Personal match report for Man Utd vs Blackburn
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I watched a couple of football matches last night. Because I was outdoors most of the day, I only managed to catch the second half of the Liverpool-Arsenal match. Liverpool won 4-1, thus completing their vengence upon a lack-lustre Arsenal team. Good job, Reds.
Next match I watched was Manchester United-Blackburn. Although I knew that Man Utd had not had the best performances of late, but last night was simply outrageous. Man Utd players cannot pass, they cannot cross, they cannot dribble and they can't shoot to save their lives. They keep passing and crossing the balls over to Blackburn players! And when they finally got the chances, they blew it. Wayne Rooney's horrendous form went on last night, with him having two great chances (with one being orchestrated by Ronaldo) and he blew it. Totally. He was just right there, right in front of the goalpost with no defenders obstructing him and yet twice, he misfired. He disappointed me and I think he disappointed many Man Utd fans last night, too.
Then Michael Carrick made an evil mistake which gave Blackburn a chance and Derbyshire knocked the goal in, putting Man Utd at a disadvantage. Rooney should take a leaf out of Derbyshire's book - How to Score a Goal When You Are Only A Step Away.
I was expecting Man Utd to bounce to life once that happened but no! They still can't pass, they still can't cross, they still can't dribble, and they still can't shoot.
Soon after my uncle got so pissed at Man Utd's performance that he went to bed. @.@ I stuck by the tv. @.@
Then I caught the news that West Ham was leading 2-0 against Middlesbrough. Goodness. I should have watched that match instead! And then it's half-time.
At the second half play, Man Utd were still playing like zombies save for a few players who had been working hard since the first half. I was so bored by then that I started switching in between the matches of West Ham-Middlesbrough and Manchester United-Blackburn. @.@;
Things only started to pick up after good old Paul Scholes scored a goal. Finally the Man Utd players got their act together as they were able to pass, cross, dribble and shoot! After 61 horrible minutes! After another twelve minutes, Michael Carrick made amends for his earlier mistake by scoring a goal from Ronaldo's cross. And then Park Ji-sung scored from a Ronaldo freekick-rebound too.
But of course, Rooney missed a clear chance at least one more time in the second half. He made such a tame shot that he would do better not to have attempted the shot at all. I really have no idea what he was doing on the field. He's like a bogeyman, really. Completely redundant. So when Solskjaer came on for Ronaldo as a sub (yaaay the supersub!) in the 84th minute, I realised that he's actually recovered from his knee injury. Alan Smith got on as a sub for Ryan Giggs too. That was... total bullshit. Because Solskjaer did what he was best at - scoring a goal - at the 90th minute.
And Rooney was still a bogeyman. Solskjaer should have been playing instead. Or, Rooney should have been subbed with Solskjaer earlier on in the game. With his dismal performance, he doesn't deserve to be playing the full 90 minutes. He made little to no contribution in last night's game. Wayne Rooney, BOO to you. It's been frustrating watching you play.
Ronaldo did well as usual. Ryan Giggs was not so bad and the defenders did a great job although John O'Shea lost his temper once. @.@; Edwin van Der Sar was great as usual. And I absolutely adore Solskjaer. I really hope he can have more first-team chances from now on. He's proved his worth to the team since a long time ago and it's a pity that he's still a sub. He or Alan Smith can take responsibility on perfectly well now that Rooney's in a horrible form. If Rooney still gets to play a full 90minutes in the next match, something's very wrong. The English internationals can't perform well for their country but at least they are doing very well for their clubs. Rooney? He's simply dragging Man Utd down all the time.
West Ham won Middlesbrough 2-0 and I'm elated. Now that's a good one and let's hope that they will keep winning from now on.
Watford almost held Chelsea to a draw last night but as usual, Chelsea had a lucky last minute goal. What a pity. -
it was a bad day for arsenal with their injuries. man u too have their injuries as well. i dont know whay chelsea can beat lowly watford at a bigger margin
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manu and chelsea were really taken by surprise by the opposition. arsenal made a mistake by playing diaby on the wings and denilson in the center.
diaby was too slow in catching up with play and denilson was really a spectator most of the time. adebayor was plain unlucky with at least 3 of the chances. crouch was surperb esp for the second goal. he should do that wif his head more often. but i think the score line is a bit exaggerating -
I was kind of disgusted with the way Blackburn played football after the first goal. Took ages on free kicks and corners, players staying on the ground longer than they had to. At first I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, but certain incidents confirmed my suspicions.
There was one incident where a Blackburn player was on the ground and the ball was cleared into the Blackburn half. The Blackburn player was down on the ground and seemed to be in pain. But when the ball was played back into the Man U half almost immediately, the same guy got up and started running into position. I'm not sure who the player was, it might have been Mccartney but I'm really not sure at all.
Also, Bret Emerton played the ball out for a corner at almost every instance instead of trying to clear it normally. In other words, they'd rather have a corer with everyone back instead of kicking the ball up for a 50-50 ball at least. It was most unsual.
Pretty negative football by Blackburn and it suprised me, considering Mark Hughes is a former Man U player, although apparently he got his team to play in a similar fashion against Arsenal too in the FA Cup.
As for Man U, Rooney seems to lack the composure infront of goal at the moment. Did his poor form for England affect him? Maybe? He's been pretty good at creating chances for others though, but as a star striker, the chances he failed to put away were criminal. Giggs seemed to not really have a good game as some of his touches really could have been better for the Giggs we've come to expect (age catching up?). Ronaldo looked good by comparison with his footwork and stepovers, but he was guilty of too much showboating on occassions and there was once he left the ball behind his foot after one too many stepovers.
Instead of going on and on about the whole team, let me just say that there was no real individual brilliance last night in the Man U team. Perhaps except for Scholes' goal which even in my opinion came after Rooney couldn't claim the ball as his own in a challenge with a defender. Still, kudos to Scholes for putting the chance away but I really was expecting better since he would have been fresher and sharper having not played any international matches.
However, Man U still managed to win because of their never-ending attempts to try, try and try. They just kept labouring and hacking away and in my opninion, no matter how good your team is at defending, to only sit back and defend you would concede sooner or later. Besides, with Blackburn playing the way they did, I'm glad they didn't win. -
well, I am glad that it happened in OT with the fans urging them on..another ground, perhaps it will be all over.
anyway, 3 points in the bag.. -
There was one incident where a Blackburn player was on the ground and the ball was cleared into the Blackburn half. The Blackburn player was down on the ground and seemed to be in pain.
Actually, almost or all teams does that. I believe I've seen Man Utd players doing that too. -
Actually i didn't see Watford doing that against chelsea... They restarted the game very fast each time they got the ball back.Originally posted by Slipshade:Actually, almost or all teams does that. I believe I've seen Man Utd players doing that too.
And there are few kinds of time wasting, some team pass the ball slowly among themselves while some would fake injury to waste time... And yeah, thats right... That guy mentioned was a former Mourinho's player at Porto, Benedict McCarthy... 1 sec "looked" injured, the next getting up and chase the ball as tho nothing had happen... -
but they magnify it whenever MUFC players do it but their own teams are all angels which makes me puke.Originally posted by Slipshade:Actually, almost or all teams does that. I believe I've seen Man Utd players doing that too. -
Nope, not at the level or the way that guy did it. It was like magic I tell you. The reason why I mentioned it was because it was beyond the normal.Originally posted by Slipshade:Actually, almost or all teams does that. I believe I've seen Man Utd players doing that too.