It’s funny to read in the press and from United fans on the blog that Sunderland were robbed of three points yesterday – not because I don’t think United were dreadful, because we were, but because Sunderland didn’t really do anything. I think Steve Bruce set up his team brilliantly and was very impressed that they didn’t park the bus, but despite us passing to them every other pass, they only saw 37% of the ball and only had three attempts on goal all match, one of which that should have been struck off for a foul on the keeper.
Foster should have been far more commanding when coming out to collect the ball from Jones’ path but that doesn’t change the fact the Sunderland striker lead with his arm. I can only assume Darren Fletcher shouted “Are you blind as well as fat, you stupid twat?!” to earn him a yellow card immediately after Alan Wiley just seemed to stand there, not knowing what to do as Jones wheeled away to the away fans. Whilst not overly impressed with Foster’s contribution it doesn’t change the fact Jones’ arm/elbow was being rammed in to Foster’s face/neck, and if that had been the more competent Edwin Van der Sar, rather than the keeper our fans have already written off, we’d be furious that Wiley allowed the goal to stand.
Regardless, whilst pleased to have been given a game by a team prepared to go forward at Old Trafford, it can’t be denied that we were just dreadful. It was as if a spell had been cast over the team to ensure that every pass had to go astray. When even Paul Scholes can’t successfully find a player four yards away from him, you have to wonder what the fuck is going on.
Anderson came on at the break to replace Scholesy, who had picked up another silly yellow card, with the idea that he could just run the ball through midfield, given that we clearly weren’t able to pass it. By and large, he fulfilled this role, although he was also susceptible to the team’s inability to pass from time to time.
I can only assume that the fans giving a quick boo at half time were the same wankers chanting over Ferguson’s end of season speech. The Stretford End were the prime culprits but reassuringly ‘we love United, we do’ was sung immediately after, putting to shame the idiots who showed us all up. Who wants to be part of a crowd that boo their team despite being top of the league because of a 45 minute crap performance? God knows I laughed at Anfield’s crowd last season when they did the same thing against West Ham but now I don’t have any room to talk. Embarrassing.
Our first goal came from a individual piece of brilliance from our best player on the pitch, again, Dimitar Berbatov. He was clearly made up with scoring but was eager to get on with the game, get it won, pulling away from Rooney to get the ball out of the net and back to the centre of the field. His ability to keep the ball yesterday, by and large, allowed us to keep our heads just above the water at times, with him coming extremely deep to collect it and spreading the play wide.
Sadly, Danny Welbeck looked out of his depth yesterday but his work rate was good and he can only become good enough for these occasions by being played in them. It didn’t work out yesterday but I don’t see any purpose in being too critical of him. He tried hard but at the moment he just doesn’t have the physical presence required for a battling opponent like Sunderland. On the other wing, Nani was again frustrating but we did see more end product from him. He whipped in a few really dangerous balls and on another day could have had a few assists to his name. This is the first time he’s been given a good solid run out in the team, week in week out more or less, and I will wait until we’re half way or all the way through the season before judging him entirely. We haven’t seen the best of him and we wouldn’t have seen the best of Cristiano Ronaldo, the fella he is supposed to be replacing, if he played one match in four or five, like Nani spent most of last season doing.
A player who has already failed at becoming a United winger, Kieran Richardson, wisely claimed that he now knew that “the name on the front of the shirt is more important than the one on the back” before the game, showing maybe a change in attitude for the player who was booed by our fans when he lifted the Premiership trophy with us in 2007 and scored in the FA Cup semi-final against Watford. Sadly for him, this isn’t the case. Booked for a cynical challenge on Welbeck in the first half, Richardson was then given his marching orders for petulantly kicking the ball away after fouling Antonio Valencia. With time running out, Valencia ran over to collect the ball, at which point Richardson stopped talking to the linesman and quickly reacted to kick the ball away from our man. He then claimed innocence but it fell on deaf ears, even his manager’s, who correctly labelled it a “stupid” act in his post-match interview.
In Sir Alex Ferguson’s comments following the game, he singled out the referee over any of his own players, in a bid to deflect attention from our poor display. Whilst it does make the manager look fairly petty, he certainly did have a point. When Anton Ferdinand was booked midway in to the second half for a foul on Berbatov, Wiley took an age to record the details and wouldn’t allow us to take the freekick until he was done. He was well outside the box when Jones fouled Foster, only managing a jog to get in to a position that clearly didn’t give him a good enough view of what happened.
The biggest disappointment of the day though was probably Wayne Rooney, who sadly seems to come in and out of form without you even realising it. He was poor yesterday, losing the ball time and again, hesitating before shooting which allowed the defenders to get a block in, and his passing was dreadful. All players can have games like that and even Fletcher, who we’ve relied so heavily on to be a big performer, just wasn’t at the races. It’s on days like this that you need a bit of luck.
After a couple of goal-mouth scrambles and another four or so corners, United finally got one of the goals they needed after Anton Ferdinand deflected the ball in to the back of his own net, following a strike from Patrice Evra. The fact that Evra was up for a corner is telling enough to how strongly we were bombarding the box, given he is always the player we leave on the half way line in the event of a break from the opposition.
“We rescued a game in which we played so badly,” said Ferguson. “Our passing was just not what I expect of the team, right throughout the game. But credit to the players, they never give in. It’s a good quality to have. We’ve got something out of the game on a day when we’ve played really badly.”
Football games aren’t played on paper but that doesn’t change the fact we had created more than double the chances Sunderland did (12 shots to their 5), forced defensive intervention to lead to a ridiculous number of corners (15 corners to their 1), and totally dominated possession (63% to their 37%). I’m not arguing we deserved to win the game, because we didn’t, we simply didn’t play well enough. But equally, whilst Sunderland played to their strengths and did a good job of containing a woeful performing United side, it’s hard to argue they deserved all of the three points, regardless of who you blame for Sunderland’s second goal.
It’s a good time for an International break, with our players spending time reflecting on what they must do differently next match and our manager remembering we’re just eight matches in to the season and there is no excuse for not playing the strongest available team in the league.
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Scott. i am surprised that you are defending a few players.i mean WTH people pay 80-100 pounds to watch a match and so far we have been poor in most of the games failing to win by more than 1 goal margin.
really 63% possession dosent matter if at OT we are going to take 50 mins to get a shot on target.15 corners and we didnt make anything of it is a shame.vidic and evans and ferdinand have to score.Brucey and pallister scored so many goals between them.maybe nanis quality ahs something to do with it.
The fact is since 2007-08 season we havent really hit the heights it has been poor for United’s standards.1-0 2-1 wins are not what we expect from United. The quality of football is going lowe and lower.SAF has to look into it because we are not doing justice to the fact that United play atatcking football when we have been poor for 15 months now
Also how surprising is it that a defence that conceeded 6-8 goals a season at home in 2008 and created that record last season has already conceeded 6 goals in so few matches at OT
aig-You know we don’t hit second gear till mid-October.Last year we didn’t get out of it at all,we just kept grinding out wins.The only times we played flowing football was when we fell behind,like against Spurs at OT.
Relax,mate,we’ll recover soon enough and start playing attacking football again.
AIG – Hello. Relax mate, not like you to be so negative. You don’t play shit and record 8 straight wins no matter how “lucky” we may have been. We were good at Wigan, Citeh second half, Spurs and Stoke. Its only just October and Fergie is still “experimenting”. You can rest assured that won’t happen again against Bolton. VDS really will make the difference. Instills confidence in the back four which then spreads throughout the team.
Also the 1-0 and 2-1 wins. Is that indicative about United’s play or the fact that other teams have vastly improved since the heady days of 8-1 wins against Forest etc?
theboogeyman – Bloody hell you beat me to it.
One thing I must add though is Sir Alex simply didn’t give Sunderland and Brucey enough respect.
Sorry for the multiple posts but just saw this in one tabloid and its laughable!
“There’s no such thing as a lost cause for Manchester United. Out played and out fought by Sunderland for the whole 90 minutes, any other team in the division would have finished without a point to boast of”.
Outplayed?
king eric.hi mate.ya i know i am being too negative.i thought this was a great chance to probably extend our lead at the top.my grudge is we are playing poorly at home but doing fine away from home.conceding more goals at home than away.you are right the quality of teams has gone up.but as champions we too have to up our game.we are the ones who have to set the standards
I agree with that,King Eric.He shouldn’t have underestimated them like that.
I also agree in that the lack of drubbings is due to other teams’ improvement.
When you compare the overall quality of the English league to the Spanish,there is a gulf of difference.In the Spanish league,Barcelona and Real Madrid are both definitely going to exceed 100 points this year.They both can hammer teams by 5,6,or even 7 goals…
lol You poor English people and your tabloids.How do you not burn up these papers when you see ‘em?
Thank you Scott for what you said about Rooney. A lot of people are criticising Nani’s performance yesterday when Rooney was far worse. A guess Rooney cannot do no wrong for some…
Our passing yesterday was unbeliavable dreadfull. I couldn’t believe this was our team. The two positives yesterday were Berbatov (to shut up some people) and the fact that we manage to draw a game where we played badly.
Better games will come. Come on Manchester United!
Scott, Fletch picked up his yellow for a studs up lunge at half field at the beginning build up of Sunderlands goal. A goal which Foster should have made a better effort with. Stick your fist out and ram right through the bastard!
looking at arsenals shooting from distance makes me more frustrated.when will we learn to score from outside the box.why dont our players take shots.nani and anderson mostly hit them out of the ground
listen scott, i’m a big fan of ROM but for some time i’ve seen that you just blindly defend the team even if they play horrible.i can’t understand what makes you support foster so much.i think he’s in some way responsible for every single goal we’ve conceded this season.our defense looks extremely shaky this season because the keeper gives them no confidence at all.he’s just not good enough for utd and i think its his mistakes that are gonna cost us the title this year.i also don’t know what makes you think nani was good yesterday.he’s one winger who can’t run at the defenders and always ends up giving the ball away.the only time he started putting in crosses was after sunderland were putting all 10 men behind the ball and he was not under any pressure.out of the number of corners he took yesterday not a single one was well placed(to a certain extent sndland defended well but still).he has to work harder and learn to keep it simple rather than trying fancy flicks and backheels.i would rather have valencia starting every game because he keeps it simple and knows his limitations.coming to rooney i’m getting more and more dissapointed with rooney because he’s somehow lost the ability to shoot from distance and score wonder goals as he once used to.we need a player who can produce those moments of magic as ronaldo’s gone.berbatov is one player i’m extremely pleased with this season.even if he’s still not scoring enough goals,every time he comes out we can see him giving his all.finally we’re over relying on giggs.he’s probably having a time of his life out there but surely we can’t expect him to do it every single time.one final question why the hell brown doesn’t play?????
No mention of Rooney’s petulant kick??? Or his constant whining at team mates?? Hmm…wait a sec..this seems familiar. I seem to recall saying the same thing at exactly the same time last season about a certain number 7. Cant say i’m surprised Scott hasnt mentioned it.
perfect article! A1 scott!
agree with everything you said
Wiley was awful and he totally missed two pens…the handball and the foul on anderson. But I honestly don’t think any ref in the league would of called their 2nd goal a foul. Foster simply wasn’t up for it. I have lost faith in him and cringe at every back pass since the city game.
thought berbetov was excellent hope we see more of that when the rest of the squad decides to put the effort in.
Scott i disagree with most of your points here.
We were outplayed by Sunderland, their passing when they had the ball was better than ours, in particular in the first half. We were useless in the first half – but the twats that booed pissed me off. What are they thinking?
Foster was the culprit for the goal, not the ref. NO WAY was that a foul, Foster bitched it when he saw a two big fuckers heading his way, and didn’t commit to win the ball. How can someone out jump a keeper to a lofted straight ball when he’s got his arm span as well? His kicking was again equally as bad and just led to further pressure. Sorry to say it, but he isn’t good enough. We need VDS back, and another keeper next season.
Wellbeck is terrible. I’ve never rated him, he’s like Bambi on ice. No confidence on the ball, passing ability is terrible, his movement was dire, control was poor. Quite simply shouldn’t be in the team. I know he’s a striker and not a winger, but even upfront he’s wank.
Whats happening to Valencia? Why do we spend £16m on someone to sit on the bench whilst a non prolific reserve forward ambles down the left wing? Surely Valencia and Nani would’ve been a better choice? And where the fuck was Giggsy? He’s got 2 weeks off now!
Was getting frustrated with Berba’s movement too. Great goal, some great touches too. But what use are his silky touches on the half way line? He plays far too deep, leaving Rooney isolated an with too much to do. If Berbatov is to be a success at Utd, he needs to stop being a billy big bollocks (“give me the ball I’m the best player” – he did this a lot yesterday, throwing his arms about when he didn’t) and get himself 15 yards further up the pitch. His goal says it all really, think it was the only time he touched it in the area all game.
It was a hugely disappointing day, all that being said, we rescued a point (luckily) after what was the worst performance I’ve seen at OT for years. Typical Utd, so roll on the next game and lets hope for a draw between Chelski and the Scousers!
United need more scoring weapons – Arsenal have rosicky, arshavin, eduardo, we really need a third player who can create something – all we have at the moment are berba, rooney and giggsy – we need some players who create more nani and others far too inconsistent
Very poor performance, defo think SAF underestimated the strongest sunderland team we have seen and totaly agree about Rooney, but its out the way now and once VDS is back I dont doubt the clean sheets will be back which is my biggest complaint over the last couple ofweeks
Rooney’s been getting goals and showing flashes of brilliance for years now…Whatever can be said about Berbatov, he would never mis-control/fail to make so many passes/lose the ball as many times as Rooney seems to do in games where he just doesn’t show up.. My point is that whilst people like Fergie can go on about Rooney being a world player of the year candidate in the future, as long as there are players like Berbatov, Messi, Ronaldo, Kaka, and Gerrard around (and there’s plenty more) you wonder if he ever has a chance of finishing in the top three. It’s all about consistency at the top level, and Rooney still isn’t achieving it. I hope he corrects it because the bubble that exists around him as some world-great can’t all be wrong, although I have personally never understood it. But when you hear people like Lampard say Rooney has the best vision of any player he knows, or that United have tracked him since aged 13 and tried to sign him then, or the players that all talk about how good he is at United you believe he may have a chance of being a world beater. Even then, I start to wonder whether they are not just victims of the same media cycle but we’ll have to see. I remember Pele saying a bit ago that Rooney simply hadn’t progressed as he should have done and at the moment I’m unfortunately sitting in his camp, regardless of his return to goal-scoring form.
@linpaws. I agree with you. A defense needs to have confidence in the keeper. If they dont they will be unsettled.
North Stand Tier 2 Said. Hundred percent correct. A keeper should never be out jumped by anyone. Foster lacks confidence and technique.
aig alex is god
It is not the defence, it is Foster.
Look at the Man City, Arsenal, Sunderland games and at least 4 goals were at his own fault.
Yes, utd’s performance was well under par and they will need to do better in the coming wks cause we’ll never win any cups with performances like that but the fans that are running to the panic stations and saying that we are missing certain players i’ve got the following to point out:
> All teams have there off days and very few teams go on unbeaten winning runs of more than 10 games in all comps (we won 5pl games, 2 cl games and 1 cl game – quite a long winning run when you think about it) and also at no time has the team been playing to the peak of their abilities so they can improve on the quality of play of the city and spurs match (the best utd have most likely played so far imo) i’d be much more paniced if yesterday’s performance was the best performance they could give and they still drew/lost. This team is still getting used to this new formation and they will get better as the season goes on
> On missing the sold players: if you cast your minds back to last season it was our record breaking defence that was the focus of many stories not our offence and at the beginning of this season we haven’t had available/at full fitness/performing to the level we know they can all of that record breaking defence (van der sar has been out, rio on and off injured, pick and mix performances by vidic (probably not helped by rio’s problems meaning that great central defence partnership currently is not at full strength) and still no one that can really call that right back position their own (like evra’s left back – who’s been brillant this season atm)) we’ve had no problem with scoring goals, it’s been stopping goals going in that has been our major problem this season and we all know that ronaldo would of been little help in solving that particular problem if he was still here and tevez wouldn’t of most likely been either! Also if you look at utd pl results over the last 2 seasons there have still been hiccups against the so called ‘fodder’ even with these 2 players playing for us (07/08 pl season: 5 losses (man cityx2, bolton, west ham, chelsea) 6 draws (reading, portsmouth, arsenal, spurs, middlesbrough, blackburn) and in 9 of the 27 wins the game was won by only a 1 goal advantage over the opposition), (08/09 pl season: 4 losses (liverpoolx2, arsenal, fulham, fulham) 6 draws (newcastle, chelsea, everton,aston villa, spurs, arsenal) and in 17 of the 28 wins the game was won by only a 1 goal advantage over the opposition)
> This is still utds best start in the pl for a few years and our lose & draw have not come to table fodder – both sunderland and burnley have been doing well so far and the premier league (compared to some other leagues that will not be named) is so diverse this year that any team (apart from prehaps portsmouth right now) could take points off anyone – no result prediction is a full gone conclusion right now (for example look at wigans results against utd, chelsea & hull to see my point) there is anything between 6 – 10 teams not only realistically fighting for the europe spots but also a number of teams who could win the pl – i can’t even predict who’s going to finish in the top 4 right now let alone who’s going to win the the pl and that makes our league the most exciting in the world to following
> If utd continue getting these types of results then by my maths they should finish off with about 90 points at the end of the season which by going by our pl winning tally over the last 2 seasons (07/08 – 87pts, 08/09 – 90pts) should mean we are will on course for another pl title in theory
> We still have major players like van der sar and hargreaves to come back as well as obertan, diouf, the 2 serbian boys coming in at around xmas so this should be a refreshed team with lots of backup by the new year
All in all i still think that this team can achieve great things both this season and the following ones and just as long as utd don’t make performances/results like these a habit I think that there will be trophies in the cabinet come the end of the season!
@wsaid is that the same scoring weapons who only a few weeks ago couldn’t outscore us or citeh?! I’d take our squad over there’s any day!
There’s some negative bastards on here, yes we were shit but when I looked at the table this morning we were top!
@northstandtier2 with regards to welbeck the lad has plate 2 games this season, in the first game he was the best player in a red shirt and yesterday there were many players who were worse! Get behind the young lads for fuck sake lets not judge them off playing one game every now and then!
watching arsenal play can really make you drool.i personally feel they have the best attacking players in the league.arshavin walcott rosicky van persie fabregas.no one can beat that.
I don’t see how some people (not saying you Scott, just some comments on other posts) can be slagging off Rooney. Fucking hell, the lad’s been running his arse off the past eight games, he was just tired. Good time for the international break, much as I hate it, as our players now have some time to collect themselves.
The first half was fucking dreadful no matter how you cut it. Second was much better but Foster should have commanded his box. Yeah, he got hands on the second goal and he was elbowed, but punch the ball out and then get slammed. Poor decision making. I hope he pulls it out his arse and proves me wrong, but inconsistent match after inconsistent match and you start to wonder how long before even Fergie loses it with him.
solkjaer has done it.i admit foster is poor but vidic has been poor too.jones getting the better of vidic too many times is unexpected.rio too has looked shaky.maybe with vds back we will improve
Good read.
Don’t think it was a foul that is something I think attackers need to get more benefit of the doubt similar to tight calls on offside – give the attacker benefit of the doubt.
Agree on Rooney – not a told you so but, I’ve been saying that since the derby game, Rooney has been quite off form, he’s been very poor in gifting the ball back to the opposition and yesterday he was getting muscled out when on another day it would never have happened.
Overall I said luck for our draw because of how poor we were but, it was luck made by us. We needed to keep pressing after they scored second and it didn’t happen.
Another poor goal given up by Foster but, again that is another lesson learned. There was that real weak header back from Vida and had the City mishap not happened, he might have tried something silly instead just tried to whack it away – isn’t that why we give them time so they can learn, it can’t always be through marvelous performances, sadly learning through mistakes will have to happen. Next time a ball comes in like that, he’ll know to go through the player.
I think the team is now realizing the benefit of getting the ball more into Berbatov. There were things he did yesterday that would have opened up their defense but, our players weren’t on the same wave length. Practice aside, real game situations and him seeing the ball more – we’ll really start seeing more and more magic.
Congrats to the lads for not giving up. Congrats to the lads for getting out of the way the worst possible performance of the season – I can’t imagine another day of such poor passing.
I agree that Rooney has been working his ass off. He was off yesterday sure, but he is allowed an off day. He can not produce every game, he is not super human. The team as a whole were off, just frightens me that it is still early on and we have had more close escapes than convincing thumps.
very much off topic… Just saw a bit of the Arsenal game and – respect where it’s due – they really know how to destroy crap teams. good performance by them. Nothing new I know but I thought I’d just say that.
We play badly for one game, no infact we played terrible but yet still came away with a point, what the fuck is everyone complaining about?
Alot of people have been spoilt by our sucess, we arent going to win every single match so stop complaining, these are some of the best players in the world and your lucky enough to see them playing week in week out and have been lucky enough to see us picking up trophys year after year.
Boo’ing and getting on players backs doesnt help the team in anyway, its pointless and uncalled for we’re not fucking ingurland booing after every game.
Berbatov had a fantastic game yesterday, great goal and he tried to lift the team with his creativity but unfortunatly for him everyone else was off form, although Carrick / Anderson did make a difference when they came on.
It was a draw, get over it.
What the fuck? Rooney was tired? Well if he stops acting like a fucking knob when he comes off then maybe he’ll be subbed off more often!
There were a few components that contributed to the draw yesterday.
Firstly though we must congratulate Sunderland for their perfomance.
They came with a game plan and it almost worked.
But SAF changing the team around a bit too much and I felt that affected the flow and fluidity of the United team. It was almost disjointed.
The team just didn’t seem up for it and similarly as against Wolsberg is took a goal to wake us up. A lack of motivation or taking the opposition for granted was apparent.
The defence coupled with Ben Foster seem to lack communication.
Ben Foster has let some cheap goals in against Arsenal, City, and again Sunderland. He either needs to step up his game or continue sitting on the bench. This is the best chance he is ever gonna get with VDS being injured and he hasn’t taken it as say Johnny Evans did in central defence.
O’Shea is a very good utility player but I don’t think he is a first team starter. Neville isn’t good enough anymore and Fabio isn’t quite there yet. For the second time I saw O’Shea stand off a player for them to put a ball in. He let Bellamy run across him in the derby to score a stunning goal and again let the ball go in for Jones to score. That goal was a legitimate goal too by the way Foster should have palmed or punched out. Brown is better than O’Shea at right back. Even the goal against Wolfsbery came in from the left wing again.
United to our credit did not give up and as true champions didn’t give up without a fight. The referee didn’t allow time for the United goal in added time. But in the end this was a good opportunity to pull away from the pack hoping Chelski and The Bin Dippers draw.
But this is why we support United. Because they put us through days like this. One Love One United.
tony starks.ya and they were unlucky against us too.they will do well this year.they also have got rosicky and walcott back.i certainly consider them title rivals.its 5 teams this year.shitty doing well too.lets see how long they last
Oh and in addition to what I was saying earlier why make so many changes before the international break?! They will have more than a week off now!
fergie needs to leave the ref alone, not the thing you do when you come back late and get a draw. going after his fitness is sad considering he was joking with him during the manc city game.
concentrate on more fluid passing for the team, as arsenal did today against blackburn destroying them 6-2.
I think the players were mentally tired from the wolfsburg game and just did not get into this one. Again, just like fulham last year, big players seem to push us around pretty well, we need to get some tall physical midfielders/defenders in the transfer window. what an absolute steal Vermaalen has been for Arsenal, need someone like that!
I don’t understand people’s point about changes – the only non first team player to play was Welbeck – the others were all practically regulars, they just didn’t perform (like scholes, fletcher, foster, rooney etc..).. maybe giggs should have been in but he had just played on wednesday..
I have faith in this team, we’ve got a fantastic group of players, different styles and charactersitics. as far as i’m concerned the one problem we’ve got isnt a lack of skillfull players or lack of attacking midfielders, its a whole lot simplere. our problem is ball retention, our ball retention is quite simply not good enough. When we had ronaldo, the problem was swept under the carpet by playing kick and run football, now we actually have to pass the ball around and we’re finding it really difficult
aig – Fuck the gooners mate, they are flat track bullys. Something we should be I know but when the business end comes round lets see how Wengers fucking fairies deal with it. Got to say though they are great going forward and I do rate Vermaleen but I can assure you them or Citeh will NOT be challenging. They haven’t got the mental strength or wherewithal.
Unitedgeorge – Players do not “push United around”. What about Scholes and Fletch who dominated against Stokes “tuff guys”? We have more than enough beef in the team with the likes of Vida, Evans, Fletch, Scholes, Ando, Hargreaves, Rooney etc. When teams do try to play physical they usually come off second best.
Some of the kneejerk reactions on here astound me. For how “great” Arsenal are what the fuck have they won the last 4 or 5 seasons? Thats right fucking NISH.
I wont even rememvber this match in may
but i will remember Berbatovs goal for a long long time
Scott, and all,
I was at the game yesterday:
1) EAST STAND – where the FUCK was the atmosphere, our boys were playing VERY shite – and we did nothing to raise their spirits. Everytime I’d start a chant/song – i’d be met by my own voice. There are many people who would love to have a season ticket and make more noise. If your not showing your support – STAY AT HOME ! same goes for North and South Stand. Stretford Enders – well done. And for those booing the lads – I’m ashamed to have been sitting anywhere near you – you heard what I thought of you yesterday!
2) Scott, there was not a player on the pitch who deserves any praise! We were shite. (Still no excuse to boo our players). I was surprised with the team sheet. Where was Giggsy? Why the 2 weeks break for him? He coulda played yesterday and (possibly) won the game for us! He has no internationals. Park trained – and coulda played. Also shoulda had a backup striker on the bench!
thats my opinion . . .
Just a few points ( I guess enough said by all)…
1. Whichever way Scott cuts it, Foster is just not good enough. Period.
2. Overall, the team is still good. I still beleieve in Nani – he can be groomed, Rooney can have a bad day and so can Fletcher, or anybody for that matter.
3. However, what seems to be the beiggest concern with this team is that it really requires a kick in the arse, or a hair dryer, or an opponent’s goal, or a Ryan Giggs to galavnize it to action.Yes, we are United, we are our most dangerous when coming from behind, blah blah blah and more bs. The fact remains that any professional team with the ambition (more on that later) and talent that we have should look to dominating their oppoents from go. And this is just not a knee jerk reaction – think of the last season and some of the games this season – we just seemed to be happy playing pretty and not really going for the kill. And when you go in with that sort of attitude against a class team, they will murder you, as Barca did. I dont mind United losing – not to Sunderland, nor to Barca – but come on and show some cojones!!
4. Last, how ambitious are we this season? Or is the gaffer just being the gaffer? I cant believe that we realisitically dream of being Cl winners with Foster, without a class poacher striker, and with our current midfield. We will probably be able nick the PL and if SAF thinks this is the year to invest in youngsters and not be too ambitious, fair point to him, but honestly, how many of us fans really believe we are CL winner material? In fact, with all due respect, Scott – how about starting a post on that, instead of glazing our eyes over with Foster support and Tevez rant?!
BALL RETENTION LOOKS TO BE THE PROBLEM
king eric. hope you are right
king eric. hope you are right.but it will be very tight this year
@truereddevil
The home support at Old Trafford has been quiet for some time now.
Although few United fans will admit that.
Stats can be deceiving. How can you justify no shots at Sunderland goal at all during the first half. I would not have believed it had I not seen the match.
And I agree with all who complain about the poor atmosphere at OT yesterday. In matches like these the crowd should be our 12th player and encourage and cheer for the team. It is easy to shout and sing when we are winning.
half time between liverpool and chelsea and the score is : United still top of the league
@alpha_rs & Xyth:
Its the crowd that helped cross the line against Villa (Home) last season, and West Ham (Away). I was in the Stretie against Villa, and we made our voices heard. Some fans look at you like you’re a mad man when you made noise in the East yesterday. There was me, my gf and this poor old chap trying to make some noise – one guy even told us to quiten down! He was gonna get a battering! There should be no excuse for a poor atmosphere from the biggest capacity stadium in the country! We should be instilling TERROR into the hearts of visiting teams!
And Jeet – well said ! We have no chance with Europe, not that it would be a massive disappointment. 2 finals in 2 seasons is a great achievement, and if we don’t win the league – has ANYONE won the league 4 in a row? I would be happy if we just looked like we were trying !
Manchester United award for player of the season 2009/2010 goes to Owen Hargreaves
I can see it happen
agree with you scott, well said, fergie got it spot on about wiley, we could of had atleast 3 pens like i said yesterday, reids handball and evra getting tripped but oh well its done now
as for foster and nani, just there decision making needs sorted, nani won the ball alot yesterday for us put some tackles in and some good crosses, foster was fouled for me but aint giving in on him just yet as for welbeck his young who played in a team who was poor in the first half so didnt expect him to run the show on his own
Scott lad, get off ur high horse over foster, he has been given plenty of time now and he just isn’t good enough, he’s a good shot stopper but that’s it. Fergie needs to b ruthless in this, Jim Leighton is a prime example. That being said I don’t know were we r getting a new keeper from, not many good ones about
ghtt.chelsea are cunts.they wil score late and win
truereddevil – Spot on mate. The atmosphere in the North Stand yesterday was awful. Just people fucking shouting and groaning at the players. Nani was getting some right stick. Until the second half . Some lads near us at the top were trying to get “Ferguson’s Red and White army” going for a good five minutes but no cunt joined in. Appalling yesterday, compounded by the booing.
@truereddevil
I was in the east stand lower last year against Villa and the crowd was really good. Problem is they are only any good when they wanna be. As they are the same people who sit around me this season as last.
I have been saying for a while that United have some top quality players but are lacking at the very top level. Barcelona have Xavi, Iniesta, and Toure in midfield, and Henry, Ibrahimovic (shite), and Messi in attack. United just do not have the top quality players to compete with that.
I’ve come in to so much stick for saying that but how many real world class players do we have at United? I’m not saying we have none. But we don’t have as many as United fans like to make out.
chelsea scored
As long as Chelski don’t win today, it won’t have mattered would it. Get a poor performance out the way. Roll over Bolton then SuperDad Rooney to destroy the dippers.
Fuck off Anal-ka.
Nani should’ve taken the first free kick. We could’ve scored there. I knew Rooney was gonna bottle it seeing his performance in the Wolfsburg game. I think it’s time for goal drought again.
*Rooney’s goal drought
And that is why playing shite against Sunderland last night just was not good enough!
i would like to be in the dress room after first halftime. SAF talks normally with press, but im interesting what is he saying when he is alone with players….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nwg3mnvGR0A&feature=rec-HM-fresh+div
I just wished Welbeck had made that simple pass to Rooney when he had the chance instead of taking the shot….Rooney was in acres of space there.
if liverpool lose this chelsea go top
but how made is it that if that happens after 8 games liverpool will have lost 3 games
Chelsea winning is a good result for us. A scouse win brings them back into the race. I’d rather be in a two horse race with Chelsea than a three horse race with Liverpool in the mix.
we’ve showed that we are more than a one man team…but yesterday was one of those days where ronaldo would probably be rescuing us (a free kick, a header, a moment of magic?)
@ King Eric – I really think those cunts should be forced to give up their ticket. Fucking joke ! I remember when the Strettie started singing “hello hello” yesterday – and I was the only cunt singing it in the East Stand. Some guy behind me tells me to calm down – shoulda twatted the cunt !
@ Alpha – we dont need world class players to win the CL – just the will to do it. I’m not expecting the CL this season, I’d be happy with just the PL, and for that all we need to do is play football. Outside the top 4 or 5 teams, we dont need a magical performance. Against the mid-league and lower teams all we need to do is get our basics right. Passing was fucking appalling yesterday. No matter what the stats say! IF we got our passing right we woulda won that game. I remember Pompey away early last year – Andy Gray i think said – Pompey must feel like they’re playing piggy-in-the-middle the way United are passing. Well yesterday we were shown up by Sunderland at points ! Fucking embarrassing.
Watched the match yesterday and saw the writing on the wall when I saw 7 changes. Is SAF the new tinkerman? Ok make changes but 7 is too much. Why can’t we play our best team and make sure the game is won and then make changes?
We were shown up in the CL Final when our midfield was overrun so I expected a midfield player with class and vision to be signed during the summer. Instead we rely on Scholes who I hate to say it is not the world class player he used to be and Giggs who is having a great season. Can’t understand why Giggs wasn’t playing yesterday with the break coming up. Welbeck was out of his depth but then maybe it was the number of changes that was his downfall and the fact that he played on the wing. Nani got better during the game and Berba was our best player.
What has happened to Tosic? Can’t get a game here but is brilliant when he plays for his country. If he can’t make it here why was so much money spent on him in the first place.
I hope this is a blip but then I thought that when we played Burnley. Maybe SAF needs to spend some of that £80m that we are told we have in January so that we can win more than one trophy this season
Scousers can’t keep a clean sheet to save their life. Reina, best keeper in the Premiership.
Just want to spit this out – Ben Foster is the NEW Jim Leighton! Big fish in small pond material. Nervy, Unsure, Anxious, Indecisive – you get the picture?
I never thought I would write this. I am wishing dippers to score.
Don’t worry. St Stevie will do a Starfish and save them with a peno in the dying minutes.
Well, It is us or rent boys this season. Dippers are definitely out of it, especially as they are missing even an open goal.
Let’s just hope that they don’t do a run like the end of last season.
To see Hilario played so well, it makes me even more upset with Foster.
Chill the fuck out,guys.It’s only one game,the lads had an off day.We’ll be back soon enough.
PS:I know I’ve said it before,but I think it should be said again and again.
A draw between them would have been nice but when Chelsea banged in the second I thought ,better 2-0 than 1-0 .Rub salt into the dippers wounds!
I don’t get the grief for Welbeck. An 18 year old stiker being played on the left wing? It’s like Rooney being messed about all over again.
Play a player in their position and then you can judge them, otherwise credit for making the effort when asked to play out of position but to comment on how well he played is asinine.
what a miss by Avram Grant’s little kid, lol
Hi All
Well Scott, i was expecting that kind of response from you. I dont think we have to be panic and too negative just yet. We are just in early October, we are in a very strong position.
Anyway AIG you got a strong point there… 6 goals conceded already. So it seems that currently our problem is not about finding Ronaldo’s replacement in goalscoring, instead how to cope with games without both pacifiers Rio and VDS.
That’s almost 50% of their games this season the dippers have lost!
Am not too worried about the Rentboys , Liverpool, in particular Stevie GBH and the ladyboy were fucking poor. I just cannot see the Chelsea team lasting the distance with constantly playing their over 30′s, the three or four week African Nations and no transfer activity.
pjch – Our midfield was “over run” as you put it in Rome due to the fact neither Fletch or Hargo were playing and both Ando and Carrick were playing with injuries. As for Tosic he ain’t really even doing it for the reserves. Way off a first team place in my opinion. The word is he was just like an add on for the Ljijac deal.
@truereddevil
Come on mate of couse we need world class players and we are lacking at the very top level. When we lost Ronaldo we lost a world class player. It dissappointed me because we were on the verge of something great with that team. Now we need to change things up. We have Valencia who is afraid to bloody run at any decent defenders. At Wigan he was fearless. At United he seems overwhelmed by the red shirt.
So what world class players do we have at United?
alpha_rs what world class players would you want at Utd?
@Besty 07
I don’t know which world class players I’d want at United. I just don’t think we have enough. Rooney is getting there. Rio is world class. Who else?
Alpha_rs, I’ve noticed that Valencia ALWAYS runs at the defenders, his problem though is his crossing- needs to be more accurate. I’m not sure where you got that he never runs at defenders.
I don’t think an emphasis on getting ‘world class’ players is good. We have a couple of really solid players (Rooney, Berba, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Hargreaves, Owen and I think Fletcher is there too), but people have to remember that there is only 1 ball on the pitch. You need utility players, who might not be considered in that all encompassing, elusive ‘world class’ club that everyone seems so obsessed with- they help the team play as a whole.
In addition, we have some fantastic players coming up (the twins, Joshua King, Evans, De Laet, Macheda). I think our future is looking good. One bad game we’re terrible, a great game and the world’s best- it’s one thing for the media to be fickle, but not out fans!
Hey Guys. I’ve been following most of your comments ever since i got introduced to this website a few weeks ago. I wud like to join in too. I agree with what most of you are saying. I personally HATE Foster and wud slap him in the face if I ever saw him. I think he has been the ONLY problem we have. No defense in the world be it Barca, Chelsea Bayern…..any of the big teams in the world cud do their job properly with the worst goalkeeper in the world as Foster is. I think our players have done a great job even tho we’ve had that choot in goal (Btw, choot in my language means Cunt). I think we will bounce back strongly once VDS is back. Nani, Valencia Owen need more time more games. We gotta be patient with them. I’m sure even SAF knows that realistically the PL Title is our best hope this season. If we do get far in the CL than that wud be a bonus. Let’s not expect too much from the CL this season. Every team needs time to gel together in a new formation. Give the Boys time ! Cheers
alpha_rs Well Evra for me is world class imo the best left back in the world
@Jessie
Valencia didn’t run against Arsenal or Wolfsberg defences when he had a chance. Against Besiktas he ran riot but his final ball was poor.
We do have alot of solid players but that little bit extra at the highest level we are missing. I don’t think we have enough world class players in the team who can turn the game. Don’t get me wrong I don’t think we need a team full of world class players. But if you waana win the Champions League we need a bit of luck, and the players to do the job. I don’t think we quite have the players at the moment to do that job which is what I was referring to in earlier posts.
In relation to the Sunderland game I already give my opinion earlier.
Foster has let in too many dodgy goals and O’Shea is a good utility player but not quite good enough to be a first teamer. Alot of crosses have come in from the left wing and shots and it’s him who has stood off.
@alpha
Almost all of our first XI represent their countries. We have Giggs – and dont you dare call my childhood hero un-world-class! (lol).
Alpha, titles have and can be won without a world class player, and even if we dont win the title, I say it again – at least look like they are trying! Yesterday looked like they couldn’t be fucked, and quite frankly thats as much bollocks as those booing them!
alpha_rs
uniteds big problem is they do not have enough match winners. you could class rooney and berbatov has possible match winners and giggs to a lesser extent. but united do not have match winners from the wide positions, or from CM. add the fact we have got a dodgy GK and defence and the midfield lacks a world class player we will see more of these problems add the fact we went from maybe the fav to win the CL to 5th fav says a lot.
dl @ 15:24 – you’re quite right, 90 points would win the EPL again this year for UTD. That’s what I thought before the season started and haven’t really changed my mind.
Scott’s blog was somewhat off-target because the real stars of the game were the two Sunderland midfielders – Cana and Cattermole. Interestingly, in light of the way that Scholes manhandled Stoke, Steve Bruce had Cattermole right up Scholes’ jacksie – and he didn’t like it one bit. Their midfield pressure led to both of their goals – at Old Trafford, too.
About Foster – another terrible mistake; no matter how it’s dressed-up, he should have punched that ball. If Kenwyne Jones “fouled” him it was a very, very soft foul. I’ve seen it on replay and only a die-hard would claim that Foster was impeded by anyone other than himself.
O’Shea for the second time, played off his man and was burned by an excellent shot. Bent’s finish was terrific – he had a small opening and put the ball into it. Similar thing happened with Bellamy. I suppose we can “blame” O’Shea for playing a loose, “soft” defence but the fact of the matter is that he was exposed by excellent play by his opponent. No one can defend everthing. Shit happens.
I thought that UTD’s best player was Anderson – he came on and changed the vibe. Too bad that he can’t shoot straight.
Welbeck lost his moment when he was a second too slow on the give-and-go with Rooney – unlike LittleMikey who fed the ball back perfectly to Welbeck a few games ago and it resulted in a goal. But give the kid a break – he’s just 18 and probably isn’t quite match-ready for play at this level but, as others have said, SAF must see some great promise in him and who are we to disagree with that ?
Rooney was inconsistent; Nani was also inconsistent but I think he’s getting better and we’ll see a real breakthrough from him in the new year. Keep the faith. I’m less sure about Valencia because he seems too one-footed and somewhat awed by playing for a big team.
For me, there were two big problems: Scholes has again had trouble in an up-tempo game and Foster’s just a mistake-waiting-to-happen which can only unsettle the whole defensive organization. I think that Scholes – like Owen can only be used as a super-sub – and that Foster should get his P-45.
Looks like we will have to agree to disagree on most of your points. Could someone explain to me why Wellbeck was playing on the left midfield/wing?
If theres one thing that really gets on my tits its playing a player out of his natural postion, Wores still is playing a average player out of his natural postion. I dont buy into this shit about players needing games, fuck that!!! securethe 3 points first then put players on to get them needed minutes.
As for Foster he was crap, he may have been fouled but as far as im concerned if a keeper is going to come of his linefor a ball i dont care if he has to take out the forword and his own defenders but he HAS to get to the ball first. I personaly though he should have done better with the first goal aswell.
Stop defending Foster, it wasn’t a foul, once again poor judgement from him. Will be good to get VDS back and install some confidence in the defence again. Jones was a handful all match, literally won every ball against Vidic.
Nani was just shite again, so frustrating to watch. From what I can remember he put in two good balls? It’s obvious what he’s going to do a majority of the time and doesn’t exactly terrorise defenders.
I feel sorry for Welbeck, he shows glimpses of what he can do but it was an awful match for him to play in with the state of the rest of the team. Must be frustrating for him to be stuck out on the wing as well.
Berbatov once again proving the doubters wrong, frustrating to see him being frustrated though when little is on offer when he get’s the ball.
Rooney – an off day, he’s not going to be brilliant every game.
All in all a good point in the end, certainly not a push over side this season.
In January can we buy Alexis Sanchez and Ribery please???
Oh and maybe silva with the change.
We need matchwinning players with flair that know where the back of the net is!
20Legend – Yeah why don’t we throw Messi in and Iniesta! Have faith in the players we DO have, they will come good. How do you know Silva and Sanchez would cut it in England? After one result and the calls are for us to “sign players”. This is the first time on here since the Burnley defeat I have seen that comment about us wanting to sign players. I would hate for Ribery the arrogant little trouble maker to pull on a United shirt.
As I have said previous Orbetan looks real class.
20Legend
we propably need a GK add the fact united are still short in CM and on the wide positions. still united are short upfront, valencia nani anderson foster are just not up too standard. foster and kuszszec are the new howord and carrol. valencia nani and anderson are propably has poor has djemba kleberson and bellion its only taking ronaldos departure to see this add the fact valencia is just a midtable run of the mill wide player who offers no assists or goals.
Altonian – Have to disagree about Nani. Thought he was terrible first half but along with Berba he was our only threat second half. I counted 3 or 4 great balls in and he worked tirelessly.
manunitedchampions2008 – I see you are getting back to your old ways. Your a disgrace mate. 8 weeks ago you were fucking slagging Berba to fuck now he is a “match winner”. If you cannot see what Anderson offers then I give up. He made a difference when he came on and he is still only 21. This lad is going to be great. How impatient are you. I see your beloved Madrid got beat tonight.
So our keeper is shit, our defence, our whole midfield and now we are short up top. Get a fucking grip man.
King Eric
I said possible but I still do not think berbatov is good enough for united. just realise king eric that this united side is one of the most poor united sides. its not the worst but it is still a bad squad with to many holes and a lot of ageing players and the ones coming through and bought are no good enough its opinions if you cant dont come on here.
Non biased judgement here. Yesterdays point is a good point for you lot. Malbranque and Jones were outstanding and Sunderland really upped their game. Utd were poor but rescued a point- it may be an important point come the end of the season.
Foster is a bang average keeper but any team losing Van Der Saar would be weakened.
I can’t stand Rooney personally but he can’t do it every week- he had a poor game- get over it.
Wellbeck looked out of his depth but you’ll find the same people slating him were looking for him to be given a run out a few weeks ago. Unless he gets a go no one will know whether he’s up for it or not- and on paper a home game against Sunderland is a good game for him to get a run out.
Nani is no Ronaldo but then who is? To me he seems to be improving. As with Wellbeck- he needs a run in the team.
Chelsea won – but it’s not a two horse race, there is the depressing fact that City who have games in hand could go above us.
I don’t see Liverpool in it right now, Arsenal are not out of it. Another 3 points behind Chelsea and we could have serious problems.
Let’s be reaslistic, there are serious cohesion and adjustment problems this year, the team just does not look right, the rotation is excessive and with the exception of Evra and Giggs NO ONE is playing well consistently.
SAF is great, but in formation and player choice – such as last year Champions League final – he does not seem to chose the right team and strategy for the opposition on a number of occasions. Maybe he has too much faith in players or underestimates the opposition or is going to defencive. Rotation like this was never his style, maybe that is messing things up. Maybe he need Carlos Q back at no.2.
King Eric
the united side of 2 or 3 years ago would have put this side to bed in under an hour. so madrid lost thats their first defeat they still have a better squad than our squad. yes united have scored but just face it, its been car crash football and its not been great football either to watch. foster kuszszec G neville ferdinand o shea carrick anderson hargreaves valencia nani park berbatov the question marks over these players are still there when fergie wanted another striker. the defence is declining at a horrible rate, ferdinand there is something deeply wrong with him while he is injured a lot and the rest do not convince me. you can dress it up mask it king eric and be in denial but when it comes to the crunch and they face the best this side will be found out fact. the side is no longer feared and they are has bad has the madrid side of last season.
NBI Red Onion
fergie needs better players thats what he needs
This is not a knee jerk reaction after yesterdays result. No Utd fan can say the following is true so far this season (including the wins over city & arsenal):
Our movement & passing is crisp & freeflowing
Rooney is a true matchwinner (Im in no way critisisng his work ethic)
Our defefence makes at least two bad mistakes in every game
Our confidence is high
I dont know if sanchez can cut it in england but the guy is class (check him out in YouTube) and like a young ronaldo. If the fans can accept Owen, then ribery should easily fit in.
We need players who are direct and know where the back of the net, unfortunately rooney is the workhorse of the team rather than the match winner.
I am looking forward to seeing obertan, I believe he is class and he will shine in a Utd shirt.
All I want is the entertaining free flowing football back where it belongs!!!
20Legend
rooney is a match winner but I really believe rooney enjoys his football more when he is not truly the main man like last yar but the 2007 and 2008 title winning teams rooney was enjoying the freedom and possibility of knowing who can win the teams matches. rooney is not has good as ronaldo kak and messi but is class. ribery too late the time to sign him was summer 2007 that was the time not the waste of space nani who has 1 good game every 10. valencia dnt think has any good games let alone 1
@king Eric
How the hell can you say Oberton looks class when he couldnt was loaned out by Bordeaux to Lorient and only scored one goal in 15 games with only 6 starts?
Im not looking to bring in any players in January myself but to say Oberton is “class” is one hell of a statement, i only hope you are right.
I would certainly like to see Foster come good, but his performances don’t seem to suggest that happening. Against Stoke, he hardly had to deal with anything. Defending him is becoming more like defending the indefensible. Cant wait for VDS to get back.
I was of the opinion, before the season, that we need another creative influence in the midfield and I still maintain that opinion. Giggs’ absence yesterday proved that again. After watching Silva play for Valencia many times, I think he would be a good buy if it happened. But right now its a matter of backing the players that we have. Carrick and Anderson look good and I hope they continue to improve and I still expect Nani to come good. He’s getting a good run and I expect better things from him. Fletcher’s been the real star of the midfield and had an off day yesterday. Scholes will not play every game, but he has a role to play. Hargreaves should be a real asset when he is fit. Can’t wait to see Obertan play. And I hope to see Magnus Eikrem play more. His performances in the Reserves have been really good.
manutdchampions2008,
Some posters have called you negative, but, by and large, I’d have to agree with many of your points.
It’s not really the fact that we tied to Sunderland or lost to Burnley that’s concerning some fans (at least not me). Yes, the season is long and everything normalizes towards the end. The way I see it, there are two main facets towards winning the Premier League. The first is to beat the living crap out of “lower” teams that park the bus. Many top teams fail to break the deadlock but United have been dangerous because of our ability to do what other teams can’t. On the other hand, the second aspect is to take off as many points from the top teams. This can make a huge difference, particularly with regards to momentum.
To win the league, I think a team needs to achieve at least one of the two goals (preferably both for obvious reasons). Cue the current United team. To me, the concern is not that we dropped points to Sunderland or Burnley. Shit happens and you deal on with it. However, we can ill afford to drop many points and, in the past, United have made up for it by taking points off of other top clubs. Unfortunately, I can’t really expect this current United team to win the majority of the games against top clubs. Giggs, while magnificent, cannot be expected to drag our asses out of every game. Rooney, though being my favorite player on this team, is not a clinical-enough finisher for us to consistently rely on him. Our wingers can’t whip in dangerous balls and, even if they could, I’m not sure Rooney or Berbatov are the types of strikers that would bang them in on a consistent basis. Vidic has looked absolutely clumsy this year, Ferdinand is always injured and always has some sort of shocker whenever he returns, and Evra is fast as hell but can’t really shoot or cross.
That does not mean that I expect United to win all the encounters against Arsenal, Chelsea, Villa, Tottenham, Liverpool, and yes, even ManCity. If we drop points against those teams, I wouldn’t be happy obviously, but I would rather drop points to those teams than dropping points to Burnley. I cannot really see this point making up for losing points to crap teams by thrashing villa/tottenham/etc. We’ve ridden our luck for many matches already this season and I’m a firm believer that our luck will run out pretty soon. We were on a high last year, praising our impenetrable defense when I felt our defense was strong not because of our players’ abilities but because of the opposition’s failure to capitalize on our defensive mistakes. Then Liverpool happened. Then Eto’o burned Vidic for the final.
I think we need to improve on a lot of aspects. It would certainly help if we had a striker who could beat the last man (e.g. Drogba) or even two men (e.g. Torres). Rooney is just not that type of player and Berbatov certainly is not. We also need to drastically improve our shots:goal ratio. Many visiting teams invariably end up getting around 3-4 shots on target and still manage to score 2 goals in some cases. Our shots are generally not only off-target, the on-target shots to goals conversion rate is not high enough.
Don’t mean to be too preachy; just feel like we need to buckle down for a season with many ups and downs rather than thinking “this is United we’ll come back.” That kind of mantra can only pull us out so many times…
Rooney works for the team – he’s irreplaceable but he aint gonna score 20+ goals in the league.
Rooney works best with a Ruud, Saha, Ronaldo. Not a Berbatov.
The only problem is we have never replaced the above and now we are stuck hoping that the whole team chip in.
Yesterday I was pissed off with our performance. And I don’t even mean on the pitch. I had to turn the sound off on my telly because I was sick of hearing the Sunderland fans singing you’ll never walk alone and our lot sat there like they were in a library.
I would love to have a season ticket and be there to watch and support the guys every game, but I just don’t have the money. And then I have to sit there in front of the telly and listen (ha) to the lucky wankers who have season tickets acting like they’re in a church. I’m absolutely sick to death with it. Fucking bastards, don’t they get the concept of cheering the boys on?!
sign thomas vermanlan from arsenal..will get us 20 goals a season lol
Hustler
Thanks at least someone agrees with me, so because I am not happy with the team many think I am all of a sudden a city or madrid fan which is utter rubbish. also the year 2008 it was a special year for united 50 years of munich 40 years since our first triumph and in 2008 we won the double playing outstanding football unlike 2009 which was the worst title winning team in terms of entertainment. my grip with the team which guys like scott the red, king eric, Gotta hate tiny tears, and many others is they can’t seem grasp the prospect of the teams level and to open their eyes and see the horrible flaws in this team. You look at certain personalities of this team and it’s very bad in some areas and the balance is not there. ppl need to realise Like it or not ronaldo made a good side look great had reality but true.
The squad is basically a mix of the dying generation of players like giggs and scholes to a lesser extent and playing car crash bad football like Madrid done last year carrying the mantle and the next generation are either not good enough or not ready. Rooney and Fletcher are the next generation but they seem to be our only hope for the present when the likes of giggs Neville van der saar retire soon.
Rooney and berbatov can not score everygame they are not even real strikers like torres,drogba..the other players have to step up!
and oh by the way dont play with park welbeck valencia owen…
they are not good enough for man u!
20Legend
I agree which propably is the buys in summer 2007 and 2008 have not totaly worked out. tevez gone, hargreaves may never return right, anderson and nani still not first 11 players week in week out and scholes and giggs still show them what it takes to play football. berbatov still blows hot and cold and the sad fact is rooney and berbatov cant play together has a striking pair when both lke to drop deep.
The bottom line is The cracks are there for everybody to see, it was there last season against Tottenham at home & against villa, the only thing that saved us was REFEREES & Generous added time! Yesterdays game was ABYSMAL, it felt like déjà vu, we gave the ball away cheaply like we did against barca, the difference is that barca have the quality to destroy u and Sunderland don’t! I knew there would be problems the moment fergie didn’t replace ronaldo and tevez, we look short of ideas, we look like a team that relies on individuals to bail us out like we did Ronaldo. Arsenal are showing that they are the REAL DEAL, they totally outplayed us and at times embarressed us and to be honest we were LUCKY to get anything from that game, Drawing at Home to Sunderland is totally unacceptable, Arsenal have Arshavin, Rosicky, Walcott, Eduardo, van persie, fabregas, Vela, Wilshere and then Nasri. They have so much attacking threat it actually makes us look so poor! We need to sign because yesterdays result showed me that our squad is NOT good enough and VERY LIGHTWEIGHT! we rely on ROONEY too much! This is not good enough for a team like Utd!! Fergie needs to cut out intimidating referees because now fergie looks like a BULLY, we drew because we were SHIT not because the ref was not fit, we need to get REAL or forget about winning anything, the sooner we address the cracks and poor performances the better!
There is alot of you on here that make me ashamed to be a united fan, we lose one game and we are the worst team in the world! I think our success is demanding perfection from you lot. Some of you fans are DEMANDING we sign players, all i can say to you lot is get a grip! This is not championship manager or fifa, these players are human beings and they can have their off days. Lower league clubs that lose all the time dont moan as much as you!
How do you expect Nani, Foster etc…. to improve if your slating them at every moment you get, of course its going to knock their confidence, you should be getting behind these players and roaring them on, not calling them stupid cunts.
All our players are world class in my eyes, to say they are not world class makes you look like a fool because to think you know more than saf makes you look like a twat.
Get behind the team, there is no point going to old trafford and only singing when we are winning, we need to sing all the time, win, lose or draw and to the cunts that leave early, you dont deserve a ticket!
they should bring back standing terraces behind both sets of goals like they do in the german league! we need to create an atmostphere not a library!
and the funny thing is we didnt lose this game, we only drew it!
Pity old giggsy wasnt on the bench to rescue us again on saturday, but lets be realistic! 30 games to go and chelsea’s performances against hull and wigan leave me with a lot of optimism that they’ll slip up fairly regularly. Very open this year it looks no one great team and lots of good ones. Foster has a lot of potential but he has no confidence at the moment.
Kiko_mac
with you all the way bruv.
Stockholm – You are a disgrace pal. Don’t play someone who won us the Derby?
Kiko Mac – Spot on.
There’s no point in criticising the referee. The team is to blame for almost losing the game which they deserve to lose. All the players in the starting eleven, with the exception of Evra and Dimitar Berbatov, played shabbily. Ben Foster and Rooney left their heads behind at home and seven others got infected enough to play like beginners. We need 3 more seasoned players – good defender, a good mid-fielder, and a good forward to be able to defend the EPL Title and get to the Champions League finals. As things stand, we are not championship material yet.
booing the team is disgraceful, as if leaving before the finish. You support your team win lose or draw. You stay at the game until the end if for nothing else than to merely acknowledge that the entire squad and staff have busted their guts to get the right result for the club that week. The reality is you can be certain of at least one thing in football – you next loss, draw or win will always come (yes even if your pompey). Being a true supporter means exactly that – supporting your club through it all.
As for the game, Scott I disagree that it was a foul on Foster but that is neither here nor there. He didnt perform well enough – whether he is good enough for our team is a difficult question to answer right now.
Nani looks like he is improving but still takes a while to get going in each game. What you cant question is that the kid is definately trying his hardest and the really positive thing is that even if his crosses fail to beat the first man, that doesnt knock his confidence and he continues to try – which is maybe why he improvies as the game goes on. I think we need to stick with him.
na-sei how can you claim that arsenal’s attacking players are superior to ours? you list names like nasri (inj prone, and when hes fit hardly set the world alight), walcott (arsenal’s nani if you ask me), rosicky (their ans to hargreaves), vela (really?!?!?!) etc..
if you rate them so highly perhaps you should support arsenal, i can’t for the life of me see how our attacking threat does not measure up to theirs. sure we’ve not been the free flowing side of 07/08 but there are plenty of sides who would kill to have rooney, berba, giggsy, scholesy et al available to them. that being said, i acknowledge that we have some deficiencies in the team. our wingers have been poor so far and they haven’t been providing the kind of service we’ve been spoilt with in the years gone by.
patience is the key here, valencia is probably still trying to settle in, nani needs a proper run of games to establish himself whilst park needs to get himself sorted. don’t know what happened to him but his form has been really shoddy compared with his previous seasons. but remember the case of the ugly fletchering turned into a beautiful swan, Sir knows best!!!
kiko mac got it spot on, all the utd fans being so defeatist don’t deserve to support the team. its not like we’ve been having trophy barren spells, we just did the three-peat to steal an american term. we’re currently second in the league at a time that we traditionally are supposed to be crap. so come on UTD, go out there and humble all the critics by taking home no. 19!!!!
Its time out for Scholes and Gary N due to old aged and lack of pace and reflexes except Giggs who is still slightly better in fittness and ball skills.Once again we saw John Oshea ball watching resulted in the two goals conceeded against Sunderland.He did the same against City and Stokes and not to mentioned the rest of the past season.Why was Fabio sitting on the bench when it is very logical to use him as right back. Johnny Evans lack of playtime clearly showed his rustiness at the backline. Since Ferdinand is always injured why not rotate his position with Brown and Evans.
Guys, its very worrisome that United’s results are hinged on several very old players. Giggs, Scholes, VDS and Gary (for his leadership).
None of the younger players can really be depended upon.
Wazza, Berba still fades in and out of form.
Anderson, Nani are still very raw.
Valencia still looks to be a Wigan-level kinda player.
Sir Alex really need to get something sorted out for the future.
Hargreaves coming back from injury cannot be more welcomed!
Come on guys,it was a really bad day and i think its due to complacency i guess.We underestimated Sunderland,and i think Sir Alex did so too.The line up was fine,except that i felt weird that Welback was playing winger.When we win by a good margin, we go “We’ve the best team play around”, but when we have a bad game, we start to criticise and say that players like Rooney and Berba are inconsistent and Valencia’s not that good.Shouldn’t be like that. There’s only one reason-complacency,as simple as that.Our attitude in the first half was “Ah,we’ll be winnin’ this one eh”.And we only bucked up in the second half.One more thing,we need to pressurize the opposition more.Sometimes,its like we’re riding on a thin defence line, we’re somewhat asking our opponents to try and shoot and one reason’s O Shea.I’m not singly him out,but Vidic can’t be doing everything himself.Do wish Rio had played,but i guess Sir Alex’s got his reason-to not exert Rio’s back.Complacency led to us giving the ball away so many a times and very cheaply too.We always seem to do this eh,to lose to opportunity to go clear up front.The season’s still a long way to go, and two(+Burnley)poor games won’t affect,if we don’t give in to complacency.Oh yes,i wish we’d shoot more further out.Not to compare,but the Gunners got some good goals yesterday.GLORY GLORY MAN UNITED!
Anyone thinks Vermaalen look’s like Vidic’s brother?
Anyone notice what the referee is doing? I think Sir Alex is correct. The referee is taking way too long for a booking and he surely didn’t see the foul on keeper foster. Moreover, he didn’t add any extra time for the injury time goal. Which is why Sir Alex blame it on his fitness. I do think it’s fair.
Pos—-Team——-P—-W—-D—-L—-F—- A—-GD—-Pts
____________________________________________
1——-Chelsea—-8—-7—-0—-1—-18—- 6—-12—-21
2——-Man Utd—-8—-6—-1—-1—-19—- 8—-11—-19
3——-Spuds——-8—-5—-1—-2—-19—-12—-7—-16
4——-Arsenal—–7—-5—-0—-2—-24—-10—14—15
Despite their win against Liverpool, I don’t think the title is for Chelsea this season. Their result against Stoke was horrible and they lost to Wigan.
aig alex – what makes me drool is 18 titles, to say united have been poor for 15 months is rediculous. the premiership has been regarded as the best league in the world for the last few years and champions league records back this up, so how can a poor team win a hat trick of titles. and at one point last year united were at tiny odds of 5/1 to win every trophy on offer. point being poor teams do not win the premierleague, cheer up.
on the booing fans – i wasn’t happy at all, never boo a red. but did find some heart that the ones who were booing were immediately repremanded by there peers. i also thought the stretford end showed class when clapping off a guttsy performance by the sunderland players.
the reason why rooney doesn’t get ‘shit’ is because you know that he is still giving 100%. united fans can stand for an off day but not a performance that lacks effort.
also … rooney has had great performances to off-set a bad day at the office but people are still waiting for nani to forfill the potential SAF thinks he has, so he is bound to suffer more scrutiny.
also b4 the sunderland games we were top of the league by goal difference so to say we lack goal winning margins is also nonsence.
sorry for the rant but i hate negativity, we are united fans with sir alex as manager we should be the most positive fans in world football. hopefully sir ryan giggs will come back in and we will answer the critics resoundingly
In regards of 2nd goal I think that as for Premiership standards this was not a foul. Game in the penelty area is always tougher judged in England.
Maybe they would call it in some other leagues but look as well that foster was on the boarder of goalie area and refs are less strict there with calling fouls on keeper.
The performance left a lot to wish for, but still one point taken is better than none.
The biggest factor in the first half was the terrible wind and im suprised not many papers etc have picked up on this. You could see the ball blowing everywhere and whilst both teams have to play in the same conditions, the wind does effect one team more than the other due to the direction its blowing.
Fair play to Sunderland, they came to OT with 2 strikers and played a normal game, something which is rare from opposition teams at OT.
You cant defend Foster for the 2nd goal, no matter how much you might wantto say Jones lead with hsi arm, it was not a fould and nothing more than poor goalkeeping.
Fletchers booking was for a poorly timed foul in the centre circle in the build up to the goal.
As for the booing, what more do we expect from the modern day Utd crowd. A crowd full of glory hunters who expect to win every game 5-0.
A crowd full of people who would rather video the game on their phones to show their mates or stick on you tube, than actually supporting the team and the players. Until we get rid of 50% of the curent crowd and eradicate these muppets who infiltrate OT each week, then we will always suffer.
Anyone seen vidoeing a game or taking endless pics during play, should be kicked out (See terms and conditions of your ticket), if not, the camera should be knocked out of their hands as soon as you spot it.
I have seen a few post’s stating how we should be shooting from further out. This is something I have thought about constantly for about 4 seasons now, we try to many times to pass the ball into the net when whats needed is someone to put there laces through it. Ronaldo did it and occasionally Scholes or Carrick might but overall we have a lack of players who can shoot. I think it comes down to the fact the players worry if they miss they will get roasted by Fergie. Look at arsenal they score alot from outside the box, chelsea do it even the dippers do it but we fail in comparison. We need to mix it up because anyone who watches us will know we will either go down the wing or try to pass it into the net. Im not saying that we dont do what we do well but just tell the players to shoot alot more. This is one of the reasons we arent reaching our potential just yet, to many times we try these nice little one two’s that dont always come off and one of the main culprits is this seasons best player so far Giggs. I was taught a simple rule growing up playing footy, if you look up and you see the two sticks HIT IT!! if you dont buy a ticket you wont win the prize. Sorry thats abit off topic but it really fucks me off at times!!
I bet your one of those idiots who shouts “shooooooottttt” when a player picks the ball up 40 yards out!
Credit to Sunderland for actually coming to Utd with 2 strikers and being prepared to have a go. As for Utd, it was an off-day. We had plenty of them with you-know-who in the team as well you know. The strange thing for me was just how wayward we were with our passing. Scholes had a very poor game by his lofty standards, as did Rooney and Fletch. Fergie’s selection of Welbeck was odd as well when, as has previously been stated, we’ve just spent a fortune on a new winger. And we have Tosic who is a more natural left-sided player. Ah well, we kept fighting and that point could be hugely significant at the end of the season.
And a final comment for those knobs who insisted on booing the players at half-time – fuck off to Wastelands, you’re not welcome at Old Trafford. I pride myself on the fact that Utd fans never boo the team – until Saturday that is. Absolutely disgusting. Moan to your mate next to you or to the lad you’re pissing next to in the bogs, but never ever boo the lads. Twats…
I can’t be arsed to read all the comments, but the few I’ve seems to think we’re doomed. We’re not but I really hate watching us having to ‘come back’ from dreadful 1st halves and think we’re dicing our luck too much. Lets get behind the team whether we’re at OT or back home cheering ours hoarse when we score. The spirit of our support will get to the team, I’m convinced of this, so Glory, Glory ManUtd…….oh, its the fcuking international break again! …
what a bunch of spoilt mugs on here.
i hope it never happens of course, but if you’re complaining now because we dared to play one piss poor game, then what will you be like if we go through a few lean seasons without playing well and don’t pick up any silverware??
if this is how you respond to a bad game now, you’d no doubt have been suicidal if you were around pre saf when we won the odd cup here and there.
we don’t have a divine right to win anything or beat any team at any given time.
if hard times do come then real reds will step forward and we’ll see what the rest of you are all about.
sort your negative attitudes out.
i pity you.
Please let van der Sar be fit for Liverpool.
I doubt I could watch with Foster in goal.
Jones may have led with his elbow for Sunderland’s second goal, but Foster was at fault for both goals in my opinion.
For every one good save he makes, he makes three bad mistakes that make Taibi look like a decent amateur league keeper.
Time for Foster to wake up, or ship out
Tufty, 123 and exiledred – Abdolutely spot on lads, some of the United “fans” at Old Trafford and on here should be ashamed of them selves. Prior to Saturday since the Burnley game I have not seen ONE SINGLE post about “buying players”. Now all of a sudden because we had an “off day” on Saturday the calls are out again for “world class” players. Pathetic quite frankly.
lofty7 – Spot on as well mate.
King Eric .hi.good morning
the performance was poor but i agree that booing was shameful.those fans should be given one on the backside.thast what separates us from barca and real and other big European Clubs.we back our players.if we stop doing it we too are like them.we have to encourage our players.also we should make nosie.why does our stadium most of the times sound like a morgue.we have to pump up the volume
flaz, stetford end – Sorry didn’t see your post, spot on as well. These fans should be ashamed.
aig – re: the poor atmosphere.
A number of reasons mate:
First – people get used to success at Utd and seem to demand a 6-0 win by rights. When it doesnt happen they get disgruntled and stop supporting the team. Liverpool fans were very much like this in the 70s, 80s and sad to say we’re now the spoilt fans. You only have to read some of the comments on this blog following the Sunderland game to know exactly what I mean.
Secondly – Sky Sports, increased prices, over-zealous stewarding etc is forcing the “traditional fan” away from footie in general – not just Utd. The atmosphere at Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea is no better – trust me.
Thirdly – seating areas. I know this is a contentious issue but rollback 20+ years and me and my mates would go for a pre-match beer, sing in the pub, sing on the way to the ground and then all stand together in the Utd Road end and sing there too. Roll forward 20 years and me and my mates are now scattered round the ground sat next to people who just aren’t interested in singing. Most of my old crew now even just go to away games or watch FC United for a change.
Everyone just relax. It was an off day. Rooney tired, Wellbeck/Scholes out of place, Nani still trying to find his place. Great thing to take away was the fact the boys fought and snatched a point. Foster is out anyway since VDS is back soon.
I do not know if you watched Chelsea-Scum yesterday but I believe it was poor stuff from both teams. Chelsea is a good Serie A side and the scousers are being self destroyed by the fat spanish waiter. They are really poor both of them.
I said it before and I will say it again we will win our 19th league because all the other English PL teams are really crap.
The real challenge this year is giving those midgets Iniesta/Xavi/Messi the lesson they deserve. Cristiano will sort them out in the Spanish Liga and we will take care of them in the CL.
And please please can we stop this Arsenal this and Arsenal that. They are nice to watch against Blackburn and Wigan. When they start playing this kind of football in the semifinal of the Champions League instead of getting brushed aside in ten minutes we can talk about Arsenal.
@exiledred
thanks mate.i have never been in UK so i dont know anything.hope fans become more understandable and the barca atmosphere can be repeated in every game.
@DK
Whena team plays well lets give credit.we are not that bitter.they are the best team to watch in the PL and thats a fact.lets accept it,cant we?.this United side is not playing the attacking brand of football we are used to.infact we were poor even last season in terms of brand of football but we have become more and more resilient as the years have gone by.Arsenal also had a lot of injury problems .i stand bty what i said.arshavin rosicky fabregas van persie and walcott they have the best attacking players in the league but are found wanting when it comes to experience.thats what did them in the CL semis.they absolutewly slaughtered us in August.
AIG
How good is a team that comes to Old Trafford, “slaughter” us as you say and then lose 2-1? I was the first to concede they outplayed us but we still won it.
Apologies but Arsenal are a good team to watch against smaller teams. As Evra says kids. Just kids.
@Tufty
Not at all mate, Im no idiot, unless we are battering someone 4 or 5 nil then every player should have a pop lol!! I’d just like to see us shoot abit more instead of trying to walk it in at times. I think we have players who can hit it so why shouldnt they have a dig thats all. Thats one of the things I like about young Gibson, he will have a dig if he gets half a yard.
DK – Completely agree pal.
AIG – Hi mate as I say I have to agree with DK. Its ok Arsenal playing this great attractive football but what does it get them mate? Fuck all except the tag of “beautiful football”. Like he says when they play like that in Europe they get hammered . Fuck the gooners we are United.
Glass half-full = second place without yet hitting stride
Glass half-empty = poor goal-keeper sapping defenders’ confidence
Let’s keep perspective here; right now, after eight games UTD are getting points and have only lost once. This team might not be an artistic or strategic success YET but it’s still very early in the marathon – I’d hold back on both negative and positive claims until after the end of January. That’s when we usually see the team gelling and its title- and trophy-challenges shaping up.
If we’ve learned anything from the past three/four years, it’s that the first half of the season is usually a prologue, during which time SAF and his assistants take the team’s vital signs and fine-tune it. I see no reason why this season will be any different.
king Eric and DK
The problem with us last season was those teams we battered in 2007-08 we were struggling to beat last year 1-0 wins a plenty.while it is obvious we struggle at the start and then get better that was not the case last year as we failed to hit the heights throughout the season.in short our footballw as poor at times but we scraped through.
i mean 1-0 wins against relegated teams like boro and teams like wigan etc etc whom we battered in 07-08 meant that we were not upto the level we should be.Arsenal fuck up big time in big games but the reason is because they dont know how to play tightly in big games.they just play one style and more often than not get ripped apart by the big teams who are tactically better like us chelsea and the dippers.
if we say that winning makes us happy why dont people want mourinho at the club?the most common reason people give is he plays boring football.,sorry to say this how impressive have we been in the last 15 months?
another thing .i hate mourihno and the gunners.I love United and i want my club to play the brand of football it is known for.
no doubt it was a bad performance. but we are allowed them at this point in the season. dont agree with the press i agree with scott. neither team played well enogh to WIN the game. if sunderland had hammered our goal with shots then the press would have a point. but they did do enough to stop us scoring. we shoud move on as quickly as possible as fans we shud get over this and move on it’s up to the team to right the wrongs of sat. and put in a good performance. not sure whether the international break is a good thing or a bad thing im sure we will see when we play bolton. all i can say is the good point that came out of this week is the dippers been beaten twice and playing badly. the rentboys were quite shocking as well yesterday so i take comfort in the fact that our nearest supposed rivals arent doing enough either.
berbas goal was awsome btw.
bring on bolton rooney loves playing against them anyone remember his hatrick after he hadnt scored in ages
I love everyone on here making this performance forgiveable because we have ‘not yet hit our stride’ What a bunch of bullshit. We were terrible. If we play like that against better opposition we’rer in for a drubbing.
I think Berbatov looked good all game. I was suprised Fletcher was taken off. The ten minutes before his substitution he was really becoming a force in the middle and was making things happen with the ball.
I thought Anderson was again embarassing. He gave everything away. Still not sure why everyone rate him so highly.
I didn’t think Nani did so bad. He delivered a bunch of great crosses that caused havoc in the box. He made some speedy runs and showed a bit of creativity.
Valencia was predictably predictable again. Stand facing the defender. Fake left and try to move right because that’s all he can do. His one footedness was again glaring. Not sure why he’s highly rated here either.
Foster…oh god Foster. How many games will this guy continue to get after he makes fuck up after fuck up????? He’s shit. Let’s face up to the facts. Not only is he a poor keeper but he’s a complete pussy. He was up against a very big man but come on, take a hit, punch the ball and get on with it.
How great did Hargreaves look in the stands though??? Can’t wait to have that curly haired monster back
Good to see many of you guys giving Arsenal the credit due them. AIG, bigg respect due, your analysis of Arsenals offensive fire power is spot on.
Someone compared Carrick to Rosicky, please dont do that. Rosicky is nothing short of one of the best players in the PL.
Not lying though Giggs is the truth! Though he is an older guy, without him United become a bit lackluster. Its still early though.
Paul.
How can say Rosicky is one of the best players in the PL when he just started playing after almost 2 years out. What you on?
Redsmoke, What does Rosicky just coming back from injury have to do with anything? class is class, isnt it?
If you watch Arsenal you will see that this guy is on form even though he is just coming back, he is an absolutely brillant player.
I do believe the past few years wouldve been very different if he wasnt injured (along with Eduardo, Gallas, Clichy, Cesc, RVP etc).He is a superior player to Carrick, thats just the truth.
I stand by my words, one of the best players in the PL.
WTF this fuckin ridiculous how about a few more over reactions on here. Have we been great every minute of every game…no, but come on. I have been resading this blog for a little more than a year and it was the same thing last year “ronnie’s not trying, wayne is always hurt, Evra’s gotta go” ease the fuck up yall. SAF knows what the fuck he is doing end of discussion if you have any argument with that you are an obvious hump who obviously knows nothing (worth while at least). Also for those slagging off Wayne, fuck off. Rooney is the soul of this team, everybody has off days. I know alot of you have never had a date with a girl let alone live with a pregnant woman, that shit is Rough man capital R Rough. All those games in a row then going home to a chick pregnant with her 1st child on to, trust me he ain’t getting alot of rest at home, so maybe cut him some slack.
RedDevilledEgg @ 16:06 – Can I take ALL of your comments seriously – no way. While I concur with your positive assessment of Berbatov and your negative one of Foster, but IF you can’t see that Anderson has the body-strength, speed, skill, and energy to become one of the best midfield in the world then, quite clearly, we are so far apart in our assessment of this player that further discussion is pointless.
we were at home to the sort of team that (although looking like a side that would have made a push for europe were they together last season) are happy to come and not get beat, this stuff about stats is irrelevant we should really be winning these games, and you wouldnt expect the black cats to be matching us on possesion shots etc. thats not to take anything away from sunderland, who as i said are a very good side with a very good manager (bent, turner, cana and cattermole are possibly in the top 20 signings of the season so far). I cant agree with you about the foster incident either, jones rises above him and wins the ball if that was a 50/50 challenge with a defender there wouldnt be a hint of a foul. i like foster but he doesnt seem to be learning from his mistakes, he conceded a very similar goal in the charity shield, and his kicking was dreadful again on saturday, that said if he gets his head down and works on the weaknesses in his game then he could well be number 1 over the next few years. i cant help but think that fergie might be tempted to buy somebody in january depending on VDS fitness when he returns. the only think the ref actually missed at the weekend was reid’s handball, but a penalty then would have been harsh on sunderland given that united had offered nothing up until that point
Denton,
I’m not denying that he has the potential to be good. I’m just saying how i saw it on the weekend. he was terrible.
RDE – denton is bang on about Ando mate. I actually don’t know how you can say he was “embarrassing”. Aside from a few stray passes which seemed to be the theme of the day he played well. He made a couple of bursts through the middle and was unlucky not to score. Our best midfielder on Saturday by distance and he only played one half.
WE,LL NEVER DIE, WE,LL NEVER DIE
WE,LL NEVER DIE, WE,LL NEVER DIE
WE,LL KEEP THE RED FLAG FLYING HIGH
COZ MAN UTD WILL NEVER DIE
blindkat
the united side of 07/08 or the one from 94 99 2000 2001 would have beaten this side under an hour. the reality is united no longer hold any kind of fear factor and teams know they can beat united. too many poor players or ageing players, this united are has bad as the real madrid side of last year. anderson I will say again is just not good enough, because he is brazilian ppl think he is the next great thing when he has poor assist record and 1 goal in 2 years is a joke.
people go on about this brand of fotball arsenal play – so what. cruyft, neeskins, rep (total football). beckenbauer, breitner, muller (organised machine) – which one has the world cup winners medal.
whilst i don’t want united’s attacking philosophy to waiver, the fact is champions have to grind out results. if you ask the fans, the managers, and the players medals are the be all and end all
some united fans just don’t know how lucky they are (but are they really fans?)
@ manutdchampions2008
if john terrys penalty went in what would the difference between the 07/08 team and the 08/09 team – nothing in fact the 08/09 team would have excelled
07/08 08/09
CL runners up CL runners up
PL winners (87 points) PL winners (90 points)
world club championship (not entered) WCC winners
carling cup (third round) carling cup (winners)
FA cup (quarter finalist) FA cup (semis)
so in every competition united equalled or excelled their previous year’s performance all except for one Penalty kick. football is a fickel game and if united have lost this fear factor of which you talk about, then that compounds my argument that we have actually made a pretty good start to the 09/10 season
19 points after 8 games is comparable to 90.25 points after 38, the highest point tally for 2nd place is 89 in a (42 game season) i think u can safely say if we continue to get this point ratio we will win No. 19.
if chelsea didn’t score late winners against hull and stoke, and carrick coverted a penalty at turf moor. we would be the unbeaten reigning champions and they would be two points adrift. football is a game of small margins, the fact is nothing suggests that any team looks more likely to win the prem than united
flaz stretford end: good analysis. The key to the seeming “decline” in UTD’s play is the reality that other teams park-the-bus and have become somewhat more sophisticated in their defensive play. UTD are playing against a moving target, not a fixed opponent and, as you so rightly point out, there is nothing to suggest that this year’s model won’t be just as good as last year’s team in terms of results BUT because of the narrow margins, there is nothing guaranteed. That’s why they play the games.
I think we are also seeing the sharp decline of the big four also. people also must really realise united are on a bit of a decline and they have been on decline last year since they won the premiership and european cup double in 2008. it has nothing to do with teams parking the bus we have seen this before many times united have in the end blown them away. the football seems to betting worse and worse the backline is all over the place. the midfield seems to be has bad as ever and the attack is unbalanced.
poor performance one point behind lets move on
EDWIN BACK IN GOAL
FUCKIN GET IN THERE! BEST NEWS IV HEARD IN A WHILE
HOPEFULLY HE RESTORES CONFIDENCE IN A CRUMBLING DEFENCE, THEN IF STRIKERS HAVE BAD GAME BUT SCORE, CHANCES ARE WE SHOULD WIN THE GAME 1 NIL-3POINTS