That Carling Cup Final...
Wow, what a game. John Terry dead, Abou Diaby breaks hurts foot in the same incident, young Theo scores a cracker, Drogba scores a great header and one questionable goal. Oh and apparently there was some incident at the end.
Overall - we deserved it but Chelsea, and particularly Cech won it, he is some
keeper. But in terms of football, the youngest team ever were terrific but you
dont take your chances, you dont win. Still I think barring the last few minutes that this team proved themselves great and proved Wenger a great manager. Drogba however took home the spoils.
JOHN TERRY goes to heaven (or hell)
HANDBAGS
And something good.. England take notice.
posted by WhatsupWheaton Simon at
2/26/2007 12:16:00 PM
11 Comments:
"this team proved themselves great"
Er...calm down there lad.
Getting to and losing a Carling Cup final does not make any team great.
Didn't see any of the game yet apart from the "fight" scenes.
By
TheBusbyBoy, at 2:46 PM
Definitely great, a team averaging 6 years less than a full strength Chelsea should have beat them. The same team that beat Spurs over 2 legs, won at Goodison and scored 6 at Anfield against a team that included Gerrard, Gonzalez, Luis Garcia, Hyypia and Bellamy in it...
If thats not great what is?
Andy Gray and Alan Hansen have led the plaudits for this team today, Hansen said had Arsenal won it would have been on of the great managerial acheivements in the English game to take a team of youngsters to a final and have won.
Diaby was fantastic , losing him to injury is a killer.
Winning the CArling Cup means little, but to have won it with kids in the style we played would have been a once in a lifetime thing.
By
WhatsupWheaton Simon, at 2:52 PM
If thats not great what is?
Er, do you really need me to answer this?
Isn't Hansen the guy who said you win nothing with kids?
By
TheBusbyBoy, at 3:33 PM
Dont get me wrong , i think winning the treble is great - but to defeat so many teams away from home with virtual unknowns as Connelly, Traore, Denilson, Aliadiere, Hoyte, Diaby etc.. and to have come within a whisker of winning it - sorry thats a great acheivement. You may hate Arsenal, you may hate listening to pundits talking up the way they play but if this was United you would be loving it. it doesnt take a United fan to recognise an acheivement thankfully - if we had to wait for the Old trafford blessing everytime something good happened we would never get anywhere! Your kids had a great tournament - out to Southend.
By
WhatsupWheaton Simon, at 3:48 PM
Jesus, calm down.
I would be excited for the future but I would not be proclaiming it as great.
Its a very, very good sign for the future but I like to reserve the word great for achievements that are great. Not losing a Carling Cup final no matter how young the team was.
I realise your standards are lower though and thats fine.
By
TheBusbyBoy, at 6:17 PM
Quick question for Wenger and Burke. After the Lille, Fulham and Liverpool matches, where does your theory stand now about United being so old they are very vulnerable in the last 20 mins?
By
TheBusbyBoy, at 10:32 AM
Lets see - midweek, 3-0 up , and Reading came back to 3-2 and then hit the bar...
And today - dont even. You were rubbish. A soft free kick, (a well taken one mind) but in the second half you looked a tired shower of tossers but you got a win and you can tell your kids some day that you saw the game where United beat Liverpool.... after being absolute shite for 45 minutes.
In seriousness whats wrong with Rooney, he is very poor this year by the standards the media have had us set for him - he should have stayed on today but he didnt want to and was very poor throughout. He has lost pace and strength for me, bit worrying as an England fan. best united player today?? Other than Van De Sar would be... I cant really think of one.
By
WhatsupWheaton Simon, at 11:07 AM
Nice to see that medical degree you have allows you to determine that Rooney could have stayed on but just decided not to. Oh wait, no, you are talking through you hole.
Rooney and Larrson up front together is terrible. Too small of a pairing especially away from home where the quality of service to the strikers probably won't be as good. It has to be one or the other with Saha. Don't know why he doesn't realise this. If Larrson ging back to Sweden is what it takes for him to realise it then so be it.
Yes, we were shite, as we were against Fulham and Lille, but my point still stands. The theory was that United were too old and would fade at the end of games. We beat Lille, Fulham and Liverpool with late goals. Over the course of a season you win some late and you lose some late. Its too easy to cherry pick a few results and base a theory on that.
Reading doesn't count. We had O'Shea, Richardson, Fletcher and Silvestre on the field so of course we were going to cough stuff up to Reading over the course of 90 minutes. Neville, Giggs, Larrson and Scholes did not play that game so not sure how that proves your point.
Hmm. Arsenal finished the game really strongly today. Must be all that youth. Oh wait, it was the old guy in goals who saved you. Funny how it goes.
By
TheBusbyBoy, at 12:33 PM
Oh and best United player today after Van Der Saar was Rio Ferdinand by a mile....which of course says a lot but goalkeepers and centre halves need to win you matches too if you are going to win a league.
I was delighted when Bellamy was taken off. He was causing Vidic real problems and when I saw Silvestre come on (I can only pray that was not a tactical move or we are in trouble) I thought Bellamy would drift out more to his right and destroy Silvestre. I don't know if Benitez thought that Pennant would cause Silvestre more problems being an out and out winger but I was delighted to see Bellamy taken off.
By
TheBusbyBoy, at 12:38 PM
You United folk make it tough to cheer for you I swear. I was rooting for you all today as it does us a favour and puts Chelsea down although they are still right in it if they beat you.
You were dreadful today and one might argue in the second half you looked tired and were certainly second best , much like the Reading game and Fulham. You are playing poorly but you are winning and thats what wins you titles and your run in is quite generous too so I think you'll hang on.
As for Rooney - that today (and hasnt been most of the year) wasn't the Rooney you bought - this one looks slow and doesnt seem to have that enthusiasm and drive that he came into the game with. Obviously he will have his moments but overall he doesnt look worth his place right now. Saha is a different matter and I would start him every game. Was pleased for O Shea today - he is the super sub be it a keeper or scoring! You get the worst goals against Liverpool from the most unlikely players (Rio, O'Shea, Silvestre who was dire today)
As for us, we tired because the average age of the outfielders was 8. We have a lot out at a critical time and I suspect PSV will put us out in midweek. Still its been a good season without trophies, we just have to make all the promise pay off next year or show Baptista where the goal is.
And I swear Rooney didnt want to stay on today, I am no doctor but before that he had been non existent and much like Arjen Robben a few weeks ago against Liverpool, looked relieved to be off the pitch. I stand corrected if i read anywhere that he has ligament damamge...we'll see.
Are you starting to believe in a treble yet?
By
WhatsupWheaton Simon, at 5:17 PM
Don't forget Forlan. Thats about as unlikely as Rio and O'Shea.
We have been poor the last 3 games but they were not exactly 3 easy games either and were all away. We do need to improve though as we can't keep doing what we have done against Lille, Fulham and Liverpool.
Everyone keeps saying United have not had their blip yet. Heres a thought. Perhaps this is out blip? Does a blip have to be a blip in results or can it be a blip in form? I would take 3 wins during a blip :-)
Generous run-in? I don't know about that. I am probably not the best judge though as I have been a nervous wreck for weeks about every game and am the one who was really worried about Watford at home.
I might do a post on it comparing our run-in with Chelsea's but here are our last 9 league games:
Bolton at home: Never easy. And a local derby.
Blackburn at home: Have some dangerous players in McCarthy, Bentley and Pederson and a keeper who is almost unbeatable on his day. As an Arsenal fan I am sure you can see why I am not taking these two games lightly.
Portsmouth away: Hmm. Tricky. Not a n easy 3 points by any stretch I think you might agree. Our record is pretty good down there though.
Sheff United at home: OK We should win this one.
Chelsea at home: No need to say much on this one. It probably will not be played that wknd anyway with one of us bound to make the cup semi final...who knows though.
Boro at home: Should be ok here.
Everton away: Hmm. Me no likey.
City away: Oh God, its meant to be isn't it.
West Ham at home: They should be down by then.
Chelseas game in hand is away to City on the 14th.
Treble? I am only worried about the league. Anything else would be a bonus and I would take your hand off if you offered me just the league right now.
Here's an interesting one. Scholes will get a 3-game domestic ban - the first of which is away to Boro on the 10th. Wouldn't a draw be a nice result there. The replay would use up another game for Scholes and would obviously be in Old Trafford. Now of course you cannot relly play for a draw but I think Ferguson would have intended to play Richardson, Fletcher, O'Shea and Silvestre from the start as he did against Reading but I think you might see a full strength United team in this game. If we win, great. Lets just say though I can't see us going all out for the winner if its 0-0 with 20 minutes left.
As for Rooney, I don't doubt his enthusiasm for a second. In fact, I think at times he tries too hard when you compare him to Ronaldo. I'm often not quite sure whether Ronaldo even looks at the league table and sometimes, especially as a young player, maybe you are better off that way. Rooney is still so young though. People forget that. He needs to play with Saha though. Not playing Saha from the start today was astounding to me and I was worried about that all week. Now I am torn because I want Larsson to stay but only if Ferguson cops on and uses him as a sub like Barca did.
Sorry for the long comment. Its been an emotional day.
By
TheBusbyBoy, at 5:53 PM
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