Need some help getting over last Wednesday? RoM is here for you…
Last time I did a post of this title and type, it was in considerably better circumstances. However, the need to look back in a calm and considered way at the (anti-)climax of our season is just as strong this time around.
I’ve set out below the main reasons why we lost in Rome. I’ve also gone on to find some positives, which I don’t think many people have tried to do as yet.
First, the negatives:
1. The curve-ball gone wrong – in last season’s final against Chelski, we got the drop on them for the whole first half by playing a system which they didn’t expect. We played 4-4-2, with Hargreaves on the right wing and Ronaldo on the left, targeting the make-shift right back Essien. It worked a treat, with one goal from Ronaldo when his run into the box lost Essien, and a couple more good chances which went begging.
It looked to me like Fergie tried the same trick against Barca, with Giggs playing as a support striker to Ronaldo, and Park and Rooney playing as conventional wingers in a 4-4-2. Let’s just say it didn’t work at all. Giggs was neither here nor there, and Carrick and Anderson were swamped in midfield. Park and Rooney were subdued by their defensive duties. Only Ronaldo turned up, looking like he was on a one-man mission to win the game for us for the first twenty minutes. Not enough, unfortunately.
2. The only shallow part of our squad – our squad has been rightly talked about as one of the the deepest and most talented ever assembled. However, on the night and in our time of need, it couldn’t provide us with the type of player we so desperately required to get a grip of the game – a destructive central midfielder. With the new and infinitely improved Darren Fletcher unjustly suspended, and Hargreaves out injured for the season, there was nobody on our bench who could come in and give our midfield that bite. I still think we’d have been better off with Scholes in the centre of a three man midfield, but that would have been tinkering around the edges. We needed someone to hassle and harry Iniesta and Xavi, to get in their faces. And ultimately, the Best Squad in the World ™ couldn’t provide.
3. Lack of cynicism (or “cleverness”) – what was really noticeable (although it hasn’t at all been mentioned in the press) was that Barca, for all their chat about playing football in the best possible way, approached their defensive duties with a kind of dirty cynicism which would have made Chelsea proud. They had clearly made a decision in advance that if one of the back four were beaten outside the area, they would automatically take the man down and take a yellow card if necessary. Toure, Pique and Puyol (say no more) all played this trick on Ronaldo, with only Pique picking up a yellow (which could easily have been red). Despite Ronaldo’s prowess at freekicks, they preferred to allow long range potshots than potential runs into their area.
Now apply that thinking to Iniesta’s burst from midfield after 9 minutes, and give that instruction to first Anderson and then Carrick. Now way would Anderson have even got a yellow for a first foul that far from goal, and Carrick would probably have got away with it too. Instead, the build-up to the opening goal was allowed to continue.
You can debate whether or not you’d have wanted a United player to cynically take down a breaking opponent like that, but you can’t debate that Barca would have done it. And so too, maybe, would our most experienced CM, Paul Scholes…
4. One year too many for van der Sar – again harping back to last year’s post, I made the point then that EVDS was just a touch too unreliable to be number one for the whole of this season. He seemed determined to prove my point in the opening months of this season, where he put in a string of dodgy displays culminating in a self-substitution after a nightmare 25 minutes at Stamford Bridge. The subsequent record-breaking run of clean sheets covered that initial impression over, but it would be fair to say that the majority of those clean sheets were due to superb defending rather than strings of great saves. And the run ended, fittingly, with an EVDS howler at St James Park.
I’m afraid that there is no way that he should have been beaten on his near post for the opening goal in the way that he was, regardless of how well struck the shot was. It was only a matter of time before he cost us something, and if Ben Foster can keep himself fit for next season, he should be first choice throughout. He’s ready and he has the ability.
5. One of those days – amidst all the recriminations and regrets, let’s not forget that even the best teams in the world have their off days. Barca had two against Chelsea, and their deserved elimination there to a group of hard, physical, rugged players who play ugly football would have seen them condemned as talented lightweights in the Arsenal mould rather than the Masters of the Universe status they are currently revelling in. We had a bad day in Rome. For all the faults mentioned above, what price Rio and Vida both having a shocker on the same day? Both making a fundamental error that led directly to a goal? Hasn’t happened before to my memory. Or Rooney failing to make an impact in any way or sense on the game – it’s rare that he doesn’t contribute at all. On one level, our big players didn’t turn up, and if we replayed the game tomorrow (yes, yes, I know all losers say this) then there’s every chance that it could have been just as one-sided our way. But that’s what makes horse races, isn’t it?
It’s important in defeat to make sure you understand the reasons why you lost. But in every defeat, there will be some positives to draw, and I’ll be looking at those in part 2 of this post in a few days.
Contributed by Rich of the blog Penguin United, which will be running a series of features during the summer looking back over last season. See the ‘summer of activity‘ for more details
Man Utd News 24/7
Too true, there are always positives to take from a game like that even if its just a learning experience.Like i posted on a previous thread before k.o on wednesday night.. ‘i would let hargreaves do my missus if it meant he could play infront of the back four tonight’.
I just had that feeling that we would be exposed with no fletcherinho or hargo type player to break up xavi and iniesta’s play and so it proved.
Though in saying that i would much rather have other teams worrying about breaking up OUR creative midfielders but im sure fergie will address that this summer.
“It’s important in defeat to make sure you understand the reasons why you lost. But in every defeat, there will be some positives to draw” – well said. i couldn’t understand all the bashing from the media. this team has achieved so much, and a single game neither makes or kills your season… rebuild the team? wtf? why completely rebuilding a team that has won 3 titles in a row as well as a champions league trophy? – sorry i lost the plot a bit…
good article, interesting thoughts concerning the barca defense. i’m keen on reading the second part…
Very good points.For all it’s depth,our squad does have 1-2 positions that we are light in.Holding midfielder is one of them.Left back is another.
That game in Rome, VDS had to make himself big, I don’t care what keeper is in the net and what striker is out against him, from that position, the striker will score, no two ways about it 99/100 chances will be put away. As I said, against Arsenal we had the rub of the green in a quick counter attack just as Barce did, defensive error (Gibbs/Vidic) and then a goal changed the game and ruined it for us and Arsenal, after that, there’s no way back, it’s as simple as, Arsenal pressed forward and conceded another 2 without creating a meaningful chance as they didn’t want to over commit, the same happened with us, we didn’t want to over commit meaning chances were crap but we still committed enough to leave us open on the counter. Oh well.
I think we shouldn’t have made the same formation as the emirates,barcelona saw the fixtures and knew what they had to do…that was the mistake.
Scott – Question for you.
Berbatov maybe a class player. Where does he fit in to the United system?
@swissred
i dont think people are calling for a rebuild, just a beefing up of the midfield.
scholes and giggs have 1 season left in them so they’ll need replacing and although anderson is seen by some as scholes successor he has to gain more experience and consistancy before he can even get close.
Replacing giggs will prove harder as we are crying out for a talented right side winger i.e ribery but he’ll most likely be off to madrid. nani isnt up to it sadly.
lastly, although it pains me to say this, we need a gerrard/lampard type player who gaurantees us 15/20 goals a season from central midfield.
I really don’t think VDS was to blame particularly for the first goal. A toe-poke from that range, with minimal backlift, is going to be pretty darn impossible to stop.
meant left side winger to replace giggs
I also think that VDS wasn’t to blame.When you leave a striker this close to goal,especially Eto,then it’s pretty hard to do anything.The keeper might have blocked it,but it would have been a fluke.I still think that we are not ready for the transition to Foster.It will have to happen gradually next season.
@confoundedbridge
I know people disagree with me. But I have watched it a lot of times from a lot of angles, and I think EVDS goes to early. Watch him, just before Eto’o pulls the trigger, he has already committed himself to going across the goal, and he can’t reverse that trigger movement when Eto’o goes near post.
The shot across goal is the harder one, and he should have been staying big and making Eto’o take that on if he wanted a goal. It’s not an absolute howler, but he could certainly have done more. He’s as much to blame for that goal as Vida or Anderson.
@ costas I’ve been saying for a long time that this season should have been the transition to Foster. Given that hasn’t really happened, it has to be next season, with Foster starting at least 50% of matches in all competitions.
I don’t think it would be called just tinkering mate. I think it was a huge error by fergie not playing scholes instead of giggs.
Possession is king esp with a team without the energy of fletcher or hargreaves. i’d like to see some pass completion stats over the season. ando is an inexperienced CM and he may have been injured so we should cut him some slack. carrick should have played a lot better. people say carrick doesn’t ply well with scholes in the team, it looks like he doesn’t cos he gives the ball to scholes all the time to hit long for good reason! 0/10 long balls isn’t good enough mate! I was feeling sick watching the united defence looking for an outlet and having to hit it long. never happens with scholes on the pitch, he always positions himself to receive hte ball, even if it is to just buy us more time, or make space for others. ando tried to do it at times, but his inexperience showed as he was running into the wrong positions
I will also disagree with VDS. yes, the keeper must make some incredible saves to keep the team up. but no, we are not ready to put him on the bench. VDS has great coverage over the whole penalty box that Foster doesn`t havee so far (and hopefully he gain it soon). Foster is great on the line, fine with the foot work, but the high passes from the sides make him troubles at times. I would agree to allow him to keep more than the last season, but not to really replace VDS
Rich, I agree ONLY with your fifth point – it was “one of those days”. That first ten minutes was crucial because total dominance led to nothing; then, Iniesta waltzed through the midfield, passed to Eto’o while Evra did his spectator role and then turned Vidic like a pretzel and so he was in on VDS who, realistically, had no chance.
That goal changed the game. Even though UTD continued to make chances – Berbatov was involved in two excellent chances in his cameo appearance – our team was just not at the races. Carrick passed backwards more than forwards and when he did his diagonal balls to Rooney almost never found the target, Anderson – it seems – got injured, Giggs was lost, Rooney had an awful, awful game, Rio lost Messi for the second goal after Evra gave the ball away, and Park really should have been a few inches taller so he could have stabbed in that loose ball in the first minute and header another one that was ‘just” over his head.
When you re-consider that litany of failure then it just wasn’t to be. What I find predictable about the post-match response is the total “revisionism” which would suggest that Barcelona are qualitatively different from – and better than – TheLads. That’s just lazy bullshit.
Last Wednesday was all to reminiscent of the humbling in Milan a few years ago when Gabby Heinze wrote his ticket out of town with twenty minutes of cowboy defending, with a back four that was limping from the outset. And we all know that the very next year the same “dreadful” team won the EPL/CL double.
Realistically – and I like to think that I do deal in realism – SAF has a few challenges:
First, he has to figure out how to integrate Berbatov into the attack which, hopefully, will still feature Ronaldo.
Second, he needs to cut the sentimental ties with Scholes and Neville while limiting Giggs to a “super-sub” role.
Third – and most importantly, he has to hope-and-pray that Hargreaves comes back to full fitness so that the midfield engine room has more horse-power. I’m a big fan of what Fletcherinho and Anderson bring to the party but Anderson’s role needs to be redefined so that his once-vaunted attacking skills get prime-time attention. I’m not a fan of Carrick – his persistent back-passing and near-constant invisibility makes me want to cry out: “Enough already”. So,
Fourth, I’d like to see some muscular reinforcement in midfield. I’ve been changing my mind about Darron Gibson but he’s really not yet anywhere near the quality of, say, Daniele di Rossi or – more realistically – Gennaro Gattuso.
Fifth, the back four when healthy and fully functional is excellent. Rio is a wonderful player who brings out the best in Vidic but not when he’s playing at partial-fitness; Evra is an excellent attacker whose defending went AWOL too often; Wesley Brown is, well, Wesley Brown and that’s good enough for me. Gary Neville should retire gracefully, he’s had a terrific career with his modest talents. Jonny Evans was a revelation this year. John O’Shea is a fantastically-valuable squaddie.
Sixth, then there’s the twins – Rafael and Fabio promise Sooooo much flair, energy, skill and an vision but their defending is still primitive. When they learn how to defend their positions the combination will lead to a new structure to the team – a more “Brazilian” style with overlapping fullbacks/wingers and three midfielders whose secondary job is to provide cover for their adventures. THAT will be fun to watch !
Seventh, Carlitos – see ya ! Thanks for the memories but I’d be more than a bit reluctant to fork out all that money for a guy who won’t accept his role in the manager’s plans.
And, of course, Eighth – let’s all wish SAF the best of health because when he eventually leaves UTD will find themselves in a very sticky wicket.
@chep
Have you actually watched Foster much? One of his best elements is his ability to dominate a penalty area, an element which Kuczszak decidedly does not have. Where he is behind EVDS is organisational abilities and distribution, both of which will develop with experience.
Pique receiving a yellow card instead of a red for a cynical block when ronaldo was clean through on goal could have changed the whole complextion of the game but then again its these fine margins that has us discussing ‘the future’ for united instead of lauding up all the acolades for becoming back to back european winners!
Oh, yeah, I forgot to add my Ninth point – a new keeper is a must. VDS has been excellent but he’s now getting to the age when his age will catch up with him all of a sudden. Kucszczak isn’t good enough and it’s impossible to bank on Foster because he’s a sicknote like LouisLouisHaHa all over again. For my two-cents’ worth, I’d spend BIG and look to acquire a true “world class” keeper like Gigi Buffon. Bugger the cost !
@denton davey
You’re welcome to disagree with me, particularly when you do it in such a well reasoned way.
On your points:
1. Agreed on both. Lots to say on that, but here is not the place.
2. Again, agreed – but I would suggest that we need to sign some back up, particularly at RB given the dodgy fitness records of Wes and Hargo.
3. Agreed on Hargo, and Ando – I think Ando’s role is to take over the Giggsy “central midfielder who can dribble” position – again more on that at a different time. Disagree with Carrick, who is still for me one of the few players who is essential to make United tick (witness lack of creativity in the first three months of the season when he was out).
4. Depends on Hargo’s fitness.
5. Agreed on all points – particularly that Evra needs to get his defending back up to its 07-80 heights.
6, 7 & 8. All agreed!
@gazmask: i don’t refuse that there have to be some changes, cause this also keeps the team ‘alive’. but as you could see also from articles referenced in this blog, some were crying for a HUGE change… i think consistency is key for success (sir alex being the best example you could think of). and i’m sure we got the players in the team who are desperate to play for united, whom we will build a team around for many years to come: rooney, fletcher, rio (at least a few years), possibly also the likes of foster, evans, carrick. it scares me that people like giggs, scholes, neville will somewhen leave because i’m sure they were vital for our recent success even though they didn’t play that much…
and to be honest i’d take the odd year where we don’t win everything (i.e. nothing) to give younger lads a chance to come through, just in case the older ones are really past it (to win things). we got great stuff pushing into the first team from the academy!
but what am i argueing? we are man united – we’ll never die!
@Penguin
Evra getting back to 07-80 heights?
73 years at the top level on top of his game is nothing to be sniffed at!
Hehehe.
@ AlphaRS very good……
Agree Denton, Buffon is my nr 1 signing this summer, he’s said that he wants to win things now and I don’t think Juventus can provide a big enough challenge so he might be off.
Penguin, i forgot to ask this before.Are you concerned by Ben Foster’s injury problems?I have loved him ever since he came to our rescue against Derby last year, but something will always pop up with him.If you look at other players who had a lot of injuries in the past(i.e. Wes Brown), they rarely get completely healthy for an entire season.I have thrown around the name Buffon in the past.I think this summer could be our best chance.
Why would he leave Juve?? I understand this summer they are going to spend vast amounts of money, they have already signed Cannavaro and Diego, I cannot see him leaving but maybe simply for a fresh change.
He would leave Juve because he wants the champions league and italian teams are nowhere near it. Besides Cannavaro is over the hill and Diego would have to have a season or two to settle, add to that a new manager, many new players and possibly a new formation, and they won’t challenge for much next season if you ask me.
Stephen he is Juve through and through.But there were cases at the end of the season when the fans kind of turned on him and he was none too plaeased.That’s why i said that this summer could be our biggest chance.If they have a better season next year,he all of this will be forgotten.
@costas
A bit. Obviously the last position where you want to be chopping and changing is the keeper, it has such an impact on the defensive unit. The only positive is that his injuries seem to be unconnected, in particular not follow-on injuries from his cruciate – whereas Wes’ injuries do seem to be knee and ankle problems the whole time.
Maybe time for a fresh challenge Costas, he stayed when they were relagated so he doesn’t owe them anything, he is a superb keeper and would be very welcome at OT.
i think vds has been at the level he is now for the last two seasons. i think he could lay on for many years. however, i,d buy buffon if possible cos as good as vds is, hes not as good as he was, clearly.
although u can never make a judgement on a single game, and ive seen enough of barca for that not to be the case, but, prior to the final i believed there werent much between us. i had us as the better team with barca better with the ball, and scoring goals. now i have to admit they are the best club side in the world, and were second for now.
theres no way on this earth, had we scored early, that barca would have played as badly as us.
their technique is excellent, and they are all damn good footballers. better than our players almost to a man and as a team.
the reasons i thought we were on a par with them were our defence, and our squad depth. i still believe we have a better defence but, theres not a lot in it. puyol is a far far better defender than alves and pique, for me will be a fixture now hes got his nose in. as for silvinho, well, there arent many full backs in world football with as much experience as him, he still looks fresh and he cant get a sniff!
then their bench with eidur, bojan, and hleb amongst others, is very very good.
all in all we lost to the better team, and although we had a stinker for many of the above mentioned reasons, and were not as bad as we looked, i dont believe theres any doubt abut whos number one, for now!
@Penguin – yes, I think the Foster is much better than PIG, never ever thought differently. PIG should go to West Brom or similar club of its level. but VDS is much more dominate in the penalty area than Foster. his influence on the defence is much nervous than VDS. but crossing the fingers for him. however, I do not see the takeover within the next season. especially with his current injury (yes, I know he should be back before the start of new campaign – but you know…Foster injuries)
Some excellent points. In my opinion Fletch will (and has ) become our key midfielder, our ball winner, our Roy Keane type midfielder. Lets not forget he is only just 25 and has come on so much. I personally have HUGE hopes for this lad. Who would have thought it three or four seasons ago? His effort and desire to improve have and will pay dividends. Just wait till he is 28 or 29 the lad will be fuckin awesome. Some of you may mock.
Got to get Hargo back to full fitness then we are laughing. We then have to accomodate Carrick and Ando. Then there is Gibson.
@ Stephen
Indeed he doesn’t owe them anything.But you know how it is with Italians players.They get very emotional with their clubs.I think that Buffon is becoming for Juventus what Del Piero is for them and what Maldini has been for Milan.But he would be very welcome at OT,no doubt.
I completely agree with all of the points mentioned. I particularly agreed with the lack of cynical fouls on our part to stop barca’s first goal. I call fouls like a TF or Tactical Foul. Comes from the days of playing pro evo : ) But yeh really think a more experienced midfielder would of upended iniesta on route to goal. I know Keano sure would!
A pretty faultless appraisal there, not much to add. We won’t be caught wanting twice though.
there were a few was we could have played Barca on that night in Rome. Either like how Chelsea played them over the 2 legs – the italian defensive style with some counter attacking thrown in. or we could have gone all gun-ho and tried to attack them as much as possible.
the things we need to consider and what SAF and the coaching team thought about was the personnell available. Carrick, Anderson and the option of Scholes or Giggs. I think had we played Scholes along side the other two it would have slowed our tempo down and I still think the outcome would have been the same. That Barca’s midfield would have overrun us and with the possibility of Scholes picking up a needless yellow card. I remember when we played Scholes in the UEFA Super Cup against Zenit and on that night in Monaco Scholes had an aweful game. he couldn’t track back or control midfield like he used to, neither could he make his surging runs (like in the good old days) and get a goal or shot in. It’s sad to see such a great player in decline. Yes he can pull it off against lesser teams like Boro, WIgan, West Ham etc. but against top quality he’s now found wanting. 07/08 was his best season, and should have been his swansong.
if he does stay with us, then he wont get much games, and those games he does play in will be against the lesser teams.
for me there are positives.
1 – we know how to navigate the knock-out system
i think SAF has grown in this area, and we’re now more sophisticated in how we approach the 2-legged games. we don’t tend to leave ourselves exposed and we have shown that we can win away from home. and crucially keep cleans sheets
2 – the area we need to develop is central midfield. and i’m sure SAF would have earmarked that area as high priority. with a fit hargeraves and a mature flecther in midfield SAF would have the tools to play a defensive game. However, he will probably want an additional “playmaker” who can knit midfield with attack whilst still being able to defend when called upon.
Potential internal candidates are: Possebon (limited experience, but has the ability – comfortable on the ball, excellent passer and has a good shot); Gibson (limited experience at 1st team, but more than Possebon, excellent shot and passer); Davide Perrutchi (limited exeprience, but good on the ball and excellent passer and goal scroing midfield player).
External candidates:
Mikel Arteta – excellent passer and ball control. can link midfield with attack
Steven Piennar – excellent energy, and good passer. knows how to control the ball
Wesley Snieder – excellent technique, ball control and shooter.
3 – He’ll ensure that training is more intense. and that if a player cannot prove his fitness, then he wont play i.e Rio Ferdinand. He’ll also have to figure out a startegy for Vidic. The games against Livepools Torres and Barca’s Eto’o s showed that when a striker is putting pressure on him with pace he tends to panick. this is more evident against top quality strikers midn you. but it’s an area of his game that needs to be ironed out.
4 – the realisation that we often think of how do we stop “x” team and never enough of how we are going to hurt “x” team. There needs to be more emphasis on how we can hurt teams and put pressure on them with our key players rather than as it is sometimes, how do we contain this team.
For example, playing Rooney on the left side (wingers role) does have it’s advantages. but surely wouldn’t it be better if we played him in a position that casued the other team’s defenses problems? look at how Rooney plays for England and you will see how he causes havoc to the opposition. SAF will need to rethink how he utilises such a great player. Him and Ronaldo can and have done great things together supported by their team mates. SAF needs to develop a strategy to get the maximum out of these two.
5 – The Anderson experience
This game will have shown Anderson how much work he needs to do if he wants to develop his game and become the “new” Scholes. He has the ability he now needs to develop the intelligence and “know-how” in big games. I think he will and we’ll see a different more mature player next season.
Great post Scott! Whatever sh*t people write these days and want us to believe, we are the Premier League champions for the third consecutive time and with two more trophies, it has been a great season for us. But we have a few areas that would have to be addressed for us to move forward next season. The lack of leadership(how we miss Roy) was evident when the chips were down. And the sooner we replace Mike ‘Whats-he-there-for’ Phelan, the better!
all we needed was this:
v.der tsar
oshea fedinand(100%) vidic evra(humble one)
fletcher carrick scholes
tevez rooney ronaldo
and we would have asked a lot more questions of barca even with their best back four
omg ronaldinho to united?? http://uk.messages.eurosport.yahoo.com/Football/The_Rumour_Mill/threadview?m=tm&bn=UKS-FO-transfers&tid=1345&mid=1345&tof=18&frt=1
@Macheda is God: I think someone mixed Manchester United and City
I was just watching a review of our season.In all honesty,i cringed more when i saw Fletcher’s sending off than when i saw Eto score.Was there a way to beat Barca without Fletcher year?That will be a question that will never be answered.We have to get them back in Madrid next year.Can you imagine?We will definitely have the home advantage in there!
1 positive to mention — Ronaldo tracking back like there was no tomorrow, especially that hard tackle (which was not actually a foul, unlike what the ref thought) on Puyol.
RedDevil007, I wouldn’t make too much of that. He has a habit of running back and fouling the opposition when things are going against us, he did something similar against Milan in 2007. I didn’t see him tracking back Xavi for the second goal.
KVN @ 17:20 – I’m in complete agreement with you about Carrick/Scholes; they seem to get in one another’s way so that the sum is less than the two parts.
In fact, I think that Scholes time at the top is over – he’s been a terrific player for a long time but now he’s too slow; games are just passing him by.
So, I hope for his own self-respect, that he calls it a day because I just hate it when great, great players leave the game a year too late. Like Cantona, he should quit while he’s still fondly remembered as TheGingerNinja.
bit off the topic here, but i see headlines in news now like ‘ancelotti-chelsea target champions league’ surely priority is always the league, wed nite was tough, but if we lost the league i’d have reached for the blue rope!!! Do chelsea think they’re too good for the epl r somethin?
@KVN
Add Kaka to the list of playmakers. I honestly believe that it United made an offer then he would want to sign. He’s said he admires the Premiership and he is good friends with Ando.
I think Foster does not come close to EVDS… EVDS has the best “floor” game of any keeper i have seen in years. Right foot/Left foot he is sound…FOster on the other hand is so left-footed and so unsure of taking balls out of the air, it gets pretty scary having him in goal…I would take Kuszack in goal over Foster…it is amazing these keepers wouldn’t realize EVDs kicking game is one the things that sets him apart. He is like the 3 rd center back because balls get played back to him constantly and he distributes well…if you watched the FA cup semi all Foster was doing was hoofing the ball up to Tevez and Macheda and that didn’t work a beacause Jagielka and Lescott were ownging everything in the air. He has a mighty throw, but needs to work on that right foot and better distribution.
cdonyi – you’re absolutely spot-on about EVDS’ ability with the ball at his feet. I think it was Dennis Bergkamp who said that the player with the best ball-control on the 1995 CL-winning Ajax team was Edwin ! Some compliment, eh ?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article6409971.ece
Hargo apparently out until January. SHIT
Oh crap.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article6409971.ece
I hope he does get ready in January.But i doubt we will find a quality replacement for Hargreaves in the window transfer window.Now is our chance.
Notice the Carrick injury?So both he and Ando were injured in Rome and Rio wasn’t completely fit.Good to see we were “outclassed” with so many problems.
Quinton Fortune you beat me to it.It’s a shame isn’t it?
not good news at all, unlikey that Fergie will make any signings in that area. But who know’s maybe he’ll have a few surprises for us this summer. he’s cost us 1 million per game…wow not too sure how well that sits with me. Agreed we are a better team with him but he really is bit of a sicknote, and its one of those injuries that’ll keep coming back i suspect.
Tenonditis is a bitch.The surgery is supposed to have fixed that.So when he comes back in January,he should be good to go.I think that we can cope with Carrick,Ando,Fletch,Scholes and Giggs until January.We won’t have to face teams like Barca until then.But there is a risk in all of this.What if Hargo is not ok in January?Who are we going to get then?It will be panic buying.I still can’t get over how many of our players were injured after Rome.It does explain some things.
Lets not forget Gibson as well.
Hey at least we are making Tevez the offers he wants.We forgot to comment on that during the day.Now we will see if he really wants to stay.
We should look to sign a short term def mid with Hargreaves out, if he isn’t ready to play until Jan, then it’ll take another couple of months to get up to full match sharpness, so we mightn’t see the best of him till March! Bollocks! We should be looking at someone who wouldn’t cost too much, someone like Scott Parker, or even take a look at Flamini who hasn’t played much for Milan and may be available for not too much money. There’s no point spending 20 mill + on a player that we might only need for 1 season, if Fletch and Gibson keep getting better and Hargreaves finally gets back fit. But as we have seen, it’s a key position these days and it would only take 1 injury to Fletch to have an un-ready Gibson, or the lightweight Carrick playing there, no thanks!
bad luck for Hargo. hope he recovers by Jan 2010. Scotty Parker is not a bad shout but he too is injury prone. Gareth Barry ?
But is Barry a hustler?An Essien type midfielder?He looks to be more in the Gerrard/Lampard mould.
@costas : Barry is not that good a dmf but ok. how about Lyon’s Jeremy Toulalan ?
I think Toulalan can play that role.I think they bought him to replace Essien.He is at a good age too.One thing is for sure.Players in these positions,aren’t always the flashiest names.The way i see things going, i think that Fergie will prefer to work a lot more with Ando in the summer, as well as bring Gibbo to the forefront, rather than buy a new midfielder.
Anderson should be allowed to be inventive instead of being suppressed in to the holding midfielder role.
AlphaRS i think it depends on where his strengths are.At the moment, i feel that the way he is built,his engine room and his marking are better than his final ball or his shooting.That’s why i want to see him more defensive minded.And i think that he did that a lot in his opening season.Anderson of 07-08 wouldn’t have let Iniesta get past him so easily in the build up to Eto’s goal.
I see what you’re saying Costas.
I think that for along time the midfielders ahven’t been scoring enough goals. We need some invention and some goals in there.
Lampard and Gerrard have scored alot of goals. Our midfield just doesn’t contribute and they are all played defensively.
You are right.Ever since 2003 when Scholesy got 20 goals in a season,we have been cursed in that department.We haven’t had a player who will visit the opposition box regulary and score.But there is another side to that story.We have went back to 4-4-2 in the last 3-4 years and our midfielders are forced to sit back because we already have 2 strikers and 2 wingers attacking the opposition.Gerrard and Lampard are great finishers but they have the licence to play a bit further up.We will see.I think Fergie might want to change things up a bit next year and go with 4-4-1-1.
5. One of those days – amidst all the recriminations and regrets, let’s not forget that even the best teams in the world have their off days. Barca had two against Chelsea, and their deserved elimination there to a group of hard, physical, rugged players who play ugly football would have seen them condemned as talented lightweights in the Arsenal mould rather than the Masters of the Universe status they are currently revelling in. We had a bad day in Rome. For all the faults mentioned above, what price Rio and Vida both having a shocker on the same day? Both making a fundamental error that led directly to a goal? Hasn’t happened before to my memory. Or Rooney failing to make an impact in any way or sense on the game – it’s rare that he doesn’t contribute at all. On one level, our big players didn’t turn up, and if we replayed the game tomorrow (yes, yes, I know all losers say this) then there’s every chance that it could have been just as one-sided our way. But that’s what makes horse races, isn’t it?
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Excellent post. I’d just add that if we’d got a goal in the first ten minutes…we’d probably have won and been hailed as a masterful counter-attacking side and Fergie the king of tactics!
hi!it still not to late to talk bout the lost i guess.yup i agree with the ‘lists’ of why did we lost.it’s true to be defeated once awhile.we need that.so that we would be a better and more comprehensive team for next season.
tho i have to admit, i was disappointed with the way Utd played that night.Barca managed to beat us because we didn’t play the way Utd should always play.Well, a wake up call for everyone.Move on and we shall target quadraple for next season also!!i’m UNITED forever!
If Hargo is out until next year Jan then we definitely need to a new dmf . flamini would be an option as he’s got the experience plus hasn’t really played much for ac milan. but i only think we need two or three (at the most) new players. Even the young Arsenal player Jack Wiltshire would be a good buy but it’s unlikely Wenger would let him go. But he’s a very good player at such a young age who has excellent passing and ball control. a very good play maker with vision.
If Anderson and the coaches work on his game more, then we’ll be blessed with a player that will not only be dynamic but a goal scoring midfield player. as in brazil he’s seen as an attacking midfield player who scores goals so SAF an others will need to get his natural game going.
at least next season we wont be destracted by the super cup and CWC in Japan.
it will be just about hitting the ground running, getting the midfield players
to work with more cohesion and authority. and allow rooney to operate more in his natural position.
erm it’s been more than one week..but still it’s still too hard for me… this is my first post since we lost… and i think i need another week of rest… haha..
I thought VDS was one of the few players that didn’t forget to bring his skill to Rome. He kept it from being 3 or 4-0, which Foster wouldn’t have been able to do. It’s hard to blame him when Vidic and Rio failed to do their jobs in the first place.