money would never “come back” for the owners.
this is busines. for them. if we finish 2nd, we lose… how much? 15 million pounds?
we should pay 5 times more on new players to even have a chance to battle against Chelsea and Arsenal.
“We’ve not played well in terms of attacking play (Haven’t done all season)”
it’s been 2 seasons now.
WE NEED DIOUF ON AND THEN START CROSSING
THERES NO ONE THAT CAN HEAD THE BALL RIGHT NOW
BRING DIOUF ON!!!!!
obertanthenewstar
I’m not defending the pass cus it was a shit one but get off Rooney’s back, the lad’s a brilliant player!
bchilds
after the leeds game..
this is what we get?
haha i think i need to calm down
but this performance certainly isnt helping
FFS United!!!
COME ONNN!!
lack of motivation, lack of passion.
ManUnited2010
We’re losin to B’gham right now. From the look of things i dont see United comin back! its gonna be 2-0 soon!
GÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓL
We’re living dangerously now, if it goes 2-0 that’s probably it. The next goal is so important.
YES!!!!
goalll
own goal
come on united!!!
YES! Great timing!
YESSSS!
It was never an offisde anyway. Eat that !
wtf
get in! who doubted it?
i cant be glad enuf to be wrong… United hav just scored… wow!!! the linesman gave it offside BUT referee said its a legitimate goal!!!
COME ON UNITED LETS WIN IT AND GO TOP!
Who scored? Scholes? Park? Or Wazza?
1-1
lol own goal! Paddy just doesn’t have much luck with adding his goal tally is he?
what are they complaining about ? its a legit goal isnt it ?
Now who ever that wants Park out, if he did not make the pressure, it would still be 1-0
Giggs for Park!
COME ON UNITED!!!
dann own goal
Park off Giggsy on
COME ON NOW UNITED!!! BEAT THIS FUCKIN BASTARDS!!!!!
@ giornalista, Seriously, fuck off.
@ obertanthenewstar, we can’t throw Diouf in straight away. At least play him in the CC first, see how he plays. It will be too much for him.
What the fuck is wrong with the ref? It was a valid own goal. What a chicken.
Park off Giggsy on, anyone know why Sir Alex has ran down the tunnel?
wat they complaining bout it was an og
there’s a lot of effort, hard work and commitment but apart from Rooney there’s just no leaders on the pitch. and the poor lad runs his bollocks off every week but has no one on the same wavelength as him. we’ve battered these for an hour and all we have is a fortunate own goal to show. we need to be more clinical.
OMG!!!!!!
@ bchilds
he went for a piss mate
Just needed the little boys room then!
@ Mancaroon
clinical? Ronaldo was clinical… nobody in this team is clinical… apart from Rooney who is a lil clinical…
lack creativity and an attacking threat – brum outplayin us
thank fuk for the og
we got lucky. finally
)
atleast parks been taken off
Fze123
yeah I’m pessimistic
and I think things do not go as perfect they used to go
sorry if I went over the edge.
Instead of taking off Park for Giggs, we should have switched to 4-4-2 by brought in Owen. I just can’t see us scoring in this formation.
@ moscow delight
there’s no use talking about CR7, he’s not here anymore. Someone needs to step up to the plate and take a chance….it can’t be Rooney all the time. Carrick or Fletch need to start shooting more instead of fannying around the box, laying the ball off square. if you dont buy a ticket, you can’t win a prize!
by bringing on*
“Instead of taking off Park for Giggs, we should have switched to 4-4-2 by brought in Owen. I just can’t see us scoring in this formation.”
disagree. we have to control the midfield. sendin on Owen would be pointless: we could not work ourselves to the front of the goal, where Owen is effective.
we have to gain possession and run down the flanks.
this is shocking really!
DIOUF ON!!!
thrilling last 10 minutes
Scholes off
Diouf on
good change, I suppose
@ giornalista, we have about 11 goal attempts, 8 that are on target. If Owen came on he could finish them off. We are not clinical today. Diouf’s on for Scholes.
Ah fucking hell Fletch!!
OMG fletch!!
Fletcher sent off. Wtf? He didnt even do anything! Stupid Ref
Fze123: those chances were not so close to the target…
and there’s a ridicoulus red card for Fletcher.
That’s such a soft sending off for Fletch!
There was no fucking contact! Wtf is wrong with the ref
fucks sake. soft yellow for fletcher. the ref loved that, he couldn’t wait to get his card out!
6 mins injury time. Will we score?
What do we reckon lads, late winner?
FUCKING WAKE UP! Why we walking?
mame diouf to do a macheda in the last minute……instant hero!! come on
We have hardly touched the ball in injury time, can’t score if we don’t touch the ball!
we need some inspiration..
Ah well…
Difficult side to play, opportunity missed I guess..
At least we drew.
Can’t believe how awful we are. Is this seriously the team who want to take on Milan?
lack of creativity… lack of responsibility… lack of spirit…. lack of class!!!
United wont win any trophy this yr write it down somewhere…
Brown and Evans suck for defenders! We need to buy ppl! Diouf shudnt hav been brought on… he barely got a touch and wen he did he looked ordinary!
fucking awful result
Tough game… maybe next year for the league
cant wait to see who plays against milan
ffs
FFS, this is embarrassing. I was reasonably happy with the first half performance but we didn’t turn up in the second half, another disappointing result/performance. Fully expected us to put a show on today and push the Leeds game to the back of our heads but we got more questions than answers today. Never mind, onwards and upwards!
And the Gooners will overtake us if they win their next match. Happy times innit?
Don’t know what to say. Still pissed off about the first half injustice. That’s what cost us the game. Those fuckers should have been 3-0 down before Jerome scored.
we didnt try to score in the injury time barely touched the ball!!!! Milan will slaughter us….
Shit this was so bad..
is it so hard to score? really? what the fuck
i think i have come to terms that we are not winning the league this season. We are just as good as Arsenal..
SAF puts his trust in Rooney. So i think we will win the league again next season, when Rooney is matured enough to lead the team.
2 more points dropped. Well done lads!!!
Pathetic
uninspiring
no urgency
no chance
Seriously, who has Michael Owen pissed off?
its not the defence tht is worrying me…its our attack or lack of it, we clearly need someone who is clinical…ideas?
I don’t think the actual result is too bad but it’s came after a number of shit performances which makes the draw look worse than it actually is, Birmingham away is a hard fixture to win this season.
Had this draw come in the middle of a long unbeaten run we wouldn’t be complaining too much, it’s because we’re playing shit and desperately wanted a positive result and performance to forget what happened last weekend.
Moscow Delight – Milan won’t slaughter us. Get a grip. These cunts are unbeaten in 12 now. Not an easy place to go. Gutted about the result but actually quite happy we got a draw in the end. “Get Obertan on” “Get Diouf on” “Diouf SHOULD NOT be on he did nothing”.
Lets not compare this to the Milan game. It’s like comparing apples with oranges. For one thing, Vidic will be back for that.
That was fucking disappointing. We played extremely well in the first half but still conceded. Then scored and decided to stop attacking. The last 10 minutes was fucking embarassing. Our players seemed to be satisfied with the draw. Wtf? Wheres the united spirit? We had 6 minutes of added time and didnt even use that to our advantage and had to defend for our lives. Whats going on? Brown needs to stop playing like utter wank. We were fucking awful. I feel embarassed for Fergie. The players let him and us down. Arsenal drop points and instead of fully taking advantage of that we bottle it. It has been the same shit all season. Fergie please buy a decent defender. That fighting spirit is lacking and we are completely struggling to score, and until that problem is sorted out i dont see united winning the league.
Seriuosly, I’d rather have nani on if carrick is going to keep playing like that… it’s like playing with 10 players. I need to punch something so much right now… yet another chance to get ahead wasted. I’m not gonna start to say we’re done for nor that we’re out of the race… but I’m way too frustrated to look at the bright side (if there’s any).
@Costas
I don’t think Owen would have made any difference today, the way we played wouldn’t have suited him at all. We’ll never know of course but I wouldn’t have brought him on either.
We were brilliant today. Anyone who disagrees doesn’t understand football.
This was a fucking disgrace.
Zzzzz.. that’s not for our performance, it’s for all of you.
it wud be funny and ridiculous if ROM writes one of his inspiring match reports after this game…
Winter, small pitch, spirited on form opponent. Yes, it would have been an okay result if we managed more points till now. But we should have won the game and after Fletch sending off were dead tired.
Selling Pique was one of Ferguson’s biggest mistakes. Evans has got to improve his composure on he ball if he really wants to become a top class defender. The number of times he gave the ball away by aimlessly whacking it today was disgraceful.
I thought in the first half we were good and we conceded an unlucky goal. But the response in the second half seemed to lack any conviction. Despite not winning anything in the air we still continued to cross the ball high into the box until the end of the game.
Either way Birmingham are a hard team to score against and the pitch benefited them rather than United and thats what led to Birmingham getting a point.
Fav moment of the match: “John Champions a twat, John Champions a twat, he doesn’t know anything, John Champions a twat.”
bchilds
But why bring on Diouf? He is unproven at this point. I think Owen would have got a sniff at an opportunity. But it’s hard to say because the red card pegged us back soon after Diouf came on.
still, why are we not playing owen?? once again, great job evra, but am getting tired of saying that….we need to SCORE.
We just need an inspiration. A Roy Keane/Cantona/Ronaldo. Giggs cant play every game.. damn this feels shit
To be honest it was difficult for both team. The pitch, the weather weren’t supportive.
We were bad and so they were. Any team playing in that condition would be difficult to play well. I’ll take 1-1 draw anytime.
@Obertan:
Obertan is not the answer.. at least yet. He shows some promising skills but not yet proven.
@Cantona7:
I agree. We need some inspiration. I’m not looking forward for Sir Alex to buy any players. He may insist the money is there but it’s not the same situation as we were before the Glazer. The risk of spending the money isn’t the same as it was before the Glazer (before our debt soars like an eagle).
What I’m looking forward though is Owen Hargreaves to return. He will be another inspiring player beside Rooney. He can be the commanding player from the midfield, allowing Carrick the space and time to distribute the ball.
I’m sorry for Fletcher, I may be biased, but I don’t think it was yellow to begin with.
Fucking shameful sending off. Rob us é last 10 min. Didn’t fucking touch é ball after Fletcher left. Gutted.
another awful result regardless of é form of birmingham. After Leeds game, only a win is accepted I would have thought.
what é fuck is wrong with us?
Come on united!!!
@King Eric
Completely agree with you, I didn’t think Diouf would make an appearance today and I didn’t think he did ’till I wondered who that guy was coming off at full time. We can’t expect too much from new, inexperienced players. Everyone calling for him and Obertan to be fixtures in the team then, after not impressing for 2 or 3 games, they’ll be saying they’ll never be good enough and should rot in the reserves.
People expect too much way too soon out of some players, patience is one of the hardest things in modern day football but we must show patience with Diouf, Obertan, Gibson, Welbeck, Macheda etc – they need time to develop.
Hussbooster – Are you sure you didn’t hear “World Champions twice, World Champions twice, Once more than England, World Champions twice”?
Happy with the result. Not disaster and in all fairness Birmingham are in good form. 4 points isnt bad with main our defenders still out. I said before the game i would take a draw.
The difference is Rob Smyth was talking bollocks at the time he wrote that article and we could all see it in the context of the team and where it was going. Now the team is actually turd and there isn’t a player like Ronaldo coming through. It was be wrong for anyone to claim here that success does not matter, but if we look beyond that- this team has put in rubbish performances which have not been enjoyable to watch and there are only a couple of players in the squad who I’m happy with.
Costas
Yea I do get your point, I still would have kept Owen benched but maybe Diouf was the wrong choice also. It certainly didn’t help him that as soon as him got on the pitch Fletch got sent off!
Wes Brown was shite again. What’s going on with him?
We are so toothless at the moment. I was hoping for a magic moment from Diouf but in the 16 minutes he was on, we barely got the ball anywhere near Birmingham’s box. Unbelievable.
I’m sure Fergie will agree that we were good “value” for our point though. He’ll probably claim that could be the point that wins us the league.
We don’t win every game, we go on a bad run of form.
WELCOME TO FOOTBALL!
where is the urgency? where is the comeback spirit? we need a creative midfielder… carrick is not creative… Fletcher is v v hardworkin but not creative as u want in a world class team…. scholes is old…. Nani wud be better…
@ Kind Eric
yeah B’gham are stubborn but still where is our hunger to win football matches?
Dont complain about the Fletch sending off, it was a yellow card. It was soft but considering Jerome had gone past Fletch it was silly from fletch
yeah Bebeto thanks for that. That makes my red United blood boiling. How i love supporting this team haha
I wasn’t surprised that we did nothing after Fletch got sent off. We lost our two best midfielders on the night in a space of minutes. Carrick and Giggs were never going to dominate such a robust midfield.
King Eric
Get a reality check. We can’t keep on looking as clueless as this in the attacking half.
Next game against Burnley at home. But please don’t judge the team after this game.
theradlegion
obertan isnt good enough?
he has one bad game and suddenly hes shite?
all of you and i mean ALL of you were on his balls before the leeds game
so i really dont know what you mean by obertan wouldnt have made a difference
a silky skill is what was needed and he could have brought that
diouf looked pacy when running at defenders, but came on at the wrong time, we lost the ball when fletcher got sent off.. it was all them
i still think when we were crossin and diouf was on the pitch, he could have scored but i guess its just me
@King Eric:
I agree with you. They are still young but with some people here treating them as if they were the ONE, it’s just ridiculous.
People tend to think managing the team is easy.. “Get (insert your favorite player here ON” isn’t really helping. Some people screamed for Park to go off, if he DID not put the pressure, it would still be 1-0.
Giggs replacing Park might be a good move but from what I saw, he did not make a bigger impact than Park himself.
We should believe in Sir Alex, he lives for United. Those who questions him should switch side to Chelski instead
Burnley is a very important game, if we batter them people will be happy but if we struggle to a win or, heaven forbid, drop points this criticism is going to be too much!
Moscow Delight Said,
January 9th, 2010 @20:36
“it wud be funny and ridiculous if ROM writes one of his inspiring match reports after this game…”
LOL
He’ll probably produce more stats to prove we are playing our best football ever.
bchilds – Burnley is just like Wigan. 3-0 at least i think but i won’t scream with happiness.
arijc – I am being realistic pal. We scored five past Wigan a fortnight ago. We have put 4 past Pompey and the Hammers and five away at Wigan. Not to mention 3 at Spurs. Like Bebeto says we are having a bad run of form.
pissed off but i suppose it aint to bad considering both chelsea and liverpool had to cheat to get a draw against them, we should of won and i feel we done alright…roll on the next game, just got to keep going.
draw is not a disaster? so only losing is a disaster by out *NEW* standards?
it was not a bad result for us though. i thought we played well considering the status of the pitch, and the form the brum is on. even the rentboys cant beat them at st.andrews. and i must say that the gay referee (mark who?) has something about United that he hate so much. our back four was in good shape, apart from that scrappy goal, we were very compact. and yeah, carrick was a bit disappointing just now. ando should hve been on. an park, was very good in the first hal, his link up play with captain of the day, evra. Rooney was isolated, cant blame him fr that. he really needs a strike partner, hopefully Mame can give him just that. nit a bad night for us lads, dont worry, 19th come May !
Micky Owen must be wondering what he’s done wrong! Hasn’t had a look in since his hat-trick….then bringing on a kid who hasn’t played in England, let alone the Prem to try and grab us a goal?! I’m confused?! I’d have changed it at half time, but I’d have taken Scholes and Park off and put Owen up there with Rooney. Carrick would have played the Scholes role and Giggs on the left. I can’t wait to get Rio, Vida and VDS back in the team! This could have been one of our many 1-0 wins from last season if they were back. Soooooo wish Rooney had put his first chance away! Anyway, up and at em!
fuckin’ hell… it’s like a game between two mid-table teams, with the home team the better side… Kuszcak saves our ass at least 4 times. I’m not questioning Sir Alex’s selection but when will he realizes that it’ll never work with rooney as a lone striker… it’s like we are playing with 6 midfielders… our opponent clearly manipulate our current weaknesses – it seems like they learned from the leeds scum, playing aggressively, a long ball to a target man who can finish… and our defenders cannot cope with the long ball, letting chucho and jerome break them apart!!! and just when sir alex introduce diouf to play 4-4-2 again, fletcher was sent off… forcing united to play defensive… overall, our performance today are not that bad, it’s just we’re lacking confidence and the morale are not very high… there’s nobody that can change our game, no match winners, no deadly striker who’s taking chances, no inspiration!!! therefore DRAW is a good result for us considering how we played today… and thanks to the OWNGOAL!!! FUCK!!!
Corea
yeah, its Burnley and Hull next 2 games. Should get 6 points there before that big Test at the Emirates.The team should be judged only when all the players are fit and we have a fully fit squad not now when our main centrebacks are out injured
Yet another clueless performance.We cannot win anything playing like this. Forget the defence, our midfield and strikers are failing us badly. They are not creating enough clear cut chances. Our play has become so predictable and we have lost that fear factor. I do not like when we play with only one striker upfront. I believe 4-4-2 suits us most.
The position in the table frankly, flatters us. An old United side would have been at least 6 point clear, considering the circumstances in the league this season.
Until tonight I still had hope that we will turn our season around, but not anymore. Having said that, I genuinely hope I am proved wrong at the end of the season.
“it wud be funny and ridiculous if ROM writes one of his inspiring match reports after this game…”
ridiculous post. this is HIS blog. he writes what he thinks and what he wants to. you are funny.
@Fred
Scott doesn’t need me to protect him, but when has he done that this season?
obertanthenewstar – It wasn’t the game for “silky skills ” from Obertan. He would have been hammered by Carr or Ridgewell.
obertanthenewstar
I don’t think you can justify saying all of us were bigging him up, there were a fair few that we warey of offering him such high praise.
The lad could be a quality player but for one with such lack of experience at this club we shouldn’t praise too much when he has a good game and like wise shouldn’t moan too much when he has a poor one.
@obertanthenewstar lol mate TheRadLegion said Obertan is not good enough YET. He didnt write Obertan off.
3-0 against Burnley? i couldnt even take the 1-0 loss off my mind yet
I just dont understand what happened to us. We havent suddenly gone shit over night. Our performance has been lacking for a while now and its about time the players took hard a look at themselves and see what each one of them is not doing right. Where is the winning mentality? the Never die attitude? Why the fuck cant we score and then go onto win after conceding the first goal? Why are our players constantly injured? Wheres our huge world class squad we were raving about last year? Why the fuck are they still getting paid shit loads after playing like that, week in week out? Whos idea was it to experiment by playing Valencia on the left when we are drawing and need all three points?
After Fletchers sending off we never looked like scoring. We dont need anymore strikers, we just need all our players back from injury and play the good attacking football united are known for.
Oh fuck. Just realized that if Arsenal win their game in hand they would be ahead of us :@.
Moscow Delight
No. Draw is not a disaster.As i said not great either .We were up against a good side and as good as we are cant expect us to win all games and certainly this one wasnt easy that a win should have been taken for granted.It was always going to be difficult with Vidic out, the defence looks very shaky without him
aimanunited – Some of our best results this season have been when Rooney has played the lone striker.
Fletcher’s sending off was completely fair. For once, Clattenburg had a good game. There’s no excuse for that performance.
Diouf’s introduction was a gamble that didn’t pay off (obviously.) He’ll need a few reserve games to get into the groove. It should tell you everything you need to know about how Fergie regards Michael Owen though…
POST B’GHAM MATCH POLL:
What will we win this season?
A. League, Champions League, Carling Cup
B. League & Champions League
C. League & Carling Cup
D. Champions League & Carling Cup
E. League only
F. Champions League only
G. Carling Cup only
Type your answer with option number.
My answer: Option G
AIG
Exactly. This United team can’t be judged completely until at least Vidic is playing in defence. I don’t expect much from Rio anyway.
No we didn’t become Barcelona after the Wigan game and we didn’t become Torquay after the Leeds game. We are just a side trying to work through injuries and bad runs of form.
However, I have to say that by the time we get it right it could be too late.
Again we lacked creativity, class and we look like we cant break any team down let alone a premier league side. Puzzling tactics of 4-5-1 again by Ferg, fuck knows what he’s thinking and then no creative players to bring off the bench or start the game. I am so frustrated right now beyond belief each game I pray Fergie plays a more creative team and stops fucking around with the tactics each game he does it and the performance is dire. The italians are gonna eat us for lunch and dinner and will even come back for seconds, Milan as an Italian team are good defensively and will counter attack well. Is this a nightmare, cause I need to wake up.
If we are not going to buy, I want Fergie to try one thing which may give us the creativity we need to start breaking teams down and have that cutting edge in the middle. Play Rooney behind a front two of Berbatov and ?????!!
play a 4-3-1-2 formation or maybe even Rooney and Berbatov behind a central striker. Our full backs get forward well, so that should not effect the width of the team too much. A strong midfield three, comprising of….
Anderson/Fletcher
Hargreaves (if he ever manages to get fully fit)/Carrick
Valencia (plays centrally for Ecuador)/Giggs
We need creativity really badly as we are struggling to break teams down and this would allow our two most creatively effective players to play where they tend to drift most often from their striking role and make us tick…..
It will also give them more time and space to do what they do best, between the defenders and midfielders of the opposing side. I would love to see Sir Alex play them in this formation and in those positions especially if we are not gonna buy, which it looks like we are not.
Too many ‘fans’ on here are spoilt as fuck. You think it’s a divine right of ours to win games.
Don’t try and counter with something like “expectations” bollocks, either.
SAF introduced Diouf, not expecting Fletcher would later get sent off..
Hello everyone, just want to say it is not a disaster to draw at Brum with 10-men at the end.. apart from looking dodgy defensively I thought we did very well!
So Alex Ferguson must rate Diouf very highly to put him on ahead of Owen..
Anyone know whats happen to Berbatov?
@Costas
http://therepublikofmancunia.com/stats-quick-comparison-with-last-season/
http://therepublikofmancunia.com/stats-ronaldo-vs-valencia/
@ Corea
This is my comments place i write whatever i want. Are you Fred’s self-declared bodyguard or spokesperson?
aig alex is god:
It was too soft ê yellow. É intent is not there, it was an unfortunate trailing leg. Moreover, it was about in é middle of é park, no real immediate danger, a free kick is justified. Not to use fletch sending off as scapegoat to mask our own performance. But é sending off was at a crucial point of ê game, when diouf has juz came on. Now it makes SAF looks stupid for throwing diouf his debut cos é poor chap didn’t really touch much of é ball since he came on. Bet u even some of our own fans will be questioning SAF wisdom & start condeming diof is shit. Gutted.
@Tony Starks
Pre game Fergie said that he has been carrying a slight knock on his ankle for 2 weeks now.
@Bebeto
Well said. God forbid if we don’t win the title this year.
- We don’t recover after the opposition score.
- We did not look lethal in front of goal.
- For once, Berbatov can’t be blamed for our poor performance in the second half today. We could have done with his creativity and flair.
- We’re not taking advantage of rival teams dropping points i.e arsenal and a few weeks back chelsea.
- We attack attack attack..But the final ball = shit.
- Is heading the ball not allowed in football anymore?
- Again, the ref fucked all his decisions up. Just what did Fletcher get sent off for? How will we perform without our best player this season?
We were brilliant in the first half. But when they scored, that was it. We just did not look inspiring. Evra and Valencia were quite simply the best players today. We would have been further behind the rentboys if not for the own goal, so thank god for it.
Costas
disagree on one thing. i Still feel rio can be back to his best but if he is fully fit.VDS is to come back as well although Kus has done well and was great again today making 3-4 vital saves>
It could be too late but i hope that does not happen and we get our best form back soon. However, as Scott said “we do not have a divine right to win the league every season”.
Some people on here seem to actually thrive on United getting a bad result.
I’m just glad PIG did well today. How many times now did he saved our ass? I think we will just have to wait until Rooney matures and sort out his inconsistencies. SAF has shown that he’ll stick with him through heaven and hell but when he plays bad, the whole team just sunk. Come on Wazza! Put some spirit into the team and be the leader that Cantona was!
Moscow Delight, where is the “nothing” option? I’ll og for C – the Premier League and the Carling Cup.
@Tony Starks
Sorry. I meant a slight knock on his knee.
Every time we have the opportunity to go top our arsehole goes. That was a dreadful performance after a bright start. Sloppy passing. I personally don’t give a fuck what other teams do, it’s up to United to deliver. If we want to win our 19th title we need to improve and quick.
Diouf 6 ft 1 in
Owen 5 ft 9 in
Also physique. Remember Macheda ?
It doesn’t matter anyway.
@Bebeto
Have to agree with that mate, you’ve only got to look at the amount of Fergie bashing that’s going on in some quarters to know some have had too much success they just don’t appreciate it anymore.
@Moscow Delight
Option E: League Winners and reaching quarters, maybe semis, of the Champions League.
I think people just want a performance! We’ve had home games against Villa and Leeds which we should have shown good performances against….if this result had come on the back of good performances and results at home to Villa and Leeds I don’t think people would be so down about this result against a decent Brum side! We will come back boys, we need our full strength team back then we may have the confidence to play 4 4 2. We’ll never Die!!!!!
not a terrible result, at least we got point out of it. some people on here really should realise that we dont have a god given right to win trophies. we have to accept that the team is not going to be strenghened this month and probably not in the summer either. i believe our problems are the fault of glazer, he has put into unmanageable debt , raised ticket prices and crippled us in the transfer market. fergie is obviously lying to us about having money to spend. if he did would michael owen be playing for us? but look, this is the way football goes, we’ve had the best part of twenty years of success but it cant last forever. i sincerely hope that im wrong but i fear that im not.
This defenders unfit thing is wearing a bit thin now,all of these players are highly paid professional footballers at the biggest club in the world!todays game there was an almost 100% midfield and attack/forwards available for selection and still a united player didnt managed to hit the back of the net for the second game running.
We desparately need more spark going forward,at the moment its a bit poor.
@Corea
Yeah, but in terms of experience, Michael is way taller than Diouf, lol.
As you said, it doesn’t matter. We didn’t have a chance to play 4-4-2..
@ Fred
i guess we shud hope for atleast 1 trophy… ok option H is Nothing
yes guys PIG was awesome! he’s becoming our Friedel nowadays
Moscow Delight – you won’t beleive me but this is also my comments place.
devil@singapore
yes it was soft but if you see the trend refs usually tend to give players lectures if such a thing happens early in the game. However if it happens late in the game refs tend to book players straight away without warning them.
Anyways SAF was right to throw Diouf on as he did that before and if someone says he is shit after being on the field for 15 mins they should fuck off from here immediately.
Tony Starks hi mate
i think SAF have slowly accepted the fact that Berbatov is not the answer. It is painful for me to say this. But SAF plays who he feels is ready. So if Berbatov doesnt get the games a 30m singing should have got, then there must be something on SAF’s mind.
And it’s not just “some dodgy defending”. Our whole play was not good. The only player who deserves credit today is our PIG, and maybe Evra. We owe Kusczak this draw.
Wasnt really a good performance today all i can say is at least we didnt loose!
Some of our players really need to up their game!!…
@gazman93
We’re not the dippers, stop blaming the owners. Sir Alex himself said he won’t pay 50 mil on a player and that’s just how the transfer market is currently, bloated and overinflated!
I wonder if you guys ever consider the pitch, the snowy weather, the cold, and the wind would have a big impact on both teams?
i’ve been patient with our indifferent form and performances. Leave it to fergie and it’ll be ok. It’s not ok though. We need shaken up. A good fuckin rattle. We need to buy a bit of world class magic but where do you find it these days. Alls not lost yet but it soon will be if we don’t catch a fucking grip on the whole situation on the field and off the fucking field. And what the fuck was fergie talkin about in his post match? We might have had the ball but its putting away that counts and we weren’t lookin like we were gettin in behind birmingham. Glazers out we need a sugar daddy not a fuckin blood suckin leach.
Some draws 08-09 season.
everton away 1-1, villa away 0-0, tottenham away 0-0.
Diouf is not 6′1”, he’s 5′10”.
guys i am off! Keep the faith! Fergie knows best, but in my opinion we need to buy!
How the FUCK is our run of relatively bad form , even though we are unbeaten in the last 3 league games, anything to do with the fucking owners? I really do despair.
@Moscow Delight
I would love united to win all three but i dont see that happening. So my answer is C but we have to improve A LOT to actually achieve that.
@ Sketch, I agree. Where is the winning mentality indeed? Drawing with in form birmingham is not the end of the world, but we should have done better. In recent seasons, we fell in 2-0 down situations, yet we came back from behind to win these sort of games. However, this season, against Villa, rentboys, Burnley, Fulham, dippers…We didn’t. I can’t help but question the players’ attitudes. Have they have enough of success and glory? Have they had enough of trophies?
I hope I am wrong. I hope we can put on a good performance against the bitters on wednesday. Knocking them out will start to fade the memory of losing against leeds last week.
Moscow delight
i say option A. we should win the treble with ease
Positive thinking though as you are assuming we will win something this season.
On a serious note I say the Carling Cup is our best chance as you said closely followed by the league
@Bebeto – Forget the expectation of a win
a performance would be nice!!!!
Unfortunately we are getting neither this season enough
Another ineffective and insipid performance from the reds tonight. We are totally lacking in creativity in the final third of the pitch. Too many players content to pass the ball square & pass responsibility. The easiest thing in the world to defend against is when the play is constantly in front of defenders. United simply don’t turn opposition defenders around enough. Much debate once again about Park… consider this – a wide midfielder in any side is there primarily to create chances by beating defenders, getting to by-line, whipping crosses in etc. In addition they are expected to chip in with a decent supply of goals themselves. Park does none of these things. He hasn’t got the pace or tricks/dribbling skills to get away from markers. At best he can keep the ball, work hard and put in a shift BUT that is simply not good enough for United. If Park was anywhere else in any other team he would not stand out as a potential United player. At least Obertan & Tosic have the potential to beat players & create – Ferguson should concentrate on developing them instead.
The Glazer debt has crippled the club and the squad has been stripped of much of its cutting edge but I also think Phelan’s coaching is hampering the team. We haven’t played a flowing attractive style for a couple of years now but got out of jail due to individual brilliance from Ronaldo/Rooney/Tevez/Giggs etc.
Something needs to change urgently & drastically or the season will capitulate – Milan will need to be attacked with pace if United are to beat them. Play slowly & Milan will be in their comfort zone & will knock the reds out.
I have said this but will say this again.
I believe the money is there but the risk of buying players with this money isn’t the same as before. If we spend, I’m good.. if not then I’m okay too.
What I’m really looking forward is Owen Hargreaves return. That will be a huge support for the midfield. One more inspiring player beside Rooney, that’s exciting.
He will let Carrick the space and time he needs to distribute the ball. He’s gonna be an inspiration. I’ll tell you that.
It was the perfect weekend for the rent boys. Both us and Arsenal droppe points and their tough game was postponed.
http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/spieler/62049/mame-biram-diouf/profil.html
1.85 metres
Wondered how long before Phelan would be blamed.
King Eric
Hi mate. Exactly. We fail to win today and once again people start talking about the owners and our debt. Had Berba played once again he would have been made the scapegoat
@TheRadLegion
That is a very god point about the pitch.. it was very difficult to play on, turning was difficuly (for everyone except Rooney!)..
by the way you always have to wait a few hours for all the frustrated people to have their say.. it’s ok, we didn’t win so people have right to criticise.. but conditions were very tough out there
and people don’t seem to realise that crap teams are actually improving in our league..
“I can’t help but question the players’ attitudes. Have they have enough of success and glory? Have they had enough of trophies?”
i don’t think you can question player’s attitude and hunger after today’s game.
aig – Exactly mate. He probably still will be blamed even though he didn’t play!
anyone else hate john champion?
MikeKelly12…you said it best mate.
People just want a performance!!
Throughout this whole season (moreso recently) teams are defending in numbers and counter attacking very effectively against us, and it seems most if not all the teams that adopt these tactics are successful against us. We can’t seem to break them down and resort to useless long ball tactics to get behind them!
We don’t look like scoring, which is bordering on criminal for a team which has the players we have.
Come on United stand the fuck up and show us what u got!!!
AIG
Berba was lucky to be off the squad, so Park gets the blame this time. I think we were let down by more valuable players today. Like Rooney(for the chance he missed) and Fletch for that damn sending off.
mags the red
Forget beating their man, how about a decent cross into the box every once in a while. Rafael is probably the ONLY player capable of that. I dont agree with your criticism towards Mike Phelan though, we dont really know how much of an impact he is in the dressing room so you cant really blame him for the recent lack of creativity thats displayed by our performances.
@TheRadLegion
I have seriously lost hope in the OH case. Wasnt he meant to be back by November? Whats going on.
Why the sudden increase of injuries?
a lack, a lack , a lack
United2010
@ Moscow Delight
You reckon we will only win the Carling Cup? Come on mate. Then who, other than Utd, will win the Premier League? We have been inconsistent, not performing to the best of our ability, loaded with injuries, yes. But we won’t be performing this way all season, I mean we have to traditionally hit form sometime now. The gooners won’t handle the pressure if they go above us, and we’ll see how the rentboys perform without their african players in the coming games. Shitty, Spurs, Villa = inexperienced. And I won’t even mention the bin dippers. Even if it is their year. I will keep faith in the title, even if we continue to perform shit. Because the rival teams aren’t any better.
If we up our performances, then we will win the title. End of.
I just loved post match comments from some of you guys. Usually it’s Nani’s fault. When he’s off it’s Berba. Now it’s Sir Alex, the Glazers and even Phelan? You’d better be on a WUM or get a fucking clue already!
Giggs the corner taker ? I knew he isn’t the man for some years now.
But i liked the idea of putting Valencia i the left wing. People might say that this was not an approrpiate time to try things but i liked the idea.
@doncobaino
John Champion? What a asshole! They should have a option of turning him off – and his mate Waddle – you would think he never argued with a ref in his life!
Funny how nearly everyone in the Football media have suddenly turned on alex ferguson (by the way did you see his answer when asked about Rooney being isolated in the first half?)
@aig alex is god: “We fail to win today and once again people start talking about the owners and our debt. Had Berba played once again he would have been made the scapegoat”
No, surely if Berba-God had played today he’d have inspired us to a 5-0 romp, bagging a hat-trick for himself too?
Can someone please beat Inter Milan at the San Siro. Jose mourinho has now not lost a home game in his last 152 home games. Some record that.
@Corea
And Nani should’ve played on the right. He’s a way better player on that flank.
Corea
I agree that he had to try Valencia on the left at some point. I have said that we should try it more often too.
Fergie said that the sending off was ridiculous…
Sketch
Your comment about not knowing Phelan’s influence in dressing room is fair enough & to an extent I agree but we all know that Fergie has always left the training & style of play to his number 2 so clearly something is not right. Even when we have won games this season (& there have been many) there has been little to really get you off the seat – it’s all been a bit predictable & slow. I know it may be idealistic, but I want to see us playing the United way – attacking with pace, crossing the ball, bodies in the box AND SHOOTING sometimes instead of trying to walk the ball in.
What point is being missed is that this was no ordinary game, this was an opportunity to go top. To me what other motivation would you need against a team who is, well yeah, on a good run but for gods sake its Birmingham with makeshift defense.
What is embarassing is looking at our effort compared to theres. They battled, never gave up and stuck their foot in. Whereas, we kept pushing away in a one dimentional predictable way and never looked like scoring.
We keep hearing all this ‘experience counts’. Well where was it today? This was our opportunity to make point son Chelsea’s 2 points dropped over Xmas and put them under a little pressure.
We cant say that looking at this performance that it automatically means that we’ll lose the title or lose to AC Milan theres many more twists and points to be won. But please can the team get into gear and pronto.
The biggest disappointment over the last two games and I hate to say it is Brown – he’s really struggled and is not like his old self. I feel this is not helping the confidence of the defense overall and is not helping. He can get better but this needs to happen sooner rather than later.
They are off to the sun for a week before the Burnley game – I just hope that this recharges some needed batteries and we see a different side.
Overall opinion: Just not good enough
Fred
maybe he would have but i cant understand why you always target him. Lets give that a break since he didnt play today so talking about what would have happened and what wouldnt dosent make much sense.
I see Rooney had a poor game today but our fans never bother to say anything about him,Its either Berbatov or Park as Costas said. Today giggs was 100 times worse than park when he came on, made no impact at all.
AIG, I’d like to see Jose’s Inter come up against the mighty Birmingham City. No-one can beat them!
AIG, you’re the one who brought Berbatov up. People have a right to a good old moan after a bad performance/result. Personally, I can’t believe there are people on here defending the Glazers.
Costas – sending off was unnecessary and against the unwritten football laws.
hurr – yes, mate. but i am afraid his chances in our team have run out.
It’s not about being spoilt,it’s about coming out after a let’s face it,shite performance against Leeds,but at least expect something from the lads!!! Will never b one to say anything against fergie,cuz we’ve seen this formation this season n beaten pompy n west ham easily,but against brum who are playing very well at the moment it just didn’t work,not takin anything away from them,to be unbeaten 13 games this season in this lge is nothing to b knocked!!! But we’re lacking n wud love to see some inspiration come from somewhere!! Another chance missed today,but same old utd,making it difficult for ourselves,wudnt have it any other way,come on lads,we’ll never die!!
What I’m wondering is why is Rooney taking our freekicks? Why not someone else like Carrick or Valencia etc. Does Wazza even put an extra effort to master them like Ronnie and Becks?
We really could have done with Berbatov today. His critics can slate him all they want, but his creativity, passes, hold-up play would have been helpful today. Where are the Berba Bashers anyway. Didn’t someone recently say that we don’t perform well when he plays? Then who can be blamed for today’s second hald performance? Cannot remember who it was. Anyway, if he’s injured, then he might as well have surgery instead of playing one game then being declared not fit for the next.
20legend is spot-on. I’m not sure why any criticism of the team is so frowned upon by some on here.
We badly need VDS. Kus has done okay, was marvelous at times but we need that renowned defences. Costas is right.
I badly need Hargo. Maybe i am a fool and like the player that much but i think he might be our saviour and will add so much to our game.
One of è good thing coming of this game tot will be unable to Blame it on berba anymore. Well, start though to hear comments abt if u don’t play a 30mil strikers blah blah shite. Amazing. It’s a no win for berba whichever way I guess.
Summary of today’s game, tot we started ê game well, created quite a few chances. But after going a goal down against run of play, fuck…é fucking routine of how we lost our last 7 games Start to creep in again. É lads lost alot of confiden, & lacking a leader to drag us out. But after we equalize, I was confident we going to win é game. Throw in owen or diouf, either we will still nick it. Momentum was with us. Gutted come ê Fletch sending off, & very soft in my opinion. from then on, draw looks a good result.
é lads got to get over this game soon & pick ourselves up to ê next game vs burnley. Fuck, has been saying this alot this season haha.
Whatever, Come on United!!!
Fred
i just mentioned that he would have been targetted. Sure you must have seen that since you have been posting for some time now. Whenever we lose or have a bad result its either Berbatov or our debt or the Glazers. one of these has to come up.Lets please chuck the Berba thing for now,can we?
@Corea:
That’s the problem though. You can’t rely on referees to stay true to the unwritten laws. It reminded me a bit of his sending off with Arsenal. His heart speaks before his feet.
Y
yes tony! i dabble in journalism a bit myself and i felt for the girl
what a stupid question!!
Hurr, Rooney’s free kicks are dire, as are Giggs’s corner kicks. You would expect the gaffer to have realised this by now.
@Fred
It’s not about critisism. It’s about some people thinking that we have a divine right to win every football game as well as every Premier League title.
hurr, i know what you mean but fergie excuse doesnt actually make a lot of sense, we’re in a world cup year and any player who performs well at the world cup will see his valuation double maybe even treble. anyway, since when has overspending ever stopped him before? berbatov, veron, nani and anderson? king eric, i think that this has a lot to do with the ownership of the club. if we can see that the current team is not strong enough then fergie can definatley see it. i think that the glazers are in deep shit at the mo and i believe that ronaldo money is long gone. if the glazers had given fergie the money we would have a much stronger squad right now.
Fred
who says fans cant criticize the team, of course we can but to get to the same thing after every game we dont get a good result is a bit ridiculous.i myself criticise the team but some people talk as if they know much better than SAF and his tactics and feel as if its easy to buy players for obnoxious prices.That does not include you
Corea, I love Hargreaves but he won’t be any kind of saviour, or even make much difference to our play. Today we completely dominated posession, it was our impotent attack that let us down, along with some comedy defending.
The sooner we can get back to something like this…
VDS
Brown, Rio, Vidic, Evra
Valencia, Carrick, Fletcher, Giggs
Rooney, Berbatov
…the better. Apparently Vidic and Rio are not far away, Hargo has started training again and VDS’s wife is getting better. How’s that lot for a silver lining?
Agree with the point about Rooney and free kicks – but sadly we don’t have anyone else in the first team who can take them from that side.. we missing out for sure in that department (apart from the Giggs side free-kicks).. maybe they should try some Valencia thunderbolts – seen him do it for Ecuador
Costas – i understand what Fergie means.
1. I don’t remember many games we won with Clattenburg as a referee.
2. Fletch didn’t want to break the flow of the game. he instinctively tried to play the ball. this wasn’t the brutal offence. it was accidentally or maybe inattentiveness. bad time to sent off an honest player.
CMON! I have 100 other reasons for a red card like holding the opposition player’s shirt. football is played with feet.
Gibson is the only player who can take excellent corners, but he won’t play every game. Rooney’s freekicks are woeful. Should leave them for Giggs. Didn’t Ando take one in pre-season? It was his first goal too. Maybe he should be given the chance to take them.
am i the only one who is becoming irritated of the closeup camera view of fergie with the giant nose hairs? today, they were frozen, and looked like fangs protruding from his nose. I am starting to think that everyone is so scared of approaching fergie right now that no one wants to tell him, including cathy:)
@gazman93
There are a few factors that hindering us from spending. It’s not just value for money. The good players are also mostly cup tied and can you believe the nerve of some teams that wanted to rob us blind just because we’re Manchester United? Gremio sold Douglas Costa to Shakhtar Donetsk for just around a quarter of what they tried to extort from us. I hope that guy flops horribly.
@Corea
Fletch did a similar thing at the other side of the field about 15-20 minutes before he got sent off and Clattenburg just gave a foul. I think though that was his last warning. It was a soft sending off, but it was a risk by Fletch because he stuck his leg out.
Clattenburg isn’t my favorite referee either, but we win some and we lose some with every ref. I still can’t understand why he gave 6 minutes!
Fred – Giggs ? he can’t play every game. there were a few cases when we lacked the Giggs type of player even against modest opposition. We don’t have left wingers.
Park was good today. I think he deserves a chance aтв Fergie pretty much loves the player.
I agree with Berba-Roon partnership. I am not impressed with Berba’s contribution but we have no other choice for my liking than to pray their partnership will start producing goods.
I am starting to kinda like Valencia. Modest, gutsy, skillful, powerful, talented but one-footed.
VDS
Rafael Vida Rio Evra
Valencia Hargo Scholesy Giggs
Rooney Berba
I still fancy Scholesy. But he can’t play every game either.
@united.george
Lol, I noticed it too. Who’s going to tell him, lol?
Fze123 – we need someone to put the ball in the back of the net week in week out we could so do with a van nistlerooy in his prime in this team to patner rooney. But people need to stop going into hissy fits over bad results because is anyone suprised by todays result I was not, I was expecting united to drop points because they are mediocre at best in terms of being in form.
- I am not going to comment on the team and the players because I did not see the game, but there is no question in my mind united need a world class goalscoring striker badly. Because united have basically one striker because the other 2 are not played enough, rooney needs help badly.
Console me, guys. I’m despondent. Our beloved United let us down today. I thought we could take the top spot today! Still, one point off isn’t too bad I guess.
@anyone who actually saw the game, how was Diouf? I only read the BBC text and they didn’t mention him much
Costas – fair enough, buddy.
Costas, the Brum players were complaining for almost three minutes after our goal. Add that to the usual time for stoppages and substitutions and that’s how Battenburg got 6 minutes.
@emonod
He came on at a bad time. Fletcher got sent off and we’re defending instead of attacking. There are like only one or two times he got the ball.
emonod
Diouf didn’t get on the ball much because Fletch got sent off soon afterwards.
emonod – this is because he touched the ball 2 times
united.george – LOL!
@emonod
Diouf came on just before the red card, only saw the ball on a couple of occasions. some dodgy touches (I blame the pitch) but one little good run – he has pace… have a good feeling about him (as has the manager, otherwise he would not have put him in straight away)… phew!
Fred
I see. The time the Brum players were bitching seemed far less to me, but whatever. I would prefer it if he didn’t officiate another match for us this season. He finds a way to become the centre of attention.
And I would prefer it if Fergie lays off the refs for a while.
Corea, you just told me Giggs does not belong in our first XI because of his age, then you put him AND Scholes in your first XI?
I agree with your sentiments about Berbatov and Valencia. We might as well use Berbatov while we have him but we need to replace him in the summer.
Emonod, Diouf barely got a touch in 15 minutes. Not his fault the service to him was so poor.
Fred – of course they belong to our first 11 but i hope you got the message
Positives:
1. PIG saved our asses.
2. Project Pat was good.
3. Rafael was good again.
Negatives:
1. The performance
2. The result
Costas — at least he got the decision spot on for our goal. Most refs would have caved to the lino in that situation I think
Costas, I agree about Fergie and the refs. What was he on about after the Leeds game, saying 5 minutes stoppage time (which I thought was generous) was “an insult to football” or something? He does us no favours with that type of stuff.
I am glad the glazers are being highlighted even if its unfair because they deserve it after how they have treated the fans, and how they have financially crippled united in terms of being one of the major players in the transfer market, check out uniteds turn over in terms of old trafford attendences tv money and players sold we should have a fortune to spend, that is without the ronaldo money.
here is the money made
06/07 season
prem champions
CL semi finals
FA cup finalists
league cup 3rd round
07/08
prem champions
CL winners
FA cup quater finals
league cup 2nd round
community shiled winners
08/09
prem champions
CL finalists
FA cup semi finals
league cup winners
world club cup winners
super cup runners up
community shield winners
add the ronaldo money other players we have made money off like richerdson smith pique van nistlerooy heinze mikel no value for money should be no problem.
Yes, Rafael looked really good. Both in defence and in attack. He is our future and now first choice for me at RB.
Amongst all this doom and gloom, anyone want to discuss some positives they saw today?? I know they weren’t really glaringly obvious, but surely we can find some if we put our heads together. Allow me to get the ball rolling…
Rafael put in another strong performance. The lad loves a tackle doesn’t he? He occasionally gets it wrong and he gets left for dead, but more often than not he times his crunching tackles expertly. And apart from a few poor crosses, I thought he was good going forward once again. He hardly ever just lumps the ball forward when he is in possession, and he has the pace and quickness to bring the ball out of defense. Just a quality young player. And to think he is all of 18.
at least fletch got sent off in this game and will miss the burnley home game, so glad that it was not a bigger game he is missing. worst part of this is having to wait another entire week before we play again! I wish the city carling cup was this coming week…
Drew Vader – for sure. I hope Fabio can make the same impact. tank you Fergie for the breath of fresh air. they really are.
Scholesy was good today also but when he is on the ball near our penalty area he makes me shiver.
Look at our most recent signings
Diouf
Owen
Obertan
Valencia
Tosic
De Laet
Berbatov
You must admit they were some strange purchases.
Ladies and Gentlemen
Well battering teams isn’t a problem – creating chances isn’t a problem (all be it at times it doesn’t happen)
Scoring goals is though.
The next striker that comes to the club – if he does has to be the most important striker in United’s history – unless that is we find someone SAF can model as the virus part two (most importantly that he doesn’t have a dream for the mob : )
United absolutely played them off the park for 35 minutes – didn’t score then hey presto as our predicament would have it for now – they go and score. You know I think it’s lucky with the point we had today – it seems whatever we are doing isn’t enough – and maybe for a while it won’t.
Yep I know should be scoring – but there you go – before they miraculously scored the game should have been over – but it wasn’t.
Again Arsenal didn’t fair better – thank the Lord Chelsea are going to get congested – we will have to hold on again and dig in.
I did not mean spend a fortune but money should not be the issue, when the past phew years we have made fortunes on turnover and players sold. I just think united should not worry about wanting value for money when you look at it we should be swimming in cash. When you add it up united could spend a fortune extending the old trafford south stand and spend another 200 million on players but all this cash has been wiped out by the glazers.
Two points dropped – no other way to look at this match. Sure, Birmingham defended “bravely”, they scored a scrappy goal and had four direct shots at Kuczszak but UTD controlled the ball/territory. But this was a match UTD should win.
Can’t blame Berbatov today; can’t praise Rooney today, either. Yet the attack was still dire and fairly predictable. I was glad to see Diouf get a run-out although his first touch was pretty atrocious on the two/three occasions I noticed. But, maybe he’ll be better next time.
I do wonder, though, how the Nani-bashers can still find reasons to suggest that his moments of skill weren’t missed. And, I really wonder why Tosic isn’t given a chance to have a go – he can’t be worse than either Park or Giggs (today).
A good day for the RentBoyz. Pity.
MG Said,
January 9th, 2010 @22:07
creating chances IS an issue. the team has lack of creativity. we need a player who sees on the pitch and who can play the ball to the right place.
we’re slow as well. strikers we got.
Don’t you love the Brum fans bitching and showing the fingers for the six minute added time. It’s like only we have the given right to score in added time. With us down to ten men it only made them looked pathetic!
inter 2-3 against siena ) i wonder if inter gambled )
off topic… anyone watching the Inter game? nice game!, they losing 3-2 but am sure they will somehow win – they are the flukiest team on earth (along with chelsea)
@Drew Vader
Hey, nice to see you here every now and then. You are right about Clattenburg awarding us the goal. I wonder what the linesman was on. It was obvious that a defende touched it last. Overall, I find Clattenburg a bit hypocritical. It’s been 2 years since the Bolton game and the way Kevin Davies tackled Evra. Looking at that and at the Fletcher red card, that’s double standards.
inter’s midfield is injured now (cambiasso and stankovic), of course as soon as they sold Viera:)
our corners today looked so harmless, that the players looked like they were disappointed we had to take them. no aerial threat at all, so they decided to do more short plasses from the corner. it looked a bit weak. we should have some sort of work rotation program with the tampa bay bucs and bring in one of their giant cornerbacks to play defense this year! we can send obertan/tosic to train with them in summer camp:)
Felix – no they have not been strange signings well most of them.
Diouf – he has just arrived and he maybe an outstanding player in the future or now
Owen – he came at a free transfer and has chipped in about 7 goals, highlights owen scoring a hatrick and the winner against shitty.
Obertan – well he will be an outstanding player in the next phew years, shows brilliance of genius like pires but is a RAW talent.
Valencia – united needed a wide player with giggs aging and nani who has bene poor and he has been a good signing, with other wide players costing 30 to 50 million plus he has been a smart buy.
Tosic – he has been a mystery why has had such limited starts but dont give up on him yet
De Laet – he has been outstanding whenever he has played, and is very flexible has he can play at right and left back and he is effective going forward.
Berbatov – I call him two face, he was really good at spurs but the flip side is he is totaly different at united. it has been a mystery why he has not done the buisness.
Some thoughts. Looking at the amount of space Siena has to operate in the opposition half i remembered the Wigan game. Brum didn’t let us have a single free breath but the size of the pitch doesn’t suit us, that’s for sure.
Tony Starks Said
they always win… and Siena isn’t really a strong team, they just have a lucky day. Inter has 20 minutes, they’ll manage to win.
@ united.george – yeah but they will just but someone else…(!)
Obertan and Tosic might come back with brain damage if they go train with the Bucks (or they might even sign them up, am sure Oby would be a class receiver if he can catch…
Massimo Macarone? There’s a name I haven’t heard in a while.
Tony Starks
i am watching it mate. waiting for Jose to end his 152 game unbeaten home run. They will score though. Have seen them do that many times in the past.
Massimo Maccarone looks better than Cristiano Ronaldo at the moment. remember him?
United George – the reds corners look harmless most weeks. Today we had right footed players hitting outswinging corners from right wing & giggs doing same with left foot from left wing. They frequently hit the front man or th ball is travelling weakly away from the goal. Why ar they not been told to curl it in under the bar with pace – causes havoc I can guarantee!
Come on reds – play like Champions and give us something to get fired up about again!
there it is.
Sneijder 3-3. they never lose
Sneijder saves them again! God, we should’ve grabbed him when Real came knocking for Ronnie…
thats what happens if you got people in your side who can take free-kicks and set pieces, they will get you points out of nothing!
Lol, Serie A is such a low hurdle for Mourinho. He is basically competing against himself.
Tony Starks I agree that we need better set pieces. I just think that we don’t do enough practice in the training sessions. Not that we are lacking players who can take them. Anderson, Carrick and Fletcher have proved in the past that they can deliver good corners kicks.
93., Samuel 4-3.
they ALWAYS win, as I mentioned. they just can NOT lose.
Hurr & Tony I can’t agree more with both of you – there’s no substitute for genuine class. Special players make a difference at special times in games… it’s a shame we haven’t got enough of them anymore.
Samuel seals it! Maureen’s home record stays intact!
Pandev scores 4-3 inter now. 2 goals in last 5 mins
Fuck me. will jose ever lose at home. make that 153. His luck never runs out.someone and something has to save his team everytime. Must done something really special in his life to be so lucky.
Samuel it was who scored not Pandev. Pandev made the through pass
Come on, guys, Sneijder would not have been good value for us.
well you have to hand it to the guy, his teams sure have heart – that comes from the manager, you can’t buy that..
Costas – I think we should have signed Sneijder and when gonzalaz huguin was down the pecking order at madrid. say we did snap up those 2 we would have much better punch upfront
@Fred
At the price of what players have been going at last transfer market, what Inter paid for him was basically peanuts!
Talking of set pieces, Rooneys Free kicks and long range shots were so accurate in the past. remeber his debut.he used to score so many from outside the box, wonder whats happened to him now. dosent take enough shots. Free Kicks are poor and long range shooting is average to say the least
Fred
cant agree more. i have always liked Sneijder a lot. Cant understand why real sold him. he is a really good player especially at set pieces. Goran Pandev who joined them for free from lazio a few days back is a good player too
Agree with the comments about Sjneider & Higuain. It’s strange that United didn’t force the issue with Madrid when they were poaching Ronnie away – they should have insisted on cash + players – Madrid would have gone for it as they were so desperate to get hold of him.
@rooney the new king
Have to agree with you on Higuain. He’s a much better finisher than that waste-of-space tosser Benzema!
an excellent read…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2010/jan/09/manchester-united-alex-ferguson-birmingham?
and jose maintains his home record…
aig.. apart from that debut goal, I don’t remember any other dead ball goals by Rooney, sure he got a few long range shots, but now there is no space whatsoever to shoot from those positions – defences are so much more tighter in our league…
all those saying we shold have bought Sneijder – not sure what he offers apart from the free kicks – do you buy a player just to do that?
RTNK, thwey wouldn’t have been good value. We’re much better off with Owen and Obertan.
Hurr, €15 million is not peanuts to the Glazer boys.
aig alex is god – the last player you should be questioning is wayne rooney, this is propably one of rooneys best seasons. it is borderline criminal to say rooneys game has deteriated.
@rooney the new king
Honestly? I don’t rate Sneijder too much. I think he has a great right foot, but I don’t know where he would have helped us apart from set pieces. If it was a choice between Valencia and Sneijder, in my opinion we made the right call. I agree about Higuain though.
@AIG
That’s a msytery to me as well. Granted his free kicks were never top notch, but nowdays he never vollies the ball. He is always looking for the curl.
Agree with the Rooney shooting mystery – the boy has a cannonball shot but seems to always looking to curl or place the ball rather than putting ball & keeper through the back of the net. He is the main goal hope for the reds at the moment – if I was him I’d be letting fly every time I got within sight of the goal.
@Giornalista
I did say at times it doesn’t happen –
Creativity only becomes an issue if the team isn’t making chances.
So we make the chances – all be it not all the times and as many as we would like – but then for whatever reason can’t get the goal in.
We had enough chances to be at least two goals up today before they scored. One missed concentration after 35 minutes gets Birmingham in and it’s heads down again. After all they are human not machines and low and behold they don’t recover.
Like I said we were lucky with the goal but deserved it – Birmingham did play second half had there chances too – obviously since they got so lucky in the first half. I guess then the draw was fair today. We should be beating everyone but do not have the right to unless we outscore them. So I guess maybe that little bit of luck concerning our goal might be helpful.
What do I know though? We can only bite the bullet and hope that everyone comes back and we kick on. At the moment who can United take to turn there fortunes and who isn’t CL tied?
David Villa who is struggling to score at the moment in Valencia? 40 million for a 28 year old – similar to Wayne – don’t know.
David Silva? Again 30 million plus for a player that is a good player but come on Valencia is equally as good for less than half the price. Silva doesn’t score too many too – so how would he fit in?
I don’t know who the answer is but it can’t be now. We’ll have to wait and see what SAF thinks is the answer – I just believe it’s great that Football Manager came along and all that but in this real world it’s not so easy.
The forward play being slow – I am assuming you are referring to Berba?
I don’t know about Berba – on his day he is unplayable – every other time he divides opinions. I can’t tell you how much time he has – only SAF could tell us that.
If Nani has his time up then so be it.
I too am baffled about Tosic but again the manager can only answer that one
Llajic not coming was a dissapointment – but hey look where he ended up – so at the moment he’s not a loss.
The kids will be alright – I’m sorry they were shortchanged last week by the first team – it’s not fair to blame them in anyway.
The creativity in the Da Silva brothers is frightening at 18. Imagine what that will be like in 2 years.
Same with Wellbeck – at 19 he is no finished article but he’s going to be some player. Macheda has been unlucky with injuries and call ups to the under 20’s. There is someone world class about to happen – and he has turned 18.
And what about young Ravel Morrison? Everyone in the game reckons we have something huge up our sleave.
I understand that we could have done with another player – maybe a leader but he is just not there at the moment. And if he is then I am sure SAF wil get him.
I just implore everyone to look at what we have coming – that’s more than Arsenal and Chelsea and Liverpool – and these players will be important in less than three years. If SAF turned one trick pony Ronaldo into the biggest player in the world then we have equally as good or better youngsters that he can do the same too.
I’m asking all of us to just hold on.
RTNK
i am not doubting Rooney. All i am saying is he had this dimension to his game, what has happened to it now. he had a very fierce and accurate shot, his shooting has been wayward of late. Rooney is one of the reason we are in this position in the league.However for someone of his talent i think there is always room for improvement. Good players are happy with what they have, world class players try and add new dimensions to their game and improve everytime. I want Rooney to be the latter, not the former
Fred – no united could have signed owen schneider heguin obertan and valencia, he has the ability to pitch in about 14 a season and with ronaldo gone and the likes of nani who has been poor, I think someone like Sneijder would have been a big help on the left to balance valencia on the right. a midfield 4 of carrick fletcher valencia Sneijder I think is a wonderful midfield 4.
Tony Starks & Costas
Sneijder does not have pace but is good at set pieces. Corners, free kicks. He cannot be compared to valencia because he is not a winger but a CAM. attacking midfielder which we are lacking at the moment. his passing and long range shooting is good as well.WE are lacking in some of those areas at the moment
MG – a good post with some valuable comments about the young players coming through. Welbeck will be fine, Macheda has potential to be a top player and I’ve seen young Ravel Morrison & he is a really exciting prospect. Cleverley is doing well at Watford & the twins have slotted in easily to the first team. My big concern is this – look at what happened to Rossi/Pique etc. They were flagged up as future United superstars only to be sold on for relatively cheap deals. Granted, Rossi has hardly pulled up any trees in Spain but the 6million for Pique looks like bad business for United.
Are they going to do the same with our current young stars? Bearing in mind that many are foreign players, are they bound for Spain for a quick Euro payment to pay off the growing interest? I sincerely hope not – Ferguson can build another great side but we must we keep ALL our young stars & add quality when they become available to buy.
MG – who is this Ravel Morrison and what position does he play, I have never heard of him before.
another thing look at the young talent bought or come through uniteds youth system the media fails to see.
rafeal, fabio, j evans, c evans, carthcart, chester, de laat, Cleverley, welbeck, macheda, and there is some I have not even named
RTNk
http://www.manutd.com/default.sps?pagegid={061AD8F0-B618-4CC3-838C-A9AEA6B5217A}&bioid=93932&teamid=437§ion=playerProfile
if it was up to the media on what is best for united and what would happen.
- fergie should be out of a job in 1988 1990 1995 2004 and 2005
- scholes beckham butt neville brothers should have been sold in aug 1995
- ronaldo should have been sold in 2006 and was a mistake signing him in auguest 2003 because beckham was better
- the media thought arsenal would rule teh prem in 98 2002 and 2004, they thought chelsea would be win the league every year, and the special one would be the new clough and fergie.
- the media thought liverpool would win the leaugue this season
On our official website,Ronny’s goal vs porto has been voted our goal of the decade followed by Rooney’s vs Newcastle in 2nd, Scholes VS Aston Villa in 3rd, Scholes Vs Barca in 4th and Ronnie’s freekick vs Portsmouth in 5th
@Mags the red
I appreciate keeping the youngsters together.
I felt sorry for Rossi – but then SAF saw something in Ronaldo and of course the rest is history.
Pique had one year left on his contract and I think they wanted him and he wanted to go back to Barca.
Fair play to Pique and unlike Ronaldo never through a hysterical fit about it – and maybe to be fair on SAF he kept the better natural defender in Evans.
He had to let Pique go – too many central defenders – and that’s why we are missing RIo and Vidic – our success or most of it has been when they have been together – naturally we’ll struggle without them – we do so now because all the others have just come back from their own injuries – all this = bad timing. A fit Brown and Evans are enough for anyone.
@RTNK
Ravel Morrison Midfield maestro – next Scholes some say. But has the ability to play anywhere – we’ll see; but some observer’s reckon he’ll be in the squad within two years
And he’s only 16 yet : )
Who gives a fuck about Inter or Mourinho? Barcalona a month ago now Inter. I thought this was a UNITED blog.
aig alex is god – what do they know, did they forget giggs 99 winner against arsenal, what about some of the other goals we scored in 99. what about scholes hatrick against newcastle in 2003, there were far better goals than ronaldos agaqinst porto. I thought rooney and tevez goal against middlesbro has got to be one of uniteds best goals of this decade.
*Barcelona*
MG
Again you make fair points about Pique’s contract situation & desire to return to Spain but why is it that United are failing to attract or hold on to players? Obviously we have been suffering an unnatural run of defensive injuries and a solid central defensive pairing are the bedrock of any successful team – we cannot blame anyone for this… let’s just hope that’s it for the year on the injury front.
What concerns me most is the way the squad appears to have been shorn of true class in the last 18months and the clubs insistence that everything is rosy in the garden. I’m happy to accept a period of rebuilding if that’s where we are – it’s part of the natural cycle & of course we’ve all been through it on more than one occasion before BUT we have such a good chance this season to win this title 4 in a row so things need t be sorted soon as well as building for the future.
I think world class team goals are far better goals than seeing someone lash a ball from 40 yards. and ronaldos goal against portsmouth has got to be one of the most overated goals I have ever seen, one of my fav goals was scholes against newcastle when it scholes past to solkjaer who chiped it to scholes who volleyed it past given. how about scholes thunderstrikes against middlesbro away 99 and newcastles thunder strike against newcastle in the 6 2 battering in 2003.
now how some of these goals were never mentioned has goals of the decade for united I will never know.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5Hm0OFQA7U
And the rumors have begun:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1241995/Ben-Foster-sale-Edwin-van-der-Sar-returns-Manchester-United.html?ITO=1490
RED ALERT
the media dont learn another TWAT saying fergie should go
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1241946/PATRICK-COLLINS-Is-time-Ferguson-ride-sunset.html
rooney the new king – Was just about to paste that myself. He even says “the ineffectiveness of Valencia, Fabio and Rafael” etc.
Ferguson must look at Dimitar Berbatov and wonder what it takes to persuade that vapid under-achiever to deliver his God-given talent. He must wince at the continuing irrelevance of Michael Owen, the ineffectiveness of Anderson, Nani and Luis Valencia and the lack of impact of the young ones: Rafael and Fabio, Danny Welbeck and Gabriel Obertan. Of course, it is far too early to judge, but few resemble authentic United players. And a manager who is a full half-century older than some of them may find it desperately difficult to communicate his own demands and expectations
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1241946/PATRICK-COLLINS-Is-time-Ferguson-ride-sunset.html#ixzz0c9rTMAUt
a classic piece on fabio rafeal welbeck and valencia.
stat valencia has scored more goals than media darling gerrard and more than ashley young, oh yea valencia has one goal less than lampard.
Needed this after the last set of results. Our play has just been so frustrating lately.
Nice post.
@King Eric.. sometimes we get over the United woes by watching something else – Inter just hapenned to be playing at the time – of course its a United blog…
anyway if fergie should go, then so should Ancellotti, Wnger and co. cos none of them is doing any better, with improved squads..
It’s becoming more and more pointless taking any notice of the UK media with regards to United – they all seem to be on this witch hunt to attack anything to do with our club!
King Eric – when ever someone writes bullshit about uniteds demise and fergie I will write RED ALERT. this idiot forgets fabio and rafeal have been injured, welbeck is only 19, owen and valencia have scored between them 15 goals not bad for 2 players struggling. obertan has had a spine injury which has kept him out for 3 months.
this idiot also forgets how totaly rubbuish ronaldo was last year am I the only one that can see he was rubbish. the only thing united need is a striker, you dont need a perfect 11 and squad but if we can get help for rooney upfront we will be fine.
Anyway, bollocks to the Birmingham game. I’d proffer my conclusion as to why it isn’t the end of the world, but repeatedly slamming my head against a wall would be as productive.
I’m looking forward to the Burnley game. I know saying we should beat them would raise a few eyebrows, only we’re talking about a side that is looking to be the first in history to stay up on home points alone, minus a solitary point from the bitters.
It coinciding with my first FC game should be my only gripe come next Saturday.
I know this won’t sound like a proper excuse, but this team just can’t play at full strength without Vidic in it. We have learned to cope without Edwin and Rio, but you can feel Vidic’s absence our games. Whether we play Leeds, Birmingham or Milan. Look at today. We had to play a perfct defensive game for 38 minutes just to keep Birmingham away from our box. The minute they stepped in, they scored. And after that it’s a different game.
With Vidic in the team we won’t get more creative, but at least the fowrard players will be assured of what is happening behind them. Of course Fletcher will try to stop Benithez on the half way line and sacrifice himself. He didn’t have the confidence in Wes and Jonny to deal with him.
John Champions’ commentary on ESPN was disgraceful. Both him and Waddle are a pair of ABU’s . When the six minutes was added on he said “You have to hope, for the sake of the integrity of the game, that the officials haven’t been influenced by Ferguson’s rants”
How the fuck do they get away with saying shit like that?
Tony Starks – I totaly agree there some united fans who go mad over this result and many should do what normal ppl like me and other fellow reds chill out get over it and move on
They should refer to it as “Fergie time” and have done with the laughable idea that they’re neutral.
Same old shit.
King Eric
Agree totally with the comment about the ABU vitriol spewed by mullet head Waddle & John Champion. What a load of garbage – are United the only team allowed to score in injury time? They were down to 10 men for fecks sake – surely the pefect opportunity for the Brummies to grab an undeserved winner.
The vast majority of the media are ABU’s but the 2 faced hypocrites are all there drooling & saying ‘I told you so’ when another title is wrapped up – bunch of tossers!
RED ALERT
I am not berbatovs biggest fan but another OTT article
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/668314/BERBATOVS-UNITED-CAREER-IN-JEOPARDY.html
looks like 2012 for united has cme early its the end of tthe world
Costas – That is a good point about Vidic. He is clearly missed by United. Nothing gets past him in the air. He rattles the opposition striker early on and they are scared to go near him for the remainder of the game. To be fair I just don’t think Wes it fit. He looks 3 yards off the pace. Rio is a huge miss as well. A fit inform Rio just exudes confidence for the back four and he can get the play going. Evan’s and Wes’s distribution from the back today was poor. Rio can smack 40 yard passes to feet. Fortunately Vidic is only a few days away and Rio a couple of weeks. In addition to the return of Edwin we should see a more settled formidable United. After all our recent success has been built on that bed rock .
If we can win the league this year it will my favourite win of all because of all the crap that is being said – I can’t beleive they pay people to commentate like that, it was an embarrasment to ESPN
King Eric
You know, I didn’t want to sound too greedy, so I only mentioned Vidic, who I feel can carry the defence through the hard times.
However, if we are going to look at the situation with our favorite trinity at the back, it’s very deressing. They have played together 7 times in the last 47 games. I hope there will come a day when all 3 of them will play together and be affective. But in all honesty, at the moment I am quite pessimistic about Rio’s prospects and what he has left. Edwin’s situation is different and I am buzzing for his return.
Fucking brilliant Scott. Nice one.
By the way – Mame Biram Diouf – don’t know why but I have a good feeling about this guy – I can sense the manager has this feeling too – he put him on straight away.. I would love to see him start against Burnley
Fucking hell what the fuck was that shite.
Great day for Chelsea.
Wes brown what the fuck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Carried on the performance from the Leeds game, absolute shit. Defensively we are very very poor without a Vidic. At least he gets stuck in. Fucking pussies Brown and Evans fannying about! Another shit performance again. No excuses this time around. I think it won’t be nev retiring but Wes Brown a pussy in sheeps clothing.
Diouf at least has real pace & looks direct – he’s worth a chance and poor Rooney needs some support up there. Give the lad some time, be patient until he gets used to the Prem League and let’s see how he gets on. We desperately need a goal scorer – 7 defeats this season & no goals in any of them is a telling stat!
the irony of this article is scott basically pridicted this article because its a doom and gloom day
Red Harry
Give Wes a break – he looks to me as though he’s not fully fit & is probably playing through the problem because of Vidic mystery nerve issue & Rio’s extended absence. Anyway, it wasn’t the defence problem that led to only 1 point, it was the failure to score goals… AGAIN!
It’s all over for united
Yes it is
No it isn’t
Yes it is
No it isn’t
Yes it is
No it isn’t
Nothing new there then : )
Team for Burnley
TK
Rafeal Vidic Evans Evra
Valencia Giggs Anderson Rooney
Diouf Owen
Lay off \Wes Brown. Fucking dickhead he has always flattered to decieve. When he 1stplayed and kicked Yeboah up in the air I thought yes we got a decent defender, bt fuck how disappointing he has been most times. Cast your mionds backto the barren year in the early 2000s before we had Vidic.
Defensively we were so soft with pussies like Rio, Brown and Silvestre playing like limp dicks!!!! Along comes a proper defender in Vidic and we are so musch more solid, doing the dirty work and allowing Rio to look class.
Do we have another defender at the club like Vidic who would kill to stop a goal, throw his body on the line to defend. No we don’t.
The lack of security at the back is filtering through the team. We are lacking up front. Owen may come on and score a few but we need support for Rooney and unfortunately Berba doesn’t appear to be the answer
Hey you lot will love this
It’s in the Mirror and I’m in stitches –
SAF in 80 million clear out – apparently according to the ex Maxwell paper(I don’t know if it still is or part of it maybe one can enlighten me!) – no need for conspiracy theory there then in the mirror : )
Anyway
Berba is off
They also have a united insider quote – get the hairdryer out SA!
Nani – nothing new there – I mean either he’s in secret training to get jiggy with it or SA has lost total faith – or he could be injured and no one’s bothered to find out : )
Anderson – and apparently they justify it by using his quotes that he made I think with sky recently – something like that anyway – go figure SA reckons he’s not developing
As is Tosic
Vida is going though he said he’s not going but he’s going if the mob pay over 20 million for him though Milan and Barcelona are interested as other’s way – still reading? – oh and he’s struggling with fitness problems – so I’m guessing the sun in Madrid will do him all the good then – after all that’s why players move from England to Spain don’t they – for the sunshine : )
Oh and Scholes is retiring though SA explicitly said he wasn’t but according to the mirror he is because they like all the non believers know more than the gaffer : )
Van Der Sar considering options – read into that accordingly – bollocks anyway
And to top it off we’re going to make a less on all of them – oh boy bad man that SAF!
And finally read this and laugh further: They finish it off by saying and I quote:
“And that will put even more pressure on the Glazer family who own the club to come up with significant transfer funds whilst once again finding £70m to service the interest on the club’s £700m debts.”
Nice one – of course they forgot about selling Hargreaves – ditching Rio cause he isn’t coming back from injury either – selling Evans cause the mob want him too – Rooney because apparently that is the mob’s number one target – Ben Foster because he’ll be England’s number one and still not playing for United as number one – Valencia because he couldn’t replace Ronaldo – I mean how dare he : ) – Owen because he’ll kick up a fuss he’s not being played and he’ll be off on a 20 million deal back to Liverpool : )
Which means we’ll have Patrice Evra as last man standing : ) As everyone else will ether be injured – John Wes etc or keep on getting sent off – Fletch etc or too old to play every match – Giggs etc.
So much doom – so I guess we better get Keane Cantona Schmeical Irwin Yorke Cole Ince – you get the drift? – out of retirement for next season : )
Can’t wait then – Any chance of Bruce and Palli back too?
I don’t think we are lacking up front but our front players have no confidence going forward. They can’t take as many risks with our passing and we can’t commit players forward because we get caught out when we do due to our fragile defense. When Vida plays our true quality going forward seems to shine through. I have not given up on Berba and still think he can come good but I am losing patience with his attitude. I want to see more of Diouf in the coming weeks because he can simply jump out of the stadium. What I think we need most is someone who can finish a cross and judging Diouf’s ability in compilations of his goals he scores tons of headers. Hopefully, with Rooney, they can begin to form a partnership or Berbatov can come through. Either way we played a good team today who is in good form. The officiating continually hurt us and Clattenburg proved he should not ever ref a United game again. He seems to always lean against United and the sending of was the worst I have seen in a long time (possible since Fletcher’s last sending off.) I really think had Fletcher been able to stay on we would have gone on and won it.
It’s not that far-fetched. It’s all just guess-work but it’s probably right. The only one of that mob I can see staying is Anderson.
Kevin, I stopped reading at “I don’t think we are lacking up front.”
Wayne Rooney, an over-the-hill Michael Owen and Mame Biram Diouf. Does that sound like a strong pool of strikers to you?
MG – so lets get this straight they are saying
VDS vidic scholes anderson nani tosic berbatov will be gone
add the fact they are saying the fascist will sign rooney and vidic
and fergie will ditch ferdinand and hargreaves.
now to be frank no manager on their right mind will let that many go if
A – no one is coming through
B – what is out there to sign
C – you let that many go you will have to sign others and bed them in
jesus christ wenger has won nowt yet the media think he is the greatest, yet fergis has teqnically still got a side that is called what wengers outfit are not champions. oh yea I forgot ronaldo did it not the team idiots. I tell you ppl I wish united players would realise prove these idiots wrong.
did the media learn in 1990 no
did the media learn in 1995 no
did the media learn in 1998 no
did the media learn in 2002 no
did the media learn in 2006 not a chance
and they will be taught a lesson in 2010 on wards
Big Bad Wesley Brown – united need a striker badly this jan, if the unthinkable happens and rooney is sold every united fan should stop going to games, stop subscribing to MUTV and never buy any shirt what so ever because we will know the glazers are running the club into the ground.
people give time and take time
we are going through a period of trial and error.
as for buying players its not the solution.
the right thing is being done. bringing through young players is the way.
as for diouf i hope people dont judge him if he has a few bad games.
drogba did not turn into this beast overnight. give time take time.
WE MIGHT NOT WIN ANYTHING THIS SEASON. WHAT IS NEEDED TO BE DONE IS KEEP BEING POSITIVE AFTER ALL MANCHESTER UNITED WILL ALWAYS COME BACK.
United would not sell Rooney. It’s unthinkable.
Big Bad Wesley Brown –
I stopped reading at Big Bad Wesley Brown…
If you don’t read it all and all you have to say is to respond to one sentence there is not room for any discussion. Is our strike force the best? Absolutely not but you also left Berbatov of your list. I do think a in-form Berbatov, Rooney, Owen, Diouf, Macheda, and Wellbeck could prove to a decent strike force and gives us plenty of options. Is it the best in the EPL? Probably not but we can’t have everything and we have enough to see the job done. I also do not correlate our strikers as the reason we are not playing and rather feel it starts in the defense. It isn’t our defenders are not playing great (face it all our team isn’t in top form) but rather a lack of a strong center backing that gives us confidence that we can go forward.
I also think Diouf could prove to be something special is we can feed good balls into the box. We didn’t get to see much of him and he had to cope with playing on his own up top. We created chances we just did not take them. They also did not fall at the feet of our strikers but rather our midfield. I would rather give our youth a try, struggle to succeed, then buy an over rated player like the Valencia duo which I do not rate as highly as some of you obviously do. The game is not played on paper but rather the pitch.
Except Michael Carrick as absolute dog wank and does naf all out on the green stuff
We’ve blown it, its a shame but we aint going to win the league.
have to agree with your optimistic outlook, well as regards on field activities. for the last 2 years we have been the the best team in england and Europe punctuated with 2 euro cup finals. We did it with the same core squad we have now the only difference this season is no Ronaldo which is a loss no doubt.But the core of a world class squad is there, do we need to sign a new star to replace Ronaldo no Rooney has repalced him as the star player, but we do need to add depth to the squad. Valencia WILL turn out to be a super signing for us illustrated by his performance against Wigan. What we do need is a threat on the left wing to balance valencia, a play maker midfielder to compliment flechter or hargreaves in the centre. Berbatov can step into the shoes of rooneys partner but if he doesnt then we need a new signing. 3 astute signings and we can have a truly world class team.
Corea @ 21:48: “We don’t have left wingers. I agree with Berba-Roon partnership. I am not impressed with Berba’s contribution but we have no other choice for my liking than to pray their partnership will start producing goods.”
Sadly, I concur – too bad that KikoTheKid has been crocked.
“If we can win the league this year it will my favourite win of all because of all the crap that is being said”
I could not agree more – the obituaries are always written while the corpse is still breathing.
As mediocre as UTD have been – and who of us would deny that ? – there have been very few matches in which TheLads have not bossed both possession and territory. What’s been lacking ALL season – a few exceptions, of course – has turning the cutting edge to put that possession and territorial dominance into goals. Yesterday was no different – and let’s not forget that the game against Birmingham was played on a frozen pitch.
That said, I was really impressed with the aggression and drive and desire that ChuCho displayed. He played on the two central defenders’ shoulders and created a lot of space for Cameron Jerome. I think he showed us what our team has been lacking – not for a moment would I recommend ChuCho as a solution to our “problems” but he does provide an insight as to how those “problems” might be resolved with a real, proper, old-fashioned center forward who leads the line and continually probes the opposition’s central defence.
I am feeling worried and are not blaming the club. I am thinking of how we are going to repay all the debt. I hope i can continuing supporting the club in 10 years time and beyond. There is no way am i going to give up on the club and i won’t say sack fergie for playing the wrong tactic.