Tag Archive for 'anderson'

Manchester United 1 Lyon 0

Published by
Paul
at March 5, 2008 in Manchester United. 2 Comments

Manchester United 1 (Ronaldo 41) Lyon 0

That boy Ronaldo, he scored again. For the 30th time this season, to be precise.  It was enough to make the last 10 minutes a little tense instead of unbearably unwatchable.

Shortly before half time, Wes Brown put in an excellent cross, from which Anderson’s cross was blocked but Ronaldo pounced on the loose ball, make space and finished far too hard for Coupet to get to.

This wasn’t the best game there ever was, but this was as much Lyon’s fault as much as United’s.  For all the hype of Benzema, Lyon didn’t threaten enough.  This was despite Alex Ferguson’s very odd midfield selection of Anderson, Carrick and Fletcher.  With Ronaldo and Nani on the wings; this just didn’t work.  Anderson, despite not having his best game was the most effective, inventive of the three.  Fletcher and Carrick was anonymous for most parts of the game.  Ronaldo and Nani, whilst providing pace were too wasteful when in possession.  Rooney did sterling work up front but was isolated until Tevez came on.  The saving grace was the defence, solid and dependable, all of them.

Lyon ended the game with four strikers but it was telling that United had far more chances to score once Tevez came on.  Both Rooney and Ronaldo missed good chances to finish the game, whilst at the other end Leita hit the post with a shot that beat Van Der Sar.

United move onto the quarter finals and a possible meeting with Arsenal who knocked out AC Milan, beating the holders 2-0 in the San Siro.

Image Ronaldo, originally uploaded by chuffy

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United’s midfield is stronger than the 99 team

Published by
Paul
at March 2, 2008 in Articles. 2 Comments

Scott the Red points out that Fergie is a bit sentimental after all

Sir Alex Ferguson has today said that despite not naturally being a sentimental man, he will certainly be starting Paul Scholes if United make it to the Champions League final again this season.

It’s interesting to note that United’s midfield in 99 picked itself. Scholes, Keane, Giggs and Beckham and there was very little in reserve. Now, you can’t name United’s best midfield with the exception of Ronaldo. One week Anderson is being brilliant, the next Scholes is back and is just as good. Should you pick the experience of Giggs or the youth of Nani?

Perhaps Fergie is right and this squad is better than the 99 team and will prove it in the Champions League this season. Both Scholes and Keane picked up bookings in the 2nd leg of the Semi Final against Juventus and whilst there is no one player in the side as important as Roy Keane was, you can imagine that a key midfielder in danger of missing the final would be rested in the 2nd leg.

If Scholes was a booking away from suspension, he wouldn’t start that second leg game and you’d know that Anderson would do a good job in his place. The exception to this, in midfield at least is Ronaldo who can usually be relied on not to pick up a stupid booking.

The midfield in the exception. Everyone knows the first choice keeper and defence. With Neville still injured Brown, Vidic, Ferdinand and Evra pick themselves for all but the easiest of games. Up front Rooney’s name would always be on the team sheet and when United play 4-4-2, Tevez will be alongside him.

The midfield is where you need to be fittest and it is going to be a key department in the league run in this season. Whilst Fabregas and Flamini will have played virtually every game for Arsenal; Scholes, Hargreaves, Anderson, Carrick and even Fletcher will have played a rotating role and be fit and fresh til the end of the season.

Last season United limped over the line in first place in the title run in and ran out of steam in the Champions League semi and FA Cup final. This season, I’m sure it won’t be a problem

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Arsenal 5th Round Cup preview

Published by
Paul
at February 15, 2008 in Previews. 0 Comments

Due to a calendar malfunction, I’ll be away for this game.  I forgot to add the FA Cup tie dates into my diary.  I’m concentrating on the league and europe this season, ok?  Anyway, hopefully I’ll be able to find a TV screen in a pub or something up in Edinburgh to watch the game.  However, the omens are not good, on my previous visit to Edinburgh on a stag do, I watched Arsenal clinch the 98 title.  Amongst others, Tony Adams scored a cracker against Everton and I knew it was all over for that season.  Might have been earlier that 98, come to think of it, but I don’t tend to remember the seasons when Arsenal won the league.  I don’t remember too much of that stag do either, but that’s another matter.

Speaking of boozing, on a completely unrelated note, honestly, it’s sad to see Bryan Robson got relieved of his duties at Sheffield United.  Captain Fantastic was once down as a future United manager, but surely his career as a manager must be over now.

FA Cup 5th round and United are at home to Arsenal.  After the last two poor performances, United get back to form otherwise the Gunners will knock us out.  Having thought about the derby defeat, aside from missing Rooney the main problem was that United had nothing at all in midfield.  Ronaldo, Nani and Giggs cannot play in the same team at the same time.  Scholes and Anderson didn’t work as a central midfield pairing.  Scholes and Carrick we know works.  Hargreaves and Anderson works.  I think Scholes and Hargreaves would work as well and that would be my first choice for the remainder of this season and long time for Anderson to replace Scholes.

Tevez needs to play alongside someone.  Dunne and Richards totally bossed him, which I don’t think would be the case if Rooney had played.  So we lost out in midfield and up front.  Oh, and our defence had a shocker too.  We were lucky it was only 2-1 in retrospect.

Let’s hope for better against Arsenal and we’ll scrape through to the 6th round and dent Arsenal’s confidence in the process.

Any other United fans have a heart attack when they read about Ronaldo being out for 9 months and possibly having a career ending injury?  I breathed a lot easier when the news sites altered the headlines to “Milan’s Ronaldo ….”

And finally, what are the copycats at Liverpool up to?  Only starting an AFC Liverpool.   Now, forgive me if I’m wrong but didn’t the Anfield mob initially welcome their American owners with open arms?  It doesn’t look good when you then say “oh, but it turns out they are shite so we’ll bugger off”.  At least FC United were opposed to Glazer from the start.  I used to own a piece of Manchester United, but the Glazers took it against my will.

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