Official Premiership 2008/09 thread

[Matt]

Anyone else notice that Andy Gray was still criticizing how Arsenal were playing when they were 2-0 up?

But he was right, they were making the same mistake they made vs. Tottenham, trying to play the same football rather than run the game down.

[The Future]

Yes the commentator was right..it nearly bit them in the ass too with Rafael scoring. It didn't work for United today but Rafael Da Silva is one for the future...very talented.

[Grounded Wingman]

Anyone else notice that Andy Gray was still criticizing how Arsenal were playing when they were 2-0 up?

But he was right, they were making the same mistake they made vs. Tottenham, trying to play the same football rather than run the game down.

Maybe so, but there was 30 or 40 minutes left in the game, not 3 or 4. I mean, if a team is 2-0 up after 10 minutes then they won't be thinking about running the game down for the last 80.

[Anderson]

Rafael can not defend. That's coming from a United fan, he's not one for the future if he's going to be a defender who can't defend. Mind you the man he replaced can't fucking defend either

Oh and Anderson = World Footballer Of The Year 2011 (Y)

[Hobo]

Oh and Anderson = World Footballer Of The Year 2011

[Matt]

Anyone else notice that Andy Gray was still criticizing how Arsenal were playing when they were 2-0 up?

But he was right, they were making the same mistake they made vs. Tottenham, trying to play the same football rather than run the game down.

Maybe so, but there was 30 or 40 minutes left in the game, not 3 or 4. I mean, if a team is 2-0 up after 10 minutes then they won't be thinking about running the game down for the last 80.

Ah ok, I thought you were on about in the last 10 minutes when they were still committing 5-6 men forward at a time.

And I was wondering whether people were just saying Rafael was "one for the future" solely on the fact he scored a good volley (despite that he's a defender)

[stokeriño]

...That was the most bizarre five minutes in the Everton game.

Sucks to be Gianfranco Zola right now.

[-A-]

Die, football

[Whisper]

Anyone else notice that Andy Gray was still criticizing how Arsenal were playing when they were 2-0 up?

But he was right, they were making the same mistake they made vs. Tottenham, trying to play the same football rather than run the game down.

Maybe so, but there was 30 or 40 minutes left in the game, not 3 or 4. I mean, if a team is 2-0 up after 10 minutes then they won't be thinking about running the game down for the last 80.

Ah ok, I thought you were on about in the last 10 minutes when they were still committing 5-6 men forward at a time.

And I was wondering whether people were just saying Rafael was "one for the future" solely on the fact he scored a good volley (despite that he's a defender)

Haven't seen his goal yet so i'll say it. Rafael is a fantastic prospect for the future. Already this season he's impressed me more than either Brown or Neville (and this is coming from someone who loves Gary Neville and waxed lyrical over Brown's performances last season). Rafael though, has been superb every time he's played... bar perhaps maybe Celtic in midweek. Saying he can't defend is a bit of a joke to be honest... as i've yet to see too much in the way of bad defending from him... no more so than anyone else who's played there. The only negative I can say about is that he dives in on occasion where he shouldn't.. but that's more just youth than anything.

As for the game itself, I haven't seen in yet as I was playing today (seriously, fuck Saturday lunch time kick offs). But by all accounts Arsenal deserved the win and, while we weren't particularly bad, we apparently just didn't take our chances. I'm not overly worried at this point. We are 4 points behind Chelsea and Liverpool, having played the same number of games. We've also played the rest of the "big 4" away from home already so that's out of the way, and we don't generally pick up that many points in those away games anyway.

[Anderson]

He dives into tackles, gets nowhere near the ball (or the player) and his positioning is shocking. He goes foward well enough but then doesn't really make much of an effort to get back when (not if) he loses the ball.

I'm sorry but I really don't see the big deal about him :/

[Whisper]

Then you've blatantly never seen him play. His distrubtion of the ball, for a full back, is superb and if he does lose the ball, he always chases back... I'm not sure who you're watching... considering his game is about energy and pace, I'm not sure how he'd manage not to chase back.

But that aside, give me a time where this apparent inability to defend has cost us.

[Anderson]

I saw him play against Celtic midweek, I saw him when he came on today and I saw him play Aalborg a few weeks back so don't start telling me who I have or haven't seen.

Against Celtic we were lucky not to concede at least twice when he had given the ball away needlessly. He was also frequently out of position and left McDonald (I think he was on the left) alone on the wing to test the centre backs and Foster. I'm not saying that he's rubbish or anything because I think he will get better but I don't think he's good enough to play at the very top level yet or indeed in the future.

His distribution is good yes I agree but I never said it wasn't

[Szumi]

...That was the most bizarre five minutes in the Everton game.

Sucks to be Gianfranco Zola right now.

I am truly hating Zola's appointment as manager. I think we're 2-1-5 since he took over, and the players look so unmotivated on the pitch. They looked and played a lot better under Curbs, in my opinion. Against his pushing for Tristan as well; wasted money as there's no need for another striker, especially one who is already 32. Add on that his 4-3-3 is failing miserably, and meh, we're falling down the shitter.

[Baddar]

He dives into tackles, gets nowhere near the ball (or the player) and his positioning is shocking. He goes foward well enough but then doesn't really make much of an effort to get back when (not if) he loses the ball.

I'm sorry but I really don't see the big deal about him :/

I do agree that the hype surrounding Rafael has been a little too intense. He's good going forward but REALLY needs to improve defensively if he's going to be a RB at United.

I suppose Rafael's started a little like Evra did when he joined - Looked decent going forward but at the back was suspect. Now he's much better, so I hope Rafael can follow him.

As for the game today I was annoyed we didn't get anything out of it. Pissed off on Wednesday after creating SO many chances against Celtic and leaving it late to grab anything, and today I was pissed off that we had the clear-cut chances and didn't take them, whereas Arsenal did. They created a few headed chances in the first half, but when they went 2-0 up, it definitely wasn't a "2-0 game".

Even though we grabbed one back I didn't really think we'd get an equaliser, despite Arsenal being shaky at the back lately. We seem to be creating all the chances in the world just not finishing them off. We ALWAYS seem to go through a period like this every season, and hopefully we'll stick three or four on Stoke next weekend just to get the touch back. Granted, it's only been gone a few games, but still...

[Hobo]

Keeeeaaaaane

[King Ellis]

A cog scores a goal?

[therockbox]

Two*

[Hobo]

He's got two! He's been playing excellently so far.

Edited November 8, 2008 by HoboObohHbob

[King Ellis]

But cogs aren't meant to score!

[Hobo]

All and all, he's just a cog with two goals.