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Post by keano16 on Sept 26, 2006 21:41:27 GMT
I'm pleased with the win, but I don't know if it is only me, but we don't have the tenacity in midfield like we used to. We're missing that Keano bite and passion. I have a good feeling Fergie wants to make Smith a striker again, but what I think is best for the team at the moment, is put Smith in midfield alongside Scholes and drop either O'Shea or Carrick. Keep Smith in there until January when hopefully we sign Hargreaves.
I don't want to have a dig at Carrick but the original United midfield is a fiesty ball winner alongside a creative man. We've had Robson, Ince and Keane. O'Shea can't do Keane's job. Carrick isn't that type of player. Scholes certainly isn't. We need Smith in there.
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Post by fletchabey on Sept 26, 2006 21:41:31 GMT
Thankfully were still winning the games we would have drawn last year. After last year CL im just gald to have 6 points.
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Post by Busby Boy on Sept 26, 2006 22:37:16 GMT
I'm pleased with the win, but I don't know if it is only me, but we don't have the tenacity in midfield like we used to. We're missing that Keano bite and passion. I have a good feeling Fergie wants to make Smith a striker again Tell us something we don't know. I think we can cope though until January atleast. We certaintly miss it especially in games like those versus Arsenal last week. It'll be nice when we finally get Hargreaves or someone similar in because we'll have a near enough complete midfield. |
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Post by Sky Sports 1 on Sept 26, 2006 23:15:40 GMT
Pleased with the win, VDS my MoM, absolutely faultless all night. #thumb# Thumbs up to Ronnie also, brilliant on a night when Rooney and Saha fell short at phases. Don't be too harsh to Rooney also, he found himself covering for Heinze on too many occasions not voluntarily.
I couldn't help but think they just didn't quite know how to play in the system they were, it seemed that Fergie was trying to rotate the entire midfield around constantly to such a degree O'Shea found himself rotated with Saha at one stage running around up top.
According to ITV they heard Nev coming to the sideline and literally asking, 'Look, who's playing in the holding role?!' ...and thank god that was sorted as well as could be before half time, good job Nev stood up took charge until half way.
There's no need to rotate around as much as they were, it seemed to confuse us more than Benfica and benefit them further also.
Great second half though, you have to question just what Fergie was doing with Rooney and Ronnie constantly coming inwards, and the fullbacks not going forward all night as to avoiding counter attacks. Our mids were running into 2 holding midfield players every time. The kind of game you play when your away trying to nick a point or a cheap goal. Turned out a moment of class got a great goal..
Good to see Smith back, bad to see Rooney on the position he sucked in last season! #yawn#
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Post by schmeichelstarjump! on Sept 26, 2006 23:19:00 GMT
I love Clive Tydesley, mainly for his commentary on the 26th May 1999 but check this: Ronaldo makes a misplaced pass: "Ronaldo gives the ball away, there was no need for that flick!" (Ronaldo couldn't do anything but flick it when the ball was passed hard into the chest area) Rooney makes a misplaced pass: "Rooney sells Ronaldo short there, good idea though" (Even though Carrick was through and the easier pass) Now I weren't pissed off at either player for those passes but English commentators, eh? you know what i thought the exact same thing when ronaldo did that flick what was ronaldo gonna do let it go out!! he doesnt know what he is talking about that clive bloke i think rooney needs to work on his control of the ball in training he lost too many balls with miss control he will get better though if he works on his control. |
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Post by 7even on Sept 26, 2006 23:32:22 GMT
It’s our first away win in Europe in a long time. So that’s something. Scholes and Carrick aren’t midfield holders, so the only other option out there on the night (despite whether I think he’s not good enough to be a first team starter) was O’shea. So it shouldn’t have been hard to work out who should have been in that position. At times we were all over the place. We certainly need to step it up.
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Post by theresonly1united on Sept 27, 2006 1:33:10 GMT
maximum points! now thats what i like to see. very pleased with ronaldo, carrick, and heinze. flethcher should have scored off the free kick, rooney needs to relax and i think he'll start performing. he needs to go with his insticts when he gets the ball. but the three points tonight put me in a top mood. by the way our away support was top. i could here our chanting throughout loads of the game.
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Post by sahahaha on Sept 27, 2006 2:17:16 GMT
Pleased with Carrick? Your easy to please  We really need to get some cohesion in the middle, Arsenal dominated and we still haven't sorted it out, agaisnt better sides we'll get beaten esp in the Champions league. I don't think Oshea was at fault tonight, he was left out-numbered by Carricks little adventures. Rooney was poor, but out of position and you can't be too hard on him and Saha because they were left chasing shadows because of the way the midfield was set up. Much better game from Neville who was poor at reading along with Heize and Vidic who had better games, allthough Heinze still got caught out far too often leaving Rooney to cover. The nut-meg was not nice. Ronaldo was brilliant though, the longer he gets stick from away fans the better imo. Yeah he over-ran the ball alot at times but he did more right than wrong, and after a great (and important) goal at reading he set's up Saha for the winner tonight. Great finish aswell |
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Post by 7even on Sept 27, 2006 2:25:19 GMT
This could be an over-reaction, but I have to say that is the worst United display I can remember for years - albeit things improved after the great goal By Louis.
The team were so pinned back, it was embarassing. I'm not sure that Benfica were anyhing like as poor as the pundits suggested. Their pressing was amazing until they went behind. But we are supposed to be the equal of anyone when it comes to skillful football. We were SHOCKING! This may be a rare occaion where the performance was more significant than the (excellent) result. It wasn't a crazy idea to play 4 5 1 (or 4 2 3 1 supposedly) away in Lisbon. But Jesus, that was a diabolical dispay - in terms of teamwork and cohesion. We had all of our best players on show, except Giggs, so there is no miracle just around the corner
It confirmed by worst fears (I have hopes for the team too) - that we are sliding year on year. Seroius investment is needed in the team - but how can we know it will? This summer was a transfer fiasco of the worst order. We alone amongst top clubs in Europe managed just one outfield purchase - the failure backed up by some bullshit reasoning about "trusting" our squad. But we are now a mixed bag of great players, good players and - in O Shea, Fletcher and - sorry -Smith and Solsjaer average players in the matchday squad with the average one's likely to play throughout the season. Our power as a club is waning year after year - S A F seems to be in denial about this proveable FACT. The only hope to get closer to our free-spending rivals is to invest in the team.
The 76,000 capacity stadium is a huge plus - but we need some quality players
and to consign the transfer season paralysis and caution to history. If not, we are not doomed. Just putting our status in the Premiership Top 2, and European Top 8 in severe jeapordy
- djunfitforwork
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Post by sahahaha on Sept 27, 2006 2:29:58 GMT
This could be an over-reaction, but I have to say that is the worst United display I can remember for years - albeit things improved after the great goal By Louis.
The team were so pinned back, it was embarassing. I'm not sure that Benfica were anyhing like as poor as the pundits suggested. Their pressing was amazing until they went behind. But we are supposed to be the equal of anyone when it comes to skillful football. We were SHOCKING! This may be a rare occaion where the performance was more significant than the (excellent) result. It wasn't a crazy idea to play 4 5 1 (or 4 2 3 1 supposedly) away in Lisbon. But Jesus, that was a diabolical dispay - in terms of teamwork and cohesion. We had all of our best players on show, except Giggs, so there is no miracle just around the corner
It confirmed by worst fears (I have hopes for the team too) - that we are sliding year on year. Seroius investment is needed in the team - but how can we know it will? This summer was a transfer fiasco of the worst order. We alone amongst top clubs in Europe managed just one outfield purchase - the failure backed up by some bullshit reasoning about "trusting" our squad. But we are now a mixed bag of great players, good players and - in O Shea, Fletcher and - sorry -Smith and Solsjaer average players in the matchday squad with the average one's likely to play throughout the season. Our power as a club is waning year after year - S A F seems to be in denial about this proveable FACT. The only hope to get closer to our free-spending rivals is to invest in the team.
The 76,000 capacity stadium is a huge plus - but we need some quality players
and to consign the transfer season paralysis and caution to history. If not, we are not doomed. Just putting our status in the Premiership Top 2, and European Top 8 in severe jeapordy- djunfitforwork "that was a diabolical dispay - in terms of teamwork and cohesion" - Couldn't agree more. The performance was bad, but imo it was more to do with a mixture of bad formation, team selection, players who've just come back (Heinze and Vidic) and players who aren't near top form in Carrick and Rooney. Rather than a lack of squad depth. I don't think Smith and Ole are anywhere near average players like you suggest. But you do have a point, we lack a ball winner, and players like Richardson, Oshea, need to show they can cut it at this level, because we need them. If Richardson had been performing like his pre-season and end of season performances we wouldn't be playing Rooney at Left wing. We need our squad players to be ready and sharp (just like they all keep bloody saying in interviews in the papers) but they aren't. Giggs and Park's injuries are unfortunate but Ferguson can't keep using that as an excuse |
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Post by sahahaha on Sept 27, 2006 2:42:34 GMT
"we are supposed to be the equal of anyone when it comes to skillful football.......
It confirmed my worst fears (I have hopes for the team too) - that we are sliding year on year"
I don't think that's fair either, after all we played some wonderfull "skillfull" football against Celtic and after the goal we were fantastic, I believe it was more to do with confidence than anything else, look how different our players were after the goal, just passing it round, moe control on the ball, finding players with ease, creating chances, wheras before we were rushed, showing bad touces everywhere and had no cohesion. Add to that a confident, fit Rooney and we will be more than fine. It's also a great improvement on last year unlike you said, because 1) Saha scored and we actually beat Benfica this year and 2) We have maximum points in the Champions league, look set to go through and also have had the best start in the league that I can remember!
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vuliek
United Youth Teamer
Posts: 56
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Post by vuliek on Sept 27, 2006 5:32:01 GMT
At one point in the match, O'Shea got the ball in a left backish position and just whacked it out into touch on the right wing with no United player within 50 yards of where he had hit it! Is David Jones that bad that we persist with JO'S in the middle? We have to blood our young players, and soon, with the Glazers/Gills reluctance to buy!
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Post by danishred on Sept 27, 2006 9:53:40 GMT
Unfortunately i didnt watch this game, but only saw limited highlights on the nightly news, but i heard ronaldo was top class! he has been very very consistent this year and i am so glad to see that, because he really deserves more credit than he has been given in the past.
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Post by Sky Sports 1 on Sept 27, 2006 10:13:54 GMT
This could be an over-reaction, but I have to say that is the worst United display I can remember for years - albeit things improved after the great goal By Louis.
The team were so pinned back, it was embarassing. I'm not sure that Benfica were anyhing like as poor as the pundits suggested. Their pressing was amazing until they went behind. But we are supposed to be the equal of anyone when it comes to skillful football. We were SHOCKING! This may be a rare occaion where the performance was more significant than the (excellent) result. It wasn't a crazy idea to play 4 5 1 (or 4 2 3 1 supposedly) away in Lisbon. But Jesus, that was a diabolical dispay - in terms of teamwork and cohesion. We had all of our best players on show, except Giggs, so there is no miracle just around the corner
It confirmed by worst fears (I have hopes for the team too) - that we are sliding year on year. Seroius investment is needed in the team - but how can we know it will? This summer was a transfer fiasco of the worst order. We alone amongst top clubs in Europe managed just one outfield purchase - the failure backed up by some bullshit reasoning about "trusting" our squad. But we are now a mixed bag of great players, good players and - in O Shea, Fletcher and - sorry -Smith and Solsjaer average players in the matchday squad with the average one's likely to play throughout the season. Our power as a club is waning year after year - S A F seems to be in denial about this proveable FACT. The only hope to get closer to our free-spending rivals is to invest in the team.
The 76,000 capacity stadium is a huge plus - but we need some quality players
and to consign the transfer season paralysis and caution to history. If not, we are not doomed. Just putting our status in the Premiership Top 2, and European Top 8 in severe jeapordy- djunfitforwork It's called learning from bad experiences last year, or is that forgotten already? Other teams defend against us and hit us on the counter, we've not been on the best form lately, so if it helps us to do that in the kind of atmosphere there was last night, so be it. What would you be saying if we went out completely attacking and threw ourselves at them only to lose as before? |
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Post by onenedkelly on Sept 27, 2006 10:32:58 GMT
Ive read a lot of your reports on here today chaps and I agree totally with most of them but surely your all referring to the first half display which for me was down to the formation and players not knowing their rightfull jobs.
Second half was faultless almost and VERY enjoyble to watch at times.
As Fergie said after the game the midfielders made room for themselves (when we went back to 4-4-2) which gave them time to play the right passes to the players that thrive of the ball being played in front of them ie Rooney, Saha and Ronaldo.
I thought the Referee was terrible last night and I rarely have a dig at these fellas but some decisions were horrendus.
As for Rooney he's taken some part in only about 6 games since the foot injury so it will come no doubt about that.
Great win after a poor 1st half, Maximum points = VERY HAPPY NED KELLY #yahoo#
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