Inter Milan v Manchester United Match Thread 24th Feb 09

Tom65

I think we deserved to win. Inter had a good spell at the beginning of the second half, but we were all over them in the first. I hope that doesn't come back to haunt us.

I think Fergie got the team selection and tactics down pretty well. Maybe Rooney instead of Berbatov, because Berbatov pretty much disappeared in that match.

Villain

D.S. wrote: »

I have a problem with this "infinitely" better...better on the night, no doubt. Better player overall. Probably. But "infinitely" better to suggest a massive gulf in class between two world class strikers???? Yes, I think he is having a laugh..

Ah I agree he isn't miles ahead of Berbatov but he is better imo.

I really think SAF was afraid of the Special One, that game was there for the taken, if he had brought Rooney on at half time I'm sure Utd would have at least got an away goal

titan18

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

I have seen him in about 20 matches I reckon and while there is no doubting that he is a quality player, the plaudits that he gets are drasitically exadurated.

Even if he plays as well as you say, it is in a league that is at an all time low in terms of quality where the team that is leading said league by 9 points are being outplayed at home by an under strenght United team. Considering you mentioned the Liverpool game, it is more of the same by Inter Milan.

Again, he is a very good player but not deserving of the largest salary in profession football.. Far from deserving it actually.

Sorry, I just don't subscribe to anything that you have said about him, Inter of Italian football at the moment on this thread.

Inter weren't outplayed by United tonight.Not even close to being imo.Game was even over the 90 minutes.

He's miles better than Berbatov, I watch Inter every week, and I can say that Ibra is better than Berbatov

Bubs101

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

I have seen him in about 20 matches I reckon and while there is no doubting that he is a quality player, the plaudits that he gets are drasitically exadurated.

Even if he plays as well as you say, it is in a league that is at an all time low in terms of quality where the team that is leading said league by 9 points are being outplayed at home by an under strenght United team. Considering you mentioned the Liverpool game, it is more of the same by Inter Milan.

Again, he is a very good player but not deserving of the largest salary in profession football.. Far from deserving it actually.

For one, the quality in the Italian league is higher than the Premiership. Maybe not the top 4 but once you get below that it's far far stronger. Secondly, Ibra gets enough goals to justify playing up front and is such a wildcard he offers something nobody else can. Can smash the ball like Hasselbaink, can control it like Zola, comes up with utter genius passes and is strong. Don't see the negatives

Headshot

titan18 wrote: »

Inter weren't outplayed by United tonight.

He's miles better than Berbatov, I watch Inter every week, and I can say that Ibra is better than Berbato

but Ibra is in a ****e league

titan18

Headshot wrote: »

but Ibra is in a ****e league

Do you even watch Serie A, cos that is pure crap tbh.Bubs post above this sums it up

ntlbell

really frustrated we didn't get a goal with so many good chances in the first half and as alex said i hope it doesn't come and bite us in the back side at old trafford

really would have liked to see scholes come on and rooney to be brought on much earlier

:mad::mad:

Mr. Presentable

PHB wrote: »

Ref pissed me off to be honest,

Me too. He let C Ronaldo and Carrick both dive, a blatant handball go, and called a pivotal bad offside. I wouldn't complain if I were you.

Paul Tergat

lol at this stupid ibra is god type crap! ran the second half? what rubbish

Inter looked totally non threatening.

We were by far the better side first half and second was even. Utd deserved to win of the 2 teams but I was happy with a draw before the game.

They're there for the taking at OT.

Raskolnikov

Ibrahimovic was one of the few Inter players that did well tonight. Overall though, Inter were outplayed. Zanetti simply didn't cut it in central midfield. Muntari was in the horrors for most of the night. Chivu was made look like a mug so many times it's ridiculous. While Adriano still shows glimpses of skill, he's simply not fit and has lost his pace and passion for the game.

Like I said earlier, Ferguson will have seen 0-0 a job done. Roll on Old Trafford and a full strength United team. Inter will be destroyed again.

eZe^

Headshot wrote: »

but Ibra is in a ****e league

Lols, and I suppose you'd agree with Andy Gray and Richard Keys that Del Piero has been learning from Ronaldo's free kick technique recently and that's why he's been belting them in... :pac:

Belittling an entire league just because you think a particular player is overrated is pretty pathetic. Fair enough if you don't like Serie A, but to call the entire league sh*te is ridiculous. I think Ibrahimovic is better than Berbatov in absolutely every facet of the game, but that doesn't mean I don't think Berbatov is good, and I'm not going to say something as stupid as the EPL is a bad quality league.

Adriano frustrated me at times, why the fcuk was his back to goal everytime a ball came into him in the box. ARGGH, lol @ Muntari and Chivu though, and I really rated Chivu a few seasons ago at Roma.

titan18

p_larkin99 wrote: »

lol at this stupid ibra is god type crap! ran the second half? what rubbish

Inter looked totally non threatening.

We were by far the better side first half and second was even. Utd deserved to win of the 2 teams but I was happy with a draw before the game.

They're there for the taking at OT.

Can you explain how United were by far the better side in the first half

PHB

p.s. the goalie was amazing

Boggles

Inter were their for the taking, Ferguson should have been braver, that said the side he put out should have taken 1 or 2 chances.

I knew the gulf in class would be appartent but I thought it would have been saved for a fortnights time, Inter really are poor compared to a United side that were playing an alien formation with key players rested/missing.

As for the people on here saying Ibrahimovic is infinately better than Berbatov, I wonder sometimes to be honest. On tonights game Berba was playing up top on his own, the only time Ibra got the ball was out left where there was a double tag on O'Shea from Ronaldo not coming back, and he still managed to do féck all with it.

I stand by my statement a few days ago, there is not one player in that Inter team that would come anywhere near making the United 11.

With Vidic back in a fornight and Ferguson hopefully playing 2 up front, United will march through 3-4 goals to the good.

Some good performances tonight, score line is a bummer, but could be worse.

PHB

p.p.s. In talking about Fergie's side selection, it's understandable for Fergie to go defensiveish considering the fact we were playing with a much weakened defence I guess.

Raskolnikov

titan18 wrote: »

Can you explain how United were by far the better side in the first half

Were you even watching the match? :eek:

Inter didn't have a single shot on goal! United had several chances and carved Inter open several times.

ntlbell

titan18 wrote: »

Can you explain how United were by far the better side in the first half

they passed inter off the park created an abundance of chances could of been 0-3 up after 20 minutes inter did nothing in the final 3rd and van der sar barley touched the ball in the first half

can you explain why united were not far better in the first half?

all ears..

raven136

United probably deserved it a little more than Inter but other than the first 20mins Inter were in it.
Its not a fantastic result for United but should be enough to see them through.

A sneaky goal in the early stages at Old Trafford changes everything.

Muntari was terrible mind you.

Mr. Presentable

Boggles wrote: »

Inter were their for the taking, Ferguson should have been braver, that said the side he put out should have taken 1 or 2 chances.

I knew the gulf in class would be appartent but I thought it would have been saved for a fortnights time, Inter really are poor compared to a United side that were playing an alien formation with key players rested/missing.

As for the people on here saying Ibrahimovic is infinately better than Berbatov, I wonder sometimes to be honest. On tonights game Berba was playing up top on his own, the only time Ibra got the ball was out left where there was a double tag on O'Shea from Ronaldo not coming back, and he still managed to do féck all with it.

I stand by my statement a few days ago, there is not one player in that Inter team that would come anywhere near making the United 11.

With Vidic back in a fornight and Ferguson hopefully playing 2 up front, United will march through 3-4 goals to the good.

Some good performances tonight, score line is a bummer, but could be worse.

While I agree with much of your post, Stankovic, Cambiasso, Cesar, Maicon and Ibrahimovic would all improve the Man U 11.

Villain

Boggles wrote: »

I stand by my statement a few days ago, there is not one player in that Inter team that would come anywhere near making the United 11.

Ibrahimovic would make it imo and Cesar also, I know VDS has got a great record but I think Cesar would get my nod

redout

Boggles wrote: »

With Vidic back in a fornight and Ferguson hopefully playing 2 up front, United will march through 3-4 goals to the good.

.

Fuvk me Boggles thats a bit optimistic. United to win but not by 3-4 I wouldnt have thought.

ROCKMAN

What a wasted chance!
A very dangerous result ,
However could not believe Inter where so average , Yes Rooney should have brought on earlier, God I hope we don't regret those missed chances.

If this Inter turns up at OT in two weeks and cannot see anything but Utd going through

Boggles

redout wrote: »

Fuvk me Boggles thats a bit optimistic. United to win but not by 3-4 I wouldnt have thought.

If Ferguson was braver tonight they would have won by 3-4.

eZe^

Thought the game was pretty 50:50 over the 90 minutes, maybe 60:40 in favour of United, but a draw was a fair result. Advantage is no doubt with Utd considering the return of Vidic and OT, but 0-0 is always a very dangerous scoreline.

titan18

ntlbell wrote: »

they passed inter off the park created an abundance of chances could of been 0-3 up after 20 minutes inter did nothing in the final 3rd and van der sar barley touched the ball in the first half

can you explain why united were not far better in the first half?

all ears..

Inter had more possession than United in both halves.

Outside of Giggs chance, United didnt actaully threaten Cesar, some Ronaldo free kicks and a Berbatov header was the rest on target

United didnt get that much shots on target in the whole match.

I'm a United fan btw

Bubs101

Villain wrote: »

Ibrahimovic would make it imo and Cesar also, I know VDS has got a great record but I think Cesar would get my nod

Ibra, Cesar, Cambiasso and Maicon would definitely make it

Paul Tergat

Can you explain how United were by far the better side in the first half

ntlbell wrote: »

they passed inter off the park created an abundance of chances could of been 0-3 up after 20 minutes inter did nothing in the final 3rd and van der sar barley touched the ball in the first half

can you explain why united were not far better in the first half?

all ears..

this pretty much


im actually gutted we didnt grab a goal in the first half because i think we'd have gone on to get another one or two (counter attacking, with them coming at us more)

inter did NOTHING in the first half. VDS was a virtual spectator.

redout

Mourinho is no doubt going to setup to play defence and try sneak one on the counter but with Rooney and Scholes we will be too much for them.

Boggles

titan18 wrote: »

Inter had more possession than United in both halves.

Outside of Giggs chance, United didnt actaully threaten Cesar, some Ronaldo free kicks and a Berbatov header.

United didnt get that much shots on target in the whole match.

Jaysus mate, whatever about the second half, United blew them away in the first half, if you couldn't see that you must have been looking at the back of your telly.

redout

Ferdinand was a bit shakey tonight on occasions, thank christ Vidic is coming back to restore order.

titan18

titan18 wrote: »

Can you explain how United were by far the better side in the first half

LOL

Do you actually need someone to explain that to ya??

Read this.
:rolleyes:


Disappointed with tonights result. Should have put the tie to bed before half time. Dominated the first half with a fast paced game but then slowed down and let Inter into the game way too much in the second half. For periods of the 1st half Inter couldn't get out of their half.

Rooney and Tevez should play at OT. I don't think Inter can hang with United in a fast paced game.

Also, Rooneys booking was laughable. He went in studs-down AND won the ball and then nearly get minced by Cordoba. :mad:

Raskolnikov

titan18 wrote: »

Inter had more possession than United in both halves.

Outside of Giggs chance, United didnt actaully threaten Cesar, some Ronaldo free kicks and a Berbatov header was the rest on target

United didnt get that much shots on target in the whole match.

Seriously man, are you sure you were watching the right game tonight?

Some selected statistics

Shots on goal
United - 5
Inter - 0

Possession
United - 50%
Inter - 50%

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/gamecast?id=260511&page=stats&cc=5739

besty

redout wrote: »

Mourinho is no doubt going to setup to play defence and try sneak one on the counter but with Rooney and Scholes we will be too much for them.

Don't forget Vidic.

We could have taken the game tonight and I thought Rooney should have been introduced earlier to try and stretch them on the break. There was a marked difference in our approach in both halves. I thought we lost impetus in the fact that Carrick didn't come forward nearly as much in the second 45. This stifled our momentum and we struggled to create anything incisive in the second half.

With that said, it's a good result and I think with a full strength side back in OT we will have too much ammunition. Still, 0-0 is a nervy enough result but one I probably would have taken beforehand.

Call Me Jimmy

PHB wrote: »

p.p.s. In talking about Fergie's side selection, it's understandable for Fergie to go defensiveish considering the fact we were playing with a much weakened defence I guess.

Why place more emphasis on something when it's weakened? Sure ye can spin it and say if ye don't get the rest of the team of to play defensively, then the weakened back four are exposed. Or ye could say the player of the year, wayne rooney, carlos teves and paul scholes etc. could actually score some goals and put the pressure on them to do it rather than pressure the weakened defense to hold on?

titan18

Raskolnikov wrote: »

Seriously man, are you sure you were watching the right game tonight?

Some selected statistics

Shots on goal
United - 5
Inter - 0

Possession
United - 50%
Inter - 50%

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/gamecast?id=260511&page=stats&cc=5739

Officialy, Inter had 2 shots on target and shaded United in possession.

Also, Ibra was 1 on 1 with VDS except for a bad offside call, and Cambiasso should have scored.

besty

titan18 wrote: »

Officialy, Inter had 2 shots on target and shaded United in possession.

Also, Ibra was 1 on 1 with VDS except for a bad offside call, and Cambiasso should have scored.

Well if you're going to nitpick like that, Giggs should have scored his one on one and Berbatov was called offside a couple of times which were touch and go.

Quoting endless stats doesn't necessarily back up what happened on the pitch either.It's what you do with your percentage of possession that counts.

jesus_thats_gre

Am I right in thinking that this was a full strength Inter Milan team playing at home, in the San Siro, and managed by the Mourinhio who has the better of AF?

MrPillowTalk

United were by far the best team tonight anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool.

Excellent performance considering the personell, super team display.

Boggles

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Am I right in thinking that this was a full strength Inter Milan team playing at home, in the San Siro, and managed by the Mourinhio who has the better of AF?

They were missing a Sameul at CB.

jesus_thats_gre

Boggles wrote: »

They were missing a Sameul at CB.

Ah, that explains the performance so

D.S.

It's going to be a nailbiting second leg...Mourinho knows what to expect from United now so he will have his side playing a lot differently....while all United know is how bad Inter can play, and haven't seen how good they can be yet..

On the plus side for United, Vidic will be back plus maybe brown/neville. I'd expect Rooney to play, maybe even at the expense of Berba.

BTW, I thought Giggs was v good again tonight.

Boggles

besty wrote: »

Don't forget Vidic.

We could have taken the game tonight and I thought Rooney should have been introduced earlier to try and stretch them on the break. There was a marked difference in our approach in both halves. I thought we lost impetus in the fact that Carrick didn't come forward nearly as much in the second 45. This stifled our momentum and we struggled to create anything incisive in the second half.

Ferguson pushed Giggs forward in the second half, Carrick lost the license to roam forward.

Oh I would just like to add Evra is a fúckíng superb footballer, he is a joy and a half to watch.

titan18

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Ah, that explains the performance so

He's better than Rivas or Cordoba tbh.He's a very good cb.

Mitch Connor

MrPillowTalk wrote: »

United were by far the best team tonight anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool.

Excellent performance considering the personell, super team display.

Only two players were really missing - a right back and Vidic. The midfield and forwards were fine. To be honest, i'm disappointed. Our inability to finish has cost us, it was bound to happen given how poor we have been in front of goal this season.

Going to be a very tough game in two weeks; a 0-0 draw tonight suits Inter a lot more than it suits United. United HAVE to win at OT now, a draw will be enough for Inter. I'd still make Inter favourites for the tie, we needed to score tonight.

Dave!

Also disappointed that Rooney didn't make an appearance sooner... Subs are usually made at 65 mins, dunno why it was left so late tonight.

Anyway, happy enough with the draw, the team played well, and I reckon Inter are beatable in Old Trafford. Their defense was quite suspect.

United's defence was very good, and the Inter keeper was excellent. Does Ibra usually play on the left like that? He seemed to always sending it in for Adriano or someone else when I woulda thought cos of his size he'd be the target man.

Quint

What's the point in the "shots on target" stat? A few people are quoting it in this thread, the 3 lads in the studio kept going on about it. It's the most useless stat! If you want to talk about shots, total shots if much more fair.


I'm not a fan of either teams btw, in fact I really really hate inter and hope to see them go out.

MisterAnarchy

Boggles wrote: »

If Ferguson was braver tonight they would have won by 3-4.

Ever since Real Madrid hammered Utd at the Bernabeu about 8 years ago Ferguson has been ultra cautious away from home.
He is so afraid of losing that he plays too defensively.
Fortune favours the brave.
It was a lost opportunity tonight ,tie should be over.

Headshot

utd were playing with 4 players that we'll probly wont see for the 2nd leg (excluding injuries)

which tells alot

id be very confident for the 2nd leg

if as i expect Fergie will bring out the big guns

we'll see a whole different team

btw Fergie said that "evans was limping at the end"
so hopefully he'll be ok

Bubs101

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Ah, that explains the performance so

What performance. They had the best chance of the game and drew 0-0 with the European champions.The ref and the linesman took at least 1 goal away from them, potentially two if you think it was a penalty. Not a bad performance by any means

Dave, as for Ibra he can kind of just do whatever he wants. He tends to roam around looking for the ball. He's far more effective with his feet than in the air so he's not a target man (he could play that role but he's a bit too skilful for it). Adriano on the other hand is very very strong so he's a decent target