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Da Silva Twins

VIDEO: Rafael's Blinder Against Arsenal

November 8, 2008

Scott is the editor of RoM and has a season ticket at Old Trafford. He writes for The Mirror, Paddy Power and Red News. He started The Republik of Mancunia in March 2006. Follow @R_o_M on Twitter.

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19 Comments

James November 8, 2008

The fact you needed an 18 year old fullback to come on to save face says it all. Good goal but Utd were dominated by an Arsenal team missing some of their best players.

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BEROONALVEZ November 8, 2008

He's a great talent

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Gary November 8, 2008

The only thing worth remembering from an extremely dissapointing game! This boy has a great future.

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holloway November 8, 2008

Cracking game. Took his goal very well, thought that G Neville was awful, chuck him on the scarpheap mate!

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Oooodz November 8, 2008

The best thing for me about that goal is that he didn't bask in any glory of what is a excellent goal against a top club. He just wanted to restart to get something out of the game

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rather 17 and 3 and be able to sleep at night November 9, 2008

this kid needs to start more games

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OMelhorDoMundo November 9, 2008

James, how ironic that Arsene Wenger was criticizing Stoke's style of play yet all of Arsenal's chances today came from crosses to a big target man? Arsenal played some good football in the middle with their five midfielders but still United created better chances from start to finish. United weren't exactly injury-free either although Sir Alex isn't the type of man to use this as an excuse. Scholes, Hargreaves and Fletcher were all missing. Carrick was coming back from an injury and only had his first full game on Wednesday.

Rafael has tremendous potential and the commentators here in Brazil were really excited, saying that he will be Brazil's first choice right back for the next decade.

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Gooner November 9, 2008

Looks like a great find.
Not just his goal but the way he handled himself showed maturity beyond his years.
Maybe now some of the Man Utd fans wont be so cocky before a big game like that.

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denton davey November 9, 2008

Considering that Raphael's twin, Fabio, is supposed to be the better player, this is extremely encouraging !

While Raphael is a natural attacking talent, his positional play is simply dreadful and completely undisciplined. He can get away with this against Aalborg and, to a certain extent, against even top teams like TheArse when they go into their shells but on a bigger stage (or in conditions when defensive shape/discipline needs to be maintained) then he is still a liability. Of course, he's better than the player-who-used-to-Gary-Neville but there is no question in my mind that when Wesley is healthy that the kid should sit on the bench - maybe used in those situation when his offensive skills will be needed and his defensive liabilities won't be exposed. Otherwise, he's a very raw talent - but, surely, a talent.

Speaking of talents - why was Anderson substituted ? For Ryan Giggs !!! I didn't understand that move yesterday, I don't understand it today. Giggs has been a fabulous player but he is fast-becoming a mere shadow of his former self. It's all well-and-good to talk about his experience but such talk should also be balanced by an appreciation of his declining speed, his wayward passing, and his troubling proclivity to give the ball away. Anderson might have warts (and all) but he is a much, much, much better player than Giggs at this moment in time.

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shkumbini November 9, 2008

OMelhorDoMundo Said,mate which player do u play usualy fletcher or carric,dont try to tell us man u was not with they best team.arsenal played without robin van persy who i think would score one of two chances that bendner had during the game,and arsenal was without adebayor.gallas played without any training day and walcott was 60% fit.so stop telling us u were not with ur best team,and telling here u were better then arsenal.if u lost some of ur chances we did it too,have u forget two early chances from croses,and two other chances in the end of the game by bendner,so the difference is we took our two from our chances u did not wiith urs.
if we can beat cheski at their home we really can be champions

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Sam November 9, 2008

evra was crap at defending when he signed for us, especially positional play as he often got caught ball watching now look at him. I think the same will happen with rafael, all he needs is matches, sure he'll make mistakes but he'll also improve, i can see him being first choice by the end of next season.

As for the game yesterday we were without brown who would have marked nasri, as well as missing scholes and hargreaves who would of played. I felt we played the better football but goals win games so arsenal were obviously the better team in that sense. We should have had it wrapped up inside 15 minutes.

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denton davey November 9, 2008

Shkumbini: are you talking about the same Robin Van Persie who missed three sitters against Stoke ?

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Gazza November 9, 2008

denton davey - wat r u on about?
giggs brought composure to uniteds play n it was his cross we scored from. against everton and west brom he was outstanding. Goal against celtic in midweek - lay off the man. He's not as good as he use to b ov course hes not but without doubt united miss something when he or scholes arent on the pitch.

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denton davey November 10, 2008

Gazza - I see things differently; the team doesn't seem to play as well with Giggs up front. To claim that Raphael scored "from Giggs' cross" is really weird because Raphael controlled a mis-guided cross that one of TheArse's defenders had headed out of danger and it was Raphael's composure that controlled the ball off his chest and then volleyed it into the net. Giggs' initial cross was woeful on that occasion. Sure, Giggs scored against Celtic - "fitba', bloody hell" - but he didn't do much for the rest of the game and bringing him on in place of Anderson yesterday made no sense to me. Perhaps you could make a case that he could have - should have - been brought on to replace Carrick but, up to that point, Anderson had been UTD's best player.

The key point here is that it's not how good he used to be - it's how good he is now and time has passed him by. He was a great, great player but is now just a useful one - and, I think that if he is going to be used as a member of the first-team squad then the only realistic role for him is as an impact substitute.

Professional sports is a hard business; short careers are the norm. It's rare for a guy to play at the top level for almost twenty years, no matter what the game. Giggs has had a great run but, to my eyes, it's winding down fast.
And, it's not like there aren't viable alternatives on this team - Nani has been bounced around too much for my liking because he offers the speed and crossing ability that a winger has to provide; Fletcherinho has really come good this season. And, in a pinch, either Evra or Raphael is a really terrific attacker, whether you choose to play them at fullback or in midfield in some sort of 2-6-2. I think that all four of these guys offer more than Ryan Giggs does nowadays - and so does Carlos Tevez who has to be blended in with Rooney, Berbatov, and Ronaldo so that the four of them can be on the field at the same time. Giggs' continual presence makes this more difficult to achieve in game situations.

I'd blabber on some more but Management is calling me ! cheers

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North Stand,Tier 3,Back Row November 10, 2008

I agree with Denton Davey bout Giggs. I thought he was poor when he came on, and I was very disappointed when I saw he was our sub to come on and give us something different. I think he should be part of the squad, definitely, the guy is a legend. But its home games against Hull and Stoke he should really be used in, where we could bring him in and rest Ronaldo or Anderson, not Arsenal aways. Granted, he had a great first half against Everton, and he's not having that bad a season at all, but it didnt fill me with excitment or optimism to see him coming on, and that was proved right in the end. Like I said, I dont want to bash the lad, he is a legend, but...

Same with Vaan Der Saar, he seems to be getting a bit shakey, and I think its only a matter of time before Foster is thrown in and we'll get to see what he's made of.

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Stephen November 10, 2008

North Stand,Tier 3,Back Row, I agree mate, also with GaryRed, it is a shame but he really is struggling to cut it at the highest level and seems yards off the pace.

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Ferrule November 10, 2008

James:

United 'were dominated by Arsenal' huh?

Did you even watch the game, or are you just stupid?

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Sam November 10, 2008

don't understand why you'd lay into giggs when rooney and ronaldo both missed great chances. I agree he isn't the player he was but if you want to blame somebody in a game we should have won then you have to look to the people who missed chances. I personally don't think it would have mattered who had been on the pitch as it just wasn't our day