vs Middlesboro

All that actually matters today, at this early stage in the season, is that we won.
 
Originally posted by Roy:
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Rio was very good today and I thought Blanc had an excellent game as well (Micky too).</strong><hr></blockquote>

defence looked good...but it was hardly tested.


the only problem we'll have at home..is scoring against these types of sides.. we look totally clueless around the box, yes we play some fanatastic stuff in midfield..but with veron, becks and co that should be expected. Most reckoned that only the defence needed strengthening, at the end of last season..but it was clear, from our games against liverool like sides, that the attack needed variety...
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Originally posted by Roy:
<strong>They were ok but the whole midfield was generally abysmal.

Those little flick ons that work once in a blue moon is not a way to play the full 90 minutes.

We lack variety and options in our game. We end up losing too many stupid balls in midfield and hence create pressure on the defence/we don't manage to generate possession.

The players aren't making enough movement and with only one striker up front it's always going to be hard to make chances.

Ruud is clearly out of form and playing him up front with 2-3 men surrounding him every time he gets the ball doesn't help much.

The problems are not that serious as they are all a result of a number of players being off their game at the moment but still there are a few issues that need to be solved IMO (formation, style of play, etc).</strong><hr></blockquote>Totally agree, especially about those f'kin useless ficks.

I'm happy we won, but, excluding the defence, that was a terrible performance.

We were just lucky Boro' were worse.
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Rio Ferdinand is a superstar, at times he looked like he was sleepwalking.. fantastic
 
Nice to see Fab back too. I thought he would come back against Bolton. And a clean sheet, even if he had probably little to do, it's good for the confidence. :)
 
Originally posted by Elfie:
<strong>Nice to see Fab back too. I thought he would come back against Bolton. And a clean sheet, even if he had probably little to do, it's good for the confidence. :) </strong><hr></blockquote>

Seems he had a bit of pain after the bad fall in the last minute. Might be out again. Hope not though.
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Bobby Robson on sky Sports said Fabio had a back injury but that he'll be ok.
 
Originally posted by Roy:
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Agreed

A half-decent side would've beaten us today</strong><hr></blockquote>

a half-decent side would have tried to play football ... giggsy was ok imo
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Originally posted by giggzy:
<strong>
anyway, we still need a forward that can dribble, to partener Ruud... scholes nor ole suit the second striker role, in a 4-5-1/4-4-1-1 formation.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Well unless we're going to bring one thru from the reserves, we'll have to be content with what we've got.

No point in talking about new players for a couple of months.
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Livvie, who do you think we should sign? name 3. <img src="graemlins/angel.gif" border="0" alt="[Angel]" />
 
Originally posted by Roy:
<strong>What a feckin shite game and performance that was!

Player ratings:

Fab - 7
Micky - 7.5
Blanc - 7.5
Rio - 7.5
Phizza - 7
Butt - 5 (abysmal today)
Seba - 5.5
Giggs - 5.5
Becks - 5
Scholes - 5
Ruud - 5

Crap performance but the defence generally did well and the important thing is we won. We were awful though by all means.</strong><hr></blockquote>

I don't mean to be picky - but is it OK to criticise the whole team, and not just one player?

Just so I know the rules.
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Originally posted by Sharkey:
<strong>Livvie, who do you think we should sign? name 3. <img src="graemlins/angel.gif" border="0" alt="[Angel]" /> </strong><hr></blockquote>


Do you mean who would I like us to sign? Because the dream and the reality are usually different.

I would have liked Duff, but fat chance of that now.

I wondered about Jansen from Blackburn, especially as he's English.

I used to think Steven Carr would be a good buy, but he seems to be a bit of a sick note.

Tbh, I'd like to bring in some unknowns and make them stars.

I'm not overkeen on Latin players, but prefer UK/Irish/N.European.

And maybe the Escude deal will resurface in the New Year.

In the meantime, I hope we get to see some of the reserves in action, preferably in games where we're cruising to start with.
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Originally posted by Livvie20:
<strong>Tbh, I'd like to bring in some unknowns and make them stars.</strong><hr></blockquote>

There's probably a future star or two in our own ranks right now. Timm, Richardon, Davis, Tate, Fletcher etc.
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Originally posted by Raoul:
<strong>

There's probably a future star or two in our own ranks right now. Timm, Richardon, Davis, Tate, Fletcher etc.</strong><hr></blockquote>


Roche, Pugh, Tierney.

We can't keep bringing in new players without testing our own youth. Otherwise kids won't want to join United because they know they'll never make the first team.
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Is Beckham injury serious? now out of the England friendly? <img src="confused.gif" border="0">
 
It was a pretty poor performance. Our defence looked solid but then again it difficult to really say because Middlesbrough didn't look interested in trying to win the game.
Roy - i thought you were a bit harsh in your ratings of our midfield. It hard to really show anything against a team that was happy to put 11 players on the edge of 18 yard box.
I though Seba was better than 5.5 he made some very good passes but there was a distinct lack of movement up front. My biggest problem with him was his lack of willingness to get forward. He was making passes and then dropping back
Becks looked tired, which is understandable. I'd rather see him not play on Saturday.
Giggs was quiet for the first 20 minutes but after he made that run and shot just wide he seemed to waken up for the rest of the half and then became non-existant again in the 2nd half.
Nicky Butt was very quiet and too deep.
I agree it was generally a below par performance but Middlesbrough were f*cking awful. I've lost a lot of respect for Maclaren, he brought a team with the intension of spoiling the game.
If Fergie is going to persist with RVN upfront with Scholes just off him then they need a better understanding. There were a few times when we had the ball out wide and both plays made the same move either near post or far post. The other factor that can make this formation a success is either Seba or Nicky needs to take over Scholesy role of arriving late into the box, to pick up on the deflected crosses and poor clearances.
Overall i'd give it 6 out of 10
 
Originally posted by Roy:
[QB]

The players aren't making enough movement and with only one striker up front it's always going to be hard to make chances.

This is one of our main problems at the moment. 2 or 3 years ago there was movement all over the park. Today we are static. I noticed against Sunderland that when O'Shea passed the ball he immediately ran on for the return. Most of the players pass then consider that their work is completed. They may as well be setting roots. This is one good point in Diego's game, his consistent movement, dragging defenders and creating space. For Christ sake even Phizza does it.
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Really poor game
No creativity
and absolutely no finishing
 
Originally posted by An Extremely Boring Man:
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Agree</strong><hr></blockquote>

Veron was ok. Giggs didn't wake up until 25th minute and then was terrible for the rest of it. when he doesn't run at defenders (he did once or twice last night, once successfully) then his abysmal finishing and inability to cross the ball come to the fore. he was also lazier than normal.

Back four was good, blanc was excellent. Rio had a good game, but had one or two lapses that could have been costly. excellent block at the end of the match.

Everyone else was terrible, especially RVN.

We missed Keane very badly -- he controls the tempo and you forget what a good passer he is.
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Originally posted by mancred:
<strong>We missed Keane very badly -- he controls the tempo and you forget what a good passer he is.</strong><hr></blockquote>

It's gonna take some time to get used to his absence. As long as we grind out the results that's all that matters at this stage in the season.
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Originally posted by mancred:
<strong>

Giggs didn't wake up until 25th minute and then was terrible for the rest of it. </strong><hr></blockquote>

Rubbish.


he played well...and looked lively throughtout the match.. it was good to see him stretch his hamstrings.
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Originally posted by giggzy:
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Rubbish.


he played well...and looked lively throughtout the match.. it was good to see him stretch his hamstrings.</strong><hr></blockquote>


He moved about well, but his crosses and his passing was way off.
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At the game last night, one question, what was that song being sung over in the West Stand for the last ten mins of the first half and for periods of the 2nd. Sounded good, and I kept hoping it would spread round to us to break up the long stretches of silence.
 
The thing about Giggs is, even when he's not playing well he can still win the match for you. Without Giggs yesterday it probably would have finished 0-0.

Now, I'm not saying he is beyond droppoing - no one is - but it's all about contribution and replacement. We could afford to give Becks a rest last season because we could put Veron and Scholes on the right. They didn't do as well as a Beckham in his peak, but they were ok. Can we expect them to perform the same magic that Giggs does? I don't think so.

Ryan's just too bloody unique at United. Which brings us to the old discussion about how we should have signed another winger to challenge him... Still, better to play Giggs and win 1-0 to give him a kick and draw 0-0.

It's just seems a lot of our players are far from being on top of their game, but if we dropped all of them we'd have no one to play!
 
Originally posted by giggzy:
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passing was ok...but his crossing wasn't.</strong><hr></blockquote>


A lot of his passes went amiss. Maybe that detracted from those that didn't.

And he kept trying to go inside, which sometimes works, but more often than not, he loses the ball. He's brilliant at getting into positions and taking people on down the left, but his final move has become generally poor.
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The confidence of the players can't be expected to be sky high, its not like ours is is it? We came 3rd last season, Keano's caused massive turbulence, we're in an injury crisis and they're all under the spotlight. Last season we lost this game, and this time Boro again came to defend and nick the points later, but Alex countered by playing more defensively so that they couldn't get their goal, and trusted that something would fall for us. It did, and a couple more could have too. If we grind out another 3 successive 1-0 games then I predict we'll be top of the table with the best defensive record in the league. United never start a season well, how we can be expected to this season I don't know. The performances will come in time, as players fitness and form build.
 
What about the prospect of bringing Danny Webber back from Watford. He got pace, good control and can take defenders on. He would be an ideal partner for Ruud
 
Originally posted by unitedfan-up-the-tower:
<strong>What about the prospect of bringing Danny Webber back from Watford. He got pace, good control and can take defenders on. He would be an ideal partner for Ruud</strong><hr></blockquote>

How many times have you seen him play?
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i've seen him 3 times this season, a friend is a waford season ticket holder
 
Originally posted by Roy:
<strong>

They were ok but the whole midfield was generally abysmal.</strong><hr></blockquote>

I disagree.

I thought the midfield did pretty well. They brought the ball with little effort until 20 yds away from goal, but when it came down to the last pass/shot that's where the problems started.

Now that could be due to the poor form/inability of RVN and later Diego/Ole to get themselves in a shooting position/free of marking, but in no way is that the fault of the midfield.

As I've said before we look light upfront. We sorely need more options upfront.
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