In the game to mark the opening of Chivas’ brand new stadium, it took Javier Hernandez just eight minutes to score against current employers Manchester United. He spent the first half wearing the colours of his former team before swapping at half time. Two minutes later another new Manchester United signing equalised, with Chris Smalling heading home a corner for his first goal for United. Chivas then took control of the contest, as either side of the break us conceding from sloppy set-piece goals to Adolfo Bautista on 38 and then Hector Reynoso on the hour. Luis Nani pulled one back in the 80th minute with Cleverley heavily involved.
Manchester United: Kuszczak; De Laet, O’Shea, Smalling, Fabio; Cleverley, Gibson (Nani 46’), Scholes (Giggs 65’), Evans (Fletcher 74’); Berbatov (Hernandez 46’ (Macheda 65’), Diouf (Welbeck 65’)
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Great strike by Hernandez good to see Smalling score too. Did Hernandez play the full 90min?
Like how the commentators refer United to just Manchester. Must really drive The Massives mad!
Is it me or does hernandez look like the perfect partner for berbatov? he looks a similar player to what owen was 7 or 8 years ago and i think playing with berba will get the best out of both of them.
Marsy, you would drop Rooney??!
I like the look of Hernandez, quick, strong, works hard, great movement and looks like he can finish.
Mute point, but I hope he wears Hearnandez and not Chicarito on his shirt…
Good strike by Hernandez, but he’ll never see that much space so close to goal again in his life! Methinks the goal was a little organised for the crowd in the new stadium.
hernandez only played 15 minutes and then got taken off.
And i agree wiith you marsy, hopefully it means were not completely fucked if rooney gets injured again.
Hope the Old Trafford announcer is brushing up his Goooooaaaaal Hernandez.This coming season certainly looks as if he’s going to pop quite a few in this coming season.
North stand tier 2 – since you’re in a pedantic mood, its ‘moot point’ not mute
LOL – thanks Big Phil!
Don’t care if he has Chicharito, Hernandez or Speedy Gonzales on his shirt as long as he bangs them in for us. He played a full 45 for Chivas and 15 for us before coming off.
Cracking finish from Chico, he’s seems a natural in and around the box.
He’ll have chucharito ob his back as it’s a link to his nick name given to him by his boyhood team. If Bobby charlton called me knobjockey I think I’d put it on my passport
i still feel that we need a quality creative midfielder. IMO midfield is the area where we are lacking the most and therez certainly room for improvement there.
yeah chico looks very cool in and around the box i agree with alot of guys looks like a young micheal owen.do you think this new 25 man rule is going to help utd,i do think sir alex has been planning ahead on this one. read today chelsea only have 5 home grown players and will have to start the season with a 22 man squad considering most pundits consider them our main rivals has to give utd a edge
I really like the look of Bastos, could see him linking up with Evra, down the left hand side.
wat a gr8 player….he ply z frst half 4 his old team n he score against his new team n the 2nd hlf he ply 4 his new team n he plyd vry welll.wat a fantastic plyer..’CHICHATITO’ gooooaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllll!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In other news, Skybet have Ozil at 1/5 to join us by the end of the transfer window. Must be something going on
Eh scott since when did you start putting up goals scored against us
Wonder if we will see ‘the all action rooney’ once again now that we have hernandez who can play as a proper striker.
Didn’t see the game but glad our new signings both scored. Our young lads need to face tougher opponents like KC Wizards and Chivas – even in pre-season – this way we can judge their performances more fairly, and see how well they cope. It’s better than playing against Asian teams in the Far East who do not test Utd at all. Don’t think there’s any truth to the Ozil rumours tbh, I just doubt we’re interested. I don’t know if he’ll want to come if we are interested, he clearly spoke of his love for La Liga a number of times this summer.
I watched the game live via a Spanish channel. Chivas were quality opposition, they kept the ball well and we gave it up too cheaply. The most striking thing was how the gap between our first choice and others started to show. I guess the fitness levels are coming back. Berbatov, Scholes, Nani, were majestic. Mame is an enigma; my first thought is a years loan to this season’s Hull City then sold, but my second is for him to take a Heskey role to feed Rooney. His work rate is truly impressive and he’s a strong guy. We shall see.
It was a decent tour. Glad it’s over. Roll on the season. Finally, I hope SAF writes a sick note for Roo and he skips the Hungry game.
I did wonder if the decision to transform Rooney into a ‘goal poacher’ last season is just temporary – did Fergie want him to improve parts of his game which needed working on prior to last season i.e. heading, positioning, finishing etc, so that when another striker is brought in (Hernandez), Rooney will be unleashed, and playing deeper, just behind the main striker? We have two players who can comfortably play alone up front, Owen and Hernandez, so there is a slight possibilty we won’t see Rooney play in the same role as last season. It is unlikely though – Rooney did have his best season for Utd playing alone up front. Also, Fergie did say Hernandez is similar to Rooney – which probably means he is not thinking of a possible partnership that could stem involving both strikers. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see their roles next season.
I know that Fergei likes to switch things around from game to game, but given Chicharito’s presence, I wonder which system will be his main priority. According to Sir Alex, the Mexican can play with a partner or as a sole striker.
I’m wondering where Berbs fits in all this tinkering?
Hernandez is a proper striker.he rarely ventures into his own half but holds the ball up and gets others into play excellently.will work in any formation provided he plays on the shoulder of the last man. No defenders will be able to cope with his pace and he times his runs really well.
@willierednut
Don’t see him starting as many games as he did last season. OT games where we are struggling to unlock defences might suit him more though. Going by what worked for us better last season, I think that Sir Alex will line up woth 4-5-1 most of the time. Works better for our current midfield.
Costas – Maybe so, i still think Berba could be a productive player for United, it just if SAF can get the best out of him, and find him a proper role within the team.
Chicharito = little pea = a reference to his little green eyes when he was a nipper. So I’m told.
for his country and us (so far)
Great nickname, and a great few months so far, the kid’s looking all shades of good
Hope he challenges for a starting position this year, Inadvertently pushing Berba to up his game too.
I do like the looks of Cleverly too, done himself proud on pre-season I reckon.
Berbatov can work with hernandez.berba has great vision and can slip them through to chicha. Could play as a creative man just behind rooney too
am i wrong in saying he is the best offensive player we have signed since ronaldo,rooney.
i like how u only see him when the team gets to the attacking third. when roon and berba get frustrated they come deeper so we cant stretch teams as much which is exactly what u shud be doing towards the ends of games. i like how he has a cheeky look to the bench when he was celebrating. i am getting more excited about this player the more times i see him. bring on nxt week so we can punish the rentboys and get our season off to a flyer.
not only am i looking forward to the start of the prem league but also the 31st of aug so we can stop hearing about all these rumours. if the manager dosent want to buy he won’t, y cant the the press get that into their heads. if we do buy someone i will welcome them with open arms but it looks increasingly like that is not the case so we shud be concentrating on the quality side we have now
AIG – You could be right there, of course, Ando was probably bought for his offensive abilities, but that hasn’t worked out so far.
also his father played and he was chicaro (dont quote me on that spelling) so chicarito was a name given to him partly because of his father being known as pea or something
@m34ch
you were close, his dad used to be a football player too, he is the one with the green eyes, so his nickname was Chicharo (Pea), so then Jav ier Hernandez was born and he is called Chicharito (Little Pea)
@noel
Like I said; as I was told.
Kinda like the way he’s chosen to have his nickname on his shirt, as opposed to his surname.
Looking forward to seeing him flourish – what do u reckon?
So Babyfaced Pea then?
@Sunny
BayPeaFaced Assassin
@Sunny
BaPeaFaced Assassin
That reads better lol !
hmmm maybe not.
Glad Nani is back too, anyone else think this is a ‘make it’ ot ‘break it’ year for him, so to speak?
I like the way Hernandez is fast to react and not frightened to have a pop .The other bit is how he looks across at the bench( Our Bench) with hands clasped with a cheeky smile to say Sorry. Class.
Chris’s Goal he is clearly piggy backing the Chivas defender but who gives a fuck if you get away with it.
Neatly dispatched how great it would be to have another central defender to bang in a few goals on a regular basis.
Nani Goal. No comment that guys just Jammie. lol
@Steve_G … that’s right. His father was nicknamed Chicharo (“pea”) for his green eyes. (Green is also one of Mexico’s national colors.) “Chicharito” means “little pea”.
I’m really impressed by this guy. I reckon he’d be the perfect partner for Berba, though that would require Sir Alex to play 442, which is something he’s not likely to do against stronger clubs. But against the lower PL clubs, especially those who tend to park the bus, I can see that combination having a good shot at opening the door to some goals. And let’s not forget, over the course of the season, those matches have the power to decide the whole outcome.
Anyone know for sure if he’s genuinely two-footed? I am pretty sure his goal for us the other day was right-footed, and that one against us looked left-footed. The first ine had finesse and control, the second one had power.
Good thing about Chicharito is he seems to be a very grounded person, no hype, fancy clothes, attitude. Pretty religious as well, yesterday before the second half started he was on the half way line, on his knees praying.
Cmon August 16th, hurry up and start!
united.george I’m not sure why being religious would indicate that he’s grounded. I’m not sure how the belief in an invisible man who told some dudes to write a pretty horrific book back when people thought the earth was flat is any indication at all that someone is grounded in reality. Point taken on the other stuff though he does seem a modest enough lad at least and let’s hope he gets his head down and becomes a valuable part of the squad and team.
@Gorse Hill Red… Yeah, in Mexico it is not common knowledge that there are two clubs playing in Manchester. As United is the most famous, we normally refer to the club as simply Manchester. I saw an effort from the commentator to say the full name during broadcast.
@Tonka Norris… I see worry in Berbatov’s face. He knows he must produce great performances if he still wants a place in the team.
@m34ch… Chicharito has brown eyes.