Porto -v- Man Utd.

gandalf

Didn't see the match but 2-1 is a good score for United. I expect them to go thru.

Saw the goals and the incident! Keane was an idiot stepping (it wasn't really a stamp) on the Porto keeper and he was rightly sent off. Obviously he didn't want to play in the next match just in case they lose so he can have another go at his team mates in the dressing room (thats why I don't want him back for Ireland).

BTW jank lay off the united baiting and don't count Arsenals chickens before they hatch. I'm an Arsenal supporter as well and we have won bugger all this season so far and I hate people talking as if we have :rolleyes:

Gandalf.

smemon

Originally posted by talla
Just a reminder, if the result was the same as Madrid last year, united are out.

i dont think porto have it in them to score 3 away from home. plus they've only kept 1 clean sheet in the champs league so far. Utd have kept 5.

utd's only goals conceded were the 2 against stuttgart (similar performance + game + result) plus the 2 tonight. At home we've yet to concede a goal!

we lost to stuttgart 1-2 away and beat them 2-0 at home, i think it will be similar against porto.

mr_angry

Utd were very poor tonight, and their goal was totally against the run of play. However, having said that, its was only one game after all, and I'm sure they'll bounce back.

Would you really bet on Utd keeping clean sheets at the moment though Smemon? I'd say their best bet is to try to outscore the opposition. Hell, its what they usually do anyway! Wont be easy though. I wouldn't dare try to predict the result of the second leg, given my poor record this week!

AthAnRi

good result considering their performance. Keane rightly sent off. Yet again it was the usual shabby performane defensively. Did any one see Wesly and neville trying to defend the second goal. Brown jumped after the ball hit the back of the net and neville jumped before the ball got anyway near him. Having said that credit to Mcarthy he jumped about a mile high and it was a super header.

smemon

ive got faith in brown, he's a decent player if he can get that sharpness back again. g.neville is experienced, thats about it, ive never been a fan of his but at this stage, his experience is vital for the side.

our midfield is the key, always has been. nobody can match giggs, keane, scholes and ronaldo. if their on form the whole side's on form. van the man and saha, if getting good sevice will bury a good porportion of chances.

roll on march 9th....

Shred

United were rubbish tonight, they looked like they didn't give a sh*t about the game and were very lacklustre through out.

Having said that, I wouldn't be against them going through anyway with a decent win at home in the second leg

jank

remember seamon that keane is out for the return at least a wes brown is not on form at all, silvestre will be injured fortune played very badly and p nevile was crap. thats about the whole defence

gandalf i never said anything about arsenal in this thread or that they will a win anything, in fact i state in another thread that i will hold off on the winning statements before it is fact

AmenToThat

Originally posted by smemon
i dont think porto have it in them to score 3 away from home. plus they've only kept 1 clean sheet in the champs league so far. Utd have kept 5.

That was a team that had Ferdinand at the heart of defence and before the Magnier v Ferguson scandal really erupted, I dont think this United team will keep another clean sheet between now and the end of the season!
They are shocking at the back and now without the covering of Keane the defence will be even more exposed in the return leg
Sure Man U will score a couple in the return but how many will Porto score?

jank

remember seamon that keane is out for the return at least a wes brown is not on form at all, silvestre will be injured fortune played very badly and p nevile was crap. thats about the whole defence

gandalf i never said anything about arsenal in this thread or that they will a win anything, in fact i state in another thread that i will hold off on the winning statements before it is fact

BKtje

I am disgusted. i have never seen man u play with so little interest. Im am so pissed off right now

the new players fergie brought in are not up to imo

Tbh the new players did very litle wrong tonight. Saha did some nice things tho the service to him was crap and got crowded out my Porto. Ronaldo when he came on for those few minutes showed a lot of effort imo. Running around trying little balls through and stuff. Howard did decently so tbh Jank im afraid in this instance your wrong.

Giggs,Keane, Scholes and to a certain extent RvN are who i have an axe to grind with as they showed very little effort, passion or hell any interest what so ever.

Im also pissed of at John Giles but probably cos i know he's right.
Keane deserved to go, no question.

Only glimmer of hope i can take from this is that its still only 2-1, Porto looked very dody at the back when man u did anything and they can never ever play as badly as that.
At least i got the score right

Pepe LeFrits

Wasn't really paying attention to the match, but Porto generally seemed to be in control when i did. Great fucking header by McCarthy though, gave Howard no chance. Fantastic.

Utd without Keane in the 2nd leg should be interesting.

Imposter

I don't know if the return leg will be that easy. If Porto attempt to play a defensive/spoiling game something like they did against Celtic last year then it'll be hard for Utd to score. It could backfire spectacularly too though.
Hopefully Utd will make it through.

super_furry

I though Ferguson's bad sportsmanship at the end of the match was a disgrace - shouting and screaming at Mourinho and refusing to shake his hand all because Saint Roy was sent off.

tomED

United were terrible..... again......

I don't think Roy would have been sent off if the game was in England, that doesn't mean I don't think he should have been been sent off though... twas a bit silly.

Fergie shook Mourinho's hand(not for very long mind!) and then gave him a bollickin. Didn't think he was right to do it, but if I was fergie and walked up to Mourinho with his big smug face on him, I probably would have done more than give out!

SheroN

Fergie - Mourinho Story.

There was no malice in the incident, it is not Roy's style to do anything like that

Good old Fergie. Roy is an angel sure.

mr_angry

Dunphy was the best of the lot. The only reason it was worth staying on RTE.

LoneGunM@n

Originally posted by AthAnRi
think your getting mixed up with Sporting.

My bad ... I don't know what I was thinking :rolleyes:

In relation to the match itself, I never seen such a letargic performance from United!!
As said already, none of the experienced players did much to inspire confidence & I feel we were lucky to get away with a 2-1 loss.

In relation to Keano, on top of a poorish performance, his rush of blood really summed up the night for United as a whole!!

The home leg should be a different story, but only if United don't let Porto boss the game like they did last night :dunno:

GuanYin

Originally posted by SheroN
There was no malice in the incident, it is not Roy's style to do anything like that

Alf Inga Haaland might have a thing or two to say about that...

What did Dunphy say?

cournioni

Originally posted by jank
keane off for stamping!

You make it sound like he ripped his back open... :rolleyes:

It was a sending off but he done nothing to hurt Vitor Baia. It's not like he put his full weight on him or anything. It was a quick step on, step off. If that was in gaelic football no one would have noticed it. But in soccer it is a red card offence, and should be no more than that.

And I don't think I have anything to add to what everyone has said about the performance, it was terrible. Worst I can remember seeing from United.

TwoShedsJackson

Amusing quotes from Mourinho on the post-match incidents:

``Vitor told me he was diving for the ball, Keane left his foot in and he felt a bit of pain with the contact.

``I understand why he is a bit emotional. He has some top players in the world and they should be doing a lot better than that.

``You would be really sad if your team gets as clearly dominated as that by an opponent who has been built on maybe 10% of the budget.''

LoneGunM@n

On a different note, what did everyone think of the stadium ... £75 million to build the 52000 seater stadium!!

A la George Hamilton ... It makes you wonder what the hell is going on in this country :rolleyes:

The Muppet

The stadium was more interesting than the match. It was good but the pitch didn,t look 100 % . a snip 75 Million we,d probably get the foundations in for that.:dunno:

jank

B-K-DzR did you look at utd's bench at all, does that make you mroe confident, oh right kliberson is a world cup winner so that makes him a good player then! :rolleyes:
howard is a good keeper i will give you that
the jury is still out on ronaldo and saha and selling beckham has made the team much weeker imo, they bought ronaldo to replace him but he hasnt done the job yet but time is on his side for the time being anyway
the rest i wont even go into

on another note its surprising to me that fergie has come out and called baia and others cheats when it was clearly a red card offence and even more surprising is the lack anger at him here for doing that
one only has to look back to the battle of "old trafford" and remember when wenger called ruud a diver and a cheat
he got slated in the press and on here too

yea porto did muck around a bit but that was to be expected, looks like fergie is trying to do his mind games and deflect criticizims from his own teams lacklusture performance.

they may well get through to the 1/4 finals but is that the benchmark for utd!?, I thought they were the best and biggest team in the world.
If I were a fan i would be very worried that a liverpool like decline might happen, if it hasnt happened already.

does anybody feel that last nights game could have been keanes last in europe with utd!? shame that it could be for such great player

edit articale here

johnor

It is always the case with managers like fergie, wenger they will say one thing to the press and a compeletly different thing to the players, not too long ago wenger didnt see clear frees or penos. Think fergie would have givien the players a right going over, garuntee united dont play as bad as that for the rest of the season. I can see it being the same as last season wehn we lost to city. I can see united going through, depends on the draw they get but they could still reach the final. Funny game. Extreamly lack-luster preformance, felt Nicky Butt played about the best, Saha a close 2nd. Ironic considering they were the two who were in/out of old trafford last month. Looking at the united bench funnily, the lack of a new assistant was evident, cant for the life of me remember the current stand in assistant(ex reserve coach), he wasnt the same influence as Carlos or as Maclaren would have been. They would always be out in the technical area shouting at the players etc. didnt see this guy up off the bench all night.

Think that is alot to do with it,

john

cournioni

Like I said...

Dustaz

Originally posted by LoneGunM@n
On a different note, what did everyone think of the stadium ... £75 million to build the 52000 seater stadium!!

A la George Hamilton ... It makes you wonder what the hell is going on in this country :rolleyes:

Apparently they built 4 or 5 NEW staduims for a little over the projected cos of Stadium Ireland. If thats not proof of the utter corruption here, i dont know what is.

BKtje

B-K-DzR did you look at utd's bench at all

No it doesnt exactly inspire me with confidence but then again none of the team do atm. I think you are being undfairly harsh on the new players. Ronaldo is still a youngster and i dont think he was bought to replace backham in the short term.
Kleberson has been decent no more but give him some time to adjust.

Mr_Roger_Bongos

Jank how could you say it might be Keanes last game?? Thats the greatest load of bull**** ive heard in a long time. He'll be angry, but you think he's just gonna walk away because the lost an away leg in the last 16. He'll want to come back and make sure they do the job right next time, with alot more spine than last nights performance.

What did people think of the 4321 formation. I dont think ive ever seen Ferguson play 2 attacking midfielders directly behind RVN.

jank

Originally posted by Mr_Roger_Bongos
Jank how could you say it might be Keanes last game?? Thats the greatest load of bull**** ive heard in a long time. He'll be angry, but you think he's just gonna walk away because the lost an away leg in the last 16. He'll want to come back and make sure they do the job right next time, with alot more spine than last nights performance.

i said it could be his last "european" game.
make note of the words "could" and "european"
read please before you post

What did people think of the 4321 formation. I dont think ive ever seen Ferguson play 2 attacking midfielders directly behind RVN.

were you watching the game last night?
they didnt play the xmas tree formation they played the good ol 4-4-2 formation

what two attaching midfielders?? scholes was on the right wing with giggs on the left keane and butt in the middle of the field
saha and ruud up front

as i said were you watching the game last night?

Hairy Homer

Originally posted by syke


What did Dunphy say?

Cue Eamon Dunphy voice:
'Keane no longer has any worth as a captain. To get sent off like that in the last minute for a foul committed in front of the officials is a cop out. He didn't fancy the return leg which will have to be a test of commitment, courage, character and values if United are to progress. He gave up on his team mates and let his manager down.

The old Roy Keane wouldn't have done that. He was a warrior. The competitive instinct and taste for battle was embedded deep in his psyche and his soul. Like in the semifinal against Juventus in 1999, with his team two down and already carrying a booking which he knew would keep him out of the final regardless he rolled up his sleeves, exhorted his troops to greater efforts and leading from the front, proved to be the inspiration behind a magnificent United revival.

Anyone can come back from a goal down against Middlesborough at the Riverside. To come back from two down against Juventus in Turin is a test of true sporting greatness. Sunshine boys need not apply. It shows that he, like United is in decline. He's now only a good player, no longer a great one. If he wants to get back into Brian Kerr's side, he'll have to prove himself. '



Well OK. He said nothing like that at all. But I'll bet my left bollock that if the captain had been some other player he didn't like, he would have.
Verbatim.

BaZmO*

Originally posted by Hairy Homer
Cue Eamon Dunphy voice:
'Keane no longer has any worth as a captain. To get sent off like that in the last minute for a foul committed in front of the officials is a cop out. He didn't fancy the return leg which will have to be a test of commitment, courage, character and values if United are to progress. He gave up on his team mates and let his manager down.

The old Roy Keane wouldn't have done that. He was a warrior. The competitive instinct and taste for battle was embedded deep in his psyche and his soul. Like in the semifinal against Juventus in 1999, with his team two down and already carrying a booking which he knew would keep him out of the final regardless he rolled up his sleeves, exhorted his troops to greater efforts and leading from the front, proved to be the inspiration behind a magnificent United revival.

Anyone can come back from a goal down against Middlesborough at the Riverside. To come back from two down against Juventus in Turin is a test of true sporting greatness. Sunshine boys need not apply. It shows that he, like United is in decline. He's now only a good player, no longer a great one. If he wants to get back into Brian Kerr's side, he'll have to prove himself. '



Well OK. He said nothing like that at all. But I'll bet my left bollock that if the captain had been some other player he didn't like, he would have.
Verbatim.

Excellent!!!

Dustaz

Hairy Homer is now in ownership of this thread.

mr_angry

He said something along the lines of:

"Roy Keane carried that team on his back for about 3 years, on his own. The fact is, he just can't manage it on his own anymore, no matter how great a player he is. United are nothing without him... harsh sending off... everything I've ever predicted has come true... I'm never wrong... la la la la la... etc."

SheroN

I nominate Hairy Homer for best post ever.

The Muppet

Originally posted by Hairy Homer
Cue Eamon Dunphy voice:
'Keane no longer has any worth as a captain. To get sent off like that in the last minute for a foul committed in front of the officials is a cop out. He didn't fancy the return leg which will have to be a test of commitment, courage, character and values if United are to progress. He gave up on his team mates and let his manager down.

The old Roy Keane wouldn't have done that. He was a warrior. The competitive instinct and taste for battle was embedded deep in his psyche and his soul. Like in the semifinal against Juventus in 1999, with his team two down and already carrying a booking which he knew would keep him out of the final regardless he rolled up his sleeves, exhorted his troops to greater efforts and leading from the front, proved to be the inspiration behind a magnificent United revival.

Anyone can come back from a goal down against Middlesborough at the Riverside. To come back from two down against Juventus in Turin is a test of true sporting greatness. Sunshine boys need not apply. It shows that he, like United is in decline. He's now only a good player, no longer a great one. If he wants to get back into Brian Kerr's side, he'll have to prove himself. '



Well OK. He said nothing like that at all. But I'll bet my left bollock that if the captain had been some other player he didn't like, he would have.
Verbatim.

Fnck Ya, I couldnnt believe what I was reading until I got to the last paragraph.
Fair dues its another Good One courtesy of Hairy Homer;)

thesecret7

the writing is on the wall and in case you havent figured it out by now its...BYE BYE FERGIE !!! hahaha what a terrible performance, this Man utd is on the way down and fergie is on the way out.

Alll the new players he bought were not bargins, they were cheap because they are not up to the level.. and it was simply shown last night!!

the back 4 were pathetic last night... and there is no Keane at the home leg so its bye bye Man Utd from the Champions league!!

ether

There out of the champions league all right, but we won't be saying bye bye to Ferguson just yet. If a full strength United had played that way questions would start to arise.

thesecret7

anyone failing to recognise that Alex Fergasons days are numbered is clearly blind. Man Utd have been a team in decline since they won the Champions league.

Take a look at Spain and spanish football, if your team isnt doing well, the first thing to do is to FIRE THE MANAGER.

Fergie has went up against the wrong fellas and he can now expect tough questions over his decisions on buying players and he has till end of the season in the job.

bye bye fergie....

The best thing Man Utd can do is bring in the Celtic boss!

Aliminator

If a full strength United had played that way questions would start to arise.

yet, liverpool rarely seem to have a full strength squad, and houllier's head is on the chop.
why? because the Premiership is so ****e, no one really exploits utd.'s frailties.
we saw how chelsea bumbled there way past sttutgart with 0 shots on goal. yet Utd. lost to them in germany. europe is too much for utd.

it's ferguson's attitude that will cost him the job. he didn't buy a central defender. he's gotta go.

to quote from the G-father (afore i get banned from another forum for quoting):
"a war is needed every 10 years to clear up the bad blood."

i'd say beckham is part of the bad-blood. he's gone. fergie and keane are next.


oh and. Hairy homer = legend, for that quote.

PHB

Rofl, this is such ****.

I'll be the first to admit that United are going through quite a bad spell but they are having huge huge defnseive problems due to injury and bannings.

I'd like to see how any other team in the world does with the loss of its two top choice central defenders tbh

Man Utd. probably won't win anything this season, maybe the FA Cup if they play particuarly well or the prem if arsenal seriously **** up somehow, which is doubtful.

But all this talk about united in a decline, or fergie going, you guys are seriously deluding yourself.

Fergie will be around for about three more years at least, otherwise he wouldn't have bought young players, he would have bought super cool 28 year olds that'll get preformance for a long period.

Once September hits, I can see United spenind quite a bit of cash.
The board won't like this season one bit, and I'd see definally a defender being bought, and a right winger. Then it will start over once again

BKtje

A few bad performances and people start talking through their arsehole. Of course Man U are in decline after the Champions League win, a lot of their playes moved on and needed to eb replaced. Replaciong them with youngsters doesnt usually work in the short term.
This time last year Man u were a team on fire and before xmas they were going strong. This is just a bad patch, same as most teams have at some point every year.
Theres a lot going on at utd atm and its not helping. It doesnt look as if they will win anything this year with Arsenal going strong and Man U going (atm) so badly but theres always a chance. Imo would take just one good game to get the morale up and the team firing again. (well maybe Brown finding some form would help )

doozerjack

quote:

---

Originally posted by thesecret7

anyone failing to recognise that Alex Fergasons days are numbered is clearly blind. Man Utd have been a team in decline since they won the Champions league.

---

These sentiments are a little delusional in the heat of a poor few weeks. If Man U continue declining, and winning 3 of the next 4 PL's, as they have since 99, there's hardly going to be a call for Ferguson's head.
Transition, rather than decline.

thesecret7

Well time will prove that Im right. Alex Fergason has till the end of this season possible till the end of next.

I can hear it on the terrraces now..... Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile alex thats the style...whats the use in worrying.. it never was worthwhile hahahhaahahah

smemon

oh yeah big crises time for utd. fergie to go, keane playing his last game... new signings being flops bla bla bla...

its all rubbish and everyone knows it. Utd are 2nd in the league, in the fa cup quarter final and in a good position in the champs league to go to the quarter finals too.

i see no crises there, until utd are falling off into mid-table positions, not getting into the champs league and getting knocked out by portsmouth in the fa cup i wont regard it as a crises.

liverpool fans, im sure you'd rather be in utd's position rather than your own, no? answer is there, there's only one big club in crises and its not utd.

thesecret7

I dont have any time for ABU fans.
but Man U arent going to win the premership, the FA cup isnt worth much and they look dodgey in Europe by a side that has "10%" of what Utd can spend.

Best of luck to utd in Europe but its defintely the start of a downfall of the team.Fergie will be gone in a year!

kaimera

Originally posted by smemon
there's only one big club in crises and its not utd.

it's leeds united

The Muppet

Originally posted by thesecret7


Best of luck to utd in Europe but its defintely the start of a downfall of the team.Fergie will be gone in a year!

Far from being gone in a year Fergie will be leading his new team in the premier league for may seasons to come. He has already built two sucessfull united teams and recently has been purchasing the young players for his third team . He only signed an extension to his contract last month so anyone thinking he is going anywhere in the near future is very much mistaken IMHO.