I have always prided myself on being almost the antithesis of a red-tinted United supporter; one who constantly replaces gloating ignorance fuelled by the success of the past with genuine realism and understanding of the current game.
I will always maintain a respect for our past achievements and the clubs stature, but this will never – and should never – interfere with my perspective or analysis at our current state.
As a result however, I have been criticised all too often about my somewhat negative, defeatist attitude towards United this season; being constantly told to ‘calm the f**k down’ and being thrown a tirade of statistics regarding our goalscoring record and points this season against last seasons.
Nearly every time I have seen United this year (except for our one brilliant performance at White Hart Lane and of course the Manc derby, which was magical) I have written about our ineffectual, lethargic style and inability to propel into a unique gear that will kill teams off; only for my opinions to be merely brushed aside, told to shhh and sit back down, as those wise old footballing wizards inform me that there is no problem whatsoever – we definitely do not need to spend any money to replace the best player in the world – as we are doing, ahem, so well.
On Saturday, we were utterly outplayed and even outsmarted at Craven Cottage in a shocking performance that will hopefully alert every supporter of our underlying problems that go beyond naïve arguments such as ‘technically we’re not missing Ronaldo’s goals etc etc’.
To be honest I can’t even be bothered to talk about the sickening performance as I’m that pissed off, but I will if only to vent my anger at the performance and to give an ‘I told you so’ type rant at those overly confident fools who are too blind to see how low our performances have gotten (and if I hear one more piece of bull sh*t about ‘oh but blah blah blah we’re still whatever points better off than we were this time last season’ I will literally start supporting one the fad teams of the season, like Sunderland).
Actually, you know what? I don’t think I can be bothered! The horribly incorrect team selection – regardless of who we had/didn’t have available to us – and the consequent diabolical display of football we pulled off barely warrants comment.
Owen and Rooney were crap up-front, barely able to touch their defence, let alone create an opening; Scholes gave one of his most shambolic, mistake-ridden performances; Anderson looked lost in the centre and lost possession – as did the entire team – too easily; and even Evra was ineffective.
Ok, that’s ALL the analysis I’m going to give! As apart from anything, any further attack on our performance will take credit away from Fulham, who, unlike us, had their tactics spot-on from kick-off.
Scholes, who's horrific display was even worst than last season's at Craven Cottage; where he was sent off after 18 minutes!
Scholes, whose horrific display was even worst than last season’s at Craven Cottage; where he was sent off after 18 minutes!
As for the effect of the result, it is again barely worth a mention as I will be repeating my self for the thousandth time. The top four teams are in serious danger of dismantling; not just with Liverpool’s residing to a Europa Cup spot, but the general drop in overall standard at the top – highlighted by the ease in which every team in the league is liable to dropping points.
For Chelsea’s poor efforts over their past few games, they should not be sitting as comfortably at the top as they are; but they are, due to complacency from the teams directly below them (United and Arsenal). The reason for this is that the teams below us have all improved, where as we -the ‘acclaimed’ Top 4 – have not.
Dropping points to these second tier teams therefore is more than ever a probability rather than a possibility, so for teams like United to line-up against the threatening Fulham at Craven Cottage without Berbatov (fit but stupidly on the bench) and only 3 defenders – well, technically only 1 proper defender – is embarrassing on us at the low levels of respect we have shown them.
As a result therefore, Fulham deservedly embarrassed us; leaving us 3 points behind the leaders with Chelsea having a game in hand. As it was (probably to be expected seeing that dropping points is clearly the ‘IN’ thing to do the season), Chelsea drew to West Ham at Upton Park yesterday; failing to punish us as much as they should have, yet still sitting 4 points clear.
Our efforts at clawing back to this decent position, even achieving a decent goal-difference after high scoring victories of late, have been severely hindered today and will continue to worsen if we fail to improve. We have struggled to play solid, fluid football all season, regardless of what the inconclusive stats say, and this is something that will only be recovered, and rediscovered, if change in personnel is made in January.
That is all. As always, comments are more than welcomed…
Another one bad performance by a team and the Fan writers start ranting about: Is the team any good?
Answer this: You think you are better than Sir Alex Ferguson “As a manager” to think the team selection was not good? if you are then I will be most excited to see you take reigns at Manchester.
Well let me tell you, you have missed the part that no other central midfielder was there. I mean Fletcher and Carrick were in defence. And as for Scholes you depend on experience he has to drive ManU forward.
Yes performance was dismal. Yes they miss Ronaldo as much as he misses them. But move on.
Owen and Rooney were quite because the Fulham Back four did a good job. Fulham were lucky and gave a spirited performance to which ManU succumbed.
Have faith man!
(P.S. I am an Arsenal Fan. And I still haven’t lost faith that we will win a trophy this season. It comes or not, is a different issue all together.)
In the 4 of the 5 EPL games that we lost (and 5 of the 6 in total lost this year) Berbatov did not start. When Berbatov starts, on the other hand, we are losing less than 10% of the games. Why is SAF continuing to rotate him is utterly beyond me.
I shall begin…
Firstly, football fans have very short memories. We were very poor, like this season, at the start of last year and in that sense we are better off. Any team who says they wouldn’t miss Ronnie would be lying. Now for the coaching analysis…I don’t claim to be the Next Fergie, but I do have my Uefa badges. We built our team round the talent of Mr Ronaldo, the midfield, the strikers and even set pieces were designed to suite our star man. Now the problem this season is the team are looking around and wondering how to break teams down.
When we have changed our formation for a specific game – Chelsea and Spurs away, we have outplayed our opposition. We are probably still putting the jigsaw together, its a long process and to demand instant flowing football is wrong. However, we are only 4 points behind, we would be 2 if not cheated out of the chelski game. We welcome Liverpool Chelsea and Villa to Old Trafford next year so there is plenty of time.
In Fergie We Trust.
We were as awful as Fulham were impressive, credit wwhere its due to the cottagers.
Obviously our defence is in a right state, (as well as chopping and changing our keeper all season due to injuries) and we have midfielders player at the back. This also in turn weakens our midfield. I think we really miss giggs when he doesnt play because he is our most creative player, and i think we could do with another creative attacking influence.
Fergie often says we wont be signing anyone and then does. If we come out and say we want to buy players then anyone we enquire about their price will instantly increase by about 30%.
i wouldnt rule anything out in jan at the moment
Pos, there’s a problem here!
If you want to have a successful Blog I can make a few suggestions (and you can equally tell me to shove them where the sun don’t shine!).
Firstly, you wrote this with raw emotion, too soon after the the game in question (I know it’s just appeared on here but it was on your own Blog much earlier). I suggest a cooling down period.
Secondly, you express your ‘hurt’ at people knocking back your views, early in the piece in a way that suggests ‘I’m right, they’re wrong’….and no common ground will be found kind of way. You go on to call some of the people expressing these opinins ‘fools’ etc and then at the end invite opinions.
Understand that this just turns people off. I could make many many points in relation to your article (which seems to completely dismiss the fact that we had 1 fit defender….which set the scene from the start) and others where I agree with your points but, frankly, I can’t be bothered because of your tone and inferred disrespect for any contributor who doesn’t see the world as you do.
But as I said, just my opinion on what’s needed if you want to set-up a decent Blog. 🙂
Don,t think u are a real man u fan
One the best articles for “truth” I have read all year. It’s one thing to have “faith” (as some above point out) but blind faith is stupidity and just burying your head in the sand hoping Fergie knows what he is doing… and yet all the stats point to the opposite. I found this article refreshing in it’s “honesty” (ie: there’s too much waffle sometimes with reporting so-and-so had a brilliant game when in reality he just didn’t). The team is playing bad, and has been for some weeks. Anyone who says different is a moron. It doesn’t matter that this or that player is out injured, and half the midfield are playing in defence… the end product at the moment is “crap”. When we look to Fergie for wise words, all he says is we will not be buying anyone in January. That hardly lifts the spirits of the loyal United fans, who by the way, are still paying through the nose to watch this rubbish. Fergie talks of value-for-money in the transfer window. What about value for money to the fans?????
@Roy: “Anyone who says different is a moron”
Same point as I made to Pos above….but at least you’re not starting a Blog….hopefully!
WOW where do I begin…?
@Amsh: ‘Another one bad performance by a team and the Fan writers start ranting about: Is the team any good?’…so are you suggesting I’m jumping on the bandwagon of slating our performances as it’s the cool thing to do? As if we’ve been incredibale all season and this is our one and only bad performance? Hmm, bit confused. And I’m pretty sure one of the amazing things about our game is the controversy and contrasting views/opinions, so as unbelieveable as SAF is I AM allowed to have an opinion sometimes and occasionally disagree with him. I’ve never understood people who say ‘I’d like to see you try if you were manager’…what a dumb argument!
@unitedfanusa: 100% Berbatov should be starting. I don’t get it, is he still injured? Obviously not, so why stick him on the bench? Pretty strange, but it completely went along with the theme of stupid decisions of the day.
@Stretford Ender: positive ‘we’ll never die’ attitude, but like I’ve said before, things arent the same. No fight, minimal determination and even the one thing we’ve been vastly superior in in recent years – depth of squad – seems to be failing us. We need to sign players.
@pondave: yeh 100% about Fulham. Brilliant performance. No one should be too caught up in United being crap.
@bd condell: thanks for the tips and advice, but this is me I’m afraid. When (more like IF) I ever make it in journalism, I’ll tone it down as much as I have to and I’ll fit any sort of formulaic conventions linked to writing match reports etc, but for now this is my style. As I mentioned with the beginning of my piece, I’m not as red-tinted as others and I know people might not like me for that. And thats fine. I’m not going to change though, am I? If it turns people off, then don’t read. I’m here to FOREMOST express my feelings; if I get praised or slated for that, that’s fine, and if I can start a debate then again, that’s fine. But I’m just writing what I feel. End of. But of course, no offence intended on the ‘fools’ comment, you got it spot on with my timing: I wrote it almost during the game (!!) so I’m sure you understand my emotions were completely raw.
@Tobi: Wow what a profound statement. Why’s that then? Because I’m not kissing United’s arse and running to their defence every time they’re shit? Jog on.
@Roy Blinston: Nice one, at least SOMEONE saw my point.
Agree with the crap performance bit. Also agree that we did not have players fit. But tactics do make a difference and we got it terribly wrong. We are doing okay this season because everyone else is shitty too! The author and I are both angry because we are used to a certain method of playing, we are after all, United! This season we have been playing like a wannabe mid table team more often than not. There is no swash or buckle in our game anymore, our defenders are like old ladies this season and Fletcher and in parts Rooney continue to be our best players by far,which does not say much. I guess it’s not really a squad game if there are more average/above-average players than stars. We need less lateral and more vertical foresight!
PS: I would love to see a creative influence in the midfield, hell, even “potential’ at this point in time!
please please fergie buy. i love man utd with everything i have.. im sorry to tell you,s but we wont win jack this season. we need new players we have lost the fear facter an teams are playing there football an making us look shite. we have lost 7 times this season. 5 in the league charity yoke an in the champions league. if you think we are playin good this season , well your mad. rooney is lost our best player this yr is giggs who is 36. the antoo v. has no left foot nani i would sell. he has had the same time as ronaldo an he wrecks head. gary n. i would say thanks but your time is up. paul s. is a shadow of him self. bev 9. was so good with spurs. we pay 32mill for him. an he has not paided us back. were is the goals 2 he has 2 goals not good enough.. the only good thing is the french young lad. evra . vidic what is up with him, ok you didnt get the move 2 barcalona .. ok but still play 4 us with some hart. rio his time is cuming to a end.. we need aleast 3 players attacking players please thats all i want 4 xmas. man city will become the team in manchester.. an thats sad we our the best team in the world.. we need new players fergie i hav never ? wat you do but since rome , im losing my faith in you 27yrs i have followed man utd. i am worried
Paul Scholes is in great danger of wearing out his welcome at OT by staying on too long. It’s a common mistake made by far too many once-prime players who just can’t face life without the boots on and the crowds cheering. Scholes’ skills are greatly diminished, already he’s barely a shadow of his peak-performance years. Those who argue that Scholes brings precious “experience” overlook his mistakes and lapses of judgment. Red cards, handballs, foolish challenges, serving the ball up on a silver platter for Fulham’s first goal .. yikes, Paul, don’t sign that foolishly-offered contract extension, and retire graciously.
AT the end of the day, if i’m completely honest, i think most Manchester United fans wouldn’t usually be so critical of our performances, after all, can we really doubt SAF after all he has done? But the main problem is THE LACK OF FIGHT!!! Lots of fans wouldn’t mind if we were playing against a hard defensive unit, who scored thrice on the counter (however unlikely) but worked our socks off. I don’t know whats happened to our attitude this season, but we lack ambition and drive, and always come up with excuses. That’s not the United Way. Even with the odds against us, WE SHOULD PRODUCE!!
And another point, January buys have a tend to be rather bad, remember Vidic and Evra? Im sure it would be better to buy in June/July/August with more chances of a quicker impact, rather than rushing into the market. Also, i think we need to see the team perform when we get the 8/9 players that are injured back.
I agree that manunited should buy someone in january. We need a centre back, CM, left midfielder and a striker. Goddamn it please get rid of nani! Get David silva. And we also need a creative midfielder. Our midfielder like Anderson and Carrick are not contributing to assists a lot and we need someone to help lead the line of midfield in defending and keeping posession. I would say Daniel de rossi would be best for the job. As for a forward, I think aguro or villa would be good choices. Fergie, I think it’s time to use the money from ronaldos sale
btw I feel sympathy for the author. I was too critisised for my negativity and statistics were also thrown to me, trying to prove that Manu had not changed and still strong.
Your article’s analysis has been fairly accurate, I agree for the most part that we haven’t really swept away the opposition like we used to, we are also clearly missing Ronny and that the tactics used against Fulham was a disaster.
However, it is pointless to complain like you do when there are certain issues that are beyond control. Our injury crisis has forced us to have a constantly changing backline, with our best craft and graft midfielders forced to play at the back. This results in an unfamiliar formation and players have to adjust to new roles against a decent team, probably this was the one area that Sir had failed us but he is entitled to try what he deems as the best response to a terrible situation.
Buying new blood in Jan/Summer to replace Ronny is important too, but I have faith the Sir will get this right. He mite just be waiting to see if anyone is able to step up and fill the void (Obertan?), Its always been his policy to promote youth, why should he abandon it just because impatient fans like you prefer to see marquee signings year in year out?
In case you’ve forgotten, our football was rather stale last year with Ronny in the team too, we are currently in a situation whereby we are looking for a new attacking fulcrum. Rooney despite his best efforts needs a partner to dovetail with, Berba was supposed to be that man but hasn’t really proved he is up to the task yet. Therefore we are probably in a state of transition for now, give Sir time to get it right, I know he will. He has proved over the years that he knows better than ANYONE and that includes you and me.
We’ve not been great in the first half of this season. True. But if Carrick in particular returns to his old self, with the kind of form Rooney’s in, we should be fine.