The DefenCe

Neil Thomson

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At the start of last season our defenCe was a shambles, and it gave teams a hitherto unheard of confidence against us, they knew that if they could stop us scoring then they had a good chance of scoring against us and at least getting a point, especially at home. This season at home we've kept clean sheets and played more defenCively, though at the expense of our attack.

Sam Allardyce was on MUTV sounding so resigned to losing it was unbelievable, the sense of confidence in scoring against us has evaporated and if we continue to notch up clean sheets then the aura of impenetrability at fortress Old Trafford will return, and at some point teams will start to attack us again to try to break us down, and then we'll be able to exploit that extra space again. Maybe we should have some patience with our attack and let us get the defenCe totally sorted first, before we focus on what has traditionally been our strongest point.
 
Indeed. Though it would be frightening to see what would happen if RVN or Ole get injured.
 
Originally posted by Raoul:
<strong>Indeed. Though it would be frightening to see what would happen if RVN or Ole get injured.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Touch some fecking wood quick! ;)
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The defense is looking much better.........with the exception of Phil Neville. Some of his "tackles" are so mistimed it's untrue. The sooner his brother is back the sooner I will begin to consider our defence as one of the best in the league.
 
Originally posted by Dans:
<strong>The defense is looking much better.........with the exception of Phil Neville. Some of his "tackles" are so mistimed it's untrue. The sooner his brother is back the sooner I will begin to consider our defence as one of the best in the league.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Barthez is now back, with Ricardo challenging him. Gary has made his come back in the reserves. Brown is still a long way off, but we'll be alright once Gary is back. Sadly Scholes and Beckham are touch and go for the Bolton game.
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Originally posted by Neil Thomson:
<strong>
Barthez is now back, with Ricardo challenging him. Gary has made his come back in the reserves. Brown is still a long way off, but we'll be alright once Gary is back. Sadly Scholes and Beckham are touch and go for the Bolton game.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Well as I wouldn't consider playing either Beckham or Scholes at RB I guess I'm has happy as is possible with our back four under the circumstances.
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Considering we're in a very bad injury crisis, we've done very well. We don't normally get really going until after Christmas, so I'll be happy if we've managed to get a stable and durable defense by then. I think its helped having Butt and Keane in the team, but now the latter is out I really think we need Scholes in the team because even if he doesn't get his tackles right, he does put them in and it does stop attacks.
 
Originally posted by Dans:
<strong>

Well as I wouldn't consider playing either Beckham or Scholes at RB I guess I'm has happy as is possible with our back four under the circumstances.</strong><hr></blockquote>

<img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laugh Out Loud]" /> sarcky bleeder :D
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i think we look tighter too. and rio has helped bring back some authority and presence to that central area. although i like wes, for me he nevers seems to have that presence even when he's playing well. he's not a leader. i think you should always have at least one CB whose challenging for the captaincy, eg vice capt, because that shows you have CB with that strength.
it hasnt helped mikky and phil and wes to have to playin an unsettled back 4 with at times no leader to follow. thats why blanc was and is such a good stopgap. now rio's here the lads will fall in and we'll see real consistency which wasnt there from the start last season. i dont care about 1-0s at the moment. theyre hairy to watch sometimes but we need clean sheets to get momentum. booya :eek:
 
For the first time in a while i fell comfortable saying that our defence look solid. The midfield does concern me a bit. They don't seem to be functioning as a unit, but compared to the first two games the last three have been much improved. Its upfront that really worries me.
Touch wood we're through the worst of our injury problems. And we've done it with the minimal fuss. Still unbeaten in the league and in the 1st phase of the CL.
We'll be in serious shit if either RVN or Ole gets injured. Either Sir Alex has faith in the yougsters so that if either of our strikers get injured he can cover it or he's praying just as hard as the rest of us that neither will pick anything up.
Either way football has a funny way of finding out weaknesses.
 
this club amazes me...we have had an ongoing defensive crisis for 2 seasons that has never been fully addressed. What is our answer?.....we spend every penny we have on one admittedly fantastic player.....all our eggs in one basket?
The aquisition of Ricardo is to be welcomed...Barthez needs a kick up the arse and he needs to know his place is not a given.
We are woefully short at full-back...beyond Silvestre and G Nev there is no real quality. Why did we not buy the French lad from Rennes who tripped up over walking his dog Roy Keane style, or the Boca Juniors player?...answer..we spent all our money on Rio Ferdinand.
Don't get me wrong......I'm glad we have Rio.
It's ok paying top dollar for the player you really want.....Real Madrid do it season after season. But after all the millions spent there are still gaps...full-back...attack.
For the first time in quite a few years we are short up front...not quite as potent.
Yeah.....goodbye to Cole,Yorke and Sheringham...but have we really replaced that quality?
Ruud for sure...Ole as ever......but beyond that?
Diego?...nice lad...knows how to play football but where is the goal threat? As Fergie has said, we have always worked with 4 strikers in the past.....but ouch...suddenly we have 3...or 2&1/2 strikers if you are cruel.
We hit the headlines and break transfer records but we are going into a crucial season with gaping gaps in our squad.
 
I'm certainly happy about our current defence. Consider the injury we have, concede only 3 goals so far and kept two clean sheets in four matches are certainly good indication that our defence has improved. It is good if we have signed Escude, but that's really not very important, as generally you don't need too many covers in the defence. Unlike the front line, squad rotation won't work in defence, so we only need to keep our first choice defenders play in eveyr game if possible, they will gel better and their reliability will continue to increase.
 
Totally agree with the exception of Phil Neville <img src="graemlins/smirk.gif" border="0" alt="[Smirk]" />
 
Originally posted by buzet44:
<strong>We are woefully short at full-back...beyond Silvestre and G Nev there is no real quality. Why did we not buy the French lad from Rennes who tripped up over walking his dog Roy Keane style, or the Boca Juniors player?...answer..we spent all our money on Rio Ferdinand.</strong><hr></blockquote>

I don't know enough about Escude or the Argentine to form much of an opinion and I guess you are the same (but I could be wrong). It is always easy to fantasise about brilliant players we have never seen. Micky continues to improve, especially going forward. Garry is also good enough. We also have Wes when he returns from injury.

Perhaps Fergie didn't sign the others because we were being asked over the odds. Not quite the same as we couldn't afford them.

John O'Shea is, in effect, a new player - and a very good one. He and Rio could be our CBs for ten years. In a couple of years they could be the best CB partnership in the country. Full backs are less important. If John and Rio develop as expected, I am quite happy with Mickey and Gaz at full back.
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That's right. It is the time for us to concentrate on rebuiding our front line.
 
Originally posted by buzet44:
<strong>this club amazes me...we have had an ongoing defensive crisis for 2 seasons that has never been fully addressed. .</strong><hr></blockquote>

the season before last our defence was the best in the premiership.

and, lads, hate to do this, but the spelling is defenCe, not defenSe.
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Originally posted by mancred:
<strong>

the season before last our defence was the best in the premiership.

and, lads, hate to do this, but the spelling is defenCe, not defenSe.</strong><hr></blockquote>

He's French... :p
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Thanks for pointing that out Mancred..it was doin' my head in.. :cool: :rolleyes: Neil's fault he started it
 
Originally posted by redmad:
<strong>Thanks for pointing that out Mancred..it was doin' my head in.. :cool: :rolleyes: Neil's fault he started it</strong><hr></blockquote>
<img src="graemlins/angel.gif" border="0" alt="[Angel]" />

Looks wrong to me ;)
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Regarding Nicolas Burdisso, the Argentinian we were linked with, well I've got a mate from Argentina and he told me that Burdisso hasn't had many first team games yet, but is definitely one to watch.

He can play centre-half as well as right back apparently, and is 20-21. We were asked for 7 mill for him, so I s'pose the board baulked at that rather than SAF.

The defence is looking better than it as done for a long while. I reckon Blanc is playing better now that the 'shouty' role has been given to Rio, who has fitted in seamlessly. Hurry back Gary, I'm sorry but your bro just isn't up to it.
 
Originally posted by Neil Thomson:
<strong>
<img src="graemlins/angel.gif" border="0" alt="[Angel]" />

Looks wrong to me ;) </strong><hr></blockquote>

sorry neil. wasn't being a pedant (well, ok, i was)... it's just that as soon as well allow american spellings to take over, well, hell, we might as well start having our prime minister suck up to american presidents non-stop....
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Originally posted by mancred:
<strong>

sorry neil. wasn't being a pedant (well, ok, i was)... it's just that as soon as well allow american spellings to take over, well, hell, we might as well start having our prime minister suck up to american presidents non-stop....</strong><hr></blockquote>
<img src="graemlins/smirk.gif" border="0" alt="[Smirk]" /> I agree mate, and I do pronounce it right instead of d-fence.
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At the start of last season our defenCe was a shambles<hr></blockquote>
<img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laugh Out Loud]" />
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rio adds a calming influence (influAnce in france) ;)
 
We're never going to things the easy way, we never have. The difference between us and Real is that we are not prepared to out ourselves into £150 million worth of debt. The way that Real operate is that they have to win the CL every year just to stay afloat. They are financing deals by selling training grounds. Do you really want United to operate on that sort of Knife edge.
 
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