Lets raise our glasses to the red's defence!!!!!!

NICK THE RED

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Has anyone else noticed that we currently have the second best defence in the Premiershi?p (6 goals conceded only this season) – second only to Boro, (5).
This stat just proves how fruitless most of the rubbish is about our demise.
Reading the papers you would generally believe that United can not defend, well the table never lies, and credit to the team considering, we have not had Barthez fully fit all season, we have a new and very young centre half in Rio, and Neville has only just returned (not to mention the departures of a legend like Irwin, and quality like Johnsen) A surprise bonus for me has been the emergence of O’shea – as Fergie was saying, he has shot up in size and in the quality of his game so ealr in the season, and is now viewing him as his long term partner in the centre with Rio, could we about to witness a return to the days of Bruce and Pally?, years when the Manchester United gifted nothing! – now that’s a nice thought!
 
Originally posted by NICK THE RED:
<strong>A surprise bonus for me has been the emergence of O’shea – as Fergie was saying, he has shot up in size and in the quality of his game so ealr in the season, </strong><hr></blockquote>

T'was no surprise to me after his performances last season which only ended after injury. The only surprise was that he wasn't given another chance last season.
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We've been excellent in most parts in this area, sure we have our moments but then so does everyone else.
 
I agree with livvie on this one.

Furthermore, the beauty about O'Shea is that he is a product of our youth system, which kinda nail the lie that we are not producing the youths, & he's very big ( 1.91M ), strong, fast & cool - essentials required of any potential class central defender.

Roll on Darren Fletcher! :cool:
 
Originally posted by NICK THE RED:
<strong>Has anyone else noticed that we currently have the second best defence in the Premiershi?p (6 goals conceded only this season) – second only to Boro, (5).
This stat just proves how fruitless most of the rubbish is about our demise.
Reading the papers you would generally believe that United can not defend, well the table never lies, and credit to the team considering, we have not had Barthez fully fit all season, we have a new and very young centre half in Rio, and Neville has only just returned (not to mention the departures of a legend like Irwin, and quality like Johnsen) A surprise bonus for me has been the emergence of O’shea – as Fergie was saying, he has shot up in size and in the quality of his game so ealr in the season, and is now viewing him as his long term partner in the centre with Rio, could we about to witness a return to the days of Bruce and Pally?, years when the Manchester United gifted nothing! – now that’s a nice thought!</strong><hr></blockquote>

How many have you scored? and from that total, how many of them from open play? goal difference?

BORING! BORING UNITED!

:D :D :D ;)
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Not scoring goals doesn't make us boring.

Lack of scoring chances would make us boring. And we've had chances in abundance. And as long as that continues, it will come right.
 
Originally posted by Livvie20:
<strong>Not scoring goals doesn't make us boring.

Lack of scoring chances would make us boring. And we've had chances in abundance. And as long as that continues, it will come right.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Spot on ;)
but if we keep creating the chances, the goals will come!
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Rio has been terrific in our defense, while O Shea IS his perfect partner.

I am not convinced woth P Neville and L Blanc while Maysie got to go
 
Originally posted by andy27457:
<strong>

Spot on ;)
but if we keep creating the chances, the goals will come!</strong><hr></blockquote>

That's what I said. :)
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Originally posted by Livvie20:
<strong>

That's what I said. :) </strong><hr></blockquote>

You are cool!
dance.gif
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I think O'Shea & Blanc have been brilliant, Barthez has been surprisingly full of concentration, Tweety has been consistently very good & Phil, after his horror show against Zalaegerszeg in the 1st leg, has steadily been regaining his confidence.

However, & I know I'd possibly be slaughtered, I feel that Rio has been making an average of a major blunder in every game, & tho' he was saved by Barthez on a couple of occasions or his mistake was not taken advantage of when he was caught in possession time & again or was too slow to clear, he was partly at fault in both Bayer's & Charlton's goals.

He was jockeying Basturk instead of pressurising him & the latter was allowed the space & time to carry the ball along the box & to slip a pass to Berbatov, who wrong-footed Gary & scored.

Again in the Charlton match, Rio, who was the last defender, tried to jockey Jensen instead of going in to pressurise him. His laying off the player allowed Jensen time & space to pick his spot & place his shot beyond Barthez. As the last defender, he simply could not afford to do that!

This brought back memories of his time at West Ham when his superb performances were sometimes over-shadowed by his defensive howlers!

Let's hope Rio learns to cut out his dallying quickly & become more assertive in his decisions & tackling!
 
Originally posted by Neil Thomson:
<strong>It took Stam 6months to settle in to the defence. Rio'll be fine.</strong><hr></blockquote>


Fair point
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Everyone expects from Rio, he has looked a bit nervous at times but hes also showed signs of what a player hes going to be. Hes played all his career alongside and in front of english speaking players so he will need time to adjust to his new partners Blanc, Barthez). I cant understand a word O'shea says either !
 
Originally posted by NICK THE RED:
<strong> A surprise bonus for me has been the emergence of O’shea – as Fergie was saying, he has shot up in size and in the quality of his game so ealr in the season, and is now viewing him as his long term partner in the centre with Rio</strong><hr></blockquote>

I was at the West Ham match last year where O'Shea made his starting debut at OT and I thought he stood out even then. It seems like he's always had composure, self-belief and he always looks rock solid in defence to me.

I actually think he's been the best defender for us so far this season, and when you consider the fact that he's played out of position for several of those matches, that's pretty impressive.

As for Rio, he's had a couple of average performances, but I read this weekend that he may be carrying an injury. Even if that's not true, I'm not worried about him. He's a class player and I'm sure that'll come through as the season goes on.
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Our defence has be 100 times better this season. Rio can't take all the credit. He's been more than solid since his arrival. Larry has been very good and O'Shea has started to show the promise he showed last year before he got injured.
The real reason for our improvement is that the defence is playing as a unit.
 
Originally posted by tag:
<strong>

How many have you scored? and from that total, how many of them from open play? goal difference?

BORING! BORING UNITED!

:D :D :D ;) </strong><hr></blockquote>

Oh the irony of a Liverpool supporter, the most boring team to watch in the history of the universe, calling United boring because they have outscored us for once (over a whole 8 games :rolleyes: ) while their defense is all over the place now when they don't keep 8 players permanently packed into the goalmouth.
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Originally posted by Neil Thomson:
<strong>It took Stam 6months to settle in to the defence. Rio'll be fine.</strong><hr></blockquote>

And Rio is alrady settling in much faster than Stam did.
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Hey! Don't get me wrong - he's been very good for us ( although a trifle too expensive, but that's not his fault ) - it's just that his self-inflicted one blunder per game ratio is coming back to haunt him & he just has to learn to cut these out - it's got nothing to do with adapting to United's style of play - I think he's bedded in very well!
 
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