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LIVE BLOG: Fulham 3 - 0 United FT

December 19, 2009

Scott is the editor of RoM and has a season ticket at Old Trafford. He started The Republik of Mancunia in March 2006. Follow @R_o_M on Twitter or @R_o_M7 on Instagram.

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Fze123 December 19, 2009

@ Tony Starks, any badge that is stitched on a utd shirt which has the Manchester Utd badge on it looks crap.

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Gee December 19, 2009

@Fred

No what it actually proves is that with the defence the way it is a the moment we are more likely to lose because even with a full strength defence we can lose to shit teams. Pretty obvious really!!

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Fred December 19, 2009

Seriously though, WTF was Owen doing starting ahead of Berbatov today?

I wonder if something has gone on with Berbie behind the scenes. Fergie seems to have finally given up faith in him.

He may not have set the world alight at United but we needed his creativity and composure out there today.

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trevor December 19, 2009

Lads,

On another note Hughes sacking!

Some have said he has spent 200 million!

Robinho wasnt his choice from what i remember.. board signed him! Who knows

But for me

Tevez - Good Signing _ Althoguh a cunt!
BEllemy - Good
Dejong - Great
Barry - Good
Given - Great
Bridge - Good
Lescott - Great
Torure - Great
Agabagohshite - Ok...... He has enough assets to trouble defences!
Santa Cruz........ I think will come good.Is quality but hsa been injured!

There is very few players that hughes has signed that are poor!

Anyone with half a pea in their head would realise that if you put that many players together who are all used to differnt tactics it is going to take some time to become consistant!

People may argue that he had enough time i dont think he did!

Its not a bad thing for us dont get me wrong. Mancini doesnt know the premiership. Hasnt got bags of experience. For me i dont think he will be an improvement over hughes!

I would have been more worried if Gus Hidink took over or even avram Grant. Seasoned pros who are more than capable ot taking any team and getting the best out of their players!

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Gee December 19, 2009

@ Fred

With you on the Berba front tho mate!!

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Dave Mack December 19, 2009

Red C & Fred .... couldn't disagree with you more.

@Red C you say buying is the answer. Who, from where and when?

You say that when we're confident and playing well it seems likewe don't need a defense. It's the other way round, mate. When we have a defence (i.e. with Premier class defenders playing consistently together in it) we have the confidence to play well and look like we don't need it!

The fact that Rooney has performed as well as he's done this season given the impact that injuries have had on the team, arguers well for the form we can expect to see when we get a settled defence and midfield behind him.

As for Beba considering he himself is just back from injury, I think he looked great in the bit part he played today but it would have been a mistake to play him from the start given he played his first 90 mins for over a month on Tuesday.

@Fred .. I'm afraid your just come over as "the glass is always half empty" sort of bloke. You don't have to be negative to be balanced!

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Fze123 December 19, 2009

MG, @20:18. Should we get a new manager? Hell yes, why not. Fergie lost it. I heard Sparky got sacked today. He managed our neighbours and is a former utd player. He also signed a fantastic talent for 40 million, who is scoring for fun. Some argentinian guy. Believe me, he is the signing of the season, even better than our signing of Owen. I say we should consider Hughes as Fergie's replacement.

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trevor December 19, 2009

@Fred

Its called rotation!!

Berbatov has just came back from injury!

OWen is always going to have some fans on his back, He really needs service we didnt have that today!

What did rooney do today???? Was rooneys performance that much better than owens?

I didnt think so!

For me Owen offers us something differnt to berbatov, He sits on the last defender waiting for a through ball.

our overall performance wasnt good enough today all over the park!.

its easy taking the easy option and jumping on Owen, Or scholes cause he is 30+ or berbatov when he plays cause he is slow and plays the game at a slow place.

We cant win every game, WE dont win every game. All we can ask is a good performance we didnt have that today from anyone!

Fergie knows it wasnt good enough and i am sure the players will as well.

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Wakey December 19, 2009

Playing a back 3 makes us way too defensive imho. And when you have defensive problems surely the attacking side of the team should be exploited. Valancia in the first half was wasted as he couldn't get into advanced positions due to the defence duties

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Fred December 19, 2009

@Gee

I disagree. It would be nice to think that no matter how bad our defence is, we would still outscore the opposition, like in years gone by.

No goals scored against Burnley, Liverpool, Chelsea, Villa and Fulham is worrying. We weren't totally convincing against Birmingham, Arsenal, Bolton and Sunderland either.

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aig alex is god December 19, 2009

On the owen Berba debate i repeat what i said earlier. Owen can finish off the chances but we did not create any today. berbatov can create chacnes for us.he is more creative than owen.so Berba should have got the nod today.Giggs was sorely missed

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phaka sa red December 19, 2009

hi guys just when i needed a pick me up on todays result...THANK YOU SHITTY, Sparky you Prick...

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Gee December 19, 2009

@ Fred

Did you used to support fucking newcastle, out score the opposition. what like fucking shitty today, come on what I remember is us beating teams soundly with a solid defence, top goalie, a strong midfield and good strikers, I dont remember havin a fucking wank defence with midfielders in it and winning every game 4 fucking 3. I also remember winning fuck all for a long time!! we have won 3 back to back titles and people are fucking whinging coz we are second in the fucking league. GET A FUCKING GRIP!!

WILL NEVER DIE!!

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King Eric December 19, 2009

Fuck me. Is this a Barca love in? Fuck those cunts. As soon as we get the lads back it will be very different. Some of the "fans" calling that cunt Green are a disgrace. Saying why did we play with that back 4 and Fabio should have been Centre half. He is 4 feet 6. We just have to take it and struggle through till we get summat like our proper team back. It could be much much worse, we could be Citeh or Dipper fans. Do not understand how all of a sudden our squad is "shit". Aside from the Judas we lost ONE player. Admittedly a great one but Valencia ain't doing too bad.

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King Eric December 19, 2009

aIG - "You can't hate Barca". I ain't too fucking keen pal.

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King Eric December 19, 2009

Trev - Usually agree with much of what you say BUT Bridge, Toure and Lescott were NOT great signings. Their best defender Dunne was sold for a pittance and replaced with the awful Lescott for twenty odd million. That is not a great signing mate. I actually think Hughes has been treated disgracefully.

The league this year really is STRANGE.

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Gee December 19, 2009

@ King Eric

I second that mate!! Barca aint all that, and this year they will get bounced out of europe by the mighty MANCHESTER UNITED just like on our way to moscow!!

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King Eric December 19, 2009

Gee - bang on lad.

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King Eric December 19, 2009

Oh and all those saying Rooney is over rated get fucked. The lad is a fucking beast of a player who I would not swap for anyone. Just struggling for form at the minute but his goal record ain't too shabby. It is only 3 weeks ago people were saying we should get Torres. He isn't doing too well is he? There is a hell of a long way to go and lets face it our form can't get any worse. The lads will bounce back I would put my mortgage on that.

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Fze123 December 19, 2009

Who fancies Westham nicking a win tomorow? I am not too confident, we practically walked over them at Upton Park.

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aig alex is god December 19, 2009

King Eric

Barca won the World Cup and have had an unbelievable year lets give them credit.i As for fabio i thought he should have played as right back(he has played there if i am not mistaken) so that fletch could have been pushed in midfield. we could have controlled the game better and that would have eased the pressure on our midfield .Fabio looked good when he came on. The squad is good, no doubt about it but we need someone to step up and score goals out of nothing when we arent playing well or conjure that moment of magic. Thats what we are lacking. Valencia is scoring goals but i his crossing is getting poorer every game and is becoming increasingly predictable and one dimensional. no mention of nani.should he must be given another chance? what do yo think?

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Fze123 December 19, 2009

But then again, Wigan, who got beaten 9-1, somehow beat the rentboys. It's just too unpredictable. Hope they drop points tomorow.

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Costas December 19, 2009

Fergie did sound a bit negative in his comments, but i think that's understandable. He knows two things. 1)That defensive injuries can ruin a campaign. It happened the season we lost Stam and it happened the season we lost Rio. 2)That you have to be within a touching distance of the leaders after New year day. Chelsea will play Fulham, so hopefully that and the West Ham game tomorrow will bring us closer.

However, we must get our house in order first. Right now, the next two games are anything but easy. They are cup finals. But it's not all black. We are still just 3 points behind the point tally we got for the same 18 fixtures last season. So in a way, we could still get 85-87 points which would guarantee the league. But we have to make a big run of wins.

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trevor December 19, 2009

@King Eric

I do see your point, But i do think they will settle and become good players!

I wouldnt have either bridge, Toure or Lescott at united as there are better out there.

But in upgrading to what they had i think they have. i think had dune had of stayed he would have been better short term as he was settled, but long term after this season either lescott or toure would be at a higher level

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Tony Starks December 19, 2009

This year in football anyone can beat anyone... We are not as crap as people think and Barca are not as invincible as people think.. I honestly believe most of the teams that are left in the Champions League are capable of winning it this year, and at least three teams can win the League - so in a way its great (!) to have unpredictable footie

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King Eric December 19, 2009

aig - Oh I do give them credit but no need to go overboard on a United blog. Another thing pal, we ain't the manager. We don't know how Fabio has performed in training or what his attitude is like. There are so many factors to consider. It is too easy saying with hindsight "we should have played so and so here" or "so and so should have been left back". etc I leave and trust all these matters to Fergie. He does get it wrong now and again but overall he ain't done too bad. For what it is worth I really do hope we meet Barca at some stage with a fully fit back four, Fletch and Hargreaves. Will not be the cakewalk they experienced in Rome.

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Elliott December 19, 2009

It was only a question of time before a team exposed Carrick and Fletcher as midfielders hopelessly out of position

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King Eric December 19, 2009

aig - Yeah mate I reckon Nani is worth another shot. Fergie said yesterday he is out for 2 weeks. Seriously though and I know you know this the injury crisis at the back is the main reason for our form. How would the rentboys get on with Fat Frank and Essien as centre halfs? Would like to see Tosic given a go but again it is up to Fergie.

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King Eric December 19, 2009

Elliott - Yeah you are spot on mate.

Anyway off for a big fat smoke now. See you in a bit lads and lasses.

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King Eric December 19, 2009

Tony Starks - Spot on. Rubin Kazen proved they can be beaten. Out of interest which is your favourite Wu Tang album, collective or solo? Mine are the GZA - liquid swords and enter the 36 chambers! Also loved Tical and Raekwon's only built for cuban lynx.

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shakshamboo December 19, 2009

Belief is good but disillusionment is bad. We have developed a serious lack of consistency over the past season which is not getting better. We have a lot of inconsistent players who perform well in one game and bad in the next. the only players i can honestly put in the consistent performer category are vds, ferdinand, vidic, evra, fletcher, rooney and giggs.

rooney's performances for a couple of games now has been bad but i think the problem with him is that he is such a good team player and when he sees that others are not performing he tries to help out others in their duties and tries to get involved in everything which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.

anderson is good in one game and ordinary in the other. he maybe promising talent but in my opinion (at least for now) he does not have what it takes to become a great player

gibson is like carrick but with lesser ability of passing and creativity. he can only survive at united if he improves his defensive game. i think if he does that he has the potential to become the next keane

Berbatov never was and never will be a goal getter and owen is stop gap for a couple of years until the youngsters step up.

SAF is not going to buy big until summer because he is hoping for some of the youngsters to step up their game and doesn't want to hamper their progress. although this thinking is fine with me. but it can hurt our chances of winning anything this season. i still think we need one fast and skillful player (either striker or attacking midfielder) who can provide the creative spark we are lacking.

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Altonian December 19, 2009

People show open there eyes and not moan at people who are criticising the team because of a 'bad day'. To put it simply we have been pretty shite all season, yes we are 2nd but too often this season we have scrapped together wins and pretty much played without any fluency or consistency. The game against Chelsea was pretty much the only game that I thought we played well in, even then though we had very little attacking threat.

Now all people are doing is blaming the defence. Yes it's a huge problem for us at the moment but even when we've been at full strength our attacking play has been so poor in general. As I posted the other day, the partnership between Rooney and Berbatov doesn't work that well and hasn't exactly progressed. Individually they are both great players but together there styles of play simply don't fit together well.

Our midfield is the main problem we have. We simply have no consistency within it, literally every game we are playing with a different pairing in the middle. How often do you see Chelsea or Barcelona do this? Once again, as I've posted before we still need a top central midfielder.

Our defence at full strength is one of the best, but I simply cannot see us being able to field it on a regular basis. Rio, Vidic, Brown and O'Shea all seem to be highly injury prone, at least at the moment they do anyway. An additional CB and RB (an attacking one to compliment Evra, Rafael could perhaps take on this role in the future be he is still very raw, defensively we had a lot to learn) would be ideal.

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trevor December 19, 2009

You have to love football. Win loose or draw, home or away.

Its all about opinion and debate!

Have to love it!...

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denton davey December 19, 2009

20Legend99 @ 17:36 "Can’t blame Kus or our defense really, our attacking play was fucking awful."

mikekelly12@ 18:01 "We can’t score goals against half decent opposition! We can’t defend properly, with or without our makeshift defence! If we’re gonna be honest with the odd exception we’ve been poor this season, really poor."

You guys have hit the nail on the head. In most games, UTD usually defend-from-the-front and tilt the field so that TheLads "play downhill" by commanding possession/territory. In this game, the tables were turned and Fulham were compact, disciplined, and dangerous on the break.

But, as mikekelly moans, this isn't the first time this season that TheLads have been pretty meek in attack - two flukey goals against TheArse at OldTrafford (Giggs' free kick was deflected by the wall stranding the keeper and Diaby had a brain cramp to make an own-goal); no goals against TheVirus at AnFailed, no goals against the RentBoyz at Stamford Bridge; no goals against Villa at Old Trafford.

In most of those games, UTD competed but today was just plain 'orrible - the worst performances since David Bentley's hat-trick for Blackburn, MIddlesbrough scoring four (!); and the away game in Milan in the CL a couple of years ago when the entire back four was crocked, with Silly and Heinze doing absolutely nothing to polish their reputations.

What's troubling about today's performance - like those others mentioned in the paragraph above - is the lack of co-ordination in the attack. Today, the ball never really got forward to LittleMikey, WayneRooney played like the worst impression of Nani - or David Bellion - I've seen in a while, and Dimmy entertained us his usual flattering-to-deceive. Even allowing for the strikers' dismal, insipid and uninspired day-at-the-office, it would be unfair to single them out for blame because the midfield did - well - diddly-squat. And, Antonio Valencia spurned a good shooting opportunity - as usual.

We have to hope that somehow West Ham can do everyone a favour and, against form and the odds, trip up the RentBoyz. If not ..... well, that's just too horrible to contemplate, isn't it ?

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aig alex is god December 19, 2009

King Eric

point taken.But i made just one comment about barca. Of course if we meet barca it wont be easy for them. Milan and barca are the 2 teams i want us to beat very convincingly for once.Think Fergie has got it surprisingly wrong quite a few times this season which is very very unusual. Of course the injuries havent helped. Hope we see out the remaining 2 games of the year without hiccups and then have everyone fit when the games come thick and fast in the 2nd half of the season.

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lyndhurst red December 19, 2009

A very disappointing (but not unexpected) result and SAF comments do not give me much hope for the next few games because of the injury situation.
Maybe we should be looking at the natural defenders we have out on loan or in our reserves - cathcart who is playing regulary at Watford and Gill or Cory Evans (the latter having played for Northern Ireland in a friendly)
Srely it makes more sense to give these guys a shot at 1st team football

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aig alex is god December 19, 2009

King Eric

lampard as a centerback. he would be murdered. as for essien we did see him at right back in the champions league final and Ronny absolute roasted him.They would struggle for sure. any team would.we didnt have major injuries in the last 2 years. At some stage it was gonna happen.thankfully it hasnt happened in feb or march.

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Always Be Closing December 19, 2009

It doesn't make sense at such a crucial point, we need experience and we get that from Fletch and Carrick, simple as.

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Tony Starks December 19, 2009

@King Eric

My fave by far is the first one - 36 Chambers, this got me hooked on them, their style has been copied by so many since. But the Wu-Tang stuff has been going slowly downhill since the first wave of solo's..

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arijc December 19, 2009

@ lyndhurst red: I couldn't agree more with you about giving the defenders of the Reserves team a chance. At least they are used to playing those positions and it also gives the Fletcher the chance to play where he is best suited and most influential.
And lets never again try 3-5-2.

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King Eric December 19, 2009

Tony - Yeah if I had to pick one it would be that. Can it be all so simple and C.R.E.A.M were . Stopped buying their stuff after that second album thing with about 1000 tunes on. Never really buy hip hop full stop now.

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King Eric December 19, 2009

Altonian - That's half the problem though mate. The defence hasn't been at full strength for almost the whole season. No Edwin then no rio, no vidic etc. It IS becoming desperate at the back. We have got away with it a couple of games, today we didn't.

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Welbz19 December 19, 2009

Personally think it's time for obertan and welbeck to be given a proper run in the team 20 mins here and there is enough think they could go on to be great players for the club just need a proper opportunity to prove it!

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kidmeister December 19, 2009

Time for Thomas to be dropped and we need to buy a match winner in January!We looked pathetic today.We need to sort this out on the training pitch asap.

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Costas December 19, 2009

Here's one of football's mysteries. We have lost Ronaldo and we are going through a transitional period as far as our attacking play is concerned. That is evident against big teams. Yet, with 54 goals in 28 games, we have one of our best attacking records in the past 10 years. How does that happen? We have plenty of games with 2,3 and 4 goals, yet very few with 1. What this goes to show in a way, is that we struggle to score the opening goal, but after that we have no problem scoring. It's no surprise then that all 6 of our defeats are goaless on our behalf.

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King Eric December 19, 2009

kidmeister - A matchwinner. Namely?

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Rewind December 19, 2009

@ The Red C....brilliant post as usual.

Especially this part....."I think we are going through a period where injuries at the back are obviously too much to cope with, but there is more to it than that. When United are confident, playing good football and pulling together we don’t seem as if we need a defence. We could certainly outscore practically anyone just a few seasons ago, even when we leaked goals the other end. It’s easy to just point at our injuries and blame them, but when have we actually looked stable, consistant, threatening this season?

We don’t look or feel like a team that can be consistantly dangerous, full of confidence and take a game by the scruff of the neck anymore. Todays game at Fulham, last weekend’s against Villa and even the game against Wolves 10 reserves and the first team goalie have seen us teetering on the brink. I hope we can pull it round, but I think SAF is financially hindered, at least for the moment"

I agree, ever since I became a united fan and watched United play we may not even score but we sure do create chances and 9/10 more chances than the opposition by a longshot! We never even looked like creating 1 chance in 90 mins of football and I have seen this far too many times this season and I must say it is really starting to worry me.

Yes we have defenders out, but I can guarantee United teams of yesteryear would of controlled the game and ensured the defence had as less to do as possible. Yes the formation did play its part in our players looking like they were in alien territory for 60 odd minutes and surely Fergie has learned his lesson here after the same debacle at aston Villa!

We looked a lot better in both games once we switched the formation back the favoured 4-4-2, yet Fergie wants to play three at the back, at least if we were wearing those horrid away shirts from the southampton defeat we could have claimed the players coul not see each other!!!

Please do not tell me Fergie has to play Carrick at centre back, what happened to Corry Evans and Reece Brown, both very highly rated and would do a damn sight better than a midfielder playing out of position. Please do not come out with some bollocks of there too young, if Moyes can play 16 and 17 year olds making their debuts in europe, then we can play these lads. As lets be honest Carrick looks pretty clueless in defence, he does not know whether to press or fall back, whether to attack the header or not and if I was a rival manager who we were going to play in the near future. I would play a big man upfront and two good wingers and long balls all game long, hell it worked for Villa and Fulham!!

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Rewind December 19, 2009

@ Welbz19...... "Personally think it’s time for obertan and welbeck to be given a proper run in the team 20 mins here and there is enough think they could go on to be great players for the club just need a proper opportunity to prove it!"

I agree with you about Obertan, the boy is ready to be unleashed. Welbeck is nowhere near ready, he needs to bulk up, learn when to pass and stop being greedy, only then can he be considered for the first team.

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arijc December 19, 2009

@ King Eric
Match winner: David Villa
Not that I think its going to happen.

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Costas December 19, 2009

In my opinion, our matchwinners are Edwin, Nemanja and Rio. If we can get at least two of them fit for a run of games, we are not going to drop many points. Many say that Ronaldo carried the team in the last few seasons. Well take away the 3 aforomentioned players, and i doubt Ronaldo would have made much difference to the team.