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Official Football Thread 2006/2007 (Soccer)

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Poor save from Van Der Sar, should have pushed it over the bar or at the very least to the side, not into the box.

I really like the way Roma play, hard to believe they're Italian. They press immediately from high up the pitch and don't time waste at all.
 
If you look at the United defence and midfield, the back have have only one first team member, not to mention Silvestre probably would have partnered Ferdinand with Brown at right back if he'd been fit, and their midfield is Rooney on the left, Solskjaer on the right and Giggs and Carrick in the middle.

No wonder they're being torn apart! Get Fletcher on there.
 
Mama Smurf said:
If you look at the United defence and midfield, the back have have only one first team member, not to mention Silvestre probably would have partnered Ferdinand with Brown at right back if he'd been fit, and their midfield is Rooney on the left, Solskjaer on the right and Giggs and Carrick in the middle.

No wonder they're being torn apart! Get Fletcher on there.
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It's not fair to say we have only one first team member at the back because Heinze is easily as good as Evra or any first team defender we have.
 
I disagree, Evra has blown me away and as good as Heinze can be, he's not a patch on Evra. He's a lot slower and less use going forwards. Not had a very good night tonight either, a lot of stuff has come down Roma's right.
 
Good result for United, given that they plaued 2/3 of the game with 10 men. I'd be so mad with Scholes if I was a United supporter. Roma will probably be...well, quite happy, but 1-0 was a hell of a lot better a result than 2-1.

Valencia will be the happiest team of the night and Chelsea the least, 1-1 away is great for them.

Now, who will be back for United this time next week? Any chance Evra will be back? If Park's fit it will make the Scholes loss a bit more bareable.
 
ElyrionX said:
It's not fair to say we have only one first team member at the back because Heinze is easily as good as Evra or any first team defender we have.
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No way. Evra is a lot better as a left back than Heinze is. Evra is quick and can match any winger for pace whilst Heinze is slow and ends up fowling the players to stop them. Evra is good at supporting the wingers and putting in a good delivery whilst Heinze isnt good at it at all. Heinze isnt a bad player, but he's not suited for a position on the wing. If heinze was put in the middle or even as a defensive midfielder he would be a much better player.

Today showed just how importnat our defence has been this season. Vidic, Ferdinand, Neville and Evra formed such a good defensive unit. The people that replaced them today were just not good enough.
 
Mama Smurf said:
Good result for United, given that they plaued 2/3 of the game with 10 men. I'd be so mad with Scholes if I was a United supporter. Roma will probably be...well, quite happy, but 1-0 was a hell of a lot better a result than 2-1.

Valencia will be the happiest team of the night and Chelsea the least, 1-1 away is great for them.

Now, who will be back for United this time next week? Any chance Evra will be back? If Park's fit it will make the Scholes loss a bit more bareable.
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I didn't know Park was unfit for this game. I was actually wondering why he didn't play.

Any idea how long Vidic is out?
 
Man Utd are pretty lucky, Roma had so many openings and for a 20 minute spell in the 2nd half had complete control of the territory just in front of man U's penalty area, they could play it how they wanted. They squandered most opportunities.
 
This is as good of a result as we could have expected ( after the first half) I mean 1-1 would have been great but even so all we need is a 1 nil score line at old trafford to go thru.
 
psycho_snake said:
No way. Evra is a lot better as a left back than Heinze is. Evra is quick and can match any winger for pace whilst Heinze is slow and ends up fowling the players to stop them. Evra is good at supporting the wingers and putting in a good delivery whilst Heinze isnt good at it at all. Heinze isnt a bad player, but he's not suited for a position on the wing. If heinze was put in the middle or even as a defensive midfielder he would be a much better player.

Today showed just how importnat our defence has been this season. Vidic, Ferdinand, Neville and Evra formed such a good defensive unit. The people that replaced them today were just not good enough.
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Heinze messes up less often compared to Evra and it always seem as if when Evra decides to make a mistake, it tends to be at a crucial moment. And Heinze is a far more cunning player than Evra. I'd agree that Evra provides better support for the wingers but as a defender, Heinze is just more reliable.
 
2-1 is a good result. If we'd managed to make it 2-2 it would have been game over for Roma but that was just wishful thinking.

Dunno wtf Scholes was thinking he kept fouling everyone, red card was always coming the way he was acting.

We have it all to do in the 2nd leg, but I believe we can do it. Our defence is my main concern, we have to stop them from scoring.
 
Vidic is out for the season, Neville for...well certainly the next leg.

If Evra is back, United can play like this at the back:

Brown----Ferdinand----Heinze----Evra

Looks a lot stronger than tonight to me. If Saha and Rooney play up front second leg, I imagine it will be Ronaldo left, Park right and Giggs playing the Scholes role.

Despite liking how Roma play, they did take a few too many shots from distance. Good shots, but there weren't too many good chances from in the box and those are the ones you want to create.
 
Mama Smurf said:
Good result for United, given that they plaued 2/3 of the game with 10 men. I'd be so mad with Scholes if I was a United supporter. Roma will probably be...well, quite happy, but 1-0 was a hell of a lot better a result than 2-1.

Valencia will be the happiest team of the night and Chelsea the least, 1-1 away is great for them.

Now, who will be back for United this time next week? Any chance Evra will be back? If Park's fit it will make the Scholes loss a bit more bareable.
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I am very pissed off at scholes. He was just so clumsy today. It would have been a completely different second half if he was still on the pitch. Roma exposed gaps in our midfield and thats what allowed them to get several decent shots from long range.

I hope that some of our players get back before the next leg. We need evra back; watching Heinze is painful. Seeing park back would be really nice too. Fletcher might be good against small premiership sides, but against Roma's he's going to be invisible for the whole game. Park has been on good form too, so hopefully he'll be fit again.

We've got a good chance of going through, but it does depend on who we have available for the next leg. Scholes has made things more difficult. Our injury crisis is difficult to deal with. Having another player unavailable is a headache.
 
Interesting results tonight. I'd say it's still more or less even money in both ties. United will have some trouble without Scholes, but they might be able to pull it off. Chelsea didn't get it done at home, but they're good enough to pull off an away draw or win against Valencia. It makes the return legs interesting....well at least a lot more interesting than Liverpool-PSV. :lol
 
celestial body said:
Man Utd are pretty lucky, Roma had so many openings and for a 20 minute spell in the 2nd half had complete control of the territory just in front of man U's penalty area, they could play it how they wanted. They squandered most opportunities.
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I don't think you can call us lucky when Roma's players are all so selfish. All of them were taking shots from all over the pitch. There was hardly any teamwork at all going forward and just a bit of teamwork would have killed us considering how badly our defence was playing and how empty our midfield was.
 
ElyrionX said:
Heinze messes up less often compared to Evra and it always seem as if when Evra decides to make a mistake, it tends to be at a crucial moment. And Heinze is a far more cunning player than Evra. I'd agree that Evra provides better support for the wingers but as a defender, Heinze is just more reliable.
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When was the last time you saw evra make a mistake? At first he was poor, but this season evra has been the best left back in the league. As I said, heinze would make a good central defender because he's strong, good in the air and a tough guy, but he's not good as a left back because he doesnt have the pace to cope with quick wingers.
 
ElyrionX said:
Heinze messes up less often compared to Evra and it always seem as if when Evra decides to make a mistake, it tends to be at a crucial moment. And Heinze is a far more cunning player than Evra. I'd agree that Evra provides better support for the wingers but as a defender, Heinze is just more reliable.
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I wish I could agree, but this season I think Evra has been better defensively as well. The amount of times I saw Heinze lose his man on the left hand side today, he was lucky Roma didn't capatalise on their chances from there.

Apparently this is what happened with the crowd trouble:

Roma score, their fans head to the perpex barrier seperating them from United fans to taunt them.

United fans rush over to yell back, the police see them coming and get the batons out.

Seems to me if Roma fans can taunt from the barrier, United fans should be able to as well. Or they should both get smacked around.
 
Mama Smurf said:
Vidic is out for the season, Neville for...well certainly the next leg.

If Evra is back, United can play like this at the back:

Brown----Ferdinand----Heinze----Evra

Looks a lot stronger than tonight to me. If Saha and Rooney play up front second leg, I imagine it will be Ronaldo left, Park right and Giggs playing the Scholes role.

Despite liking how Roma play, they did take a few too many shots from distance. Good shots, but there weren't too many good chances from in the box and those are the ones you want to create.
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I like that defensive setup but Ferguson has NEVER played Heinze in the middle regardless of how dire our defensive options have been. Don't ask me why. I've always been puzzled since Heinze does play at the centre of defense for Argentina at times and from what I heard, he plays pretty decently there as well. He will certainly be more reliable than Silvestre or Brown.
 
celestial body said:
Man Utd are pretty lucky, Roma had so many openings and for a 20 minute spell in the 2nd half had complete control of the territory just in front of man U's penalty area, they could play it how they wanted. They squandered most opportunities.
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Thats their problem that they squandered their opportunities. We are not a lucky side because of their poor finishing.
 
ElyrionX said:
I like that defensive setup but Ferguson has NEVER played Heinze in the middle regardless of how dire our defensive options have been. Don't ask me why. I've always been puzzled since Heinze does play at the centre of defense for Argentina at times and from what I heard, he plays pretty decently there as well. He will certainly be more reliable than Silvestre or Brown.
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It makes no sense that heinze isnt played in the middle. He's made for the central defence position. If we do have evra for the next leg then playing heinze in the middle would be the best choice. Brown plays well enough in right back, whilst John O'shea isnt good enough to cope with Roma's players.
 
I think it's pretty evenly split between Roma and United now, couldn't call it, but I just have a feeling Chelsea will get at least one away goal and then it's on.
 
I think they will probably both go through, but the position isn't good for either.

Roma will be dangerous on the counter attack, so will Valencia - and both Man Utd and Chelsea will have to go for it. Not that I ever saw Chelsea go for it.
 
ElyrionX said:
I like that defensive setup but Ferguson has NEVER played Heinze in the middle regardless of how dire our defensive options have been. Don't ask me why. I've always been puzzled since Heinze does play at the centre of defense for Argentina at times and from what I heard, he plays pretty decently there as well. He will certainly be more reliable than Silvestre or Brown.
Click to expand...

Heinze plays at the left of a 3 man defense for Argentina, so he isn't totally a center back. Also, he's played that position for PSG. I'd also rather have him at left back rather than Evra during the games when we need a tough defender, as Evra's only defensive strong point is his pace. Gabby is a classic hard-tackling Argentinian defender.

As a United fan, I'll be the first to admit Scholes' horrible and silly tackling. He is just not good at it, and is often late. I think if we had Vidic fit Oshea wouldn't have to play CB and could play as defensive midfield behind Carrick and Scholes, like we usually do in the CL. That way Scholes would not have to play defensively as much, especially against a team who know how to counter attack.
 
We're not in a bad position, but Ive got a feeling that its going to go wrong at old trafoord. The again I thought that we would win today's game cofortably so hopefully im completely wrong again.
 
celestial body said:
Man Utd are pretty lucky, Roma had so many openings and for a 20 minute spell in the 2nd half had complete control of the territory just in front of man U's penalty area, they could play it how they wanted. They squandered most opportunities.
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Yes, especially after the sending-off.
The only Italian team I follow is Roma, and after Scholes got sent off they played in more the typical style. I do not think they will play that way at Old Trafford though.

Edit: Whoops, I meant to quote celestial body.
 
PowerSmell said:
Yes, especially after the sending-off.
The only Italian team I follow is Roma, and after Scholes got sent off they played in more the typical style. I do not think they will play that way at Old Trafford though.
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We only have ourselves to blame. Scholes messed up badly. To be afair tos choles though, we never looked like causing any trouble when he was playing. Our tactic seemed to be to kick the ball up and hope someone gets it and it never worked.
 
what pissed me off so much today was some of the insane long balls we did - VDS especially booted it to Mexes every single time - either that or he booted it right off the pitch - what are you doing Edwin? So weird - was that the order? to pressure their right back?

Anyway Evra is great but Heinze is more solid and better in the air. Evra is an awesome tackler by the way, just as much of a warrior as Heinze in the tackle - maybe why they both always get injured. Heinze gives us a bit of a goal threat from set pieces.

I am happy with 2-1 considering we had 10 men. I'm more happy with the fact Ronaldo and Rooney finally performed somewhat on a European stage, another magnificent goal. They both spurned some great opportunities which could have gone better had they not panicked etc but still satisfied I suppose.

Roma were very good and we coped ok considering our injuries and red card. Fletcher worried me a bit when he came on, but he always does well against Italian teams for some reason, for Scotland as well.

Carrick was great today. I finally saw where Hargreaves might fit into Ferge's thinking watching todays game, we could have done with his engine and tackling.

Bring on the 2nd leg, we'll have Saha back and hopefully others. Totti et al won't like the English weather/cold and struggle to perform.
 
Forza Roma!!! 26 shots, 9 shots on goal..we deserved to win at least 3-1, but, with the result, of 2-1, things will be more interesting at the Old Trafford....Cristiano Ronaldo is a beast, but with our teamwork we can have some chance. :)
 
Looks like an Arsenal takeover could be happening:

Gunners secure US investment
Arsenal's link to America has been strengthened by US billionaire Stan Kroenke acquiring a 9.9% stake in the club.

His company, Kroenke Sports Enterprise (KSE), have bought the shareholding interest from ITV and could also purchase 50% of Arsenal Broadband Limited, with the combined total costing £65million if completed.

Kroenke owns Major League Soccer team Colorado Rapids, who recently announced a partnership with the Gunners that will see the Premiership club send coaches across the Atlantic and promising American players sent to train in London.

The partnership was not seen as the first step towards another American takeover of a English club, although the move to buy ITV's stake has come less than a month after KSE stated they had "no interest or intention" of buying into Arsenal.

A statement to the stock exchange read: "ITV plc today announced that it had unconditionally sold its 9.99% shareholding interest in Arsenal Holdings plc to KSE UK INC, a vehicle controlled by Stan Kroenke, and has also entered into conditional arrangements with KSE UK INC in relation to the sale of its 50% shareholding in Arsenal Broadband Limited."

Premiership clubs such as Manchester United, Liverpool and Aston Villa have been targeted by American investors as business prospects which will eventually generate huge profits.

Despite their huge debts, Arsenal are still seen as a club with huge potential because of the long-term benefits of the new 60,000-seater Emirates Stadium.

A potential takeover, though, would appear unlikely as major stakeholders - which include vice-chairman David Dein and director Danny Fiszman - have stated they have no intention of selling up.
Click to expand...
 
Wow this escalated to grander proportions. British media pointing the finger at the italian police forces for excessive force. Man Utd. asking Blair to intervene. Italian politicians blaming Man utd. for previously telling its supporters that Rome is a dangerous city. LoLoLoL

Football is serious buisness.
 
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