[Archived] Manchester United Preview

[USABlue]

Just wanted to add a bit about Andrews, I did not even know he was out there today until one incident. I don't know which Utd player it was but he had the ball and Andrews was running alongside him. Andrews was gesturing to his teamates with his hands as if telling them what to do and I just found myself thinking how incredible it was considering Andrews looked well within range to put in a challenge of his own. This bloke seemed non existant out there.

[sanlorenzo]

Think you were quoting the wrong person there, I didn't say anything about Roque and I praised the lads performance.

Sorry. Too much guiness. Cheers.

[Hughesy]

yeah its early days... i think he looked alot better when at sunderland. We have better wingers.

we have better wingers than diouf,

:!: WTF WHO??? This boy looks far better than any of our current midfielders, never mind wingers!

I think Samba is still our best defender and Nelsen is the captain so he is undroppable, but Givet has been superb today...

Agreed. Samba & Givet all the way for me.

Fantastic performance by the lads- more of that and we will stay up no sweat.

The OT crowd whistling for the final whistle says everything about how we rattled them and the Mancs who were forced to bring Vidic, Tevez and Giggs on and still couldn't keep a lid on the Rovers pushing forwards.

Loved that bit too + to see Fergie still ranting on the touchline at 92 mins to get the ball out is unusual.

Diouf was the fresh air that the team needed. That extra bit of quality. I dont care what you think of the guy personally, as a footballer and for the price paid he will do a job for us.

Givet was exceptional. Bringing in a player on loan with such quality, and being able to stand up to a United attack like he did, he should be starting every game.

I don't know why Andrews wasn't bought of instead of Dunn. Yes Dunn was poor but he's more chance of doing something than Andrews.

Dunn was taken off to save him from getting another hamstring strain - Sams team have already worked out that the longer he is on the pitch after an hour, the more likely he is to get another injury. Very good management!

The French Tramp we found on the streets (Givet) was class considering the lack of premier league experience. We have to sign this boy up!

Diouf was very good. Gives us a new dimension, adds abit of pace and isnt afraid to fight for the ball - although I did get abit worried when it looked like he was going to savage Rooney from behind.

Gutted we lost, but expected us to get mauled! Very happy with the effort and endevour. Much improved and im still confident we will be fine come May.

Final point - Andrews has had long enough now and the fact is - He isnt up to premier league standard. Good championship player at best.

[RoversSG]

Just wanted to add a bit about Andrews, I did not even know he was out there today until one incident. I don't know which Utd player it was but he had the ball and Andrews was running alongside him. Andrews was gesturing to his teamates with his hands as if telling them what to do and I just found myself thinking how incredible it was considering Andrews looked well within range to put in a challenge of his own. This bloke seemed non existant out there.

I agree wholeheartedly with you, i watched the game on tv and missed the 1st minutes so was trying to figure out Rovers formation and players and i didn't realise Andrews was even playing till almost half-time!

[rovers1993]

it was typical game, no complaints guys.

we came, we fought, we deserved but we also fell to the 'hidden' rule of no player wearing red at OT can be red carded or be given a penalty against.

it is simple. so please don't complain. read the rule book first.....

other than that,

im proud of rovers today. first time since that 3-0 win agaist stoke in BFS first match in charge.

[Commondore]

Robinson: Hesitates on the first goal, which proved fatal (put in an awful position by our defence tough). Still not sure about the second goal, that is an absolute rocket from Ronaldo but with another placement of the wall and a bit of cool Robbbo might just have punched it clear?

Givet: Thougt he looked out of position a few times, but a great battler which combines well with his strength and speed.

Diouf: Good with possession, but isn't he suppose to actually try something at his defender when he has the chance? To much safe-play from what is supposed to be our flair player.

Santa Cruz: Murdered Evans every time he got away from Ferdinand, added to an extremely hard working display and a class act of a goal.

Tugay: Only midfielder who actually got the ball forward when he had the chance, should have been brought on earlier?

Allardyce: Back to his old tricks with a route one playing 4-5-1- I did miss Villanueva tough, he could have brought somethng to this game.

[tonyoz]

Quite simply because he bottled it - there is no other explanation . Really gutless by the ref either way .

One point I'd like to raise , though . Why the hell did Pederson not simply stay on his feet and put the ball in the net ? Had he forgotten he was at Old Trafford ?

Looked to me like Pedersen bottled it!

[alexanders]

and my hate against the scum is growing.

According to the Setanta Commentators:

- Ronaldo should been off - off course he scored.

- Penalty to Gamst without a question - kick on the heel + arms all over him. Then Rafael should've been sent off.

- Berbatov should have been sent off. Adebayor got red card after he showed his knots and berba comes away with a kung-fu kick only receiving yellow.

Its sickening, but Rovers restored my faith in staying up today.

To Finish a quote from my Tottenham friend I watched the game with:

"It is Old Trafford, you know it is going to be that way - when was the last time United gave away a penalty at home?"

9 of March 2008 - Daniele De Rossi, Rome. Says it all.

[The Prof.]

:!: WTF WHO??? This boy looks far better than any of our current midfielders, never mind wingers!

Agreed. Samba & Givet all the way for me.

Loved that bit too + to see Fergie still ranting on the touchline at 92 mins to get the ball out is unusual.

Dunn was taken off to save him from getting another hamstring strain - Sams team have already worked out that the longer he is on the pitch after an hour, the more likely he is to get another injury. Very good management!

The French Tramp we found on the streets (Givet) was class considering the lack of premier league experience. We have to sign this boy up!

Diouf was very good. Gives us a new dimension, adds abit of pace and isnt afraid to fight for the ball - although I did get abit worried when it looked like he was going to savage Rooney from behind.

Gutted we lost, but expected us to get mauled! Very happy with the effort and endevour. Much improved and im still confident we will be fine come May.

Final point - Andrews has had long enough now and the fact is - He isnt up to premier league standard. Good championship player at best.

[SAS]

and my hate against the scum is growing.

According to the Setanta Commentators:

- Ronaldo should been off - off course he scored.

- Penalty to Gamst without a question - kick on the heel + arms all over him. Then Rafael should've been sent off.

- Berbatov should have been sent off. Adebayor got red card after he showed his knots and berba comes away with a kung-fu kick only receiving yellow.

Its sickening, but Rovers restored my faith in staying up today.

To Finish a quote from my Tottenham friend I watched the game with:

"It is Old Trafford, you know it is going to be that way - when was the last time United gave away a penalty at home?"

9 of March 2008 - Daniele De Rossi, Rome. Says it all.

I disagree about berbatov, he was going for the ball, if he was miles away from the ball perhaps, it was dangerous but would have been a very harsh red

and a very harsh red for a united player at old trafford is not heard off

[dingles staying down 4ever]

After watching MOTD again this morning.....Ronaldo has to go but Dunn also has a little kick in the tackle before Ronaldo retaliates as well.

This is the third time this season at least that Ronaldo has done this type of thing and got away with it. SWP does it once for City and gets a three match ban. When are the spineless FA going to deal with him.

Speaking about Mr. Webb if Ronaldo is booked for diving why is MGP not booked for the same thing. Like wise how come he disallows perfectly good Man U goal. I suspect that the fourth offical has a word in his ear telling him that he has made bloody bad decisions and is trying to make ammends. Even so it does not take away the fact that Rovers have been robbed of a perfectly clearcut penalty.

The FA has punished refs for such poor decisions but as Howard Webb is the FAs golden ref, like Mr. Poll before him, they won't punish him because he is the own who is deemed as the one to ref all the big games. Ask Sir Alex he has not got a bad word to say about him.

[No Nay Never]

Can only take positives from this game I think. Givet was absolutely outstanding. I think it was a penalty on Pedersen and im not 100 % that rafaels knee didnt catch pedersens heel as well as the pull. I think this may well be the turning point of the season.

I think that Andrews may have been harshly criticised also, the lad got through a hell of a lot of work yesterday and to be fair you don't come so close at Old Trafford by carrying passengers.

[dingles staying down 4ever]

Can only take positives from this game I think. Givet was absolutely outstanding. I think it was a penalty on Pedersen and im not 100 % that rafaels knee didnt catch pedersens heel as well as the pull. I think this may well be the turning point of the season.

I think that Andrews may have been harshly criticised also, the lad got through a hell of a lot of work yesterday and to be fair you don't come so close at Old Trafford by carrying passengers.

I've give over trying to defend Andrews and what he brings to the team. Some people will not accept that with the other midfielders we've got, we need someone who can get around the pitch and close people down. He does have severe limitations though.

[No Nay Never]

I've give over trying to defend Andrews and what he brings to the team. Some people will not accept that with the other midfielders we've got, we need someone who can get around the pitch and close people down. He does have severe limitations though.

Yeah i totally agree he is never going to get the ball down beat 2 men and stick one in the top corner. What he does bring to the midfield is bags of energy and also wins a few headers and gets his foot in as well. He is without doubt our fittest centre midfielder and I honestly think that united would have ran rings round us yesterday with a central midfield of Dunn Mokoena Grella or something similar. Obviously Sam see's something in Andrews, and after yesterdays tactics etc who are we to argue

[Nafe_rovers]

Agreed with it all except for the Robbo bit. There's every point in highlighting him, just like there is with anyone else in the team. It's a point for discussion.

And Robbo is not an excellent keeper. The only time he could have been described as anything approaching excellent is so long ago that its irrelevant. If we sell Santa for big bucks and there's a cheap £2 million keeper going in summer who looks half decent, I hope we snap him up. Or promote Bunn if he's any good.

bunn saved a pen and god man of the match last night... also why did robbo not move the wall over another two feet so he could see what was happening with the ball ( because of ronaldo's shot power, if he had the 10 yards extra he could have saved it.? its just sense right?

[dingles staying down 4ever]

bunn saved a pen and god man of the match last night... also why did robbo not move the wall over another two feet so he could see what was happening with the ball ( because of ronaldo's shot power, if he had the 10 yards extra he could have saved it.? its just sense right?

The ball comes over the wall so moving the wall is just a waste of people. At that angle a maximum of two in the wall should give Robbo more vision.

[shadsworth cloud]

the more i think about the "penalty" the more angry i get. so MGP went down "too easily". well, where in the rules does it say that a player has to avoid going over when he gets fouled? And he was definitely fouled. if he had carried on, off balance because of raffaels tugback and missed, what would people on here have said? "oh, hard luck and full marks for trying?" i doubt it!!

Watching on tv, its hard to judge the pace these players run at, and it doesnot take a full blooded rugby tackle to knock a player off balance enough to make him put a shot wide. Just a nudge or pulling back the shoulders will do the job (in fact, given MGPs shooting record, it might have improved his chances lol)

compare and contrast raffael on Pederson and Andrews on Evra.

one gets a yellow card and a direct free kick (from which a goal is scored), the other gets nothing.

add to that ronaldos dive and i seriously begin to think that "going down easily" is something they practice at man united monday to friday so they can get it right on saturday.

I'm not saying evra wasn't fouled, by the way, just that it was exactly comparable to pederson at the other end.

ok, we move on. i expected nowt from this game. time to kick ass at cov now

[Majiball]

So close.

We rattled their cage it was a good performance, Nelsen and MGP both had great chances, however you'd have to rugby tackle me to get me to go down when 1 v 1 with the keeper at Old Trafford.

No-ones done it in 13 games and we did it on their turf, hopefully the team can build on this.

Have to say Webb went to much on the shout, wonder if he gets his strings tangled running round on the pitch.

[robbo_rovers]

Very proud of the lads, hope now we can take that kind of performance into the crucial games from now till the end of the season, which is every game i guess!

[Exiled_Rover]

I've give over trying to defend Andrews and what he brings to the team. Some people will not accept that with the other midfielders we've got, we need someone who can get around the pitch and close people down. He does have severe limitations though.

I withheld judgement on Andrews until I saw him play. With much of the season gone it's fair to say the lad isn't up to standard. The one thing he does well, get around the pitch, is negated by the fact that he can't tackle or pick a pass further than 5 yards. He really is a passenger - but we really don't have anyone to replace him with which is a very sad state of affairs indeed.

[roversmum]

As Pedersen said in the post match interview, why would he go down when he was going to score? The poor man can't do anything right, why not get behind him instead of this constant criticism? If you want to moan about someone, there are still a few other candidates on the field now Bert is out. However, they are OUR players and they did jolly well yesterday and came within a whisker of a win

[dingles staying down 4ever]

I withheld judgement on Andrews until I saw him play. With much of the season gone it's fair to say the lad isn't up to standard. The one thing he does well, get around the pitch, is negated by the fact that he can't tackle or pick a pass further than 5 yards. He really is a passenger - but we really don't have anyone to replace him with which is a very sad state of affairs indeed.

Agree, can't tackle - i did say he has limitations but I'm probably in a minority of one here but I'll say it anyhow neither could Savage. With the passing if you look at his pass completion rate it is quite high. Is it better to keep possession or give it away by trying longer passes.

Sam obviously rates him better than the Axe who is the only other candidiate for the role that Sam has in mind with Emerton injured. All the other midfielders that Rovers have may be better on the ball than Andrews but have not got the engine to get around. So use Andrews to close down the opposotion but not tackle then use the other midfielders to break down play.

Please remember how much Andrews cost and what transfer funds we had available when we bought him. If Ince had not spent over the odds for Grella then possibly we could have bought a better class of player but we haven't.

[tony gale's mic]

I simply don't understand what Vogel has done to warrant being frozen out by successive managers like this. He can't be worse than Andrews, the guy's played for some pretty great teams, and even if he's rusty that's understandable since he's barely been given a chance. He was excellent in our 1-1 draw vs United last year. Deserves at least a run in the side or even a place on the bench.

[Majiball]

As Pedersen said in the post match interview, why would he go down when he was going to score? The poor man can't do anything right, why not get behind him instead of this constant criticism? If you want to moan about someone, there are still a few other candidates on the field now Bert is out. However, they are OUR players and they did jolly well yesterday and came within a whisker of a win

I won't mention his corners then. I like gamst pedersen I always did I just wish he would come back and play for us again he's been away for 2 years or so.

There's no point going down in the area at Old trafford, the only way you'll get a pen is if Rio rips up one of the posts and assaults you with it. He should have stayed on his feet he's got a good right foot and a couple of years ago would have smashed it at the goal. I applaud him for getting into the position in the first place, but he was one on one with the keeper and whilst he is pulled and nicked its not enough to bring him down.

Hopefully our new Shrink can get his head sorted as I don't doubt his talent, we've seen it, but we need it back.

[roversmum]

No, his corners were not all bad. And Dunny took at least one absolutely shocking one.

gggrr lost some of my post. Was saying that you don't know from watching the strength applied, it only had to be enough to unbalance you (which in truth does not need to be a lot) and there's nothing you can do and there was also the previous kick on the ankle.