United vs City (May contain scores)

mike65

Well done Citys defence. First time they avoided defeat at Old Trafford since "you-know-who" put Utd in Division Two.

Mike.

Jivin Turkey

One of those games that when you (United) have that much possession and pressure you could argue you deserve to win it, but at the same time, when you (City) defend so doggedly and frantically you deserve something also.

I dont think there can be any complaints, despite all the pressure United only really had 2 clear chances in the second half. Sahas miss at the end summed up their performance.

It was just one of those days. But for United, they better hope they dont have too many more. As Martin Tyler said, Arsenal have not won since losing to United but they have still widened the gap.

And also, it was great to see Dunne and Flood put in good performances, Miller still has some way to go however.

mr_angry

The Muppet wrote:

Indeed, As long as we dont get as bad as them in the rest of the field there's still hope EH.

Yeah, them being a point behind with a game in hand must be very reassuring!

(Sorry Muppet, I know you were joking, but I couldn't resist.)

In all fairness, United should have won today's match comfortably. They had about 80% posession, created enough chances, but just didn't put them in the back of the net. Ronaldo and Miller were very disappointing, but Giggs' contribution was promising. His two best deliveries were ruined only by great defending from The Honeymonster (???), and a woeful miss by Saha.

City were very negative, and Anelka was brutal. They'll be happy with their point, but I don't see this sparking a great run of form from them.

impr0v

Kudos to the Dunney-monster, excellent performance.

PHB

Somewhat annoyed and perplexed at that game.

I really can't fault any united player, cept maybe Ronaldo, but he still created a couple of chances, and definally Smith.

Scholes and Keano had the best game I've seen them in ages.

I think Saha was playing absolutely fantastically today, and linked up with Scholesy really really well.

But nothing fell for united today, lots of chances could have easily went the other way, alas what can ya do.

I am fairly happy with a draw since its a city match, derbys are so unpredictable

smemon

disappointing, frustrating and feels like a loss. im still hopeful that these draws will all prove vital come may but that theory is looking weaker by the match.

miller played well imo, looked very much like keane keeping these neat and simple, he did nothing wrong imo and was unlucky to come off. ronaldo had a poor game, such the talent he is he still managed to put in some heartstopping balls.

on a plus, thats the best ive EVER seen utd's defence (not of alltime, just the 4 that played today). not since the early/mid 90's have i seen such a comanding display. i only remeber 1 mcmanaman attempt late on that flew over the bar. everything else was closed down and cleared, anelkea, wright philips didnt get a kick. SUPERB display at the back.

midfield did well, we had the majority of possesion, thats the midfields job so they cant be criticised, scholesy had a good game. forwards were poor, the only area were we lacked sharpness. saha made fools of dunne and co with blistering turns of pace but that was it. bring back ruud, thats all i can say.

i now appreciate ruud much more than before, i understand why fergie has him as no.1. as for the league- atm we're not in it, but at the same time we're not out of it.

Chucky the tree

fair result in the end, with city doing so well in defending would of been unliucky not to get anything from the game.

United werent all that great at the back, anelka had the touch of a rapist today, i cant see why they arent going to renew his contract, useless. Wright philips was a midfielder rather then a striker. SO united had it fairly easy and wasnt a particulary great performance at the back.

Ronaldo was poor. Must of the others were alright, cant see united winning the league.

chelse are looking good. They are grinding out the wins where united and arsenal arent.


Good to see dunne put in a great perfomrance aswell. Haha good to see smith back to his old self again aswell

mayordenis

mr_angry wrote:

Yeah, them being a point behind with a game in hand must be very reassuring!

liverpool are a point behind are they??????
http://www.teamtalk.com/teamtalk/Match/Table/0,7765,1765,00.html

Chucky the tree

mayordenis wrote:

liverpool are a point behind are they??????
http://www.teamtalk.com/teamtalk/Match/Table/0,7765,1765,00.html

that tables wrong

ButcherOfNog

smemon wrote:

on a plus, thats the best ive EVER seen utd's defence (not of alltime, just the 4 that played today). not since the early/mid 90's have i seen such a comanding display. i only remeber 1 mcmanaman attempt late on that flew over the bar. everything else was closed down and cleared, anelkea, wright philips didnt get a kick. SUPERB display at the back.

you really should take off those red tinted glasses when watching UTD play, they didn't have anything to do at the back, city defended and got lucky for 90mins. city played with a line of 6 at the back, with the 2 central midfielders just out in front of them. city got lucky, seems to be the weekend of luckyness, birmingham were lucky too, but fulham should get a prize for being lucky, played of the field and winning 4-1. Having said that, Andy O Brien was up to his usual headless chicken routine for Newcastle at the back.

Villain

Dunne deserved Man of the match, he was outstanding and should be included in the squad for Irelands friendlies, just so O'Brien and Cunningham know theres real competition, although Cunningham also got Man of the match against liverpool.

City came to Old Trafford with only one thing on their mind, a draw and fair play they got it. IMO United's problem is that Sir Alex doesn't know what his best team is, I have to say I was very surprised that Miller started ahead of Giggs, I mean Liam is a good player, but with City playing 5 in midfield I would have thought United best chance of creating was down the wings and Miller is not a winger. Ronaldo was very poor he doesn't look like he has ideas once he comes to delivering the final pass.

I really can't see how United can catch Chelsea or Arsenal 11 points is not hard to make up when your playing well and the top teams are playing badly but at the moment it's vice versa and if United aren't careful they could find themselves fighting for a champions league spot.

Time United started behind the scenes talks with O'Neill or Moyes I think.

ZENER

gandalf wrote:

I predict 1 sending off !!!

WOW !!! Any chance of next Saturdays Lotto Numbers Ganners ?!

A dreadful game I thought. United need to do some shooting practice - all that possesion and all those chances and nothing to show for it - rubbish.

I think it's time for Sir Alec to move upstairs and let a fresh pair of eys look over the team - perhaps he should have taken a leaf out of Schmichels (sp?) book and quit while he was ahead after the treble.

The excuse that they're trying to gel as a team is rubbish - look at Chelsea ! If ever a team needed to gel was them but they've played a blinder and are top of the table. 11 goals since the beginning of the season in the PL just won't do for a team of this class. I think he has lost his touch in spotting talent, Smith is avarage, Rooney is too young, Bellion . . nuff said, Djemba X2 - waster, Kleberson WC winner me arse, Saha - give me a break.
Duff is the type of player we need in the midfield but Sir Alec couldn't be arsed. Selling Butt too soon was a mistake as was shifting Becks.

Fergie has to go before the team become too dis-heartened, especially the newer/younger players. January will be crunch time I reckon. As a ManU fan I'm bitterly dissappointed with current form and expect things to get worse before getting slightly better. I predict no CL football for the Devils next season only EC - if we're lucky.

ZEN

cournioni

I feel sick after that. Seems the best we can hope for in the premiership is third again. Maybe even fourth. :S

At least Ruud will be back for the next game.

The Rooster

I thought it was an enjoyable game to watch.

I thought Saha played very well, unlucky with his first chance - super clearance by Jordan (a great find for City), and while he should have scored with his late header, I think it was harder than it first looked. Otherwise his general play was very good. Smith wasnt so good, but that type of game doesnt suit him - he'll do better against decent teams. Brainless tackle for his red card.

I was very annoyed Miller was taken off. That was a real kick in the balls for him, bound to take the confidence out of him. Appreciate that a change had to be made, but it should have been Ronaldo to go. I've said on another thread that he needs a rest, but some disagree. Well if he doesnt need a rest, he does need a kick in the ars€. As an aside, I think all the praise he's gotten (deservedly) has made him a much greedier player. A big strength that both United and Arsenal have, that Liverpool seriously lack, is that all players play for the team, and not for themselves.

Scholes ran the game for the first half hour or so - see what you can do if you try - though was quieter after.

Given all the chances United wasted and the sending off, I thought the game was there for the winning for City in the second half. McManaman was playing very well, but SWP was rubbish and Anelka was an absolute disgrace. He played like he'd get a big payoff if City failed to score.

Dunne was excellent, magnificent tackle on Rooney late on. Must be up to 3rd on the Ireland CB ratings ahead of Breen, and is gaining fast on O'Brien. He seems to be cutting out his 1 mistake per game, that AOB still does. Flood was quiet, but showed glimpses of potential.

LegacyUser

I am bitterly dissapointed. We do not deserve to win anything this season. I feel really sorry for Sir Alex, he is an absolute genius and his players are letting him down hugely.

Spalk0

Its up to Sir Alex to get the best of his team!.....ultimately the responsibility falls down to him!

Im bitterly disappointed aswell!the finishing was dreadfull!What happened to the United of a few years ago!We used to be fluid and pacey in attack were as now we seem to take an eternity to make it to their box!its just allowing the other teams to get back and defend!Gone are the days so it seems were we actually counter attack or score many goals in games!I for one just hope it gets sorted out soon enough!

smemon

ButcherOfNog wrote:

you really should take off those red tinted glasses when watching UTD play, they didn't have anything to do at the back, city defended and got lucky for 90mins. city played with a line of 6 at the back, with the 2 central midfielders just out in front of them. city got lucky, seems to be the weekend of luckyness, birmingham were lucky too, but fulham should get a prize for being lucky, played of the field and winning 4-1. Having said that, Andy O Brien was up to his usual headless chicken routine for Newcastle at the back.

utd didnt have anything to do at the back because they cut attacks off at source, closed down people well and got back in numbers. despite city's defensive approach you still have to keep an eye on anelka, wright-philipps, mcmanaman etc... that they did flawlessly. (the 1st time ive ever seen that, as i said before).

im going to be the complete optimist here and say we've got the 2nd best defensive record in the league. on paper, we have the best strikeforce too but unfortunately the strikers aren't as good as the defence atm.

they way we're playing atm, europe would be a much more realistic target. but the league must remain no.1. 11 points is massive, in effect you need chelsea to lose 4 games or equilivent, plus we need to win all of ours. theres still time to rescue the season and mount a serious charge at the title but we must start winning games.

n'castle away next, if we lose that i think the title will be out of our hands. funny thing is, im more worried about charlton at home the following saturday. its the banana skin teams we slip on. so far we've done well against the big guns, arsenal, liverpool, (unlucky loss to chelsea)

dirkey_wynne

I'm surprised noone has pointed out that Giggs had the most blatant miss of Utd's team. It was a terrible miss. He had time and space to pick his spot. And that is why Ruud is an automatic choice - people on here were saying he should be dropped lately, but if that chance that Saha or Giggs had, had gone to Ruud, I daresay the outcome would have been different.

PHB

Sorry Giggs shot was a lot harder than it looked.
First off the keeper had it covered and it had to be really curled, which he tried to do. the defender was also right beside him and was like a half milisecond from touchign the ball, he took the shot and was unlucky it didnt get in.

No champions league? You must be joking
Yeah maybe we'll have a bad season and get third, so be it, but 5th? you must be mad.
While disappointed I'm not concerned.
It was one of those games, Unied didn't do anything massivly wrong, it just didn't fall for them.
It happens sometimes

Dewey

Well i was at the match yesterday(first time ever at old trafford) and United should of won 4-0. i was thought the Saha shot which went over james was in and i was just waiting for it to hit the net until Jordan cleared it off the line. then Smith had a great over-head kick cleared off the line, then Saha again with a header which went wide of the post. And Giggs, i thought should of scored with his shot.
Its very hard to put your finger on what is going wrong with united at the moment. City were playing 6-4-1 at times and anelkea was crap and didnt get a sniff. Our defence was good, but so was Citys but i wouldnt think we have a great defence after watching time game because City just didnt attack so its hard to know.
We missed Ruud, I think Fergie should go with Ruud-Scholes up-front and Rooney playing behind them, just to see how that goes.
I was surprised Miller was taken off, i thought he would of been given 15 mins in hte second half. Flood was very good at tracking back and helping out the defence. And Dunne really did deseve his MOTM.

I was disappointed with the result but i had a great time at the match.

smemon

Dewey wrote:

Well i was at the match yesterday(first time ever at old trafford)

bloody hell, not a bad start to your life at old trafford! how did u get tickets if it's your 1st ever match? through a package or something? frustrating to watch im sure like on tv, has anyone mentioned the 2 peno's, at least 1 of which was cast-iron?

unlucky again for utd is all i can say, we've been plagued with bad luck the past year or so, both on and off the pitch.

Jivin Turkey

smemon wrote:

utd didnt have anything to do at the back because they cut attacks off at source, closed down people well and got back in numbers. despite city's defensive approach you still have to keep an eye on anelka, wright-philipps, mcmanaman etc... that they did flawlessly. (the 1st time ive ever seen that, as i said before).

im going to be the complete optimist here and say we've got the 2nd best defensive record in the league. on paper, we have the best strikeforce too but unfortunately the strikers aren't as good as the defence atm.

United didnt have anything to do because Anelka was up front on his own and had one of those games we have seen him have all to often. How many times did he wander aimlessly offside. My local team would be able to cope with him in that form.

United might have conceeded the 2nd least in the premiership, but you should also note that they have scored the 5th least. Best strikeforce? Hardly, not even on paper, because they arent going to play all 4 of them at once.

smemon

Jivin Turkey wrote:

United might have conceeded the 2nd least in the premiership, but you should also note that they have scored the 5th least. Best strikeforce? Hardly, not even on paper, because they arent going to play all 4 of them at once.

yes, but look... utd aren't going to go all season with all 4 strikers misfiring. i think most people can see that, however despite not scoring this season, the defence has managed to keep a few clean sheets and looks fairly solid especially with heinze in there now.

what im saying is the strikers form will come in time, its just a mere blip. (the odd thrashing in europe is proof) whereas our defence has been relatively solid and consistent. thats an optimistic way of looking at our season so far, im not trying to heap praise on the side and gloat over being 11 points behind chelsea. it's just a bit of hope for us utd fans when we're being written off by most.

Dr Bolouswki

If its any consolation to the reds (not that I wish to console you) it was a very unpleasant game for a city fan to watch. 94 minutes of fear and agony. We came for the point, and due to good defending and a slightly off form attack from utd we got it. Soemone said it above and I'd echo it, I think it was just one of those games. You were unlucky not to score at least 4, but I'm thankful for that.

Singing the praises of Utd's defence for that game is a song without any meaning - they had little to do, as City played practically the whole match in their own defensive 3rd. Hot air about 'balls being cut off at source' blah blah is true, but if the midfield cuts off the ball how does that make the back four great?

Willo flood was good defensively, but had nothing going forward I thought - SWP's witdrawn role and the constant utd pressure meant he had little impact also. Anelka, to be fair, did nothing, but I thought he was offside far too often considering he had little to feed off.

I wouldnt write utd off for a long time yet, we've seen them bounce back many times before, but a bouncing ball eventulally is just rolling. I think 3rd and 4th are very open at the moment, and judging on the season so far, its ludicrous for utd fans to be confident that 3rd or 4th is a given.

Everton, Liverpool, Bolton, Newcastle, Villa and 'bourough along with Utd are all in for a shout for those two spots. Yes Everton and Bolton and probably boro and villa are likely to fall out of it by then due to squad size, but unless utd's form improves soon, they could still be hoping come April/May

It's weird whats happening to utd - but I'm happy to see their dominance starting to wane. Give it 2 or 3 years and I'm confident the same band-wagon-johnny-come-lately-laissez-faire Utd supporters (no offence to genuine Utd football fans) that we hear so much from on these boards will be quitely switching allegiances, mustering their most plausible renditions of 'well I always had a soft spot for chelsea' lines....

Go on the citeh!

The Muppet

Good Post. Interesting you think Chelsea will be "the new Utd." I'm not sure, I still think a full strength Arsenal will be the team to beat over the coming seasons.

A mate of mine is a city fan , He rang me yesterday and the first thing he said to me was " you jammy B******* you were steeped in luck on sunday" and then he just laughed at me as I went off in my tirade.

smemon

whatever about catching chelsea or arsenal, 3rd place is safe. we've beaten liverpool and arsenal whilst on a bad start to a season.

it's relatively early to be deciding on spots but the league starts to take shape at christmas, it would be a very brave man that bets on utd to finish outside the top 4. never before has it happened (in the premiership) and even with weaknesses, utd aren't in such a dramatic decline just yet.

i agree theres too many part time supporters, im seeing it now that arsenal have won a few things, the chelsea 'supporters' seem to be comming out of their shells too. theres nothing more annoying than having japenese tourists and suits filling the old trafford stands and taking away from the atmosphere, at any ground for that matter.

the one place in the world were you get the hard core fans week in week out is celtic park. even if people only get over once or twice a season, they make the most of it and create an atmosphere that can only be evied all over the world imo.

dirkey_wynne

PHB wrote:

Sorry Giggs shot was a lot harder than it looked.
First off the keeper had it covered and it had to be really curled, which he tried to do. the defender was also right beside him and was like a half milisecond from touchign the ball, he took the shot and was unlucky it didnt get in.

No champions league? You must be joking
Yeah maybe we'll have a bad season and get third, so be it, but 5th? you must be mad.
While disappointed I'm not concerned.
It was one of those games, Unied didn't do anything massivly wrong, it just didn't fall for them.
It happens sometimes

I would agree normally. But you really have to hit the target. That was the thing coming out of Fergie's mouth most often preceeding the game "All I can say to my forwards is to make sure they hit the target."