United thread 2012/13 (inc merged IPO thread)

[mat]

Shrek being left out is fergies way of telling him he's out end of season.

I find it hard to fathom because he is still one of their most influential players.

Of course its not down to ability and value to the side that Fergie would move him on as he has done so to other players before.

I would put more money on Fergie moving on than Rooney unless Coleen wants to do the Paris strip with Posh of course.

Thinks its more the baggage he comes with rather than ability.

 

[stony]

Ragcafe is epic reading tonight. Keane is getting it the neck, I don't think they like him anymore.

 

[mat]

Two seasons running they haven't qualified for last 8. wonder how that will impact on their finances?

 

[mcmanus]

Ragcafe is epic reading tonight. Keane is getting it the neck, I don't think they like him anymore.

Come on Stony. Give us a link and a laugh.

 

[Syth]

Ragcafe is epic reading tonight. Keane is getting it the neck, I don't think they like him anymore.

Someone who has seen as many red cards as him telling it how it is and now they cannot even stand him - and an ex player of theirs at that lol! Just goes to show what a bunch of c...s they are.

 

[MSP]

treble's on the way.. I can smell it

 

[1.618034]

Cristiano Ronaldo's homecoming puts Wayne Rooney firmly in the shade

The Real Madrid star's victorious homecoming highlighted how far he has moved past his former colleague in recent years

When it came, just before kick-off at Old Trafford, the reception for Cristiano Ronaldo – "Welcome back, No7 …" – was profound and even rather gentle: warm applause that brought a regal wave from the world's most expensive player even as the game began.

Whatever the reason – and much has been made of the potentially neutering effects of a concerted, dewy-eyed welcome – for the first hour of a brilliantly gripping match that Manchester United would ultimately lose 2-1, exiting the Champions League in the process, Ronaldo seemed to have emerged calibrated several notches below his customary level of extreme menace.

Closed down at a sprint by Ryan Giggs whenever he cut inside, and deprived of space in which to gallop and twist by Sir Alex Ferguson's successful suffocation of Real Madrid's great strength on the break, Ronaldo looked a man not so much energised by his first return to United four years after leaving, as unexpectedly enervated.

Ronaldo it was (of course: this is still Ronaldo) who tucked in Madrid's close-range equaliser in the second half, not so much celebrating his goal as semaphoring a generalised apology. But by then this match had been decided elsewhere. Nani's sending-off on 56 minutes looked harsh after the benefit of a replay. Airborne contact with Alvaro Arbeloa's torso was a function of Nani's own extreme high-kicking gymnastics more than any actual malevolence. Its effect was to alter completely the gravity of a match that had seemed to be tilting United's way. Within 15 minutes Madrid had two away goals, and two hours of expert defensive stitching had all but unravelled.

For all the pain of defeat, it is to United's credit that by the end of a brilliantly impassioned second half, crowned by Luka Modric's sublime goal, the game's most prominent personality had become just another player in a gripping ensemble. Similarly it is evidence of the wonderful depth of talent in the Madrid squad – Modric was barely mentioned in the buildup – that a hasty red card was so ruthlessly punished.

If the Old Trafford crowd still harbours a diffuse, collective affection for Ronaldo, the other big story of the evening, the omission of Wayne Rooney from United's starting lineup, also seemed to fade into the wider tension as the tigerish rhythms of the first leg re-established themselves.

Rooney's omission was neither unprecedented – after all, he missed out against Internazionale at the same stage in 2009 – nor an affront to his recent form. Beyond this it provides confirmation of his plateauing out as a player: left out – never mind the sinuses, this was Real Madrid – of United's biggest European match since the final of 2011.

There was also a sense of the increasing divergence in the elite career paths of two men who signed for United at the same age and had five luminous years together. So steep was Ronaldo's subsequent mid-career ascent at Madrid it is easy to forget that pretty much right up until the moment Rooney was sent off against Portugal at the 2006 World Cup, it was the Englishman who seemed the weightier star.

Ronaldo's progress towards all-time hall-of-famer status has coincided with Rooney's own levelling out into a merely very good player: a terror of the Premier League but less effective against the better teams, where he can be pushed to the fringes. If he had started here it would have been mainly as a defensive presence.

With this in mind Ferguson decided Danny Welbeck was better equipped to harass Xabi Alonso in possession. Dropped in favour of a better defensive attacker: this is galling stuff for England's champion attacker, but it was also a gambit that had seemed to be coming good.

Welbeck gave plenty of evidence here for the reasons for his inclusion, galloping with great energy and purpose down the channels and also keeping the ball with telescopic precision in tight areas.

He really should have scored on 34 minutes following up Robin van Persie's blocked shot, but a snatched finish was in keeping with a timid season in front of goal. Moments later, with Rafael da Silva upended in Madrid's box, Ronaldo's only real first-half chance to counterattack arrived. He meandered infield and was again blocked off by the scampering Tom Cleverley. By half-time the game's star presence had decided to move infield and was playing more or less as a centre forward, albeit for once his instinct to roam chimed with a staged victory for United's defensive rigour.

It had also seemed briefly poignant that Nani, the most surprising inclusion here, should have a say in United's goal. Gifted but flighty, and destined always to suffer impossible comparisons with Ronaldo, the Portuguese winger's persistence on the left led indirectly to Sergio Ramos scoring the own goal that put United 1-0 up in the tie.

It was a feeling of destiny that lasted all of eight minutes, plus the two more it took a visibly distraught Nani to actually leave the pitch. United will take heart that the final minutes provided not a showcase for the belatedly emerging Ronaldo, but evidence of their own spirit as they pushed in search of an equaliser.

Rooney had appeared by now, in time to hook over the bar from six yards, stretching awkwardly at a height considerably lower than Nani's inadvertent kung fu assault. For what it's worth, Ferguson will feel vindicated in his selection. United's season has now dwindled to a two-pronged domestic endgame. What the future holds for Rooney beyond that may have just shifted a little, too.

Barney Ronay at Old Trafford

 

[mcmanus]

The radio gets better.

Phelan says "the manager is in no fit state to speak to the media".

Oh is he?

 

[MSP]

I'd pay to watch what will happen when ferguson finds out about rooney's wife tweets, lol

Her husband is specimen too but boy she's dumb

 

[AntiUnited]

POETIC FUKIN JUSTICE FOR THE AMOUNT OF CHEATING , LATE WINS, GETTING AWAY WITH NO RED CARDS( YA U STUDS UP EVANS), AND BEST OF ALL THERE HERO SENDS THEM OUT WITH THE KILLING BLOW THERE IS A GOD AFTER ALL !! <33..


and rage cafe is just beyond words. Rawkish/conspiracy theroiest are out in force :)