There is a bittersweet irony in Manchester United kicking off the club’s 2012/13 Champions League season barely 24 hours after reporting more than £20 million of lost revenue in the final quarter of the financial year. The poor Q4 figures, published on Tuesday, come on the back of United’s failure in last season’s Champions League, where Sir Alex Ferguson’s side was knocked out at the Group Stage and then failed to progress past Athletic Bilbao in Europe’s second tier competition.
Ferguson’s side begins the new campaign with the Scot promising an end to the complacency that wrecked United’s European season a year ago – with the manager setting the tone from the start with a much changed side against Benfica in the opening match last September. Indeed, Ferguson should be able to select close to his strongest side, fitness permitting, with Robin van Persie and potentially Shinji Kagawa returning for the Reds.
But it is in defence, where United suffered with injuries last season, that the Reds’ 70-year-old manager is hoping for better luck in the forthcoming European campaign. Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidić, rarely fit at the same time last season, should both start at Old Trafford on Wednesday, while Patrice Evra will return to the starting side if fit.
“I think the key is to keep the defenders fit,” said Ferguson on Tuesday.
“I mean that. We had a rough ride with defenders being injured in the last two or three years. If they remain fit that gives us a better opportunity. At the moment with Smalling and Jones out long-term, I’m down to three centre-backs -Vidic, Ferdinand and Evans. If I could be guaranteed two would be fit for the rest of the season, I’d gladly take that right now. But that’s not been the case over the last few seasons. It’s a key issue for us and we can’t hide it. I just hope we get a bit of luck in that respect.”
Yet, United’s downfall last season was equally self-inflicted in addition to rank bad luck. Frequent rotation and an almost unforgivable slackness cost United heavily, especially in key games against Benfica and Basel. It’s an error that Ferguson has promised United will correct, with the manager having previously provided surety that he will pick the strongest possible side. Time will tell on both fronts.
“Finishing off games has to be a driving force for us,” admitted Sir Alex.
“I think we all agree we were careless in two of the games at home last season. The Basel game was the one where the criticism quite rightly lies. We were 2-0 up and playing well and then got careless in the second half and ended up drawing 3-3. That ended up knocking us out, really. We had to go there [to Basel] and get a result and we ended up chasing our tails.”
Galatasaray arrive as Turkish champions having won the Süper Lig by a single point last season – and Fatih Terim’s men have started the new campaign positively with two victories from three matches.
“We’ve watched a lot of video analysis of them. I think there are several points about them – they have two players we know about in Emmanuel Eboue and Johan Elmander who played in English football. They have two good central midfielders in Felipe Melo and Selcuk Inan and a centre-forward to look out for in Umut Bulut. That’s a good name for a centre-forward!
“I know from experience it’s never easy against Turkish teams. It will be a very close game tomorrow.”
Games against Galatasaray have rarely been anything else, with United having emerged victorious just once from four matches with the Turkish giants. Goals from David Beckham and Roy Keane helped the Reds to a 4-0 victory in the last meeting between the two sides in 1994, but calamitous draws with Gala a year earlier knocked United out of the European Cup on the away goals rule, with Eric Cantona famously sent off in a tumultuous match in Istanbul.
“It’s one of those memories that will always stick with you,” Ryan Giggs told ManUtd.com.
“When we arrived at the airport, there were all the banners and thousands of fans screaming at you. There were things thrown at us when we were driving away on the coach, fans outside the hotel chanting all night making sure we didn’t get any sleep and people phoning the hotel rooms. It had everything.
“But they were a good team and a good club. It is a fantastic game to be involved in, especially away from home. It is an atmosphere a lot of the lads won’t have witnessed before. The atmosphere back then was something I tried to enjoy as much as I could.
“The fans had been in the ground for hours and hours so it was buzzing 90 minutes before kick-off. We were stood in the middle of the pitch watching the fans chant. It was one stand to another. It was a brilliant atmosphere if I am honest but obviously the game didn’t pan out the way we wanted. They were a good team then and they will be a good team now.”
Meanwhile, Turkish manager Terim will be without injured captain Tomáš Ujfaluši, who will be sidelined until the new year after undergoing surgery to repair cruciate ligament damage he sustained to his left knee in training.
Terim, a former central defender, played for Galatasaray for over a decade and represented Turkey 51 times before going into coaching with MKE Ankaragücü and then Göztepe. He was appointed Turkey coach in 1993 and led the side to Euro ’96. In a hugely successful career, Terim has won four league titles with Galatasaray and the 2000 UEFA Cup.
After spells in Italy and again with the national side Terim returned for a third spell in charge of Galatasaray in May 2011, steering Cimbom to a first Süper Lig title in four years.
But for all the nous in the away dugout United will surely hold too much firepower for a more limited opponent. Then, supporters were confident last season as well. Too confident as it turned out – to United and the bean counters’ cost.
Match Details
Manchester United v Galatasaray AŞ – Champions League, Old Trafford – Wednesday 19 September 2012, 7.45pm
Possible Teams
United (4-2-3-1): De Gea; Rafael, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra; Cleverley, Carrick; Valencia, Kagawa, Nani; Van Persie. Subs from: Lindegaard, Evans, Büttner, Powell, Giggs, Anderson, Scholes, Fletcher, Valencia, Macheda, Young, Hernández, Welbeck
Galatasaray (4-3-3): Muslera; Eboue, Cris, Kaya, Balta; Melo, Inan, A Yilmaz; B Yilmaz, Elmander, Amrabat. Subs from: Altıntop, Zan, Gülselam, Riera, Nounkeu, Baroš, Bulut, Özçal, Ujfaluši, Birinci, Kurtuluş, Baytar, Çolak, Amrabat, Sarıoğlu, Yıldırım
Officials
Referee: Wolfgang Stark (GER)
Assistant referees: Jan-Hendrik Salver, Mike Pickel
Additional assistant: referees Tobias Welz, Christian Dingert
Form
United: LWWW
Galatasaray: DWW
Head-to-Head
Overall: United 1, Galatasaray 0, Draw 3
Prediction
3-1
Provided that Sir Alex intends to keep his promise about putting out his best sides in this competition, and the players rested on Saturday gives some indication that he means to, I think your proposed lineup is spot on. I have, however, never done better than to pick ten of the starting eleven correctly; Sir Alex always does something unexpected.
I’d like to see DDG, Buttner, RvP, Kagawa, Nani, Valencia, anderson yes ANDERSON and Cleverley start tonight! I’d rest carrick and scholes for sunday and as well as Rio so I can see Evans being brought in. Looks as if that’s going to be the case by the looks of Rios Twitter feed last night…he never tweets like that a night before an important game no matter what…
Hope the lads and Fergie don’t mess about this CL Campaighn! Looking forward to a good performance from the lads! It won’t be easy tonight, they look a decent team BUT any1 we play at Old Trafford we have a HUGE advantage! Let’s av it lads! Come on United! Massive week ahead!
Can’t wait till Rooooooooooneys back!
really?
Hope with all those extra Os in his name you aren’t suggesting he will come back monstrously fat: a Waynessaurus when it comes to girth.
This is the line-up I’d expect tonight:
……….. Welbeck
v.Persie ……. Kagawa …….. Valencia
……… Carrick … Cleverley
Buttner … Vidic … Ferdinand … Rafael
…………… Lindegaard
A night on the subs bench might be just what Patrice Evra needs so shake off any lingering complacency over his place in the team, and Lindegaard does look a safer bet than de Gea at the moment.
Do you ever get what you expect? 😉
what about macheda
There wont be a dry galatasary in the house.
I’ve got a lot of time for joey deacon
Nice article as ever
It will likely be a tough game – they’ve always been a reasonably solid and combative team when we’ve encountered them in the past.
Melo is also a very decent player and will give our midfield a game. Sadly it doesn’t necessarily require world class talent to challenge our midfield, especially if the opposition looks to press.
That being said, our back 4 is looking stronger with each game and should be able to keep Elmander quiet
And then going forward there are goals aplenty in that attack. I feel like it has a nice balance to it and it’s only going to improve as the players get more accustomed to each others movement.
That’s what has impressed me most with both Kagawa and Van Persie so far – their movement off the ball is a huge asset and gives us something a little different to what we’ve had in recent years.
COME ON UNITED!
Apparently Powell is starting. Don’t know how accurate that is – where’s Herbie when you need him?!
Carrick………………. get in.
1-0 yes good start.
If anyone’s interested… bloodzeed is excellent.
“Badges, to god-damned hell with badges! We have no badges. In fact, we don’t need badges. I don’t have to show you any stinking badges, you god-damned cabrón and ching’ tu madre! Come out from that shit-hole of yours. I have to speak to you.”
Do you follow him on twitter? He’s a proper angry Spurs fan. Good lad tho 🙂
Not a spectacular goal by Carrick, but good composure and determination to take the goal rather than winning a penalty.
Very waistful in the final third..
Tough game. We’re not looking particularly comfortable…
Ordinary so far.
Good start but really slacked off and lucky not to be level if not behind.
Get Nani off, he’s all over the place.
Got to keep the ball far better, very sloppy in midfield.
Agree. Nani is absent….again. Midfield as usual pressured into giving ball away…
Bloody hell. Dont we practice penalties??
Nani = cock
Our penalties are fucking amateur. Stick to one penalty taker FFS
Nani fuck off, that was shit.
Jesus effing Christ! Why is that cock taking the pens? RVP for fecks sake.
We’re gonna balls this up if we don’t get our shit together.
Nani playing for himself rather that the team. Ronaldo wannabe and all round cunt
Seriously i really fail to see ANY value Nani brings to the field right now….
Come on United ffs wake up.
Fletcher on .
I’m not able to watch the match, but it sounds like we’re shit. is that true?
We r ordinary. Many players offform…
Some of this football is embarrassing
Are any of our lads having a good game?
Tough to finger
I would say Carrick has been OK and kagawa had flashes. Evra rvp nani been shite
Is this really the best game for fletcher to return in? Holding in by the skin if our teeth to a one goal lead against a physical Turkish team?
Maybe if we were 3 up I could understand it, not gonna do much for his confidence this.
Chicharito 3 chances. None of them even close to getting in…
Apart from the one that the defender got a foot to which would definitely have gone in under the keeper?!
I’m glad I couldn’t watch this game now. I can’t stand watching us be shit.
Good fan!
Pfft…
A win but not a great performance again in Europe, real struggle.
Phelan out!
Phew. Sense of relief as the 5 minute injury tme comes to an end. Thought Gala deserved a draw based on 70 Minutes..to be fair to Our boys in the last 20 minutes there werent that many Gala chances,…
I thought Kagawa Carrick had flashes. Valencia, evans, rafael, vidic were OK. The rest were nonexistent or poor…
In terms of penalty shouts they had a strong claim and we had one as well…
From abt 15 mins to halftime we were very sloppy. Better possession in 2nd half but no cutting edge at front. Onbviously we wasted a penalty…but we also had about 4-5 good chances that we didnt take
Anyways, good if somehwat fortunate 3 points…
real madrid would have torn us a variety of new arseholes if they were playing us instead of a poor turkish travelling team
Oh should also credit DDG with 2 good saves from their counter…
One good save….the first he just parried into the path of their striker, but he made amends.
Pretty disappointing performance, hoping the lads had one eye on Liverpool….
Ultimately a good, albeit very fortunate, result
Pluses:
Kagawa sharp
Carrick vital
Vida solid
Clean sheet (DDG with one particularly stunning stop)
Fletch getting some minutes
Negatives:
Nani’s woeful penalty (and typically erratic performance)
RVP – isolated up front admittedly but a poor when he saw the ball
Scholes – not the right player for dealing with an energetic and fast pressing opposition. He’s great with time on the ball, otherwise looks off the pace
Tony V’s distribution disappointed
Chicarito’s finishing – he had 3 decent chances after coming on and missed them all for one reason or another
Ultimately it was just one of those nights when things didn’t quite click. The result was the most important thing and at least we got that right.
I feel like we’re still feeling our way in to this season. I genuinely don’t think that Fergie knows his best team at the moment and I anticipate a lot of inconsistency over the next couple of months as injured players come back and others start to find form.
Not ideal when you have Liverpool at Anfield coming up at the weekend that’s for sure… Hopefully we’ll see more fluency on Sunday.
you just know taggart is tempted to play fletcher at anfield as the runabouter in a midfield 3
bet he misses shitehouse park so much, kagawas just not the like for like park replacement his ethnicity and facial features led taggart to believe hed be
That’s one one of the most ridiculous things I’ve seen on here, including all of Herbie’s posts…
Seconded!!
its always been clear we put no practice into any set pieces, clearly that also includes picking a 2nd pen taker after wayne, and even wayne aint much cop at em, a disgrace, these are the bollocks jobs taggart probably delegates to phelan, sack the cunt
The best bet for lpool is to play 451 , Carrick Scholes Cleverley in the middle, Kagawa and Valencia wide, RVP up top. Complete waste with Kagawa but we have no option. 4411 too exposed in the cm area and Young and Nani can’t be trusted at the moment for a wide slot away from home. Stick with Evra but Buttner should play more of the rotation. De Gea prob did enough to get the start sun. Ferdinand in for Evans.
Also get Powell on the bench plus Giggs for his experience. Ando and Hernandez to miss out altogether.
madred don’t pretend you’ve not thought that’s why taggart signed him
Bill @ 11:11: “The best bet for lpool is to play 451 , Carrick Scholes Cleverley in the middle, Kagawa and Valencia wide, RVP up top.”
I reckon that TheGingerNinja has blown his gasket – he’s very unlikely to start again on the week=end. So, Anderson and Cleverley in front of Michael Carrick; the front three is anybody’s guess but RVP will play and two from Nani (who was excellent apart from that shambolic penalty !), KagawaBunga, AV7 (who was pretty lousy in the danger area), DannyTheLad, and Chicharito (who was able to beat the off-side trap three times in 15 minutes – too bad he wasn’t wearing his shooting-boots, eh ?). I’d also reckon that Rio will be back (so to speak – unless his back is acting up) and SAF might “rest” NinjaEvra to cool the tension at AnFailed.
Today’s match showed the problem of playing Carrick/Scholes in midfield – too slow in turning from attack to defence when/if they venture up-field. I reckon that TheGingerNinja (like SirRyanGiggs) should be kept for “super-sub” appearances when the field is tilted towards the other end of the pitch.
we could easily play 442 at liverpool and win if we were willing to work as bollock hard as they will, but we’re never willing to do anything except wait for the opposition to shit themselves at the thought of playing the supposedly mighty man utd, which never happens anymore, especially not away from home, and by the time we realise this we’ve usually already lost, this is what will probably happen at the weekend
Never really thought about it .
Maybe you should ask Baloo
MANCHESTER IS MY HEAVEN- SIR MATT BUSBY
Valencia was very poor tonight. He played a bit like Nani – brought some skill into his game but the crossing was unbelievably wasteful (completed 1 from 13, in fact all season he has completed 5 from 41). Had the lowest pass completion out of our outfield players as well. Might be something to do with not having Rooney in there as RVP was poor tonight as well. Understanding isn’t there yet. And what is with all the diving? When you have to watch in slow motion to see if someone’s toe brushed someone’s ankle you don’t need to go down. Kagawa, Nani and Valencia all sacrificed promising positions in the box to try and win a penalty.
Our issue with defending is with a change of style that will clearly take time for the players to get used to. Fergie is trying to defend higher up the pitch starting with the 3 AMs and so has to push up the 2 CMs behind them so space is not left. The main issue with this is Carrick is now playing further forward and so is ‘in’ the game rather than watching it in front of him. This obviously makes it more difficult for our only CM capable of effective defensive play to anticipate and break up play.
Problem with keeping possession, was impatience. We were always looking for a direct attack and hardly ever ‘rested on the ball’ which really doesn’t suit a midfield pairing as pedestrian as Carrick and Scholes. Didn’t help that our forwards were so wasteful when they received it – Nani was the only player to register multiple (3) shots on target and one of those was a poor penalty. Other than that, I thought Nani was our best forward. He seemed to have a free role drifting across the pitch allowing him to be involved more, although we never really capitalised on him doubling up with Valencia – any benefit was partly negated by Rafael being less adventurous than usual (he defended well though). Still, he would have had two assists if Chicharito’s finishing was better. Kagawa looked promising again, but faded in and out of the game. Given his performances so far, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Rooney take his place when he returns and for Kagawa to be added to the LW rotation, at least until he adapts to the league. Shouldn’t forget that their ‘keeper had a good game as well (seem to remember Muslera being very good for Uruguay in the WC ’10).
One positive was the aerial strength of the Vidic-Evans partnership. Never really looked vulnerable from crosses. Vidic still a bit rusty as seen with the (should’ve been) penalty. Shocking pass from Evra before that too. Until Vida returns to his best, I think Rio-Evans might be the stronger partnership. De Gea, again, showed why he should be undisputed no. 1. Rotation not necessarily a bad thing though. Like Chicharito, De Gea has been playing a lot of summer tournaments and mental fatigue could become a factor if he was playing 50-60 game seasons, especially at his age, and the subsequent errors could kill his confidence. The defence as a unit performed well – most of their best chances came outside the box which should be the domain of the midfield.
Glazers have taken advantage. 4 of the 8 commercial deals we’ve signed since his arrival have been with Japanese companies.
Did you even see this match? To borrow and adapt a quote about Willie Mays and his glove: Nani is where United’s attack goes to die. He’s been awful in every game he’s played this season. No defensive system or opposing player has done more to stifle and snuff out United’s offense than has the thoughtlessness and selfishness of Nani. I wish to f*ck he had moved to Zenit.
I read some of these comments and wonder whether people were watching the same game as me? Nani was awful, and wasteful as ever, and as soon as he stepped up you knew he was gonna blow the penalty. Evans and Vida played like they’ve never spoken to each other before, it was shambolic at the back at times. Thought scholes was solid until he got subbed, lends us an air of calm and didn’t waste a ball. RVP had an off day, hopefully just a one off.
I reckon give buttner a chance on Sunday, young sterling will rape evra the way he’s going.
might make a man out of him
he has become a pussy for ages and can’t defend for shit
i know he has had family grievances and that racist gobshite business didn’t help but he really needs to focus on why he is in a red shirt
Scholes was our best player… again.
I think our biggest problem is not having Rooney… for years now, our team has been built around him… he’s been the focus, even when he’s been shit.
With him not in the team, there seems to be a lack of understanding… when he comes back,(hopefully fit and firing), he’ll knit all the parts together.
// Scholes was our best player… again. //
I thought Kagawa was our best player, Carrick decent, same with Scholes. Vidic had a few moments of class. Rafael was quite solid actually.
5/10 for the team as a whole.
They could’ve scored twice from Scholes giving the ball away. He is a legend but unfortunately also an achilles heal. Everybody knows they just have to press him and mistakes will be made. It says it all that we have to rely on him in twice, three times a week when he would be more effective changing or maintaining a game late on or used more sparingly.
For a moment, just a moment, I misread “fit and firing” as “fat and farting”
Rob Diablo @ 4:08: “Nani is where United’s attack goes to die”
you mean, the two over-the-top passes to Chicharito ? or the delicate interchange with KagawaBunga on the edge of the area – the finest passage of inter-changing passing I’ve seen for a good long while ?
Do you really “watch the game” or are you one of those trolls who notes every mistake and ignores every good thing a player does ?
No question, Nani is not “consistent” but neither was SirRyanGiggs in his pomp. If you set the bar so high that only CR7 or Messi get passing-grades then you’ll be disappointed with most players.
I’m amazed that anyone could think that Scholes was “our best player again”. What I saw is that he was over-run and his passing just wasn’t up to his usual standards – playing two games in four days seems to be too big an ask. SAF needs to be more judicious in providing playing-time for TheGingerNinja AND SirRyanGiggs – neither is up-to-speed in tough matches but BOTH offer touches-of-class which should be rationed for situations when their presence is really needed.
Giggs should be quietly retired to the coaching staff now IMHO. Been a magnificent player for us, and a model pro for the youngsters to aspire to, but has become massively inconsistent and wasteful over the last 12 months or so. (albeit with the odd moment of brilliance) give him a run in the league cup with the young uns.
Scholes on the other hand is still our calmest, most influential midfielder, and in the right circumstances is the best player we have. Though I hope he doesn’t start on Sunday cos he’ll be shagged.
I might be thinking of the pass to Nani out on the left that cleared the defender but landed between Nani’s shoulder blades and rolled down his back, or perhaps that bit where Valencia turns two defenders (or one defender twice) inside out on the left side of the box before passing to Nani, who, with defenders rushing toward him, doesn’t pass to an open teammate, electing instead to try to outdo Valencia’s recent display of dribbling skill, only to lose the ball again.
I freely admit to having lost patience with Nani. It seems that in his head, he is vying with Messi and Ronaldo for preeminence among the top three players in all of football, but the reality is something else altogether. He does not have anything like Messi’s close control or Ronaldo’s trickery with the ball, and his finishing is not worthy of being compared to either of theirs. Nani is not one of the top three footballers in the world—he’s not even in the top 30; he’s somewhere in the mid-table region of the top 300. I am sick of seeing comparisons of him to Ronaldo, he’s not even as good as Beckham was at the same age. Hell, I’d take Kanchelskis over him.
Kanchelskis : a huge part in our first successes and a hat-trick v City, soon after which he was flogged to Everton. On his day, lethal.
Rob Diablo @ 2:14: “Nani is not one of the top three footballers in the world—he’s not even in the top 30; he’s somewhere in the mid-table region of the top 300. I am sick of seeing comparisons of him to Ronaldo, he’s not even as good as Beckham was at the same age. Hell, I’d take Kanchelskis over him.”
Top three ? no way;
Top thirty ? OK, but in the bottom-half of that group. OR the top of the next group.
On UTD, I reckon that he’s the 4th-best attacker; behind RVP, KagawaBunga, and TheWayneBoy but more-or-less equal to the very diverse attributes of AV7, Chicharito, and DannyTheLad. No question in my estimation that he’s far better than Ashley Young, who is the runt-ot-the-litter.
There is always this dumb argument about Nani, between those who reckon he’s one of the only real exciting players we’ve got, and those that are just fed up with his shite!…
I don’t think anyone doubts his talent.
Nani has great ability with the ball at his feet… and nearly everyone agrees on that… but he’s a thick fuckin tool, that just cannot grasp the simple lesson that he’d be twice as effective if he used his team mates more… every now and then, as if Ferguson has threatened to take away his toys if he doesn’t wake up, he plays brilliantly… mazy runs, incisive passing, great crosses, and it all adds up to not only plenty of assists but he also gets more scoring opportunities, and he bags a few… best winger in England.
But for whatever reason, in the end he always reverts to the arrogant twat down the park who thinks he can take on the entire opposing team by himself, ignoring his team mates yelling for him to pass, until he eventually and inevitably loses the ball…
I don’t think he’ll ever learn… and it’s a shame, cause he could awesome… not Ronaldo, but still great.
Footballer’s should generally make less mistakes and have a more rounded game at his age. Ronaldo was like him when he first came, but he matured… Nani unfortunately hasn’t. His decision making is completely erratic… he’s too inconsistent for me.
Giggs still is our best left winger, and still a useful attacking midfielder. As long as we have the likes of Anderson, Fletcher, Nani (on the left wing) in the squad, Giggs must stay.
Nani is a top right wing player, but he’s second choice to the excellent Valencia – I’d take Zenit’s offer of 25m too.
Leave it pal. There are trolls here who like to follow the crowd and crow “Scholes being awesome and Nani being useless” After the first five minutes on wednesday when Gala remembered their pre match plan to press Scholes he absolutely wilted. I can never say it enough that in any proper match Scholes is a liability. Nothing changes it. People are too cowardly it seems to acknolwedge it.
Nani plays on the left for us and was good enough. When I saw him running to pick the ball for the pen I nearly fainted cos I knew or felt he was going to miss. He lost the ball a few times but that is what you get from MOST dribblers. People will ignore how many very good things he did in the game because it is normal to criticise him as I challenge anyone who watched the match to go and do it again then you will be surprised to find that he did far more very good things than the frustrating things.
On Sunday, he is the best person to play against Glen Johnson cos he has the beating of him – frankly, Nani has the beating of any full-back in the country. He just needs to be trusted more and allowed to do his thing. Anyone who has seen how we have played this season will notice that all the forwards have been asked to feel free to roam – a major factor why Valencia’s crosses to the far post did not hit as Nani had come from far to near but the others did not go from near to far post.
Diablo, what do you mean exactly? Nani’s level is Blackburn Rovers? God give me strength.
That is an excellent question: what is Nani’s level? On certain days, he is good enough to represent the world’s biggest club on any stage and make a telling contribution, but on other days, he falls far short of that level. So, my answer is that Nani has no level, and that is the problem: you never know which Nani will show up on any given day.
As Alf said, no one doubts Nani’s talent, but talent without consistent application is only potential, and Nani is too old and has been at this club too long to still be on the verge of fulfilling his potential. In my opinion, Nani’s problem is entirely in his head, and that is unlikely to be fixed anytime soon. So, I would rather see him move to another club than stay and continue to keep us hoping that today will be the day that Nani finally turns the corner for good. I am by no means certain that that day will ever arrive.
Nani’s game will be remembered for the special kid penalty, but he played 3 worldy passes that should have been goals with Hernandez and Kagawa (who was unlucky to get his shot blocked)
Nani never, ever ceases to frustrate me, when I see him do wonderful things like those passes (which were all basically perfectly weighted to players moving at speed) and then fail to pass the ball 10 yards to someone in front of him. It is bonkers.
Nani was bad 1st half, better 2nd half. But for a change he wasnt our worse player – that would probably go to rvp for this game
Also thought scholes was poor for the night – hope he has better game sunday
Hope he is nowhere near the starting 11 on Sunday!!
On Nani:
http://giggsboson.tumblr.com/post/31930840066/on-nani
I can’t be arsed with the Nani debate. I admit he has been abominationally shite, but some of the criticism is unfair. He’s our most skillful attacking forward so he’s burdened with being the main creative outlet in a lot of games – and creative players are frustrating because their job is to try things.
It will come with him – eventually. I think there’s been a bit of bad man management regarding his new deal. If the Zenit stuff is true then Fergie wouldn’t have been arsed to see him leave, so maybe Nani doesn’t feel ‘wanted enough’. Whatever it is, his head isn’t there, but it will come. He’s doing some good things unlike Rooney who looks out on his arse.
How dd this thread turn to Nani? To me a player of Nani’s age and tenure at the c,ub should be judged on one thing: can he consistently produce the goods, the real goods that help us win games?
Of the few games so far, can you really honestly say Nani has been instrumental, a key person in helping us win them? I would say the answer is a clear no. He had a good assist against Wigan, thats pretty much it.
Until he produces the goods,and can produce it on a reasonably consistent basis, he deserves all the criticism he’s getting