Following our 1-0 win over Galatasaray last night, Sir Alex Ferguson claimed he thought Robin van Persie should have taken the second half penalty that Nani missed.
“I think he just ran and grabbed the ball,” he said. “I thought Robin should have taken it, to be honest with you. I think we will have to decide before the game. That was my fault, I should have done that.”
United have had three penalties this season, taken by Van Persie, Chicharito and now Nani, and all three of them have missed. Whilst that is a concern in itself, I can’t believe that United are going in to Champions League games with no instruction from the manager on penalty taking duties.
The same happened at the beginning of the 2009-2010 season and United were awarded a penalty against Burnley. It was our first penalty since Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure to Real Madrid and after the game the manager revealed he was “surprised” that Michael Carrick took it when Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen were on the pitch. Carrick missed and we lost 1-0.
“I think we’d have won the game if we’d scored that,” Ferguson said. “We’d have composed ourselves and won, I think. Instead, in the second half we got harried with our passes and made a couple of bad decisions. That can happen. We should have done more with the chances we had and the possession we had.”
We were in a similar situation at the end of the season when Rooney, who replaced Ronaldo after the Burnley game as our penalty taker, was missing for a game against Spurs. United were awarded two penalties but Ryan Giggs took them both, despite Nani going to collect the ball. It was the first penalty Giggs had taken for us since missing one in the FA Cup against Southampton in 1992.
“Nani felt confident but as captain and elder statesman I decided to take it,” Giggs explained after the game.
At the start of the following season, United were awarded a penalty that would have put us 3-1 up, but Nani missed it and Fulham came back and equalised.
“I thought Ryan should have taken it,” Ferguson said after the game. “In the last game we played against Tottenham at home Ryan scored two penalty kicks and Nani was on the pitch.”
How amateur is that? I cannot believe that United go in to games with no clue who will take a penalty if we’re awarded one. It says a lot about how little practice of penalties is going on at training, which is no surprise given how poor our record has been with them this season.
Who will step up and take one at Anfield? Evra?
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It’s shoddy. It seems as if we don’t practice pens, corners or free kicks at all in training. That obviously cannot be the case, but it always seems like complete pot luck as to whether we achieve anything when we are awarded one.
Bad business
Apparently RVP was going to take it but Nani grabbed the ball or something?
God knows why. He did the same in Portugal’s shootout at the Euros. He scored then, but Bruno Alves (who he’s snatched it from) then missed.
Surely he’d only grab it if he was confident. Which judging by his run-up and effort, he was anything.
Anyhow, three missed pens, all ultimately inconsequential. The kind of little details that add up to good seasons?…
What would have happened if Bebe was on the field and had stepped up? Would anyone have even said anything!? haha
Nani was so frustrating to watch tonight. The penalty says it all
Sometimes its a case of who grabs the ball first. Lots of shit goes out the window when the whistle blows. But yes, I believe everybody thought RvP was going to take the penalty and when Nani stepped up, I don’t think it was ever convincing and then he showed us why. Firing it hard and bringing out a good save is one thing, but to take it weakly such as Chicha and Nani over the weekend is unacceptable.
Another incident took place in the home game against Stoke 8 months ago. Berba was supposed to take the first penalty we got and Hernandez struck it instead. And I suspect the same thing happened against Wigan.The pecking order seems to be:
1) Rooney
2) Chaos
A lot of stuff seems to be ignored in training.
I cant believe what I watched this nite. When will Nani stop frustrating n annoying us.
And I think Sir shld lay out a marker on who takes pen
Oh and tonight was Nani in a nutshell. Mesmerising one minute, and seemingly the only player in our final third capable of playing incisive balls. And then rancid misses and tame saved penalties the next minute.
Pens: I think the history of recent seasons says the in form striker takes them.
But I always prefer a fullback. Someone with that as this only attacking job. Bring back the days of
Denis Irwin for me. That lad was money in the bank.
As to the performance. Job done. Fletcher back. Excellent.
Nani has got to asked some questions. What has happened there I will never know.
Onwards. Liverpool, that will be a test of character.
Despite RvP missing a penalty a few weeks back, I’d rate him as a better penalty taken that anyone in the existing united team. His penalty record for Arsenal was outstanding. Don’t know why isn’t the automatic choice.
Still, seems we’re good at somehow not conceding penalties that should be given!!
I think it might be going a bit far to describe the training at Manchester United as “amateur”. Penalties kicks are what they are – I mean, how much training does a professional footballer need to put the ball in the net from the penalty spot? Any one of RVP, Chicharito or Nani can and will score penalties nine times out of ten. I wouldn’t read too much into this.
The thing about the pecking order is a moot point too, in my opinion. Maybe the big man likes to give the players a bit of responsibility to sort these things out for themselves. They are grown men, professional athletes; and Manchester United players, no less.
If they have not been practicing penalties, I rather they blast it as hard as they can
I thought Van Persie would have taken the penalty. He is our best scorer right now. If not him Scholes or Kagawa.
This clusterfuck wouldn’t have happened in keanos day. Nani caould have grabbed and placed the ball all he liked but keano as captain would have told him to fuck off and made RVP take it. Terrible leadership with regards to the penalty
Marq.. agree, just rip the whole in the net, none of that chip/and or chicken run-up Nani attempted tonight.
@Fletch
Agree with a specialist penalty taker. There really should be no confusion. Honestly though for me I was at my most comfortable when King Eric was the man stepping up. There was an inevitability about him scoring. Its strange but these penalties seem to reflect more of a confidence issue, in the sense that with Nani, chica and even Van Persie, all of them seemed strangely unsure. Looking at them their body language looked uncertain. Either ways the cure is practice and an appointed penalty taker.
Haha, Evra taking a pen against the scousers, oh that would’ve been something!
I know right? do they think a penalty is a given? You actually have to PUT it into the net for it to count as an advantage. I heard VP wanted to take the penalty and then Mr. Nani who had a POOR game by the way grabbed the ball and proceeded to royally fuck the penalty up. SMH. Robin van Persie should take the penalties. EVERYONE ELSE GET AWAY FROM THE BALL!!!
Terrible game. I kept expecting Galatasaray to pop up with a goal, but credit to the defense and the keeper. They were outstanding. As was Kagawa. Pure class. Can’t say much for the rest. I did manage to catch the 2nd half only so maybe i’m not the best person to make judgements anyways. Though soon as Nani stepped up to take the PK i just knew he was gonna fluff it.
Could someone, who was at OT yesterday, explain me, please, why I had the feeling that there were more turkish than United fans?
Time Utd cut their losses with Nani,just the same player season after season doesn’t improve
The nearly man
Frankly it’s shoddy from the manager, he always says “this guy should have taken it”…wel; duhh why didn’t he, I don’t Rooney taking goal kicks so why is nani taking penalties?
The order should be;
1 – Rooney or Robin
2 – - Giggs or Carrick
3 – - -Desperate situations Young or Nani.
No wonder we’ve been whooped on penalties so often .
For some reason, Carrick does not take penalties, although he has all the right attributes for it.
But yea, Sir Alex said he did not appoint a specific penalty taker, you could say he was letting them have the freedom of choice, but then again, you would expect such details to be ironed out especially in an important game like this one. I am sure even if there are already appointed takers, if circumstances are different, the players would be mature enough to change accordingly, but there definitely should be a listed order above everything else from the start just in case.
That said, knowing who to take the penalties is one thing, learning how to take them is another. And that goes for corner kicks as well. As highly paid as the players are these days, shouldn’t the basics be trained to the point of perfection? People say Beckham does nothing more than make a good cross/corner & freekick, but that alone shows his dedication doesn’t it? The dedication to perfecting something so basic, which could well be the difference in a tight game.
I don’t believe taking a dead ball requires talent, perhaps a little if you are looking for variety, but practicing how to put the ball in, at a specific height onto a specific location requires nothing more than just practice and more practice.
So the penalty issue has been stemming from last season……how many did rooney miss again? about 3 out of 6? (Costat, please help
), then we lost to Barca in pre season on penalties after rooney missed one during the match. Awarded 3 PKs this season, 3 different kickers, still zilch goals from it. Ah well, at least all of them were on target and the GKs had to guess the right way. SAF please sort it out
The order should go
Rooney
VPersie
Giggs
.
.
.
.
.
SAF
Nani
Chicharito
Just a side note. For all the diving these days, it was good to see Carrick not making a meal out of the goalkeeper clipping his heels before he stroke the ball in. Another player might well have stayed down and tried to get the goalkeeper sent off. Helped that the ball was within reach thou, haha.
And last thing. Oscar scored a brilliant goal for Chelsea, similiar style to what Macheda did for us, but much better
You need a penalty taker, Ronaldo is the player at Real Madrid that takes the penalties then if he is not on the pitch it falls to Alonso, same as Messi at Barcelona. Everybody was expecting Van Persie to take it, no offence to Nani. Even if Rooney is on the pitch I would expect Van Persie to take the penalty,
Rooney is not a good penalty taker,this is a no brainer,RVP
I don’t care who takes the penalty but please don’t put in such a tame effort. Just leather the damn ball into the net. None of this cheeky shit.
Sorry but so far this season I get no good feelings about Nani on the team. I’d rather have seen Babe. Bah!
I get that Nani does the unexpected but even the casual supporter must expect him to fuck it up now.
We got lucky. It feels like ’11 Champions League again.
My last post has as many errors as Joey Barton this year
Looking forward to the game at the rats nest;
- I don’t see Scholes playing 3 on the bounce and Clevs missing 3 in a row.
- Although Evans looked amazing, Rio + Vida need games to gel again and with the experience we’ll most likely start those two although you can’t rule out SAF;s “In with the young and out with the old policy”. Evans would be worthy of a start.
- I have an inkling Buttner will start to avoid controversy after Hillsborough/ Suarez-Handshake but then that would mean questioning SAF’s professionalism and ambition during the game. Evra should start and but my gut feeling is Buttner has an outside chance due to the “emotions of the day”.
- I can’t find a place for Giggs in this line up, he can’t play the midfield two or the Kagawa role but perhaps a sub’s role for the evergreen man to ease us in the last quarter, who knows SAF does like to throw in one of the two golden men from time to time in these big ties like last season. Frankly I hope neither start and both come off the bench to replace Kags and Clevs.
- RVC has to play up front and the question is who joins him, Welbeck, Chicha or Nani. Welbeck supports, defends and assists, Chico stretches the defence and is capable of a goal and Nani at his best can spark the team to victory or will cost us the game with his erratic silly billy-ness. IMO, I would start Welbz and bring on Chico as a sub, I don’t Nani will step up after yesterdays poor penalty.
So my preferable squad would be;
DDG
Rafa, Rio,Vida, Evra
Carrick Clevs
TonyV Kagawa Welbeck
Robin Van Persie
Bench; Lindy, Evans,Buttner, Giggs*,Scholes*, Nani, Chicharito*.
Jay if Rooney is on the pitch RvP isn’t getting anywhere near the Pen spot, sorry. Rooney is our Pen Taker, RvP next when Roo is out and after that no one has much experience with it.
Things have changed Rooney isn’t even sure of playing so to say he’s Utd’s penalty taker doesn’t even make any sense,he’s not even very good at taking penalty’s
Apart from the poor penalty taken, Nani was actually good yesterday. I don’t understand people on here slamming his general play when his link up play was good – he put Evra / Hernandez through on a number of occasions with very nice through balls. His work rate was also excellent, I actually noticed him doggedly defending the left flank, providing support for Evra. That was great to see.
Honestly, Valencia misplaced a lot of passes, and had no end product. And at the end of it all, it’s Nani had a poor game again? FFS.
@ Clint,
I like your lineup, but Giggs on the left instead of Welbz. They dont have much of a physical presence to trouble our young goalie anymore (donkey carroll)
When our team take penalty the opposition goal post looks narrow..bt when our opposition takes them it s like a truck can be parked on either side of goal keeper..anyways 3 points in bag…..HERE WE COME LIVERPOOL YWNA YOU WIL NEVER WIN AGAIN COS ALWAYS VICTIM.. NEVER YOUR FAULT…
Nani was frustrating but more frustrating than that was Valencia’s crosses. Horrible stuff from him. Not one clear cross. I hope he improves on that because his crosses are always vital for our victory.
Everyone played well but our finishing was also below par like valencia’s Crossing. Hernandez should have scored. Van persie was totally Isolated alone upfront. I don’t think this formation works at home games. In Home games we should score more goals. Maybe In away games this formation would be better.
Nice to see Carrick on scoresheet. Great composure shown by him while scoring the goal. Scholes was OK. I think we are again over using him. Where the hell is Cleverley. Now don’t say he needs rest after the international games. He is 23 ffs. He needs game. He should play atleast 40 games this season. He needs experience. Scholes should be used sparingly.Same with giigsy. I hope giggs doesn’t start at anfield.
Evra had a poor first half but he picked up and performed well in the second. Good for him. He still has left in him.
The two saves from de gea were tremendous. As much as I love Linde I feel de gea should be our Number 1. He like cleverely need games. Experience is the key.
Overall I am satisfied with the result. 3 points is what is needed and we got that. Yeah we should have scored more but its ok. Happy we didn’t screw it up like we did last season against BASLE. Also happy we got a clean sheet.
Lastly it was awesome to see fletcher back. We should not rush him but to see him again play for us is a great thing. Well Done Fletcherinho.
Forgot to mention about Kagawa. Brilliant signing from us. He is a tremendous player. He will play a crucial for us to win trophies. Class player.
Also how much we missed our Captian Vidic. Solid as rock. It seems he is coming back to his best.
People are quick to slag of Nani even though he was superb before and after the pen but nobody criticises Valencia who played poor tonight
Imo tonyV has been poor all season
Fuck it, nani is short in confidence
Can we give him a little break, if he was poor then why fergie kept him on the field?
If your are looking for someone to blame our strikers fits that role, we had more clear chances than their long range attempts.
The first which brushed the post was struck outside the penalty area, the other was a clever header which was a good one but evra was to blame there, caught out of position again…
We had more chances of scoring than the turks
Van persie 2
Chicha 3
Kags 2
Evra 1
Nani fouled inside the box
Nani fluffed pen 1
It sure we needs massive improvements
But judging our season based on lastnights performance its really foolish.
So tv7 did not have a good performance too? well,he can be excused on on the basis of his consistent quality performances match in match out. The thing i can’t excuse is Nani’s below par displays every game. I think he’s been give n too much time to consistently come good. Add his stalling on a new contract to that, makes him one despicable cunt
You’re having a laugh Scott. We won’t get any penalties no matter how stone wall at Anfield!
Not sure we should be “slating” Nani – yes he’s inconsistent, and he’s often average. But we’re Man United, we do things our way
And one positive?
We were better than last season and we are going to improve
What happen to taking a normal penalty with a normal run up and just smash it in the corner? Never try to outsmart the keeper,just smash it in.
I know nani can do better than that
Why didnt RVP take it? I know he missed the last one but he was the safest player on the pitch to take it.
Completely agree and the blame lies entirely at the feet of the management team. It’s part of their job to make sure the players go out on the pitch knowing exactly who is going to take a penalty if we get one. There should be a fucking list and the player that is highest on that list at the time of the penalty should take it. It’s really not very complicated and yet we manage to fuck it up.
Nani took the pen poorly, but if you consider that
We already missed as many penalties (3) this season as we did in the whole of 2011/12 (all competitions)
Surely something in the training ground needs to be sorted
Nani on his day is a great player. Even generally he is a very good player but he needs to improve his attitude. He can’t shoot whenever he wants to. He is 25 will be 26 this november so he needs to be matured. Lead the team by example rather that doing silly things. Nani has better skills than Tony V and Young so he should be playing many games but he needs to play for the team. Yesterday he was good. Like I said in my above post more than nani it was tony v’s passing which was more frustrating. Nani is still crucial player and he should not be sold.
Problem with Nani is that he can be brilliant, it’s just he makes the wrong decision which pisses the fans off, I like him though
Thank God that none of the missed penalties have come back to bite us in the ass. Moving onto Sunday, I would like to see the same lineup except bring in Cleverley for Scholes and bring on Chica and Welbeck later to stretch the defence. We are due for a win at Anfield and hopefully we will break the jinx this Sunday.
I am not 100% impressed how Rooney takes the penalties but it seems he has the necessary character and technique to take all of them. And he has a pretty great record.
I think when Rooney comes back (Anfield i hope) it will all be sorted out rather quickly. RvP is next in the pecking order but it would be interesting.
Not impressed at all yesterday. Maybe poor me is still in the wait of the 06-07 brilliance. Hope SirRyan won’t be in thefirst 11 at Anfield. I think we should go for it but it’s have to be seen if we have what it takes because the days of the free flowing football are long behind. I hope Fergie hasn’t forgotten all of this.
Really wanted Evra to have a good game but again he didn’t impress as far as the defencive thing is concerned but was active in the final third. Hope this Buttner thing would him and us of course a world of good.
Proverb
I won’t say tony V has been poor. Yeah his crossing has been below par but his positioning and control of the ball has been great. Yesterday Tony V with better crossing could have created tons of chances. We are over reacting. Apart from penalty situation we have been doing OK. Remember we are slow starters so we will pick up.
One more thing I watched the highlights of chelsea game and I have to say they are Over hyped. Yeah they have bought some decent guys (Oscar’s goal was outstanding) but they will crumble. Even in pre season games they lost majority of it. They were thrashed by athletico madrid in Super cup and performed below par against Qpr and could not beat Juventus. Chelsea should not be playing in the champions League. They are luckiest Champs league winners.
FIVE THINGS WE LEARNED – MANCHESTER UNITED vs GALATASARAY
1) Darren Fletcher – Welcome back
Darren Fletcher’s battle with a chronic bowel condition has been well documented, to such an extent where many, including myself, believed we may have seen the last of the midfielder on the pitch. It would appear though, that his treatment has helped his problems settle down somewhat, to the extent that he can train and participate. It remains to be seen how regularly he will be seen this season, but the fact that he is even considered and option can only be a bonus that Sir Alex Ferguson will only be too keen to have. The Scot’s qualities have been held in high regard in the last couple of seasons, before his illness became known, and at times have been missed for the way he could break up play and added strength in the middle of the park.
2) Penalty crisis?
After Hernandez and Van Persie’s efforts from the spot kick so far this season, it was the turn of Nani to turn around the side’s fortunes. Normally, the Portuguese winger is dependable for the spot, often powering and place his shots well. However, on this occasion the penalty blues seemed to strike him as well, with his tame effort being saved. Fans will be hoping that this is simply a case of “bad things coming in threes” and that from here penalties will be taken with more venom than they have seen so far. In truth, one might argue whether it should have been awarded in the first place, but such was the irregularity of the refereeing decisions, that it could be said one should have been given later in the game. In fact, Galatasaray had reason to feel aggrieved with the decisions as well, with Vidic lucky to escape after taking out a player after Evra’s poor lay off.
3) Is the goalkeeping situation healthy for the back line?
Given the desire for defensive solidarity, one might assume that a regular number one choice between the posts may be of use. This is likely especially true when the back four has had little in the way of consistency in the opening weeks of the campaign, with Evans only just coming back as the defenders start to make recoveries. Of course there have been cases for
Lindegaard
and De Gea to take their place in goal, and both providing evidence to have less confidence in them. De Gea certainly has superb shot stopping ability but his command still sells him short.
Lindegaard too, has had a couple of shaky moments.
Be in no doubt, that both have their qualities but the question remains, should Sir Alex be sticking to the one or should both continue to be given equal opportunities to prove their worth?
It is a situation that has to be handled correctly. Perhaps Sir Alex sees it as keeping both on their toes and to make sure nothing is taken for granted. It is likely not as simple as playing one more often and using the other less often, as both are young and talented and want to stake a claim to be top dog. If such a strategy were to be used, De Gea could be number one, with Lindegaard being used in cup competition, with the young Spaniard continuing to adapt to the English game, even if occasionally, conceding goals from set pieces became more of a risk. The other way one may look at it is to use Lindegaard as first choice for the near future, until De Gea is ready for the pressures of the Premier League and the physicality. It is certainly an interesting situation, and one that fans hope does not have too much detriment to the side, given United’s recent history and troubles with goalkeepers, with the exception of Van Der Sar and Schmeichel.
4) Wasteful up front, Nani impressive
One thing that must be said of United was that they were not short of chances going forward. The issue was putting them away. It appeared much like the frustrating side that took to the Champion’s League last season, where United were sloppy, particularly at home and were made to pay the consequences with group stage elimination. On this occasion, it was not costly and they came away with the spoils, which ultimately is what matters, but Sir Alex will want to avoid the same mistakes that proved so decisive last time. There were some positive to take. There was some good link up play in creating chances. Nani in particular seemed active and appeared to be involved on plenty of occasions, despite his missed penalty. Valencia was not to his usual standards, with some poor crosses coming in and frustration setting in later on. Van Persie also had a poor game. Galatasaray could have made the evening far worse than it turned out, United will feel fortunate for that to have been avoided.
5) A winning start, a chance to push on
With one eye on Sunday’s clash with Liverpool, one might look at the evening’s performance and find reason to be concerned. That said, Premier League action, particularly against their Merseyside rivals is always a different prospect entirely and should make for interesting, and tense, viewing in itself. To come away with victory is a good start in European competition, but fans will be all too aware that performances will have to pick up if any meaningful impact is to be had this season. Given the standard of the opposition, it is fair to say there will be no easy games and getting through the group stages is only part of the challenge. However, it would be fair to say the season is still young, and there is likely more to come from this team. For now, the three points are happily accepted, and United move on to the next one.
I think this team is going to take some time to gel. Kagawa has to have good chemistry with the likes of RVP, Rooney, Chico, Welbeck, Nani and Valencia. Kagawa holds the key as far as I am concerned. The guy offers a different dimension to our usual approach of attack which is to pass the ball to the wings and then cross the ball in. The team needs to take advantage of Kagawa’s vision and technique. Teams have gotten to our usual M.O. and defend accordingly. It’s time we change our style of attack but that is going to take time.
The penalty taking issue will be sorted out once Rooney comes back and the same goes for goalkeeping but it is the midfield which holds the key to our success in Europe. I hope the Gaffer has a plan because hand on heart, if it was Utd instead of City playing against Madrid then I would have seen us get slaughtered. I couldn’t envisage us playing at such a high tempo. We can mock City as much as possible but they do have a better midfield than ours. I know I will get abused for this but I am calling it like I see it. I love UTD but I don’t see them going too far in Europe this season.
The most appalling thing is fans having a go at nani
Imo I think the hairdryer affects him badly
And I wonder how many he has got since joining united
Fuck it, the dude was lively
If we sell him we may then regret
Cause the buyer will rip the benefits
Rule number 1: Each club should have a designated penalty taker and back-up penalty taker. If either player isn’t on the pitch then before the game the manager has to give the responsibility to someone else. It’s very simple.
Rule number 2: No dinky winky, tame, roll them in wankarse penaltys. Hit it hard and place it in either corner or hit it hard down the middle. This should be an instruction form the coaching staff. I remember most penalties RvN took were hard and low and into the corner and gave the keeper no chance.
If the keeper saves it, well done to him but don’t make it easy.
Rule number 3: Don’t forget rules number one and two.
I forgot rule number 4: No false, stuttered run ups, feints, shimmys, one step amd shoot jobs or any other type of fannying about before kicking the ball. Take a decent run and hit it hard for fucks sake.
Major – I said it was “amateur” that the players don’t know who is supposed to be taking the penalties and it is.
Last night was so frustrating to watch and I know it is easy to say after the fact, but why when presented with a scoring chance, did Chico/Kagawa take that additional touch/ stride and then go and lose the ball. Too many times and I wished my imaginery PS3 controller had worked. It was unforgivable for Nani to miss the penalty, he was basically taking a 50% chance the goalie goes the other way. Well, 3 pts in the group stage so I hope at Anfield Sunday we’ll play a brilliant game as we still hate them, don’t we?
@Utd4life – yeah. but it is only a matter of winning CL that would give us 4th European title and Fergie’s 3rd. Everything else is where we have been already, 2 finals lost to Barca (second one at least we scored and had our chances) etc. But another thing is profit that CL could give and CL experience gained.
But for most i agree with you.
As for Nani he was lively yesterday. Grown frustrated of him for a couple of years already but just hope something happens in his brain that would gives the opportunity to see the talented player with a bright head on his shoulders.
Completely agree with the concern here. I can’t remember MU ever being known for good penalty taking, but when Ronny was here it seemed a natural thing that he would take the penalty and he IS an amazing penalty taker as well. I guess his presence hid our lack of expertise in this area a little bit.
I really am worried about the large number of footballing no nothings masquerading in our support – nani was outstanding last night creating numerous chances against a massed defence -,yes he missed a pen but so has the new darling Rvp this season – he created more danger than the rest of our forwards put together – tony v wasted at least 6 situations with poor crosses, kagawa went missing for long spells and Rvp did not get involved – these will be some of the same who thought Obertan was better than nani after a couple of sub appearances
Funny how nani went about taking the penalty
His reaction after the ref pointed for penalty
Was charging for the ball grab it, ignore everyone and miss it terribly, that was crazy
I think he was on pills
I was in the NE quad and had the sense that everyone had the feeling he was going to miss. Better sort this out by Sunday, if we get a pen against The Victims this is one we simply can’t miss.
Mind you I thought Nani had a good game and knows that his United career is on the line.
Scott, Cheers mate. It is amateur. But more so for the Manager to come out and continually say maybe some else should take it.
He’s the flippin manager and he should tell the players what the pen order is depending who is on the pitch.
Order for me is 1. Rooney, 2. Giggs 3 van Persie,
4. Oh I don’t know…… Büttner
To be fair Nani and Chicharito both do it for national sides so they have to be considered.
But the point the post was spot on. Why do we always, and this is 2+ years now, look unconvincing on corners, spot kicks and pens. IT IS UNPROFESSIONAL = AMATEUR!
I was frustrated as hell last nite but i think da boys were a bid nervous bcoz of last season experience but on a positive note i was impressed with Vidic, he is slowly getting back to his best,what a beast!
Tony V was completely off last nite, his crossing was terrible, i personally think a 4-2-3-1 formation works best with Cleverley&Anderson combo, 4-4-2 works best with Carrick&Scholes combo having A Young & Tony V running in da wings, Tom & Ando like to pass da ball around which is good for Shinji Kagawa.
Sir Alex said:
“Galatasaray have got more experience in their team and in the first half we gave the ball away and they counter-attacked well from that. I think [there was a] lack of concentration at times. It’s unusual for us to be as frivolous with the ball.”
“In the second half we did much better in that respect. I was pleased with the second half – it was more solid, we had better concentration and we saw it out really well. They never made any chances and all the chances fell to us – we could have scored four or five in the second half. They were very confident in their play and possession. You get that with these European teams.”
“Not a problem; you just have to be patient and make sure that when you’re in possession you make it count and with missing the chances we did in the second half, we keep ourselves on the edge.”
Sir Alex continued…
“I think getting three points in the first game is a bonus. If you go back to last season we got a point in Benfica, then a point at home… so three points are really important. With Cluj beating Braga away sets up a really interesting game for the next match.”
Sir Alex on Fletcher’s return:
“He’s been out for a long time and I think the supporters recognise what a difficult time the lad’s had. That [the crowd's ovation] was a mark of respect to a really honest and tremendous young lad. I was pleased for him. He didn’t do great but he didn’t do badly. Taking into consideration it was his first game for ten months, I think he acquitted himself very well. “
Michael Carrick said:
“It’s vital we got off to a winning start after last year, really. It was vital we won at home, especially against a good team – and they really are a very decent team. They kept possession very well. At times I thought we defended well, especially in the second half when we limited them to possession without really hurting us. That was a good sign for us. They counter-attacked on us quite well and were a bit of a threat, but we nullified that in the second half and overall we can be happy; we’ve played some good stuff and we’ve won the game.”
On his first Champions League goal in almost three years, he laughed: “It’s hard, you know, I don’t get many so when the chance is there… obviously you can go down and stay down and there’s a chance maybe of him getting sent off, but we’ve missed three penalties now so maybe taking the chance was the right one!”
Carrick on the 3 missed penalties:
“He’s [SAF] probably got something to say but thankfully each one we’ve missed, we’ve won the game and hopefully next time we get one we’ll put it away.”
Nani has always been a good penalty taker for those who genuinely have cared to notice he should have done better.Apart from the penalty he did okay. missing 3 penalties 3 games in a row ! can we score apenalty to save our lifes…especially in the champions we cannot afford to miss those chances, evn Bebe shd not be allowed to miss with stakes high like that. That said RVP or rooney shd take the penalties, and Kagawa is a blessing to us sent directly by God himself, the lad is just out of this world.
Carrick last night was on another wavelength too was everywhere, tackling, turning with the, passing -kudos.
and please sir Alex let DDG be the main keeper he will just get better no disrespect to Lindergaard he just aint at the same level.
@Legend(Giggs)
How many times have Cleverly and Anderson played together, it’s premature to say it’s a good combo ir they’ve hardly ever coincided on the pitch together.
Don’t get strung out by the way I look
Don’t judge a book by it’s cover
I’m not much of a man by the light of day
But by night I’m one hell of a lover
I’m just a sweet transvestite
From Transexual, Transylvania
Next CL tie for United is on the 2nd of October against CFR Cluj, in Transylvania!
It could go either way.
I think if not van persie takes it. The choise is Giggs. Ive watched alot of his freekick and penalties and it’s very good. best control in United.
“It was the first penalty Giggs had taken for us since missing one in the FA Cup against Southampton in 1992.”
Why doesn’t his peno in Moscow count???
Nani needs a fucking slap, as does anyone who does the stutter on a penalty. He did that against Barca pre season and missed then. He was woeful yet again yesterday.
0161-Jon
Be a good slapper then. Nothing quite like smack to knock sense into one.
“You! Yes, you! Stand still laddie!”
When we grew up and went to school, there were certain teachers who would hurt the children any way they could. By pouring their derision upon anything we did, exposing every weakness, however carefully hidden by the kids. But in the town it was well known when they got home at night, their fat and psychopathic wives would thrash them within inches of their lives.
Nani had a good game. The run up o the spot kick I believe is what made him miss. We were lively going forward but then we lost concentration and started over elaborating on simple plays an example of which is Van P’s last action of the night and he got a card for his troubles.
Pro911verb @7:15
Haven’t you an original thought about the game… If you cut and paste other reports at least have the bollocks to credit where it came from
Champs League when we beat Chelsea, Ronnie had a stuttered run up and saw his pen saved.. remind you of anyone?
They should have a training session where everyone takes ten penalties and whoever scores the most is designated penalty taker, but no staggered run ups