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The Guardian has five talking points from the Chelsea game.
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The Independent reflects on Rio’s praise for Carrick and the ‘ball of the season’.
ESPN reports on how Fergie is planning to help Dunfermline.
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Come on ronnie
Interesting from Rio, Carrick’s ball was simply top drawer.
Read somewhere that under Michael Carrick has made the fewest backward passes of any MF in the league. Think the number was under 8 or 10% of all passes.
Here is a gif of Carricks pass v the Chavs from BeautifullyRed http://i.minus.com/iK5CVsGIAvnEf.gif
Also like the plan to do a friendly this summer for Dunferline, Fergies old club could use the funds.
We should also send Rooney to them for a couple week loan.
That would straighten the lads priorities
Jxt hope we win the FA replay and resuscitate the teams spirit
Jupp Heynckes has criticised the Nani red now, as well as Cruyff. No reason why these continental folk would be biased about this. Plenty of neutral voices have aired their bafflement at the decision, yet some over here continue to insist it was correct.
No paperback version of the book? I dont have kindle.
I love the story about Sir Alex helping out his old club …and their rivals Raith Rovers also have offered held stating
“Dunfermline Athletic are, and hopefully always will be, our fiercest sporting rivals … but they are also our friends, and we would like to offer our friends a helping hand in their hour of need,” a statement on Raith’s official website said.
can you see us doing that for the bindippers or the blue noses.
@greenhoff
Bit different. You’d never expect either of them, especially City now, to get into serious financial trouble other than by their own doing, so I don’t think the equivalent situation would ever arise.
Greenhoff,
I could absolutely see us helping that lot. Be a p*ss take of the highest order!
Be harder on their lot on then on ours!
Interesting that we never hear about City offering us a hand after Munich.
Kanchelskis – you wonder if the name “Nani” was substracted from the red card incident sum, perhaps that may convince them it wasn’t a legitimate red?
@samuel
Certainly with Roy Keane, you got the sense that he just plain doesn’t like Nani cos he’s not hard like Keano was. He even added an unnecessary jibe to that effect, which undermined any sense of impartial analysis.
I’m not desperate for Ronaldo to return so personally I’d let him run down his contract and take him for free at age 29/30. He such a incredible atheletes he can easily perform at the top until his mid 30s.
Either that or offer Madrid a straight swap deal for Hernandez at that end of next season.
Kanchelskis – That mentality from roy keane is exactly why he continues to fall short of being a decent manager. He’s tried to take his playing style into management and it back-fired, nani isn’t the first and won’t be the last to get the full brunt of that type of criticism, we all know nani is from a different footballing culture and certainly, that outburst from keane yet again has no relevance with the footballing issue.
United till i die – i think ronaldo relies mainly on his burst of speed and power added with obvious skill but the latter two or at least the first will eventually decrease, i think the only role he could possibly adapt to is as a centre forward but a ronaldo rampaging from the wing and having a free role is a far different player trying to adapt to a centre forward role, you have to wonder if the money would be used to expansively improve the team rather on one player, i wouldn’t like the thought of selling hernandez either.
@Samuel
You hit the nail on the head instead of paying 50m for Ronaldo I’d rather see us strengthen other areas with 2-3 top players. Again I wouldn’t turn down Romaldo I’d we got him dirt cheap but right now with Rooney, RVP, wellbeck , Hernandez, nani, Young, Valencia and the kid Zaha we don’t need another winger/striker.
I would bet my last 100 quid Hernandez will be involved in some kind of deal for Ronaldo if it happens He’s not going to want to sit on our bench much longer when he can start at other top clubs. With Madrids history with Mexican strikers you can bet they will be eyeing him and probably De Gea.
http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/ryan-giggs-is-a-future-manager-of-man-united-says-ole-gunnar-solskjaer-29125601.html
United till I die @ 15:35: “I would bet my last 100 quid Hernandez will be involved in some kind of deal for Ronaldo if it happens He’s not going to want to sit on our bench much longer when he can start at other top clubs. With Madrids history with Mexican strikers you can bet they will be eyeing him and probably De Gea.”
I completely agree with your line of thinking – in fact, so much so that I’ve made exactly this point in several recent posts. UTD have what RM want in Chicharito and DDG; RM have what UTD want in CR7. That’s how deals get made.
What’s intriguing about the recent spate of articles on this subject is the role being attributed to Nike and GM – they want bang for their buck and reckon that CR7 (in the red, #7 shirt) is just the ticket. That brings to mind the old Texan saying – “money talks, bullshit walks”.
@denton Davy
The 80m pound question is if Madrid offers Ronaldo in a straight swap for Hernandez and De Gea at the end of this season would you take the deal?
United till I die @ 16:35: “The 80m pound question is if Madrid offers Ronaldo in a straight swap for Hernandez and De Gea at the end of this season would you take the deal?”
In a heart-beat.
Really, it’s DDG for CR7 since SAF doesn’t seem to rate Chicharito above RVP. Also, Ronaldo’sReturn would just push Chicharito further down the pecking order so, much as I admire ALL that TheMexicutioner brings to the team, he’s essentially expendable in these circumstances.
DDG would be a big loss – how many times has he saved-our-bacon ? – but that would be “the price of doing business” and to get a scoring-machine at the peak of his powers would be too good to pass up.
The side-benefit of such a deal would be that TheWayneBoy could either be sold-on OR moved into the ScholesRole, sooner rather than later. So, in that regard, getting CR7 would be a kind of win/win.
Another factor to keep in mind is that SAF isn’t going to go on for that much longer – five years at the outside ? The fires still burn in TheWilyOldFootieKnight and I’d imagine that he’d relish the chance to go out on top – especially if he thinks that adding fire-power like RVP and CR7 would be the kind of booster-rocket to his ambition to knock LiverPoo off their last, remaining perch – he’s knocked them off in the EPL but the CL remains elusive.
I reckon that some kind of 4-3-1-2 with TheWayneBoy and MC16 as two-thirds of the “3″, KagawaBunga as the “1″ and RVP/CR7 as the front “2″ would be pretty fucking-awesome. Like the man said, “goals change games”.
Call me a wet blanket, but unless there is a line on De Gea’s replacement, I find talk of him leaving absolutely insane.
Also can’t help but thinking the entirety of the Ronaldo story line is 200% fabricated.
I know you lot will be having your fun, but let’s see who is right on September 1st! Just saying…
I am with Fletch, infact I would put my mortgage on it, Ronnie will NOT be coming to OT this summer.
@Denton Davy- agreed on the Hernandez part as no matter how well he does he’s not going to be a starter over the next couple seasons.
As for DDG it would be tough for me to see him go as I think he will become the best keeper in the world over the next 10-15 years. Finding a quality keeper as a replacement shouldn’t be that hard but we haven’t exactly had the best of luck In That department other than EVS and schmeichel. Like i I said id let Ronaldo run down his contract and take him for free at 29/30 and keep DDG. Maybe if Madrid throw in Mourhino as a replacement for Mike Phelen along with Ronnie I’d consider it now.
@King Eric
I agree he won’t be here this summer. The only reason I’m commenting on the subject is because of the lack of new articles on the site the last 48hrs. I have 2hrs to kill on my train ride into NYC so just playing the “what if” game as far as UTD/Ronaldo is concerned.
Hi Ajopaul,
My book, Red Matters – 50 Years of Supporting Manchester United is currently only available as a download, although if sales are good enough it might turn into a print book at some point, so please buy, buy, buy!! You don’t need a Kindle, you can also get a Kindle app for downloading to your computer etc.
End of shameless plug…
On Roy Keane, I must say I was disappointed by the way he discussed the Nani red card, with the nasty little side swipe at Nani at the end. It was so transparent that he was just having a go at United , not simply giving an ‘honest opinion’. An Ipswich-supporting friend of mine made the same assessment, saying, ‘In that one exchange he showed why he is not truly managerial material, he’s not yet mature enough’. He was not a success at Ipswich, as I’m sure everyone knows, which perhaps fuels some of Keane’s mean spiritedness on some things.
I was also sad to see how weak Adrian Chiles was with Keane, I guess in awe of the Magic Hat bully. I saw Chiles in my local cafe the other day, apparently working on a script or something, looking rather irritable with his female assistant. He clocked my United scarves ( including the Green & Gold one) and gave a sort of nod of recognition. If it had been after the Real match I’d have given him a polite little comment or two, perhaps telling him to Man Up with Keane.
@Giles
Easier said than done, I’m sure. I think Strachan’s about the only one who’s sat along side him and not had a look of utter fear in his eyes at some point during a broadcast!
I think im in the minority by NOT wanting anything to do with the “virus” no to Ronaldo no to Maureenio no to any of there has beens and wannabee’s
Why does it seem in world football we seem to be Real Madrid’s and Barcelona’s feeder club ffs
As much of a legend as he is…I wouldn’t even take Ronaldo on a free transfer. Might sound stupid, but there’s other things you have to think about.
If Becks was at the top of his game around 2006….and he happened to be available….would you have taken him back? Or would it have sent off a negative message to the new “Ronaldo-Rooney” team Fergie was trying to build?
Almost like he’s saying: “I don’t have enough trust in this new team I’m building so I’m gonna bring back one of the stars from a previous team”
And before someone mentions Scholes coming out of retirement – let’s remember that he came back coz we had a severe injury crisis in that position. And once that season was over, he was more than happy to take a back seat, become a squad player, and let the likes of Cleverley become first choice. I can’t see a 27 year old, in his prime Cristiano Ronaldo agreeing to that can you?
I’d love a pundits job and I’d give it to Keane with both barrels if he deserved it. Chile , Southgate and Dixon are pussies. They are as guilty as Keane for being too quiet as Keane is for being too outspoken.
samuel and denton davey – I do not know if you agree, but apart from RVP and DDG, the money we have spent since 2011, has not exactly solved the problems with the team, jones kagwa powell young, while 3 of the 4 have been good signings, and potential great signings in jones and kagwa, they have not improved the side at the moment, so spending money in ronaldo, much like RVP will vastly improve the side. And if the club is big on ronaldo, the club like any gigantic clu,b can be stubborn and will do what ever it takes to sign that player. DDG has solved the GK position, so united must be crazy to sell DDG, hernandez is a big player for the club in terms of keeping the side fresh. It is a big problem, for me if united are targeting ronaldo, they should look to snap up modric, now a double signing of both those players, will vastly improve united for next season
O dear o dear
Wouldnt take Ronaldo even on a free. thats bloody laughable.
Since Ronaldo has joined Real what have they won? I think one copa del rey and one La liga title, and maybe that might be down to Mourinhio as much as anyone with his win mentality. Actually they haven’t gone close in the Champions League have they since Ronaldo joined and they claim to have better players than us in all positions.
But maybe this is his year to help carry the team to the final and win them The CL they so much desire. If he does that then he would be so much harder aquire
Hello ROM evening!
What’s cooking??
Ronnie topic? No?
Let me reply in 8 minutes – kick-off in the Barcelona/Meeeeeelan second-leg.
DDG has been excellent and has a great future ahead of him. BUT if he’s the key to the deal with RM for CR7 then it’s a no-brainer to me – the price of doing business. Goals change games and CR7 scored two against us in the CL and scores at a goal-a-game clip in La Liga.
Ronaldo is an awesome talent and a tremendous physical specimen who seems to have a deep appetite for competing – unlike, say, TheWayneBoy who seems to be losing his passion and is not doing enough to improve his game.
Furthermore, I think that the keys to the deal are “what can you do for me NOW”. We know that the sponsors want bang-for-the-buck; but we mustn’t lose sight of SAF’s desire to go out in a blaze of glory. His “distraught” response to the appalling refereeing decision that cost UTD a place in the elite-eight of the CL is testimony to his passion – and, in particular, his burning desire to do better in Europe where his teams have (in relative terms) under-performed and been subject to lousy refereeing on three occasions (against Porto when Scholes’ goal was ruled off-sides; against Bayern Munich when LittleRedRafa was given a second yellow for argy-bargy with Ribery; and on Tuesday when Nani got a red for “dangerous play” which was just plain idiotic refereeing).
SAF’s sense of outrage and injustice would likely prompt him to make a short-term deal – assuming he thinks that adding a player of CR7′s quality would be enough to create goals and so to change games. (I realize that goals-denied also change games but not so dramatically.) It would be a bitter pill to lose DDG and Chicharito but the up-side of such a deal would be tremendous.
denton davey, you are dreaming. I don’t think that United can pay Ronaldo the sums he is getting from Madrid, and even it it was possible, the implications for the team’s wage structure and its morale, would simply make the deal a managerial nightmare.
Second, the moment SAF starts bidding for CR7 you can be sure that both chelsky and shitty would do their best to get the player. Utd cannot compete with the qataris or with the russian when it comes to spending. This team’s strength depends on its cohesion, discipline and belief, we cannot compete when it comes to money and Ronaldo is all about money.
@United til I die
“I’m not desperate for Ronaldo to return so personally I’d let him run down his contract and take him for free at age 29/30. He such a incredible atheletes he can easily perform at the top until his mid 30s.
Either that or offer Madrid a straight swap deal for Hernandez at that end of next season.”
What a way to treat Chico, who’s been as loyal a player as one could ever ask for! Swapping him for a bloke who gave us up for his “dream” club, only to moan and pout once he realized he would never be as adored there as he was here.
No thanks.
Yepp I said it sounds stupid but that’s how I feel about it!
I haven’t forgotten his behaviour during his last 12 months either, and his ego has only increased since then.
gexmex – I think united can pay that kind of money, and do not use the old dead horse, the debt, united broke the 4th wall with rooney’s wages, and RVP has proven that. United looks like, they are deadly serious about resigning ronaldo
We’ve had him and much appreciated he was,as for him returning it aint happening so forget it and the fanciful methods he may be enticed with.We need players? Simple spend the coppers required to get them.
United till I Die – Ha I wish I was on a train into New York mate!!
Adrian Chiles is a clown . Talks utter garbage and like you say Giles, is terrified of Keano.
King Eric, Cheers mate,
As for the rest?
Half you you lads are blind
. . . the other half can’t see !
Any one have a crystal ball ?? No ? Right See ya in September with those predictions!
Most embarrassing thing about the Chavs game?
No, It wasn’t the fact that Benitez skinned Sir Alex with his substitutions.
It was watching Roy Keane having a laugh with Adrian Chiles!
Keano … Keano…. tich, tich, tich.
I red that Barca wants Jackson from Porto…that means we wont buy him…i just wanna see the day when we are going to buy good player, instead Barca and RM….
How pathetic are Milan Christ stop this fucking Barcelona team so tired of this shit Barcelona style
Sushi: yeah like United in TWO finals? It’s not so easy..
Messi is rather good at kicking a football
How crap is Milan? They gonna bottle it again like they did against Liverpool. Although that was of epic proportions, but this is bad as well
Sushi Amen….
Niang idiot…Milan idiots
That Barca is so boring…tika taka is for those who wants to sleep. RM play 10 times better. Lot passes, but direct and forward
Mara .. Remember rvp, hernandez, jones, kagawa? .. What sort of bullshit comment is that! .. Fucking jackson martinez, wtf has the world came to. Yeh hes scoring goals for fun but id much rather james rodriguez . I rate welbeck higher then fucking jackson martinez!
Barca showing what great teams do at home.They rip teams to pieces with sheer attacking power.No fucking about with inferior teams. with shitty tactical plans.
I second you @parryheid
Hate Barca but got to admit that was amazing to watch
What a performance
Such a great team
Win our group and get Real Madrid.. Galatasary come 2nd and get Shalke.
How rubbish is the Champs Lg to United?!?!?
Beyond belief how unlucky this cup is to our club
James7t7
Unlucky my arse,we bamboozle even our own support with the teams we put out on a weekly basis.thanks to that fucking rotation.I would bet any Barca fan at any game would be correct in naming at least 9 of the starting 11.They say this is our strongest team Come Ahead.United fans are hard pushed to name Seven starters and for sure it wont be our strongest team that turns out even against dross fucking tactics pah. fucking rotation pah.
This is getting boring, Ronnie, Rooney, buy, sell. Only SAF knows. Personally, don’t care if Rooney leaves as long as we strengthen, would love Ronnie back. We need 2 MF. I can’t see Ando having a future here, he’s been here long enough and not made it, compare to Oscar, Mata and Hazard, same age or younger than him. Cleverly has not shown enough yet to be seen as a starting cert, shown enough t be a squad player. Carrick’s eventual replacement and another world class MF needs to be bought, plus a CB. We have already bought a young winger. We could so with another quality experienced winger.
Next game, Reading, Di Canio their new manager I hear, they will want to play out of their skins to impress him the lads need to focus for 90 minutes.
@Danyoung…than rodriguez let it be…’
Actually there is some truth is what parryheid says. Whilst you can practically name the team for big games for most of the big teams in Europe, The same can’t be said of United. We tweak our team according to our opponents. Our CL winning teams were also pretty much fixed, but ever since then, we try to out smart opponents rather than out play them. Not sure is it because Sir Alex concedes that there is no way of out-playing Barca, hence the change to focus on tactics, which have yielded some rather ‘inconsistant’ results over the recent few years since we last got to the final.
Whilst it is important to have some plans for oppositions, it is rather disturbing to see that we chop and change so regularly to cater to oppositions, rather than the other way round. When will the day come again that people worry about us more than we do about them?
Barca are a phenomenal once in a life time team with the best player in the world, they play in a technical league which.lacks the aggression and competitive edge that the premier league or others on the continent, they do not need to rotate heavily to navigate a physically demanding league and therefore they havw more cohesion and understanding, only an idiot would compare them with any other team, there are several factors as to why barca have an edge, it is a team has yet to break away from its best core of players, they haven’t needed a massive transition.
samuel – But real know how to beat them
Total fucking football !! They press ,they attack ,they steal,they get hacked .. ..8-9 of them are not even 5.10 in height ..I haven’t seen a team in my lifetime like this and am pretty sure I won’t see another even close ..messi is god’s own child ..exclusively born to play football …
@In david we trust
Real myt know to beat them buddy with ten behind the ball and counter ..but trophies don’t mean everything ..the joy they give to their supporters and the neutrals like me can never be given by a mourniho led team ..my two bits ..football won today not the bus
gexmex @ 20:05: “denton davey, you are dreaming. I don’t think that United can pay Ronaldo the sums he is getting from Madrid, and even it it was possible, the implications for the team’s wage structure and its morale, would simply make the deal a managerial nightmare.”
I am most decidedly NOT dreaming – I am merely stating a hypothetical case. There are two elements that your argument overlooks.
First, Ronaldo isn’t re-upping at RM because there are significant changes in Spanish taxes which means that his net pay – as opposed to his gross pay – will actually decline if he stays with RM by signing-on for an extension.
In France, by way of a relevant example, PSG have had to pay Zlatan quadruple his net pay to meet his tax-obligations; Spain is in much, much worse shape economically so it hardly seems like a stretch to believe that RM are caught between a rock-and-a-hard-place in terms of placating CR7′s monstrous wage-demands. In the UK, so I am informed, tax rates aren’t as high for ultra-high income earners.
That’s the first point of rebuttal; my second point would be that you are considering the question of compensation too narrowly.
The leverage that UTD have in this matter stems from the apparent willingness of their new sponsors – GM/Chevrolet and Nike – to massively supplement Ronaldo’s basic wage with a huge wad of ca$h for his “image rights”. It would behoove you to look into how much worldwide image-rights have been worth for athletes like Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods – both of whom have been “the face of Nike” over the past two decades.
While the world applauds Messi once again, it has be noted who was the one controlling things. It was Xavi, and some of his short passes were just out of this world
In david we trust – fair enough but how many beatings have barca giving them within these few seasons? It can happen, madrid can beat them as can anyone on their day but with a good tactical plan, discipline, solid defending and fortune but at their best, barca will exonerate any team and united have been one of many victims. Barca play like freaks, their work rate levels off the ball seems super-human (none of us know what is going on.behind the scene). They render their talented opponents hopeless, they are experienced and have immense self belief more so than any team, maybe the entire european teams need to step up their levels but this barca team will go down as one of the very best. They have continuity, they buy players that fit into their system or bring through their system, they have a small squad because they are vastly superior to most of the teams. In the premierleague, 1 point is a battle let alone 3. So many factors yet people choose to disregard that, they make senseless comparisons with thorough analysis.
Without thorough analysis*
As for Denton’s theory on how United can afford Ronaldo, the tax rate aside, there are probably two things that can have a major impact. Firstly how does sponsors contributing to tranfer fees go along with the FFP? And secondly, and more importantly, with the rise in taxes in Spain, if FIFA/UEFA/Spanish FA have the balls to push through a fair TV deal for all the teams, rather than have Barca & Real do their own deal, it could seriously hamper their income, so Ronaldo asking for a pay increment just to match his current net pay will become a question mark. Messi is smart that he already did his deal
That said, my stance is still to built our central midfield first. The Ronaldo love affair is over, I am more concerned to see who will partner Carrick in the middle next year
Madrid only get close as they have worldclass players to break with and the 2nd best player in the world, few teams can do that.
Less of the credit to Madrid….you play Barca that many times, with a quality squad, eventually you’ll find a formula to crack them. It took them a hell of a lot of losses….both before and with Mourinho….before they finally found a way.
With regards to rotation..as Samuel said….in this League you have to rotate to keep it fresh.
Finished the group ahead of Galatasaray, yet they’ve advanced further than us in the competition. Fuck UEFA. As for Barcelona, they’ll have a much harder time getting by Real when the time comes.
NBI – exactly, others are feeding off scraps and that includes united but real have an expensively assembled team that should be standing up to barca more so than any team but let’s also not ignore the fact that barca play the same system right from their under 10′s to the first team, other teams change system of play all the time.
We could also be competitive with Barca if we would have normal owners…but we will se about Fifa rules, is that going to help…
Well, if we talk about the need to rotate because our league is more demanding, why do we end up playing different players all the time? Shouldn’t the key players be rotated to a point that they will be available for all the big CL games? Point in note, why did Rvp play against Norwich and not Hernandez? Did Sir Alex not trust Hernandez enough against Norwich? That is why I feel there is some truth in what parryheid said, that we think of the opponent more than they think of us sometimes, be it trying to nullify the likes of Ronaldo or thinking that we can get away with it against Benfica & Basel. Sometimes the easiest way is to play your best team, like we did in 99 & 08, but right now, 99% of us dont even know what is our best team.
So here is the poser, if all players are fit & in form, are you able to be certain of picking a best team?
Nike, Chevrolet, or GM whoever fancies the United’s marketing monsterity: Forget Ronaldo, can we just Go for Messi and bring him to Old Trafford. I bet he’ll sell shirts for United and cars for the companies named above
Yes united concentrate on themselves but of course you have to study teams tactically, you have to point out the opponents best players and nullify them, it would be pure naivety to assume you can go all gung-ho and batter every team.
We can’t know the team because the manager believes in every squad member to do a job, whether he’s right or wrong, you’ll have to pop to carrington but there’s no doubt rotation is needed in this league, it is a long physical slog and the same players can’t constantly roll out, Barca have a certain system and it fits them, i don’t think any team can emulate that, it is not only the rotation but they have a great highly talented collection of players in their first team. They never seem to get injured, their work-rate doesn’t seem to decrease, something which overwhelmes opponents.
Are some people actually whining about the draw? You all forgot we got the easiest group in history last season and still didnt manged to qualify, we have had easy draws in the past. It happens to all good teams, sometimes you get easy opponents and other draws its hard.
Well, 1 think for sure, the other leagues have winter breaks, except us. So the FA’s greed for the extra revenue from the extra teams will forever put English clubs at a disadvantage in Europe, and not to mention the England team as well.
*One thing for sure
@evisu
Actually the easiest group in history was the one we got this season. That being said, there’s supposed to be an advantage at topping the group as opposed to finishing second. It pisses me off when the second placed team gets an easier draw. Of course that’s not the reason Galatasaray are still in it and we are not. We can thank Cakir for that. So at the risk of repeating myself, fuck Uefa.
amen costas
Wow!! What a display of loyalty to Hernandez by some.. So underated even at 16 goals this season, its beyond me. Hope he stays for a long time, but only if he gets the minutes he deserves, because with Wellbeck undeservedly being picked ahead of him, i dont think hell last long..
@costas
just had a conversation about that. Not complaining cause I really wanted to draw Madrid and I believed that we will win them and it was a close one, but how on earth can Gala have schalke as an opponent and we as group winners have Madrid.
I think that same nations can’t meat at the first knockout round, kinda makes this possible. I think the best way would be that group winner ManUtd could face groups second Arsenal and Madrid let’s say Valencia in the first round, because that’s the purpose of winning the group.
Not saying that facing Madrid would be impossible, because the draw could make us face them even with this rule, but the chance of facing them is lower.
PS: for those bashing Messi and that he’s dependable of Xavi and Iniesta, well the lad has in La Liga 40 goals and the second closest in his team is Villa with 7 goals. Go figure, it’s all about Messi.
Peace.
how amazingly cr#$p danny welbeck must be to score less goal than a defender!
meet’**** and not meat
Haha Costas, its in our nature to do things the hard way, either we make it hard for ourselves or people make it hard for us. You can add the FA to that curse list for our draws in the FA Cup these few years. Maybe they know the TV will pick us as first choice to show, so might as well put us with Premier League oppositions for bigger revenue =p
@RedLion
Of course we love Hernandez, the goal he scored against Chelsea, only he was capable of that. I dread the day we lose him
I wave the same flag as costas, FUCK cunt-eyt cakir and i hope that bottle of champagne from los virus fixing the game gets stuck up his bollocks.
@All
Chicharito is a keeper and if we use him regularly and not try to play only tactical, we will end on keeping him here for a long time and make him a legend. IF he’s ready to accept the rotation, which I believe he does.
I had some stats, where you could see that Chicha is not only a supersub, but he’s better as a starter. Anyway, can’t see him leaving, unless it’s 50-80mill from the madrid and we needed the cash to buy someone or pay the debt.
He’s staying put, we’d be crazy to let him go, I don’t know why we are even talking about it, when he plays, he scores, the thing is he sometimes gets treated as he has done nothing and blame the tactics, and to be honest, when you have RVP and Rooney up there from day 1, it’s hard, but with the “bad touch” form Rooney now has, it’s time to unleash Chicha even more! Even without that, Chicha has proved the doubters that he’s United bound.
chiiiicha- rito—– chiii cha rito………….
The replacement for De Gea has already been decided and signed. Asmir Begovic from Stoke he will cost £12m. That is why Stoke signed Jack Butland loaning him back to Birmingham to start next season their number 1. I am happy about this signing De Gea’s glaring weakness is magnified in the Premier League.
Speaking about numbers #7 needs to be taken from Valencia in the summer. The only player currently at the club who deserves to wear it is Ryan Giggs or Van Persie.
Next league game is important need to get some momentum back.
Marq @ 23:48: “my stance is still to built our central midfield first. The Ronaldo love affair is over, I am more concerned to see who will partner Carrick in the middle next year”
I don’t think that these are mutually-contradictory issues – if you assume that bringing in CR7 would mean that TheWayneBoy would become MC16′s partner in the first-choice midfield. I know that a lot of you guys think that this is unrealistic but it’s not impossible. I follow Sherlock Holmes’ logic when he said something like “once you eliminate the impossible, then anything else – no matter how improbable – is possible.”
Your point about FFP and sponsors subsidizing transfer fees is an interesting one but not directly in contradiction with the argument I was advancing. What I see happening – maybe ! – is that UTD’s sponsors would subsidize CR7′s wages – i.e., AFTER the transfer fees have been paid – by giving him lucrative deals for his worldwide “image rights” – and, some of that money might be paid into off-shore accounts so as to minimize tax burdens.
MUFC have in the past been quite hard-line about “image rights” – If I remember correctly, this was a big sticking point in negotiations with “TeamBeckham” about 8/10 years ago and contributed indirectly to SAF’s willingness to sell him since Fergy believed that SirDavey’s head had been turned by the celebrity-circus surrounding him (and his wife !).
The Madrid director’s statement, which was in the press yesterday, was the usual damage-limitation. What else could he say – “Yeah, we want to sell off our prize asset.” NOT !
The rising value of MUFC – it’s now over three billion dollars and rising faster than the stock market – means that the traditional ways of looking at business-as-usual have to be reconsidered. Being a global “brand” means that there are all sorts of new ways to squeeze/bilk money out of “supporters”.
The companies who become “partners” with MUFC aren’t doing that for goodness sake; they’re paying serious money to MUFC in order to get something in return. It’s only time before the players begin to demand a share of those goodies, too. In that sense, a sponsored-move for CR7 would mark a radical break with the old, traditional business-as-usual methods. AND the amounts of money involved are stupendous. It really is “money spinning”.
So, my line-of-thinking is that any deal involving MUFC’s re-acquisition of Cristiano Ronaldo will mark a decisive step into a new model of football economics.
Trying to get the ball off Messi is like trying to swat an angry wasp with chopsticks.
Giving Xavi the time to make a pass is like giving him a shot gun to hit an elephant
Giving Inesta freedom to roam is like ignoring the mouse in your house, he will chew up everything!
On a serious note. Letting those 3 play as they like is plain football suicide
Lol, Samuel. Kind of a disgistuing visual but I hope it comes to fruition.
@Marq
Ah, it’s definitely been a lot harder in the FA cup. We haven’t reached the final in 6 years yet the last 2 years alone have seen us draw Arsenal, Liverpool (twice), City (twice) and Chelsea. And there’s a possibility we’ll end up against City for the 3rd year in a row.
Ch.League draws have been kind to ones at times (like some of our groups or our path to the finals of 2009 and 2011). But there’s also stuff like this that feels like pisstake. Reminds me of the draw for the last 16 in 2009. United as group winners drew Inter Milan and Villarreal as 2nd placed drew Panathinaikos. What?
@WeAreUnited
Yeah, the same nations rule is one of the reasons the draws end up like this. Don’t know why they still keep that around to be honest. Another solution would be to conduct the draw for the last 16 by also taking into account each team’s overall UEFA standing. I don’t mind the draw for the quarters and the semis being completely random. That’s how it should be. But if they want to reward the team that tops the group, they’ll have to do something better.
Daniel88
i think also that we have already signed Asmir Begovic but as back up to ddg
lindy will leave he was left away from team many times
ddg is one of the best s already but one day he will return to spain
sir alex will rotate him and begovic
Manchester United will spend £500,000 this summer to relay their worn-out Old Trafford pitch
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2013/03/13/3819764/-
goal is a joke
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/manchester-united-and-other-premier-league-clubs-to-be-offered-175m-to-compete-in-qatar-dream-football-league-8532258.html
@marq: “Sometimes the easiest way is to play your best team, like we did in 99 & 08, but right now, 99% of us dont even know what is our best team.”
99, yeah we often did that (although even then Fergie used to change things about depending on the opposition…think of Gary Neville playing centre back to deal with Michael Owen’s pace).
But 2008 we used to adapt according to the circumstances. Think Rooney playing out wide against Barca. Think Hargreaves playing on the right wing in the CL final against Chelsea.
Fact is, unless you’re Barca, you can’t just play your best team every week and sod the rest. Certain games against big teams, you NEED to think about them as well as you. That’s the exact reason why Arsenal have become so poor….Wenger doesn’t make any plans, just expects his best XI to go out there and do the business.
As for not being able to name our best XI – that’s not a bad thing. It means we’re able to adapt – and means teams can’t really make plans for us. Look at how even a top manager like Mourinho was stumped by us for most of the tie. Who expected Rooney and Giggs to be our right wingers over the 2 games, or Welbeck to play in the hole, or Nani to play on the left. Teams find it hard to prepare for us, and that’s one of the reasons we’ve done pretty well this season.
@iced earth – some of the worlds most elite clubs and it mentions city. Money obviously clouding the judgement there.
Bobby Charlton’s combover
agree and the qatari are destroying football
Fuck sake. Hope some one has the guts to put his foot down. Rotating keepers is one of the daftest thing i ever seen. You either keep faith with your no 1 or ship him out.
Belting posts on here. Im firmly in the “keep ronaldo away from OT”. I’d like us to go hunt for naturally talented players. Case in point. Work hard to be a gerrard, players like scholes are born. Thats what ronnie has realised in spain. We’re done with him, lets look forward
Great news if the goal.com article is true. The pitch at Arsenal, liverpool and Spurs is always very nice.
“Costas says:
Finished the group ahead of Galatasaray, yet they’ve advanced further than us in the competition. Fuck UEFA. ”
Vintage reasoning from an esteemed poster.
Iced earth. This story of a Dream Football League based in Qatar appeared in the Times and Mirror as well.
I have been following some of the correspondence on this on twitter and the entire thing might be a fake story. At anyrate, it appears to have started in France by someone who is described as fake by some football journalists.
In any event, it would be terrible for football and essentially eliminate FFP issues for the likes of City and PSG. Imagine top clubs requiring their players to play in a World cup every summer. The payments of 175M per club would make national teams extinct, unless they moved to an U23 footing.
Anyway, It does sound like something that would be cooked up by city doesn’t it. FFP be damned!
Here is the story from the Times
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/football/europe/article3712126.ece
@Anti scouser if you saw his other posts you would see why he said that. He clearly pointed out that the whole perk of finishing first in the Champions league is in the hopes that you get an easier draw than the person who finishes second and he also points out that we were fucked by the ref. I can guarantee you that if we finished second, we would have gotten Barcelona, Bayern or some shit like that.
@Giles Oakley, Am sorry was not aware of the Kindle app – Will surely try this first. All the best.
My opinion is that win the CL it is not impossible. This year will win Barca or RM. Why? Because they dont have competition. You just have to use your chances when big teams fail, like Mo used it with Inter. We could win in at least 2 times more. You cant expect to win Barca in final, they are to strong for anyone. But if you have any other team in final, you can bet you can beat them. But you also need team strong enough…i know only one thing Saf like to buy defenders and strikers…midfield players dont…yes and wingers..but heart of midlle, not. I dont know why, but like Marq said …we need to built midfield. We can be better than Barca, but first we need rob the bank and buy 2-3 players, one could be Isco.
Fantastic history lesson there about the relationship between United and Madrid. It’s a shame we don’t have more articles like this to show those of us who are not quite old enough to remember what happened back then. It’s a shame we don’t see more of this kind of behavious helping each other out in times of need. But I wonder how many gentlemen are left in the modern game. All incomparable to Sir Matt Busby and Mr Santiago Bernabeu.