Hello,
Like Mascherano, our usual PL match report writer, Dan Berriman, is in the middle of a move so I will take over one more time. United defeated West Ham 3-0 in what could be described as solid but not inspiring. Rooney returned, playing the full 90 minutes and getting back on the goal scoring sheet, along with Nani and Dimitar Berbatov.
The bottom of the table Hammers looked, as a whole, unsure and defensively, shaky. Jonathan Spector fouled Ryan Giggs in the 33rd-minute to bring Rooney to the penalty spot. Damn that flu bug or else Rooney would have given United the full points last week. Nani had an up and down game, missing easy passes/crosses, making inspired passes, to getting into open space to miss as well as score a goal. Berbatov has started the season well and United fans have to hope that the pressure on him will result in goals...in key matches.
Fletcher had what has to be one of his worst games in recent memory. I cannot remember the last time the Scottish international has this rough a time. Wayward passes, giving away the ball. It was weird to watch. Evans had a better game although I wonder if Cole is so bad right now that we cannot tell? Hard to tell whether Evans did a good job if he was never really threatened. Hmm.
Now, what about Capello. I am pretty sure I saw him in the crowd at the Blackburn game so I guess he drove down the "street" to watch United. With Lampard out, maybe he made a trip to the locker-room to try and get Scholes to play in the Euro qualifyers. Capello should worry about his mid-field so Rooney does not have to run all over the pitch to help out. Wait a second, this is a United match report. Why I am wasting time talking about England?
While I think Chelsea is the team to beat, they have had the easiest start to any PL season I have seen for a while. United will get West Brom, Wigan and Stoke later. By the way, United has never lost to Wigan ever. Look it up.
Hopefully Dan will be back in two weeks.
Cheers.
Derek
Monday, August 30, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
Rooney-Less United = 1 Point Again (at Fulham, 08.22.10)
Hello,
Our PL writer and chancellor, Dan Berriman, is almost ready to return.
As I mentioned in the previous entry, no Rooney = problems. The real problem is not talent as the squad has tons of that. Let's see: Berbatov, Herdandez, Fletcher, Giggs, Scholes, Vidic, Evra, O'Shea, Valencia, Park, Nani. I see a problem which happened in this game, the Bayern Munich CL game after Rooney left with injury and the Blackburn game.
Determination, energy and belief...in tough, tight, grinding games.
When United gets scored upon or when the match is tight, with no Rooney in sight, the team seems to lack determination, energy and belief. At least in the last month or so of last season and this game. When Fulham's Simon Davies scored to even the game, United seemed to lack in determination for 20 minutes and allowed Fulham to took control. There was no spark to the flow of play until Giggs came on but that fizzled quickly. The second half reminded me of the Blackburn game. Same kinda feel.
What about belief? Ask Nani. Fuhlam defender Hangeland punished the missed penalty (and atoned for an earlier blunder) by hitting a header past Edwin van der Sar. What scares me more is the boss actually said: "I should have let Giggs take the penalty". Yikes. The boss is not even sure what to do without Rooney.
With Rooney, there is psychological change to the game. Berba does not terrorize defenders like Rooney and Hernandez, while he did ok in the first part of the first half, disappeared and did not seem to pull defenders with him the same way Rooney does. Rooney also shows a lot of emotion out on the pitch, demands a lot of himself and his fellow team-mates. Where in yesterday's game did you see any emotion from the United players in the second half? Where was the general screaming at his players to perform better. Where was the energy?
I was going to say Vidic has the kind of energy to bring up the team but he was too busy supporting Evans who had one of his worst games in recent memory. It was scary how bad Evans was in this match and something to think about when United faces West Ham next week.
All credit to Fulham who battled through the first half to equalize, go down a goal again (and almost a penalty goal) to level the game just before added time. Fulham manager Mark Hughes deserves credit along with his players.
United need to solve the Rooney-less problem if they wish to not lose the PL by a point.
Next week, we are raffling a women's 2008 home jersey. Be there.
DN
Our PL writer and chancellor, Dan Berriman, is almost ready to return.
As I mentioned in the previous entry, no Rooney = problems. The real problem is not talent as the squad has tons of that. Let's see: Berbatov, Herdandez, Fletcher, Giggs, Scholes, Vidic, Evra, O'Shea, Valencia, Park, Nani. I see a problem which happened in this game, the Bayern Munich CL game after Rooney left with injury and the Blackburn game.
Determination, energy and belief...in tough, tight, grinding games.
When United gets scored upon or when the match is tight, with no Rooney in sight, the team seems to lack determination, energy and belief. At least in the last month or so of last season and this game. When Fulham's Simon Davies scored to even the game, United seemed to lack in determination for 20 minutes and allowed Fulham to took control. There was no spark to the flow of play until Giggs came on but that fizzled quickly. The second half reminded me of the Blackburn game. Same kinda feel.
What about belief? Ask Nani. Fuhlam defender Hangeland punished the missed penalty (and atoned for an earlier blunder) by hitting a header past Edwin van der Sar. What scares me more is the boss actually said: "I should have let Giggs take the penalty". Yikes. The boss is not even sure what to do without Rooney.
With Rooney, there is psychological change to the game. Berba does not terrorize defenders like Rooney and Hernandez, while he did ok in the first part of the first half, disappeared and did not seem to pull defenders with him the same way Rooney does. Rooney also shows a lot of emotion out on the pitch, demands a lot of himself and his fellow team-mates. Where in yesterday's game did you see any emotion from the United players in the second half? Where was the general screaming at his players to perform better. Where was the energy?
I was going to say Vidic has the kind of energy to bring up the team but he was too busy supporting Evans who had one of his worst games in recent memory. It was scary how bad Evans was in this match and something to think about when United faces West Ham next week.
All credit to Fulham who battled through the first half to equalize, go down a goal again (and almost a penalty goal) to level the game just before added time. Fulham manager Mark Hughes deserves credit along with his players.
United need to solve the Rooney-less problem if they wish to not lose the PL by a point.
Next week, we are raffling a women's 2008 home jersey. Be there.
DN
United Beats the Other United (v. Newcastle, 08.16.10)
Hello,
Dan, our regular PL match report writer, is still injured from last season so I will continue. He is due back in the squad in a couple of weeks.
Memo to TSN2 or whoever the feed is coming from: let's get our act together. I cannot really comment on the first half as the feed was basically broken. We got a few second of action, then, the picture would freeze.
While Berbatov scored the opening goal, it was Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs who stole the show...again. How United is going to replace Scholes and Giggs is entire blog entry. Darren Fletcher doubled United's advantage shortly before the break but it was substitute Giggs who extended his remarkable record of scoring in every Premier League season when he hit the back of net off of another sublime pass from fellow legend Scholes', beating Newcastle keeper Steve Harper.
The Rooney bashing continues - here is a quote from SOCCERNET:
"The only real disappointment for United was another blank day for Wayne Rooney, who has now gone 13 matches for club and country since he last scored, against Bayern Munich in March. Questions will continue to be asked of Rooney until he starts to show the form that established himself as one of the world's leading players last season. His performances in South Africa were almost too bad to be believed, the nadir coming in England's terrible draw against Algeria in Cape Town."
What is Rooney supposed to do? Score in every game? It is just one freaking game. Remember the community shield, where he played in the position he scores goals (unlike with England)? He terrorized the Chelsea back-line, often pulling 2 and sometimes 3 defenders on him on almost every play when off the ball. He out-ran the Chelsea defender and made a great pass to Valencia who was open because the other defender was drawn towards Wayne because he was worried about what Wayne could do one-on-one with his partner.
I think United's big problem is winning games when Rooney is not on the pitch or on the bench. See the CL Bayern game (second half) and Blackburn last year. Rooney does not have to score to have a huge impact on the game. Unless he is asked to run all over the place, mid-field, defense like with England.
Manchester United looked pretty solid in this game, save a Carroll free-header that could have easily went in. Unlike the Soccernet commentators, I do not point fingers at Carroll. You see, it is hard for a goal scorer to hit the back of the net when the ball is going the other direction 70% of the game. Carroll, like any striker, needs support and those players were always going backwards to defend.
Next week, a tough away game against Fulham.
DN
Dan, our regular PL match report writer, is still injured from last season so I will continue. He is due back in the squad in a couple of weeks.
Memo to TSN2 or whoever the feed is coming from: let's get our act together. I cannot really comment on the first half as the feed was basically broken. We got a few second of action, then, the picture would freeze.
While Berbatov scored the opening goal, it was Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs who stole the show...again. How United is going to replace Scholes and Giggs is entire blog entry. Darren Fletcher doubled United's advantage shortly before the break but it was substitute Giggs who extended his remarkable record of scoring in every Premier League season when he hit the back of net off of another sublime pass from fellow legend Scholes', beating Newcastle keeper Steve Harper.
The Rooney bashing continues - here is a quote from SOCCERNET:
"The only real disappointment for United was another blank day for Wayne Rooney, who has now gone 13 matches for club and country since he last scored, against Bayern Munich in March. Questions will continue to be asked of Rooney until he starts to show the form that established himself as one of the world's leading players last season. His performances in South Africa were almost too bad to be believed, the nadir coming in England's terrible draw against Algeria in Cape Town."
What is Rooney supposed to do? Score in every game? It is just one freaking game. Remember the community shield, where he played in the position he scores goals (unlike with England)? He terrorized the Chelsea back-line, often pulling 2 and sometimes 3 defenders on him on almost every play when off the ball. He out-ran the Chelsea defender and made a great pass to Valencia who was open because the other defender was drawn towards Wayne because he was worried about what Wayne could do one-on-one with his partner.
I think United's big problem is winning games when Rooney is not on the pitch or on the bench. See the CL Bayern game (second half) and Blackburn last year. Rooney does not have to score to have a huge impact on the game. Unless he is asked to run all over the place, mid-field, defense like with England.
Manchester United looked pretty solid in this game, save a Carroll free-header that could have easily went in. Unlike the Soccernet commentators, I do not point fingers at Carroll. You see, it is hard for a goal scorer to hit the back of the net when the ball is going the other direction 70% of the game. Carroll, like any striker, needs support and those players were always going backwards to defend.
Next week, a tough away game against Fulham.
DN
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