Greenlizard0 Weekend Football Thread ** spoilers ** [21st - 26th October 2011]

[cheets64]

Sorry, I know you don't like fans here who are season ticket holders or who go to matches regularly. Carry on.

Its all in jest, tbh didn't even know you posted in here, tbh I will be the same when Wigan go down. tbh these weekend threads are about about EPL end of.

Ouch, Man U fan sounds like he is from the south, rare breed that is.

"what a goal" fairy

 

[Andybtsn]

You edited it

 

[Tom84]

To be fair - the only reason Utd werent hammered at Anfield was more to do with Liverpool not taking their chances more than Utd skillful defending (apart from two very good saves right near the end)

Liverpool only really started peppering our goal with chances after United brought on Rooney, Hernandez and Nani. I agree we were fortunate to hang on in the end but the initial team selection had no baring on those late chances

"for the most part " is correct - the problem with that is its been against teams who have (prior to today) PROVEN to be less clinical in general , let alone when Evans makes one of his usual mistakes as he is bound to every match, and sometimes several times /match

It's easy saying things in hindsight, you look at some of the chances Dzeko and Aguero have missed this season and suddenly they look no more wasteful than Chelsea, unfortunately for us they were deadly in front of goal today. Swings and Roundabouts.

I dont know whether you mean at all or just this season - but Im suspecting Smalling played with Rio a reasonable amount last season.....

As far as I can remember they haven't. Smalling got into the team last season when Ferdinand was out injured thus he partnered Vidic. This season they've yet to start a game together also.

Well considering rooney and Hernandez are pretty much on the same wavelength and the latter's movement is more likely to unlock a tight defence (as has been proven many times) , surely you pick your first choice pairing not one that has barely played together (a strike pair is just as important to be in tune with each other as a centre back pairing in my book, and Welbeck and Rooney havent played 1/4 of the games the Wayne and Chicharito have)

Depends, as I keep saying Hernandez's form this season hasn't been great, the only game he's started this season and scored in was against Bolton. Compare that with Welbeck who started the games against Spurs, Arsenal & Basle and scored 4 goals in those games not forgetting the goal from the bench against Norwich following the Basel game it's clear to me who's in the better goal scoring form. Then as I said you've got to factor in who's the more likely of the two to get you a decisive goal from the bench and Hernandez has shown that he fills the role of the super sub time and time again.

I've no doubts that sooner or later Hernandez will find his fitness and will start looking like himself of last season but at the moment he's not quite there for me.

 

[Adrianr]

Well one thing finally put beyond any doubt, even if you are a United fan, and even if you hated him until now.. you have just got to love Mario Balotelli. The bloke is footballing entertainment personified.

Please don't hotlink images, if you want to post them then please rehost them on your own webspace. Thank you.

 

[Shamikebab]

I'm not sure either Hernandez or Welbeck have been great so far, Welbeck has scored some good goals but also has a tendency to be a bit anonymous when things aren't going our way. Hernandez played well against Bolton but at other times (like against Basel) you barely notice he's on the pitch.

Hey if only we had some other striker with more experience...

 

[anty1]

Well one thing finally put beyond any doubt, even if you are a United fan, and even if you hated him until now.. you have just got to love Mario Balotelli. The bloke is footballing entertainment personified.

Nope still hate him, wasn't too long ago he said he hated Manchester and so on. Fickle people.

 

[Weebull]

Cheets posting about Man Utd again, I see.

 

[Tom84]

I'm not sure either Hernandez or Welbeck have been great so far, Welbeck has scored some good goals but also has a tendency to be a bit anonymous when things aren't going our way. Hernandez played well against Bolton but at other times (like against Basel) you barely notice he's on the pitch.

Hey if only we had some other striker with more experience...

Yeah and can you imagine the reaction had he played and we still lost

 

[drunkenmaster]

I'm not sure either Hernandez or Welbeck have been great so far, Welbeck has scored some good goals but also has a tendency to be a bit anonymous when things aren't going our way. Hernandez played well against Bolton but at other times (like against Basel) you barely notice he's on the pitch.

Hey if only we had some other striker with more experience...

Yeah and can you imagine the reaction had he played and we still lost

Utd fans generally do this all the time, blame Berbatov almost entirely when you lose, and complain he's not played when you lose without him.

Fergie has gone mental, Anderson, Fletcher are literally awful, Carrick is better than both(not much, but better).

Why on earth not play Jones in midfield, better than the options you had, Carrick/Jones would have been a far more capable central midfield, and Berbatov upfront would have done more than Welbeck.

Welbeck simply isn't good, against Pool, in Europe and today he's been completely rubbish. early season he had a game where he got two goals but got almost every single other thing wrong. Again its back to me saying, you need players who play well for the majority of 90 minutes even if they don't score, and not put on people who score but are annonymous for the other 89 minutes.

I said Cleverley is actually good enough to start so the likes of Sneijder would be a poor choice, but that beyond him you have no cover, so you should undoubtably have bought firstly, someone to go alongside him anyway, and some cover.

Frankly, you need a left back aswell, I've never rated Fabio or Rafael, better going forwards than defensively, and neither are great at going forward. Decent enough as cover, if either were ever available but frankly they've never looked for a second first team quality.

O'shea was an easy choice to move on, but so was Evans, would have kept Brown tbh, vastly higher quality than Evans. LIkewise I would have put Smalling in at CB today, Evans has no place at the club, let alone starting the biggest game of the season. I'd have made sacrifices and put in someone not great at right back before I put Evans in at CB.

Maybe Jones in CM with Evra, Rio, Smalling, Fletcher at right back. Strongest spine first, then fill in positions with the best choices left over. THough I did think Vidic was banned or something today, if he was available, its a joke he didn't play.

 

[HangTime]

Not suggesting it would have saved them today I still think MU could do with signing a central midfielder; a pairing of Fletcher and Anderson as deployed today is pretty ordinary for a team that is supposed to be challenging for the top honours, even if you add Cleverley into that I don't think it is going to strike fear into the hearts of teams like Barcelona and Carrick just seems off the boil lately. Giggs can't go on forever.

Thought the Boswinga red card was a bit harsh myself, not the worst foul in the world and SWP was quite wide with some sort of cover converging in the centre. As for Drogba I think anyone who has watched any football over the past 18 months can see refs are clamping down on two footed lunged, you are asking for trouble if you go in like that.

 

[BaZ87]

Thought the Boswinga red card was a bit harsh myself, not the worst foul in the world and SWP was quite wide with some sort of cover converging in the centre.

I think it was Terry in the centre and there was no way he (or anybody else for that matter) would have got across to make a challenge on SWP so as soon as the foul is given (and it was a foul despite not being the worst foul in the world), a red has to be given.

 

[cheets64]

You edited it

Got youtube link wrong, you are not stiring up trouble?

Well one thing finally put beyond any doubt, even if you are a United fan, and even if you hated him until now.. you have just got to love Mario Balotelli. The bloke is footballing entertainment personified.

tbh if I was on £180k-£200+ he is in a foreign country, I would be an absolute ****, you need to, What can you do in the north west, shop in Manchester or Liverpool maybe do the Leeds Liverpool canal, its grim as ****

 

[Gilly]

Hahahahahahaha

 

[BaZ87]

Well one thing finally put beyond any doubt, even if you are a United fan, and even if you hated him until now.. you have just got to love Mario Balotelli. The bloke is footballing entertainment personified.

He's fast becoming a cult hero for supporters of all clubs. I am slighty relieved he doesn't play for my side though.

 

[HangTime]

I think it was Terry in the centre and there was no way he (or anybody else for that matter) would have got across to make a challenge on SWP so as soon as the foul is given (and it was a foul despite not being the worst foul in the world), a red has to be given.

I'm not suggesing the defender would have got across but the point I was making is that SWP was wide i.e. if he wanted to score a goal he would have to move inside towards the defender. If the positions had been reversed i.e. SWP in the middle and Terry down the flank I would agree with the decision.

Or in other words Terry had taken up a strong-ish position and didn't actually need to come across to make a challenge meaning that SWP would either have to enter his zone of influence or attempt a shot from a wide angle, being right footed as well you would expect SWP to have needed to start coming inside at some point or at least open up his body unless he somehow managed to pull of a strike like Bergkamp against Sunderland ~1997 with completely the wrong bodyshape yet still curled it in the top corner

Far from the weakest red card this season, I can see both sides of it but the majority of the time those sort of situations (forward out wide and defender potentially able to cover in the centre) usually result in a yellow card.

Don't forget as well Terry has the added advantage of being allowed to block shots with his hands...

 

[FrankJH]

Liverpool only really started peppering our goal with chances after United brought on Rooney, Hernandez and Nani. I agree we were fortunate to hang on in the end but the initial team selection had no baring on those late chances.

Sorry - this is just wrong, Utd could have easily been 2 or 3 down before Rooney was even on the pitch, and its only the luck of the gods that Utd werent

It's easy saying things in hindsight, you look at some of the chances Dzeko and Aguero have missed this season and suddenly they look no more wasteful than Chelsea, unfortunately for us they were deadly in front of goal today. Swings and Roundabouts. .

Its not in hindsight - its been mentioned on here nearly every game (that he has played) the errors made that day. Combine that with Silva's control of the game with Utd's non-existant central midfield and Utd were always going to struggle to contain their fluidity for 90 mins

As far as I can remember they haven't. Smalling got into the team last season when Ferdinand was out injured thus he partnered Vidic. This season they've yet to start a game together also..

Fair enough I will give you that - but this is exactly why Rio shouldnt be starting games like this - Utd need consistancy and Rio cant be relied upon to be available

Depends, as I keep saying Hernandez's form this season hasn't been great, the only game he's started this season and scored in was against Bolton. Compare that with Welbeck who started the games against Spurs, Arsenal & Basle and scored 4 goals in those games not forgetting the goal from the bench against Norwich following the Basel game it's clear to me who's in the better goal scoring form. Then as I said you've got to factor in who's the more likely of the two to get you a decisive goal from the bench and Hernandez has shown that he fills the role of the super sub time and time again.

I've no doubts that sooner or later Hernandez will find his fitness and will start looking like himself of last season but at the moment he's not quite there for me.

The more Chicharito plays the more chances (for the TEAM as well as himself) will be attempted, plus his movement always helps Utd keep the ball in the last thrid which is always a benefit. He may well be able to get a decisive goal from the bench - but what about the wasted chances prior to him coming off the bench that he could well have connected with compared to Welbeck missing (or not even connecting with)


Not sure why anyone has it in their head why Berba would be an automatic saviour, in a game like that were Utd were already a man down (his sluggish movement would have just made it feel like an even bigger hole to fill in the middle)

 

[atpbx]

So having composed myself after that horror show yesterday.

Anyone STILL prepared to give that ******* tool Evans any more chances to throw away games?

Gave away the ball for the Counter attack that led to the first goal, didnt attack the space when the ball was played into Balotelli when it came to him to shoot, just fell over.
And then got himself needlessly sent off.

The only good thing is, he cant play for the next three games, and by the looks of it, it takes him 18 months to get his confidence back, so we shouldnt see him till 2014.
Unless Fergie finally accepts the massive blind spot he has had for him and moves him on in January.

AS for Welbeck, worked far harder than Berbatoss would have done when we went down to 10 men.
The reason for the massive hiding rests on the fact we didnt make personell changes for FIFTEEN minutes after the sending off, and when we did, you could argue they were the wrong ones, as Ando was playing a lot better than Fletcher yesterday.

 

[atpbx]

Oh right, you know more than Fergie do you, most successful manger ever.

Love it when these arm chair fans suddenly know ever player to play despite not knowing anything about them or professional football.

Stop embarrassing yourself and your team.

Whats this?

So NOBODY can know anything about football unless they have played?
Unless they have proffesionaly had some part in the game NOBODY can possibly know better than someone who works in football?

Why is football different from every other industry is positively BURSTING with a history of outsiders coming in and revolutionizing how things are done?

Hmm?

Explain, please.

 

[Shamikebab]

Anyone STILL prepared to give that ******* tool Evans any more chances to throw away games?

Gave away the ball for the Counter attack that led to the first goal, didnt attack the space when the ball was played into Balotelli when it came to him to shoot, just fell over.

The thing is, he was nowhere near the only player to give away the ball, Welbeck gave it away in our half at one point, Evans was just unlucky that his lead to a goal.

Similarly several players slipped over, Rooney did at one point.

I'm not defending him because yes he played badly but you can't hold him solely responsible.

 

[dannyjo22]

Everton next, I fear for the thumping we are going to get when united bounce back from this defeat.