Man United Thread

[G-O-D]

And I found Henning Berg's comments quite strange.  He said, "Mikel is an amazing player and the biggest talent for his age that I have ever seen. He is better than both Steve Gerrard and Michael Owen were at that age and he can achieve great things."  Sounds wonderful, but Owen was playing for England at that age and Mikel has only been capped for Nigeria at under-17 level.  Strange.  :blink:

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[therockbox]

Loads of carriage returns = gay.

[Sam]

Yay we slipped up against another bottom half team go United!

Seriously the team doesn't need improving its fantastic it just needs new tactics and new life put into it. Fergie has been a great manager but even if we do beat Arsenal in the cup final that doesn't hide 2 poor seasons in a row. Maybe it is time for him to leave and allow new ideas in as the team is fantastic and more than capable of dominating english football.

[Jonny D]

With our dominance in the first half we really should of been more than one goal up, but in the second half West Brom came out fighting, and it was obvious they just wanted the points more. Best of luck to WBA in their final game.

And despite what everyone is saying about Fergie going, I still think he should at least stay on next season, but only if he can get this 4-5-1 bollocks out of his head. When the time does come for a new man in charge though, I think he'll have a very tough job on his hands, as right now there are no really obvious replacements around and whoever comes in will be seen as not good enough by the fans.

[therockbox]

Moyes?

[public enemy]

Moyes is a good manager but I reckon when the day finally comes, Martin O’Neill will be the man to take over. Alex Ferguson still has a future though and rightly so given everything he has given to the club.

Yesterday’s performance was disappointing with the team once again showing its inconsistency especially against lower opposition. It seems that the manager was keeping one eye on the Chelsea game and as a result chose to rest too many vital players. We were the better team throughout and West Brom’s penalty was questionable but fair play to them, we lost and it’s no one’s fault but our own. With performances like that, it just goes to show how much we miss a really creative player like Veron…So many chances but no end product, an obvious sign that changes need to be made.

[Jonny D]

:blink:

Never thought I'd hear somebody say we miss Veron.

[public enemy]

:blink:

Never thought I'd hear somebody say we miss Veron.

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[fineintent]

I'd firmly disagree - Veron was non existant in the domestic games, and hardly set the Champions League on fire either. He never looked bothered - and I doubt his assists tally was particularly high. Beckham created goal after goal, especially for Van Nistelrooy - and his service is dearly missed by United. Scholes and Keane are doing an able job in the centre of midfield, the main problem is Ronaldo has no end product.

United have like 20 shots a game, look at the West Brom match, finishing them seems to be the problem.

[public enemy]

Although I agree with you that Beckham is fairly missed, there is no way we could have kept a hold of him given the circumstances.

Veron, on the other hand, I’m still puzzled why we let him go, as even the manager seemed to have a liking towards him. Although you make a fair point, I’m still of the belief that regardless of his assist tally or lack of, Veron as a player fitted well into the team. His creativity, his ability at set pieces and his overall stamina in his performances is something we currently are in desperate need of.

Finishing is our main problem but to blame that on our strikers is ridiculous. Take yesterday for example, shot after shot but each one as unmotivated and dull as the next…the majority of which weren’t even coming from our strikers. To me, we need that creative force back again so that even when the team isn’t performing or isn’t scoring, there’s always someone to push on and help the goal or better yet do it themselves.

[Jonny D]

I don't think you can blame bad creativity for the result,as we created 27 chances so the creativity was there, it was just a mixture of bad finishing, bad fortune and decent goalkeeping that lost us the result. Scoring one goal against teams like WBA is simply not good enough, but it has happened all the time this season. Blackburn, Portsmouth, Man City, Fulham, Palace, Blackburn (again), Norwich and now WBA - in those eight games we have only scored 3 goals this season, and picked up only six points. If we want to win the title again draws and losses against those teams have to be turned to wins, and I don't know if Fergie is the man to do that with his current negative tactics and team selection. Trouble is, as I've said before, I really don't see an obvious replacement.

[G-O-D]

Although personally I would give Fergie more time to turn the squad around, if there really is a need for replacement, I think Paul Le Guen is the man to succeed. He has led Lyon to four consecutive French first divison titles, but has just quit the job. He is young, but immensely talented, and some say he's the next Arsene Wenger.

[Sam]

The thing with Man United is foreign managers aren't really wanted at Old Trafford. We want British managers. The person that takes over eventually will either be Moyes, Keane, O'Neil or Mclaren in my opinion. Its most likely to be Mclaren with a view to Keane taking over eventually.

[Malenko]

Just a little correction. Le Guen has only won 3 titles, including this season's, because he wasn't Lyon's manager on the first of their consecutive titles.

[public enemy]

Man Utd: Carroll, G. Neville, Brown, Ferdinand, Silvestre, Fletcher, Keane, Scholes, Ronaldo, Rooney, van Nistelrooy.

Subs: Howard, Saha, Smith, O'Shea, Fortune.

Chelsea: Cudicini, Johnson, Ricardo Carvalho, Huth, Gallas, Geremi, Tiago, Makelele, Lampard, Cole, Gudjohnsen.

Subs: Cech, Forssell, Jarosik, Nuno Morais, Grant.

Should be a good game tonight. Both teams are pulling no punches I see, regardless of the fact that there’s nothing other than pride to play for.

United are practically at full strength with the only notable absentee being Giggs who isn’t even on the bench…Not sure what’s wrong with him. Silvestre as left back is a bit of an odd choice, despite it being his natural position he hasn’t played there in quite some time for United, hopefully he’ll help keep it tight at the back as Rio and Brown seem to continue they’re partnership. Gary Neville will also have a lot to prove after his suspension, I can see him going forward on every opportunity to provide back up for Fletcher on the right.

Chelsea on the otherhand look a little weaker than they usually do. With Terry out the back four looks a little empty with Huth hardly being the natural replacement. Glen Johnson is reportedly also playing a mid-field role with Geremi as right back. Tiago on the wing is again a big loss for Chelsea, neither Robben or Duff on the bench sort of takes away from they’re attacking options. All in all Its Cole, Lampard and Gudjohnsen that’ll cause the main threat.

Both teams are well balanced and I’m predicting a tight contest, 2-1 scoreline to United. (hopefully)

[Summers]

Goaaaalaciooooo.

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And again.

Nice strike, didn't expect that.

Edited May 10, 2005 by Summers

[public enemy]

...So Tiago isn't a worthless piece of shit afterall.

1-1 at half-time and a fairly decent game to show for it. Good to see Van Nistelrooy getting another typical goal of his, not so good to see yet another Roy Caroll blunder. Pretty even so far but all to play for; Rooney to get the winner.

[therockbox]

Wow, 3-1. I wasn't expecting that.

[Sam]

Yeh 4-5-1 at Home...what is the point?

Chelsea deserved to win United were just useless again what was the point in dropping Giggs?! He was our best player on Sunday and would have given us some sort of chance against them rather than us make Rooney do all the work.

[Guest Pirate Chasin' Booty]

In a way its a good job they did win, otherwise we'd of been hearing 'but you didn't beat our first team', but now its probably going to be the complete opposite.