Flanos as thread starter of the old one and him jumping ship to Barca means a new thread should be set up by the true United fan on here who will defend their club till their fingers bleed on their keyboard.
[quote=âCaptainshanâ]Flanos as thread starter of the old one and him jumping ship to Barca means a new thread should be set up by the true United fan on here who will defend their club till their fingers bleed on their keyboard.
[B]Darren Fletcher was perhaps the perfect player to disrupt Barcelonaâs possession football, and Sir Alex Fergusonâs fears before the game that the suspended midfielder would be a great loss sadly proved prophetic.
[/B]The Reds boss recognises that Barcelona also had players missing through suspension, but from a United point of view Fletcher would have been key in disrupting the flow of passes from Andres Iniesta and Xavi to the front three of Etoâo, Henry and Messi.
âI thought before the game it may have been a problem,â said Sir Alex.
âI knew it might count against us because he is a big-game player and he was a big loss. Itâs difficult to say how big, and they had players missing too, but it showed for us tonight.â
Fletcherâs ability to cover every blade of grass in the middle of the park would have been an asset as United tried to regain possession - but keeping the ball was also a problem.
âThe simple reason we lost was possession,â Sir Alex added. "You have to wait minutes to get it back off Barcelona but when we did get it, we didnât do anything with it.
"That was the disappointment, our use of the ball when we had it.
Too true the words spoken by a legend about another legend. To deny any player the chance to play in a Champions League final is sickening. Fletch has time on his side though.
Oh no", writes former Premier League referee Graham Poll in the Daily Mail, voicing the fears that will have been running through fellow official Roberto Rosettiâs mind when he saw Darren Fletcherâs challenge on Cesc Fabregas during Tuesday nightâs Champions League semi-final tie between Manchester United and Arsenal.
The decision to show the Scottish midfielder a red card for the tackle meant that Fletcher will miss the May 27 Champions League final against Barcelona. But the âsuperb and experiencedâ Italian referee was absolutely right, says Poll.
âRemember that the Italian guided the Chelsea players through their semi-final second leg against Liverpool last season, managing not to caution those players facing suspension from the final.â
He wasnât looking to make a name for himself by sending Flecher off, says Poll. Indeed, âRosetti will have felt dreadful, well aware of the ramifications. He [even] looked apologetically at the Manchester United players, who appeared to ask him: âDo you have to send him off? Heâll miss the final.ââ
Rosetti had positioned himself perfectly to view the incident, and from his angle - and without the benefits of seeing the tackle in slo-mo or from myriad angles - made a decision which his linesman backed him up on.
âHaving seen the challenge from the camera behind the goal, all sorts of doubts raise themselves in my head,â concludes Poll. "Fletcher clearly got the ball; however, his following motion was to take Fabregas, which is a foul.
"Could it be that, as the ball had been fairly knocked away, a referee could say it was not a goalscoring opportunity? Or are we just looking for excuses to allow a player to play in a Champions League final?
[quote=âartfoleyâ]Oh no", writes former Premier League referee Graham Poll in the Daily Mail, voicing the fears that will have been running through fellow official Roberto Rosettiâs mind when he saw Darren Fletcherâs challenge on Cesc Fabregas during Tuesday nightâs Champions League semi-final tie between Manchester United and Arsenal.
The decision to show the Scottish midfielder a red card for the tackle meant that Fletcher will miss the May 27 Champions League final against Barcelona. But the âsuperb and experiencedâ Italian referee was absolutely right, says Poll.
âRemember that the Italian guided the Chelsea players through their semi-final second leg against Liverpool last season, managing not to caution those players facing suspension from the final.â
He wasnât looking to make a name for himself by sending Flecher off, says Poll. Indeed, âRosetti will have felt dreadful, well aware of the ramifications. He [even] looked apologetically at the Manchester United players, who appeared to ask him: âDo you have to send him off? Heâll miss the final.ââ
Rosetti had positioned himself perfectly to view the incident, and from his angle - and without the benefits of seeing the tackle in slo-mo or from myriad angles - made a decision which his linesman backed him up on.
âHaving seen the challenge from the camera behind the goal, all sorts of doubts raise themselves in my head,â concludes Poll. "Fletcher clearly got the ball; however, his following motion was to take Fabregas, which is a foul.
"Could it be that, as the ball had been fairly knocked away, a referee could say it was not a goalscoring opportunity? Or are we just looking for excuses to allow a player to play in a Champions League final?[/quote]
Coming from Poll with his 3 yellow cards before you get sent off rule. Yeah great ref who knows his stuff.