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Manchester United Thread

YoungGun_UK said:
I have no idea what happened but he's completely lost it, similar to Torres really.
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I was thinking exactly the same during the Chelsea game, both afraid of doing things they've done in the past, in Valencia's case afraid of running at a player!

It's quite a strange situation, as we've been constantly winning despite his form, so you'd imagine he'd have worked through a dip in form by now.

Anyway i'm not making him a scapegoat, because almost everyone was dreadful in that 2nd half. Perhaps a lack of sleep after going out to Madrid in the manner we did.
 
Weirdest thing about the Valencia situation is that he was at his best AFTER he broke his leg. The last 6 months of last season he was unstoppable.

But whatever he did to himself over the summer...man. Just lost it. Which is especially bizarre when you consider what he seems like as a person - not a dude that would be likely to lose the mental side.

Really sucks a lot, genuinely gutting to have lost such an important part of our whole setup, so inexplicably.
 
While I think he was playing his part well I disagree with this idea he was 'integral' I mean he was 'reliable' but I wouldn't say he'd be one of the names I would consider very important at any point IMO.
 
Rio called back for England team:
http://www.manutd.com/en/News-And-F...-games-against-san-marino-and-montenegro.aspx

Can't say I saw that one coming.

p.s. a bit of a late response to the Torres push/tackle; while as a Utd fan it was kinda funny to see Torres fall to the ground like a little girl, I have to say I always thought Rio was/is kind of a dick. I can totally see why opposing team's fans don't like the guy. He has a bit of that Dennis Rodman like appeal; a total dick in many ways, yet strangely likeable sometimes.
 
i'm surprised rio is called again because of how he was kicked out before, but the game vs Montenegro is massively important and rio is probably england's best CB still so in that aspect not that surprising, if we lose vs montenegro i think we are fucked so we need our best players out.
 
Agreed, Rio has been really good this season, and played almost 40 games last season. So his fitness isn't a huge issue. Like him or hate him, he's been the most consistent English CB over the last 12 months.

Will be interesting to see if Hodgson goes along with United's recent good run of form and basically plays the United attacking team. He could hypothetically put out:

-------Carrick--Cleverley-----
------------Wilshere----------
------Young------------Welbz--
-------------Rooney-----------

Which looks like a good combination of energy and technique. Would probably have to put Gerrard in there somewhere though.
 
Sturridge is ahead of Welbeck for England, Gerrard in for the overworked Wilshere and that's about right.
 
It's coming home lads

Barclays-Premier-League-trophy.jpg
 
12 more points...almost there.

Weird performance. Narrative will be that Reading were 'plucky' and 'unlucky' but I'm not convinced they had a shot on target of note. Only 2 shots in the whole match.

Subdued but professional. Always felt like if we had to, we could take it up a couple notches.

Only downside is that we've got Wesley Brown 2.0 in Chris Smalling. In the 2007-08 season (one assist in the CL final aside) teams worked out that the best way to beat United was what in sixth form we used to call the 'steve tactic' after a kid there - but basically if there's one player wiht limited ability, just leave him open all the time. Teams did it when Wes Brown was at right back to great affect - he was a one man posession destryoing machine.

And now Smalling has taken up the mantle. Absolutely not an ounce of attacking footballer in that lad, I'm afraid. And Reading realised early, and basically gave him the run of hte right flank. Which he took with abandon and was absolutely useless.

Rafael, please come back soon.
 
City with their performance today don´t deserve the title...they were shocking + they want to play CL with that?!

so basicly the winner is you and real fight comes now for the second, third and fourth spot...
 
Probably the most boring game this season. Glad with the win and the clean sheet but we still seem like were mentally not all there since the Real game. I also have started to worry about RvP s drop in form. His hold up play, free kicks and corners are still solid but its almost like he s just..tired. no more big smiles the last few weeks, he doesn't seem very content ATM. At least Rooney is making up for his drop in producing goals.
Perhaps the complete lack of a preseason really did come back to bite him in the ass.

BTW, Buttner seems like a good lad but holy hell he is cringe worthy to watch. Can't see him being a Utd player for long, he ll probably be offloaded at some pt.
 
bebo said:
Reading denied a penalty , but no one cares since Reading sacked their manager with 7 games left :LOL:
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I actually thought it would have been soft. There was literally nothing else to talk about in the 2nd half so the post-match featured it. But I think Vidic was expecting the Reading defender to keep 'grappling' and push him back - as they had just been doing as the corner came in. Instead he crumbled like a leaf.

Could have been given for sure, but thought the fall was odd. It was like he suddenly forgot he was in a physical tussle and just fell over. He had been grabbing Vida no more than 2 seconds before, but this time decided he wasn't up for it.

Think FIFA really need to do something about corners in general. The whole blocking the keeper and basically fouling every single outfield player is a bit testing for me.
 
I thought it was a blatant penalty and a stupid challenge by Vidic. I know we rested players but we were really poor.

RvP has gone off the boil completely although he still offers more to the team on a bad day than Rooney.

Might be time to give Hernandez his deserved run in the starting XI, he's been very unlucky not to start more often this season.
 
RVP's longest streak without a goal since he was a winger at Feyenoord.

Deserves benching, bring on Hernanez who really has earned a first team spot.
 
beachryan said:
RVP's longest streak without a goal since he was a winger at Feyenoord.

Deserves benching, bring on Hernanez who really has earned a first team spot.
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Was listening to a podcast and they raised an interesting point; around the same time when we started to actually focus on defense, RvPs production started to come to a screeching halt. He seems to thrive more in a more attack oriented style of play but suffer when the focus starts to shift to the back. Look at the Dutch national team and the somewhat non-dutch style of play they reached the world cup finals with, RvP was near invisible in some games. A poacher like Chicha, or Huntelaar, in the dutch example makes a better pure striker in that type of play IMHO. Hope SAF will eventually find a way to bring a better balance to the team.
 
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he didn't get much of a pre-season if I remember correctly so that could play a part, along with the fact he's normally used to having the season finished in February ;)).

He'll be fine, the damage has already been done.
 
Got my first real look at Zaha in the U21s tonight - he's a lot bigger than I expected and was played as CF by the tactical genius that is Stuart Pierce.

He definitely has something about him, and did this in the first half:
yWjSmds.gif
, was MOTM too.

Not convinced he's United quality yet, but lord knows it'll be good to get in a truly tricky winger after the disaster of Valencia this season. Not saying he'll replace him, but is a great option to have.

Definitely didn't realise what a, ahem, physical specimen the lad is though. Could bode well.
 
I'm kinda with Beach and still a bit in doubt about this one..still..I doubt he d be worse than most of our wingers this season. While I hope he doesn't pull those shenanigans when he s with us..I can't say I'm not partly amused by his attitude towards the Leeds contingent. :PIRATE:
 
Yeah seen that but my first thought was opposition must have been statue's, won't do his confidence any harm though!
 
Rooney, RVP and Chicarito all score this evening. Happy days. Come back safely please.

Also, that's Chicarito's 30th goal in 45 games for Mexico. That's an insane rate.
 
Well they took Chicharito off because of cramp apparently.

He's supposedly not up to full match fitness, probably because he hasn't played much for us recently. Not fair on him.
 
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