Man United Thread

[fineintent]

To be fair, Giggs hardly played before his injury, the Jap seems to have got in ahead of him. As important as Keane and Heinze are, it shouldn't wreck the whole campaign.

[public enemy]

Ugh, just fucking ugh.

That must be the worst performance I've ever seen from us in recent memory. Not one of our players could come away with any sort of credit following the game. I hate to jump on the bandwagon after defending him for so long, but the manager needs to call it a day...Whether its him or Queiroz persisting with this 4-5-1 shite, its pretty damn clear its not working and that the team's in desperate need of a change.

[Lord Nibbler]

My God the performance yesterday was awful. 3-0 down at half time, yet nothing changed in the second half. United needed Fergie to show some tactical genius, a la Rafa Benitez vs. Milan in the Champion's League final.

We need to drop Fergie and bring in Paul Le Guen.

[fineintent]

I'd love to see an English manager get it, who's not McClaren.

But it won't happen.

[public enemy]

I'd love to see an English manager get it, who's not McClaren.

But it won't happen.

Edited October 31, 2005 by public enemy

[Lord Nibbler]

I'd love to see an English manager get it, who's not McClaren.

But it won't happen.

That's the thing, the modern fans haven't had a foreign manager at the club and as a result would probably reject anyone who isn't English, or at very least British. Trying to find someone who'll fit the criteria and also do a good job will be difficult no doubt.

Edited October 31, 2005 by Jimmy the Exploder

[pigeon]

Revealed: What Keano said

Wednesday November 02 2005

Manchester United captain Roy Keane wants a player clearout at Old Trafford in January.

Keane was critical of his team-mates in an interview which was due to be screened by the club's own television station - MUTV - on Monday but was pulled from the schedules following the direct intervention of chief executive David Gill.

It followed the 4-1 weekend mauling at Middlesbrough in the Barclays Premiership. United are seventh in the table, 13 points behind leaders Chelsea with one game in hand.

"There is talk about putting this right in January and bringing players in," Keane told MUTV according to the Daily Mirror.

"We should be doing the opposite - we should be getting rid of people in January."

England defender Rio Ferdinand was one of the team-mates Keane singled out for criticism.

"Just because you are paid £120,000 a week and play well for 20 minutes against Tottenham, you think you are a superstar," said Keane.

"The younger players have been let down by some of the more experienced ones - they are not leading. There is a shortage of characters.

"It seems to be in this club that you have to play badly to be rewarded. Maybe that is what I should do when I come back - play badly."

Keane, currently sidelined with a broken foot, was not shocked by the heavy defeat at the Riverside.

"I wasn't surprised by the result. I had been expecting one like this. The players have been asked questions and they are just not coming up with the answers.

"I am sick of having to say it and they are sick of listening to me. They have let down the club, the manager and the fans."

Ruud van Nistelrooy, meanwhile, believes his team-mates must learn to adapt quicker to unexpected tactics from their opposition.

Boro boss Steve McClaren - a former Old Trafford assistant manager - opted for a brave formation with three centre-backs on Saturday.

The 29-year-old Holland striker is wary of any surprise tactics, telling MUTV: "Middlesbrough played in a system we did not expect and we were not able to deal with that until after the break when it was too late.

"In the game we have to look at how the opposition play and deal with them in the best way."

He added: "You can say 'United are a team that usually bounce back' but that does not do anything. You have to go out and give everything and make sure we do bounce back.

"If you look at the opportunities over the last few weeks there have not been a lot. That does not matter to me because I am part of that team and do everything I can with the opportunities."

He added: "We have to sort ourselves out. This is the first opportunity to do that and then there is another game. Hopefully, gradually, we can improve. But it is going to be difficult because the last couple of weeks we have not been playing well.

"We had some results without playing well, we lost 4-1 but it wasn't just one game where we were not doing well. The week before we were not playing well so now it is time to change that."

What Keane Said:

On Van der Sar: "He should have saved that. That was saveable."

On O'Shea: "He's just strolling around when he should have been busting a gut to get back."

On Rio: "Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink robbed Ferdinand for the second goal... I have seen that happen to Rio before. It is poor defending."

On Darren Fletcher: "I can't understand why people in Scotland rave about Darren Fletcher."

On Kieran Richardson: "He is a lazy defender who deserved to get punished.. he wasn't doing his job."

On Alan Smith: "What is he doing there? He is wandering around as if he is lost. He doesn't know what he is doing."

[Turbo Yannis]

Way to motivate your team mates, Roy.

[public enemy]

Way to motivate your team mates, Roy.

[Guest muddatrucker]

I didn't read all that, but did he mention how the team is being moulded to protect him?

[pigeon]

I didn't read all that, but did he mention how the team is being moulded to protect him?

[TMM]

As much as I hate Roy Keane, I have a bit of respect for him by saying this. Ok, maybe he could've/should've kept this between the players, but the fact he's different to players and managers today in that he comes out and basically tells it how it is, that's different.

Oh yeah, nice result for you tonight eh?

[Liam]

Bad result once again for Man U.

And I like Keane, but someone put it better than I did when they said that if Keane had the best interest player-wise for Man U, he'd have left 2 years ago.

[public enemy]

It really is a sad state of affairs after results like this. If we continue to play like we did tonight, Chelsea will destroy us at the weekend.

Once again, no one seemed to give a fuck about the actual game at hand. Too many players not bothered and the manager making nothing but pathetic excuses for it after the match really piles the pressure on ahead of one of our toughest challenges of the season this coming weekend...

[Lord Nibbler]

I kinda hope we lose to Chelsea, because then maybe Fergie might be out of a job. Bring in Le Guen just before the window opens, give him a chance to assess the current team and make two or three big signings in the January window.

[AJ]

Utd vs Chelsea, many watching other than me? First ten minutes makes the rest of the game look promising. Chelsea look as nervous as Utd do determined. Which is very. Still, Drogba with the best chance so far.

edit: 17mins... Fuck, classic Paul Scholes right there, just wide of the goal.

[Lord Nibbler]

FLETCHER!

[AJ]

I thought you were rooting for Chelsea?

[Lord Nibbler]

I thought you were rooting for Chelsea?

[MDK]

This is great for a neutral, I'm loving this game. Both teams are so up for it and Man U seem to have actually shown up today. Alan Smith has been getting stuck in which I love to see.