Grand Slam Sunday

Nailz

Draw

Villain wrote: »

Seriously if you want to give a biased opinion thats fair enough but don't try and post blatent lies as present them as facts.

What I don't understand is why you give a biased opinion in Liverpool's favor and you don't even support them?! How do you know that they are lies?? Why are you so sure you biased opinion is fact? I don't understand you! I was on the near side, and he would'd stop mouthing.

Ah, back at the hotel now! Great feeling! Going out tonight... not dressing in red & white cause I don't want any trouble!

jesus_thats_gre

Draw

Aquos76 wrote: »

Mascherano second yellow card[/URL]

Just looking at that again, he is obviously questioning the ref but he is doing it in the least aggressive fashion possible. Defo made an example of following the crap with Cole during the week.

When Andy Gray is arguing in his favour, something is defo up :pac:

lordgoat

Draw

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Just looking at that again, he is obviously questioning the ref but he is doing it in the least aggressive fashion possible. Defo made an example of following the crap with Cole during the week.

When Andy Gray is arguing in his favour, something is defo up :pac:

Yeah at the time of the second booking he was quite tame til after he aws sent off but he had been mouthing pretty much continually since he was booked. They said at half time the second yellow wasfor continous dissent and not foul language.

It did look harsh on the replay but as you said he shouldn't have put himself in that position.

jesus_thats_gre

Draw

Nailz wrote: »

What I don't understand is why you give a biased opinion in Liverpool's favor and you don't even support them?! How do you know that they are lies?? Why are you so sure you biased opinion is fact? I don't understand you! I was on the near side, and he would'd stop mouthing.

Ah, back at the hotel now! Great feeling! Going out tonight... not dressing in red & white cause I don't want any trouble!

In fairness, it is normally alot easier to make this sort crap out on TV compared to be being at the match.

The fact that is doesn't support either team sort of proves that he is being impartial. The general theme so far has been Liverpool fans defending Masch and United supports defending the ref. Not saying that either side is right or wrong.

What are finding so difficult to understand?

Davei141

Anyone got a clip of andy gray at half time?

jesus_thats_gre

Draw

lordgoat wrote: »

Yeah at the time of the second booking he was quite tame til after he aws sent off but he had been mouthing pretty much continually since he was booked. They said at half time the second yellow wasfor continous dissent and not foul language.

It did look harsh on the replay but as you said he shouldn't have put himself in that position.

There is no doubting that he was being retarded. I just can't get over the fact that Mascherano was literally laughing while talking to him and no one else seems to have noticed.

That fact that the 4th official even came out and said it wasn't for foul language is an idicator that he wasn't exactly going over the top.

quad_red

homerjay2005 wrote: »

united totally deserved to win the game, 3-0 was deserved, but it could have been more, bad finishing cost united. however, i would have been happy with 1-0.

Agreed

homerjay2005 wrote: »

my ratings on the game

van der sar - (7)was a spectator really, solid though when needed
browne - (7) had babble in his pocket and scored, job done.
rio- (9) awesome, is there a more composed CH in the game at the moment? 2nd time this season, torres was poor. rio is a fantastic CB, people just need to take off their ABU glasses and see that.
vida - (8) solid. a true true leader.
evra (9) was unreal, close to MOM, as to how Kuyt was left on ,beggars belief
ronaldo (8) was everywhere and could/should have scored 2 more. this boy is something special. delighted for him. wonder what the foul count was today?
scholes (9) MOM, scholesy back to his best, immense. alonso was poor as a result.
carrick (8) carried on his super form, was excellent today.
anderson (8) for the 4th time this year, has had gerrard (2) and fabregas (2) pocket. a great game from him, shame bout his shooting. a big game player at 19, will be a united star.
giggs (7) his best game in months. still frustrating, but massive improvement. again, big game players. united have them all over the field.
rooney (8) excellent, had he took one of his chances, MOM for me. 2 assists though, a top top player when the chips are down, tormented liverpool.

nani and tevez did their bit and gave united an edge when they came on. fergie got this spot on, our best 11 finished the game today.

We must have been watching two different games. Whilst nail biting (Utd v Liverpool games always are), I thought it was poor in terms of quality.

Rooney's workrate was top but he can't buy a goal at the moment. And a striker that can't buy a goal cannot be given top rating.

Giggs was very poor - and has been for a long while. A spectator for much of the game. Scholes was middling too. Caught dithering in possession too many times - immense, back to his best?? No way

Carrick did well. Anderson did well but faded at the end.

The back four all did extremely well. Evra and Rio particularly. Nani was excellent when he came on. Truely one for the future.

Ronaldo was a total passenger for much of the game and in petulant form. And just as I was saying he should be taken off, up he pops and scores a goal

United were well organised and effectively smothered Liverpool. They took advantage of Liverpool's vulnerability and prevailed. Liverpool, in contrast, looked shakey at the back and one dimensional going forward.

3 nil was a fair result.

Im_No_Superman

Draw

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

There is no doubting that he was being retarded. I just can't get over the fact that Mascherano was literally laughing while talking to him and no one else seems to have noticed.

That fact that the 4th official even came out and said it wasn't for foul language is an idicator that he wasn't exactly going over the top.

I dont think he was sent off for that one instance of disent though, it was a build up through the match. I distinctly remember the camera cutting to Masch after he was booked and he was mouthing off to the ref and Bennett put his finger up to his mouth indicating to him to be quite. Then when Torres was booked and Mash continued badgering him, Bennett (not known for his patience when handing out cards) got sick of it and sent him off.

Mikeyt086

Draw

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

There is no doubting that he was being retarded. I just can't get over the fact that Mascherano was literally laughing while talking to him and no one else seems to have noticed.

That fact that the 4th official even came out and said it wasn't for foul language is an idicator that he wasn't exactly going over the top.

Mascherano didnt get booked for going over the top.

I can remember saying to my brother after he got booked, 3 different times:

"He just got booked, he better watch himself."

"Is that Mascherano again, hes pissing the ref off at this stage."

"Does he want to get sent off?... Why hasnt he stopped... *RED CARD*"

Every challenge he was in the ref's ear. Ive said, only Bennett would have sent him off, but Mascherano put himself in that position.

smog

Mikeyt086 wrote: »

Every challenge he was in the ref's ear. Ive said, only Bennett would have sent him off, but Mascherano put himself in that position.

would agree with that. While i think he deserved it why is it generally bennett this "post match crap" starts with?

Royale with Cheese

Sagna... wtf??

smog

might liven this game up

Im_No_Superman

Draw

What money would there have been on Brown and Sagna being the first goalscorers in both matches today!

GuanYin

Chelsea

Sagna :eek:

Hrmmm

Necronomicon

Drogba!!

*hides in shame at celebrating Chelsea goal*

Im_No_Superman

Draw

Necromomicon wrote: »

Drogba!!

*hides in shame at celebrating Chelsea goal*

LOL +1

Necronomicon

Balls. One Chelsea goal too many.

GuanYin

Chelsea

United are going to be Champions!

Villain

Chelsea

LOL Drogba with a blatent push scores

smog

someone just woke drogba up :eek:

FunkZ

Draw

I was so disappointed with todays game... Fair play to United though, I suppose.

Xavi6

Draw

Some of the arguments defending Mascherano here are laughable.

Bottom line is if you're on a yellow you shut your mouth, especially over an incident that doesn't concern you directly. If you say nothing you can't get sent off. Why run the risk?

Mitch Connor

IMO Mascherano was probably sent off for the amount of dissention he showed, every decision that went against liverpool seemed to result in Mascherano having a chirp at the ref. So while the dissent he showed on the incident in question wasn't too bad, the fact he ran 20/30 yards and shoved past his own player to have a go, along with the rest of it in the first half was what did for him in the end. I said as soon as he picked up the yellow early on that he would not last the game.

SCULLY

YESSSSSS!

Great win for Chelsea - Utd will have to implode (don't see it happening) for us to catch them but second spot is ours for the taking and you never know.

Only really came to life after Arsenal scored but some came good when it mattered!

Should have known better than to hope Liverpooll could do us a favour but still evry happy with the result at the bridge. Any footage of gallas' reaction?:)

smemon

Draw

United 5 points clear with 7 games left

Tricky matches to come but now we can afford to drop points

Good to see Arsenal get beat today - mainly because i don't think they are gracious in defeat and Gallas has become the new Henry - i.e. too big for Arsenal and has a negative influence.

Will be another cracking game between Chelsea and United... Chelsea will be full of confidence now but then again United have managed to build up a 5 point gap and you don't do that without winning matches.

That late Robbie Keane goal all of a sudden means a whole lot more to United fans

Villain

Chelsea

Xavi6 wrote: »

Some of the arguments defending Mascherano here are laughable.

Bottom line is if you're on a yellow you shut your mouth, especially over an incident that doesn't concern you directly. If you say nothing you can't get sent off. Why run the risk?

Why did Torress get booked? The ref handled the whole situation badly, Mascherano was wrong to come over to the ref, but in fairness he didn't abuse the ref in anyway, not like Rooney and Terry and Lampard do on a regular basis adn get away with it.

I don't think anyone would have a problem if the decision was consistent throughout the league, but its not.

Xavi6

Draw

Villain wrote: »

Why did Torress get booked? The ref handled the whole situation badly, Mascherano was wrong to come over to the ref, but in fairness he didn't abuse the ref in anyway, not like Rooney and Terry and Lampard do on a regular basis adn get away with it.

I don't think anyone would have a problem if the decision was consistent throughout the league, but its not.

Torres getting booked is not the issue, neither is the treatment of other players. The issue here is a player getting involved with a commonly known to be sh*te referee when he's already on a yellow card. If anything he should have kept well away having seen Torres booked ridiculously seconds earlier.

As I said, if you're on a yellow you keep your mouth shut and let another player do the talking for you i.e. your captain. He had no reason to get involved.

Villain

Chelsea

Xavi6 wrote: »

Torres getting booked is not the issue, neither is the treatment of other players. The issue here is a player getting involved with a commonly known to be sh*te referee when he's already on a yellow card. If anything he should have kept well away having seen Torres booked ridiculously seconds earlier.

As I said, if you're on a yellow you keep your mouth shut and let another player do the talking for you i.e. your captain. He had no reason to get involved.

Well if you want to look at the incident in isolation thats fair enough I was looking at the icident in relation to what happpens every week in the League.

If you read back you will see my first and main point had the word in large text.

BaZmO*

Tauren wrote: »

the fact he ran 20/30 yards and shoved past his own player to have a go,

That, along with the fact that Torres had just been booked for dissent was the reason why Masch got sent off. How stupid do you have to be to think that running over to ref to give him an earful just after he's booked someone for the same thing is a good idea? :rolleyes:
Although once he got his first booking I had a feeling that soon enough he'd get a second yellow.

Lex Luthor

United deserved the win today, but the ref ruined the match as a competition by sending Mascharano off. He was sent out there today to send a clear message to stamp out any dissent in a match that would be watched by all. Liverpool really never offered much going forward.

As for Ronaldo being praised....I didn't think he had a great game. He lost his marker for his header but he really didn't do much else. Reina may have been the fault for 1 of the goals, but if it wasn't for him, the score could have been worse. Rafa had his tactics wrong again today. This Liverpool team may have been doing well last few games but not against a team like Utd. He should have mixed it up and put Crouch on IMO. I would have also liked to have seen Riise at LM instead of Babel. Kuyt had his usual crap game but then again he's not a winger.

Spud83

Draw

I don't think Masch got sent off for that one incident. He got booked early on and showed descent after that booking. I remember at least two maybe three times between then and the sending off incident where Mash was having a word/go at the ref. Whatever about the incident in isolation, the ref can not let Masch keep having a go at him for 75/80 mins. He had been warned, he got warned again to walk away or he would be sent down the tunnel, he didn't walk away, and down the tunnel he goes.

He should have been told to stop by either his captain, or Carra.

Either way at this stage of the season it all about results. Chelsea and Utd got the result they wanted and can move on with renewed confidence.

Liverpool still need to watch Everton and you would think next week is a must win for them so the can concentrate on the champions league. Arsenal really need to pick themselves up and just get a win, any kind of win next week. If they don't pick up three points next week and Utd + Chelsea do then they will consider themselves out of it.

So grand slam Sunday decided nothing as expected, I expect the title to be decided when Utd travel to Chelsea.

Chong

Draw

For Feck sake the weekend is bleeding over do we have to keep discussing why Masch was sent off, why is Steve Bennett is a ****. Its bloody pointless, its as bad as Andy Gray over analysing everything after a game.

Man U won.
Liverpool lost.

Nuff said.

~Rebel~

Arsenal

Willstev wrote: »

For Feck sake the weekend is bleeding over do we have to keep discussing why Masch was sent off, why is Steve Bennett is a ****. Its bloody pointless, its as bad as Andy Gray over analysing everything after a game.

Man U won.
Liverpool lost.

Nuff said.

..its a thread about todays matches..in a soccer discussion forum...

Spud83

Draw

Willstev wrote: »

For Feck sake the weekend is bleeding over do we have to keep discussing why Masch was sent off, why is Steve Bennett is a ****. Its bloody pointless, its as bad as Andy Gray over analysing everything after a game.

Man U won.
Liverpool lost.

Nuff said.

Why visit a thread about todays matches if you don't want to discuss them. Other people do.

Chong

Draw

Good luck to your selves then.

astrofool

Willstev wrote: »

Good luck to your selves then.

I think this thread should have been locked till the matches started, then updated with the scores, then immediately closed tbh...

I don't know about the referee's trying to make a point, Mascherano's diatribe against the ref occurred throughout the half, and he already had a (deserved) yellow, I was amazed he lasted on the pitch so long, Rooney was sent off for less in the past. I don't know how Gerrard let it go on, a captain he is not, but then Liverpool appeared rudderless today, with Carra getting away with a penalty claim early on, and their only "chance" occurring when Torres got frustrated and tried to take on the whole Utd defence single handedly.

Bad times for the 'pool, at least Inter had the excuse they conceded after the sending off.

quarryman

Chelsea

i think the voting should be locked after the game has kicked off. hilarious that people actually vote after the game has ended. sad.

PHB

Chelsea

First off, we had the better of the game before the sending off, fully deserved their lead.

Overall, I felt United were poor. Fergie went defensive again, but it worked out ok. Anderson dropped deep providing United with that extra man in midfield which made the difference in terms of really controlling the game in the 1st half, but his attacking play was very poor. Still hasn't found his shooting boots.
The second Nani and Tevez came on, we were much better attacking. Overall United were poor though, beat Liverpool but due to a mistake by them, not due to our own good play. I don't like playing football this way to be honest, but I guess it worked out. Had the match stayed 11 v 11, I wouldn't have been surprised to draw it.

Ref was poor. Torres booking was a joke. Mascherano was an idiot.
First off, there is no doubt in my mind that Mascherano would have been sent off for persistant fouling. He had fouled 3 times since the yellow card, and was really walking a tightrope. He tried to do what Diarra did to us two weeks ago, but the ref wasn't allowing it.
Second, Mascherano was not booked for arguing about Torres' yellow card. He was booked a second time because this was at least the 3rd time he had questioned the refs decision since being booked. He was constantly arguing with the ref, and I don't think its surprising that the ref got fed up with him and booked him. Was probabaly harsh, but Mascherano was completely at fault, while the ref was only slightly at fault [I don't think he stamped his authority on the game]

Reina was bad today. United exploited what has always been his weakness, dealing with crosses. I do think he is very much overrated by Liverpool fans, I think his decision making isn't quite top class, but that said, that's gona come with times. Did do some great shot stopping tonight.

Ronaldo was poor today, very poor actually, but he got a goal in the end
Why in the world Alonso was marking our best header of the ball is beyond me.

Scholes was magical again. Nowhere near past it as some people have suggested.

That said, I'm very very happy
5 points ahead of Chelsea, 6 points ahead of Arsenal, 7 games left. 14 points ahead of Liverpool!

Would have liked a Chelsea draw today, but much better them win than Arsenal.

PHB

Chelsea

Oh, and a few more things, this is especially for people who compare United players to Liverpool players.

Carrick vs. Alonso
VDS vs. Reina
Carragher vs. Ferdinand
Kuyt vs. Tevez

Who won?

d22ontour

Draw

PHB wrote: »

First off, we had the better of the game before the sending off, fully deserved their lead.

Overall, I felt United were poor.

Before the sending off , United dominated the game tbh.I was weary of Giggs starting but United with 'that' system out-played the Pool from start to finish.Liverpool offered nothing in the game before/after the red card and only for some great saves from Reina it would have been a massive 5 or 6-0 hammering.How you can say United were poor after they negated Liverpools formation/tactics is bizarre to say the least.

16 times and counting.
18 times and standing still.

herbieflowers

wouldn't Man U fans like to see them go out with a 4-4-2 and win a match comprehensively? Against the big teams / CL matches Fergie seems to employ this silly negative system, why? Man U's 4-4-2 would destroy any team, especially at hoime when there's more of an onus on the home side.

RasTa

Draw

Just skiiming threw this thread whilst at the airport after the match, funny stuff indeed.
Just a few things to add

Torres who?

Oh and I'm liking this new Viva Ronaldo song, wonder if it came through on the tele.

Benett is a terrible ref, seems to have an ego but I thought he was blowing up far to often and it seemed to be in the pool's favour. Very poor preformance by your boys today esp Babel, Kuyt, Gerrard and that girly boy.

d22ontour

Draw

herbieflowers wrote: »

wouldn't Man U fans like to see them go out with a 4-4-2 and win a match comprehensively?

Only for some great saves from Reina this was as good a win as you could get.So many great chances created against a pretty formidable defensive team is as good as you could wish for.Beating a top team with a formation to negate their recent upsurge in form positively is a good thing.There was nothing in Uniteds formation that suggested it wasn't a positive formation imo.The only downer for me was Nani not starting ahead of Giggs and possibly Tevez but Scholes/Anderson midfield might be a bit soon for the kid.This could have easily have been the drubbing we dream of and for once i can't fault the formation/tactics as they worked as well as possible.

herbieflowers

Yeah I know but I was just thinking of Europe in particular, but yeah result is paramount, I'm just greedy

d22ontour

Draw

We all want a hammering in scoreline but today we gave one in performance.They were 2nd best to almost everything and offered nothing in attack.I couldn't ask for more considering the amount of goals Torres and Gerrard have scored to completely negate both of them from the game whilst scoring and creating numerous chances.

herbieflowers

it was a hammering in scoreline...

d22ontour

Draw

3-0 hmmm .

For me 5-0 or 6-0 would have shut a lot of peeps up about how close they think both teams are.Today was as good a chance of getting that scoreline considering the chances created against their inform team.They offered nothing over 90 minutes and only for Reina would have gotten the drubbing that would show the gulf but alas we will have to settle for 3-0 and the ref ruined our day for us cráp they spout 'though i did say Masch shouldn't have been sent off'.Dominated for 90 minutes and got away with a 3-0 defeat is as good as it gets.

Creamy Goodness

tbh getting three against a top four team is a hammering in my book.

jesus_thats_gre

Draw

PHB wrote: »

Oh, and a few more things, this is especially for people who compare United players to Liverpool players.

Carrick vs. Alonso
VDS vs. Reina
Carragher vs. Ferdinand
Kuyt vs. Tevez

1: Carrick today but he wasn't particularly special. Alonso also played in a 10 man team for 2/3rds of the match so would't have been able to play his normal game at all.

2: Reina saved about 10 certain goal but ****ed up countless times. He had the worst performance I have seen since he joined the club. VDS has little to do and made 1 little mistake iirc.

3: Never up for discussion. Rio has been alot better than Carra all season.

4: You are taking the piss even comparing them, aren't you?

jesus_thats_gre

Draw

d22ontour wrote: »

16 times and counting.
18 times and standing still.

Not won it for 20 years and still hold nearly every record that exist.
Dominated English football for 15 years and still trail in literally every record.




Don't be so childish. It can easily be countered and remember one thing, you will stop winning someday.