[Archived] Rovers 0-1 United

[West Sussex Rover]

Unless Sparky carries on the madness and plays Mokoena on the left wing.

[ElTwis]

Unless Sparky carries on the madness and plays Mokoena on the left wing.

I'd quite like to see that! With yet another first teamer out maybe we should give up trying to play people where they're any good and make them pick a position out of a hat. I bet Brad would love a chance up front...although I'm less convinced about the prospect of Tugay in nets

[FourLaneBlue]

One plus nobody mentioned.

MGP's corners were all top class again.

Sorry philip but I really do think we did see different games. There could have been no complaints if we had got a point you believe?

Have to say that we were soundly beaten and it is surprising it was only by one goal. Then again, Rooney himself probably cost them more to buy when a teenager than our whole senior squad on show yesterday.

Still think until we get a couple of players back that we should go back to packing the midfield and stopping the opposition play. Make sure we are difficult to beat rather than letting teams have space on the ball.

[Scotty]

Don't agree with the lack of effort comments. In fact, I thought it was only our work-rate and effort that kept us in the game at times. I also thought that United showed us a lot of respect in the first half by playing a sort of 4-2-3-1 formation that gave them an extra body in midfield. This allowed them to control possession but restricted their options up front.

That said though, United were a class above, they are as good a team as Fergie has produced imo. Pace all over the park, a fantastic work ethic, sound defence, and terrific movement up front - it was always going to be a difficult task to contain them but I thought we did ok for the most part - restricting them to just a handful of clear-cut chances. No shame in losing to a team as good as that.

At the other end we only really looked dangerous from set-pieces (I thought Pedersen's delivery was better than it has been recently for the most part) and could have got a goal a couple of times, but it would have been more than we deserved.

We've got to pick ourselves up now as our next few games are all against teams near us in the league - and they're all winnable.

[Fife Rover]

United are resorting to diving now. Judging by the commentary United should be 20-0 in front. Judging by the pictures it should perhaps be 1-0, though they've failed to break us down.

So I wasn't the only one who could not believe the level of sycophantic drivel being spewed out by both the commentators on the Sky presentation. Absolutely ridiculous and shameless bias; I really did wonder if they were watching the same match that I was. I genuinely have NEVER heard anything even remotely approaching that before.

I dont dispute that United were the better side overall and always looked to be the eventual winners, but to just dismiss everything positive that Rovers did in the entire game, and at the same time to drool about United's every move, and several times suggest that Rovers players were acting unfairly and should be booked etc etc.....??? Absolutely disgraceful. I honestly would not have expected to hear such one sided bias if the commentary had come from M. U. T. V.

And just to accentuate how bad it was. Did anyone else notice the different treatment the pundits on MoTD gave their extensive coverage of the match, and nobody can ever accuse those guys of being Rovers fans!!

[1864roverite]

Only two things disappointed me today.

The lack of respect from United fans for the minutes silence.

And the idiot who threw the ball into the ground, then taunted Wayne Rooney in the second half. The guy was like 40 as well! Grow up and behave yourself!

As an ex member of HM Forces I can say that I was truly disgusted by manure supporters lack of respect for our glorious dead.

Can you all remember the outcry and outrage spurted by scum fans towards Leeds supporters in the Sir Alf Ramsay uproar ?

Hypocritical to say the least and let me remind them if any are reading, whatever sir Alf did was bloody NOTHING to what our lost soldiers did in the wars

For anyone who doubted the word scum and its association with every manchester united, herein lies your answer.

they are SCUM and will remain forever SCUM

[des]

the problem that we had against man utd is that if any teams mid field is so much better then the other teams, that puts pressure both on the defence, and the attack.

man utds mid field was better then ours. good players make space for themsevles, and they mid field players had time where ours did not, expect tugs.

hence we had no chance our defence were under pressure and the attack were toothless due to the lack of mid field input.

the answer, we need mid field players who can both battle and play, yes we have players who can either battle or play but not both.

these players cost a lot but they are out there we just have to find them and spend the money wisey one player we missed went to aston villa now he is a good midfield shame we missed him.

[Hasta]

As an ex member of HM Forces I can say that I was truly disgusted by manure supporters lack of respect for our glorious dead.

Can you all remember the outcry and outrage spurted by scum fans towards Leeds supporters in the Sir Alf Ramsay uproar ?

Hypocritical to say the least and let me remind them if any are reading, whatever sir Alf did was bloody NOTHING to what our lost soldiers did in the wars

For anyone who doubted the word scum and its association with every manchester united, herein lies your answer.

they are SCUM and will remain forever SCUM

Lets be realistic. Out of about 8000 there may have been 30 or 40 making noise. It doesnt take many people to sound loud in silence.

It wasnt organised chanting by half of the away following (as in the Leeds / Ramsey) situation.

To brand all Man Utd fans as Scum shows huge ignorance and IMO stupidity on your part.

[krislu]

We had opportunities, obviously we hit the bar and that could have gone for us. We had a number of half-chances that on another day could have lead to a goal and we could have played from that point.

Overall I was pleased with the level of performance and if we play like that from now to the end of the season I'll be happy

Oh deary my Hughes. If we play like this for the rest of the season then we'll be playing in the Championship next year!

[Fife Rover]

Still thought the commentating was disgraceful. They were about as neutral as Italy in the Second World War!

Italy neutral in WW2!!! They were part of the Axis and had been since 1937! I take it you did not study History at school RTM. Just for the record, in case there are any more under the same delusion: Italy, under the facist dictator Mussolini, were allies of the Germans right up to the time they surrendered in 1943.

Edited November 12, 2006 by Fife Rover

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

Oh deary my Hughes. If we play like this for the rest of the season then we'll be playing in the Championship next year!

I totally disagree - United were the better team - but they are better than most teams in this league. We gave them a game - and even may have grabbed a point (though on balance we would have been lucky to do so). If we keep up that level of performance we should be ok - won't repeat last season efforts - but still finish mid-table.

Maybe you took too much notice of the pro-united drivel on Sky. We should all email Sky and complain about United fans being able to commentate on their own matches - because that it is what it felt like for the vast majority of the match.

[Paul]

Once again I was at a different game. For me this is a United side very, very close to matching the truely magnificent one of around ten years back. That side just came at you in wave after wave. The current side seems to rely on putting the ball to Ronaldo too much for me, but otherwise they are very, very good. Ronaldo isn't good enough or consistent enough, yet, for Utd to keep relying on like this.

Considering our injury situation, the players available to Sparky I thought we did well and just, but only just deserved a point. The size of our squad is being shown up at present and there is little the manager can do.

This Utd side should be champions next May, and much as I hate to say it I hope they are. Anyone but that bunch of mercenaries from Stamford Bridge.............

[Rovers Air Force]

Italy neutral in WW2!!! They were part of the Axis and had been since 1937! I take it you did not study History at school RTM. Just for the record, in case there are any more under the same delusion: Italy, under the facist dictator Mussolini, were allies of the Germans right up to the time they surrendered in 1943.

Dude, I think that was his point!

[tonygreenbank]

I think alot of you are being harsh on your side. You gave us a much better game than most sides have this season. You didn't throw in the towel and kept battling away and forced us to really earn the three points.

Thanks for the comment. I was beginning to think I had been to a different game. I know it`s disappointing to lose 4 games but the 2 home peformances, in that sequence, have not been as catastrophic as people are pointing out. I think Rovers played with a lot of spirit and skill last night. Tugay was the best player on the pitch, Friedel, Ooijer and Emerton were impressive. They played a terrific team at the top of their game and we matched them for an hour and were never out of the game.The reaction from Ferguson jumping up and down just showed how relieved they were when the goal went in.We are bound to miss the likes of Reid and Savage in midfield and I thought we battled hard there yesterday.How many fans thought we would get hammered before the match. To keep them to 1-0 deserves some credit. I know Rooney missed 2 easy chances but so did we with Zurab and Benni at the end.Pedersen has come in for some stick but I thought he showed much more endeavour and even did a sliding tackle!His set pieces caused them problems and was much more involved.If Hughesy thinks we need new recruits then I`m sure the board will back him.

[1864roverite]

Lets be realistic. Out of about 8000 there may have been 30 or 40 making noise. It doesnt take many people to sound loud in silence.

It wasnt organised chanting by half of the away following (as in the Leeds / Ramsey) situation.

To brand all Man Utd fans as Scum shows huge ignorance and IMO stupidity on your part.

30 or 40, 50 or 5000

they are tarred with the same brush IMo and that is it in a nutshell pal, whether you agree or not.

As for ignorance, you dont understand my point of view...

[Fife Rover]

I think alot of you are being harsh on your side. You gave us a much better game than most sides have this season. You didn't throw in the towel and kept battling away and forced us to really earn the three points.

Well said that man! I for one agree with you (and Philipl, both posts). it is also a refreshing change to find a United fan who does at least post a fair opinion. Thank you for that.

[AggyBlue]

Just a quick link for anyone that enjoyed the half time entertainment.

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/scoreangels/

[West Sussex Rover]

Italy neutral in WW2!!! They were part of the Axis and had been since 1937! I take it you did not study History at school RTM. Just for the record, in case there are any more under the same delusion: Italy, under the facist dictator Mussolini, were allies of the Germans right up to the time they surrendered in 1943.

Definition of Sarcasm: Sarcasm is the use of language that subverts the user's true meaning or position in order to be scathing or attacking. Specifically, sarcasm is intended to be cutting or wounding to a third party in one's subversive use of language.

[Hasta]

30 or 40, 50 or 5000

they are tarred with the same brush IMo and that is it in a nutshell pal, whether you agree or not.

As for ignorance, you dont understand my point of view...

Thus all rovers fans are racists who gladly sing songs about pakis, the war and raping barmaids.

[G Somerset Rover]

The current side seems to rely on putting the ball to Ronaldo too much for me, but otherwise they are very, very good. Ronaldo isn't good enough or consistent enough, yet, for Utd to keep relying on like this.

I would agree with you but for this season. He has came back from the world cup and looks easily the most dangerous player in world football right now. He has pace and just runs and runs at you...something we could do with now.

God I hope Sav is back for Spurs. A loss in this game will obviously drag us further near the bottom three and put huge pressure on us to win the 6 pointers following on from this. It's easy for us to say 'oh we should win our next few games after spurs'-but right now every team in the Prem will fancy their chances against us.

Edited November 12, 2006 by Somerset Rover!

[RevidgeBlue]

To keep them to 1-0 deserves some credit.

It's a sad sign of how poorly we're playing at the moment when some are relieved we only got beaten one nil in a home fixture regardless of the opposition. We beat them twice last season for heavens sake and Southend didn't seem to have too many problems mid week.

Spurs has now become a huge game, we really must take something out of it to break the losing sequence.

Just as importantly we need to see the team starting to work for each other again, players battling for the ball as if their life depended on it, players moving off the ball and making themselves available when we have possession, and the front two need to start putting in an honest shift and trying to stretch the opposition backline.

It shouldn't all be down to Savage, the other players need to start taking some responsibility as well.

[RovertheHill]

If the premier league was decided by over-reaction then we'd be champions, only pushed close by jose "conspiracy" mourinho!

Last year Utd were guilty of showing us little or no respect and believing they could turn up to win. They were never going to do that this year (and the same is true of quite a few teams).

My thoughts on the match

- disgusted at the louts in the Utd end who ignored the minute's silence

- seemed to be some fighting in the BBE - anyone shed aany light on that?

- I thought our work-rate and desire were excellent

- what is wrong with Bentley? He ignored Emo's 2-on-1 overlaps against Evra about 3 or 4 times in favour of those stupid crosses from 20 yards inside the half. They've resulted in one goal so why does he persist in doing it 10 times a game?

- for some reason Pedersen looks 10 times better when Gray is behind him than if Neill is. I can't explain this

- thought that for 20 minutes Nonda was excellent but he faded

- Tugay was superb in the second half

- Mike Riley confirmed to me his reputation as a Utd ref in the second half

- overall, was happy with how we played. Utd are a top team and are always going to create chances. If we play like that we will beat 80% of the teams in the premier league

[thenodrog]

I also thought that United showed us a lot of respect in the first half by playing a sort of 4-2-3-1 formation that gave them an extra body in midfield. This allowed them to control possession but restricted their options up front.

4-2-3-1? I'm sure that would be 4-5-1 in most peoples opinion. A formation which I have suggested us to revert to, imo it will serve us better than 4-4-2 until some of our walking wounded return. MU, Chelsea and Arsenal all play variations of it so it cannot be all that wrong can it?

As for matching their effort / work rate imo we only managed that for about 35-40 minutes of the first half.

I hate to admit it but it was the best match I've seen Mike Riley have too. If he had been a little less card happy in the closing stages he would have played a blinder.

[vyeo]

- disgusted at the louts in the Utd end who ignored the minute's silence

- seemed to be some fighting in the BBE - anyone shed aany light on that?

- I thought our work-rate and desire were excellent

- what is wrong with Bentley? He ignored Emo's 2-on-1 overlaps against Evra about 3 or 4 times in favour of those stupid crosses from 20 yards inside the half. They've resulted in one goal so why does he persist in doing it 10 times a game?

- for some reason Pedersen looks 10 times better when Gray is behind him than if Neill is. I can't explain this

- thought that for 20 minutes Nonda was excellent but he faded

- Tugay was superb in the second half

- Mike Riley confirmed to me his reputation as a Utd ref in the second half

- overall, was happy with how we played. Utd are a top team and are always going to create chances. If we play like that we will beat 80% of the teams in the premier league

1.) sorry for being ignorant, but i was wondering who the minute's silence was for? couldnt find information about this elsewhere so i thought i'd ask you.

2.) noticed that about bentley too; i thought he's been a bit too selfish this last two games.

3.) I actually thought riley had a pretty good game, or at least better than i expected. all 4 of our yellow cards were deserved, and tugay should have got one for kicking ronaldo as well. riley also let benni off when it looked like benni was going to talk himself into a red card, and riley let the wall off for a second encroachment.

[thenodrog]

....... and riley let the wall off for a second encroachment.

The wall was in the right place for the 2nd free kick but Ronaldo had placed the ball forward a yard.