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LIVE BLOG: United 1-2 Crystal Palace FT

November 30, 2011

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.

CONFIRMED LINE-UP: United vs Crystal Palace – No Pogba or Morrison

United look to return to winning ways at Villa

581 Comments

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Costas December 1, 2011

If Basle knock us out, it will definitely be one of the lowest points of the last 6 years, but it won't tarnish Sir Alex's legacy one bit. Fans have to realize that we have no divine right to dominate all the time. The club has had a highly succesful half decade. One of our best spells in United's history. But after spells like that, you get periods where you rebuild your side and things don't go your way. And that's where we are at now. It was a brilliant achievement that we won the title last season, but it shouldn't mask the fact that we are still in a transitional period. You think 2-3 years without a trophy is unacceptable? Try asking Cedars, King Eric and co about supporting United during the 80s.

Like I said on Saturday, trophies aren't my main concern at the moment. Seeing a team with United's trademark spirit and brand of football is.

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sandeep1878 December 1, 2011

@ Costas,

" Fans have to realize that we have no divine right to dominate all the time"

i was searching for words and u have found them pin point buddy..

as much as we enjoy our trophies and success, we need accept the defeats and transitions as well,

this is a game, not shopping..

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gaz December 1, 2011

@tgan piss off glory hunter and support shitty we will bounce back and we have some of the best players in the world in our squad support the team or piss off

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Tgan December 1, 2011

Without investment it will be very tough to compete!!!!!................fact

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Balaji Sivaraman December 1, 2011

@Costas, Do you honestly feel everybody is going to think like that? I've said for a long time that I can take any barren spell as long as the rebuilding process is on. We had 03-06 and that didn't do anything to diminish my love for United. Compared to other lull periods, we've been very successful in what is definitely a rebuilding phase for the past couple of years. No other club and no other manager could've guaranteed that. But with many older players leaving at the same time, this year could test our strength and resolve more than 10 or 11 did. This is the proper rebuilding year and the main reason we don't want to "not win the title" is because if we don't, City will. At least, that is a majority of the fans' main worry ATM. Either ways, more than half of our fans are not going to be patient. They want immediate success all the time and nothing works that way unfortunately.

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Costas December 1, 2011

@Sandeep

It's a natural process. That's why I enjoyed the last league title as much as possible. Because there's no guarantee when the next one will arrive. The real question for me is if the foundations for the new team are solid. We already have a crop of talented youngsters. It's just a case of completing the puzzle.

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gaz December 1, 2011

we are competing if you had not noticed and we have made investment in the squad in quality young signings. we blooded some of the kids last night and they will learn from the experiance. we are United we will not die and we will win the PL this year!

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Costas December 1, 2011

@Balaji

Hi mate. Nah, I am don't have any delusions about that. I fully expect shitstorms here after bad results and if (God forbid) City win the title. I try to look at it from a realistic standpoint. They have been building their current side for the last 3-4 years and with a ridiculous amount of money at their disposal. We've been building ours over a shorter period of time and with less money. For me they are at their peak and our new team (featuring Tom, Danny, Jones, Smalling, the twins, Javier, Rooney and co) may not even reach its peak this season. At least some fans like you get it. And like you said, every lean period has its highlights and reminds us why we love this club.

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Anand December 1, 2011

@Costas -

I wouldn't want us to be Arsenal ever :D for all the 'beautiful' football they claim to play, their start players use the club as a prostitute to lose their virginity before they get married of to rich suitors.
It's a fine point you made, the transition period. It's so obvious only fair weather glory hunters miss it. My concern is that the 11 players who go out there and play haven't done justice to their potential, transition or no transition. Also, I really wish for Roy Keane to turn back his years and come in again. He'll bury his knees into the boys groins if that makes them give a 110%. :D
On a lighter note, i daresay SAF has given up on his hairdryer treatment, seeing there are too many in line for it week in week out :D
Why do I expect United to do nothing but win? Because that's what we've done :) And we've done it without glamourous 'Louis Vuitton' midfielders :D

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CedarsDevil December 1, 2011

Blimey, over 550 posts, I bet if we had of won we would get half of that! Funny really

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smartalex December 1, 2011

Without air it will be very tough to breathe!!!!!…………….fact

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sandeep1878 December 1, 2011

United’s performances in the League Cup since the 1990/91 season have seen them lose to lower league opposition nine times – almost an average of once every other season. Not all of those defeats led to elimination, on occasion United bounced back in a two-legged contest. But still the statistic is remarkable given that over the same period United won 12 Premier League titl...es, four FA Cups, four League Cups, two European Champions League titles, a European Cup Winners’ Cup, a UEFA Super Cup, and an Intercontinental Cup and FIFA Club World Cup to boot. It would be easy to assume that in their pursuit of bigger prizes, United’s sullied record can be explained away by second-rate line-ups as key players rest for bigger challenges.

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sandeep1878 December 1, 2011

Smart Alex..

:P

Without air it will be very tough to breathe!!!!!…………….fact

:P

Thats best way of answering back :)

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sandeep1878 December 1, 2011

http://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/uefarankings/club/index.html

Gping by this in Europe,

Our ranking will be shifting i feel,

but then again, Never write us off, We are Man UTD and we do what we want..

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WillieRedNut December 1, 2011

Bob Marley said it best, "Don't worry, about a thing, cos every little thing, is gonna be alright" 19

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Red Neville December 1, 2011

When you commit yourself to youth the team becomes a perpetual work in progress, there will never be a focal end to it. We will be building a team next year and the year after that - and in five years time also.

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denton davey December 1, 2011

Samuel @ 4:19: "Denton – can i just ask, why do you keep saying ‘DannyTheLad’? or ‘TomTheBoy’? lol."

This is meant to be fun and, in my way, I find it entertaining to refer to the players by made-up nick-names. I suppose that some people think that - a la Bill Shankly or Vince Lombardi - "it's not about life or death, it's more important than that - but I'm not one of them. "lol" back at you !

For the past five years, UTD fans have had an unprecedented run of success to crow about - and, if you believe in the genius of SAF, it might be that this is a prelude to more of the same. My view is to enjoy the ride. It's also my opinion that whatever we say/write has no impact whatsoever on the on-field product but we can share our views - in a civil manner - about that on-field product and the entertainment it provides (or not !).

Unless one is some sort of tribal chauvinist, the rivalries with ManShitty, LiverPoo, TheArse, the RentBoyz, TheVirus, and Farcelona is the stuff of pantomime. So why not deal with the players in much the same way ? Very few of them would share loyalties with tribal chauvinists - they're mostly mercenary and will go to the top dollar and, fair do's to them, because they have a short career and won't be living in the Borough of Salford or down the Ashton Road when their careers are over.

Like I said, it's all about banter, opinions and entertainment. AND, it's not life-or-death.

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denton davey December 1, 2011

Costas @ 8:38: "What Ferguson needs to address is this team’s naive defending. Because no matter how well we play up front, it keeps letting us down."

Nothing could have stopped Darren Ambrose's thunder-strike; on the second, Park needless fouled the winger and then Jonny Evans (who had a very good game otherwise) was outmuscled in the box.

What's MUCH MORE TROUBLING than the "naive defending" is the timid attacking play. What happened to the old "you score two, we'll score three" mentality ? And this isn't just an issue for the B-Team since the first team often plays peripherally, too.

Where's the cut ? where's the thrust ?

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WillieRedNut December 1, 2011

Cut and thrust were in the stand.

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Paul Parker December 1, 2011

Guess that means damp and squib were on the pitch?

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Mursyid December 1, 2011

So much for "exciting" young talents eyh? they were all shit and overrated. We lost the game because of them. 1st team players did everything, but the youth players were disappointing.

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denton davey December 1, 2011

Mursyid @ 17:13 - You seem to have been watching a different match from almost everyone else.

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TheCANTONA December 1, 2011

@mursyid:
The class of 92 were not ever won the League Cup. By your logic, you must be thinking they were shit too... Idiot.

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smartalex December 1, 2011

Mursyid or is it Merseyside? Don't fucking talk down about our young lads. Get back to Liverpool and focus on improving your lot, instead of undermining kids with lies as a wind-up.

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Jason December 1, 2011

I read the comments here and I just think that people need to stop hailing the youngsters too much and accept that these youngsters deserved to be criticized for their performance.

I don't think it's rational to compare this bunch with class of 92. The class of 92 didn't do this bad when they were young, sure that they've lost games, but not like this.

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Schmikesnumber1 December 2, 2011

Hi, I'm not a regular poster but I am a regular reader of this fantastic blog. First off, I am absolutely disgusted at the way some of the people on here are calling for Sir Alex's head. Spoilt little brats who know nothing about the work it takes to actually develop a team. It doesn't happen over night and we as fans need to accept that the squad that we have at the moment is one that is in transition. The performance tonight against Palace was truly awful, make no mistake about it.

However, there are some things to consider before so called fans start slaughtering every player that either started or was on the bench last night. There where hardly any elder statesmen of the squad selected for this game apart from Berb, Park and Tony V and to be fair they all had shockers! But apart from those three, we saw a very young team lacking any real experience in playing without the squads most influential players around them. Rafael and Fabio got injured again! But what's more is that they have both not long been back from injury anyway. Evan's, even with the monster that is Smalling beside him, still needs coaxing through a games and Gibson hasn't played since last season if my memory serves me correctly. The same applies to Macheda and Diouf. They simply haven't played enough.

Now not all of these players are going to make the final grade at United, we know that. However it is important to realise that the likes of the twins, Smalling and possibly Evans will come through these experiences and it will make them better players. So in actual fact, with only three real senior players in the side we were always likely to have a tough time. Although I do accept that we didn't expect a defeat and a performance that was so dire.

Anyhow, this relative inexperience was coupled with further inexperience in Fryers, Pogba and Morrison. Fryers didn't look as good as he did previously, Pogba looked a fair player but often had to play out of position and Morrison was doing all the right things but the rest of the team just wasn't clicking for him. Its also important to remember that these three players have all of around six appearances between them. My point is this, we need to give these youngsters more time and should not expect them be hitting the ground running like a Rooney, Messi or Ronaldo. Because if we are all honest, these three guys are freaks of nature in footballing terms. It's just not normal to expect young kids to be bursting out of the blocks and be world class players straight away. We need to nurture them and then see them flourish in the not to distant future.

What is also true though, is that we do need to sign a box to box midfielder. Tunnicliffe shows tremendous promise but is it fair to stick the pressure of being ' the new Roy Keane' on a lad who hasn't even made his first team debut yet? Again, talent such as Tunniclffe's needs nurturing and he wont be ready for a while yet. It may not happen in January but I really do hope we go all out for Bastien Schweinsteiger. He is exactly the type of footballer we need in midfield to provide quality and experience in our engine room. Whether he plays with Carrick, Fletch or Clev, I feel the German would provide what we have been missing in midfield for a large chunk of this first part of the season.

We are not going down the toilet as many glory hunters are willing to suggest at the moment, but we do need reinforcements to guide and aid the new batch of kids through.

So come on United fans, back the club to the hilt! Cheer on our youngsters and lets hope we get a midfielder in the mould of Bastien sometime soon to help the likes of Pogba, Tunnicliffe, Morrison and even Larnell Cole on their way to stardom.

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smartalex December 2, 2011

Excellent comment Schmikesnumber1.

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Schmikesnumber1 December 2, 2011

Cheers smartalex, nice one!

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Ted Perechalli December 2, 2011

Promises, promises, promises ... sorry, sorry, sorry! Put an end to this nonsense and show that you truly want to win every Cup tournament we enter. So far, the team are a bunch of chicken-livered 'have-beens.' Make all the promises they want, they are not going to win against Aston Villa and FC Basel are they? Are they going to be white-faced, yet again? I think so. I personally think that the players are lossers and do not have the gumption to win.

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Schmikesnumber1 December 4, 2011

Didn't win against the Villa I see Ted! You are exactly the sort of fan I was talking about. Maybe you should go and support Chelsea or City. Back the team all the time or don't at all! We can all hope for improvements but your comments spank of a person who has seen it too good for too long. Start supporting! Stop hating!!

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Ted Perechalli December 4, 2011

Schmikesnumber1, Manchester United is my team ... has always been ... will ever be. But
'1-0 victory'...
'United dominated the opening 45 minutes' (what about the other half?)
How are we going to fare well against the likes of Chelsea, City, Liverpool, Tottenham and Newcastle
later on with such a performance. We never used to go out with a whiper as we are doing these days.
perhaps a litle bit of chiding with the tongue in the cheek will help.
A 1-0 win against the top 6 other teams is okay BUT a 1-0 win against the likes of Villa, Norwich, etc is not enough unless the win is achieved with a younger squad. Support United ... of course do! That is what we do ALL THE TIME. But supporting bindly a listless, lackadaisical and lethargic team performance, without the mildest of comments, time after time? ... The team has to perform for the supporters all the time.