[Archived] Manchester United Away

[Jan]

Let's get a grip folks, he isn't even that promising. Yes, he scored at OT but it was a tap-in, like most of his goals this season. United aren't going to splash the cash on a player who has shown a little heart and probably one or two good pieces of skill.

You probably won't remember this being French, but one of England's top scorers ever was a man called Gary Lineker. Gary Lineker was well known as someone who rarely scored (if ever) from outside the 6 yard box. To some, this made him an incomplete player. He, however, went to Barcelona and player for England more times than almost anybody else.

Also, Ruud van Nistelhorse used to be vilified because he "just hung around the goal mouth to score goals". By the opposition fans, I would hasten to add. He's now at Real Madrid.

Your boy Derbyshire is paid to score goals. He's not paid to score beautiful goals, just goals. Which he seems to be doing rather well, given his 7 goals this year.

[thenodrog]

You probably won't remember this being French, but one of England's top scorers ever was a man called Gary Lineker. Gary Lineker was well known as someone who rarely scored (if ever) from outside the 6 yard box. To some, this made him an incomplete player. He, however, went to Barcelona and player for England more times than almost anybody else.

Also, Ruud van Nistelhorse used to be vilified because he "just hung around the goal mouth to score goals". By the opposition fans, I would hasten to add. He's now at Real Madrid.

Your boy Derbyshire is paid to score goals. He's not paid to score beautiful goals, just goals. Which he seems to be doing rather well, given his 7 goals this year.

'scored' Jan.

Dunno if you'll rem but Derbyshire's style reminds me far more of Alan Taylor who used to play for West Ham in the 70's, was similarly very slight and an out and out 6 yd box goal poacher. It's a rare gift complemented by his all round work rate, but we need to recognise his limitations and concentrate on playing to his strengths.

[CAPT KAYOS]

3. The first half was a much better performance than the second

Thing is TND , as I have mentioned before - this has been far too commonplace this season, and the tnedency to not be able /want to kill off games has even been very apparent at home.

DAMAGE LIMITATION - Does not win you games and I find it quite boring - even when we are winning

For some reason we don't think we can hold a lead which is strange, but I find it worrying that we seem to just collapse at times rather than just continuing to play what we are good at.

[RoversFanUSA]

Well i know its late but im a litlle disapointed. Wish and hoped for the best but we played strong and we have imo nothing to be bummed about. We played good but we gave up the goals and lost. I feel we need to move one and focous on the next games at hand Villa (which ill be there!!! ) and then the chelsea game in the FA. I know well do good for or last run in for the end of the season.

[thenodrog]

For some reason we don't think we can hold a lead which is strange, but I find it worrying that we seem to just collapse at times rather than just continuing to play what we are good at.

Thats what happens when injuries and transfers leave us with either 3 and sometimes 4 wingers in the team. Defence is not naturally uppermost in most wingers mentality is it?

[CAPT KAYOS]

Thats what happens when injuries and transfers leave us with either 3 and sometimes 4 wingers in the team. Defence is not naturally uppermost in most wingers mentality is it?

Whacking the ball into row 27 should be to any player though TND, don't you agree?

Basic football understanding should not need preaching at this level.

[rover6]

You probably won't remember this being French, but one of England's top scorers ever was a man called Gary Lineker. Gary Lineker was well known as someone who rarely scored (if ever) from outside the 6 yard box. To some, this made him an incomplete player. He, however, went to Barcelona and player for England more times than almost anybody else.

Also, Ruud van Nistelhorse used to be vilified because he "just hung around the goal mouth to score goals". By the opposition fans, I would hasten to add. He's now at Real Madrid.

Your boy Derbyshire is paid to score goals. He's not paid to score beautiful goals, just goals. Which he seems to be doing rather well, given his 7 goals this year.

Strongly disagree.

I didn't see much of Lineker but Ruud Van Nistelrooy is not a goal-hanging forward who just scores tap-ins. Anyone remember the goal he scored against Fulham when he ran with the ball from the halfway line (first having elbowed Legwinski in the face)? It was Henry-esque and certainly not the stuff of one-dimensional foxes in the boxes. He scores poacher's goals but he is also a great team player. He can hold up the ball and bring others into play.

I'm sure Hughes is aware that Derbyshire has a way to go before being a decent Premiership striker. He's putting the ball in the net which is fantastic but when the goals dry up (which they will inevitably) he must be able to still contribute to the team by creating, supporting, linking etc. etc. (hopefully not diving like RVN).

Otherwise, he'll be straight out of the team.

[johnny boy]

Just a note on the Derbs going to OT rumour.

Man U fans think every half decent prem player is going to OT.

Every time we get a decent player either thru our youth set up or being bought cheap all you hear is that they are going to either Man U, Spurs or Chelsea or some other big money club. It's like we are a feeder club. If Morten scores he is linked to Spurs and every time Benni scores he is going to Chelsea, there is a link to virtually every single one of our players. Can't they give us a bit of credit now and again? All the media went on about yesterday was how Sparky might go to OT. Well as we got stuffed 4-1 that might stop that talk for a while.

It's just lazy journalism. I'm sick of it.

[dillo_dillo]

Just a note on the Derbs going to OT rumour.

Man U fans think every half decent prem player is going to OT.

---

It's just lazy journalism. I'm sick of it.

I agree with you.

It makes me sick. It's enough....

[mike at picture]

Just a note on the Derbs going to OT rumour.

Man U fans think every half decent prem player is going to OT.

Every time we get a decent player either thru our youth set up or being bought cheap all you hear is that they are going to either Man U, Spurs or Chelsea or some other big money club. It's like we are a feeder club. If Morten scores he is linked to Spurs and every time Benni scores he is going to Chelsea, there is a link to virtually every single one of our players. Can't they give us a bit of credit now and again? All the media went on about yesterday was how Sparky might go to OT. Well as we got stuffed 4-1 that might stop that talk for a while.

It's just lazy journalism. I'm sick of it.

Johnny, surely you had, like the rest of us, cottoned on to the fact that tabloid journalists are a bunch of fat, lazy sycophants.

[rover6]

That reminds me, Jon Stead was linked with Man U at one time when he was here, wasn't he. I say linked - that does a great injustice to that particular word.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

With Rovers 1-0 up yesterday I quietly said to myself I would take a loss today for a win here on the 15th........

A good home win against Villa is now a must to raise the confidence of EVERYBODY.

[1864roverite]

No team can go to old triffid with 10 men and hope to get anything from a game when you play the champions elect.

First half, Rovers withstood everything and scored a classic break away goal. We were so comfortable it was easy, even allowing for a totally ineffective McCarthy.

Second half was totally different. A hungrier united team came out and lo and behold what happened ? SCHOLES pots a goal and we crumble. Now where have we seen taht before ? Before you kow it 2 more midfielders score before the customary subs goal and we get hammered 4-1 !

Football defies all logic sometimes like we witnessed at Arsenal.

I made it clear in the pre match previews that Rovers would have to watch their midfield, Pity that Rovers players didnt read what I wrote !

Yesterdays result destroyed any idea of finishing 6th, we will struggle to finish 7th or 8th UNLESS we pick it up and have all 11 players pulling for the cause.

Two weeks today sees us adorning old triffid once more in a semi final. I hope Rovers put up and show up like they did in the first half. I would not want to see a second half performacne like that against Chelsea as we will suffer the exact same fate as we saw yesterday.

[jim mk2]

.

Your boy Derbyshire is paid to score goals. .

Your boy ? I thought you were a Rovers supporter . Or is that a Celtic slip of the keyboard finger ?

[Jan]

Your boy ? I thought you were a Rovers supporter . Or is that a Celtic slip of the keyboard finger ?

It's a Scottishism (albeit a @#/?isation). Yer man is the way we refer to someone. Ir's just like saying "he".

[adopted scouser]

Or is that a Celtic slip of the keyboard finger ?

Only with her eyes shut thinking of of Souey

[den]

Can't agree with the sentiments that in the second half, we "decided" to defend our lead. Don't think that was the intention at all. The truth is that a midfield of Dunn, a 37 yr oldTugay, Mokoena and Pedersen simply couldn't cope with wave after wave, of a superb United, flooding midfield.

This game called Football, isn't a level playing field any more. Chelsea, United are on a different planet than us. We're doing extremely well to be having the success we are having.

[Billy Castell]

Let's forget about this game, and win the next few. Man Utd have been rampant this season, so a heavy loss isn't too bad. We could be fans of AFC Wimbledon's opponents yesterday, they got walloped 9-0 by the Wombles. Or we could be Burnley fans. So things can be worse.

[FourLaneBlue]

ps. the word in Manc Land is that Derbs is on his way to OT.

Yeah along with all of us in a fortnight...he'll be coming back after though!

[johnny boy]

Johnny, surely you had, like the rest of us, cottoned on to the fact that tabloid journalists are a bunch of fat, lazy sycophants.

Yes, of course but venting your spleen on the internet eases the pain. Ahh, that's better.

[joey_big_nose]

Johnny, surely you had, like the rest of us, cottoned on to the fact that tabloid journalists are a bunch of fat, lazy sycophants.

To be fair they just serve an enormous public appetite for this sort of thing. Our hundreds of pages of transfer topic stands testement to that. We love it when the 'sychophants' link us to top Championship players whose fans are in precisely the same boat as us when the big four are linked with our stars and hopefuls.

[philipl]

Can't agree with the sentiments that in the second half, we "decided" to defend our lead. Don't think that was the intention at all. The truth is that a midfield of Dunn, a 37 yr oldTugay, Mokoena and Pedersen simply couldn't cope with wave after wave, of a superb United, flooding midfield.

This game called Football, isn't a level playing field any more. Chelsea, United are on a different planet than us. We're doing extremely well to be having the success we are having.

Agreed den.

Have to say that from being one of the most intelligent and stimulating football MBs, the quality of comment about matches is sinking rapidly on here at the moment.

My take:

- I was fuming at 6pm yesterday. I hate losing to the Mancs.

- Yet again, we had a pro-Manc utterly biased ref. It was a penalty for Brown's handball in the first half, Ferdinand should have been booked for kicking the ball away, no way was it a hadball by Samba for the free kick for the Mancs third and MGP was grossly unfairly booked.

- We have taken on two teams this season playing at the peak of their powers and taken the game to them competing effectively only to get blown away at the end of the second half: Arsenal 2-6 and Mancs 1-4 conceding five goals in the last ten minutes in the process. Apart from the fact that those five goals will cost us if we are level on points after 38 games, Arsenal in December and the Mancs yesterday were playing well enough to thrash ANY opposition in the World today- not just the Rovers.

- At that level of game, neither Emerton nor Warnock look good enough at full back on yesterday's evidence. OK Emerton was skinned by Ronaldo but for Warnock to be taken to the cleaners by John O'Shea is very worrying.

- Nelsen is well below his best. I fear we will not see our old Admiral at peak performance this season.

- I'll say it again, Derbyshire is convincing me he is the real deal. Benny put in another worrying sub'standard performance yesterday. I get the feeling that like MGP of old, Prem teams have found out how to kick him out of the game.

- Roberts is beginning to look like a dud signing. Even the greatest Managers make them.

- Hughes called for eight wins to secure Europe through our league position. We won at Bolton (nobody would have expected that), lost to West Ham (again unexpected). Surely, Mancs away wasn't on the list of expected wins so we are round about where we were when Hughes set his target. Six wins for sixth.

- In all probability, by the evening of 14 April, Rovers will know that a win against Chelsea gives them UEFA Cup football or that 7th gets a UEFA slot and 8th the Intertoto berth. Europe is a very realistic target for Rovers despite yesterday's reverse and even if Everton drop Villa deep into relegation poo this afternoon.

- Good to see that Rovers played in front of the Prem record attendance and for 45 minutes gave as good as they got.

[joey_big_nose]

- At that level of game, neither Emerton nor Warnock look good enough at full back on yesterday's evidence. OK Emerton was skinned by Ronaldo but for Warnock to be taken to the cleaners by John O'Shea is very worrying.

Good point. Both of them look great going forward but against wingers of Utd's quality they will struggle. Clearly next season we will put ooijer in at RB for this sort of game but do we have a more defensive option for LB?

[92er]

'scored' Jan.

Dunno if you'll rem but Derbyshire's style reminds me far more of Alan Taylor who used to play for West Ham in the 70's, was similarly very slight and an out and out 6 yd box goal poacher. It's a rare gift complemented by his all round work rate, but we need to recognise his limitations and concentrate on playing to his strengths.

I also remember him playing for Rochdale.

[American]

- Yet again, we had a pro-Manc utterly biased ref. It was a penalty for Brown's handball in the first half, Ferdinand should have been booked for kicking the ball away, no way was it a hadball by Samba for the free kick for the Mancs third and MGP was grossly unfairly booked.

- At that level of game, neither Emerton nor Warnock look good enough at full back on yesterday's evidence. OK Emerton was skinned by Ronaldo but for Warnock to be taken to the cleaners by John O'Shea is very worrying.

The ref was poor, but on both sides. Yes, it wasn't a handball for Samba for the free kick, it was a handball for a penalty. The first shot hit his chest, but the second hit his outstretched arm while he was in the area. Mokoena and Dunn should have been sent off. Take off the blue and white specs and you'll see we got away with a lot of challenges that many refs would have called tickey-tack fouls on (not saying they were fouls, but many refs would have seen them as).

I thought that Emerton was poor, but the entire right side was terrible (I wouldn't want to single out a local boy for criticism).