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This injured defender situation is getting ridiculous. At the moment, our treatment room must resemble a field hospital - players arms flailing around and medics frantically trying to issue the right medication to each of them. This ain't great because on Tuesday we face Germans and a tremendous chance to lose top place in the group.
I can’t for the life of me find justification for our injury woes other than bad luck. Unfortunately though, I don’t think this is an isolated incident. Some of our players have lived in a strange parallel universe of misdiagnosis. As far as I know, we are not sure what is wrong with Rio, with each passing day I think Michael Jackson is more likely to make a comeback than Owen Hargreaves and we never really did sort out the outrageously talented Louis Saha.
Old Trafford
You would think that Manchester United would have the, well, Manchester United of medical facilities at their disposal. Instead, my bizarrely cynical mind worries our physician might be like this guy. Horse placenta seems sane in comparison but you’ll notice that Saha seems to be playing fine for Everton…
Attribution psychology suggests that people can be predisposed to blaming a situation on somebody - whether or not it is the reality. So I blame Malcolm Glazer. Book balancing has been happening all over the shop, see the sales of Pique and Rossi, ask this young lad Ljajic or try to get on the phone to the ticket office. Is it too much to assume that our medical department may have been trimmed back too?
There are too many niggly injuries with slight pulls and strains to be really acceptable right now. If it costs us on Tuesday, I’ll be miffed.
Anyway, onto better news. United are playing well and scoring goals in the league. What with Chelsea finally losing games (shortly after JT’s latest battle cry, God bless him) I should be more excited. True, the goal difference is repaired and true, we have closed the gap. It should be noted, however, that this was against two of the weakest teams in the league and, West Ham particularly, offered less defence than a boxer with no arms.
The game on Saturday was quite the delight to watch. I thoroughly enjoyed all of goals especially the latest thunderbolt from G-Force Gibson. Just the type of player I have been waiting to see emerge since he-who-walks-Triggs departed. Let’s hope he and the rest of the forward players can keep form.
I made the point last year that in 07/08 we had relied on the front players and last season on the back four/five. It’s time for the guys up front to take charge again. Michael Carrick is a tremendous fella for stepping into the defence this week, and he was tidy (making 26 perfect passes) against West Ham. But he only made one tackle. Berbatov has finally, thank Buddha, had a haircut, but it’s the boys at the back who want to avoid any more close shaves.
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Comments
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Posted by Tommel Harding on 12/08/2009
i think louis saha even though he is hugely talented he was spending more time on the theatre table than on the pitch. even at everton he is not that consistent.
we won the league last season because we dropped 0nly two points to teams on the bottom half of the table therefore i'm happy to see we're scoring goals against them again this season that could make the difference. with chelsea dropping points now united are very much on course.let us hope that our injured players recovers soon.i think chelsea will miss essien and drogba in january when the african nations cup begins and i believe united will capitalise. at the moment we're not doing badly
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Posted by johanzul on 12/09/2009
For every situation occurs, there will be pros and cons. The positive thingy is that Man Utd shall do more attacking and defending since they do not have any choice than to pursue the philosophy of "The Best Defence Is Attack" rather than "waiting" for opponents to continuosly testing their defences. So, we can surely see more attacking game from Man Utd. Similarly, the bad news is if continuosly played those same players (Fletcher, Carrick, Evra, Anderson, Scholes) without rotation, eventually they will "break" in terms of fitness and mood which may results to low performances and even worse injuries. For me, lets give our youngsters a chance, even at the back-four, we might lose games or even the title but we can prevent long lost list of injured players such had happened to Hargreaves (to a point where no return???) and fight another "war" later on. Unless, there are new players coming on board which I personally think is unlikely to happened. Hmm, where does the money goes anyway?
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Posted by Edson Emmanuel on 12/11/2009
i was to decided that to increase the effort in order to be a champtions
i love so much man united i wish you nice preparation for for the next match
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Posted by steven k on 12/11/2009
we are astrong team however much we have injuries we will still win more matches go united go
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Posted by Tatenda Dondo on 12/11/2009
i think there is no need to panic at this moment because the guys who have filled in at the back have done a good job, it is up to the midfield to hold the team together, Gibson has been a positive thus far, and its time for Anderson to really step up, he is a terrific player with so much potential and he is more than able to hold that midfield together, l think Ritchie De Laet should be given a start, he had a good game against spurs as he took bentley out of the match. With Vidic available for the Villa game the defense should hold firm against Agbolahor n company,its going to be up to Anderson and his fellow midfielders to try to close down Young, Downing and Milner, as for some of the players to be added to the squad, l think we need a playmaker such as David Silva and probably another central defender, but overall the teams looks good to challenge for top honours again
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Posted by wilson on 12/15/2009
will someone tell me when is hargreaves coming back?since there is no christiano we need him
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Posted by lekan on 12/16/2009
i never understand why utd refuse to use there young player,we have many good players down there but with out given a chance to prove who they are then how can we know there good.i don't know who advance sir that valencia will inprove when nani is there.for now i think we needed a shape 9.less i forget please i want to know when owen hargreaves weil come back or he has retriyed?if not please i needed reply.my best player 4 now will go to flecter$anderson,owen,obertan,gibson,daddy evra,vidic,rooney.but i want nani to be use so that it can be listed.good lucky.
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Posted by John on 12/17/2009
I believe my Club,althoug we av injury woes nw.I knw dat by jan we are goin bk 2 our normal space at d Top..ManU4Life.
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Posted by Wale on 12/18/2009
I believe my club will wins the premiership again, i knw dat by Dec. we are goin bk 2 our normal space at d Top. we are the champion of england. Manunited 4 life.
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Posted by ronald on 12/18/2009
J think obertan can be very good if he is given chance to gain experince with severe games to play.
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Posted by Firdaus on 12/21/2009
Every year this happens at Man Utd, but every year I end up laughing at my Arsenal, Liverpool or Chelsea friends. I have believe in Fergie, and kudos to the makeshift defense and also Tomas Kuszcak - who's been excellent. However, I still think we need a top class center forward to finish off our chances - hopefully in January. At times, Berba and Rooney are a bit too fancy and it can cost us the game. Let's just hope it doesn't cost us the league. Anyway, it's nice to see our wingers developing well - Valencia, Obertan, and even Tosic - IF they get their chances to play. I just saw the 3-0 drubbbing we got against Fulham and I implore Sir Alex - please, please stick with 4-4-2 and utilize our wingers. It's the best formation Man Utd's had. Let's hope it will be the one to cut Chelsea's diamond at the end of the season.
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Posted by dhurba bhattarai on 12/21/2009
in my view manchester united is good team of the world. but it's defenders had injured so it is going down but i wish all the key defenders coming soon and captured his position top one. i think rooney is a good forward but he couldn't meet any partners to suport him in forwards line. so alex managed it properly.
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Posted by Hasnul on 12/21/2009
Well, it is understandable that Man Utd are currently very fragile in defence. Who can afford such a long list of injuries to the key defenders? Nevertheless my real concern is the lack of confidence that the rest of Man Utd players have shown against Fulham. What happened to Anderson and Scholes? They seem lost and failed to deliver the killer passes to Rooney and partners, let alone unleashed their shooting prowess. I wish Man Utd's attacking midfielders to be more creative when breaking defence's line, and try to attack more from centre rather than the traditional efforts from wingers. This way, the opponents might feel hard to read and anticipate Man Utd's attacking strategies, and give Man Utd more attacking options. We all know how good Scholes was when he was on top of his game, so Anderson should have now been able to emulate his mentor. I really love my team and I wish Sir Alex Ferguson good luck and continue to fight for the 4th straight BPL title until the last breath!!
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Posted by Mwangi Robert on 12/22/2009
I wish Sir Fergy en ol MAN U players a quick recovery.4 MAN U fans have hope in da players cz we'r going 4 da 4th BPL title no matter da reason.
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Posted by dennis liyay on 12/22/2009
Dispite the fact that man united has injuries for severals defenders, the midfielders are the once who lacked creativity, there was no cordination and accurate passing and this put ourdefenders under pressure. The formation also costed us. All in all man united still have a chance to win the EPL
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Posted by Phille on 12/22/2009
Well,it's right casting blames on someone or whatsoever after a failure but we must understand that its from failures that we can turn into excellence. Having watched the young stars on pitch,I was so impressed with the excellent way they handled and possessed the ball but the major error was on defence that forced Rooney and Valencia to turn back instead of hunting for goals yet in actual sens Fulham had such a well organised line of defence.My wish is that Sir Alex develops backline from these young players by having them watch or play major leagues from bench.Man-U for life.
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Posted by isaac kwoba on 12/23/2009
man united we are together good and bad times cause we are 'THE RED DEVILS'.
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Posted by jamesy on 12/23/2009
3 in a row was great.Maybe we have to let one go to win the next 3. Scholes and giggs absolute legends but coming to the end(sadly), Gibson has shown he has something special like scholes in scoring great goals unlike anderson who is just a good player. The other young players need game time to become RED champions of the future. What's happened to Macheda?
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Posted by Nikhil Jagtiani on 12/23/2009
No matter what is the out come of the players or the situation on points or etc... we also come out in first place each time .
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Posted by Das on 12/23/2009
First time in years that United have suffered such an injury crisis. All teams face such situations, the situation at United is nothing special. In fact, United have been lucky to have hardly had such a situation in the past few years. Fulham beat United because they were better. Stop moaning.
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Posted by Anyisile Anyelwisye on 12/23/2009
I think the idea of testing and giving exposure to our youngstars is ideal. I it will avid such misile when those regular players are not arround. We have seen John Evance doing a big job on the pitch taking the chance of Rio who seems inconsistent this term.
I wonder as well on what has happened to Macheda who has proved to be an emerging star in the future, Fergie should let him play again as he is doing to Wellbeck, Gibson and Obertan. We need to have a number of young backup on defence especial on centerback.
Wishing all the best on the new year and marry X-mass for those who celebrate it.
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Posted by Franklin on 12/25/2009
The issue of Owen. We need more Obertan, Wellbeck and Macheda in the team. These are young players with confidence on the ball. I wonder why Fergie thinks Owen will deliver the the magic.
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Posted by john on 12/27/2009
play park ji sung at right back
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Posted by Roy Ashton on 12/27/2009
It so frustrating having to watch Berbatov on the pitch.....he would not hold the ball for one lousy seconds....he walks throughout the ththe whole match like walking and strolling through a park or something......i do not understand why he is still in the team....or why he is being fielded for a match knowing that he would not do anything that help the team to win a match let alone score big or anything, i believe that what Sir Alex ferguson is hoping of him....well he can hope till he he really force to retires cause the 'Sulky' Bulgarian would not and could not do so with his lazy style of playing.
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Posted by Jaymolee Russell on 12/28/2009
So far so good we need to stand together in this tough time..we are the chanpions lets keep it that way.
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Posted by Randall Wong on 12/29/2009
For all the arguments against Berbatov's inclusion in the team, I'd like to suggest a few constructive ones here:
1. He does display a good 1st touch control & distribution. What he lacks however, is the robustness to hold off opponents and wait for his teammates to move into space (ie. RVN).
2. While he displays good teamwork from his preference to pass, he also needs to learn the craft & gain the confidence to beat opponents on the dribble.
3. Most importantly, given his role as striker, he needs to work on his finishing especially when he gets into good positions directly in front of goal. In training they should really focus on letting him bang in the goals in every conceivable manner from within the box.
I believe he is still not the finished product yet & can possibly get better. Fans need to accept is that not every player is gifted with the same explosive pace or insane skills of CR7 but having the proper instructions/training, can still carve out a niche for themselves.
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Posted by angel on 12/30/2009
muakaka.. you all really think only the defence of man u is the problem??? once ronaldo left, there are no easy goals against bottom of the table teams. Thats why its hard for man u
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Posted by Wayne Rooney on 12/30/2009
Nice to see so many utd fans
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Posted by Bas on 12/31/2009
Can't understand why Man U got Michael Owen on their books if he is not given opportunities to play more games; instead most times he is sitting on the sidelines.
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Posted by Farai Nigel Chinyani on 12/31/2009
i bet we need one or two demons in midfied, all the same go Red Devils, the ligue is ours AGAIN!
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Posted by Mark C on 12/31/2009
I believe my club will wins the premiership again and also believe in our palyers since Oshea is now coming up Man U is able to win any game with fine defenders and strikers too so i beg our the United managers Sir Alex Ferguson to keep useing some player like Wayne Rooney Antonio Valencia Dimitar Berbatov in our Forward and people like my best Defender Patrice Evra Nemanja Vidic and Oshea for the back am sure that we are going to the world that Man U is still the best club this season again
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Posted by Dennis Stevens on 01/01/2010
Happy new year to Fergie, my players/staffs and offcourse my fellow fans. I must commend Rooney for the last display against Wigan which puts us closer to taking the top spot again this Jan. But I seriously think we need anoda playmaker to support Rooney upfront. speaking of playmaker, I think Sergio Aguero is perfect for Janaury transfer. forty million pound-sterling is not much for Aguero as I am confident the REDS can afford dat. Sir Fergie pls I want to see more of Zoran Tosic as he not to warm the bench, we spent money on him so he should work and he is a good player. I will live n die for the REDS! MAN4LIFE.
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Posted by kenneth on 01/04/2010
The Boss should think of what to do with Berbetov. I can`t understand why a player with such physical presence cannot pose any threat to opponent defenders. He lacks space, he`s not good in the air. he does not shoot even when clear on goal. No stamina. Just lazying about and he`s suppose to be the no.9, if berbetov can put in half the effort of Rooney, then UTD will have no goal scoring problem. He shd learn to be more agressive and passionate. Owen shd be given more playing time than Berbetov
ken
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Posted by mr. x on 01/05/2010
Posted by Goke on 01/05/2010
we should all forget about CR7,whether Rooney or no Berba,Sir Alex.should talk to our player so that we can have a good result at the end of the day.We can not be loosen matches to a minor club,I know no club should be underrate,I can't believed we can loose to LEEDS on Sunday.We need Obertan & Macheda really.kudos to Sir Alex & BRAVO to the whole team.
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Posted by injumbene on 01/17/2010
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About
Mark Payne writes about football for a variety of media outlets. He reported on the 2010 World Cup for Australia’s ABC network and worked at one of the FIFA fan sites. He has been ESPN’s Manchester United correspondent for four years. His writing attracts a worldwide following and in 2011 this blog was nominated for an award. To contact Mark for football discussion e-mail him on markpayne.editor@hotmail.com at any time. He wears lucky socks on match days.
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