Thatâs the league over now, all utd need is wins against Wigan and West Ham, I think thatâs who they are playing anyway. If I was a united fan it would feel like a tainted victory for me given that it was Emile Heskey that won it for them.
Huge, huge result for them in the end but as a neutral (someone who despises Chelsea and Manchester United equally) I would have preferred if they lost so there would have been more riding on the forthcoming game between the two of them.
A big point there for United and more than deserved on the basis of the 2nd half. All the chances and at least one penalty for the handball by Emerton. United never gave it up and played like true champions to get something from the game. At least if United lost to Chelsea then two wins against West Ham and Wigan would see United retain the league. Chelsea have to go to Newacastle and play Bolton last day who will be fighting for their survival.
I think Giggs has to be at the end. He got took off for Nani at half time. Giggs couldnt pass it or cross it or do anything constructive.
What team are you thinking of for Barca on Wednesday Shan?
Any place for Tevez? Park to come back in?
Tevez tends not to start in Europe and cant see him starting on Wednesday. Team I would like to see is
Van Der Sar
Brown
Vida
Rio
Evra
Nani
Anderson
Hargreaves
Scholes
Ronaldo
Rooney
Bench: Tomaz, Neville, OâShea, Carrick, Park, Giggs, Tevez
Mother of fuck, what a game and what a significant point. Mentally the Chelsea game is not as important now(although I still expect us to at least draw it). We still have the advantage overall. Superb to pick up the point at the end, but itâs still two dropped. A bit of a mix up for their goal, and a bit of bad luck with the ball knocking off Rioâs heel straight to Santie, but we should have had way more than one. Tevez missed a sitter from a great rooney cross before their goal, Rooney again missed his one on one, Ronaldoâs header or shot off the bar could have done it, Friedelâs superb save from Tevez on the turn(the way it rolled toward the line was excruciating and reminded me of the pompey game), Emertonâs handball could have been a peno and the linesman fucked us over when Tevez was clean through in the first half(the start of Rooneyâs game long ragefest). Even the normally prolific Josh couldnât get us our goal. It really looked like we were fooked. Great to see Scholes get the flick on and a great flick from Tevez. I went mental.
There are a few sobering points though. We didnât take our chances. Again. It cost us yesterday and will cost us even dearer against Barca, as youâd defo expect them to score at some stage against us, even though our defence is animal. Ronaldo seems to be feeling the pressure a bit and had a quiet enough first half. Rooneyâs injury looked sore as fuck and he should have come off. He could have been sent off and his profligacy cost us. Giggs was as bad as ever I have seen him in a United shirt. Horrifyingly sad to watch. Kuszyack doesnât like coming for crosses.
That game will have really taken it out of them, but at least we got something from it.
Kuszyack: 7
Couldnât do anything for the goal and made a super tackle to deny Roberts in the first half. Looked like a definite penalty til we saw the replay. Not great on crosses, though and his kickouts can be crap(straight out for throws) sometimes. Decent stand in but you never want him as our first choice.
Brown: 7
Defending is always his main priority and heâs strong as fuck and reliable. Was always comfortable on the ball but struggled to overlap with Ronaldo and whip in a cross, or at least take a man away. Nice to see him becoming a master at those bodycheck type fouls where he doesnât get booked but makes sure there will be no progress.
Rio: 7
Another good game from him but he has to take some blame for letting the ball go over his head for the goal. His tackling was superb and his organisation, too. Distribution was good too.
Vidic: 7
Great to see him back. Was strong, never let anyone have space. Almost the perfect centre half. His only problem seems to be volley clearances, which he can hit comically sometimes. Like Rio, he would have had an eight but for their goal. Bad luck, is all it was and it never normally happens to them, but they are both docked the point. Iâd say itâll kill them when they see.
Evra: 8
Great defending and always a threat going forward. He is pure class and gave his normal good show yesterday. Left with a lot to do by Giggsâ appalling display, he coped manfully.
Ronaldo: 6.5
Subdued by his standards, especially in the first half. Still managed a couple of great runs and crosses, was unlucky with the scorcher that hit the post and his header. Freetaking was poor also.
Scholes: 8.5
A very good display, full of running, tackling with his usual composure on the ball and willingness to dictate play/tempo. Passing was good and the urgency was too. Got his just reward with the flick for the goal. Still, weâd all like to see him back scoring.
Carrick: 7
Good, but nowhere near as good as he sometimes can be for us. Everything was competent and he linked it well but wasnât as direct or eager to push on as he can be. In games like this where teams are sitting back so deep against us, he needs to push on more, and take a chance sometimes.
Giggs: 3
Giggsâ train seems to be at the end of the line, definitely at that shitty part of the tracks around Clondalkin where people begin to stand and congregate at the doors, knowing the Luas is but minutes away. Every pass was poor, every cross was wrong, his runs came to nothing. One nice flick aside, he was pure shite, and it pains me to say it cos heâs a legend. A nice bit of control and turn made him some good space and then he leathered the cross out. Describes his game completely. No suprise he was hooked at half time. A sad day. He can console himself that heâll probably never be as bad in a Utd shirt again.
Tevez: 7.5
The game is pretty much over if he gets any real connection on his chance in the first half. He really had to put it away. Would have been plain sailing and a nice restful day I think, as we always controlled the game. Dragged a great save from Friedel on the turn. Does well for his goal, it looked like it might have been nicked over the bar easily enough.
Rooney: 6.5
The good.
Worked his pants off, created a sitter for Tevez and great chances for Ronaldo as well as a few of his own. Dropped out wide a little too often, but creates from there.
The bad.
Psycho for most of the game. terrible challenge on that cock samba(who holds his knee even though he didnât get hit near it). Missed his usual one-on-one. And the dive bit. Clearly taken by Reid inside the box(and badly) but his instinct is to stay up. The ball(which defo would have been his) is now gone and he drops. Was mental with the mouthyness after. You can see why he was frustrated but another ref could have sent him off. And he got injured. All in all a pretty bad day at the office.
Nani: 8
Always a threat. Made great runs down the wing and in behind, adding decent crosses. An outrageous bit of skill towards the end on the right wing to get himself into the box but should have capitalised. Blazed a few over but weâve seen he can hit them so you canât deny him them. Superb run and though ball for Rooneyâs one-on-one. Obviously the man for the job, but sometimes gets caught a little out of position and leaves us exposed on that flank.
By the way. Brad Friedel has played out of his skin against us on at least four or five occasions now. What a cunt. Super keeper, but a cunt.
Donât think weâll see Vidic and Rio logging on here much anymore thanks to those ratings Juhy. We canât afford to lose members over your whims.
Wouldnât describe the goal as âbad luckâ though. You canât have two centre halves jumping for the one ball. Most of the blame goes to Rio because he misjudges it and Roberts is his man. But when Vidic sees that and realises he needs to intervene he shouldnât just dive forward for the header. Roberts couldnât do much with it no matter what.
Donât think weâll see Vidic and Rio logging on here much anymore thanks to those ratings Juhy. We canât afford to lose members over your whims.
Wouldnât describe the goal as âbad luckâ though. You canât have two centre halves jumping for the one ball. Most of the blame goes to Rio because he misjudges it and Roberts is his man. But when Vidic sees that and realises he needs to intervene he shouldnât just dive forward for the header. Roberts couldnât do much with it no matter what.
[quote=âtherock67â]Donât think weâll see Vidic and Rio logging on here much anymore thanks to those ratings Juhy. We canât afford to lose members over your whims.
Wouldnât describe the goal as âbad luckâ though. You canât have two centre halves jumping for the one ball. Most of the blame goes to Rio because he misjudges it and Roberts is his man. But when Vidic sees that and realises he needs to intervene he shouldnât just dive forward for the header. Roberts couldnât do much with it no matter what.[/quote]
Thatâs why they lost marks. The bad luck is that it drops off Vidic and hits Rio on the heel ricocheting to rocky.
Lads, can we end this talk about Rooney diving please?
Itâs been clearly established by Andy Gray, Ian Wright and others that English players donât dive.
And itâs time you showed them a bit more respect and directed your anger at all those âJohnny Foreignerâ types that come over to England and fall over like Drogba, Eboue and Ronaldo.
If Rooney had went down when Reid caught him first time then that was a penalty. Because he tried to win the ball and realised he couldnt then he dived. The ref should have taken it into account that he tried to be honest and play on but the tackle hindered him getting the ball.
are you honestly trying to say the ref shouldâve given a penalty after rooney dived just because initially he tried to stay up? are you justifying diving if a player gets tackled, stays up but then realises the ball is gone so throws himself to the floor when thereâs blatantly no further contact? he was unfairly tackled but by staying on his feet he showed the ref the tackle didnât hinder his attempts to play the ball - no penalty. if he had gone down with the tackle it wouldâve been obvious the tackle hindered him - penalty. heâs lucky he didnât get booked for the dive, and heâs also lucky not to get a red for the tackle on Samba. It was never going to injure the guy but it was high, reckless and premeditated. if only he challenged all that energy into working on his finishing.
Fair play to him indeed.
He initially tried to be honest but then said, âFook it, sure Iâll have a dive.â
Yeah but because Reid fouled him should the referee make a decision regardless of Rooney trying to stay on his feet.
Reid didnât foul him - he nearly did through clumsiness but the contact was next to nothing so it wasnât a foul. He didnât kick him and he didnât trip him. Read the rules when you get a chance.
Rooneyâs decision to go down was calculated and an act of cheating. Like all divers he should be suspended in retrospect but it wonât happen obviously.
What a massive game. Iâm ridiculously excited. I predicted a 1-1 in the other game and that came through so my prediction of 2-1 to us should come true. Iâve just watched the highlights of the 3-3 draw from the last time we played them there and they are superb. Yorke was excellent.
Theyâre at [ame="
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjJz25g9Ww4
eature=related"]YouTube - Treble Highlights Barcelona vs. Manchester[/ame]
Iâve a genuinely good feeling about this, but Iâm also shit scared. Our form of late hasnât been great but they have been shitter. Our defence should stand us in good stead, I think Anderson will have a big game and Rooney will too. Hopefully Ronaldo turns up cos this is what itâs all about if he wants to be the best in the world. There is no doubting that they are class(you have to fear messi) and that they have the ability to score against us but thereâs definitely something wrong at Barca and a good start for us might see them crack a bit.
Iâd like to see a midfield of Nani, Carrick, Anderson and Ronaldo with Tevez and Rooney up front, but I canât see it happening(not defensive enough) and Iâd say itâll be the one Shan named. Thatâs Ronaldo, Hargreaves, Anderson, Scholes and Nani, with Rooney up front alone.
Above all Iâm looking forward to a great football match. We do need to win more European titles and this year is an excellent chance. Also, it might help to keep the likes of Ronaldo(and attract a few more) if we demonstrate weâre the most exciting side in Europe.
Come on Utd!!!
Some good points Juhniallio. I just hope the occassion dosent get to the players like Milan last season. Barca know that this is their own hope of winning something and will have to go for it at home. United have the ability to score as Barcas keeper Valdes is very poor and Puyol is missing for them tonight. The Midfield battle will win it tonight. Xavi and Iniesta against Hargreaves and Scholes more than likely.
[quote=âCaptainshanâ]I just hope the occassion dosent get to the players like Milan last season.
[/quote]
How exactly does an occassion get to players? Or did you just say that because it sounded like the right thing to say?
Unitd lost that game three nil. They were beaten off the pitch by Milan because they were a much better side than United. End of.
Farmer, youâve changed. Vaild point made by Shan and once again you pick up on something he said and have a go. Shan is about ready to Layeth the Smacketh down at this stage.