Very good cartoon though.
I havenāt seen enough of Manchester United to make a claim for who should start in central midfield but I was wondering about Hargreaves - has he made the impact that was expected? Is it just me or is it unusual for him to play 2 games in a week? Is it a remnant of the injury he had with Bayern last season?
[quote=āBandageā]
I havenāt seen enough of Manchester United to make a claim for who should start in central midfield but I was wondering about Hargreaves - has he made the impact that was expected? Is it just me or is it unusual for him to play 2 games in a week? Is it a remnant of the injury he had with Bayern last season?[/quote]
I dont think Hargreaves has ever been 100 percent fit for United. I dont recall him starting more than 3 games in a row all season. Carrick has played in 31 games compared to Hargreaves 18. I dont think Hargreaves has even started a European game for United yet. I remember he came off the bench against Lisbon. He put in excellent performances against Liverpool and Arsenal away but hasnt really made the impact I thought he would.
He does have a little European in his pocket though.
You wont even watch United.
Iām a tad worried about this evening. After the demolition of Arsenal at the weekend we need to push on and get a good result tonight. The tempo of the play was key the other day as they werenāt allowed settle and we got the ball back off them and moved it forwaard quickly. Tonight I fear heāll bring back in the experience of Giggs and Scholes and add the āsolidityā of Hargreaves leaving us short on people to take the game to Lyon. Our attitude should be that an away win will win us the tie so letās go out and get it, but I think Ferguson might settle for a draw.
Anderson should start every game. FACT. Ronaldo is way more effective when he has Tevez and Rooney causing ructions and he gets to run at a defence already unsure of itself. And yes, Bandage, Hargreaves has been a little disappointing but he has been injured(defo linked to his Bayern injury) and hasnāt had a good run in the side. I think he might yet return to the great form of his early Bayern days. Scholes clearly needs some games to get back in the swing but this might not be the greatest to start him in.
Iād play
Van Der Saar
Brown(good)
Vidic(psycho Serb god)
Ferdinand
Evra(attacking French god)
Nani(thriller god)
Anderson(dreaded God)
Carrick(much maligned god)
Ronaldo(greasy god)
Tevez(ugly god)
Rooney(angry god)
I think Ferguson will swap Nani for Giggs and Carrick for Scholes.
Iāll be watching your Ma.8)
Im considering watching the Celtic game tonight. But Iāll probably stick with the United game at the end of the day
Doe Van der Sar and Ferdinand not merit any god-like Status?
The way Ferguson has been talking about Giggs I think he will start tonight. I think its wise. Giggs experience in this kind of game is crucial. I can see the game itself being very cagy. Another option is to play Carrick, Hargreaves and Anderson and leave Tevez out and play Anderson in behind Rooney. Its a tough one to call.
Agreed Juhniallio that United should try and win over there. Why not kill the tie off? Look what happened Inter last night - mitigating circumstances obviously but if you play too defensively you can get mugged and all of a sudden youāre robbed of getting any away goals.
Im agreed United should go out and attack with all theyāve got hence Scholes and Anderson should play.
Scholes dosent score that often now and Anderson hasnt scored on the pitch for United yet. Its only the first leg anyway. I would be confident of United going for it at Old Trafford.
Fair enough point about the boyos getting goals but if Rooney, Ronaldo and Tevez are on along with the boyos itās some fearsome line up.
I think a score draw or even a win is achievable.
I see 3 possible outcomes myself: a Lyon victory, a draw or a Machester United win on their travels.
Iāll bet on that
I dont see a Lyon victory as an outcome myself.
Itās quite possible Shan. A slow display from United and they have enough quality in their attack to score(not to mention their freekick dangers). We sometimes mistake nonadventure for safety in Europe, then get mugged. Anxious to see us start the game at a good pace.
If Lyon go for it then the counter attacking skills of Rooney, Ronaldo and Tevez could cause them problems especially if Boumsong is playing.
A bad night all told but it could have been a lot worse. United slipped back into their age old European selves last night for the first 60 mins. Ferguson was just too nervous and safety first is a load of bollox. My prevously posted fear of us sitting back and letting the game be dictated to us instead of trying to run it came to pass. Our 4-5-1 gave rise to three major problems. Rooney was hopelessly isolated and frustrated up front. He should have scored from his one-on-one, but we are a super attacking side at home so why change? Hargreaves, Scholes and Anderson donāt work together as a midfield, they donāt know for sure what they each should be doing. The biggest thing was that with Giggs, Scholes and Ronaldo in the side we donāt have the ability to harry and pressure them into giving us possession and then breaking at pace, although there were one or two instances last night of Ronaldo working back. When he brought on Tevez and Nani(both of whom were excellent) the game changed and we could well have won had we pushed on again.
Hopefully, Ferguson will realise that the team that finished is the team that should start.
The very good points are:
-We might well have lost that game another time,
-We were undone by a superb goal,
-We came back well and finished with a decent result,
-Tevez(superb when he came on)
-Nani, also superb, had put in a few decent crosses before the goal. Created havoc.
Tubby little fool