Owen Hargreaves played 45 minutes of football for the Reserves tonight against Burnley Reserves in a 2-0 win for United.
Febian Brandy put United ahead after 22 minutes before Corry Evans sealed the win ten minutes in to the second half.
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Great news, good to have you back. Could be the backbone of our push at the end of the season.
Welcome back man!
The curly haired one is back.
Hargo after the game: “It was the first step in what has been an incredibly long ordeal. I’m very happy that I can be back with an 11 v 11 and a referee at least. It was great. I’m fit. I have been training incredibly hard, I have been doing everything I possibly could. I have seen the inside of the gym for about six hours everyday so I have had enough of it. I’d like to get back to doing football work. I will just train with the team and when the sharpness comes back and I start to feel better then I will consider playing a first-team game.”
I think it will still be a while before we see him in the first team, and that’s as it should be – take your time son!
@Mahesh: Exactly, mate. The most important thing right now is, that we don’t rush him back. If he comes back before he’s completely sharp, and plays badly, his confidence will suffer as well. So as you said: Take your time, lad.
Great to have Hargo back.
Looks like he’s had work done – botched Botox? Just joking. Great to see him back in action at last.
Off-topic: Stunning result for Fulham tonight. I wonder what odds you’d have got on that?
He shouldn’t rush. He could be a crucial player for our CL run in(s) though. So don’t take too long hargo!!!
Loving it….! Welcome back Hargo… Just hope he takes it step by step. Lets not rush him back…!
@Mahesh
Thanks for the quote mate.
Yep, sounds like he has some more work to do with the Reserves. Not bothered about that. Today was a major milestone for someone who has admitted he has felt humbled in the last 18 months.
The interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aGpwG73tWo
Welcome back son
I saw the match, and he looked good. Nothing earth shattering, but he played a good solid 45 minutes. Calm on the ball as always, he looked like the Hargo of old. Hope to see him back soon!
Welcome back Hargo,,, i can’t wait to see him in the first team, hope he can make into the World Cup squad.
Does anyone else detect a slight German accent in his….well, accent?! lol!
He looked fit and sharp tonight. Fantastic to have him back. He said he believes he will make the first team and possibly South Africa.
Have to laugh at the dippers and in particular the Channel 5 and talkshite commentary. Making them out to be FAR better than they actually were. I thought they were shit to be honest second half against a no mark piss poor on the night Lille team. Gerrard was anonymous for most of the game. Best line was from John Scales the posh cunt ” Liverpool fans doing what they do best, celebrating another GREAT EUROPEAN NIGHT of football”. Ha ha. priceless. Talking about them coming to Old Trafford and doing a job. United (hopefully) will be a MUCH different proposition to the like of fucking Pompey and Lille. Mickey Quinn on Talkshit was ecstatic at the result. Saying how they were back to their best and can go to Old Trafford and get a result. What the fuck? Who are these people trying to kid. Not fucking once did they mention the fact that United are in a whole different hemisphere of football compared to Portsmouth and Lille. Its propaganda . If you hadn’t watched the game you could be mistaken for thinking the dippers were infact top drawer. Is it just me or were they shit?
Well I am pleased to be wrong again I was convinced we would not see Owen or Vidic playing.again.Hope there.s no reaction.
Mahesh – Yeah definately and you can hear canadian as well. All kinds of accents actually.
Will he be able to play in CL . Is there a way wherin we could include him…..We missed him against Barca . If we had a nidfield of Carrick , Hargo and Scholes we would have won . He aong with Fletch are the only genuine ball winners in our team. Hope he can play CL ……
King Eric – exactly, that has to be one of weirdest accents I’ve ever heard! There a mix of all kinds of accents there!
Absolutley great news. Just 45 mins but its a very positive sign.
I can see him being put on the bench in the last few games, maybe without the intention to play him but to help boost his confidence, get him to hear the crowd getting behind him. Can’t be easy coming back from surgery like that.
@King Eric
They are improving mate. They’ve actually won their last 2 games! And with emphatic scorelines!
What have we done in the last 2 games? 4-0 against Milan and 3-0 against a Fulham team that embarassed Juventus. Nothing. Be afraid!
His accent has changed. And he seems to have a lisp now. Very odd.
Let’s hope our crack medical team (crackhead medical team may be a better description) don’t fuck up his progress this time.
WELCOME BACK, OWEN.
Needs to take this comeback easy and let the manager do what’s right but he was fantastic today as I said before he hasn’t missed a beat
Costas – Yeah Lille didn’t really look like scoring , they got round the back a few times in the second half but nothing more. I know he scored two but I still don’t think Torres looks the same player at the minute. His first touch along with the thug’s tonight was way off. I may regret saying that but I just cannot see them beating us a fourth time not at the minute. If the lads aren’t up for this at this stage in the season, at home and after suffering last years humiliation then we don’t deserve it. Fletcher and Park will be the difference on Sunday.
King Eric don’t worry about the Scouse cunts. They’re a joke mate, even their own players are admitting it now!
We owe those bastards a hiding on Sunday and if we can’t beat the clowns who were comfortably turned over by Wigan recently we don’t deserve the title this year.
Oh and lets make this clear. He should be nowhere near the England team that travels to South Africa. He needs that extra month to cool off and get ready for 10-11.
and he got rid of that beard! maybe it was a motivation thing – can’t shave it off till i play again
@King Eric
Haven’t heard anything about our lads, but I am assuming this 7 day break has given the squad to catch a breath and hopefully we will have a couple of injured players back.
Not to sound arrogant or anything, but Sunday’s game is there for the taking. A full week’s rest and our best first XI are fresh and ready to go. Whether it’s 10-0 or 0.5-0, we have to beat them. As you said, if they beat us again, it will raise plenty of questions.
And it’s high time Wazza got a goal against them. Hasn’t done so in 5 years. I didn’t watch Torres, but I hope that he isn’t at his best yet. Because Rio and Vida are just now rediscovering their form.
Fred – Only that clown could alienate his fellow Spaniards.
Costas – 5 years, is that how long it’s been? Just can’t see how they can beat us, not at the present time. Hopefully they will now be in a comfort zone after their demolitions of the giants Pompey and Lille.
Maybe spending all that time in America during rehabilitation affected his EnglishCanadianGerman accent.
Trying not to overreact with it only being a reserves match but he did really well in that holding role. He did some nice work down the left too and could prove useful in other positions.
I’m thrilled that Owen Hargreaves has come back this far, this soon.
I’m pissed to hear him – and others – talk about playing for Ingerland.
He needs to ask himseff: “Who has paid my salary for the past 18 months ?”
Same old story, the pouting, whinging, girly-haired twat gets himself fit and in good form just in time to play United. The scouse twats only ever seem to unwrap the cunt from his cotton wool when their “cup final” with United rolls around. Small-time twats.
Costas it’;s not arrogant at all to expect the champions, who are sitting top of the league and comfortably through to the Champions League quarter-finals, to be able to beat some no-marks who have a fight on their hands to finish 5th or 6th, let alone 4th. It’s not arrogance, it’s just common sense.
Lille shoulda beaten the scouse cunts, fuck hope they get fulham, brilliant result for them. Hope vidic goes right thru that tranny n steve me, cunts!
I loved the part where he said he has to do whats best for himself, THEN UNITED,then england.
summary, united>england
Welcome back Hargo, personally wont mind so much if he doesnt play for the first team this season. Pointless rushing him back after all this time to too high a tempo. Let him play reserve games, and come back fresh for pre-season next season.
@denton davey
Well put. 9 times out of 10, players in Hargo’s situation don’t go to a summer tournament even if they are 100%. Unfortunately, I don’t see the English media backing off anytime soon. Especially now that he has finally kicked a ball. Personally, I think it’s pretty pathetic how Capello keeps repeating that he won’t give up on a midfielder who hasn’t played a game in 16 months. It shows how much faith he has in his current bunch.
@Fred
I know what you mean. I just don’t want us understimating them again. It should be a straight forward affair for the reasons you mentioned. All we need, is for our players to stay focused. Because the dippers will approach this with a bigger intensity than they will approach the Europa League final. If they make it that far.
@King Eric
Yeah, he just has that winning goal at Anfield in the 04-05 season. Too long…
great to see you back owen
fingers crossed ul be ready for first team b4 too long
Welcome back Owen – definitely will play some part in the run in, another pair of fresh legs to replace the Anderson option wont do any harm at all.
Fuck yes, this is great news.
all this shit about hargreaves playing in the world cup is pissing me off!! he needs to rest up when not playing whats a feesible amount of games for someone having had 18 months out. so he can be fresh as a daisy ahead of next season.
fuck england and their bunch of ungrateful tossers for fans who boo our lads when theyre in united shirts but wish for their quality whenever it comes to choosing their shit national team. i like hargreaves, he’ll put united first and fergie will make it clear where england can go.
Great to see him back, and I’d love to see him make a contribution to the end of the season.
On Liverpool please let us all not start the bombastic stuff about how we’re going to crush them, how their recent wins are nothing like our’s, how shit they are etc etc. For God’s sake, have we learned nothing? That is exactly how the build up to the last 3 matches against the dippers went, how we were going to smash them, how shit they were . Look at what happened.
Hehe… Hargo sure has put on some pounds while he’s been away
welcome back hargreaves!.. looked real sharp today.. good signs for him and for united.
also just like to point out.. OLIVER GILL IS CLASS!!
looks a real good defender.. can play at centre back or left back.. passing and defending looks good.. could be a future star for us
Costas – what ever the problems torres has had he is still one of the best strikers in the world and he would get into the united 11, in a 1 on 1 situation he is the best player to be in those positions and if we let him through like what happened with fulham when that was their best chance to score he will score. PPL laughed at his poor form a phew weeks ago when he was out for so long I think is naive at best when some players in our squad have not exactly done great. I still wish we had signed him in 2007 when he is like rooney in terms of loyalty and the will to win.
Got a question for you everyone. I love Vidic and I’m really happy that our defence is ressembling the one we had last year again and getting fit. However, if you were Fergie, wouldn’t you be tempted to play Evans instead of Vidic? I mean looking at our 3 last matches against the scouse it just seems to me that Vidic has a problem when playing against Torres. Don’t get me wrong, Vidic is one of the best defenders around. It’s just one of those things.
Great news, welcome back Owen and stay fit.
Che
Would Evans fair much better?
Owen would fit perfectly in our current 4-5-1/4-3-3 system! Sitting right in the middle of our midfield, and giving Scholesy a bit of rest from time to time! He’d also be our resident FK taker so that’s another plus! All in all it’s gonna be great to see him back on the pitch and I hope he hasn’t lost much if not any of his sharpness.
good to see hargo back, dont think he will have an impact this season tho.
Che Guevarist – where have you been and what have you been doing for a month, evans is injured and a un match fit evans would be ripped apart, vidic lost complete concentration last year against liverpool united should be much more focused this season. But I am sorry but do you want united to lose because playing evans sunday is suicidel
Wow so many articles about how everyone is hoping to avoid Barca…
Everyone should be shitting themselves they dont draw Man United. Yeah Barca are doing well but United are deff the strongest team in it…
Not cocky just confident.
@rooney the new king
True it’s been a while. Unfortunately for me chemical engineering is a hard program and the exams haven’t been kind to me, frequent and hard; a deadly combination. Which means I haven’t had much time to post but here I am now
My bad I had completely forgotten Evan’s injury. Tells you how disconnected I have been lately. I guess that unconsciously I just assumed that since Rio & Vidic were back, Evan had been relegated to the bench.
No,indeed I wouldn’t want an unfit Evans out there. I was just asking because 3 red cards in 3 successive matches against Liverpool just cannot be a coincidence in my opinion. I hope Vidic ends this run on Sunday.
Good to have you back Hargreaves.We Love You.
Great news!
Now we will see the true Man Utd. Hargo, Fletch And Scholes could very well outshine the Barca midfield trio. Looking forward to Owen’s first first team game! Hope it comes soon! Will be fitting if it is against Cheksea at OT, as it was against that team at Counfounded Bridge that he last played.
Our strongest XI next season
VDS
Rafa, Vida, Rio, Evra
——-Hargreaves
——–Scholes
———Fletch
Valencia————-Nani
Rooney.
With Michael Owen, Dimitar Berbatov, Michael Carrick, Anderson, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Johnny Evans, Fabio all fighting for about 5 places between them! That’s without counting the likes of Welbeck, Macheda, Obertan et al! I know the counting eggs theory, but heck this is shaping up to be one of our best periods in history, even better than 07-08.
yep spot on lung420
atleast barca admitted they are looking to avoid us.. as we all would happily say we will be looking to avoid barca… playing barca away(if draw that way) and then 3 days later chelsea??.. that would be a big blow for us… as chelsea will have a charged old side ready to beat us.. i hope we get lyon or bordeax.. bayern munich or even arsenal would be nice
@Anon
i think park definitely deserves a mention after his work this season…….u havnt even mentioned him on the bench!!
Great to see HARGO BACK!:D
Okay, i’m getting the twisty feeling in the stomach reading all the build-up stuff to the game on sunday.it’s an excited+nervous+tensed+pissed(with how rafa says torres will terrorise us and how the anti-United media loves to reiterate that pool can beat us all the same like last season)+worried+exasperated(how much i want the 3 points) feeling.I hate this feeling.But i love it.These big games are just a torturous pleasure.
Looking forward to seeing him play for the first team.
In another issue, we’re going to stuff the dippers on Sunday.
@Jay
same here 2!!
can hargo play in our coming champions league fixtures ?
I am glad for Hargreaves return
and I hope he can play in first team as soon as possible and also can play in SA.
Btw, Why i can’t see all comment in my computer? does anyone have any idea about this?
HELL YEAH!
heres the video link showing bits of his return. welcome back hargo!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOrAKkmA2pg&feature=player_embedded#
Todays Sun headline made me chuckle…
Happy to see Hargo back!!
Great to see him back in a football shirt, OUR football shirt!
Morning guys. Really excited about the draw today. It will shape up our season. Best case scenario: We get Bordeaux now and the winner of Lyon-CSKA in the semis! And lets let Arse, Inter, Barca and Bayern play amongst themselves.
@eleventh heaven
Unfortunately he can’t. Fergie took him out of the European squad. He is still undergoing a special training program anyway. If he plays for the first team this season it will probably be at the final 2-3 league games of the season.
Stand up for the king is BACK !!!
totally off topic, but just watched the youtube vid and damn…hargo totally has got that phwoaaarr factor. really really hope he doesnt go to the wc, really hope we have an injury free season next yr. i miss sheasy. funny how him, berba, park and nani were always held as scapegoats and the other 3 proved their doubters wrong, and without sheasy even playing, now everyone’s like “i miss o’shea…he’s better than brown/rafael/nev”. fickle fickle fickle…
If any case we draw barca, i will have to quit RoM till after the tie. Aig being the reason behind
@RedScott – can we have an article on sir alex’s program notes for the game with the dippers? they’re always a good read and would love to know his thoughts ahead of the game.
as far as the game itself is concerned, i’m just hoping for the best. don’t want to get too cocky or even nervous about it. just hope the gods of football favor us just a tad. and if it’s not hoping for too much, also hope stevie me gets a yellow for a starfish, then gets a 2nd yellow and sees red
What the chances that another reserve game next week Half of that maybe 70 minutes then coming on during the Bolton game one full reserve game, then Valencia/nani scholes Hargreaves Fletcher giggs/nani starting a 5 man midfield against Chelsea ¿¿¿??¿¿¿
@ ghtt- that’d be one hell of a midfield. they’d run fat frank and co completely to the ground!!! oh, just read a pete boyle interview. they’ve got a new chant for sunday, think it’s time for a new emily vid
‘Liverpool beat us 4-1, the Scousers they did beam. But, it doesn’t matter, because we’ve still won 18′.
so no hargo in the european fixtures ? no waaay. we could have the best trio in the middle of the park. Hargo-Fletcher-Carrick/Scholes. When is Ando coming back ? He’s out for the rest of the season is he?
@Costas
Hi mate.
We will get Arsenal or Inter.
dun tink Hargo can play in UCL matches. He was withdrawn from the squad in Feb.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/hargreaves-concern-after-champions-league-withdrawal-1889427.html
Great t see Hargo back in action, it might just come at the right time! Our best formation this year is 4-5-1 and that is tailor made for him.
Next season having three in the middle out of Carrick, Fletch, Hargreaves, Scholes, Giggs, plus now even Park in the mix.
This is our bestsquad for a while even though Ronny and that ugly cunt fucked off.
19th Titles please SAF
giggs11gerrard0
Don’t forget Ando…
@kanchelskis
ando is out till next season he’s out of the world cup
GHTT
I know, but giggs11gerrard0 was talking about next season.
finally some fuckin’ respect!
http://goal.com/en-gb/news/2557/news/2010/03/19/1839331/barcelona-sporting-director-txiki-begiristain-hopes-to-avoid
am i the only one hoping for barca ??
@RED SAM
no. i want
1.barca
2.Inter
3. Arsenal
4. Munich
Of Course all these teams are more than capable of beating us but to win the CL you got to beat these teams at some stage
aig
got to agree. you need to beat the best to be the best BRING ON BARCA !!!!
sir alex ferguson aid he’s not thinking about hargo for england its for united and everything else is secondary
about the dippers on sunday he says its a hard game but we have to win to stay top ,everyone was expecting liverpool to run them close this season but the might have peaked last season.
about stevie me he said the fa are crap and if it had of been a united player he would of been done, like with rio
you have to scratch your head when it comes to some of the fa decisions
@ RED SAM
You’re not the only one. I am really hoping for Barca. We need to tackle these good clubs to be a worthy UCL winner. Especially in the kind of form we are in. This is the best time to face Barca.
Squeaky bum timeeeeeeeeee
Give us CSKA or Bordeaux in the quarter final and someone like Bayern Munich or Lyon in the Semi’s please!
If we faced Barca last year at semi finals we would of won, much like we did the previous campaign. I also think if we faced Barca in the final and not Chelsea, we might have lost.
It’s just the way things seem set up in home/away ties that United seem to be benefiting from.
i have oge away from tis computer for a quick meeting a latest 11:15 whats with all this talking
why cant the champions league just be like the johnston paint trophy 3 round draw
steve me lifting the trophy in the highlights video there
aawwww thats nice of them to remember
We got Bayern
Arsenal got Barca
Lyon,Bayern,CSKA or Boredeux,any one of those would do.I reckon we would beat Bayern or Lyon no problem at home and get a draw away..
Bayern!!!!!!!!!!!! first leg away!! sweet
Man United V B Munich. Arsenal V Barca!!! who will win that one?
Lyon or Boredeux in the semis if we get through….not bad at all if we beat Bayern
Bayer Munich, I hope we can win as we did in UCL 1999
Lucky Inter they got CSKA Moscow
Bring on Bayern Munich…
We must show that our win against AC was a show of intent…do it boys!
If we get past Bayern, we get Bordeaux or Lyon good draw for us.
Kept away from Arsenal/Barca on the semi finals, so favourite to face those in the final.
Great tie, I fucking hate Bayern.
Oh, and in the semis we will see Blanc’s Bordeaux or Lyon. I actually think it might be us vs Barca again.
We got Bayern, we’re playing away first leg.
At least if we go through we play either Lyon or Bordeaux.
If we go all the way we get to be the home team!
YESSSSSSSSS!
Off topic.. Best possible draw for CL ! Come on United#
I smell our 3rd final in a row.
I cant believe that Le Arse and us got the toughest teams…what are they trying to do? Guarantee Lyon or Bordeux a place in the finals? WTF….
PS: On the flip side, it will be fun to see the wankfest on Barca-Le Arse….they will wet their pants with the “2 most entertaining teams in contemporary football”…
Bayern….then larry white…..Red Kit for the Final……get in!!
Expect the usual media wank fest now about how the two best footballing teams will be pitted against each other. Yawn. Happy with the draw. Have good memories of Bayern Munich. Efficient team but well beatable over two legs. Cannot wait to give those cunt’s Robben and Ribery some stick.
i cant complain about the draw. i dont mind meeting bayern and if we could go through then lyon or bordeaux..no problem.
Hargreaves comeback, and now we got Bayern for the last eight. 3rd final in a row guys ?
happy with the draw..but still a big job to do.Just glad the first leg is in Germany……….what will the United allocation be ….anyone know??
Jeet – Bugger, you beat me to it mate!!
those german mother-fuckers are gonna be tough with Ribery in their team….
roll on bayern!! roll on bernabeau!!
Im not getting overly confident….i think its going to be real tough…..Bayern play some great football but are not ‘great’
I reckon park to do the job on Ribery!! and Evra can take on Robben for pace so…….all depends on the midfield battle…come on United
FUCK
I didnt want Bayern Munich. Horrible draw.
@jeet. i dont think we got a very tough draw. i think barca,inter arsenal are better teams then bayern. great draw
@King Eric
Too right about the media. That could be a good thing though and take us out of the limelight a bit.
I think we have a very favourable draw but we should not take that for granted.
German teams are always really efficient. Plus their players are always very tall.
Which obviously means they are an aerial threat.
@Jeet….lol….the commentators will be loving it. spewing their shite about the world best entertainers.
I think we’ve got a great draw. Bayern are not the team they used to be. They only beat Firorentina at home with a blatant offside goal and they have been conceding a lot this season.
I thing we shall be going to Madrid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Of to Germany in the quarters, then a trip to France not to much travelling involved.
All
English
Final
if there was one team I want barc to get it’s arsenal
Nice draw our 1/4 final is harder than our semi final
aig – What the fuck mate? Horrible draw my arse. We are fucking Man United pal. I am sure they will be more worried about us than we are them. Not to be underestimated but beatable. Crunch the fag Robben early on and he won’t want to know.
give Robben a few kicks in the leg.. he’ll be scared as shyt… and can’t play afterwards.. Good draw, but i’m sure United players won’t be complacent!! Bernabeu here we come! I hope!!!
Bayern aren’t the quickest at the back, if Forentina can score 4 goals over 2 legs, then im sure we can at least match that, or better it.
king eric
Bayern are a very dangerous team. Watch them nearly every weekiend and they play excellent football. Well balanced team with lots of young hungry lads like Badstuber, Muller who are now regulars. Their problem is finishing as they miss 10-12 chances atleast in a game with Gomez woefully out of form but Olic and Klkose are threats as are Ribery and Robben.
The only other team i wouldnt have wanted vs barcelona. Then it was bayern.
hopefully Arsenal put Barca out,then we’ll fuck them in the final…..
Aig
am dissapointed with you mate. You are just a danm coward if at this stage you are afraid of meeting bayern with the potential decider at ot, then i hate to think what you could be doing right now if you were an arsenal fan.
As for Arsenal i would have fancied them to dump barca out which they can but the 2nd leg being at the camp nou swings it in barcas favour
@ Jespermoses
I’d rather meet Barca in the final pal…….we got some unfinished business from last year…
AIG – what the devil you on about? Munich was the best possible team we could have got as well as a semi with the French opposition… although I am a little worried, when I was ribbing my classless Chelsea supporting mate the other day, he said he hopes United have another plane crash… I hope this is not some kind of sick bad omen!
i just hate it when people say United always get the easiest draw every year and how much we pay UEFA to escape the other big teams. They are pathetic
@King Eric: Sorry for stealing your thunder, lol
I just did some scenario building (thats what I do for a living , so just cant get out of it…) and there are only 4 possible final scenarios, if you build in realistic assumptions:
1. Us vs Barca
2. Us vs Milan
3. Barca vs Bayern (sorry, but I do think its not outside the realm of possibility)
4. Barca vs Milan
The other thing I am concerned with is the Chelsea sandwich…if we had a fully fit squad, we could have managed that one, but with Anderson and Sheasy out and Berba nursing an injury, I am concerned.
Bayern vs MUTD is gonna be a cracker – the battle on the wings will be fantastic – who would you play at RB if you were Fergie? Neville or Rafa? And Nani on the right? God – I just hope Vida and rio stay fit….pls God…
aig – Fair point mate but I seem to recall you quoting all these danger men last round like Boriello and Pato. They did absolutely nothing. If we are fearing them which I aren’t remotely how do you think the Germans feel especially after 99? They know United take some beating and are the yard stick. Hence the reason we are the team Barca least wanted. Don’t worry mate we are now masters at two legged European games. Gomez is shite.
red sam
Remember one thing. I fear Bayern because they are the unknowns. Barca and Arsenal are the knowns. We play them quit often now so we know a lot about them, we dont know much about munich
jeet – On current form mate I would play Nev hands down. He will crunch Robben early on.
@aig
You keep playing down our chances, it seems to work for us lol.
@King Eric
Yes i did give milan too much respect but we all knew that they had an ageing team and it could catch up with them at some stage as it did after 45 minutes at the san siro in a high tempo game. Baq\yern have good, young talented players and it is high time they did well in Europe. Could be their year, you never know.
@willierednut
That is the secret of United’s sucess
Aig
i can see you have already started doing what you does best,praising the opponents. Ribery is the only threat i can see on this bayern side and that’s because we haven’t played against him.
So you wanna try and wind us with names such as olic,toni,gomez
be my guest
Barca – Red Devils final. Bring it on.
Away leg first is in our favour. All I can see is a repeat of last year right now. Come on lads, lets make ammends.
Some serious rivalry is brewing up in france right now i bet
Remember who called the Bayern thing first.
This team shouldn’t even be in the quarter finals. They needed a big hand from the referee to beat Fiorentina in both legs. However, they have dangerous players like Robben, Ribery and Muller. So we shouldn’t underestimate them.
Last night I said that I wanted the branch United are in to include Bordeaux, Lyon and CSKA. I came close. Looking at the final, we have a golden chance to avenge Barca inside Spain!
Ive seen Bayern a few times this season, there a Jackal and Hyde team, so it depends what Bayern team turns up, but im confident.
@Costas
You called it mate.
Possibly those slices of fortune were ‘luck of champions’, who knows?
Also, we got something that I wanted to avoid at all costs. The first leg away from home. And the dates haven’t been finalised yet, but there’s a chance we will have tgo play Chelsea 2 and a half days after playing in Germany.
Hey Costas, thats was me that said Bayern lol.
Rafa Da Silva, Evans and Giggsy fit for Sunday.
@AIG
Hi mate. I hope not, but you never know. The truth is that we haven’t played against Bayern in 8 years, so we don’t have a clear idea how we measure up against them now. We beat Wolfsburg twice, but Bayern are a different animal.
In the C.L. against Bayern, we have 1 win (The famous one), 2 draws (in group matches in 01-02) and 2 losses (in the quarters of 00-01).
Also, Fergie and Van Gaal haven’t faced each other in 12 years. Since those two epic United-Barca 3-3 draws.
@Costas
Hi mate.
Good point you mention Van Gaal. He is an excellent manager, one of the best exponents of young talents as the progress of Muller and Badstuber suggests
@willierednut
Wasn’t it me?
It was both of us then!
Thanks about the news. Our first team squad has a better shape now.
@AIG
Yeah he is. And it’s interesting seeing him against Fergie after all these years.
In other news, well said Fergie:
http://www.journallive.co.uk/newcastle-sports/newcastle-sports-news/2010/03/19/fergie-hits-out-at-fa-84229-26067738/
VAMOS!!!!!
WELCOME BACK U LEGEND!!!
MUFC 4 LIFE!!!
aig – Bloody hell mate. Those “slices of luck” were nowt to do with being champions they were down to fucking inept refereeing, nothing more.
agree Costas, United are the best playing at home in the second leg.. much more reassuring.
umm… weren’t United against Bayern in the Audi cup (preseason) even though it wasn’t a real competitive match.?
So very interesting. The article is about somebody else, no ?
The best day of the year so far for me. So glad Hargo is back.
I’m with AIG on all this. It’s not a matter of being scared of anyone, but of reining in all this triumphalism, which almost always ends in tears. Think back to 2001 and all the assumptions being made that we’d beat Bayern then. I bet what AIG was saying before the AC Milan matches was EXACTLY what Fergie was saying to the players. And he won’t thank fans now for swaggering around thinking it’s in the bag before anyone has even got on the pitch. Bayern are a good side with top players, and having seen us lose to teams such as Burnley, Leeds , Everton already this season, not to mention Liverpool, nothing can be taken for granted. Why would it matter what fans say on a site like this, you might ask, well these days what’s being said in places like this swiftly gets fed into the national media, and it’ll all be about how united fans are saying they are already in the Final in Madrid Bernebeu. We really don’t want United players thinking like that, or to have Bayern players licking their lips that United and their fans are stupidly complacent, and therefore ripe for the taking, just like 9 years ago. It’s all very well saying Bayern should be scared of United, but they won’t if they get even a hint that anyone’s taking anything for granted. That’s why Fletcher is already saying loud and clear, Bayern are going to be tough to beat. That’s the message I want to hear from each and every player and every fan. Anything else is daft, so don’t be bullied into silence AIG!
@giles Oakley
I wasn’t confident the last time we played Bayern in the quarters, if you remember that season our form in Europe was patchy at best. I think we’re a far better team now and more experienced to get through 2 legged ties and while i think we should repect Bayern, there’s no need to fear them.
anyone notice in hargreaves interview he said i have to do whats right for manchester united before we talk about england!
club before country
Giles – hello mate. I notice you agree with aig but it isn’t fans getting cocky or arrogant its just being positive. Something he should try perhaps once in a while. We don’t need or want to know how super and great Robben and Ribery as we all know what they are like. All I heard pre Milan game was how Pato and Boriello were the dogs nuts. They were anonymous.
Furthermore who is “bullying him”?
Nice one Owen, glad to see you back
Hi King Eric, good to see your posts on a regular basis. I mainly agree with you on things, and always respect what you say, but here I’m not convinced. More generally I thought there was a consensus building up against AIG, not any one in particular. It bothers me to see too much bragging, which is not the same as being positive. Me, I’m one for the old saying, ‘Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will’. While it’s true there were people saying Pato etc would be a danger, and he wasn’t, it’s worth pointing out that Fergie was one of those issuing the warnings. Then if you take Liverpool ( and I hope we DO take ‘em), exactly the same things were being said on this site before each of the last 3 matches. What people were saying in a way was right, that United were – and are – a better team, as shown by the trophies , but that didn’t stop the dippers from winning three times over. After each one everyone said how ‘the lessons have been learned, it won’t happen again’, and yet that’s’ exactly what happened, we lost. Again. It happened a lot in the early 2000s too, just when we should have pushed on after the Treble of ’99, we actually went backwards in Europe, with Keano one of those criticising the mental approach of players who thought they just had to turn up. It’s always dangerous when supporters are over-confident, as happened in the Final last year, I believe, as when things go wrong they get fretful and anxious rather than getting behind the team. We have a succession of very tough matches coming up, all in a row, Liverpool, Chelsea, City, Spurs, plus all the Champs Lge ones, if we get through. It’d going to be bloody difficult to win them all and the fans have a massive part to play in that. When the players are knackered, getting sloppy, that’s when we need the volume to go up, not for the annoyance to show through when there’s a mis-placed pass. It’s potentially one of the greatest seasons in our history, or another huge let down. The fans will play a big part in how it all pans out, believe me. That means being very hard-headed and focussed.
@Giles: Couldn’t agree with you more! Personally, I am all for cautious optimism, and hate counting the chickens before they hatch. Here in India, its a popular superstition not to let anyone know about a good thing, till its done and the ink is dried. For instance, if you win the lottery, you don’t talk about it till the cheque is cashed and the money hits the bank. You buy baby clothes only on the day the baby is born. It might sound really superstitious, but I guess it helps to build some perspective and caution as one goes about life. Same for football – lets not start saying “its a piece of cake”….teams like Bayern, MIlan, etc. are capable of beating any team on their day, so we got to take each match as it comes.
Slowly Canuck/ Engurlander Next season,WE NEED YOU as Kitchener said.Just get fit mate and the battle of the Somme is yet to be on our horizon’s both on field and financially
A shame though you could have done one on Cska in the final.
Thro a sickie ffs for SA, remember who pays yer wages!.
He never returned did he!