Manchester United's Headliners, Articles and Rumours

[asiancigar]

Originally Posted by dc7176

VS

Manchester United vs Arsenal
English Premier League 2007-2008
Matchday 34
April 13 2008


Goals

1st Goal for Arsenal - Adebayor (suspected handball)
Click Here for Video


1st Goal for Manchester United - Ronaldo (PK)
Click Here for Video

2nd Goal for Manchester United - Hargreaves
Click Here for Video

Extras

A well built attack from Man United ends with a shot from Rooney that is denied by Lehmann
Click Here for Video

An error from Song puts Rooney one on one with Lehmann who puts an end to the attack
Click Here for Video

Brilliant stuff Bro dc7176...... didn't get to watch it last nite coz here in Bali and whole of Indonesia.... ASTRO kanna screwed by the Indo govt and lose their transmitting license for the weekend..... ccb

Hopefully, they resolve it and i get to watch the Chelsea match....

ManU Forever... OLE OLE OLE

Cheerz
AC

[dc7176]

United v Arsenal post-game

We were outplayed on our own patch and really didn’t look like we wanted it or were mentally prepared for what was obviously going to be their last role of the dice for the season.
They fired out of the traps with the expected amount of intensity and we were chasing shadows, misplacing passes and being second to every ball. If it were not for Adebayor’s total loss of form and confidence, this could have been wrapped up for them by the 30 minute mark.

I know that at this point in the season performance isn’t important if the points that bring us that bit closer to the title are won and I gladly accept that – this post isn’t a moan (we’re 2wins away from the ********ing title!!) – but I’m telling you, my nerves can’t handle this kind of game and I hate it when we’re on the back-foot like that at home away, fair enough, you expect it and are prepared for it, but at home? Not so much.

Anyway, my nerves aside, I may as well offer up some thoughts.

The first one is Anderson and why he stood out to me today. It seems to me like this kid is getting by almost purely by his natural ability and the adrenalin rush he gets from these big games where it means so much to two sides considered peers. Aside from the Roma away game he has been Fletcher-esque in his bigness in these games both home and away and when he came on today it wasn’t just the fact he had the physical condition that was required for this game (I’ll get to that little caveat later) it was the thrill he seemed to get from shielding the ball, turning men and also playing the one-touch with our team that stood out.

You compare this to how he shows his actual age in ‘lesser games’ where we are expected to win from the outset, and you see two different players. Make no bones about it if there is one thing this young lad is, it is a big game player. He has the appetite for it and fortunately, the skills to match. Don’t confuse this for him being our best or one of our best players today, but take note of it and his worth to us in these games. He will have a huge role to play in our Chelsea, Barcelona and the CL final if we get there - I do not expect him to have as much of an impact in the ‘smaller’ games that are also needed to win us the title.

Right, the next thing that stood out was the Paul Scholes decision. If we were going to play him why the hell did we decide to play like we didn’t know his weaknesses or what was needed to have Paul contribute to this game? As it stands we were tactically compromised from the get-go with how we tried to play a running game with a midfield of Scholes, Carrick and Hargreaves. As stated in the Identity thread, you play Fletcher, Carrick and Anderson or in this case Anderson, Carrick and Hargreaves to play like that. Watching Scholes running around like that trying desperately to keep up with the wild game going on around him was quite tragic.

That’s not to say he wasn’t without fault, he clearly had his worst game of the season today as his passing was really, really poor (for Scholes) and on that score no blame can be apportioned to team selection. It was no surprise at all that Anderson coming on changed the game for us in midfield. It can’t possibly be that we thought Arsenal would be slower and more lethargic in this game because of Flamini being out and the nature of their CL tie could it? (That’s rhetorical by the way.) But surely the boss should have known that Gilberto would not look like he has this season in what is seen as his last big game for the club? (not rhetorical.)

To add further to the midfield conundrum we had Carrick having a first-half shocker as well. As he is our only universal midfielder he was never going to come off for another to come on and as usual, he proved himself to be versatile enough to alter his game when we went to an all-out frenzied style (which we should have done anyway if Hargreaves was to be deployed in midfield) and had a decent enough second half.

I’m not actually sure what Hargreaves is being deployed as lately. It certainly isn’t as a runner and if I had to call it I’d say his job is to expend as much energy as possible whilst also forcing the opposition to do the same thing. His goal was an absolute ********ing peach and anyone with an iota of sense has said previously that any time he is on the pitch, he takes all fk’s from 25 yards and nearer. His technique for those is unquestionable. He scored our winner today and I’m sure that goal alone will buy him the time he needs to fully find his feet for his new club. There has been a marked improvement in him these last two games and if we get that from him in the games he plays from now till the end there won’t be many complaints.

Our backline was a confusing hotch-potch of good, bad and ugly and as stated, if Adebayor had of been on his game, this match would have been over before Van der sar could have saved our arses with his heroics.

VDS. Some great shot-stopping, terrible on the goal and shaky when forced to make a decision without Rio telling him what to do. Ironically enough, his best save was the point-blank one from Rio’s crazy moment. A scout watching VDS will advise his boss to get his team to put as many hard drives at him as possible. It’s virtually guaranteed he’ll spill a few. But aside from that and the aerial flapping he was a life saver.

Rio had a very good game outside of his attempted own goal and I find it interesting to see how he changes his game to accommodate Pique’s style – he often allowed Pique to saunter off up-field and break rank to either distribute or attempt to win the ball high in our 3rd.

Pique is a very good, young centre-back who needs games. He makes the odd mistake, that is a given for his age and experience, but we must consider the level and intensity of the games he has been thrown into the deep-end of. In that case he has been absolutely superb for us and a notch up on what Wes and O’Shea have managed there. I don’t feel half as nervous with him back there next to Rio as I do with either of the aforementioned. The one fault (and it is a fault) that he discernibly has is that awful habit of planting his feet and standing on his heels, thus unbalancing him and making him easy for a nimble dribbler to hop round with nary an apologetic foot to evade. Hleb made a mug of him in this exact way a couple of times today and it could be costly should he continue to do that. With his lack of acceleration he must learn to play on the balls of his feet and not plant like that if he ever wants to make the best of himself.

Evra was OK. I felt he was put in a few compromising positions and isolated because of others not helping him in the double-team and he handled it well for the most part and made a few critical tackles …. We do that to him against Messi and he will get absolutely savaged.

I thought the pace of this game had Park a little perplexed. The style we played was more suited to Nani. Park is pretty much nullified by line-ups sent out there to play a power game more dependant on individual moments of brilliance than on considered and solid team interplay.

Ronaldo. The boy has nerves of steel. On the penalty and the re-take he slotted home perfect penalties. Nevermind the gamesmanship or the fact he had to re-take it, look at the penalties themselves and both of them were absolutely top drawer. I think he’s the best PK taker we’ve had since Eric because it’s not just that he scores, it’s that he places the ball with the power Ruud used to (Eric never did) and the placement that Eric used to (Ruud rarely did) I am very calm (tm) when he steps up to take a penno, eerily calm even. He was stifled of supply for a lot of this game and he recognised that it was time for a team game. His solo runs and even the amount of attempted shots was greatly reduced with this as a consideration. He kills me at times when he doesn’t track back, however. At times he is right there next to the ball and doesn’t run to it or the man and that sometimes leaves the full-back on his side totally at the mercy of the oppo double-team. It’s the only quibble I had with his game.

Rooney. Again had the thankless task of lone front-man, which he is anything but. He was often expected to challenge for aerial balls he just could not win. Created a fair few chances for himself and had a few chances on goal that, depending on which side of the coin you favour, could/couldn’t have been scored from. Lehmann closed down the angles well and read the intent of the chances in a way most keepers would not and that should be considered when scrutinizing those chances, that and Rooney not being the ice-cold killer finisher needed for such situations. Those were not similar to some of the woeful misses he has had this season. They were a by-product of both good keeping and decent (not poor or great) finishing – most keepers in this league would not have closed the angle like Lehmann did.

Tevez came on and ran his heart out. It’s such a shame that Saha has killed his season as a starter. We could have done with him out there from the start today.



Toure looks like he is dead on his feet. I have never ever seen this guy get ran on before and yet both Rooney and Ronaldo completely panicked him on the run. He was absolutely exhausted when subbed off and he will need weeks if not months to get back to full fitness. Wenger has killed him by burning him out.

Gallas is perhaps the worst captain I have ever seen. Not the man I would feel ‘no fear’ standing alongside in these big games.

[dc7176]

Ratings

VDS – 7 – But for the goal and his flapping would’ve been higher.

Evra – 7 – Some key tackles and interceptions. Considering he was isolated a lot of the time he did very well.

Pique – 6 – Got to stop planting his feet. For his age and the importance of this match he did very well.

Rio – 8 – Without him Adebayor’s scuffed shots and so forth would have been more composed blasts, he had one moment where he took the ball off Adebayor in one turn that made him look like he was his father telling him “no more play time.”

Brown – 5 – Wes was caught sleeping a fair few times and he played that diabolical pass across his own box that Arsenal should have done better with.

Park – 5 – He’s not built for a power game. If Nani had have been fit I don’t think Park would have fielded.

Scholes – 4 – Poor passing, completely out of it in terms of the pace of the game. Shouldn’t have started in such a midfield.

Carrick – 5 – Redeemed by his second half, but was bossed readily until Arsenal ran out of steam.

Hargreaves – 6 – Great goal, expected work-rate. Needs to close down better than he does.

Ronaldo – 6 – Good, sensible game from him today. Ice running through his veins. Great penalties.

Rooney – 6 – Solid, workmanlike and tireless. Lehmann made it hard on him to finish those chances.

Tevez – 6 – Ran his heart out.

Anderson – 6 – Loves the big games. Going to be a monster of a player in a few years.

Giggs – N/A

Match Summary

[Cum_Luver]

after Chelsea 1-1 draw with Wigan. The gap is 5 pts liao.
so the EPL is only for Man Utd to lose it.

[dom01]

Yes, we do need a new RB. Brown is leaving on bosman ruling. So much for club royalty.

I guess Philip Lahm would be a good replacement.

We should buy a target man, an ideal choice would be Miroslav Klose, who has not much playing time this season, so he would leave Bayern Munich sooner or later.

Keeper issues, I wld say give our two young keepers a chance.

[alex18122003]

Emile Heskey's injury-time equaliser cancelled out Michael Essien's second-half opener and put a huge dent in Chelsea's title ambitions as Avram Grant's side were held to a 1-1 draw by Wigan at Stamford Bridge.


The result leaves Manchester United five points clear in the title race with just four games remaining, and they could now claim the title with victory at Chelsea on April 26.

Wigan, meanwhile, are now six points clear of the relegation zone and can begin to look forward to life in the top-flight again next season.

The home side endured a frustrating first half in which they struggled to breach Wigan's determined back line, prompting jeers from the home fans as they left the field at half-time.

The introduction of Joe Cole considerably enlivened their forward play, and within 10 minutes of the second period Essien put them ahead from the edge of the area.

Chelsea thought they had escaped with the points when returning goalkeeper Petr Cech produced a fine save to deny Wigan substitute Antoine Sibierski with two minutes remaining, but Heskey's sliding back-post volley hauled Wigan level and handed United a potentially decisive advantage.

Chelsea went into the game boosted by the presence in goal of Cech - wearing a chin-strap to go with his now familiar skull-cap - after the facial injury he sustained in training last week had threatened to rule him out.

Avram Grant made seven changes to the side that beat Fenerbahce 2-0 in the Champions League last week, with Cech, Juliano Belletti, Alex, Wayne Bridge, John Mikel Obi, Florent Malouda and Nicolas Anelka all coming into the side. Frank Lampard was a late withdrawal from the team through illness.

Anelka should have given the home side the lead after five minutes when he headed Salomon Kalou's centre wide from six yards, but Chelsea struggled to find their rhythm in the game's early stages and Antonio Valencia tested Cech with a stinging drive from the edge of the box during a spell of Wigan pressure midway through the first half.

Wigan keeper Chris Kirkland was not tested until just before the half-hour mark, but when called upon he produced a tremendous save to tip Anelka's goalbound looping header over the crossbar.

Chelsea were enjoying plenty of possession but without any discernible end product, although Josip Skoko was forced to clear off the Wigan goal-line when Kalou's header bounced past Kirkland from Belletti's right-wing corner.

A succession of rather aimless Chelsea attacks were comfortably repelled by Lactics centre-half Paul Scharner, and when the half-time whistle sounded it drew a chorus of boos from the frustrated home fans.

Grant responded by introducing Cole in place of the disappointing Malouda, and the England man immediately added some much-needed guile and invention to the home side's attacking play.

Suddenly there was cut and dash to Chelsea's forward forays, and within a minute John Terry had rattled the crossbar with a flying volley and Kirkland had produced a superb point blank save to deny Kalou.

But the men in blue were not to be denied, and moments later they took the lead when Essien's effort from the edge of the box flew past Kirkland via a slight deflection off Emmerson Boyce.

Chelsea looked on course for a fairly comfortable victory but were given a scare with two minutes remaining when Sibierski's well-struck half-volley from Marlon King's knockdown was parried by Cech.

Visiting manager Steve Bruce had his head in his hands as that chance went begging, but the man who captained Manchester United to their first ever Premier League title in 1993 was soon on his feet as Heskey thumped home Jason Koumas's measured left-wing centre to tip the balance of power in the title race firmly in United's favour.

[dom01]

Originally Posted by MelbSJ

Yes, Wes Brown should just leave. IMHO he is not good enough for MUFC, this fella deserves rotting in the lower tier with teams like Swansea and Derby. And i just cannot understand why he doesnt sign a new contract even after Fergie places his trust in him despite his error prone season. I guess that Fergie should go for Micah Richards as long term cover for Captain Gary, eventhough it seems unlikely Sven will allow Micah to leave.

For target man, besides Klose, Huntelaar would be good too. Dutch players normally adapt well in EPL.

Yes, Fergie should just stick with Vander Sar and give Ben Foster a chance.

There have been rumours of scholes joining up with keano at sunderland. It is about time. Let the new era of man U begin!

[imom]

Originally Posted by MelbSJ

Yes, Wes Brown should just leave. IMHO he is not good enough for MUFC, this fella deserves rotting in the lower tier with teams like Swansea and Derby....

Haha... give the guy a break la. I agree he's not a permanent solution, but he does have his rare moments - I'm sure you were celebrating when he opened the scoring against Liverpool, when the match was still finely poised at 0-0 and before Mascherano's insanity...

Actually, I do remember a youngster Danny Simpson doing pretty well when he came on a couple of times. I hope he continues his progress along with Pique.

[alex18122003]

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson believes that Arsenal were "unlucky" to lose to his side.

United all-but ended the Gunners' title hopes after a 2-1 win at Old Trafford in a game that Arsenal could have wrapped-up by half-time.

"The quality of that game today was outstanding," Ferguson told Sky Sports News afterwards. "Arsenal were the better team in the first half, we were a bit nervous, the passing was poor.

"When Arsenal scored it forced my hand [with two substitutions] and we did fantastically after that.

"It was just an incredible game."

Arsenal were the dominant force in the first half, while goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar made a string of top saves to compensate for his hesitancy when United conceded early in the second half.

"Van der Sar saved us at times and Arsenal were unlucky to get nothing from the game," Ferguson continued.

"We've got over a nervous day today, [because of] the games between the clubs over the years.

"There's been nothing in them, so this was a big, big game and we've come through it."

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger found positives in defeat and accepted that his title challenge was finished.

"I think we played with quality and spirit and I'm very proud of our performance," he declared.

"We had plenty of chances and were really unlucky not to win this game.

"For two months we have not been very lucky. With the quality of the performance we produce, it's difficult to blame anybody."

[LiverPOO]

Who made the right back position his own when Neville was out injured?

Dare to say Brown isn't good enough for MU? If Sir Alex Ferguson plays him there who the hell is to disagree with him? A MOFO who claims he has been to O.T. for just 3 times in his lifetime?

Oui...MOFO...if you are covering for your superior's work whilst he is away on sickies or holidays, shouldn't your company increase your wages?

[dom01]

Yea, agree with the wage increase. But how much is he looking at? erm.... That is y I say so much for club royalty. I doubt that Man Utd ever mistreat their players wrt to wages. Even Rio signed a new contract.

[LiverPOO]

Originally Posted by dom01

Yea, agree with the wage increase. But how much is he looking at? erm.... That is y I say so much for club royalty. I doubt that Man Utd ever mistreat their players wrt to wages. Even Rio signed a new contract.

bro, if the reports are true regarding Ferdinand's new contract, he is getting an increment of £15k-£20k per week.

Brown is not asking anything more than that.

Loyalty is one thing...being fair to the player is another. Brown is the player covering for Neville since Neville's long term injury - more than a season.

Why should he be getting less than another player who plays less than him? He is not asking for Ferdinand's, Rooney's, or Ronaldo's wages. He just want an increment to reflect his importance to the club.

If Utd's board feel Brown is asking too much then they will have to let him leave. They will then pay more to replace him or Neville, when he eventually retires, by paying the transfer fee and weekly wages of the new player. Mind you, any player coming to Utd will not be looking at anything less than Brown - maybe £40k - £50k per week.

A fan or a true supporter will not give Brown a lambasting over his reluctance to sign a new contract.

Especially not those who has been to Old Trafford more times than many S'poreans who support Man Utd.

BTW, bro...i don't question your allegiance to the club you support.

[zveron]

Champion is make not only by playing very well consistently but also how bad the rest of the teams are playing. Wining games that you should have lost, and others losing game they should have won. It is very clear now that Arsenal and Chelsea did not have the extra something that is required to be a Champion this time round.

[dc7176]

Bring it on!!

[dc7176]

Since the topic now on Wes Brown

Why does he need more money when he does ads like these ?






... up to Wes ain't it?

Nothing to be sorry about. If he leaves, then he's done so of his own accord. His agent has been like that for a while.. he puts Wes in a pay bracket that isn't justified, gasses up Wes's head to the point Wes thinks he's worth that, and then presents an unsuitable counter offer to what the club (Fergie) says Wes is worth.

Unlike Nicky and Phil who went elsewhere for more PT, Wes (agent) is doing this for cash...if Wes wants more money he needs to improve greatly... then and only then should he be thinking of going into a higher pay bracket.

Fergie will not be pleased.. he's stuck with Wes through so, so many injuries and we paid him all through that and now he's acting like a Rio mini-me with a quarter of the talent, not a smart thing to do. Where Rio was and is indespensible, Wes is not.

He'd do well to sign what is a good deal for him relative to the club he is at. Sure he could probably get more elsewhere, but then, lesser teams can't give him the football and competitions we do.

Meh, the ball's in Wes's court. Completely up to him what he does. If he leaves of his own volition, I won't be bothered - he's not being pushed, and should be looking to repay the man who stuck by him for years and years when he was perpetually injured...

Modern footballers, eh?

I guess Wesley probably sees the writing on the wall. He knows if he's smart, that Simpson is the future at RB. He understands that eventually, possibly by seasons end, Simpson will be splitting time with Neville at RB which means he's RB only against top four if Gary is not fit. Add Pique getting serious minutes at CB Brown may feel like he's not going to get 30+ starts a season and he's certainly capable of getting 40 games a season (and a better wage as a starter) with a 2nd tier team.

I think, since our defense will look like this next season:

RB:
Neville
Simpson
O'Shea

LB:
Evra
____ (I expect Fergie to bring someone in over the summer)
O'Shea

CB:
Rio
Vidic
Pique
Evans

The only worry there is at center back. If Fergie feels Evans and Pique are capable of being the 3rd and 4th choice center backs next year, we will go with this. I wouldn't mind seeing an LB/CB brought in, since a player of that style is likely to be a good backup for Evra in that he will provide a more defensive slant to the position.