The old Man Utd Thread

[Majora]

Yeah....that's not a penalty The balls direction clearly changes when Gomez comes diving out.

[JoeK]

How very strange. At half time I popped out to do a few things, and was just this minute thinking that it would have been nice if Man U had scored 5 and I was more than a little shocked to see the result.

Now, why on earth didn't I put some money on that one...boo!

[Poppalarge]

Apparently Berba didn't celebrate. Fantastic player, but he needs to show some heart if he wants to get the fans behind him. Especially after that penalty.

respect for spurs?

[redbloodcell]

He's hedging his bets just in case.

[Mr Do 71]

Woooohoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

0 - 2 down at half-time, then in 22 minutes we're 5 - 2 up, absolutely amazing come back from United. Plus I don't care for those who boo Berbatov, IMHO he was stunning today with his contribution to the team. His passing was perfect, and lead to some of the goals. Rooney was also stunning today also, and he was really up for it after he had scored.

Plus it was a penalty, the replay that's above and behind Carrick clearly shows that he touched the ball first. The keeper then comes in a split-second later, and DOESN'T touch the ball. Of course try telling that to those idiots commentating on the game. Their biased is becoming so obvious, it's becoming increasing embarrassing with each game.

5 - 2!!

[Liamness]

respect for spurs?

Yeah, I already said on the last page that this slipped my mind.

[DC Lemon]

Going down 2-0 in the first half at home was a massive upset just as the defence had started to look impregnable once more. I'd written the match off, but it has turned out to be the galvanising and devastating comeback that Liverpool came so close to getting against Arsenal on Tuesday.

It was decent of Berbatov not to celebrate in front of the Spurs supporters, but unlike Phillip Neville last week with us, I doubt they will be feeling any need to pay him respect for it tonight.

[bowser123]

Going down 2-0 in the first half at home was a massive upset just as the defence had started to look impregnable once more.

Yes and no. Lennon has given Evra the run around a few times now, today was no different. They looked so dangerous down his side, what didn't help and was surprising was the inclusion of Nani. It was no surprise he didn't offer any cover to Evra.

You weigh up Spurs current form, their record against the top sides this year and I was very worried before the game and would have taken a draw at the start really... especially after they went two up. That was all tempered with the fact they haven't beaten us at home for 76 years or so and I really did fear that stat would jinx it all.

Still can't get my head round it, even if we do have form for going down against that lot and responding with 5 of our own in the second.

[fatbob]

They just showed the penalty again of MotD slowed down and its obvious Gomes got a touch. I recind my earlier impression having seen it properly. Was actually a great save by Gomes.

Rooney's first goal was through Corluka's legs. Cheeky Bugger.

[barkbat]

FAB FOUR SCORE FIVE WOOOOO!

I really like the fab four playing together. It was like ManU of old - seemless telepathic overtly aggressive football, like Yorke Cole, only there's four.

By Fergie I belive such a team should be used forthwith in all future premiership ties.

[fatbob]

Solution to the Tevez problem: Play all four of them! All the time! To the MAX!

[barkbat]

If we had Owen Hargreaves as a defensive midfield option it would probably happen a lot more.

[Majora]

The problem with playing all 4 at once is that Rooney would keep getting pushed to the left. Which is fine now and then but I don't know if I'd want it to become permanent. Unless Fergie just gave them carte blanche to keep interchanging with each other, but I dunno if he's too cautious for that now except in exceptional circumstances.

But yes, the second half kinda reminded me of the utd of old, not the slow possession stuff we've been playing much of the season.

[barkbat]

Yeah but Rooney had the best fifteen minutes of his season, assisting three and scoring two, just now, on the left.

Plus any situation where your sharing a pitch with Ronaldo and Tevez will result in fluid positioning.

You can't ignore a blitzkrieg of that magnitude. Only someone like Benitez could watch that interplay and then stick the formation in the freezer.

[Liamness]

This is what we had all last season, Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez. Rooney out on the left. He can play there, it might not be his absolute best position but it gets the best out of the other two players or so it would seem. Berbatov can join in the party playing his natural game too, or so it would seem. Play three in midfield behind them if Berba's not there or two if he is.

[sir stiff_one]

Plus it was a penalty, the replay that's above and behind Carrick clearly shows that he touched the ball first. The keeper then comes in a split-second later, and DOESN'T touch the ball. Of course try telling that to those idiots commentating on the game. Their biased is becoming so obvious, it's becoming increasing embarrassing with each game.

Weird, you must have eyesight problems because the keeper clearly touched the ball. Saying that I don't think it was a terrible penalty decision because it was really so so close, Carrick touched it, the keeper touched it, you don't dive at a player's feet unless you have a nice clean obvious take.

Started watching this at the start of the 2nd half and it really was mindblowing. Great play.

[DC Lemon]

It wasn't a penalty, but it was a penalty against Everton last week when the RAWK lot were celebrating how Benitez's mind games had affected refs (when in fact it was David Moyes who should have taken the credit for that one) and Hull should have had a penalty against Liverpool, whose second goal featured a handball from Lucas as an assist, so we can all sleep well tonight knowing that the right team remains top of the league.

[moss]

Plus it was a penalty, the replay that's above and behind Carrick clearly shows that he touched the ball first. The keeper then comes in a split-second later, and DOESN'T touch the ball. Of course try telling that to those idiots commentating on the game. Their biased is becoming so obvious, it's becoming increasing embarrassing with each game.

Oh come on. Do you really believe any of this? I mean, I can see why the referee thought it was a penalty at the time, but from the replays we were obviously a bit lucky.

[fatbob]

What was also good about the second half yesterday was seeing Berbatov be able to get in on the act too. He had a critical hand in 3 or 4 of the goals yesterday. Was great to see Rooney, Ronny, Carlitos and Berba flowing as one. Its what we all hoped would happen all season.

Yesterday was a particular string of events which allowed it to happen. But I hope Fergie will be looking at it and trying to use something similar in the future, Arsenal's defence is looking shaky atm... lets try that.

Sign Tevez up!

[moss]

Yes, it was very exciting to see Berbatov playing like that. He even made a little run into the box for his goal!

[Reynard]

It wasn't a penalty, but it was a penalty against Everton last week when the RAWK lot were celebrating how Benitez's mind games had affected refs (when in fact it was David Moyes who should have taken the credit for that one)

Plenty of people gave Moyes credit for raising the Riley issue a couple of days before the game.

[aidey6]

Yes, it was very exciting to see Berbatov playing like that. He even made a little run into the box for his goal!

Probably the other reason why he didn't celebrate, he was probably winded...

[McFly]

It wasnt a penalty really but i can see why the ref gave from his angle it looked like one, a bit anyway. Rooney played great out left though, he's such a good player now. Also Nani is shite

But they still conceded 4 more gtoals in 20 minutes so fuck 'em. My "play like shit and win the title" is coming together nicely, a few more dodgypenalties and some shitty tap ins and i'll be laughing.

[Reynard]

Yeah, we can all agree now that it was a terrible decision - I was still unsure after watching loads of replays (although it was on my stream of the game).

I can understand him giving it, totally. Obviously it's going to make the rest of us chasing you really scrutinise it and call bollocks. A lot of you would be livid if the opposite occurred.

MotD were a bit unfair as well; they showed the incident from a different angle, slowed it right down and zoomed right in with a "How could he not have seen that?!".

I think it might be a bit blinkered to suggest that what happened after that was going to happen anyway - we'll never know. Not that you'll care about that, I'm sure.

[phresh]

MotD always makes me laugh when they say the referee had a clear line of sight when the camera is clearly not directly behind the ball!

Only saw the highlights yesterday as I was cooking when the match was on listening to my sis and her boyfriend (both United supporters) cheering as we scored!

Penalty decision was completely wrong but it's swings and roundabouts I suppose. If United win the title this year I think most of the fans will admit we've done it without playing especially well and our clean sheet record is probably the only reason we are still in with a shout now. Likewise I think most Liverpool fans will admit they lost it with their poor home record. If Liverpool win and United lose then most fans (of both clubs) will say their recent form has carried them over the line.

Anyway, great performance in the second half yesterday it was a small reminder of how well we played at times last year and if they can manage to emulate that a few more times this season we can win the two titles we are competing for. I'm really hyped for Wednesday's game now and we really should be able to get a result. Silvestre is apparently 50/50 so who will they play instead?

[ckny]

Let's hope he pulls through, he's completely shit these days.

[mop]

I'm really hyped for Wednesday's game now and we really should be able to get a result. Silvestre is apparently 50/50 so who will they play instead?

Djourou should play in his place regardless of Silvestre's fitness. He got 45 minutes in today and seems fit. You'll be hard pushed to find a Arsenal support here that would be hoping Silvestre pulls through and plays on Wednesday.

[phresh]

I just aked in the Arsenal thread in case you guys didn't come in here! Cheers Mopstar!

[Reynard]

Penalty decision was completely wrong but it's swings and roundabouts I suppose. If United win the title this year I think most of the fans will admit we've done it without playing especially well and our clean sheet record is probably the only reason we are still in with a shout now. Likewise I think most Liverpool fans will admit they lost it with their poor home record. If Liverpool win and United lose then most fans (of both clubs) will say their recent form has carried them over the line.

Totally - that period you had where you racked up a lot of one-nil's is what brought you to the summit and kept you there. You've survived your wobble as well, I think (although I still believe you'll lose points somewhere over your remaining five games).

Our problem was obviously all of the draws and a large period where we suffered from a big lack of confidence.

I'm still made up whatever happens - I love the feeling of being in a title race after all these years, however unlikely it is that we'll come out on top. I said in the L'pool thread at the beginning of the season that I didn't think we'd handle the pressure of a title run-in and I do think that happened a little bit when we were the pacesetters - we definitely prefer being the hunter.

However, the team's convinced me that they can cope with the pressure of needing to win every match (re: our recent form, with the exception of Arsenal).

[fatbob]

Giggs wins the Ryder Cup!