Midweek Football Thread - 18th/19th

Shamikebab said:
Burnley weren't great, defence was good and goalie played very well but they hardly created chances, just scored one stunning strike then sat back for most of the game. Then we didn't have the players on the field to break them down, ineffective out wide and lacking the killer pass down the middle. Valencia should have started. If Nani is truely injured then Fergie was ******* stupid to take our other dangerous winger out of the lineup as well.
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Thanks, I was quite surprised to not see Valencia starting myself. Think maybe Fergie underestimated them?
 
United traditionally suck in the first bit of the season. Then they go on that super streak, 2 seasons ago with 4* 4-0's and last season with the unbeaten defensive record. Once the starting back 5 are back (exception to Evra) they can get more authority and dictate possession a bit better. Not too sure what the midfield set up was doing as Anderson never stretched the left wing and wanted to move into his traditional area often, whilst Valencia & Park didn't often get out wide and crossing. Evra was main source as he was willing to take them on 1on1.
Gotta play these teams with a lot of width..
 
Tombstone said:
Thats a good question.

There was a large portion who thought when Liverpool lost at the weekend that Alonso being gone was largely to blame.

Whats the opinions tonight about the Utd result, were Utd just poor, were Burnley just very good, was it down to Ronaldo being gone (not just his goals but his general "oh christ its ronaldo running at me effect") ?
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It was a combination of a woeful performance, and a Burnley team putting in a performance I doubt we'll see out of them again this season.

I don't think even Ronaldo would have saved us tonight, in fact I don't think he could have added anything to our first two games that wasn't already there.

I also just love 5live having a party over the result, "OMG FIRST PREM HOME GAME" - yes, and they played well, but anyone want to put money on them taking a single point more off the top four? :p
 
Tombstone said:
Thats a good question.

There was a large portion who thought when Liverpool lost at the weekend that Alonso being gone was largely to blame.

Whats the opinions tonight about the Utd result, were Utd just poor, were Burnley just very good, was it down to Ronaldo being gone (not just his goals but his general "oh christ its ronaldo running at me effect") ?
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Burnley were nothing special, and thats the worst of it.

They got about United, and when they did get forward it was mainly comical defending that let them through.
The team is lacking a leader in midfield, pace down the wings, a decent striker for Rooney to play off, a decent Keeper and a competent Center half who can play when Vidic or Rio cant.
Make no mistake, its only a fine margin that United are sat with 3 points on the table, because we were rubbish against Brum on sunday as well.

I'll elaborate, I complain when united get beat, I HATE my team getting beaten, but for the last 2 seasons we have had the best attacking player on the planet in the side, we had the two best central defenders in Europe playing side by side ahead of a great goal keeper, we had Tevez and Rooney up front Giggs and Scholes were a little bit younger and just about holding their own, even Darren Fletcher was playing well.

Every now and then when one or some of them were not fit, you got to see whats behind them, and it didnt matter, because everybody else was still hot enough to cope with it.
But now, there is no Ronaldo, no Tevez, Rio and Vidic injured, the only decent keeper at the club, injured, Scholes past it, Giggs past it, no Fletcher, no Hargreaves, Neville past it.
And the players who were behind them, are now effectively the first team squad, and they are not good enough.
 
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Shamikebab said:
it's middle of the park really. We have good players there, they just don't seem to be working well. Really wish Hargreaves was back :(
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This

The thing with our midfield is that we have too many passers of the ball in the centre of midfield. If you want the ball dropping on a six pence with a fifty yard pass then Carrick, Scholes or Anderson are your men. If you want someone to play a short passing game in the centre then we are buggered
 
City 1-0 :p

Utd were poor throughout, Valencia wasn't as influencial as Blake and Patterson going off, and the chances were mostly poor and while the keeper did what he should he didn't make many outstanding saves bar the penalty.

Park isn't consistantly good enough when he's poor he's really poor, when he's great he's not all that great. Anderson is simply never good, Carrick is horrible in the defensive role, Rooney isn't a good striker but is a great playmaker, should play either wing or even AMC, he needs to get the ball with a bit of space and run at the defence, not start with his back to goal. Berbatov's touch is freaking great, he should basically never ever be on the bench, Owen didn't look great, but had no service. To be fair, he scored a perfectly valid onside goal aswell as that offside call, he was onside.

Burnley are FAR better than people think though and thats why I didn't predict them to go down, hell, they could be midtable.


Liverpool fans seem to be creaming themselves, good performance yes, are Stoke even close to the quality level of Spurs, no.

Defoe, I don't know why you'd say he's deadly when on form, he's deadly when he's on the pitch full stop, the only time he's not scoring is when managers bench him for no reason, same can be said for Bent.

UTD really do need to strengthen to compete though, a decent right back, DM one more winger and another striker. For 10mil Utd should have gone for Defoe upfront to partner Berbatov.
 
Liverpool 4-0 Stoke FT

Awesome second half performance. Out interplay was fantastic to watch at times and reminded me of Valencia in their prime under Benitez.

Losing to Spurs wasn't the best start we could've hoped for but we're now two points up on the corresponding fixtures from last season :D

Johnson motm.

drunkenmaster said:
Liverpool fans seem to be creaming themselves, good performance yes, are Stoke even close to the quality level of Spurs, no.
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We drew with them last season.
 
Pigeon_Killer said:
Liverpool 4-0 Stoke FT

Awesome second half performance. Out interplay was fantastic to watch at times and reminded me of Valencia in their prime under Benitez.

Losing to Spurs wasn't the best start we could've hoped for but we're now two points up on the corresponding fixtures from last season :D

Johnson motm.
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Really solid start. Rafa got it spot on when he said Johnson could make the difference in home games against the likes of Stoke, he was fantastic going forward. The team as a whole look far sharper than they did at the weekend.

Stunning turn by Gerrard for our third :eek:
 
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