Man United - boro KO 17:15, prem league (H) sat.

[Red Yank]

A tough day at the office for all involved. I jumped off my couch with the first goal and thought that was going to be the first of many but Boro got stuck in and played well, can't fault them for that...certainly few of us thought they were going to roll over for us especially after the last few encounters with them. I too was puzzled as to why Rio wasn't taken out sooner because he obviously wasn't doing well. We were really lucky not to have the penalty called against O'Shea because on the replay he clearly didn't make contact with the ball.

It's a shame we've blown a six point lead and now will find ourselves keeping our fingers crossed that Newcastle and Arsenal can get results. Don't know about anyone else but I was hoping to be in a position where I wouldn't be bothered by what Chelsea do yet here we are. All of us knew this season the team that will win the Prem is the one that can drop the least amount of matches, and early on we led that race however now Chelsea have their key injured players back and our solid defense has been struck with injuries. Let's hope we can deal with this set back well enough to keep us in contention. We have the talent and the drive so C'MON UNITED!!

[redsoldier]

Heartbreaking.

[Stew]

Fergie:
Despite appearing subdued, the United boss insisted the fight is not over - and he called on his stars to be positive despite a mounting injury list and more dropped points.

"There's a lot to hang on to at the moment and what we have to do is not feel sorry for ourselves," he said. "It's not the time for feeling sorry, it's the time to show what Manchester United are made of. It's well documented at this football club that we tend to do things the hard way. Newcastle have their pride and I know they won't lie down against Chelsea.

[Christopher]

I'm almost glad Boro equalised. Almost. Since we scored we have strolled too much. I as we scored after 3 mins, thats a whole half of football where we have taken the score for granted and played w/ little pace or energy. We were too lazy, too slow off the ball but more significantly our passing was too slow. Similar to the thurs morn game, but now we have been punished for our lazy attitude.

In all fairness, twas an excellent response from Boro. Dukes and Yakubu have given us a game, its nice and open w/ both teams trying to pass it around and attack. Suprising to see this from Southgates team...

Please dont let Ferdinands injury be too serious. Wes Brown, other than the goal has been superb for us. Alan Smith just doesnt stop running. Scholes' yellow was a poor decision. BTW scholes actually won the ball in a tackle in the 41st min. Congrats.

I love Ronaldo, but he has been guilty of too many times trying to go on his own, and in turn slowing the pace of our attacks down.

We have played a lot of games recently, but it will only continue for therest of the season.

We have midweek games every week 'till the end. Get used to it, if we want trophies at the end, this is how it has to be.

KEEP THE FAITH AND NEVER FEAR.

[rvel]

Totally agree with you Christopher. It's not that Boro played so well (although they deserve the greatest credit for their tactical preparation), as much as it was us allowing them, and even inviting them, to go forward. Same like in the Watford Cup match, except then we really were two or three levels above them so the moment we put up a gear we scored again.
But this is disgraceful, we didn't even pressure them inside our own half, we allowed them to pass and cross and get into the box.
And offensively, I think we insisted to go through the center time and time again, completely ignoring the fact it just simply didn't work and Boro had three players on the man with the ball. We should've at least tried to go through the wings.
And Ronaldo, he should stop trying to win games on his own. More often than not, it doesn't work for him and he should at least LOOK to see if someone's in a better position (Solskjaer would've scored with his eyes closed had Ronaldo just made the pass). I know you guys will probably bring up the Fulham game or say I'm just moaning coz of the draw, but I've written this before in a different forum and I can give at least two or three examples from this season when he tried to do it all on his own. United are a team, not a set of individuals.

[sahahahaha]

I'm fucking devastated, right now. For the first time winning the title is in Chelsea's own hands. But they still have to play us, and Arsenal at the Emirates. Oh bollocks! COME ON NEWCASTLE!

[danishred]

i swear, if we do not win the prem i think my GPA will suffer greatly. I will be more depressed than Sylvia Plath

[Scott]

sahahahaha said:

I'm fucking devastated, right now. For the first time winning the title is in Chelsea's own hands. But they still have to play us, and Arsenal at the Emirates. Oh bollocks! COME ON NEWCASTLE!

I was talking to my Dad a couple of weeks ago. Expecting a draw at the worst at the Emirates, it was Everton away where I was prepared to allow us to drop a couple of points. The pressure is really on now, and you know everyone would love to stop us from winning the league.

[David Gill]

I DON'T WANT TO SAY THIS BIT I DON'T CARE I HAVE TO SAY IT!
The weakest link FOR ME yesterday was Paul Scholes. Now , I know he set the goal up and all that but just tell me, if he didn't play would we have lost? I mean when i saw FLETCHER play in that position against Roma he was Fantastic. I really do believe that had Fletcher been employed in the midfield instead of Scholes than we would have had a better result. Middlesbrough have a hard and fast working midfield like Arsenal which Scholes unfortunately can't Hack!
I ain't saying that we have to drop Scholes but for certain games you have to look at who would do a better job. If Fletcher played the defensive midfield position and Carrick took the attacking midfield position than i think we would have won. I know certain people will disagree but i honestly think Carrick is better in that AM position than scholes is. Just look at the game against Roma. And i tell you what SAF knows this deep inside of him hence the income of Hargreaves this summer. Just look at who was running up and down yesterday it was a certain Mr Carrick.
Hopefully we can repair this problem against Milan.

[Scott]

I thought Scholes had a good game yesterday actually. He'd been a bit off the couple of games before, but he seemed to be back on it yesterday. He got in Sky Sports' team of the weekend too

[David Gill]

Scott ,you might have a point but say the truth Carrick does a better job than scholes in the same position.

[sahahahaha]

Scholes was Brilliant his passing was perfect. Truthfully we didn't play that bad yesterday. We just took our foot off the pedal after going 1 up and it just wouldn't fall for us in the final 3rd. Carrick though was bossed by Boateng. If anything In this sort of game Fletchers hustle would have been better in midfield than Carrick, but saying we should have dropped Scholes? Madness. Anyway it's a moot point, we were desperate for a right back and needed Fletcher there. I thought Scholes was our best player yesterday, if it wasn't for some great deffending he would have opened them up more.

[Carlito's Way]

We needed more width really. WTF was Ronaldo doing playing so central? Scholes' passing would have been more effective had he had wide players to pass it to.

[David Gill]

Yeah thats true. Thats what i was thinking . Why was Ronaldo so central yesterday?

[RedArmy20]

the end of the season its all up to the experienced players to show what they are made out of...its their time to shine...its the experienced players who will lead us to the titles...COME ON!!!!!!


1000th post....should i be happy?