1. Ahead of kick-off I would have taken a point from this game, something Rio Ferdinand confessed in his post-match interview, but it’s always going to be frustrating to concede with pretty much the last kick of the game. You’re left to the stew on the fact if they could have just held on for a few more seconds we’d be 7 points clear. As it is, we’re 5 points clear and that’s nothing to be scoffed at. We’ve played all of the four teams below us away from home now, our toughest games, yet we’re still top, so you’ve got to be pleased with that. We’ve scored late goals against enough teams to know that we’re not in any position to get in a sulk because someone did it back to us.
2. With Robin van Persie having already scored against City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool, you could hardly be surprised when he scored our opening goal. There was some lovely one touch passing in the build up, before Danny Welbeck brought the ball in front of the goal and played in Tom Cleverley. He’s not in a position to cross that often which is a shame because his ball to the back post was perfect. Van Persie’s header found the back of the net (although Lloris may feel disappointed to have been beaten at his near post) to make it 11 goals in his last 11 league games. He’s a machine.
3. Whilst David de Gea will take a lot of the blame for Spurs’ equalising goal (which I’ll get to in a minute), we should remember that it was his brilliant saves that kept us in the game until injury time. In the first half, Gareth Bale had a shot from outside the area which De Gea kept out with his legs. Then in the second half, Clint Dempsey was one on one with him and even after starting to move in the other direction, our goalie again kept it out with his legs. There were a few moments that had ‘goal’ written all over it for them but De Gea’s reactions secured our lead. However, he was at fault for the equalising goal, but I don’t think he was helped by Nemanja Vidic, who clearly doesn’t seem to trust our Spanish keeper to deal with the danger (rightly or wrongly) and therefore was another body between the De Gea and the ball. I’ve seen some people say there wasn’t much De Gea could have done differently but I have to disagree. It’s not just Schmeichel or Van der Sar who would have made sure they cleared the danger in that position, whoever they had to fly in to and take out along the way, but plenty of Premier League goalies too. What other keepers may lack in comparison to De Gea when it comes to his lightning speed reactions or distribution, they make up for in the ability to command the box and make the ball theirs. De Gea, at 22, just doesn’t have that yet. He needs to bulk up more and he needs to take charge. Schmeichel would have flattened Vidic and Caulker to get the ball away but De Gea was held off and could only take a feeble swipe at the ball. It would be lunacy to drop De Gea for this, as he is quite clearly the best goalie we have, but you wouldn’t put it past Ferguson. Fingers crossed the other top saves in the game will be enough to ensure he keeps his starting place. I like De Gea, I hope we stick with him and get to enjoy his performances for us over the next five or ten years. I suppose the concern could be that we are developing him, letting him make costly mistakes whilst learning his trade with us, before him upping and leaving for Real Madrid/Barcelona when he’s truly a world class keeper. Should we have bought the finished article when replacing Van der Sar, instead of a goalie who still has plenty to learn? There are arguments for that, but I have a lot of time for De Gea, and am looking forward to seeing the best from him.
4. Whilst our defence has been lacking at times this season, it’s great to see what Ferdinand and Vidic are capable of when they’re playing together. How many times over the past few weeks have you heard “and Vidic heads it clear…”? It’s great having him back in the team and only serves to remind you how much we were missing when he spent last season out injured. Rio was also impressive, managing to get his head to a Bale shot that was on target, but his stand out moment was against Jermaine Defoe. Defoe was behind our defence, it looked to be a certain goal, then out of nowhere, Rio got across him and blocked the shot. It’s rare to see Rio in that position because his reading of the game is so good he doesn’t often need to make a last ditch challenge, but that was superb.
5. From our point of view, the biggest talking point was the linesman and referee not spotting a blatant foul on Wayne Rooney in the penalty area. Rooney took a touch to take the ball around Caulker, Caulker put his leg across Rooney and got nothing on the ball, yet somehow, linesman Simon Beck, wouldn’t flag for it. Sometimes penalties are debatable, with it depending on which team you support as to whether you think it’s nailed on or not, but there could be no debate about this (unless you’re the Chelsea website columnist Pat Nevin, who tried to argue on MOTD2 that it looked like Rooney kicked Caulker’s leg, much to Alan Hansen’s bemusement). Ferguson could be in trouble for criticising the linesman, pointing to the history we have with him. Beck is also the linesman that gifted Chelsea the title in 2010 when missing that blatant offside against Drogba, but he is also the lino that didn’t flag for Nani’s handball ahead of that bizarre goal he scored against Spurs a couple of years ago. This isn’t an anti-United agenda, Beck is just shit at his job. Let’s leave it there.
6. In our game at Old Trafford, United’s midfield ran the show, with Scholes completing 135 passes and Carrick 93. It was a different story this time around, particularly in the second half. Dembele completed more passes than anyone else (49) with Phil Jones just behind him (42). Carrick’s influence could be compared to Parker’s, with them both completing 39 passes (although Carrick had a better accuracy rate), yet what Carrick lacked in passing in this game, he made up for in defensive duties. He completed more than double the amount of tackles of anyone on the pitch and made more interceptions than any other United player. However, whilst not wanting to sound like a broken record, Dembele was available for £15m this summer and would have been great for us this season.
7. I was impressed with the tactical change from United which seemed fairly effortless and worked for most of the game. The addition of Phil Jones strengthened the midfield, Kagawa did an excellent job of keeping possession (93% pass completion rate overall, 12/14 in the final third) and Welbeck picked up where he left off with his hard work against Liverpool. However, the substitutions didn’t really work in the way we would have liked (although we’d probably be singing a different tune if Rooney won then scored that penalty). After replacing Kagawa, he completed just 64% of his passes, and just 3/6 in the final third. Can Kagawa not last the full 90? Did Fergie want Rooney to have more playing time after a few weeks out? Who knows, but things did start to go downhill once the changes were made.
8. Obviously, if Spurs had scored first and we scored an injury time equaliser we’d be delighted with the point. The timing of the goals changes that feeling though but there’s no shame in getting a point at White Hart Lane, particularly when you consider they’ve got the 4th best home record in the league this season. As always, hopefully this will be a learning curve for United and they’ll be that bit tighter during injury time the next time we’re clinging on to a 1-0 win. 15 games to go…
Man Utd News 24/7
Welbeck u are so f@#!ed up!!!!
Personally speaking, I wouldn’t have been happy with a point before this game. We won 10 months ago at the Lane and we also had to address what happened at OT this season. Spurs don’t deserve the amount of respect we showed them. I know the Real game is in 3 weeks, but it wasn’t the time to practice the formation for that game.
Anyway. Keep the positives and next time lets be more ambitious.
I enjoyed how our team defended. Maybe it was our finest defensive display in past few years I have seen. Bar Evra who got owned by Lennon everyone else did a fine job.
I am a bit surprised De gea is getting some shit as he had a tremendous game. It makes me laugh when people compare him with Schmeichel or Van der Sar. They were complete products. De gea is still learning is trade. Give him one Premier league trophy his confidence will go sky high.
Have to say I AM not disappointed by the draw. After watching Spurs yesterday I have to say they deserve to be in top 4. They are a strong side. Give them one quality striker I can bet they will easily finish in top 4. It will be a shame if they miss out on top 4 this season. Credit to them for playing well.
I thought we were playing to deep especially in last 25 mins. We need to attack. But I thought Sir alex wanted to have this game over. This has to be by far our toughest challenge and if you ask me we passed with hardwork. City has still to travel here and also go to Everton. I laughed when dzeko said man united will continue to drop points. I like this care free attitude from their team. I don’t want their managers or players to praise us. Last season Micah Richards and Mancini praised us by saying United will win the league and it backfired on us.
Just one big negative from this game and that has to be Valencia. I have been continuously defending him but he is having a torrid time. I don’t like our players getting criticized but its very surprising that no one is mentioning about Tony V’s poor form. We used to jump when Nani had a bad game but I can’t see anyone doing that with Valencia. He is neither attacking well nor is he defending well. Rafael played much better as winger than Valencia did in those 17 mins he got. There was a situation when rooney was alone in wings but valencia stopped and made back pass which resulted in tottenham counter attack. I still have faith in Valencia but he needs to get his act going. At this form I would prefer Nani.
This is not resulted to our club but I have to take this out of my chest. Man how shit have arsenal become. It is very sad to see them becoming a mediocre club. They were playing shit against the most overrated team in Chelsea yesterday. As usual media were trying their best to prove Torres is not a flop. Speaking of arsenal I can bet they will play like cup final against us when we go to emirates in late april.
I think the subs (Valencia and Rooney) were brought on to give us counter attacking energy. Spurs were gonna throw everything at us and we could have killed the game off. Rooney didn’t do too badly, played some good passes, worked pretty hard and should’ve got a penalty. But Valencia didn’t attack the space enough….apart from the 30 seconds after Spurs had scored their equaliser.
We were completely in control. For me, the refs handed Spurs the match.
Fair enough to say that Spurs had their chances, but outside the brilliant deflection off our defense that caused DeGea into a superb foot save, they really put very very few shots on goal.
The failure to spot the penalty on Rooney and the clear foul (not given) on Rafael leading up their equalizer changed the game.
People will discuss whether Fergie should be charged for his tirade about the the line men, but I don’t think he really said they were biased. He did criticize the call and noted that we hadn’t gotten calls from Simon before. But he didn’t cross the line for me. Most managers in the league get away with far worse. Big Sam stepped over the line last week for me. But think Fergie stayed this side of the red line.
For me, it is fair enough when a manager says there were bad calls, or even a series of bad calls. Just think they should never directly use the work bias. A blind man isn’t called biased just because he didn’t see something. He truly didn’t see it. I am sure that is all it was for the calls yesterday as well.
Which ever way you look at it, it cannot be anything else but 2 points dropped. I hope they do not cost us too much come May.
We conceded with last kick of the match probably because of lack of communication between DeGea and Vidic when dealing with that cross. Before that, Valencia was ball watching instead of closing down their player and preventing the cross in the first plame, so he is to blame as muct as them two. We should not forget that DeGea make several great saves in this match!
The main problem yesterday, despite not given a stone wall penalty, was our poor final ball. We should have had more than one goal. We had enough of decent situations.
When Nani is not there, Dany boys takes the baton of frustrating us. No one can blame his efforts, but how many times he looses or fails to control the ball properly in decent positions. I am wondering is he ever gonna improve?
Let’s hope we can now go on a great run starting with Everton. I am sure Shitty will also drop points!
We were just too unfortunate to concede that late blatant equalizer.
Evertno did the same thing at Oldtrafford last season with two late equalizers that spoiled our title chance.its seems that other teams have learned to give up a taste of our own medicine.
I agree with the point that”there is no shame in taking one point at white heart lane”but thats not an enough excuse for our below par second half performance.we were too timid to take the ball forward.we kept battling in the midfield while they shifted all their games into the flanks.that has killed our plan to halt their storm in the last 25minutes.
I made my point yesterday that Anderson should have been our main substitution plan for the second half because after losing two dynamic midfield players in Kagawa and Cleverly you need to keep the balance right!besides his defensive duty he has that superb passing quality and stamina.so why Fergie didn’t think about him is still a mysterious question, as inclusion of Rooney and Valencia made things even more complicated.and I should agree with you Costas, this is not the best time and place to test our game Real madrid.anyways still positive that we will figure out a way solving our few tactical mistakes.
DDG’s saves weren’t brilliant, they’re saves you’d expect your goalkeeper to make. Dempsey hit the ball close to him as he was off balance when he shot. The save with his feet were good reactions, but you’d be slating him if he didn’t. I thought overall he commanded the area well apart from the aberration at the end.
What i couldn’t believe is the Spurs players diving not being bought up. The worst one was Parker falling over, Welbeck is through into the penalty area just having to square the ball to RVP and when he gets the ball it = goals. No one bothered to analyse this.
Lennon’s air dive in the first half. Any coincidence that they’re English and play for a more favourable/neutral friendly club?
IN REPLY TO Costas..”Spurs don’t deserve the amount of respect we showed them”
What are you talking about. You are a bad loser, I don’t think any other Man U supporter would agree with you and I don’t your players would either.
We deserved at very least a point from a game we dominated for most of the time.
Look at the stats and watch the replays.
Coys
Spurs supporter
Used to reading nonsense from other teams’ fans but think this article is really fair. Thanks
Hans says:
Which ever way you look at it, it cannot be anything else but 2 points dropped. I hope they do not cost us too much come May
I don’t think this game will matter. It was a tough game and we got a point. It was not like we dropped points to Blackburn or wigan like last season. Many people underrate Spurs and I say thats a big mistake. Spurs are a dangerous side. If we don’t win the tittle now it will be because of dropping points against a mid table side. I am very confident this tittle is ours to win. City will drop points. Remember they have to come at old traffor and that will be the game that may decide the tittle. We could win the tittle by beating them here.
Before the match I would have taken a point and been happy with that. After, the game I’m a bit disappointed though not disappointed with our overall performance. It’s more of a so near yet so far equalizer in the last minute kind of disappointment.
I’m not going to say much about the crap refereeing decisions as we should not have to. A multi billion pound industry should have better arrangements in place than relying on some 40 year old bloke’s dodgy eyesight or worse. TBH, I’d rather all managers – including SAF and Wenger- put a sock in it about refs’ decisions unless they augment their complaints with a call for video technology to be used. After all its the lesser sides who have more to gain from the status quo of dodgy refs decisions being maintained
I think you forgot about someone scott, our very own no. 7 Valenciaaaa.
All DeGea needs is confidence in his ability. Asking a 22 year old non english speaking kid to boss around experienced players like Rio & Vidic is a lot this early in his career but as his confidence grows he will be more comfortable with it. Organizing your defenders and handing out a real bollocking when they don’t do their job is part of every keepers duties these days whether they like it or not. I like DeGea and think he will develop into a great keeper but I have a funny feeling he could be used as bait for a swap deal with Ronaldo in a couple seasons especially if he lets his contract run down.
We’ve now got 6-7 winnable league games to take us into the Manchester Darby so this is where we separate the men from the boys. Keep our focus and do our own thing and we will be looking good for #20.
So far this season and as an unusual habit, Tottenham this season were the major hurdle.there is still many important games to be played though, both city and us will lose further points in the course of the title run but the crucial thing is that, when and against whom you will lose that points.last season we were bleeding points carelessly against lower bottom teams.this season has been much better so far, so we can take some incentive from that and make ourselves more ready with that respect.
Man U were organised with no real threat and got a goal against the run of play too . If spurs had a decent striker they would’ve punished united . RVP has got your team out of jail so far this season , just like he did at the Arse .. papering over the cracks !
@Andromeda – agreed, I think this game and the Liverpool game were crying out for Anderson’s introduction in the second halves. Can only think he’s not fully fit..
Dear FletchTHEMAN, when you say “We were completely in control”, which elements of the 15 shots we fired at you, our goal against you and the 4 yellow cards your players received for failing to fairly halt our players attacking runs were they in control of exactly? Don’t worry though, the league’s yours to lose.
I won’t blame De Gea, but saf whom allowed United to sit back deep and give the opposition the chance to attack us in the final minute of the added time.
@United till I die
Good point about De Gea. I’ll just add that he has yet to work on his chemistry with Vidic. Looking back at his notable errors, most of them have happened when they were playing together. I think he’s more at ease playing with Evans. He’s closer to his age and they’ve played longer together.
The only thing wrong with De Gea is his refusal to CATCH the ball in crossing situations. Yesterday I counted TWO TIMES where he could have easily caught the ball and killed off the Spurs pressure but instead he’s decided to punch it out and it lands at the feet of s Spurs player and the pressure starts all over again. Other than that, he was imperious yesterday.
SECONDLY, We seriously NEED to convert our chances. Robin van Persie can’t be the only one who knows how to score for United. We have at least six goal threats on the pitch most times and not even ONE can convert a chance? That is the major reason we lost yesterday. We could have killed off Spurs if we had converted just even ONE of the opportunities we had yesterday.
Off topic: Vote for Ryan Giggs!
ESPNs Greatest FACup Moments:
http://www.espn.co.uk/facupstories/sport/story/188762.html
Vote early and often. That’s what internet polling is all about !
Get a load of this lads! Perfect manager for Liverpool eh!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2265841/Brendan-Rodgers-arrives-court-support-son-Anton-charged-sexual-assault-voyeurism.html
Dissapointed with the effort to close the game out,defence were first rate but by surrendering control the ball kept returning immediatly and that’s not good enough spoiled all the graft done.
Anyone have a video link to the challenge on Rafael in the build up to the equalizer?
Cheers
De Gea is 22 years old. Still young for a footballer, let alone one playing as a goalie. I think he has cut down the amount of mistakes now that he gets games under his belt. Shame that one moment of “weakness” overshadows the numerous amount he has saved us. I say stick with him in goal – he needs games and his confidence will build along. Bulk up, build his trust with his fellow defence and communicate more (especially with Vidic); I think he’ll be just fine. Personally think this would be a bad time to switch to Anders. We need stability at the back.
In general, naturally we are bound to drop points as we come to a close. It’s just a mighty shame it came at WHL, whilst leading with a minute to go. The next runs of games are winnable, so there should be no excuses.
On another note, Valencia has been disappointing this season. It seems like he lost the confidence to run at defences. I thought Ando should’ve come on yesterday instead of Valencia.
Keep harping on about de gea and he will be off to barca quicker than expected.
All this talk about DDG should have caught the ball. True but he should never have been in that position. The team should have kept possession to close out the game. Therefore the whole team is to blame.
@dannysoya
“SECONDLY, We seriously NEED to convert our chances. Robin van Persie can’t be the only one who knows how to score for United.”
He’s not. The problem is that Fergie keeps benching guys who know how to find the back of the net in favor of Danny Welbeck.
If that continues, it WILL seem for all the world like Robin is the only one who knows how to convert.
I was wondering
Against liverpool, city, arsenal and chelski I think we have used the Cleverley Carrick or Ando as a solution to the middle, and they turned out well.
So why we didn’t do that against Tottenwho?? I know we got 1 point and fought till the end and we had the spirit, but what made SAF think Tottenham would be better than those teams I mentioned apart from Liverpool. Why did we give so much credit to them?
I would have played Kagawa/Welbeck to the left, Welbeck/Valencia to the right and RVP with Chicharito/Rooney at front with Carrick and Clevs in the middle.
It has worked so damn fine, so why change it`? this has bothered me. But I know that saying IF IF IF doesn’t help, and it’s pure speculations.
BUT why change something that ain’t broken??
Hi all. Im an avid fan of this blog and love reading the comments here every day. This is my first post, so please be nice. I am more than happy with a point considering that if we played like spurs, we would of been gutted with a loss. The fact remains that we had 5 attempts on goal of which 2 were on target. Their keeper did not make a save for 90 minutes, while ours made several. You can’t always keep letting your keeper get peppered and expect him to deal perfectly with every ball. Unfortunately for us, his mistake came right at the end. I would have taken a win, but the truth is that we did not deserve it. Hopefully we can learn from this on show more application going forward. I am starting to sense a level of fear in the united team when leading. When we are behind, we have played our best football. That attitude needs to be instilled at every moment in the game.
I was at White Hart Lane among Spurs fans and it was interesting to see how lacking in confidence they were against United, even when they were piling forward in the last 20 minutes or so. It was so annoying we’ve given them such a massive boost in confidence by conceding in injury time.
I have a few observations about United’s formation and performance, which are inter-related. As soon as I saw the line up, I felt it showed a lack of conviction, just like against City least season. This winger-less approach leaves the team unprotected down the wings, gifting all that space to Lennon, which he duly exploited, over and over. If Bale had been at his best that would have left United dead and buried.
I was glad Welbeck kept his place, with the message to Rooney that he can’t just expect to walk back into the team. It’s worrying how far off his best Wazza is at present, though he did work hard and didn’t get too frustrated when he did come on.
As someone has said, Anderson should have come on, to give more drive and energy in midfield, as Spurs became more dominant once Cleverley and Kagawa had gone. Valancia was poor again, which is another worry. I think I’d have given Nani a go, given that he has a good track record v Spurs.
Scott mentions De Gea’s good distribution, but yesterday it was shit. He was reduced to endless long punts straight down the middle, with no-one on the wings or in space. Spurs centre backs just gobbled the balls up and came straight back at United.
United’s key substitution was Tom Cleverley because his restless marauding to-and-fro across the whole width of the pitch did give more protection to both Evra and the whole defence. Phil Jones did OK as a midfielder/ defender, but lacked the critical focus to switch defence from attack at pace in the way United have been doing all season when deploying at least one winger. Kagawa does give that added dimensuion of wit and unpredictability and is steadily growing into the role but works most effectively when there’s decent presence on the left flank.. With no-one out there on either wing we were certainly more compact in defence but struggled to get those triangular passing movements going.
One last gripe. I was shocked at how often United players wasted free kicks and throw-ins, with no-one moving into space or ‘offering’. There was another thing that amazed me and that was how often our players just switch off when play stops, just wandering slowly back to positions or even not bothering at all, letting Spurs players sneak into danger zones. Sometimes when corners were flying in you could see United players with their backs to the play, dozily strolling about. That may be why the defence has been so vulnerable this season, too many players, mid-field and defence, are just too casual, losing concentration at crucial moments. Thank God for Van Persie, with his cleanly taken goal, header perfectly placed from a wonderful cross from Cleverley which was Beckham-esque.
Giles Oakley, Cheers, hope you are well!. I agree. I wanted Rooney on earlier if not from the start.
What did you make of Kagawa or Bale for that matter. Thought we kept bale at bay from my view.
no use crying over split milk but why did we let Pogba go when he can score a goal like this http://youtu.be/QbgLkhCOlhM
Hi Fletchtheman
I thought United handled Bale well, and Rafael had a good game overall (not helped by some refereeing decisions), forcing Bale to go wandering inside. The thing about Bale is though that one feels he could ‘explode’ at any moment and sweep aside the best of defences. One has to admit Spurs had two wingers who are better than any combination we’ve got at present. Lennon is getting better with his decision-making and he’s clearly got the hex on Evra , as he did in the Carkling Cup Final in 2010, something Evra has never fully recovered from.
@Ohiored – Coz Juve offered him something we couldn’t – decent wages and first team football. End of story, let’s move on (he is going to be a top player though)
@Giles – it was the Carling Cup final of 2009 if I remember correctly. Since then Lennon has pulled his pants down pretty much every single time we’ve faced them.
I’d actually employ the same tactics we did on Bale to Ronaldo. Double/triple mark him. Rooney on the right wing tracking back….and Jones in central midfield again, going over to the flank and helping Rafael out.
Would also put Anderson in midfield….his ability to power forward with the ball is crucial on the counter attack (yaya Toure caused them a few problems with that as well). Plus he can take care of Di Maria when he cuts infield from the right.
A comment from YouTube….
“I fucking hate Spuds but I about herniated a disc celebrating! 10 – 7 – 5 dramatic turnaround from sky sports 10 point sunday last week. Seeing this cunt fuck off into retirement bottling a lead in consecutive season would be fucking glorious!”
LOL. Wow, I knew City fans were weird, but this guy actually thinks City managed to reduce a 10 point deficit to 5….. while United were technically 10 points clear, we were 10 points clear a HALF HOUR before the City – Arsenal game started, in which they had another lucky break with the red card at the start. Claiming you came back from 10 points down when you were only 10 behinds behind for a couple of hours is all kinds of fucking stupid. As for his hatred of Fergie, whatever, deep down he knows we won’t bottle it this season… in fact City are the ones who look more in danger of dropping points than we do. I am almost restless for the game against them at Old Trafford. I want a vicious angry response to the 1-6 game since it will be our first league meeting there since that horrible day. Would be so wonderful to end any hope they have at OT, then clash with them in the FA Cup and chuck them the fuck out of that too.
If there’s one thing we learned from the Etihad game already, its that Fergie has them pegged tactically, they thought they were on top then we hit them with both devastating counters, then they AGAIN rode their luck when Ashley was denied our third goal of the day and scored to make it 1-2, then that shot from Zabaletta and they really REALLY thought a winner was on the card, but they forgot the Dutch man wears red, not fucking BLUE, and we walked away with what we fucking deserved. If we can handle them like that on their own turf, then with a full team at Old Traf in a few months, we’ll walk them again. This is a team who couldn’t beat Ajax, I think we’ll be A-OK
@Dela
Absolutely mate. I am hoping we do them this season on our home turf. What utter disrespect for just about the most successful manager this league has seen. I mean, Mankini isn’t anywhere near a knighthood.
Did somebody else notice rafael surging ahead in injury time for a counter when all you have to do is sit out 1 minute of time and take a 1-0 win.
@ohiored Pogba with that hairstyle in united shirt. deary me
FA asks Sir Alex Ferguson to explain the comments he made following Manchester United’s draw against Tottenham on Sunday
http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/sport/football/manchester_united/s/1598663
FA: Can you explain the comment: “We were never going to get a decision from him” made to BBC after the match vs Tottenham.
Sir Alex: “After the match we sent a note to all the match officials asking if they would come round to Carrington for spota to honor Clatty getting a the game on Sat’rdy. After I was asked about the officiating by the lad from the BEEB, it dawned on me that the were probably bound by contract not to accept.
It was just an off hand remark ya know… “We were never going to get a decision from him” . “that’s all!
Give the fact that chelsea and even wigan(freaking wigan???) beat them at WHL this season how can rio say that he would have taken a point before the game?
Have to agree with costas that we invited pressure and expected to get away with it.The valencia substitution played its part where we needed someone in the middle to partner carrick and take control of the game.
i think Giggs should have come in instead of Tony. His form compared to Tony’s right now is better. and he would have given us some more security and calmness on the ball to hold on or get that killer pass to bury it
*given the fact* sorry for the typo
Pat nevin is absolute dumbass
These reactions are spot on. Good to read some thoughts from Giles as well!
Scott is being honest for saying he’d be happy with a draw. Thats the last thing I was thinking. I didn’t expect a win mind you, but we had enough players fit on Sunday to turn Spurs right over. Instead we got an ‘experimental’ team selection and that surprised me, especially for a league game.
Ferguson does sail close to the wind at times with his rotation policy, but imo the starting 11 for West Ham in the FA Cup was stronger than Sunday’s team. Even off form, Nani and Valencia are a match for Bale and Lennon, especially if we went with RVP up top, Kagawa behind him, and Carrick and Cleverley in the middle.
Im only guessing, but it definitely wasn’t our strongest possible team for the fixture. Once I saw the line up and the first 10 minutes, I got the impression we were ‘half’ preparing for Madrid and ‘half’ going for a win. Im not criticising that, we put in a top defensive performance and nearly took all 3 points. If we kept the lads we started with we could’ve pulled it off, but like Scott said the subs didn’t work out.
Rooney wasn’t up to the task in CM. Yes he was always a threat on the counter, even thought he was off form, but Cleverley was doing much more than waiting for the break. He was making himself available and defending. Valencia didn’t have the impact off the bench we needed, and hardly set the right flank alight, but tbf he had much less CM support than he did v West Ham.
Even so, Rooney and Valencia were hardly terrible, and to be blunt they really need the minutes with the fixture list we’ve got. More importantly, if the officials did their job properly on Sunday we already did enough to warrant a penalty at 1-0. Couldn’t believe they’re thinking about hauling Fergie up for his comments. It was a figure of speech. Im just glad we didn’t drop all 3, 5 points is still a huge lead.
Looking forward, and based on who started v Spurs, im assuming Nani and Ando are intended for Fulham in the FA Cup. Hopefully Valencia and Rooney start that match as well. They should all be well up for that game. Gutted to drop 2 points, but giving all our top players a chance to find form is priceless. 1 point is better than none. 2 weeks till Champions League.
You aren’t supposed to challenge the integrity of officials and thankfully Ferguson hasn’t done that. However, I do wonder what the possible explanations are for this linesman not flagging a penalty? It has been universally accepted as a foul and a very clear foul from the linesman’s obscured view some 10 yards away. So what went wrong for the official. Did he not see it? Did he purposefully not give the decision? Was he too cowardly to give it? I’m straining for other possible explanations…
So even if Ferguson had questioned the officials integrity would he be wrong whenever the only possible explanations for his inaction reflect notions of gross incompetence.
@UTID
I am with you on you comment, like I said earlier, but it wasn’t noted
Against liverpool, city, arsenal and chelski I think we have used the Cleverley Carrick or Ando as a solution to the middle, and they turned out well.
So why we didn’t do that against Tottenwho?? I know we got 1 point and fought till the end and we had the spirit, but what made SAF think Tottenham would be better than those teams I mentioned apart from Liverpool. Why did we give so much credit to them?
I would have played Kagawa/Welbeck to the left, Welbeck/Valencia/Nani to the right and RVP with Chicharito/Rooney at front with Carrick and Clevs in the middle.
It has worked so damn fine, so why change it`? this has bothered me. But I know that saying IF IF IF doesn’t help, and it’s pure speculations.
BUT why change something that ain’t broken??
a great read on DDG, on the manutd.com
http://www.manutd.com/en/Fanzone/News-And-Blogs/2013/Jan/adam-marshall-blog-on-david-de-gea-criticism.aspx?pageNo=2
I also wonder, if the greates team of all time, Barcelona can recognise the talent DDG has, why the pundits are so blind.
getting annoyed, the lad practically saved us 1 point, cause I am afraid, though you never know, that if the 1on1 or the Bale shot would have gone in, we would have lost 1 point we gained.
Those who can’t see, DDG is one of the best keepers i nthe league, no matter the commanding issues, which will come good. I hope SAF realises it, and with the playing time DDG is getting I think SAF knows it.
I have been thinking long and hard about the game on Sunday.
A point is an acceptable result although the performance was poor.
I was deeply concerned by the team selection.
De Gea, Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra, Rafael, Cleverley, Carrick, Anderson, Valencia, Kagawa and van Persie.
Our wingers just dont have the form to play two of them against such a good team away from home.
A point wasn’t good before the game and it certainly wasn’t after. Spurs play a high line, like Chelsea did under Villas-Boas. There was lots of space behind the slow and shit defense of spurs containing the hoof machine that is Dawson. We were to defensive and that showed in the shots on goal stats.
On another note, can’t for the life of me get why Hernandez isn’t playing. Rooney is once again hitting that new bottom in terms of form whereas Welbeck runs a lot, but can’t make the final pass/shot count.
I would like to see the above defense and midfield in Spain.
The front three can be rotated depending on who is on form and who we play against.
@diego
I think Chicha not playign has to do that he has scored 11 goals in his last 13 games and I think assisted 2.
So he’s not scoring or running or passing enough.
OBVIOUSLY
or it’s
“tactical” to leave such a non profilic player on the bench
I am sorry 11 games in his last 14 and assisted only 4 in his last 14 games
so in total of 15 points in his last 14 games, and I am not including the games for Mexico where he scored 2
so basically 13 goals and 4 assists in his last 16
OBVIOUSLY he’s not not profilic and we are saving him
Ou I have more, and I know some will “ducks” wil lsay why am I again putting the same thing, well to tell you how Chicharito doesn’t deserve to start.
Which breaks the myth of Chicha being only a supersub and contributing more from there. Not saying he’s not good coming from the subs, but he’s better when he starts.
CHICHARITO @ MANCHESTER UNITED
2010-2011: 45/20 ~ start: 27, goals 12 ~ sub: 18, goals: 8 ~ scored in 17 games = 37.7%
2011-2012: 36/12 ~ start: 22, goals: 10 ~ sub: 14, goals: 2 ~ scored in 10 games = 27.7%
2012-2013: 21/12 ~ start:13, goals: 8 ~ sub: 9, goals: 4 ~ scored in 9 games = 42.8% Overall:
starts: 62, goals: 30, scored in 23 games = 37.7%
sub: 41, goals: 14, scored in 13 games = 31.7%
102 games, 44 goals, scored in 36 games = 35.2%
11 assists ~
2010-2011: 4,
2011-2012: 3,
2012-2013: 5.
12* assists.
Great to read all the comments from all you insiteful readers! The law of averages tell you that with so many shots at De Gea’s goal one of them will go in. Just too bad it came at the very end! The fault is not the defence but the midfield and attack, They need to hold the ball and play up. Why Kagawa and Cleverley the 2 with the possession game, energy and drive were substituted only AF knows! If they had remained I reckon we would have won! Thts’s the problem of wanting to play Rooney in a game, who do you take off? The answer so often is Kagawa because AF does not want to take off Welbeck. How does Chicha feel when the bumbling colleague who can’t score gets to play? If and when AF sorts out the best 11 and the positions for his forwards then the team will fly……
@We Are United
The games you mentioned happened earlier, but right now we’re entering the business end. I agree we could’ve started a stronger team, so Sunday’s selection must’ve been based on upcoming fixtures. Doubt Fergie would’ve gone with that team otherwise
As for Hernandez, brilliant though he is, its not always as simple as throwing him on the pitch mate! Chica maintains a high line and rarely drops deep to get the ball, so who in Sunday’s team was gonna get the ball to him regularly? Without conceding?
Or to put it another way, Welbeck started because he suited the line up. He posed a threat all over the pitch, on the left, the right, through the middle, deep, and in the box. Plus he sticks a boot in, so in a 5 man midfield he gives more bang for the buck mate.
But lets say Chica was subbed on to join RVP… who in the rest of that team was gonna get the ball forward? Chica and Robin up front would’ve meant a 4 man midfield of Valencia, Rooney, Jones and Carrick, and they had a 1-0 away lead to defend!
Hernandez is brilliant, but he only shines when he has delivery to match. Sunday’s team wasn’t set up to pepper the Spurs box and thats why he didn’t start. Danny didn’t get good service, but he still posed a threat and created as much as Tom or Kag tbf to him.
When we face teams with two wingers Chica is in his element, and we know what he can do with chance after chance. But when we start with 1 striker, Danny has to be first choice to play wide, especially when Nani, Young and Valencia are injured or out of form.
Just imagine if Fergie switched us to a 4-4-2 on Sunday with Rooney, Jones, Carrick and Valencia in midfield? We could’ve lost the game! DDG was keeping us in the game with 5 players in midfield as it is! Once we get our wingers back, we’ll see more of Hernandez. Maybe RVP will sit out the FA Cup and Rooney and Chica will start? Either way, we should appreciate what each player does bring to the team, and in a 4-5-1 with no wingers, Welbeck did a solid job on Sunday. Ferguson has to take each game as it comes mate. He nearly pulled it off.
@UTID
haha, you understood me wrong mate!
I didn’t mean to cut Welbeck off, he’s been brilliant and deserved to start that game and play through 90minutes. He’s been very good coming from the middle or wing. Better than the rest of our “real” wingers
I think this is the only thing where you went wrong: “so who in Sunday’s team was gonna get the ball to him regularly? ”
We had Welbeck, we had Cleverley and we had Carrick to deliver him and also Kagawa would have been a good choice to give him the ball, RVP also. SO basically all our 442 players. If we play 442, so who would play him the balls, those players of course
if you get what I mean.
You can’t use that excuse with Chicha, cause the lad is a professional, and manages to create chances also, and he’s not bad at keeping the posession.
By playing too defensively, we gave Tottenham too much respect. And not saying just because of the 1-1, but even if it was 1-0 for us. I think the duo of Clevs and Carrick does well, Kagawa in the left and Welbeck on the right would have been ideal, like against Liverpool. Except Welbeck played as a striker. As great as Jones played and a talented lad he is, I wouldn’t have played him in that match.
I understand that we played basically 451 and Jones covered Bale, but here I see where SAF went wrong. Against City for example we played 442 and we did brilliant. Are Tottenham better than City? No matter how good their wingers are. The answer is no. I think SAF blew this up. He thought he could deal with the defensice approach but it cost us 2 points.
We fought and our spirit was EXELLENT, but I think SAF made a mistake, and this is only my opinion
And look, Chicha ain’t no “special” player that can be used only with some tactics, no matter what, we have seem him this season, he keeps the ball ,and if he was the lone striker, it would have meant RVP to drop deep. And this is IF we would have approached the game with my starting eleven.
It’s no science with Chicha, sacrifice someone else, instead of Chicha, drop RVP deep, he can playmake, and score goals.
The thing is why we didn’t do that is: SAF decided to go ultradefensive in this game. 2 shots towards the goal tells it all. If he’d approached the game with 4411, the game would have been different, I believe so.
But it’s easy for us to sit behind the computer and say this and that. IF and IF
peace mate!
forgot to mention this
“Sunday’s selection must’ve been based on upcoming fixtures. Doubt Fergie would’ve gone with that team otherwise”
I agree.
Imagine that Manchester United had to sell either Chicha or Wellbeck right now. Who would you keep between the two forwards if you had to decide today?? One scores and the other however great a runner, does not. Other than Chicharito, Robin Van Persie is the only forward who is constantly scoring. Trust me when i say that there is not a single soul outside of Britain, who would pick Danny Wellbeck ahead of Chicha, and thats reality. This sport is about scoring goals and if your forward is not scoring, regardless of nationality, theres no logical reason to pick him ahead of another forward who is. And please dont say he helps defending, we are Manchester United, and we are supposed to have players who are capable of dominating their area ffs.
I just can’t understand the criticism of De Gea after this match. I was pretty down after the game and didn’t check any social websites for some time. Then I see that people are blaming the draw on De Gea who I thought did really well! I think that because supporters of other clubs try to constantly slate him that it’s gotten to our own supporters heads! If that had been ANY other goalkeeper in that league, nobody would have regarded that as a HUGE or STUPID mistake. Every goalkeeper in the league make mistakes but they’re already settled and/or don’t have a huge price tag on their heads and therefor don’t have to take shit for it. I think it’s clear that because Carrick is playing so good now that even the worst Carrick haters can’t bash him anymore that De Gea is the new scapegoat! Why does there have to be a scapegoat?
I also saw that someone said his distribution was SHIT against Spurs. What? He always had to kick it long because of high pressure from them and always kicked it in to an area for the strikers or wingers to battle for it. Remember one even going directly to the feet of Cleverley in the middle of the park! Meanwhile Lloris was in the other goal constantly kicking the ball out of play, regarded as one of the best keepers in the world. Who dealt better with the snowy conditions? Unbelievable!
What I saw was a goalkeeper who saved our defense butts when Dempsey walked through them and then made a great save following to deflections!
What happened was a that we made a draw with the team in 4th place of the league, is that so tough to handle? Even Barcelona lose sometimes! It sucks but we can’t always win! I was gutted after that game, probably more because it was such a late goal but I don’t feel the need for a scapegoat to bash! The lads didn’t do well enough bet that happens! Bring on the next match!
To the 20th!
says:
Imagine that Manchester United had to sell either Chicha or Wellbeck right now. Who would you keep between the two forwards if you had to decide today?? One scores and the other however great a runner, does not. Other than Chicharito, Robin Van Persie is the only forward who is constantly scoring. Trust me when i say that there is not a single soul outside of Britain, who would pick Danny Wellbeck ahead of Chicha, and thats reality. This sport is about scoring goals and if your forward is not scoring, regardless of nationality, theres no logical reason to pick him ahead of another forward who is. And please dont say he helps defending, we are Manchester United, and we are supposed to have players who are capable of dominating their area ffs.”
1. But fergie picks him, the manager whose opinion matters more than you or your fellow scout-boys. 2. Neither is getting sold, your hypotheticals deserve one thing and that’s it being flushed down the toilet. Both players are integral members of the team, both bring different qualities to the table, welbeck was preferred to carry out a specific role and he put in an outstanding performance i thought, could have brought a goal too but he certainly needs to improve one area and it’s the ruthlessness in front of goal, the important thing is he continues to get into the area to score, hopefully it will be a matter of time for the confidence and belief that strikers feed on to rush back.
3. There is a logical reason to pick him as the manager had enough quality at his disposal yet welbeck got the nod, looks like we’ll add you to the many muppets that claim players make the team based on “selling shirts” or “nationality”.
People like you do not understand the essence of squad management or even tactical needs, can’t seem to grasp the idea that all the players have a role to carry out and everyone will get a game depending on what they offer, NO ONE IS BEING FUCKING SOLD. I can imagine if you were a manager, you would go all gung-ho against spurs and let the likes of bale have a joyous day, deary me!.
Stick to your “souls” outside britain and let those that actually understand what it takes to run a team (which is what fergie does) deal with the footballing side.
Has anyone else seen this? Real Madrid’s possible fixture list….
Opponent Competition Date
Valencia (a) La Liga 20/01
Valencia (a) Copa del Rey 23/01
Barca/Malaga (h)* Copa del Rey 30/01
Man United (h) C. League 13/02
Barca/Malaga (a)* Copa del Rey 27/02
Barcelona (h) La Liga 02/03
Man United (a) C. League 05/03
A Madrid (a) La Liga 27/04
*Must beat Valencia
I dont understand the sticks that Welbeck’s got. I mean goals aside, I think he brought another dimension to United’s game. His speed and pressure off the ball have always been a threat to the opposition. He doesnt have too many assists on his name. Because his contibution is more like assist-before-the-assist type.
Pardon my English tho
Agreed on de gea, the criticsm is gone beyond senseless, it isn’t made to benefit the growth/development of de gea. It seems the norm to pick a target and continue to lambast him and just in-FUCKING-case they’re proved right due to their victim committing an error (which is inevitable, de gea is inexperienced), they throw parade party. It simply is a case of blowing any that concerns manchester united into ridiculous proportion, these A.B.U’s are looking desperately for any sign of weakness, the pundits on this shores are an absolute disgrace, cunts like alan hansen writing players off like he once did to the likes of giggs and scholes. De gea does have things to improve on, certainly taking command and being more dominant of his box but that will only come with experience, those expecting him to bark at experienced defenders like vidic at this moment are living in coo coo land but his talent is clear for those that want to see it blossom, he has it in him to be world class and he’s only a couple of tweaking away from reaching those levels. Fergie knew exactly what he was buying when he got de gea in, he was never the complete keeper and still isn’t, the premier league is a testing league, it examines every aspects of a keepers prowess. You get teams constantly knocking crosses, diagonal and borderline long punts into the box,degea was brought up amongst technical players and he’s having to adapt, a lot of people can’t seem to see that. This constant hounding of de gea will only aid barca in their push to sign de gea for peanuts, they recognise his talents and with de gea getting grief off A.B.U’s, you’d think those that support or have an affiliation to united will rally around him but then you get skysports funded gary neville giving out flack, disappointed in my view but de gea is a strong character and will hopefully bounce back.
Hey…You win some, you draw some. End of.
Freakin Alan Hansen is targeting our DDG:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/9814601/Manchester-United-manager-Alex-Ferguson-must-decide-whether-to-axe-David-de-Gea-after-latest-mistake.html
While DDG could have done better to save Dempsey shot, I don’t think he is that bad and become our liability. To put DDG in the same place as Taibi, Bosnich, and Leighton is bollocking nonsense in highest order. Like others have said, he is still young and he is learning. And the whole team must be responsible for the goals conceded.
Anyway, Its fun to see ABU brigade doing all they can to stop United.
I have now seen this regarding DDG like on a 3rd different website in the last month.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/9816280/Manchester-United-on-the-hunt-to-replace-flailing-goalkeeper-David-de-Gea-with-Iker-Casillas-on-their-radar.html. lts ve very true that DDG has been a consistent shot stopper, best ball distributor but also consistent with blunders pn high balls. Why for instance didn’t he seek to tip the ball over his bar for a corner instead of punching it back into play. He has repeated that particular error over and ovet again
Gary Neville joins in criticizing de Gea on MNF
but makes a strong point:
“In that dressing room, playing for that manager, it’s not about destroying confidence. It’s about learning fast”
Points out that the United defense not much impressed w DdG after he weekly punched out the ball that ended up coming right back into the net.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YkDv2UksIyQ
redderdevil Haha, It won’t be Cassillas in my view. Lad will never play in the prem. To short. Full stop.
Ikar is a great keeper but at 1.85m, needs to stand on his toes to touch a crossbar mate. He is routinely found wanting on crosses and is being found out this season in La Liga.
If you want to talk about “way out by the moon” rumors then maybe you’ll be having Pepe Reina as our next keeper. I won’t be putting money on that one either.
In my view, you can put both those ideas right up your Fabian Barthez!
Silly season, oi me!
But the fact is united is scouting for a seasoned shot stopper. IT doesn’t mean though ddg will be released rather he will get time to develop away from the limelight. its anders who should worry
There were a ton of mistakes leading up to that goal. Blaming De Gea is the shortsighted and easy thing to do. Hansen says goalkeeping errors like that could cost us the title. He’s the pundit, but I guess he hasn’t noticed how many opposing attacking midfielders have scored against us unchecked this season. Dempsey himself has done it twice.
I fully agree, we shouldn’t blame De Gea as the lad kept us in the game and the goal came from a series of incidents any of which could have sorted the game. But keepers at United will be blamed.
Speaking of Keepers that got their share of the blame.
Mark Bosnich (38 games)
Fabien Barthez (139 games)
Roy Carroll (72 games)
Ben Foster (23 games)
Tim Howard (77 games)
Tomasz Kuszczak (61 games)
From my thinking you can only compare De Gea with Barthez from this list. Fantastic shot stopper, good with the distribution, struggled in the air. Reason for Barthez was his size (1.8m) smallest United number 1 in the EPL era. That is not De Gea’s problem. He will learn.
The redderdevil says: “But the fact is united is scouting for a seasoned shot stopper.”
Fact? I don’t think so. Can you substantiate your so-called ‘fact’?
@ WeAreUnited ;
mate, chicas stats when he starts are of course going to be better, when he starts h’ll play 60-90 mins. off the bench, he’ll play maybe around a third of that. so, obviously, he’s likely to score more goals when he starts. however, i’m sure if you calculate mins per goal when he starts, and when he’s a sub, you’ll see a difference.
furthermore, having chico come off the bench is better than having welbz come off it. and while chico’s overall play IS improving, it is NO where near the level of welbz overall play. either way, both bring different elements to the game. welbeck is the one i prefer, with his versatility as well, meaning he goes to the wings often, important seeing how shiite our wingers are this season. IMO, this should be our first XI, more or less..
DDG
Rafael- rio – vidic – evra
carrick – anderson
nani – rooney – kagawa
RVP
obviously there will be constant changing & rotation throughout the season to suit the opposition etc. reallyyy want to see cleverly develop his DEFENSIVE side so he can partner ando in a 4-4-2.
btw, appart from getting a carrick-type player, do we really need anyone else ? we have kags & rooney, maybe even welbz & RvP to be creative forces in the middle. get our wingers on form, ando will be our box to box player. only weakness in a defensive minded mid who can play the “carrick” role. don’t think anyone else in the world is anywhere near as good as him. alonso & busquets are up there, at that level imo.
finally, anyone seeing these pogba performances ? i think this is what sets us apart from most other top teams. we’re more disciplined and talent doesn’t matter unless you WANT to play for the club. won’t be held to ransom. even rooney ended up signing the ORIGINAL contract, no matter how high it really was. but yes, while mankini will bring back tevez to help win the title, SAF dropped rooney & evans against blackburn when we had an injury crisis, meaning we lost that match & then the title.. we win the united way, but we’d rather win with the style & discipline then we love, rather than like 2 faced cunts
Why is Welbeck getting stick when he was one of our best performers on Sunday? Worked his socks off, carried the ball forward with great threat (was the only member of our team that was actually willing to be a ball carrier)….and played a big part in our goal. Just like he did for both of our goals last week against Liverpool. You’ve gotta be blind if you can’t see the extra dimension he gives to our attacking play.
And for everybody talking about his lack of goals – nobody’s denying his finishing needs work….but he’s been playing as a winger pretty much all season. His goals output shouldn’t be compared to the strikers.
I think Scott suggesting that DDG should have flattened Vidic is a bit unfair. Sure a keeper like Schmeichel would have but Vidic is built like a brick so a young continental keeper isn’t ever going to be able to do that. I can’t even recall Edwin going through Vidic. I certainly can’t see a keeper like Joe Hart doing so.
What makes it worse for DDG in this situation is the way Vidic goes into DDG, its right in DDG core which will unbalance anyone
@Raizzen
The problem with Welbeck is that as you say he is great in positions where he provides the assist to the assist and his work rate is brilliant but when he gets in the final third and is in a great position to either score or assist he goes to pot. Its as if he gets in his own head when given time to think and losses the chance. That’s a major issue and is the kind of thing that makes the difference between a United level player and a mid table team player.
If he can just learn to relax and play naturally rather than over think and panic he could be a top player but he needs to sort that out quickly because he can’t be relied on and there’s a couple of good prospects behind him.
We should be patient and not want anybody out. Hate seeing what the media and some fans say that DDG should be drop for his mistake. I feel he is out number one and yes has a lot to learn but hes got a lightning speed reaction.
Even though hes not commanding, lets give him time. Everytime someone makes mistake, some fans asked to drop that player. It’s a shame that fans dont really support the team.
@redalltheway @sparkz
Nobody givin him stick, not after his last game, and I stated:
“January 22, 2013 at 01:25
WeAreUnited says: haha, you understood me wrong mate!
I didn’t mean to cut Welbeck off, he’s been brilliant and deserved to start that game and play through 90minutes. He’s been very good coming from the middle or wing. Better than the rest of our “real” wingers”
BTW. I don’t get how when I talk about Chicha, people suddenly defend Welbeck, when I clearly only said that Chicha deserves his starting place at the moment.
Nothing to do with Welbz, when the lad played his last game as a winger. But if it was me who chooses the striker, I would pick Chicha over Welbeck at the moment immediatelly. But the thing is, Welbeck played as a winger.
you contradict yourself, and don’t get me wrong, you say “mate, chicas stats when he starts are of course going to be better, when he starts h’ll play 60-90 mins. off the bench, he’ll play maybe around a third of that. so, obviously, he’s likely to score more goals when he starts.”
But isn’t it better to give Chicha his 90 minutes so he scores that one goal that might win us a game? Some get 90minutes and does nothing. When you know he’s scoring? strange. ManCity had the same problem with Dzeko, and now he’s playing, and scoring goals for fun, like Chicha.
It’s strange how people seem to put Chichas goals aside, when clearly they have been gamewinning goals no matter were they at 15 or 90 minutes. amazing. And has nothing to do with Welbeck at the moment.
BTW. The formation you put would be my formation if I were a manager. Maybe Clevs instead of Carrick? It depends.
DDG
Rafael- rio – vidic – evra
carrick – anderson
nani – rooney – kagawa
RVP
Brilliant!
@WeAreUnited – I wasn’t referring to you mate, there were a few others on this thread who were slating Welbeck.
***Did somebody else notice rafael surging ahead in injury time for a counter when all you have to do is sit out 1 minute of time and take a 1-0 win.***
Looked to me like the ball landed two feet from Tony and Rafael headed up the wing as an outlet to run the ball into their half/to the corner. Especially after he threw his hands up when Tony didn’t make a move to go for the ball.
Thought Rafael had a really good game. Gives me some hope for the Madrid ties.
Wellbeck showed a tonne of effort and skill but deary me when will he learn to pick out a pass? Strikers are supposed to be selfish, but when you’re playing on the wing you need to be supplying RVP.
Anyone seen enough QPR to give any insight on how Fabio is coming along?