Poor . . . very poor . . .

[Grunge]

A lethargic first half highlighted only by spirited performances by youngsters Brown & O'Shea.
I'm not one to second guess the Wizard but I think I would have like to see Ferdinand start beside Wes given Mikkey was not ready to go.
Good to see Keano start but clearly he's not match fit and once again the combination with him & Seba leaves a little to be desired.
I feel sorry for Scholesy too ... IMO he deserves to have kept a place in the middle. A very average game for him today largely methinks to his position.
And even Livvie will surely agree Ole was not his usual sharp self today. Like most of our players today passes went awry all to often and there was litttle abition to get forward or get back for that matter.
Full credit to Boro, while I didn't think they played that well either they took the goal well and took advantage of a sub-par United performance and in particular a less-than-sharp Keano.
I'm always hopeful things will change for the better in the second half but the lack of urgency and perhaps pace caused ud to come unstuck again. No fault of O'Shea . . . I think Blanc's lack of pace and maybe even a lack of familiarity with Brown may have played a bigger part.
Even a well taken goal by Giggs didn't make up for his lacklustre game which on the whole was pretty sloppy. After that there was little cut & thrust despite a lot of possesion. It didn't matter we allowed the third goal . . . we never really looked like scoring a second.
Silver lining; 90 minutes by Keane & Blanc will help with fitness which will help in Europe. The Gooners seem to have good fortune on their side . . . a valuable asset in the Premiership. That leaves the ECL to us!

Keep the faith depite the setbacks, after all

--------------------------
"There's only one United!"

 

[osterdal]

It was a very bad result. Being 7 points behind the Arse isn't the end of the world but we need luck on our side in the future. It's still a long way to go but we need to win, win and win. Drawing isn't an option any more.

Today we weren't very good for the first 55 minutes and when we started playing they were two goals up. Lady luck wasn't on our side but credit to Boro, they defended well.

I agree that we should play two forwards against defending teams like Boro. But we still should've done better. I think we looked very tired for parts of the match and that's no surprise, we've had to use the same players for many matches now.

Keano wasn't very good. He played Boksic onside for the first goal and is obviously needing more time before being match fit. Playing Phizza instead might have been a better idea but Keano is Keano...

Micky has been fantastic as CB and we missed him today. I love Blanc but today he was poor. He has always been able to use his amazing positioning skill to compensate for his lack of pace but today he weren't where he should've been. Having that said I too would've played Blanc knowing that Micky wasn't available. Rio isn't match fit yet. Maybe Gaz could've been used at CB and Phizza RB. Blanc needs matches tho.

The first two goals should never have been. Both saw some terrible defending. Blanc, Keano and O'Shea being the ones to blame IMO. The third isn't much to say about, we had to push forward.

I thought the referee was terrible and that he got most difficult decisions wrong and even some easy.

Why Forlan wasn't brought on I don't understand but it's easy talking afterwards. Looking forward is the thing to do now. We have six points waiting and we need to score goals, winning a match by 5 or 6 is needed, Birmingham and Sunderland at home is a great chance to do so.

Today tho:

 

[arnie sidebottom]

It's been a strange couple of games. Almost like we picked up where we left off after the derby game. Did I dream the games in between ?

It's a fine line between success and failure. We got the breaks in the Pool, Chelsea and Arse games, and got none today.

But the difference was desire, energy and imagination. As in life, so in football - the harder you work, the luckier you get.

Throwing Rio on in a forward role and taking off O'Shea - a useful threat down the left - wasn't so much desparate as surreal. It would have made more sense to throw a seasoned campaigner like Blanc up front for a last 15 minutes barrage and rely on the legs of Rio, Brown and O'Shea to keep out the counter attacks.

I could have named about 7 players to come off for Rio but O'Shea's name would not have been amongst them.

With no Boateng in 'Boro's midfield we should have had that game by the scruff of the neck today. Very disappointing, especially to find the opposition tactically one jump ahead throughout the game.

 

[Livvie]

Originally posted by arnie sidebottom:
<strong>

I could have named about 7 players to come off for Rio but O'Shea's name would not have been amongst them.

</strong><hr></blockquote>

O'Shea was our best player by a country mile.

It's decisions like these that have made me question Fergie's tactics at times when most other people have blamed the team.

Much as I admire and love Fergie, he has on many occasions made some extremely strange choices.