Bloody hell. I am getting tired of watching United play like they are doing. I’m spoilt, I know, but Christ Almighty, it is getting frustrated watching these immensely talented players not having it in them to string three passes together. What’s the deal, lads?
Having seen Wayne Rooney run the show for England last week, it begs the question why Sir Alex Ferguson isn’t allowing him to do the same for us. His reactions to Porto’s mistake in the first half and his coolness to slot it away should be applauded but I’d like to think most players in our squad would have been able to do the same. So why play Wayne so far up the pitch and take him out of the centre of our game? Our play should revolve around him and he’s wasted up front by himself or out wide. I’d rather see Ronaldo up front by himself than Wayne. The purpose of a forward is to put the ball in the back of the net and Ronaldo is a better finisher than Rooney, whilst there are other areas of Rooney’s game which are going to waste when being played as he is.
The defence that our season was being built on has fallen to pieces and it doesn’t seem to matter which combinations of defenders Fergie chooses, they manage to fall asleep at the crucial times. Cristiano Ronaldo lost the ball and then Jonny Evans made the first notable mistake of his first team career with us so far. 1-0 with four minutes played, the away goal.
United were largely in control of the game, seeing plenty of the ball, but we just didn’t do an awful lot with it. Sloppy passing held us back time and again and I sat there wondering how much our players really wanted it. I know at 1-1 I didn’t feel anywhere near as panicked as I did at 1-1 against Villa two days ago. Maybe there’s only a limited amount of juice left in us and we don’t have the legs for the Champions League? I know after our comeback against Villa the priorities are well and truly set in my mind. In all honesty though, I can’t imagine the players share my modest expectations for their season. So their casual play is inexcusable.
However, with ten minutes left to play, something magical happened. Ronaldo tracked back and won the ball! His efforts were met with a sarcastic cheer from the Stretford End. That’s it Ronaldo, baby-steps. Working for the team is improving, now let’s stop throwing tantrums every time the opposition take the ball from you fairly! Maybe he’s a reader of RoM…
Less than 15 minutes on the field and Carlos Tevez is on the scoresheet. A throw-in from Neville was flicked on by Rooney giving Tevez an easy chance to put away. He looked fairly happy to stick it in the net too! Sign him up, for fucks sake!
Then in the last minute of the game, Porto get the equaliser and a second away goal. Ridiculous. Probably what we deserved though. We were the better side but Porto played well. They pushed high up the field and left us passing between defenders and goalkeeper on plenty of occasions. They came to get a result and left with what they worked hard for. They certainly sat back a bit more later on in the second half but they were always a danger on the break.
Now, quite simply, we go to Porto and win 1-0 then we’re through. But can you see us not conceding? Because I can’t. We’ve let in 10 goals in our last 4 games, with 3 of those games being played at home! God only knows how we’ll fare away. So, let’s pray for a 2-1 and hope our lads decide to show us how much they want to stay in this competition because at the moment, I’m not really feeling it.
I’m not writing us off, why would anyone ever do that? But this doesn’t feel like the usual ‘United making it hard for themselves’ palaver. We just look a bit of a mess and I’m not sure what needs to change to fix it. I mean, surely “pass it to the players in red, lads” is a too simple instruction? I dunno.
I want us to win everything we can this season. I love winning. It’s great. But the way we’re playing of late, it’s hard to say that we will or deserve to win this ‘quintuple’ the press keep talking about. So I’ll just settle for the league title and if we beat Porto away, great stuff.
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lets hope we give them a kicking away
Gotta have faith that we can score in portugal! We are much better than displayed tonight.
Glad to see you blog tonight Scott.For me it’s simple.Fatigue can’t be seen on footballers.They don’t breathe heavily and they don’t sweat profously.But it can be seen when almost every player makes uncharecteristic mistakes.To be honest,the Ch.League is not on.With the League hanging in the balance does anyone want a double header with Arsenal?
Arise Fabio Da Silva.
What? it worked when someone posted that with Machedas name>_>
Its just not good enough! Porto played well. But our performance was bad! The last month i duno whats happened to us! We look poor in every game.
I am nervous to say the least for the game in Porto! We play like that and we’re out!
Not only that with the scum right behind us we HAVE to play better!!
Defence needs a kick up the arse!!!
great to see a early reaction blog. cheers scott
but i think we have to rotate better the players coming into the team look as tired as the players left out
I def think we can go to porto and win (and win well). I dont think the statistic that no english team has won at porto means ANYTHING! However totally Im baffled how a defense who broke the premiership record for clean sheets this season (13) can play so badly for 90 minutes (gary neville playing unfit or not) and concede 10 goals in 4 games with 3 of those at home.
I always feel like we can score plenty of goals in ANY game so it will just be a matter of whether they go in the back of the net away in porto. At least his result will mean all the players will be pumped up and enthusiastic to get forward and score goals.
Rooney was superb tonight, so nice to see him back. I Still feel very confident about the second leg, not upset at all about the 2-2. Its just a bit disapointing (and frustrating) how we didnt bring all the players back into defense and park the coach in front of goal after we scored for the last 5 minutes to guarentee a 2-1 win.
Whats up with our passing too?? Very poor
Carrick hasn’t been the same player. He was awful.
i really hope its all to play for
but
i cant work it out
is ronaldo good or bad for the team
utter gash tonight, sad to say but scholes is past it…
we need a essien type player in the middle… what has happened to carrick? himself and scholes were shite, no control whatsoever…
fletcher to be fair was the stand out performer along with rooney…
i think we need rio’s leadership qualities quick…
there was no leadership out there tonight whatsoever…
im seriously worried that the season might start unravelling…
if we get anderson back and playing with energy that might be what we need
I’m shocked to the core by what I just watched. Fucking shambolic performance from almost the entire team. I don’t agree that we were the better side, not by a long shot. Porto contained us when we attacked for the most part, and then pissed it forward with dangerous after dangerous counter attack.
It’s not just Ronaldo anymore tiny tears.It’s the whole team.A friend of mine was watching the Liverpool game with me and when it was over,the first thing he said was:United have completely dried out.There are many reasons why this could have happened,but i think that it’s the truth.And now Evans has done his groin.2 weeks out i imagine.Rio has to step up.Evans did pain injections.I am not condoning it,but can’t he do one?
Keanesmagichat- spot on mate, we are in dire need of an essien styled midfielder. Not sure whats happend to Carrick, he was in great form around x-mas.
Scott: “Then in the last minute of the game, Porto get the equaliser and a second away goal. Ridiculous. Probably what we deserved though. We were the better side but Porto played well.”
Scotty, take off your blinkers. UTD were very fortunate with this result. It was an open match and there were lots of good chances for both sides BUT, on balance, Porto played a terrific away-game and UTD played a very sloppy home game. Seen in that context, it’s what THEY deserved.
The team selection was again weird. Playing Scholes AND Carrick AND Fletcherinho AND ThreeLungPark was a bit of “strategic over-thinking”. Fletcherinho always plays better when he’s paired with Carrick in the middle; Carrick always plays worse when he’s paired with Scholes in the middle. Playing Scholes is the reach-too-far. He had nothing to offer and his presence dislodged Fletcherinho and over-awed Carrick. Sad to say, but the GingerNinja’s days are numbered as an automatic first-choice player.
For the next, must-win game in Porto, SAF has to go with the same, flexible-three-up-front that was so good last year and so rarely unleashed this year. I’d play Giggs behind them with Fletcherinho and Carrick in the defensive middle.
At the back, my fingers are very tightly crossed that BOTH Rio and Wesley can come back soon – and healthy. I’d rather have today’s players than use either of those guys when they’re not fit – remember Milan a couple of years ago ? SAF panicked and put in an unfit-Vidic and cobbled together a back four; it was a disaster. Evans was terrible tonight, from the get-go – O’Shea gets lot of stick but I seem to recall that he made one colossal blunder but also one terrific cross to CR’s forehead. He’s probably better in the middle while RedNev was brought on to add to the attack – it was his throw-in to Rooney that led to Tevez’s goal and his cross to Rooney that Wayne JUST missed. At this stage in his career, RedNev still has a lot to offer going forwards but he is a defensive liability. On the last goal, it could be argued that VIdic over-sold himself and that meant that the two guys behind him – O’Shea and RedNev both moved to cover the man in the middle, leaving the man on the outside completely free. One can only wonder where the midfield cover was at that time ?
In tonight’s match, Edwin was immense BUT he did misplay the last goal by over-compensating to his right when the ball was slid down Mariano’s right side (VDS’s left) so that it was an easy matter for the Porto winger to lift it over Edwin’s legs. Maybe not “easy”, but he did get a bigger target because of Edwin’s choice to close off the short side.
Overall, this was another shockingly bad team-performance from UTD – hopefully, SAF can rally the troops because their backs are now firmly pressed against the wall.
we nearly stole the game away, with 5 mins left, why on earth did we have a situation with 4 against 3 ! that was quite amateur hour considering the teams experience . really dissapointing, you could tell fergy was annoyed too. hairdryer time
Great post Scott… But I dont see us crashing out of the Champions League away to Porto (with all due respect). But the 1st half display was nasty, the passing was piss-awful. And remember we’re the holders, and we’re playing shit-poor. I dont know man. MUFC forever.
the only thing which is left is hope. we made a mistake i think.
so те know what kind. bt we are devastating.
And i honestlt think Porto manager has overplayed Fergie.
macha i don’t think the hairdyryer is the answer anymore.It was 4 on 3 in the end,you are right.We should have never opened up the game.Not when the team played 48 hours ago and was obviously running on empty.
where was our midfield in this game? Carrick had his worst game in the red shirt and Scholes was just aweful. Fletcher understandably tired 2 days after a killer performance on sunday. Park and Ronaldo were just really bad, is it just me or cant Ronaldo take a man on anymore. He had plenty of space in this game. The only good things about this game was Rooney and Teves. But seriusly we need better performeance to win any of th remaining titles.
i still don`t get Park. Loads of people i hear saying that he`s a good player and works hard, but all he does is chase down balls he has given away due to shockingly poor passing. And for a wide player i have yet to see him get a cross into the box
Really no need to fret at the moment, everything is still to play for. We always gonna look likey to get the goals in at Porto + hairdryer treatment from Fergie and Ferdinand back with Vidic at the back, I really wouldnt bet against the guys. The Quin is still on!
I still think we can get through, we played about as bad as I’ve ever seen at some stages and still came away with a draw. Although Porto will be happy with the draw, having been down a goal with 5 minutes to go, they must know they missed a great chance to rack a decent score up on us. I was as baffled as the next man by the team selection, lets hope Queiroz hurries up and gets sacked by Portugal!
As a passionate man u fan we mst b honest Carrick aint a man u lad,yes he has aid in wining trophies bt nt good enough he makes our midfield ordinary d opponent walk pass hm witout a fght he’s shit plz tell hm
“At the back, my fingers are very tightly crossed that BOTH Rio and Wesley can come back soon – and healthy.”
thiiss: brown, rio, vidic, evra would handle hulk and co a lot better.
we need some confidence back in the team, pass the ball simpler, not as many one touch passes. retain the ball. ronaldo stop running into 3 defenders, run into 2 and then pass =]
I hate to say it but TEVEZ is not going to be signed based upon the look on Sir Alex’s face when he scored…..it was almost-almost comparable as the look Beckham was given when he scored in his last game for ManU. I am sure Tevez’s owners would accept a 2 year payment of 10 million. But SA evidently prefers Berbatov…..a foolish judgment especially given the on field performances of Ronaldo, Nani and Berbatov this season.
Vidic, Rooney, Park, Rio, Fletcher and Tevez are the players who play with skill and PASSION and the TEAM needs them all in the future!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Qs0Tw2_Gmc
we’ll never die
Great, here we go again….. another shit result and everybody is looking for a scapegoat! Carrick was shit GNeville is past it and Scholesy was poor? For fuck sake we played out one of the games of the season two days ago with everyone celebrating winning the league! (hopefully) The boys are starting to feel it now, its a long season, we wont win everything and lets face it we have been bloody spoiled for years.
Scholesy is a legend, always will be and Carrick is getting better year after year its 2-2 and we always score.
Its twelth man time for us, lets stop the moaning and get behind the team.
Have you ever seen so many unforced errors in your entire life during that first half? Holy hell that was AWFUL. Time after mother f’ing time we passed it directly to a blue shirt or directly out of bounds. It was unf’ingbelievable.
Well done Rooney, Fletch and VanderSar….. The rest, well, I could rant and rave but it won’t do anyone any good.
MORE EFFORT LADS….FFS
DENTON DAVEY:
I think the right wing mid-fielder failing to mark back on Porto’s second goal was the fella that almost never performs any defensive duties….Ronaldo!
If i were to write a blog about tonights game it would be pretty much how you summed it up Scott. I said before i read this that i think the players are running out of gas. We seem to be all over the place at the moment. Like you say,the prority has to be the league,especially as we were cruising the blummin thing not so many weeks ago. We can’t allow the dippers to pip us to it,so we must make this our number one target. As for the European Cup, we now need a show of character that we got a decade ago in the Stadio delle Alpi…. A never say die,refuse to be beaten attitude.
Where’s Roy Keane when you need him??!!!
I dont want to be too pessimistic but I think next weeks second leg may be a step too far for our European ambitions this season. It had Bayer Leverkusen 2002 written all over it (2-2 at OT in the first leg and all that) and we appear to have lost the resilience that seemed to define our season.
We haven’t really looked like European champions this season. Come to think of it, we haven’t really looked like Manchester United this season either!
Too many players have lost form at the wrong time and only a couple of great results with great performances will instil the confidence and self-belief we need to take us through the final weeks.
As for individuals, I agree with you Scott about Rooney, play him where he can influence games. Fletcher had another good game. And also with Tevez, dont just sign him up but PLAY him alongside Rooney for the rest of the season. That partnership (along with Ronaldo’s incredible form) brought us glittering success last year. Obviously Tevez couldnt start the game due to his exertions with the Argies and his 90 mins against Villa but he should be in the starting eleven from now on.
We look in pretty worrying shape at the moment and while I always believe we’ll win the league, I dont see us retaining the European Cup this year.
Hopefully I’m completely wrong and United storm the second leg!
I’ve been saying all season long our midfield is going to let us down this season, and it might just happen. There’s no urgency or pace in our play, Carrick and Scholes slow the game down time and time again, allowing teams to get every player back behind the ball. I wanted to see a pairing of Anderson and Hargreaves at the start, as they were outstanding last season. Both play with pace, both can move with and without the ball and both have the legs to keep up with the top players ( hence Anderson making Gerrard and Fabregas look ordinary last season) but of course Hargreaves is out for the season and Anderson, well, not sure whats going on there just hoping it’s second season syndrome and he’s even better next year.
Please retire Scholes, leave us with our lasting memories of you as a goalscoring midfielder only 3rd behind Robson and Charlton in our list of legends, not a plodding carthorse who’s 10 yards behind every other player on the pitch.
Carrick only ever performs at the top of his game when the whole team’s playing well, if things look dodgy, he disappears. Can he not bloody tackle? He’s a geordie for fucks sake, isn’t everyone from the north east made of sterner stuff than that? Sorry but him tap dancing around when players are smashing into tackles is embarrasing, put a foot in!
Park and Fletcher are solid workers, but they don’t do enough against weaker opponents. They play, and play well, against the Arsenal’s, Chelsea’s and Barcelona’s because they’re in through their energy, they’ll win the ball and play it. But against weaker teams, i.e. Porto, when we need to play our way through defensive set up teams who are happy to let us have all of the play, and we need to play with vision, pace, and precision, 3 attributes they’re lacking, they just don’t have a clue what to do.
Nani? Jesus Christ, where to start. Just go mate, hurry up and go.
We are weak in midfield, no question. We have to sign at least 1 player who can step up and be the next Robson, the next Keane. I had hoped for Hargreaves but he’s not attacking enough, and never bloody fit. Anderson needs more time, so lets get some one new in in the summer. Who? Good question. I can’t picture Chelsea selling us Essien, I like the look of Di Rossi at Roma. Just hope Fergie gets it spot on, and doesn’t bring in the new Kleberson or Djemba x2
Fergie sent a bad team out today,Playing Fletcher out on the wing was bad,especially with Nani on the bench!Thought he could of played Anderson against his old side!!
Anyone think the crowd was very quiet tonight espically for a champions league quater final, it was liked we turned expectin to win and in truth we were the 2nd best team
Scot i’m still optimistic we’ll go tru bt d gaffer did well wit d middle bt d lads mess up except my magnificent Fletcher.i fear 4 my beloved united wit carrick dere
kidmeister
nani makes more bad decisions then captain smith on the RMS titanic, and anderson is injured so it was impossible to play him.
anyone else thought our attack looks far more threatening since berbetov has not been there, 5 goals in 2 games seems a far better tally.
Denton Davey – Porto had the ball for just 38% of the match. Whilst United were wasteful with the possession they did have, I don’t think any team who has just 38% possession can be regarded the better side. That’s not blinkered – I think it’s a general rule, regarding United or otherwise.
spot on haha fergie needs someone more tactically ept around him
im really shocked and concerned that the season mat start unravelling…
massive game against sunderland
porto were by far the better side.. end of
I think Quieroz gave the team a calmness that is lacking these days.How can you defend like that when you are 2-1 ahead with 5 minutes to go?And from gary Neville no less.None of the players think straight anymore.
We seemed to have lost our fear factor, Teams are turning up thinking we can give this lot a game
And we can’t hold them off John.Does anyone doube that if we had played them 6 weeks ago,they would have lost 2 or 3-0?
Costas i was just saying on another post that we need a strong charater behind the scenes maybe ex-player who is respected but knows how to couch
I am Portuguese (not a Porto supporter) and I can tell you this: unless something very dramatic happens you will not win in Porto. It is almost impossible!
Why? It’s not a question of tactics, or star players and world class players, it’s a question of stamina. Did u nottice: Rodriguez, Hulk, Lisandro? You cannot run more in 90 minutes then they do in every match (not just this). The most you can do is to run as much as they do, and trust me, it’s very hard to do that, especially if you are a spoiled supermegafootballstar.
In the end my Man utd friends it doesn’t mather how big your wallet is, It is only eleven against eleven. Good luck for the 2nd leg anyway.
Anyone in mind seanmc26?At the moment i say bring Ole along the coaching stuff.He has always been a calm influence.The current model isn’t working.And Fergie should have known this because it was the same in 04 and in the end he brought Walter Smith in.
Porto played better, it shouldn’t even be up for debate, they clearly made more of their 38% of possession than we did with our 62%.
Tonight was another painful performance from the Lads and at this rate we won’t even beat Sunderland on the weekend. every game now we are hopin for a good result rather than knowin the team will attempt to achieve one. WE are certainly out of the Champions League now, becaue for the life of me i cannot see our team improving over the next 6 days. Gary Neville’s introduction to the game made me laugh and so did the performances from Park, Carrick, O’Shea and Scholes. we havent got a clue and SAF needs to sort this out because if we dont improve Liverpool will certainly win the league, not because they are better than us, but simply because we wont win all of our remaining games. Its sad to say but we are going to play this badly for the rest of the season because they’re is not a sign of reprieve anywhere within the team
Thing is where did our fear factor go? People will say the Liverpool game but thats shit. We were fortunate to beat Blackburn and Newcastle before that. One minute we’re playing Inter off the pitch as their own place, then suddenly, and for no reason, we’re finding shitty teams like Newcastle giving us a real fight. Look at Vidic. Awesome all season, then given the runaround by Martins and looks lost all of a sudden. Fergie needs to get into the players heads and get the confidence flowing again. It’s not tiredness. We played as many games, with fewer players, in ’99, and were able to see off Arsenal and Chelsea in the FA Cup, and Inter, Juve, and Bayern in the Champs League
Costas; Ole would be ideal but in would affect the youth system he is doing great things
Maybe bryan robinson or dare i say i keano,maldini retires this year just a thought cant get anymore world wide respect than him’, just think of all the italians we would get then LOL
I thought we would have kicked on from sunday, Come sat the result is the most important thing obviously but a preformance is needed, We are in need of a quality preformance
Dere’s no moment in d middle anymore,2me ginger ninja is still better than d worthless carrick plz cud som1 tell dat lad 2start tackling wat sort of midfielder wll neva impose hmsef in a match,he’s 4tunate 2 play 4us bt no gud 2 england i’ll luv an ando fletcher midfield wit giggs in front nt my grandma carrick always lost cant move d ball wit pace rather stays yards 2throw a worthless pass n neva breaks in d oppositn box
dazjoe,the games are a bit more now than back in 99.But there is a difference.When you win the Ch.League and the league in one season,you feel the tiredness in the next campaign.That’s why the 99-00 team was smart to get eliminated early from the domestic cups.I think that this rut started developing slowly.From the Blackburn game and on.
Porto diserved to win. Bruno Alves was very unfortunate and the first half was a massacre. So many chances, so much quality.
They had more chances and a lot of personality playing in Old Trafford.
Only ignorant people don’t know Porto. And United fans should know better.
With a budget 10 times smaller than United, Porto is constantly superior and even has more international titles.
We are going all the way again this year. There is no way United can win in Porto.
Porto is in the semi’s.
dazjoe
we had johnsen iwin keane scholes beckham giggs yorke cole solkjaer sheringham all chipping in with goals, ppl think just because we have more players now then 99 it makes it better, 99 had more players for each position who you would not drop. like schmeicheal neville stam irwin keane scholes beckham yorke cole, now we have o shea carrick fletcher park berbetov playing in the team who are average or ok players but not worlds class in their position.
Very disappointed in the crowd tonight, fair enough its hard to get behind the team wen there not playin well but thats when they need us most
The United players are clearly physically and mentally fatigued.
They have played so many matches in the last 2months the matches must be starting to blur together. This is also the reason we have a large squad that we need to be using. Understandable that injuries havent helped but even a good 3-4 day rest should see them a lil more refreshed and fired up to take on Sunderland.
And if some key players can get some much needed rest for the Sunderland match im positive we will run riot in Portugal.
Guys was it my impression on the telly or did the OT crowd get on Ronaldo’s back when he wasn’t backtracking or he was complaining?
I get things have changed from ’99, but I just can’t grasp what’s happened to individual players. In the blink of an eye Vidic and Evra went from the best centre back and left back in the world, to us now shitting our pants whenever the ball come’s near our box. How many of the 10 goals we’ve conceded in the last 4 games have been due to mistakes by us? I’d say at least 5. Mistakes have appeared from out of nowhere. It can’t be down to Rio being out, he missed half of our run of clean sheets, though by God we could do with him on Sat as it looks like Evans has done his groin. I can’t bear the thought of O’Shea or Nev at centre back again, that big Jones is as strong as Carew and we saw what happened there
dazjoe that’s why i put it down to fatigue.I think it was Wenger who after the 1-4 loss said that the players were looking tired because of their individual mistakes.The first indication of exhaustion is individual mistakes.Rio has to get fit for the next 3 games.No other way around it.
ronaldo has been totaly unlucky, every time he has lost the ball it has ended up in a goal, and instead of ppl blaming ronaldo for the first goal how about blaming evans for a pethetic clearence which ended up in a goal. united had plenty of time to get in to position and stop that goal from happening but ppl tend to feel it was ronaldos fault which is completly
untrue.
but hey like the rocky balboa sloging goes it aint over until its over.
People blame Ronaldo because he needlessly gave the ball away, then just kept jogging UP the pitch! Wrong fucking way! The balls behind you! Turn and look!
Evans is getting stick for a bad mistake but would you have prefered it if he’d, after passing to a Porto player, just wandered off shaking his head? This is what Ronaldo does about a dozen times a game, at least Evans made an effort to rectify his mistake. Why can’t Ronaldo supporters get the fact that if YOU lose the ball, 25 yards from your own goal, you should at least try to do something about it?
In our Treble season we didnt get to a League Cup final OR play in a World Club cup and European Super cup. Fewer games, less fatigue!
We look knackered for sure but ONE superb performance will change that. A stellar showing with an avalanche of goals (non conceded of course) can kickstart our season. Will the real Manchester United please stand up?
Ronaldo’s attitude stinks. We’ve spent more time carrying him this season, he’s starting to remind me of Van Nistelrooy. He might be our top scorer, but his all round play is hindering us and doing nothing going forward or in defense. He’s f@cking LAZY.
The facts are, he loses the ball more than keeps it, his first touch has become very sloppy and i seriously think that he thinks he is bigger than the club. He needs dropping and a big wake up call. If he chased back and covered the right back, then the second Porto goal wouldn’t have happened. It was the same last week with Villa.
I’m sick of him falling over and waving his hands at every slight touch. There is no doubt he gets some tough challenges, but nothing over the top. Pele, Maradona and Best had 10 x times worse challenges to deal with. He needs to get up and get on with it. Fergie needs to get a grip or sell his arse. His head is clearly not right.
O’shea at right back upsets the whole back four. I don’t want to blame him to much as he’s out of position, but he is crap in his best position. I’d prefer a young player from the youth team to him. At least the young player might learn and improve. O’Shea is a liability at right back, so is Neville. (sorry Gary, time is up son, thanks for the great memories)
Scholes, great servant, but surely his time is up. He’s turning into Ray Wilkins and is not quick enough anymore and can’t defend that well and doesn’t seem to offer much going forward. It’s sad to see, he’s still better than most midfielders in the premiership and a Beckham type roll from the bench is whats needed now, like how Giggs is being used. Scholes, like Gary = legends.
We should have bought Tevez, not Berba. We need a fast, good in the air striker who can score a few goals. Basically a Saha type player, who doesn’t get injured and is consistent. He doesn’t need to score 30 goals a season, he just needs to be able to stretch defenses, nod the ball down and hold the ball up it. Thus creating space for Rooney and Ronaldo to expolit. The first season we overhauled Chelski was brilliant, our play was so quick and entertaining and we didn’t depend on one player t score 40 odd goals. It was more of a team effort.
Now Ronaldo head has gone and he’s not performing to his potential, the cracks are starting to show and have been all season, it’s just been papered over by our defense. Now that has suffered due to injuries, we are seeing the decline of our season. There is no way Liverpool should be this close, but at this rate they will over take us.
On a brighter note, it’s in our own hands and if we’re top, then even with problems we’re still better than them and chelski up until now. Fergie gets the back four working again and Ronnies attitude sorted, then we’ll be back on track.
Costas – Bit of both, Porto fans gave him lots of cat calls when he complained and he got some stick off of the home fans for being a lazy prick.
Thank you haha.God,how did we end up like this?Aside from the odd trophu here or there,we haven’t smiled enough times ever since the Ch.League final.The summer was bad,at Autumn we were struggling and the only good portion of the season was the January and February period.Maybe it’s true what they say:that empires cramble from the inside.Well,let’s hope this empire has a few more trophies in it.
God what utter shite tonight. After Saturday I really believed with the players coming back that we would have turned the corner. Christ that was worst. Keep playing like that and we will win sweet fuck all this season.
People keep saying the defence is playing like tossers and that is right. However i see our main problem in centre midfield. Last 5 games starting with Inter at home CM has been a huge problem. Collectivelty Scholes, Carrick Fletcher Giggs and Anderson have been worst than poor. Fuck sake shouted at them tonight “pass it to a player wearting red are you colour blind?”.. Not one player apart from Rooney, and he wasnt his usual self, would i have given more than 3 outta 10 for their performance tonight. Centre midfielders would have got a big fat 0. LOST ALL SHAPE, PRUPOSE, DESIRE, WILL AND CONFIDENCE.
I pray and hope that we get the result in Porto but i am not confident. Think that was a damp squid exit from this years CL. It was as bad as Lille in 05/06 remeber that performance?
costas
what are you on about empires crumbling, they dnt crumble being top of the league. and united have won titles and suffered much heavier defeates, let me recharge that idiotic brain of yours remember the 96/97 season united lost 5 0 6 3 in two weeks did u think the empire was crumbling, it is a side not playing well not a side in decline, look at barcelona they have had a bad phew seasons and now they are back.
RedHarry4life i remember that performance vividmy.Ou only chance was a header from a corner.But what followed was a gusty performance.can we do the same from now on?One thing that worries me,is that we don’t seem to have the legs to do it.
Scott – I don’t buy the possession stats on Soccernet or UEFA’s version of the same. Even when they’re consistent and accurate (Soccernet and UEFA were claiming about 5-8% difference in the stats and any given time tonight), it doesn’t tell teh whole story. Remember Barca at Barca last year. WE were “outcleassed”, but they never got a shot on goal. We did have more of the ball, but they seemed to be putting more than enough on and around our net to snag more than just 2. So did we, do be fair, but it could have been 0-0 or 5-5 based on teh chances created.
People are putting a lot more pressure on our backs, and Rio’s style was certainly missing. Neither Evans (who must still be crocked) nor Vidic wanted the ball at their feet. BIG QUESTION: Just how much do we miss Pique right now? Our great ’99 side had the likes of Henning Berg at the third centre half, and David May as a last resort. Right now, Evans and O’Shea look miles from that duo.
Denton Dave – Spot on. A little credit to Porto; they played a very good away game. Plugged up the middle, gave United no time on the ball, and generally hared around the pitch against a team they know is bone-weary right now. I’m still surprised I didn’t hear more Fergie about the Sunday / Tuesday turnover. Liverpool and Chelsea will get press as being miles ahead of us whilst the ABU press conveniently forget the two extra days to prepare.
We really dind’t show much width at all, which further played into Porto’s “stuff and rush” approach to us.
The good news? We looked tired, we’re still not 100% – in terms of players available AND play on the pitch, and we almost nicked it anyway. One goal in Oporto and we’ll steamroll them. Regardless how disciplined and organized they are, Helton is a calamity waiting to happen.
We’ll sort them out.
It can onlyy get better!! We will be fine
Redharryforlife
Hurts to say but I have to agree with you. I’ve just looked over our fixtures again, there’s only been 8 games I’ve really been happy with this season (West brom h&a, City a, Stoke h, Celtic h, Chelsea h, Inter a, Fulham a in the cup). The rest we’ve been doing enough to win, but rarely played to our potential.
Micheal easy with the accusations ok?It’s been a long night and i don’t need “tough guys” like you trying to make their point by talking trash.That season that you are reffering to was a transitional one for the team.It was just the second season for the youngsters and we had just bought 5 new players.This is the same team from last season with the addition of Evans and Berbatov.And i didn’t say that we are crumbling this season,but there are cracks.We really have to stand back and wonder for how long we can depend on people like Scholes,Neville,Rio(due to his injuries),Ronaldo(due to his attitude) and O’Shea.Barcelona changed a few things to get on top.They sold a player who had become dead weight(Ronaldinho) and they changed their mamager.At United nothing from the two can happen.
Look we had 2 days even though fergie was given the chance to play on Saturday by Sky….He didn’t take it now he’s got 4 days before Sunderland and then another 4 days before Porto…I can’t believe all the doom and gloom… Villa in fifth and we get 3 pts and Porto we drew..Hmmm.. If you are truly to be known as greats you eventually have to go beyond your walls to fight!!!
Costas
What I remember in that season was we then went to Villareal drew 0 – 0 were shite and lucky and then going away to Benfica and losing 2-1 and being even worst despite going 1-0 up from scholes.
We do look very weary at the moment. But we loomclueless and IMO Centre Midfield is the problem. Defence looks poor because CM is giving no protection. No closing down, no tracking back, no shape, no protection and not creating anything. Pasing is prdictable and very sluggish. There is no zip no tempo no pentration.
We look out on tonights performance and David Moyes must have been rubbing his hands booking his wembly suits for May
I think I’m going to have to agree with everyone disagreeing with scott on who the better team was today. I don’t care what the possession stats were – the fact is we were lucky to come out with a draw, and I would have been chuffed with the score at 2-1. Neither were really deserved, and Porto honestly could have ended the tie today. That is the good news, though. Porto might regret not killing us off. This was at time the worst united performance I’ve seen for a while (I’ve probably said this several times over the last few weeks…lol!), and IF we can perform to a higher level there is no reason we can’t beat porto at the dragao…
Bishopville
now you are defiantly dnt know anything about the game if you rate berg and may above evans and o shea especially evans, pique was average at united and needed to be moved on he was slow and very clumsey look how he performed last year, what you are forgetting is united when everyone is fit have four first choice defenders ferdinand vidic evand and brown 3 are out, fergie missed out on mascherano and decided to shell out 17 million on an injury prone hargreaves when he was available for nothing in jan 2006.
I see people blaming Ronaldo for the second goal, and to me it is absurb. Haven’t it been noticed that the cross that came in was from Evra’s position? First Carrick simply let the Porto player walk into that area, and with Evra going AWOL, Vidic had to come across causing the whole defence to shift 1 man to the left, leaving the Porto player on the right free. Yea, blame Ronaldo, why don’t you blame him for financial market too?
The team played bad, Scholes could do anything right, Carrick looked lost, Rooney was isolated, Ronaldo was quiet, Evra was shocking, Vidic looked scared and O’Shea…. He couldn’t cross to save his life! It even came to a point the Porto players simply ignored him and let him try to cross knowing he couldnt do it. You’d expect someone earning 5 digit salarys per week to put in some effort to improve himself, something Brown did last year. I’d be crying at home if I were him, with opponents simply ignoring me. The only player who knew what is a cross seems to be Neville, and that’s sad
Alright, I’m done ranting, gving them benefit of the doubt its their 2nd game in 48hrs, but anymore of this, I’d be very worried
Michael, so confrontational.
Berg stepped in and played an important role in our ’99 success. May, less so, but O’Shea, despite my usual defense of him, has been terrible lately.
Pique is slow and clumsy, but somehow finds a spot in the hottest national side in the world, and is a regular for one of the hottest club sides in the world? I wish I were that clumsy!
Clumsy is one-touching a pass to your opponent’s most lethal finisher on the top of your box, and kicking every ball near you out of touch instead of trying to play your way out of trouble. You know, the United way to play….
Evans has hoofed more balls into touch the second he’s facing our goal than all our other centre halves combined. Even O’Shea will try to keep possession and play his way out of trouble more than the preferred Evans.
Out of curiosity, when was Brown last a centre half option for us? 3 years ago?
SB
Bishopville
brown can play RB, let me see he played there last year when vidic was out and played against barcelona home and away.
I mean brown can play CB
Ronaldo out- Lisandro or Hulk (amazing name) in.
Both of them suprised me very much with their pace and strenght, should be just what this United team needs.
No excuse for the fatigue anyway, Porto played on sunday too, so don´t blame it on the fatigue.
Sad to say, but in this case Rafa has got it right; the pressure is getting to us, and so far, we don´t seem able to cope with it…
I really hope that when the real defencive duo, Rio and Vidic, we can finally get organized in defence. We were lucky last game against Villa when Milner showed his stupidity with giving the ball a stupid touch before Friedel took it up, to give us a free kick inside the box.
And I probably dont need to say what we had when one of the Porto defenders was “sleeping” before the 1-1 goal. LUCK! oops there I said it..
WE WILL NEVER WIN A TROPHY WHEN ALL WE DEPEND ON IS LUCK!!
Just look at our performances before the Liverpool- match. We were as good as unbeatable, because of our good defence, not our goalkeeper, midfield and especially or attack. We always won games 1- or 2-0, and actually or defence had to get a lot of cred for those goals, especially Vidic. Bottom line is that we need to get rid of mr. Ladyboy (Ronaldo), and get another player in who sacrifices himself for the team, and not one who stop playing if he gets tackled…
Hulk or Lisandro, at best Ribery.
“I don’t think any team who has just 38% possession can be regarded the better side.”
Usually that’s true but tonight it wasn’t; they may have had less than 2/5ths of the possession but they sure had a lot of very, very good scoring chances ! Scoring goals – no matter how – is what the game is about.
Porto went to school on UTD’s loss to L’poo – how much possession did the Vermin have ? Not much, really ! But they played a very effective long-ball game that resulted in three goals and a red-card that led to another goal. Same story with Villa – long balls out of defence; same story with the second that Fulham scored – a long ball from midfield. Same story against InterMilan who couldn’t shoot but caused a lot of trouble with long balls to Ibrahimovich.
Seems like there’s a trend here – UTD dominate possession and get skinned on the break.
BTW Scott, you sound a bit like a socalled “glory hunter”, and I hate glory hunters!
Every single Liverpool- fan calls me a glory hunter just because I support United, and probably many of you other get the same. We don´t need that kind of supporters, and we got a great example of how many glory hunters who were at OT tonight, at once Porto scored, suddently whole OT was nearly empty, just like the game vs Liverpool.
I get soooooooooo pissed off when I see so unloyal supporters.
I´ll rather go for 10 loyal supporters than 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 glory hunters. It´s a shame for the club!!
Gibbs
yes and this ladyboy is man utd’s top goalscorer, not work horses rooney tevez, or overpriced berbetov or the headless chicken park, and another idiotic mentality from the british he must sacrifice himself what the hell does that mean, if it were not for ronaldo on saterday we would not have won the game on saterday, and the hulk he is a good player but not in ronnies league.
Marq”O’Shea…. He couldn’t cross to save his life! ”
Why don’t you re-watch the game – this accusation is no more than blatant non-sense. O’Shea may not be a great wing-back (in fact, he’s not “great” at any particular position since he’s a jack-of-all-trades) but his cross to Ronaldo in the first half hit CR smack-dab in the forehead but unfortunately he then directed his header right at the Porto goalkeeper rather than re-directing it into one of the corners. It was a perfect cross. Maybe it was only one brilliant cross tonight but he made another one just like it on Sunday ! Criticize the guy if you like – or if you are prejudiced against him – but please try to get your facts straight.
The comparison to Barcelona’s ability to recreate themselves is somewhat unfair because they have only 1 competitor for top spot and are guaranteed CL football each year. We aren’t.
This side has better defenders than 99, but 99 had the better keeper BY FAR! When’s the last time VDS saved what looked a certain goal??? Not this year. Cech pre-head injury would’ve found a way to save that last goal, VDS didn’t. In 99 tactics were not as important as they are today, and Fergie has never been a great tactician. We miss Quiroz.
Hulk/Lisandro would turn into current bad Ronaldo at the drop of a hat if they ever became the best player in the world.
Teams don’t fear us anymore and we are missing a Roy Keane type leader and a Roy Keane stopper in the middle.
We are NOT going to go to Portugal and win…no chance. We will get done 2-0 and have someone sent off to boot. And I can’t say I’ll be that bothered. We were never going to repeat in Europe, the League was always going to be more important since Liverpool started chasing us down and we don’t need the distraction. Perhaps all the fixture pileup has finally started to take its toll? Perhaps our older players have moved past it? Perhaps all the injuries have exacerbated it all?
2 and a half days rest has made all the difference today, i’m getting fed up of all these fixtures but it’s our fault we’re doing so well!! Success is a pain, I just wish it was Chelsea challenging us not Liverpool ‘cuz I really don’t want to lose the league!
whiteknight03
we have not had a roy keane in midfield and we have won allot of big trophys so dnt come up with that excuse. we slashed roma 7 1 without that type of midfielder so stop that theory, get over keane its that simple.
Well Davey, yes it was 1 good cross out of 6-7? With Porto defenders leaving him to do his stuff, if he couldn’t even make one cross count, he’d be out of the side. I’m just trying to point out Neville gives us better options, and O’Shea is much better as a centrehalf. Brown before last year couldnt cross well too, but he worked on it because we had to depend on him on RB, and improved as last season went by, something O’Shea hasn’t done. Anyway, I’m more disappointed in Evra’s form, and I’m just ranting, we’ve all had a bad day. Lets jus get on with it.
Marq
exactly, we miss brown at RB he gave us the balance
Well, if MU supporters think that FC Porto will loose their home game, once again they are pretty much mistaken.
Obviously you don’t know how much strong FC Porto is in Dragão.
Write this up on your heads:
FC Porto, once again will win CL. After 1987 and 2004, 2009 will be the third.
More, today wasn’t the best FC Porto i’ve seen on past few weeks. So be scared, be very scared…
Compliments from a future CL winner Dragon Fan.
PS. for whom is asking about Hulk price – 50M EUR. No less. Is written.
Porto carbon copied Loiserfools tactics against us at OT…
it’s a very worrying trend, lets say we get past them…no team is better equipped to do the same than Arsenal…
I know we shouldn’t judge a player from just one game, but their Defensive midfielder Fernando was awesome…
Fergie showed Porto respect by playing only 1 striker.i really don’t get that. surely back to the 4-4-2 in porto.just get at them & their gk helton is surely not the best out there.
Please anybody that can help me get to the players,whether by phone or by posting comments on the fanzone of manutd.com should please tell Wazza (white pele) that we love him.Also tell G Neville that he should stop making us cry so that we will miss Wes Brown and Rafael Da Silva too much.
‘Unrecognisable’ is the one word that describes United at the moment. Our midfield was getting ironed. We have definitely missed Hargreaves this season, can’t wait until he’s back next season. Rooney is definitely wasted up front on his own. Maybe Fergie could of been bold and started with Macheda alongside Rooney, due to the fact that Tevez probably would of been fucked after his International exploits. We are capable of scoring, but we need to score 2 to cancel their 2 away goals. My biggest concern is the defence, something I wouldn’t of said a month and half ago. But more pressing matters is the Sunderland game on Saturday, we need to bag 3 points there – pressure will be on though as the dippers play Blackburn at home earlier in the day, and I hate to say it, but that will probably be 3 points for them. Amazing how in a space of a month we have looked from comfortable to extremely nervy. Come on United!
It’s all to play for. Credit where credit is due, Porto came to Old Trafford to give us a go last night and they certainly did that.
We’ve got a tough game to play in Portugal now, but it’s still all to play for.
GARY NEVILLE OUT
I think it’s fair to say our players are looking very tired. The pressure of ‘the quintuple’, a slew of complacency and a good dollop of tiredness is contributing to this slump.
We haven’t played well since Newcastle, and we weren’t too hot that day either. Teams are closing us down a lot more effectively than they had been for large portions of the season & it’s hitting players like Carrick very hard.
It’s a similar position Arsenal found themselves in after we finished their unbeaten run a few years back, teams don’t stand off anymore, they come at you ’cause they see you’re beatable. It’s difficult to adjust to the change in oppositions’ approach. Couple that with tiredness etc. and you have a big problem.
We know the team are capable of playing better & picking it up and we all thought the goal by Macheda would act as a catalyst & really boost our confidence. On last nights’ evidence it hasn’t worked.
We’re obviously lacking in the middle of the park but it hasn’t held us back so far this season, lets hope the lads can dig deep and get their form back. Would be great to see Anderson return and give us some real performances, it’s desperately needed in the middle of the park. Scholes can’t be expected to produce week after week, Carrick is a good player but he’s probably not good enough, he needs too much space to get hold of a game. Giggs also can’t be expected to dictate games & Fletch is an admirable work horse. Now’s the chance for Anderson to come in and show his worth, ditch the second season syndrome and stake a claim to the central midfield spot that’s up for grabs this summer.
Terrible to say, but Fergie seems to have a blind spot for Paul Scholes – and that alongside several other players looking shadows of themselves leaves me worried we could throw everything away.
To be honest, the liverpool result is starting to remind me of when we thumped Arsenal last year. Before that game the gooners had been riding high and in one game we completely destroyed their confidence and (admittedly alongside squad size and injuries) ruined their season!!
I’m sorry to say it but Scholesy just isnt up to it anymore!
Every time i see his name on the team sheet I fear the worst.
At the moment – it’s gotta be Carrick and Fletch/Anderson week in week out!!
On top of which Carrick seems to be half the player when playing alongside scholes.
Everybody is getting at the defence – and rightly so – evra looks shot and we need rio and wes back desperately!!
Actually we need rio, wes AND hargo back – but i fear we might not see the latter two until next season…
But, for all the criticism of the defence, at the moment the midfield doesnt seem to be giving them any protection at all!!
In fairness Porto were a good side and in the second half we started to look more like ourselves – but i think, now, Sunderland is the most important game of the season – we need a comfortable, confidence boosting result – anything less and i’m worried it could be looking bleak for us at home and in europe
Come on fergie – get it sorted out!!
Scott, we are not allowed to call either team the better team. What do you meen “the better team” ? For me it was Porto. They won every high ball in front of our goal, they didn’t let us play our game, they were first on every ball etc. I think we can not call our team yesterday the better side simply because we were awful.
I don’t know what kind of fan am i. But when Tevez scored i was so annoyed with our football that i just didn’t celebrate it. Maybe i am arrogant ?
But let me say you something. After the Milan game 2007 i started to love United and the players even more. If we crash out in a weeks time that will happen again. I will share their feelings and we will stop thinking that we are invincible and the champions of Europe and will start it all over again.
I had already mentioned that the 2006-2007 season was my favorite. I don’t like how we play nowadays. I don’t like Carlos Tevez’s contribution on the field. You can say what you want but i think one Rooney in the team is enough. Rooney-Tevez combination in front looks boring. We just have to do something.
I will be very sad if we crash out of Europe but i just can non think of us loosing the EPL title, especially to scousers. Too much has been said anв we must win the PL.
I have had a night’s sleep(albeit a bad one due to the circumstances) and it hasn’t helped heal the pain.It’s not the result.United are not accustomed to be playing the first leg at home so there might have been a concern about how we handle this.Don’t forget that we have been knocked out before when the first game was at OT:Leverkusen,Milan in 05 come to mind.What’s really concerning for me is still the fatigue.Was it due to the 2 days between the games?Was it a general phenomenon?It might be the latter.People,myself included have started mentioning missing people and they aren’t wrong.Who wouldn’t want Brown’s no shit attitude and Hargo’s engine room?But we have coped this season without them.For UNited fans old enough to remember 5 years back,this is a similar problem.Back then,our rut started when Rio’s ban started.Now,i believe it has come more naturally.When we were winning 11 games in a row,the team was going to the next game with less energy than before.In football,fatigue isn’t indicated be exasperation but by bad judgment calls.And we had a ton of them yesterday.But then again,how the hell could have Gary Neville been tired?I don’t know what the solution is.Maybe,we need to sacrifice the Ch.League and go for the domestic treble.Imagine United in this form playing against Arsenal twice in a week while also going to Boro who will be fighting for their lives between these 2 games?Whatever happens,United fans have to keep a cool head.Once this season is over,we will have plenty of time to reflect on the mistakes the team and the manager have made.For now,we have to rely on O’Shea and his limitations,Ronaldo and his attitude,Evra-Carrick and his fatigue,Rio and his constant injuries and Phelan and his un-Quieroz like philosophy.I am just thankful that players like Fletcher have been giving their all in times like these.What would we do without them.
I think the CL is over for another year. United on top form would have trouble going to Porto and getting a result and this United have no chance. We lack bite in midfield.
in the run-in last year Hargreaves was the man we called upon whether it was right back, centre mid or the right of midfield and he was the difference. Now we don’t have anyone of his quality with the same bite but also skill. I really worry for the rest of the season.
Only a man with no footballing brain could argue that Porto was the better team. They played us off the park in the first half. We managed to get a bit of a rythm in the second half. They were more dangerous with the ball especially on the break. We were lazy and predictable. Ronaldo can’t beat my girlfriend not to talk of a footballer. Park was shite…..fuck fuck fuck somebody please help me…..I am sick…..United is my happiness…..what has happened to us……somebody please tell me we could make it please…I dont knw what to do……………..
Cherry,no need to get desperate.I love United as much as you do.It’s a hole and we have to dig ourselves out.Porto were better.It’s not the amount of possession,it’s what you do with it.Oh and brace yourself because we will probably line up with Vida and O’Shea at the stadium of light.
Absolutely gutted. Not gonna say alot as its all been said. Really really do miss Brown and Owen. Both times we have previously started the home tie first we have gone out both times. At least it is not all lost yet, we could be 3 or 4 down now. A one nil or two one scoreline at their place will see us through. As long as we win the game we will be ok. Can’t help thinking though, fuck Europe and just make fuckin sure we win the title and shut the dippers up. Hope rentboys win tonight but really can’t see it. I have an awful feeling the Scousers could get two or three tonight. We’ll Never Die!
PS Someone said we need to score 2 in Portugal. No we don’t a win of any score will suffice.
Cherry – Don’t worry too much. United play best when our backs our to the wall and at the minute they certainly are. BELIEVE!
The player that looks most tired was Evra. It was he who could not be back in time for the 2nd goal. because Vidic then had to cover for him and OShea for Vidic (although he could have stayed with his man) and Neville for OShea, which left one man unmarked. So I think Evra should be given a break.
Our overall play was poor. There was no drive through midfield because Carrick is not a natural attacking player and Scholes cannot keep up with the pace anymore (thats why he tries more long balls than before). Since we do not have a forward (except Ronaldo) who can head effectively, we tend to play more through the middle and our crosses are mostly wasted. For this we need a dynamic midfield (like that of Arsenal) which can support the forwards quickly and also make quick passing. But i dont think we have that kind of players at the moment (except Anderson)
I think we should revert back to last seasons formation with Rooney and Tevez upfront and Ronaldo in a free role. Also Carrick mostly plays well with Fletcher or Giggs in the middle. Since crossing is not our game anymore the other winger (one being Ronaldo) can be Park or Nani.
Also since we are having defensive problems on the wings due to fullbacks (which i think is one of the reason of our defensive downfall along with the missing of a hard tackling midfielder), if ever there was a good time to play Rooney on the wing its now.
instead of yapping about the teams performance, why not give some credit to Porto, they were fucking excellent and if we get put out, we get put out by a worthy team, who were better, simple as.
And instead of focusing on who was shite, i.e. Scholes, Carrick etc, I think alot more should be said about Darren Fletcher and the way hes been playing recently, for me his recent performances, say hes a starter ahead of Carrick and Scholes, and its one of the two to partner him. He was awesome last night and against Villa. Well Done lad.
If we can’t win at Porto, we do not deserve to win this competition.
As simply as that.
I agree with Coogie, Porto were superb, as good as anyone seen at Old Trafford this season, but only up to a point. They are beatable, so let’s not all panic yet. Yes there are injuries and other problems, but we have some of the best players in Europe and it’s still not beyond them to pull themselves out of the trough. I also agree with Coogie about Fletcher who was immense last night and against Villa. What’s so wonderful about that is remembering all the past comments from United supporters about how he’s not up to it and not ‘real’ United, whatever that means. Now it’s up to the players to dig deep and take inspiration from the successes – Van der Sar, Rooney, Fletcher, Tevez, Macheda (on Sunday) – and start all over on Saturday at Sunderland. Forget the past, always look forward. And of course the supporters at the Stadium of Shite have an absolutely crucial role to play. Thank God it’s an away match so the players won’t have to suffer the tremulous anxieties of Old Trafford again. All of you able to go, you gotta keep up the noise levels to back our boys, especially those who are half-fit or out of form. It’s still all to play for, and all of us in small ways have a part to play in what unfolds. First though, we need to dispel this mood of despair and crisis, which transmits itself to the players incredibly quickly.It really does not help. We are United, and we Believe.
I think we’ve been pretty much spoilt rotten by United’s success over the past three years – we’ve won two titles, a champions league title, a world club cup and a league cup, and to me that is already a huge achievement, even for a club as big as Manchester United. Every season, they are only two trophies that really matter, and you only have to examine the quality and class of the clubs to understand how difficult it can be to win everything domestically and in Europe. It is practically impossible and even if we throw away this season’s good work and finish without adding to our trophy cabinet, we should still be proud of our team for giving the fans a chance to dream for an unprecedented quintuple – how many other club fans have had an opportunity to harbour hopes like these? It is so difficult to maintain a stranglehold on all the major trophies for prolonged periods, and, even as fans, we should learn to understand and accept that we can’t win every single time. Appreciate and celebrate every single trophy or title we win, because, even if we were to finish the season bereft of the remaining three trophies on offer, you can be dead certain that we’ll restructure our squad wisely and win multiple trophies in the coming seasons ahead.
It will be extremely tough to beat Porto at there place, im not sure if this is a definate fact but im under the impression Porto have never lost to a english side at home or it might of been that they’ve never lost at home in the champions league i cant quite remember.
We will have to step up and do something special if we want to get to the Semi’s, it is going to be very hard now after letting in that second away goal.
We are United so it is possible ive seen crazier things happen
COME ON UNITED!
My take on it is we are missing Carlos Quieroz and his tactical knowledge.
We seem to be reverting back to the attitude of 1999 which was “We’ll score more goals than you.” That is a backwards step.
Last year we were tactically astute.
Their is no doubting Fergies man management skills and his ability to motivate the team or his trophy cabinet (Having won more than Bob Paisley and Bill Shankley put together) but we are missing something tactically.
Macheda’s goal covered up the problems we had on Sunday.
Yesterday against Porto we were tactically naive.
Why play so open against Porto? What was the need? There is none.
We were complacent and unprepared.
A few points here that a midfielder or somebody should have been tight on the Hulk and stopped him from turning to run at the defense. The majority of Porto’s attacks came from this. Common sense here.
Twice defensive errors contributed to conceding goals.
The first was Ronaldo losing the ball and Evans side footing it to Porto rather than putting his laces through it up field or out of play.
The second was the the point of leaving 4 v 3 in defense. We took the lead so just play as a tight unit and see the game out. No need to go and try and get a third. At that moment we were ahead in the tie (against the run of play) when we could easily be losing by a fair few goals. Now as things stand half way through the tie we are currently out of the competition thanks to the away goals.
A side of such talented players can not string a few passes together looks like a lack of confidence, or tiredness, or playing below par, or just laziness. This is not good enough.
United players running around like headless chickens. Let’s be honest Porto ran rings round us last night with their one touch passing and direct counter attacking.
Red Nev and JOS just don’t seem up to the job. No matter what the defensive combination.
This team need to do something quick because the premature talk of who to meet in the Semis was just blatent over confidence. Remember what happened against Porto and Bayer Leverkusen the last time?
Where did you find that 38% number? Go to the UEFA site and take a look at the statistics:
Man Utd Porto
2 Goals scored 2
8 Shots on target 10
4 Shots wide 5
1 Shots blocked 2
0 Yellow card 2
0 Red card 0
12 Fouls comm. 15
4 Corners 8
1 Offsides 1
36′ 3” Ball. Poss. 26′ 12”
57% Ball. Poss. (%) 43%
A bit different from the 62-38 numbers don’t you think?
scott-We might have had the lions share of possession last night but it’s what you do with it that counts and giving it back to porto with alarming regularity is what we did last night.
porto were easily the better side last night.
being tired is not an excuse in my book.
if you can’t pass the ball between youselves then it stands to reason that you are gonna be made to work more to get it back. pass the ball better and you won’t need to run as much.
i think most united fans can take playing badly every now and then providing they are prepared to give everything they’ve got, with, and more importantly without the ball which we’ve just not done this season. we are bein outworked on a weekly basis and teams are getting results by doing that.
I can’t understand why we’ve bein so off it recently and there is no way i’m gonna come on here and try and second guess fergusons reasons for playin certain players at certain times.
i agree with the very few on here that believe we’ve been below standard this season. it’s only for the fact that everybody else this season has been even more poor, that we are still at the top of the league and in the cups still. at the start of the season we couldn’t hit a cows arse with a banjo but we still managed to score the odd goal and win games unconvincingly. mid season was much the same although slightly better because defensively we were fantastic and it covered up the fact we just weren’t worrying teams going forward. now the defense has gone to shit we’ve been found out. if we start scoring half the chances we create between now and the end of the season we won’t be far off something special. lack of goals scored is putting everybody under pressure and as a squad we’ve reacted to that badly.
do the graft first and then the special stuff will look after itself. from keane’s book i think.
not far off is he???
Dont mean to be morbid, but the 2nd Porto away goal has knocked the stuffing out of us. I cant see us winning in Oporto. Why play such a defensive formation at home? I was expecting to see that team in the away tie. I just think 5 trophies is too much and we had a lot of catching up to do over the Xmas period. Fair play to the boys they have been brilliant at times. But I would rather have the premiership this season just to shut the Bindippers up. Can I just add, that I’m sick and tired of seeing Neville and O’Shea getting exposed again for the 2nd time in 2 days. Its heartbreaking for every Manc on the planet. How is Fergie the only one who sees the sun shining out of their arse. The game needed 2 stikers, it didnt happen and that is our downfall.
HOPE I’M WRONG !!!
BTW : Where’s Berba, when you need him? No fight, No drive, No passion. Veron was more value than this prick !!!!
Melvinho the problem is Carlos Quieroz isn’t their to tell him these things!
Berba is injured.
Good article
we played a big another big game on sunday evening. those who wouldnt have played scholes last night considering hes prob. the only fresh player weve got besides macheda and nani, i feel, are being a bit harsh.
i hope all the lads feel better on saturday after a few days rest which we havent had for our last two poor performances.
im sure porto would have struggled to if they had played the game we did on sunday against villa.
Absolutely inexcusable… failed to get the basics right…. Hairdryer is in order and maybe theres a need to visit the defensive philosophy cuz we seem to hav forgotten how we’ve defended this season prior to the recent shambolic displays
Melvinho7, who could he play on Sunday apart from OShea and Neville? Everyones injured or suspended. Even last night Neville had to go on and cover Evans, which is the last way Fergie wanted to use our 3rd sub.
When the fuck is Brown and Rafael back playing?
I do thing the two games in 48 hours didnt help, but that was no excuse for Scholes, who was fresh. Like Drew Vader said earlier, no point going through the team when it was that bad a performance. The Sunderland game will tell alot. If we go and win by a couple, and play well, we should be ok and back on the right track. If we lose, or draw, and play crap again, we’ll be in real trouble…
what more can Fergie say to them? We’ve been poor since the carling cup final, aside from the away leg against Inter Milan.
Is 4 wake-up calls not enough for these players? I don’t think it is lack of effort i teams have found us out. We need confidence, not a kick up the backside. O’Shea is not good enough, but he had a better game than a lot of our players last night. Evans, Carrick, Park, Scholes and Evra were poor. How we miss Brown, Ferdinand and Hargreaves in the centre.
I agree with Scott, i would be quite happy for the season to finish with us as league champions, Everton as cup winners and Villareal or Barcelona as champions league winners.
just save Rio for porto & we can win the tie
I’ll probably get slated for this but I feel now, that 2 men will drive us to the finish line. One is Rooney. The other is Anderson.
Kings: “we need to score 2 to cancel their 2 away goals”
WRONG – we go through at one-nil, 2-nil, 2-1, and at 2-2 it goes to penalties.
Marq: ” I’m just trying to point out Neville gives us better options, and O’Shea is much better as a centrehalf.”
That’s quite correct – RedNev is slower and more of a defensive liability than in years gone by, but he still whips in a dangerous cross. John O’Shea is – and should be appreciated as – a jack-of-all-trades; he’s not first-choice at any position but he does provide quality, journeyman depth in the case of serious injury to a regular. Of course, we would prefer Wesley or Fabio to be healthy but in the present circumstances, without John O’Shea SAF would have had to use Richard Eckersley and I simply don’t believe that that would have been a better option.
Jig: “Scholes can’t be expected to produce week after week”
Off-target mate; Scholes isn’t producing at all any more. Like I wrote earlier, his presence marginalizes Fletcherinho and over-awes Carrick. I’m hesitant to say “stick a fork in him, he’s done like dinner” but the evidence from his play is getting pretty pessimistic.
Coogie: ” I think alot more should be said about Darren Fletcher and the way hes been playing recently, for me his recent performances, say hes a starter ahead of Carrick and Scholes, and its one of the two to partner him. He was awesome last night and against Villa. Well Done lad.”
I second that motion. BUT I disagree about playing Scholes; on present evidence, he’s something of a liability. But, who knows, in the game at Porto the opposition might lie back and try to protect their away-goal lead; in that case, Scholes might be able to push forward and have space – his skill’s not gone but his legs and lungs are shot.
AlphaRS: “leaving 4 v 3 in defense”
I watched that horror again this morning on the FoxSportsWorld highlight package – actually UTD had 5 men back but they were all tilting to the right side of the field as they over-compensated. That’s what left Mariano free on the left – Fletcher was also just arriving into the box when the ball was flighted from right-to-left but he was a non-factor. So, in point of fact, it wasn’t that UTD were outmanned but, rather, that they were collectively out of position. Add to that, Edwin went down to his right and Mariano had a relatively easy shot at an open target. Hey, shit happens !
Finally – collective gasp of relief !!!! – I don’t buy this “tiredness” excuse. These guys are tip-top athletes in prime condition – playing two games in two-plus days shouldn’t be a problem. That’s what Porto did, too – and they had to travel. More to the point, UTD have been “blunt” this season and far too “strategic” rather than playing with a gung-ho warrior spirit – the only times TheLads have been really dominant in games that mattered were against the RentBoyz and the first half against InterMilan; most of the rest of their games have been constipated. Hey, Fergy, let the boys loose !
Frankly, I am more worried now about out league push than the away leg with Porto. The way we look right now (tired, disinterested, clueless – call it what you may) we have a better chance of winning at Porto than winning the league purely because the former is a one off game for which we might just pick ourselves up. The league still have several games to go, and some tricky ones at that (arsenal and spurs in particular) and right now it doesn’t look like we can play consistently good, confident football week in week out. So I don’t know what the rest of you feel, but that performance last night and over the last few weeks tells me its the league we should be really worried about right now.
Arguing about possession stats and their ability to determine the “better team” is slightly pedantic. Passing the ball around the back gets you higher possession numbers but no goals. Porto would let us have the ball at the back, press our midfield, take the ball and quickly attack. We’d get the ball back, slowly build something, have it break down and Porto would quickly attack. We had more time of possession, they attacked more.
We weren’t the better side last night. We were extremely lucky to go into half time at 1-1 as they dicked all over us, and then we probably just shaded the second as Porto looked to settle for the draw.
One of the things that struck me last night was how much more running Porto did than us. They ran all over us from start to finish. Whenever we had the ball they would pressure us into very sloppy passing, especially in the midfield (who I will get to later), and whenever they won in back they would break forward swiftly, and in numbers, often outnumbering our defence. Then when it came to our turn to counter attack, we had one or two players either running it into trouble, or struggling to hold it up whilst wainting for others to join them in attack, sadly though, Porto were back much quicker than we were. That isn’t us. One of our most potent weapons is the speed and ruthlessness of our counter attacks, however this didn’t happen once yesterday. In fact, it hasn’t really happened for us all season, but that is a different matter.
Also, another thing that was driving me crazy last night, was seeing our full backs push forward, and then jog back to position when Porto attacked, putting so much pressure on our centre backs. I don’t know whether to account for this as laziness or fatigue, but whatever it was it wasn’t helping with our defensive fragilties. Evra looked particularly leggy last night, and was guilty of doing this a lot.
Finally, it’s amazing how our midfield can do so little in attack, yet be nowhere to be seen in defence. Honestly, the only time I noticed Carrick and Scholes were on the pitch last night was when they were misplacing passes. There just seemed to be a chasm of space between our attackers and defenders that Porto exploited time and time again.
I’m not one that is going to jump on Scholes and Neville’s backs, just like I didn’t when Giggs was getting so much flak a bit ago, however I don’t think Scholes has the legs anymore to be starting the big games. It’s nice to have him when against the smaller teams as he can dictate the play a little easier without having to run as much, but last night the game seemed to pass him by. Neville has just come back from a long injury, and needs the game time before he can be criticised, although when Wes and Rafael come back I think he’ll have trouble getting back in the side. I really think we are missing Hargreaves at the moment, someone to help in defence and dynamic enough to attack when needed. Being honest, our midfield has been shit all season, and a shadow of itself the last few seasons. My theory is that we never got a settled midfield pairing at the start of the season (due to injuries forcing Fergie to rotate a lot) and so our midfield has been mixed and matched all season.
As a side note, last night was one of the flattest atmospheres I’ve ever experienced on a Champions League night. The crowd were just as lethargic as the players, which didn’t help with our shit start. I was expecting the place to be buzzing after Kiko’s goal on Sunday, so I’m surprised and a bit disappointed, the players needed that boost from the crowd that we usually give, and we didn’t turn up either.
Shit night all round really.
i agree with mahesh, i am more concerned about our league form. If Porto play as openly as they did yesterday at home then i am convinced we can outscore them and go through. In the league, we had some tough games – Arsenal, City, Boro(well they always take points off us) but now i am concerned about some of the other ones, including Sunderland and Spurs coming up. I don’t know what has happened to Carrick, and Scholes seems to be ineffective unless we are at home against a weaker premier league side.
The problem is, i don’t think we have the personnel to suit any particular system. The last time we had a settled first 11 was back in 06/07 before Saha got injured. If we want to fully utilise Rooney’s ability then we need to play him behind Berbatov or Tevez, but both of those players seem reluctant to lead the line. It would allow us to play two more defensive midfield players and Ronaldo on one of the wings but who could play on the other side? Giggs possibly, but can he still play on the wing?, Park works hard etc etc but is he really good enough in the final third, and Nani is inconsistent to put it kindly. A 4-3-3 means we dont have this problem but then we have to waste Rooney on the left. What do we do!?
We looked naive and under-coached, like a team from the 90′s. Porto (and the scousers) out thought our side and the reason the passing was so bad is that the most of the players didn’t know what they should be doing with the ball when they had it and those that did know found that no-one was where they should be. Its a fine line between being dynamic and creative, and wandering about like lost souls, the way Ronaldo and others have been doing this season. Carrick never plays well with Scholes in the side and sadly the game has moved on and left the great ginger one behind. Only Rooney looks great and only him and Tevez and maybe Fletch look like they are working hard. Phelan is no replacement for Queiroz and SAFs best chance for a decade may be slipping away…..
@AlexofManc
Spot on mate, sadly )-:
It’s a bad spell. Although we may not agree with Fergie’s choices and specifically how he choses to play them (Rooney and/or Tevez, Carrick and/or Scholes) the fact is Brown, Ferdinand, Anderson, Berbatov were out yesterday. That is 30%-40% of the first choice team (depending on whether you think that Anderson is frst choice). Considering we could have lost this game I view this as an open tie. We are Manchester United and we can go and score goals against any team in the world at any point in time. The team needs our support and it all starts on Saturday at Sunderland. It’s time to regroup and forget about divisions. We are top of the league and technically 4 points ahead of the dippers (as the game in hand is Portsmouth at OT). So everybody please get behind the team. The scousers will stumble soon so I would not worry about them as it is best to have your trough at this stage than in May.
We shall not be moved.
we clearly need a winter break when a team like United has been involved in every competition & going all the way in each of them.the goals conceded lately has to do with fatigue considering we kept the record of clean sheets with ever changing back 4.
Whilst I appreciate that CQ is a good number 2 I cannot understand why people are saying how we really miss him like he is the be all and end all. People were saying between Aug and Dec how we really have missed him then between Jan and March when our form was superb, not a mention of CQ. Now we have hit a bad patch it seems that some folk think he will be the answer. In Fergie I trust.
From my point of view, the best tactic to win at Porto is to play open. This may seem completely silly but I know a lot more about them than most Mancunians. Like other Portuguese teams, Porto’s style of play is very different from the Premier League. In Portugal you don’t usually lift the ball from the ground too often, so our weakest spot is playing the ball in the air. It’s true that Porto has some strong heading defenders (like Bruno Alves, the one who offered the goal to Rooney), but overall, it is very difficult for them to play against a constant crossing and high ball playing into the area. So, I was the Man Coach, I would tell my defenders to come up in the field to help the midfield, and pressure up from that place, keeping them in their midfield and constantly crossing into the area, with two good headers (tevez+ronaldo?) there.
Sounds too simple? yes because it’s just the old english style of play you were used to see in the seventies and eighties.
Since Porto has some very quick attackers (rodriguez, lisandro, hulk), this would no doubt give them extra chances (if they could get the ball). But I would rather do this and win 3-2 than playing 4-5-1 like they did last night hoping to win 1-0, because this will be the most sure path to defeat.
I dont think that we’re out of it, seeing the quality we have in our side, we are more than capable of getting the win at Porto, although the way we’ve been playing I cant imagine us not conceeding in Porto.
We must get an early goal, by early I mean within the first 20 minutes of the game. By scoring early we put the pressure on Porto, who will have to score to remain in the tie, but I think it will expose them and enable to find space on the counter.
My prediction:
Manchester 2 Ronaldo 17′ Tevez 69′
F.C. Porto 1 Hulk 87′
We should, and we might just beat Porto to advance, but i don’t believe we have the legs to win the CL this year. We look stretched as it is and we still have 10+ games to go. Sorry to say this but players like Scholes and Neville should seriously consider retirement at the end of his season. They have been exceptional but there is no point in carrying on if it destroys their legacy. Both players have had more bad games then good and surely they deserve to be remembered as heroes and not the one’s who cost us wins.
Having said that, some of our current ‘stars’ need to pull their socks up as well. Defensively we were shambles and attacking wise there just wasn’t enough sharpness for me to believe we have a chance against a truely top side like Barca (who look odds on to lift the title this year).
I hope i’m wrong…but i think we have played at least 10 games too many this season. We should have fielded a completely second team for the carling and possibly even FA cup if we wanted to honestly go for the quintuple.
Personally i’ll be glad with the Prem title, and possibly the FA cup. The CL would be awesome achievement, but history does not back us as a team that can repeat the feat in successive years.