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Manchester United Thread

5 of the last missed 9 not converted. Weak sauce.

Rooney is apparently about 65% successful, which is terrible. Not sure who is better though, tbh. Hernandez has missed, RVP isn't all that good.

As he is the best player in our team, I say give em to Rafael.
 
RVP should be first choice, he's brilliant at them beach, outside of him its take your pick really, Nani, Rooney, Hernandez, Giggs etc can all take them.
 
YoungGun_UK said:
RVP should be first choice, he's brilliant at them beach, outside of him its take your pick really, Nani, Rooney, Hernandez, Giggs etc can all take them.
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Pretty sure he's missed a good few too. I can think of at least 2 for Arsenal and of course one for us.

Then you look at Lambert...31/31...cripes.
 
I do love me the lil Pea:

"We’d like to concede fewer goals but it’s not fair to say the forwards are doing well but the defence needs to improve. As a striker, I consider myself to be the first defender when I play. The first attackers are the defenders and goalkeeper. So we take credit and criticism for both areas together. And we will improve together. "
 
Speaking of Ronaldo btw (and yes, I assume Rafael/Valencia/Nani/Smalling will be much better equipped to deal with him this time around)........

You know now that Pep decided to go to Bayern (great move for him imho), the same rumors about who is going to succeed SAF are only going to continue for the next few years. I love people who are speculating that Pep is planning to take on Bayern just to wait for SAF to retire so he can jump in and take over Utd (*yawn*)...then of course we have the Mourinho rumor and him making it his final job as a manager...and hey, perhaps he'll convince Ronaldo to return to Old Trafford, right? As much as I love our Red Devils I can see myself getting tired of these types of rumors REALLY quick. The whole Sneijder decision saga is already aggravating the heck out of me and I don't even really care where he ends up going.

..*slowly steps away from the keyboard* :ANGEL:
 
gomito#10 said:
Have you guys seen this

YouTube - ESPN Commercial | Born Into It
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Haha yeah that's pretty funny, though reading the comments when to the article I saw it posted in on the daily mail was probably even funnier. :BOP:

Worried about tomorrow. Hopefully Rafael will be able to control Bale, bc we know Evra will probably let things slip on his side..possibly opening it up for behind the back attacks from Lennon. Last time Ferdinand was exposed horribly of the dribble so if Vidic is fit for this game it'll be interesting if it'll be the 2 "old" dudes or one of the two in a pairing with Evans.

In a PES13 matchup I just played at superstar level, the game ended 2-1 Utd with Valencia scoring off a long range in the 27th, RvP hitting the bar three times (thought that was kind of realistic considering he seems to have a knack for that in rl as well haha) before making use of a back pass slip up on the Spurs end and playing around Friedel for the simple tap in in the 78'. Lennon struck back in the 84' off a beautiful volley, outrunning Evra and beating De Gea in the far corner. Carrick and Cleverley dominated the midfield but I was getting murdered over on the wings. Was a nerve wrecking game, Defoe, Bale and Lennon were running rampant with some slick trickery and passing and I was lucky to escape with the win.
If the real game tomorrow will be anything like that Im gonna have to pop some anti-anxiety pills. :))
 
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As posted in Spurs forum, tough to lose 2 points like that, but we played well against a very good team that are in top form right now, at a tough place to visit.

De Gea was immense til the end there...tough as of course the media will focus on that but without him we would have lost the match, not just drawn it.

Moving on, 5 points clear in January having already played a lot of big matches (both LFC, both Spurs, Chelsea, City away) is a great position to be in. Just need to focus on winning the winnable games and hope City lose some momentum (which they're gathering now).

Curses:
iwF8L3mw9STHf.gif
 
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Tough tough match. we couldn't finish it off against a great side that came to play.

De Gea was magnificent, but I still don't like how he punches the ball so often rather than catching it (even if unchallenged). If he can fix that, he'd be a lot better and commanding of his area
 
ss4_goku said:
Tough tough match. we couldn't finish it up up off against a great side that came to play.

De Gea was magnificent, but I still don't like how he punches the ball so often rather than catching it (even if unchallenged). If he can fix that, he'd be a lot better and commanding of his area
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De Gea was great today but I wish he'd take a page out of Van DerSar's book when it comes stalling. I know vds was hated for taking his sweet time at crucial points but a little less rushing could ve prevented that last second equalizer.
 
ss4_goku said:
Tough tough match. we couldn't finish it off against a great side that came to play.

De Gea was magnificent, but I still don't like how he punches the ball so often rather than catching it (even if unchallenged). If he can fix that, he'd be a lot better and commanding of his area
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Agreed. Though that particular case he was pretty unlucky, could have gone anywhere but straight to Lennon, who fluffed a 'cross' and it fell straight to Dempsey. Don't think he deserves the blame for today, we crumbled a bit when Tony and Rooney came on.

What on Earth have we done to Valencia anyway? He's not even fast anymore!
 
Man Utd have now played away at Everton, Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea, Spurs, Swansea and Newcastle and only lost once.

All the tough away days out of the way except Stoke (Sorry but I dont class Arsenal as tough away day anymore).

It's Man Utd's league to throw away especially with Man City looking poor by their high standards.
 
Benni said:
It's Man Utd's league to throw away especially with Man City looking poor by their high standards.
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Agreed they're not convincing, but they're still winning.

Next 8 games will decide. On paper United have a softer schedule, but also have 2 CL matches which are pretty nastily timed (Sky have us playing late match Sunday ahead of the first match, and early Saturday after the second - thanks for that)

Tricky thing about United is that last season we were at our worst against 'lesser' teams - Blackburn, Wigan etc - so I can't predict we'll have a great run.

Still, I believe in the next 8 we don't really play anyone aside from Everton in the top 8 or so, whereas City have LFC (though they might throw that match as they always seem to against United's title foes - yes Gerrard I'm lookin gat you and that assist to Drogba and own goal!) Chelsea and Everton away.
 
beachryan said:
Agreed. Though that particular case he was pretty unlucky, could have gone anywhere but straight to Lennon, who fluffed a 'cross' and it fell straight to Dempsey. Don't think he deserves the blame for today, we crumbled a bit when Tony and Rooney came on.

What on Earth have we done to Valencia anyway? He's not even fast anymore!
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Agree about Valencia. Was a poor sub Imo. Yes Cleverley wasn't having a good game but I felt that we started to get vulnerable in midfield when he came off. Mightily impressed with Welbeck on the wing, just needs to improve delivery in the box.
 
Our fictures up until the derby:

A QPR
H Liverpool
A Southampton
H Chelsea
A Aston Villa
H Wigan Athletic
A Everton
H Newcastle United

The bold ones are the ones I fear most. I' more confident of beating Liverpool and Chelsea at home than QPR and Everton away
 
'Meh' 2 points dropped but were still in a great position and as most have pointed out, we've navigated a lot of the big away days, im always confident of us at home, especially with RVP these days even if were crap he'll likely save the day.

hopefully we can keep the 3+ point lead 'post Madrid' and I'll be happy.
 
YoungGun_UK said:
'Meh' 2 points dropped but were still in a great position and as most have pointed out, we've navigated a lot of the big away days, im always confident of us at home, especially with RVP these days even if were crap he'll likely save the day.

hopefully we can keep the 3+ point lead 'post Madrid' and I'll be happy.
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Yeah, it's probably worth mentioning RvP in light of today again as well. Spurs did a good job keeping him mostly isolated but he once again showed that he is by far the most clinical striker in the EPL atm. I'm gonna have to dig up the table I saw somewhere but out of all the top strikers and goal scorers out there right now RvP was near the bottom of the shots per game stats. It was something like 3.2 shots on goal per game (that includes all the times he was subbed in toward the end though). Unbelievable chance conversion rate. Think only Falcao had similar stats.

Interesting 26 min long interview with the man btw:

http://www.skysports.com/video/inline/0,26691,12606_8417689,00.html
lotta of complimenting other players than talking about himself, interviewer being a bit of a dick by seemingly trying to get him to say negative things about Arsenal but he stays very classy imho.
For the Gunners fans; though there is a bit of Arsenal mentioning in the beginning, but the bulk of his comments on his time there start at 8:45.
 
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I wouldnt say it was 2 points dropped. Spurs a very good team and a point at WHL is acceptable.
 
Benni said:
I wouldnt say it was 2 points dropped. Spurs a very good team and a point at WHL is acceptable.
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United didnt play well enough for me for all 3 points and Spurs deserved the draw.

Ferguson does complain too much about officials tho for me. Yes it was a penalty I agree but its swings and roundabouts in football in terms of decisions.
 
We were 1-0 in the 92nd minute, it doesn't matter if its Spurs or Barcelona, you should see out the win at that point.
 
Can someone who is a fan of other clubs explain to me why there is such a witch-hunt on De Gea? Even Mr. United Gary Neville just spent 5 minutes focussing on his punch which eventually resulted in the equaliser. So that's a MOTD feature, several newspaper featuers and now a Monday Night Football special.

Ignore the fact that Rafael went walkabouts, Evra was marking no one, Valencia didn't stop the cross and no one picked up Dempsey - why is De Gea always the target? He seems like a nice enough kid, he's only 22, he's always been a good professional, never done anything particularly pretentious on or off the pitch. Why? I just don't get it.

You compare that to earlier in the season when big Joe Hart let a shot go through him on his front post and that didn't even get a word from pundits.

I just can't work out why the Brits hate De Gea. Is it because he's not English? Because he plays for United?
 
To be fair, Neville highlighted how much of a good game DDG had had up until that point.

He was right to suggest that keepers are always remembered for certain moments in a match and they define a season. If we lose the title by a point or two then it'll be one of the things we're pulled up on, that punch (despite everything else we did wrong with that goal).

De Gea will be fine though I bet SAF plays Lindegaard at the weekend and everyone in the media suggests that he's been dropped over that error.
 
beachryan said:
I just can't work out why the Brits hate De Gea. Is it because he's not English? Because he plays for United?
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It's common thing, joe hart makes mistakes which cost city from time to time but never gets mentioned really in detail, de gea had an amazing game but only made one error but no one really talks about the performance as a whole, MOTD i'm not really surprised, especially when you have the likes of Alan Hansen on board. apparently this is what he wrote on the telegraph.

Sir Alex must make decision on De Gea
Manchester United's hopes of regaining the Premier League title will always be in jeopardy if David de Gea keeps making mistakes like the one against Spurs and he must surely be on his last chance now. Without a doubt he cost them three points and this is a crucial stage of the season where Sir Alex Ferguson needs to decide whether to stick with him or take him out the firing line. The result at White Hart Lane could prove a season defining moment and United cannot afford to be drawing games when they should be winning them. I'm sure they would have taken a point before kick-off but the fact they have tossed away two points in the game through a goalkeeping mistake could be massive. Manchester United would have been seven points clear of Manchester City if they had managed to keep a clean sheet, but the goalkeeper has flapped at the end and it has punished them after a very good away performance. A win at Tottenham Hotspur could have sent out a real message. Sir Alex will be loath to drop him but he has got to make a decision now because this is crunch time and they are playing for big prizes. When your team is in the last 16 of the Champions League and competing for the title, the last position you want to be in is chopping and changing the goalkeeper.
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Thing is, what i've seen from de gea yesterday is a keeper who has vastly improved in area's, still has to improve in other areas but at 22, he has a load of time to grow and improve, the media in britain is corrupt, alway's tend to ignore it when talking about how player's perform.
Also it's common when a team spends certain amount on a certain type of player, the media love having a field day with it, when torres is on fire, media rarely highlight it in much detail, when he's misfiring, they tare him down. It sad knowing that people actually invest into mindless 'journalists' who can only hate, not appreciate.
 
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To be fair Beach, De Gea is goal keeper at biggest club in the world (apart from real Madrid)

The number 1 there will always be scrutinized.

He is the best young keeper in the world right now, even talk of Barca being interested.

Dont know why modern football supporter worries about the media so much either.
 
Good read if you've any interest in dispelling common football myths with facts. http://therepublikofmancunia.com/did-united-buy-success-like-chelsea-and-city-course-not/

Not that it will halt the narrative, but I found it rather stark. The basic gist is that at only one period in United's last 30 years have they spent more than rivals - and that was 1999-2003, when we weren't even that good!

The big point for me is what ROM highlights - this idea that City/Chelsea are just doing what United did. This has become 'common knowledge' - but in fact isn't true at all. As a brief summary:

Fergie's first 5 seasons: United spent less than Spurs and Liverpool
92 - 98: 7th highest spend (behind Spurs, Newcastle, LFC, Chelsea and yes, Manchester City
99 - 03: United highest, LFC second
04 - 12: United 4th, behind (obviously) City and Chelsea, less obviously behind LFC
 
First of all: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Second: Interesting how the periods are split up. You could probably paint a different picture by choosing different periods.

I remember in the late 80's, when building the team that would go onto end Utd's title drought, they spent around 10m or so in the space of a 12-18 month period.
 
Godotelli said:
First of all: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Second: Interesting how the periods are split up. You could probably paint a different picture by choosing different periods.

I remember in the late 80's, when building the team that would go onto end Utd's title drought, they spent around 10m or so in the space of a 12-18 month period.
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Wait, a City fan that finds financial discussions zzzzzzz? Shock.

Just saying, the media and fans of other teams have painted a picture that United outspent everyone under Fergie. It's not true.

They may have spent 10m in 2 seasons back in the late 80's, but that surely even moreso makes it useful to look at a 5 year period? That's like saying LFC have outspent Manchester City recently - because if you just look at a 9 month period they did.

I've heard numerous LFC fans say Fergie just came into United and outspent everyone to create his first title winning team. When you look at the numbers, in that time period United spent less than Liverpool. I find that interesting.

Also worth noting as I've said many times that City/Chelsea's spending as % of the rest of the league is utterly unprecedented. Even at the most divergent point United was spending around 15-20% more than other clubs. City/Chelsea is more like 300%.

Let me put it one last way. As a City fan, would you have any respect whatsoever if United spend 300m over the next year and win the title again?
 
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