Looking at the Man U results Fulham and Wigan it puts our performance into perspective because we gave them both their goals. Taking that into account we didn't do too badly .
I totally agree with you both. For me, against teams like United, it's all about realistic expectations. Seven of their players on show against us appeared in last seasons Champions League Final six months previous. Less than two years ago we were staring League 1 in the face. I do wonder what people want sometimes. I think the challenge is, (even in the disappointment of defeat), managing our expectations of what we expect against expensively assembled teams like this, while we, hopefully, establish ourselves back at this level. Where we will sink or swim is in our results against the teams who will be in and around us come May. I would admit that we have dropped too many points against these teams so far, but, then again, I think it would also be fair to say none of them had the pre-season we had.
Your points are valid. I do, however, think it wasn't a particularly good performance by United on the day but, on the other hand, neither did we really threaten much for the whole 90 mins. I don't remember their goalie having too much to do throughout.
No I think we can both agree that neither team was at it's best that day. If they had really "clicked", or been more clinical, it would have been an embarrassment. It was a bad day at the office for both sides, in terms of quality at least, but, on the day, they could afford to be off their game more than we could. Money buys you a better class of "bad day" if you will. I'm not saying I like it, but these are the realities of modern day football. And, no de Gea didn't have much to do, whereas Cerny had another blinder. I wonder why. Man. Utd. De Gea - £18,900,000 Smalling - £10,000,000 Ferdinand - £27,550,000 Evans - No fee but if you are a genuine "big club" with a proper youth set-up it does help in attracting the best young players (c.f. Raheem Sterling for example). Evra - £ 5,500,000 Jones - £17,000,000 Carrick - £18,600,000 Nani - £13.500,000 Valencia - £16,000,000 Rooney - £27,000,000 Wellbeck - (See above) By contrast we have Cerny - Free Young - £250,000 Connolly - £1,000, 000 Gabbidon - Free Traore - £1,200,000 Faurlin - £3,500,000 ( Or exclusive oil-mining rights to the Falklands; or some very happy dodgy geezahs; or a return ticket to the universe and beyond and back; or on a free with a bar of Lindt Mousse Au Chocolat thrown in as a goodwill gesture). Take your pick. Nuffin' dodgy honest. Barton - Free SWP - £6,500,000 Mackie - 500,000 Helguson - "undisclosed" Bothroyd - Free. I'm not wumming here or looking to provoke an argument but what did you expect? I am genuinely curious.
Cheers 999. I kind of did but without all the boring stats And possibly coming off as a bit more arsey than I intended to <blush>. I really think we need to be positive. There are teams around us we could and should do better against, but booing players on the back of a loss against a far better team than we are at the moment doesn't help. It won't be too long before the "New Year" resolution/wish threads come around. Mine's simple. Keep the faith. I genuinely believe, along the lines of the other thread that there are 3 worse teams than us in this division. I spent two hours earlier watching Stoke v Villa and omg the horror, the absolute horror. Neither of them will go down tbf but the quality was atrocious. Whoever it was at Sky who sat there back in September and thought that, of all the football on offer in the entire universe, this was the game to be shown on Boxing Day, should be taken out and shot. Anyway, sorry ranting and digressing. Keep the faith.
You win my vote Telford, and I agree with the Villa v Stoke synopsis. But as Brixton often says, " we have nothing to fear but, fear itself. " I hope Warnock reads this board...let's go for it !
I agree with the sentiments on this thread guys, but I have to say that I thought Man U were awesome at times. Seeing Rooney up close made me realise just how brilliant he is and, on a different day, it could easily have been 5 or 6 for them!
did we really pay £6.5mill for SWP? Just asking because although initially he has been good, he hasn't justified a £650.000 fee just yet.
Plus....although Barton was free....we're paying him 80k a week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I thought SWP was 3 mill disappointed in him if we paid £6.5 mill. Need to play him on the wing only not in the hole behind HH or Betty..
Got the figures off here: http://www.transferleague.co.uk/agent-fees/qpr.html I guess with any source off the net you need to be careful, Faurlin's fee being listed as £3,500,000 for instance, but it seems a fairly reputable site. And yes Barton's higher wages would have been offset against the fact he was a "free". The fact that he was on a free reflects the fact that he is in many, if not most, eyes damaged goods. But it does underline my point to an extent. Teams like United don't have to take a chance on players with "a past". They can afford not to. It's not a popular view on here, but I quite rate Barton (although maybe not as highly as he does himself lol). I do understand the doubters, because we haven't seen anything like his best yet. SWP started so well but now he just seems to be really low on confidence. I too would love to see him on the right side of a 442 midfield. I don't know either why we don't try the Hill/Traore combination on the left. It worked so well at Stoke.
