Todays fitba

[TENEMENTFUNSTER]

Best league in the world? Played off the fucking park tonight.

 

 

Nevin said at ht that Man U can't play like that at the top level in Europe. They did and that's why they aren't.

[Jute]

Cannot believe commentator described that as a smash and grab by Bilbao. United completely out played tonight. Could easily have lost by more.

[manc_don]

Cannot believe commentator described that as a smash and grab by Bilbao. United completely out played tonight. Could easily have lost by more.

 

Probably should have, they have de gea to thank for keeping the scoreline to 3!

[BobbyBiscuit]

how him and fabio (and carrick) have played so many games is a mystery...well no it's not actually, united are more in debt than the huns so they can't afford any better.

 

easily the worst utd team i've ever seen. still fancy them to win the league mind.

 

You never see the United of Alan Smith, Kieron richardson, roy Carroll, Mikael Silvestre et al? Because the current lot may not be the best United side but they'd piss all over that lot.  Seems to be every year is "the worst utd team i've ever seen" from loads of folk, but the side that had 3 seasons not winning anything was easily the worst I've seen since the mid 80s.

 

Best league in the world? Played off the fucking park tonight.

 

 

Nevin said at ht that Man U can't play like that at the top level in Europe. They did and that's why they aren't.

 

Said it time and again, they can't play to that level minus Vidic. Fergie intimated he'd been too lax in his selections in Europe, Ferdinand should have started tonight for his experience against a superb frontline.

[maverick sheep]

You never see the United of Alan Smith, Kieron richardson, roy Carroll, Mikael Silvestre et al? Because the current lot may not be the best United side but they'd piss all over that lot.  Seems to be every year is "the worst utd team i've ever seen" from loads of folk, but the side that had 3 seasons not winning anything was easily the worst I've seen since the mid 80s.

 

 

Those players also had Giggs and Scholes at their best, making the team immeasurably better than currently. And I was born in 83, so the 'worst side i've seen' means not much more than 20 years.

 

Whatever loads of folk might say year after year, I've never called a man utd team the worst i've ever seen before this one. Which is dreadful.

 

[BobbyBiscuit]

Those players also had Giggs and Scholes at their best, making the team immeasurably better than currently. And I was born in 83, so the 'worst side i've seen' means not much more than 20 years.

 

Whatever loads of folk might say year after year, I've never called a man utd team the worst i've ever seen before this one. Which is dreadful.

 

Giggs had a torrid time in those years, some sections of the support calling for him to be sold and Scholes missed a huge chunk of it through an eye injury that almost cost him his career, so you're talking nonsense.

 

They may not be great, but they are far from dreadful.

[CtS]

I think Utd's standards have dropped simply because they have too many key players either missing through injury or who've lost form.  Vidic, Fletcher, Valencia, an on-form Nani .... all have been big players in the past.  Getting knocked out of the Europa league wouldn't be the end of the World if it helped them focus on the Premier League - without question a bigger prize.

[maverick sheep]

Giggs had a torrid time in those years, some sections of the support calling for him to be sold and Scholes missed a huge chunk of it through an eye injury that almost cost him his career, so you're talking nonsense.

 

They may not be great, but they are far from dreadful.

 

Aye, i must be talking nonsense. Again.

 

They were all in the team for the best part of 5 years give or take?? Silvestre played over 200 games, which is curious if he was such a mug. And smith was good until the leg break.

 

Scholes' eye injury was bad for about a season. Not for all the seasons those guys were in the team though. And nobends calling for giggs to be sold? I take it back. Rubbish player.

 

I personally don't remember Utd being so shit when compared with teams from Switzerland, Portugal, Spain ('s Europa teams) or the Netherlands. Clearly the current crop have better than a ryan giggs of about a decade less years of age. I'm just oblivious to how that can be quantified.

 

As I said, utd may well win the league even though city have easily the better squad, so this isn't a comment about utd as much as about the overrated epl.

 

Can't for the life of me understand why man utd and liverpool fans in particular are so defensive about their own teams. Maybe tonight was just painful, If so i apologise for rubbing it in bb. Just that this is an afc board so i forgot to give a flying fuck about any of the guffland teams and thought i'd try revelling in the fact that the basques are now better than the english.

[rocket_scientist]

Man U are shit.

[BobbyBiscuit]

Aye, i must be talking nonsense. Again.

 

They were all in the team for the best part of 5 years give or take?? Silvestre played over 200 games, which is curious if he was such a mug. And smith was good until the leg break.

 

And so have a lot of the guys in this "dreadful" team. what's your point?

 

 

I personally don't remember Utd being so shit when compared with teams from Switzerland, Portugal, Spain ('s Europa teams) or the Netherlands. Clearly the current crop have better than a ryan giggs of about a decade less years of age. I'm just oblivious to how that can be quantified.

 

Even though they were put out in the group stages of the CL in one of those seasons too?  Fergie got it wrong again re team selection as has done in Europe this season since the start; he took it too lightly and got punished.

 

Can't for the life of me understand why man utd and liverpool fans in particular are so defensive about their own teams. Maybe tonight was just painful, If so i apologise for rubbing it in bb. Just that this is an afc board so i forgot to give a flying fuck about any of the guffland teams and thought i'd try revelling in the fact that the basques are now better than the english.

 

I'm not defensive about it nor am I hurt  about it, I'm putting across my point of view, last time I checked that's what this site was about, no?

As CtS points out, United had a lot of very important players missing last night. Bilbao certainly deserved their victory, no problem there, it's just these hyperbolic statements I don't get. "Dreadful"? Come off it.  If it's just about "guffland" for you then there's not much point continuing the conversation is there?

[Tyrant]

Said it time and again, they can't play to that level minus Vidic. Fergie intimated he'd been too lax in his selections in Europe, Ferdinand should have started tonight for his experience against a superb frontline.

 

 

Disagree with this. I think Rio would've got murdered tonight by some admittedly very handy strikers. I think Fergie suspected this would be the case. Rio has lost a yard of pace over the last season or so.

[manc_don]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JZpDL6nxUYc

 

Another great example of our refereeing in Scotland, albeit in Europe. At least they're screwing others over too.

[maverick sheep]

I'm not defensive about it nor am I hurt  about it, I'm putting across my point of view, last time I checked that's what this site was about, no?

As CtS points out, United had a lot of very important players missing last night. Bilbao certainly deserved their victory, no problem there, it's just these hyperbolic statements I don't get. "Dreadful"? Come off it.  If it's just about "guffland" for you then there's not much point continuing the conversation is there?

 

Agree with a lot of this. It's the glib dismissal of valid opinions as "nonsense" that I didn't think the site was about, and felt was an insult to my intelligence. Debate, respectful disagreement and tonnes of hun-bashing? Yes, absolutely.

 

To the point of number of games played; According to yourself, it was nonsense to suggest Carrick is pants, because, to paraphrase 'he's played consistently under Fergie for many years so must be a player', yet to then say the team with Rafael at FB is the worst, is also dismissed as nonsense because Silvestre et al were apparently worse - he in particular a guy who also played a hell of a lot of games for many years. Either you're shifting the goalposts deliberately or your first argument is just logically invalid.

 

Anyway, chatting about football players'/teams' abilities from the arm chair is only ever going to be subjective hyperbolic nonsense, so it's best to agree to disagree and get back to doing what fans do best - screaming boozed-up gibberish from the touchline and enjoying the day out. 

 

[maverick sheep]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JZpDL6nxUYc

 

Another great example of our refereeing in Scotland, albeit in Europe. At least they're screwing others over too.

 

We've got him on Sunday don't we? Fandabby! Canny wait for the next catastrophe

[TENEMENTFUNSTER]

 

Disagree with this. I think Rio would've got murdered tonight by some admittedly very handy strikers. I think Fergie suspected this would be the case. Rio has lost a yard of pace over the last season or so.

 

This.

[BobbyBiscuit]

 

To the point of number of games played; According to yourself, it was nonsense to suggest Carrick is pants, because, to paraphrase 'he's played consistently under Fergie for many years so must be a player', yet to then say the team with Rafael at FB is the worst, is also dismissed as nonsense because Silvestre et al were apparently worse - he in particular a guy who also played a hell of a lot of games for many years. Either you're shifting the goalposts deliberately or your first argument is just logically invalid.

 

 

 

My point about Carrick - and apologies if I didn't make this clear - is that he has played an enormous amount of games in the most important position on the park for a very succesful side - only failed to be league champion once since he signed and reached 3 CL Finals in that time. Silvestre and his ilk can not claim that, or do you believe differently?  So, either this side - the one you claim is the poorest ever - is just really fucking lucky or the one I spoke about just happened to be really unlucky.

[TENEMENTFUNSTER]

It may well not be the poorest, though that would be fairly subjective but they are very very vulnerable and pretty shit to watch.

[tlg1903]

utd are utd TF

 

When i look at the past 15-20 years at old trafford there is no real difference in style of play.  They get the ball and try to get it into the box, sometimes they pass their way through and others they will go for the flanks and cross into the box.  The overall style has not changed at all, get possession and hurt the opponents as soon as possible.  Ultimately aesthetics are just that for them, it just so happens that a winning mentality combined with technical ability and utter faith in the manager leads to football you want to watch a lot of the time.  They are the Germans of club football in so many ways and i have a lot of respect for that.

 

Fergie's greatest ability for me is his ability to spot where teams weaknesses are, its the key to his success.  Most of the time, and with the right players available, it works.  Sometimes it lacks and they look hopeless but not very often.  The club debt has severely restricted their ambition over the past few years,  last really big signing was Berbatov which says it all.  Wage wise, at the moment, they are light years away from city and the spanish old firm. There is no other manager on the planet that would have them as title contenders, arguably favourites too, this season  if you ask me. 

[TENEMENTFUNSTER]

They are lacking something and have been for a couple of seasons but it's maybe having more of an effect now. I used to watch a lot of their games but it is not good viewing this season. Yes, the aesthetics probably are irrelevant if it's your team and they are in with a good chance of the league (favourites is perhaps a little optimistic) but they aren't what they were even this year.

 

Money is probably a big factor but as you say, offset by SAF, I doubt anyone else would have them as competitive. Aye, there's influential players missing but there's others who are there that are not showing consistent good form.

[BobbyBiscuit]

They are lacking something and have been for a couple of seasons but it's maybe having more of an effect now. I used to watch a lot of their games but it is not good viewing this season. Yes, the aesthetics probably are irrelevant if it's your team and they are in with a good chance of the league (favourites is perhaps a little optimistic) but they aren't what they were even this year.

 

Money is probably a big factor but as you say, offset by SAF, I doubt anyone else would have them as competitive. Aye, there's influential players missing but there's others who are there that are not showing consistent good form.

 

I'd actually go along with most of this.  They never look as solid minus Vidic as I said, but they also never look their usual fluid self minus Valencia.

[Jute]

Cracking game between Real Bêtis and Real Madrid. Currently 2-2 with both teams going all out for the win.

[glasgowdon]

Cracking game between Real Bêtis and Real Madrid. Currently 2-2 with both teams going all out for the win.

 

Never in doubt.

 

[caledonia]

Have not read all of this but the reason for me that Man Utd are out of the champions league is Ferguson under estimated the other teams in their group.

 

If they were playing the likes of Real, Barca, Man city or Chelsea etc they would never have dropped key players even taking squad rotation into it as well.

[rocket_scientist]

Sheer class from Joe Hart saving the Swansea pen. "Don't wait for me" he was hollering at Sinclair. The penalty is the most mindfucking part of football. Golf is all mindfuck, the ultimate examination of the mechanics and the mind combination, but Hart was just superb there.

 

I said 6 months before the World Cup that Hart was the best English keeper. Think he was on loan to Birmingham at the time but no, the Italian - with no real personal motivation for Engerlund to succeed - picked Green, with catastrophic and hilarious consequences.

[manc_don]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/video/2012/mar/12/football-assist-of-the-season-video?CMP=twt_gu

 

nice!