Good morning all, what is your scoreline for to nights game. Me 4 ~ 1 to united the Pog scoring our goal, would have been more confidant if we had secured a win against Swansea.
Morning roscafre. I'll go with 3-0 to United. The one thing that gives me any hope for tonight is the way so many people have already given Man Utd the 3 points. Listening to 5 Live over the weekend there were a number of references to them being 3 points clear of City by the end of today. Sometimes when a team gets so comprehensively written off before a match strange things can happen - just like Blackburn at Old Trafford in December. Maybe, just maybe, our lads can spring a surprise.
I'll be pleased if we just turn in a good performance. But I don't expect one, and I don't expect any points either. I also won't be distraught if my expectations are met.
Just to please Bandit, who loves those of us who veer towards optimisim, I'll say 3-2 to us, a Pog hat-trick and two goals from Rooney (both of whom are in my Fantasy football side, which is why I'm tipping them!). More realistically, It's one of those games where anything we get is a bonus. I think that we'll probably lose, but I also believe that we're in with a chance. If we do lose, I won't be too downbeat about it.
If we give it a good go and lose 2-0 then que sera sera, if we sit back and let Utd rip us to shreds however then i won't be best pleased. Tonight is really all about how we bounce back from consecutive defeats.
Again Ruiz shows that one flash of brilliance with his chip through to Murphy and what can you say, except horrible, horrible ref decision. But why, oh why was Murphy not on from the start - Diarra was miles off the pace, never properly marked anyone or tracked back. Yes he needs game time but as shown tonight and against Swansea, not from the outset. Also can someone explain that lumps up to the Pog are just not going to work - even if he managed to head the ball (which he doesn't and was in evidence since the Villa game) there is no player within 20 yards of him. Not sure we deserved a result but by the laws of the game we should have had one.
We were lacking in the first half, but in the second we improved. When Murphy came on we instantly looked more composed and kept posession a lot more. There were moments when Ruiz got the ball and I kept thinking he was holding onto it too long, but to his credit he was holding players off and not losing posession. He died Evra a treat (maybe leading up to the penalty shout?) which was nice. Still a few wayward passes but he wasn't the only one. Schwarzer deserves a big mention too. He's been under scrutiny recently but the double save in the second half was class. He was solid. Riise was again very suspect, and should've done better for the goal. Not the horror show we expected, plenty to take heart from, roll on Norwich.
Were you watching the same game as me? I thought we were much better in the first half, we started sluggishly after the break and it was only when Murphy came on that we actually looked a threat, from half time up until the 75th minute Utd had their best spell and we looked incredibly lethargic. It was a nice pass from Ruiz to set up Murphy for the last minute chance, but apart from that he didn't do a lot to impress me, again he looked suspect in possession and lightweight on the ball. He reminds me a lot of Guly Do Prado at Southampton, quite possibly one of the laziest players when he plays, but usually comes up with a moment of magic once per game with either a goal or an assist. I'm just saying that for £10 million we should expect these moments to become more frequent and less sporadically. I thought Riise in the first half was very shaky, but he improved after the break, he wasn't helped much by playing with Frei on the left side, who just refuses to track back. I thought Frei was disappointing but he is young and will of course improve as time goes on. Lastly, what a performance by Aaron Hughes, threw his body in the ball of everything. If that performance was anything to go by then we might just have seen the last of Senderdross.
Watched last nights game,only on tv mind ,with a group of chelsea supporters, one of their biggest comments being,why do you persist with J A R,had to agree whenever United attacked on his flank,goal signs appeared. But on the bright side this was a good performance.
Whatever Bandy, I'm fed up of arguing with you. Agreed on Hughes, thought he was a credit. There was one tackle in the second half that was superb.
He was up against Valencia, who the commentators regarded as the best winger in the league right now, so not surprising that he was able to create goal-scoring opportunities, but how many opportunities did he create in the second half? I honestly can't think of one.
I think Riise is the one element all of us on this board can agree on. He's been alright at times but on the whole he's not been up to scratch. He's not much better than Salcido was.
