[Archived] Manchester United Vs Rovers

[Stuart]

It is interesting that Bolton managed 13 attempts on goal today, against chelsea.

Yet the result was much the same as ours. The difference I guess is that at least the Bolton fans had something the cheer about during the game. I really feel for fans who went to our last 3 away games in particular.

I have agree with magicalmortensleftpeg though. Chelsea are a class apart, as are Arsenal and United. It's a real shame we've played them all, away, back to back.

Coming back to Abbey's worry bead. Our away form against PL opposition is pretty abysmal. I hope this will improve and soon but the key is to beat those teams around us.

[Nafe_rovers]

is it me or every time i see diouf play i end up disliking him even more?

bit disapointed with the way we went about the game, but can you hope for much more, the one thing that you can be extremely critical of is delievery, when we got the rare free kick etc it barely made it over the last person!

no expectations from this week, lets win next week.

UP THE BLUES!

[Nafe_rovers]

also first goal really lucky, a shot that falls to his feet.... :S..... however was a 30 million pound finish, what a touch!!

[Tom]

Well we got beat 2-0 by the champions, no surprises. It's like being surprised when a Ferrari outruns a Fiesta, there is no comparison on paper and it shows on the pitch.

Sam made some poor decisions today though, Andrews instead of Emo in centre and Pedersen outwide was a stinker. We needed to attack far more obviously but they would have just hit us on the break.

Has to be Kalinic and Benni up top vs Pompey with Dunn in CM with NZonzi. Sadly its the worst possible time to play Portsmouth but we should be able to beat them.

[bazza]

What's all the moaning for?

I thought for the first 20 minutes we looked pretty good and matched them.

Thereafter we tended to sit back and soak up the pressure as they stepped up their efforts to take the lead.

Very happy at half time.

Second half was OK until Berbatov scored a great goal.

Still we tried a lot harder than the Chelsea match and were doing well in keeping them out. Perhaps we could nick an equaliser.

Rooney scored a good goal and it was all over.....or was it?

Kalinic got a perfectly good consolation that was ruled out by a mistaken linesman.

Much, much better performance than the lie-down at Stamford Bridge.

However I can understand that our players haven't the same quality as Utd but why are they beaten to most free balls? They must not be as fit. Why???

[JAL]

What's all the moaning for?

I thought for the first 20 minutes we looked pretty good and matched them.

Thereafter we tended to sit back and soak up the pressure as they stepped up their efforts to take the lead.

Very happy at half time.

Second half was OK until Berbatov scored a great goal.

Still we tried a lot harder than the Chelsea match and were doing well in keeping them out. Perhaps we could nick an equaliser.

Rooney scored a good goal and it was all over.....or was it?

Kalinic got a perfectly good consolation that was ruled out by a mistaken linesman.

Much, much better performance than the lie-down at Stamford Bridge.

However I can understand that our players haven't the same quality as Utd but why are they beaten to most free balls? They must not be as fit. Why???

Dillusional B*ll*cks

[Ossydave]

Erm Givet was good, that's the only positive I can take from the game.

Everyone else should hang their heads in shame, although what Sam said to them mustn't have been too clever.

Dunn looked like an old man today, clearly not fit.

[LeftWinger]

Just got back from Old Trafford.

Only comment I can be bothered to add right now - just be thankful we support a real club!

I've never heard a stadium so quiet as that. United isn't so much a football club as a fashionable event for Southerners. We might not have the best team - but at least we're a real club.

Rovers till I die!

[martmitch]

Just got back from Old Trafford.

Only comment I can be bothered to add right now - just be thankful we support a real club!

I've never heard a stadium so quiet as that. United isn't so much a football club as a fashionable event for Southerners. We might not have the best team - but at least we're a real club.

Rovers till I die!

Add to that militant stewards trying to kick people out for having the nerve to stand up!

[LeftWinger]

Add to that militant stewards trying to kick people out for having the nerve to stand up!

Such as the Tugay look-a-like!

[bigbrandjohn]

Bottom line I hate watching us at the moment. Doesnt matter who we play we are making excuses. We have played the top three teams way recently.OK but we have lost ten away from home. The players look confused and look scared to go forward in case they get hit on the back of the head with the ball. Benni has obviously pi5%#@ed Sam off for some reason but he is a proven premier goal scorer. Put him on with one of the rookies and they can learn from him.

If you want two strikers clap your hands

If you want two strikers clap your hands

If you want two srikers, clap nice and loudly

and maybe our manager will understand.

[BigDom]

Yes, we were beaten by the Champions, but I don't think I have ever seen such a lacklustre Man Ure team...Rovers of old would have taken them to the cleaners but, as people rightly comment, this is not Rovers of old !

This Rovers team is no where near as good as the team Mark Hughes left...but some of those same players remain today ?

While I agree that we may have defended well, we were second to every ball, lost possession far too easily and never looked like threatening a make shift defence...1 shot on target in a 90 minute game is just not good enough..the tactics must change in the next game !!!

I remain hopefull, but fear the worst.

[sam_rovers]

I think this will be the easiest game united play at home all season... our defense was good, no doubt about it... but we have no creativity going forward.. we have no one who can run with the ball or anyone who can hold it up anymore.. this is where we miss a player like bentley... he was our outlet for so long.. Neither Emo or Diouf are gonna replace him..

Also dear God why is Pedersen still taking free kicks? When I saw that he was taking it I immediately knew it was going to be a ###### delivery.. we need 2 new mid fielders... a real winger and a new central midfielder(although if we drop andrews and play anyone else in there it may be acceptable)

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

we were second to every ball

This I couldn't understand - it must be tactics to stand off players. We looked slow and sluggish with and without the ball. Only Dunn seemed to give us any drive - and he didn't have a particularly good match IMO.

It has to come back to the manager - his team talks and tactics. Don't get me wrong - I still think Sam is the best person to keep us up - but if this continues it will be a very long drawn out season.

[Amo]

It's time players like Hoilett, Kalinic, Salgado, McCarthy and Van Heerden were given a proper crack at the first team. We need to shake things up, because we're carrying too many players and our team looks devoid of ideas.

[LDRover]

Knew we'd get beat, got to thank woeful United finishing that it wasn't a drubbing (think Berbatov's header and Obertan and Owen late on).

Anyway, Andrews gets a bashing on here, rightly cos he's not good enough, but what about Diouf? Blimey this bloke is so ineffective it's untrue. I swear if you took away the odd free kick he wins there'd be nothing else he actually contributes.

Never mind, next time he takes a corner at the Blackburn End we'll hear the chant 'DIOOOOOUFFFF' while the honest trier Andrews gets booed. If we're struggling for a hero THAT much we really are in trouble.

[sambo]

I'm finally home..

Defensively we were good, must have been difficult for them as we couldn't keep it up field for any decent amount of time, meaning the majority of the 90 minutes consisted of United banging on the door. Chimbonda was especially brilliant.

The midfield was so-so today. I don't rate Andrews much and thought he didn't do well today, although he was far from awful - just not very good. Dunn wasn't at the races today, mainly because he got no decent service and often he was running nearly alone from deep in his own half. He's fantastic, but we couldn't expect him to take the game by the scruff of the neck alone. Emerton was okay, but he's not the player to rely on when you need that spark - he is workmanlike and I like him, but he doesn't have the necessary quality to just open up the United defence. Diouf was poor, he slows the whole team down and doesn't seem to have a footballing brain. He wins free kicks, but that's it at times. Pedersen came on and took a poor set piece; at times I was begging him to shoot as well from distance but instead we over-played it and our attack broke down.

Di Santo was okay, isolated completely but ran his heart out. His work rate is second to none. Kalinic and McCarthy looked decent when they came on; the latter being introduced far too late.

The stewards were horrendous, kicked one guy out for sitting down after being told to - okay he petulantly slammed his chair a bit but nothing much. He was stood up at the back (not in front of the executive boxes) blocking nobodies view and they threw him and his mate out. Same with Tugay (), thrown out for standing up with everyone else doing the same behind. Some horrendous, power trip stewarding designed to ruin people's days. What's the problem with standing when you're at the back with nobody behind you, or with everyone wanting to stand? Baffling. United fans didn't sing either, so quiet for such a big stadium, even when they scored.

Disappointed by the lack of ambition but at least it wasn't a battering! Would rather we gave them a good game and bagged a goal, although we did at the end, save for an incorrect linesman's flag.

[Tom]

Such as the Tugay look-a-like!

Pretty sure that would be my mate, shortish guy?

I think it may be time for wholesale changes next week, keep the back 5 the same but throw in Benni, Kalinic and maybe Hoilett

the team right now has got really stale

[beerwins]

Why must we play like this against the top four and try to win matches against lesser teams i dont understand, the players seem to be confused as to why we have to be balls out 1 week and the next week we are laidback almost accepting the loss.

Every week we must try to win matches this silly tactics and formations are beyond a joke, just put the team on the field , fire them up and at least have a crack, rovers (for which i love) have always been a team full of fire and effort now we are not we just roll over and die and to be frank its embarrasing, every commentator in the matches away have more or less been begging sam to get another striker on to try and make a match of it.

Its dire to watch rovers like this.

[sambo]

Pretty sure that would be my mate, shortish guy?

I think it may be time for wholesale changes next week, keep the back 5 the same but throw in Benni, Kalinic and maybe Hoilett

the team right now has got really stale

He was shortish but not sure.. he got dragged out by overly heavy handed police, who seemed to want a ruck. He loved the Tugay chants, best moment of the afternoon!

[Tom]

That sounds like him, I didn't go but a few of the lads did and a few of them got kicked out for no reason they said.

[herbergeehh]

The midfield was so-so today. I don't rate Andrews much and thought he didn't do well today, although he was far from awful - just not very good.

That's a well thought through and fair assessment of Andrews. You can't be a Rovers fan, surely?

Always going to lose this, even without their two top defenders. Glad to hear that our defence did well, and delighted to see Kalinic on the score sheet again

Playing well as one of our defenders is a lot tougher than I think we can grasp. They are totally unprotected, and in games like these they won't get a moment's peace.

[sambo]

That sounds like him, I didn't go but a few of the lads did and a few of them got kicked out for no reason they said.

Yep, it was nothing short of a disgrace.

They had an agenda did the stewards...

[Tom]

Just had a word with one of them, apparently there was a disagreement with one of our fans because they were singing about Uniteds support. Sounds bizarre really

Edit just seen the MOTD highlights, Kalinic was desperately unlucky and did well in the build up to the disallowed goal

[eddiewac]

Amazed how none of the Utd players got booked and yet any of our players who dared mistime a tackle werent given another chance