I did watch it, yeah Downing dived but he wasn't very well positioned to spot that, it should've come down to the lino to make the call. What are Johnson and Skrtel supposed to have done? The only thing lucky about you not getting a penalty against us was that refs will often give you one anyway, regardless of whether it was a legitimate penalty.
Skrtyl was probably right to get a yellow in fairness but Johnson having been booked comitted a "Rugby tackle" and should have gone.
More or less how I see it. It's a huge game for us and a pretty big one for United as well, but over and above that, it's really something to look forward to. It could and maybe should be a great game. There have been various explanations of Spurs' win this year. One I like is that Spurs match up well. Man U isn't as strong in midfield as they've been, and Spurs are very strong there. It hasn't mattered in most of Man U's games, because RVP and the team in general has been too good knocking 'em in. But in case anyone is wondering I wouldn't completely dismiss the chances of a team that's had a record of 50-4 or something against us. Also, thanks THFC6061! Your threads really set the table for these matches.
Oh yeah, forgot about that Pretty ridiculous challenge but Webb was fairly reluctant to give United bookings all game so I wasn't surprised that Johnson got one last chance.
Different game though, Spurs are at home so the onus is on them. I think you look much better without Adebayor anyway (never have rated him). The important thing for United would be to stop the service into RVP. The threat of Bale means that Valencia will be asked to contribute far more defensively than he is usually, there's no way Fergie will want Bale running at Rafael or whoever plays RB for them in 1-on-1 situations, especially with that donkey Ferdinand playing RCB. With the news that Vidic, Rooney and Young are all out and United also playing midweek I fancy Spurs all day long. Put it this way you'll never get a better chance to do the double over United.
Maybe not a reason to blood the entire U21 team as we'd get nothing for the whole game, but certainly reason to believe we'll be dicked out of something - usually referred to as "goals"...
Teams normally double up on Bale anyway, but Valencia's defensive contributions shouldn't be overlooked. It's one of the strengths to his game. It'll be interesting to see how both sides line up. If Dempsey starts, then he needs to make sure that Carrick's got no time or space and it's a job that the American will probably embrace.
Is there any news on the severity of Sandro's injury? Dempsey has looked much better in recent weeks (from what I've seen). I also feel Ashley Young is very good defensively as well, that will be a huge loss for them. Even if Valencia doubles up on Bale that will still give Lennon space down the other flank and United would be foolish to underestimate the influence of Dembele down the middle. If he has a good game then Carrick won't get a sniff, I feel the onus is more on him to stop Carrick than Dempsey who will probably be needed more so support Defoe against the physical CB's of United. United's defenders are not quick and they don't read danger well, I think all over the pitch bar RVP, Spurs are the stronger team.
Villas-Boas said yesterday that Sandro's injury wasn't serious and that he'd be back for the Utd game, DL. Come to think of it, I wonder if there'll be a temptation to start the Brazilian in the centre with Parker and push Dembele up?
Whenever I hear Chris Foy, the atrocity of Stoke away continuously comes to mind. The worst refereeing performance I've seen live. It's fair to say the journey home was an absolute nightmare.
Same here re: QPR game. I've never seen a more farcical red card than the one handed out to Bosingwa in all my time going football, wasn't even a foul. I had texts of Arsenal and Man U mates even expressing sympathy which says it all. Worst ref in the PL by a country mile, just ask Bolton.
DL fancies Spurs to win. Utd are slow and can't defend, can't contain Bale and Lennon and thinks our most consistent player this season "won't get a sniff". There's no point Utd turning up really is there? Forget the 18/22 wins, 56 goals scored and 55 points (15 points ahead of Spurs, who had a very lacklustre draw v bottom side QPR in their last game). Nope, DL has spoken. Utd are rubbish and clearly don't have a prayer. If the runaway leaders are this bad, wait 'til he assesses that faltering team in 3rd place! It won't be pretty.
I never said United were rubbish, and the facts show United can't defend as 17/20 PL sides have scored against you. Your opinion is that United are the best thing since sliced bread and feel the need to put fans of other clubs down and mine is the opposite. We can respect each others opinions and have debate without resorting to things like that. What we do know is that It will be a closely fought match between two high quality sides but being one of the leagues form sides and at home few would bet against Spurs coming out on top. Either way unlike the 1st v Midtable nonsense and a dismal Arsenal v a side much better than them this Super Sunday will consist of two closely fought and unpredictable matches that could go either way.
Probably neither, AVB for understandable reasons might not disclose everything that goes on behind closed doors.
That's actually a tougher question than you may think. AVB said there'd be no activity in Jan and about 2 days after we signed Zeki and then the day after that Holtby was announced. AVB = LIAR!!!
one of the people who mentioned about Sandro's injury was the same person who i've been following about transfers. I don't think it's the sort of thing that someone would lie over, so i'm guessing it's true. if it's bollocks, it's only going to bite him in the arse a few days later when we all find out from the official news. Parker can come in and do a fantastic job anyway, so it's not the end of the world. He's probably the best cover we have.
