Manchester United VII: Moscow Dream is ALIVE!!!

[calebk]

Ref was really nonsense. Missed all the little things the Barca defence did to Ronaldo to intefere with his game, all the pushing, nudging and all. I think it was a performance largely biased by his (inaccurate, if I may add) impression of Ronaldo.

 

[melvin]

Our peformance is below par today, this is the first time we were so defensive n penalty miss by our star player! With possesion of onli 30%!

Solid display pleases boss

Sir Alex Ferguson believes United have a “marvellous chance” of reaching the Champions League final after their workmanlike performance against Barcelona.

Barca enjoyed plenty of possession at the Nou Camp without creating many clear-cut opportunities and, although United offered little in attack themselves, Ferguson was satisfied with the defensive display.

“It was a professional performance,” the Reds boss told Sky Sports. “Our concentration in defending the space was very good and, although they had a lot of play on the edge of our box, they didn’t have many chances.

“On the negative side, we should have done better with our possession. We had opportunities to counter-attack and gave the ball away too easily.

“But going back to Old Trafford for the second leg, 0-0 gives us a marvellous chance.”

United’s night could have been even better had Cristiano Ronaldo converted a second-minute penalty. The Reds’ top scorer surprisingly put his spot-kick wide of Victor Valdes’ left-hand post, but Ferguson was quick to defend the winger.

“I would have backed him to score,” he said. “He’s a bit unlucky – maybe it came a bit too early in the match. It was disappointing but nonetheless, he was fantastic for us tonight."

Ferguson reserved special praise for Paul Scholes, who made his 100th Champions League appearance.

“I thought he was one of our best players,” he said. “His reading of the play outside the box was terrific, his interceptions were marvellous and he was the one player on our team who didn’t give it away.”

The United boss insisted it was no surprise that Barcelona enjoyed long periods of possession on their home ground, but he is determined for the Reds to up the ante in Tuesday’s second leg.

He said: “You have to admire the style of their game. They always get an extra player in midfield, no matter what you do, so possession was always going to be in their favour on their own ground.

“At Old Trafford we want to reverse that to make sure they don’t get that kind of possession. I think we’ll impose ourselves much better in the second leg.”

:devil:

 

[melvin]

Ronny warns Barca

Cristiano Ronaldo has warned Barcelona that he will atone for his Nou Camp penalty miss in next week's semi-final decider at Old Trafford.

The Portuguese winger blazed a second-minute spot kick past the post as United and Barca fought out a goalless first leg draw, but he insists he will score when the teams reconvene in six days' time.

"Today I didn't score," he told Sky Sports. "No problem, now I'm going to score in Manchester. Nil-nil is a good result. Of course, if you score a goal it is better for us. We didn't score, but 0-0 is good.

"It was a tough game, Barcelona played very well and kept the ball a lot. But I think we defended very well and we played well too. I think 0-0 away is a good result."

Aside from Ronaldo's penalty miss - and the decision not to award a second spot kick for a foul by Rafael Marquez - the 23-year-old winger is still confident that United can book a berth against either Chelsea or Liverpool in Moscow.

"Now we're playing at home, and I think we're going to win," he said. "The team feels good confidence, we played very well, we play at home now and we have a great chance."

Ya ... better score!!!!:devil:

 

[melvin]

Vida doubtful for Blues

Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that Nemanja Vidic is a major doubt for Saturday's Premier League showdown at Chelsea.

The Serbian defender missed Wednesday night's draw in Barcelona with a stomach bug and, although he is on the road to recovery, Sir Alex is not hopeful of having Vidic available at Stamford Bridge.

"I think he’s doubtful, but we’ll do our best," the United manager told Sky Sports.

"He’s back at the hotel, he’s taking plenty of fluids, he had a bit of soup this afternoon for the first time in 36 hours – that’s promising, I suppose.

"Let’s hope we can get him there on Saturday morning – we’ve only got 72 hours to do that, but he’ll want to have a go. He’ll be desperate to play and if we do get him, it’ll be a bonus to us."

Wes Brown deputised in central defence against the Catalans, with Owen Hargreaves excelling as a makeshift right-back.

With Gerard Pique, John O'Shea, Gary Neville and Mikael Silvestre all fit, however, Sir Alex has no shortage of options if he opts to shuffle his pack.

:devil:

 

[plsoong]

I watched from 58 mins onwards coz i just so happen to wake up then! LOL

With all due respect, barca was playing really good football and i think they were unlucky not to convert any chances, which also points out VDS was good and the defense was good.

I agree with SAF that there's a problem with the linking up from Defense thru midfield! In fact i see spraying of the balls from midfield onwards! its like....taico taico will land infront of striker......everytime that happens I'll lament albeit too loudly!

It was a difficult decision for SAF in the midfield dept. I believe he knows that Barca will take the full opportunity to try to get a score at home hence he could have told the players, 1st priority, defense and not leak any. 2nd to counter fast (which is what Man U does most of the time).

but, for the 2nd to happen, and if the midfielders mostly are defensive or on backpaddle, quite impossible.

Its ironic, but i think that for the return leg, man U should try to wrestle the game and throw in Anderson for a more agressive push upfront. the midfield should have 2 attacking, 2 defensive. staggering.....

I'd vouch for Hargreaves to be played back in his defensive midfield role and Anderson to be employed as a controlling midfielder with inclination towards attack.

 

[melvin]

I watched from 58 mins onwards coz i just so happen to wake up then! LOL

With all due respect, barca was playing really good football and i think they were unlucky not to convert any chances, which also points out VDS was good and the defense was good.

I agree with SAF that there's a problem with the linking up from Defense thru midfield! In fact i see spraying of the balls from midfield onwards! its like....taico taico will land infront of striker......everytime that happens I'll lament albeit too loudly!

It was a difficult decision for SAF in the midfield dept. I believe he knows that Barca will take the full opportunity to try to get a score at home hence he could have told the players, 1st priority, defense and not leak any. 2nd to counter fast (which is what Man U does most of the time).

but, for the 2nd to happen, and if the midfielders mostly are defensive or on backpaddle, quite impossible.

Its ironic, but i think that for the return leg, man U should try to wrestle the game and throw in Anderson for a more agressive push upfront. the midfield should have 2 attacking, 2 defensive. staggering.....

I'd vouch for Hargreaves to be played back in his defensive midfield role and Anderson to be employed as a controlling midfielder with inclination towards attack.

I still feel that we should go on the offensive rather then defensive as this Barca team is no longer the same one we know...err... they are rather toothless...

It will be a much different story if we gone offensive from start even if we fail to convert the 2nd min pk is alright cos more will come alas we choose to defend n park bus in front of goal post! Leaving them to plunder our goal area which is rather dangerous esp wif Brown around n Vidc not in!:sweat: and we could only wait for chances to counter them...:devil:

 

[melvin]

Papers: Barca fancy chances

Eto'o: We're favourites now
Samuel Eto'o insists Barcelona have one foot in the Champions League final after last night's 0-0 draw with Manchester United. Cristiano Ronaldo's second-minute penalty miss meant United left the Nou Camp without a vital away goal. And Cameroon hitman Eto'o believes Barca are now the clear favourites to progress. He said: "I really think that if we go to Manchester and play like this then there is absolutely no reason why we shouldn't go through. It's not an easy task to be the home side when you have drawn 0-0 away from home in the first leg of a knockout tie."
The Sun

There are similar quotes from Eto'o's team-mates Xavi and Gabriel Milito but it's Cristiano Ronaldo who dominates the back pages following his penalty miss - and his promise to make amends in Tuesday's second leg at Old Trafford.


Round up by Adam Bostock

:think: we have not shift to gear 3 yet! wait till then n see ....:sweat::devil:

 

[Hitman]

You know what, I just have this funny feeling that next Tuesday's game will end in a 1-1 draw and Barca will progress to the final on away goal...

Hope it's just a 'feeling', and if yesterday's performance is an indication, Man U really need to step up a few gears if they want to beat Barca next week..... :embrass:

 

[legiz]

i hope to see man utd progress as a man u fan , but ..yesterday performance was really like sh** , totally out of shape..
i never see man u attack at all , totally no confidence , passing all haywire.. is very very lucky to get a goaless draw against barce..
the whole team seems to lost confidence after ronny fail to convert the penalty..reminds me of the thrashing by AC milan last year.
I hope man utd to win the match as i honestly think barce will score at old trafford

 

[afbug]

The team looked out of focus yesterday. And I dun understand why Anderson din play. Ronaldo really cork up his penalty. Haiz... a win is possible but now its a 0-0 draw.

 

[afbug]

Ref was really nonsense. Missed all the little things the Barca defence did to Ronaldo to intefere with his game, all the pushing, nudging and all. I think it was a performance largely biased by his (inaccurate, if I may add) impression of Ronaldo.

Its not only yesterday's ref was like that. Many EPL refs also din do much when Ronaldo was consistantly hacked down and fouled. Fergie have always called for more protection for flair players but nothing much was done.

 

[mystudio]

ManU played so defensive yesterday!

Not scoring an away goal and playing 2nd leg at home is quite a disadvantage. If Barca score an early goal next week, ManU will have to chase the match like crazy.

And its going to be a very tense match, for the full 90 minutes unless ManU can have a 2 goals lead. If they lead by 1-0, Barce will be all out to attack until the very last minutes, any goal they score, ManU will be out (worst still, if they score in injury time)...

Thierry Henry shall be back in the game and I reckon he will be a major threat. He already has 2 shots on target yesterday playing for last than a quarter of the game, I hope he is not coming back to haunt us..

Anyway, let's put some faith in Sir Alex, I hope he has something up his sleeves..

ManU always like to do things in the difficult way!

 

[afbug]

At home, I have faith and confidenca that Man Utd can beat Barcelona. :devil: Only worried about the team's fitness after the battle with Chelsea tomorrow.

 

[Zaknafein]

frankly speaking... i dun have much faith in man u beating barca when they visit us.
the 0-0 draw was a very fortunate result for us, considering the way they terrorise our defence.
and the way we gave away possession is so sad. fergie is really giving a lot of face to scholes for him to be still playing.
his passing was so terrible. his time is really really up. haiii

i wassnt very surprised ronaldo didnt convert the penalty... altho i really hoped he would.
he has hardly performed well under pressure, esp in big games. he usually only has confidence and show his arrogance in smaller matches. tats the diff between messi and ronaldo.

ronaldo may be the fav to be the 1st player playing in EPL to win footballer of the year due to his current form, but to me, messi is better than ronaldo. no he doesnt have ronaldo's gifted fast legs, but he is a much more calm, intelligent player, keep things simple yet effective. and hes even younger than ronaldo.

 

[Hitman]

:cry: Lose to Chelsea.... I think the linesman kelong, how could he possibly see the handball? Anyway... if don't do well in the next 2 games... then Man Utd may end up empty handed this season...

C'mon devils, you can do better!!

 

[relaxxjaxx]

How could the linesman see it? It was a wrong call! SAF should appeal to the FA on this as it's a title decider!

 

[Jimmy81]

OMG nw the pressure is on!! Man Utd HAVE to win their last two games!! (If chelsea win theirs too)

 

[Big Kahuna]

It was the wrong line up today...firstly...playing for a draw is a mistake, Fergie always makes life difficult for himself....If MU won tonight game then it's all over for EPL, he can concentrate for the remaining CL fixtures.....now.....MU could potentially winning none by loosing or even draw 1-1 to Barca :thumbsd:

Secondly....the midfield totally lost out to Chelsea today....only he can answer why he insisted on playing Giggs where everybody else can see he did nothing but whinnying for the entire 90minutes....should he fielded a more attacking minded side? The team could well soaking up the earlier pressure....some may say it's easier to criticize in aftermath...but IMO this is what they deserve for drawing big paycheck week in week out :lovegrin:

The defence was unlucky by loosing Vidic so early....but I am also surprise to see Pique or O'shea didn't start ahead of the lack of matches Silvest....Van de man also looks pale today...face like food poisoning....in some fine day...he could well parried both the goals :sweat:

All and all I would say Chelsea is more deserving winner today....we can't blame referee or players but the manager himself :dunno:

 

[Jimmy81]

I thought man utd actually looked more dangerous when anderson was on the field bt once he was withdrawn man utd`s midfield looked like they couldn`t cope with chelsea anymore :dunno:

 

[shinestar]

I notice for the last few matches, ManU has been playing very defensive and playing for a draw, a little too KS in my opinion.. We just let the opposition attack and try to soak up the pressure... even counter attack are half-hearted, most of the players are staying too deep in our own half..

Today typcial. the moment equalise, quickly replace the attacking player with a defensive one...

When opposition keep attacking, there is a possibly that one lucky strike may end up in goal, or they may get a penalty decision like today...

I hope today serve as a good lesson for mid-week match, not forgetting, attack is the best defence