Manchester United V Sunderland

manutd · 03-10-2009 6:06pm

mike65 wrote: »

Utd to win 2-1. Bet on it.

+1 after Alec gives the hairdryer talk

Holsten · 03-10-2009 6:06pm

mike65 wrote: »

Utd to win 2-1. Bet on it.

Only 2? But yeah, your money would be safe enough with a manc win.

Thanx 4 The Fish · 03-10-2009 6:07pm

Jesus, if Jones was alive to that it's a goal.

Looked more shoulder than hand to me too but I have seen them given when a ref is slightly unsighted.

SantryRed · 03-10-2009 6:07pm

Fair play to Andy Reid. He really has gotten in to shape, as was shown there with his tracking back, even if it did hit his arm

Raskolnikov · 03-10-2009 6:07pm

Bent nearly!

Sunderland look very, very good.

Bobalicious93 · 03-10-2009 6:08pm

Reid handball.

Should have been a pen

Theresalwaysone · 03-10-2009 6:08pm

UGH NANI IS SUCH A RETARD.

Im sure someone will come on and try an defend him at some stage. But to preemp that, you are wrong.

Harpy · 03-10-2009 6:08pm

Thanx 4 The Fish wrote: »

Fletcher looks up for it, can see him doing something in the game. Evans is looking decent too.

Is O' Shea worried about his coming boards interview? He seems to be a little nervous today.

i have him at 33-1 to score a goal and get booked..

Sherifu · 03-10-2009 6:08pm

Fergie has great eyesight, bless him.

Raskolnikov · 03-10-2009 6:09pm

United not pressing at all.

Thanx 4 The Fish · 03-10-2009 6:09pm

Looked like shoulder bob but the decision is gone now, rooney could have been yellowed there too.

03-10-2009 6:10pm

Thanx 4 The Fish wrote: »

Jesus, if Jones was alive to that it's a goal.

Looked more shoulder than hand to me too but I have seen them given when a ref is slightly unsighted.

concentrating too much on his music

SantryRed · 03-10-2009 6:10pm

That commentator needs to grow a pair.

''Wayne Rooney was naughty there''

Naughty? Is he five?

Holsten · 03-10-2009 6:10pm

Rooney dirty on Reid.

Raskolnikov · 03-10-2009 6:12pm

As bad as Nani has been, Wellbeck looks out of his depth to be honest.

SlickRic · 03-10-2009 6:12pm

rooney acts like such a child.

scholes is waaaaaaayyyy off the pace.

well played sunderland. not scared to keep the ball, which is refreshing to see at OT.

Thanx 4 The Fish · 03-10-2009 6:12pm

Richardson wants to be careful now, on a yellow and throwing himself around is v risky, particularly at OT.

Bobalicious93 · 03-10-2009 6:13pm

This is incredibly frustrating. I'm all for giving players time to settle/develop/prove themselves, but Nani just doesn't seem to have the footballing brain to play for United.

Raskolnikov · 03-10-2009 6:15pm

Bobalicious93 wrote: »

This is incredibly frustrating. I'm all for giving players time to settle/develop/prove themselves, but Nani just doesn't seem to have the footballing brain to play for United.

At least Park will give you everything.

Evra been United's best player.

SlickRic · 03-10-2009 6:15pm

cattermole and malbranque have been brilliant so far.

Thanx 4 The Fish · 03-10-2009 6:16pm

Raskolnikov wrote: »

At least Park will give you everything.

Evra been United's best player.

Was just going to say the same thing. At least he looks interested.

manutd · 03-10-2009 6:16pm

Bobalicious93 wrote: »

This is incredibly frustrating. I'm all for giving players time to settle/develop/prove themselves, but Nani just doesn't seem to have the footballing brain to play for United.

But who is there to put on??? No Giggs, Anderson, Carrick and Valenia on subs.

manutd · 03-10-2009 6:17pm

Thanx 4 The Fish wrote: »

Was just going to say the same thing. At least he looks interested.

+1 Best player on pitch.

SantryRed · 03-10-2009 6:17pm

Evra was all over Malbranque there.

Thanx 4 The Fish · 03-10-2009 6:18pm

Jesus, in real time that looked like it could have been given. Need a replay but could it have been a pen?

Holsten · 03-10-2009 6:18pm

This is leading up to a dodgy get out of jail peno for united.

ShaneU · 03-10-2009 6:18pm

united are really lacking a creative force in midfield, WHERE THE HELL IS GIGGS?

SantryRed · 03-10-2009 6:19pm

Thanx 4 The Fish wrote: »

Jesus, in real time that looked like it could have been given. Need a replay but could it have been a pen?

He was defo outside of the box.

OPENROAD · 03-10-2009 6:19pm

boos around OT at half time.

Bobalicious93 · 03-10-2009 6:19pm

Richardson has surprised me. Looks pretty solid at left-back.

Then again, he is up against Nani

Thanx 4 The Fish · 03-10-2009 6:20pm

SantryRed wrote: »

He was defo outside of the box.

Was he, fair enough, it went very quickly and could not tell.

SantryRed · 03-10-2009 6:20pm

Carrick needs to come on, inject some passing into United's midfield because Scholes has been awful. Wellbeck for Valencia too probably.

Raskolnikov · 03-10-2009 6:20pm

That was a really stinker from United.

Sunderland have been excellent and frankly deserve the lead.

SK1979 · 03-10-2009 6:20pm

Get Nani, Scholes and Wellbeck off at HT. Ando, carrick and valencia on.

Evra and Fletch have been ok in the 1st half, rest shocking!

Sunderland v good, our only hope is that the game is so open but we'll have to play so much better to get anything else we'll concede again.

Harpy · 03-10-2009 6:21pm

ShaneU wrote: »

united are really lacking a creative force in midfield, WHERE THE HELL IS GIGGS?

up in the stands chatting to hargreaves.. unfortunatley giggs can't play constantly.

MagicMarker · 03-10-2009 6:22pm

Why Giggs isn't on the bench is beyond me, he's been responsible for most of Utds goals this season ffs!!

redzerdrog · 03-10-2009 6:22pm

well impressed with how sunderland are playing they are not afraid to play some ball

Necronomicon · 03-10-2009 6:22pm

That was horrendous. That attempted free kick at the end really summed up how the first half has been. Not a single shot on target, ffs.

Gutted that Giggs is on the bench with the form he's been in. I know he played 90 during the week, but I'm sure he could've made an appearance on the bench at least.

dcr22B · 03-10-2009 6:22pm

Could this simply be a bit of arrogance from SAF knowing that Sunderland are no great shakes away from home so far this season, he decided to field an understrength side for the game and it's coming back to bite him in the tail!

Nani should be sold in January, he is truly useless.

Theresalwaysone · 03-10-2009 6:22pm

Its games like this where I wish United had a real combative midfielder, one who can get his foot on the ball and get things moving.

What a terrible, terrible performance. I really dont understand how Fergie keeps his faith in Nani, patience has to be running thin now.

SlickRic · 03-10-2009 6:23pm

if i was utd, anderson and valencia have to come on now.

anderson for scholes and valencia for nani, or even welbeck whose looked out of his depth.

this is as lethargic as i've seen utd, it's great

evra easily utd's best player so far; maybe followed by o'shea.

sunderland just need to be wary of a utd onslaught and keep doing what they were doing - high energy in the middle of the park, and no fear in keeping the ball.

Podge2k7 · 03-10-2009 6:23pm

HT 1-0 to Sunderland.

Hopefully Cattermole can get on the scoresheet in the 2nd, for FF reasons.

Theresalwaysone · 03-10-2009 6:24pm

People also shouldnt be overlooking Evans, he has been very good today imo.

Headshot · 03-10-2009 6:25pm

Nani

lol

how fergie keeps playing him is beyond me...

hell tosic would put in a better performance than that utter waster

Jimmy Iovine · 03-10-2009 6:25pm

SK1979 wrote: »

Get Nani, Scholes and Wellbeck off at HT. Ando, carrick and valencia on.

Evra and Fletch have been ok in the 1st half, rest shocking!

Sunderland v good, our only hope is that the game is so open but we'll have to play so much better to get anything else we'll concede again.

It's not as simple as that. The players you mentioned rely on the movement of the forwards and it doesn't seem to be happening. Rooney is drifting out onto the wing again which is never a good thing. The players need to pull the finger out and take a hold of the second half and get passing like they are able to do

niallk · 03-10-2009 6:25pm

I know the standard on the whole has been terrible from United but I paid attention to Nani for the whole half just to see what kind of ball retentoin stats he'd have. Here are the results:

Nani had comfortable possession of the ball at his feet 32 times:
10 times he made a simple lay-off pass.
2 times he won a soft free kick when he looked like losing possesion.
20 times he gave away possession.

Make of that what you will. Again, I know there's a lot of players playing terribly but this wouldn't even strike me as a particularly poor performance from Nani. He consistent mediocrity makes these kind of figures acceptable.

manutd · 03-10-2009 6:26pm

SK1979 wrote: »

Get Nani, Scholes and Wellbeck off at HT. Ando, carrick and valencia on.

Evra and Fletch have been ok in the 1st half, rest shocking!

Sunderland v good, our only hope is that the game is so open but we'll have to play so much better to get anything else we'll concede again.

Ando, carrick and valencia should off started, Alec seems to think Nani will just impove with games, he is going backward, why did Welbeck start.

Eire-Dearg · 03-10-2009 6:27pm

Sunderland have done very well, soaking up the pressure in defense. Barsdley and Turner have been superb.

Thought it was poor from Fergie to start Nani and Welbeck ahead of an on form Giggs, and even Valencia.

Sunderland need another goal to take some pressure off.

Iago · 03-10-2009 6:27pm

Thanx 4 The Fish wrote: »

Jesus, in real time that looked like it could have been given. Need a replay but could it have been a pen?

Nah it was outside the box. Think it should have been a free though.

The problem for United (imo) is that for all their vaunted "squad depth" they actually have very few genuinely world class players, on the pitch today there's Rooney and a decent argument to be made for Vidic and Evra, and that's about it. In the squad you could argue a case for Ferdinand, maybe, but you're struggling after that.

Scholes, Giggs & VDS are all on the downhill part of their career and after them it's really just players that have industry and put themselves about the place or those that have potential that they are nowhere near realising. What saves United is that there's no team in the league that is significantly better off in terms of their squad members but when you have a team full of industrious but simply good, or even very good, players that come up against another decent team that are willing to harry and play against you then there's very little chance to dominate.

Previous United teams were better in almost every position than the opposition but that just isn't the case anymore, so it's no real surprise that there have been a rake of games where they've conceded first and come back or even lost and drawn games that logically you would think they should win.

Foster, O'Shea, Evans, Nani, Fletcher, Welbeck, Berbatov are all good players, but if they were all up for sale tomorrow it wouldn't be the leading teams in Europe trying to buy them. So it's no real surprise that a team made up of them aren't dominating a team that is actually pretty good by premiership standards.

I had a nice bet on Sunderland to finish in the top 10 of the league before the season started, and player for player there isn't a huge difference between the two teams at the moment.

SantryRed · 03-10-2009 6:28pm

You just know United are going to win 2-1.

Manchester United V Sunderland

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