Kuszczak
O'Shea-Rio-Vida-Evra
Valencia-Carrick-Ando-Giggs
Rooney-Owen

SAF's way of punishing Foster? Don't want to make it obvious last Sunday, now got his chance.

It will only be forever if he's benched for the EPL games too. We rotated the GK a bit last season in CL. Same thing again perhaps.

Last season in CL group stage:
First 3 games: Vds.
4th game: Foster
Next 2 games: Kuszczak

The EPL game is the true test. Miss that next one, then maybe Foster should be worried. A kick up the backside he needed..

---

Added on October 1, 2009, 2:14 amKuszczak started the away game against Villareal last season. Strongest team in the group alongside us.

This post has been edited by Wan: Oct 1 2009, 02:14 AM

Going to be a very open game I feel tonight.. just hope our defence is in tip top condition for once this season!

I thought we were fecking great, even before they scored. It was a lucky goal perhaps because of the deflection and Wolfsburg's chances in the game, but we too had a lot of chances and we should have been one up in the first half if the linesman was wearing a pair of glasses. The moment Berba came on, we were on top, although Wolfsburg were pretty dangerous when they attack.

I love the new look of the way we play. Everyone attacks, and they don't have to do covering that much..

---

Added on October 1, 2009, 5:02 amBtw, to those who was saying we would struggle with Ronaldo gone(who will get the goals, who will score the freekicks!), I present you Ryan Giggs! Scored two already from free kicks if I'm not mistaken, with Nani the other one. Ronaldo scored 4-5 last season I think.

This post has been edited by Wan: Oct 1 2009, 05:02 AM

He still needs working on his game.. still don't understand what he needs to do when he get into certain position, who, where and when to pass the ball.. but I thought his crossing was much better tonight. He got past their defenders a few times and put in pretty good crosses into the box that find our men. He showed on a couple of occasions that going inside he's pretty useful.. but again, he doesn't understand the movement and where our players are and what he should do. That will come in time and the more he plays, the better he'll be.

One of his best games in an official match. Once he works out how to play with the RB, and those around him better, watch him fly down there.

This post has been edited by Wan: Oct 1 2009, 05:13 AM

Ever since Berba came on, we look lively and had a couple of chances to score(Carrick, Valencia,..) and we even scored through Rooney but the linesman forgot to wear his glasses. It was only a matter of time before we scored from the way the game was going. It just so happens that somehow Wolfsburg got it first.

We had 9 shots on target, 7 off compared to their 3 on target and 7 off.

No doubt he should score more, but remember, we didn't buy him for his goal scoring prowess and we don't expect him to get a lot of goals for us(although 20-25 is the minimum he should target). We bought him because of exactly what he does last night. To link up play. He's just very good at those stuff, and if he creates 4-5 goal scoring chances each game for us, that is more than good enough. Up to others to finish those chances better.

He's been good most games he plays this season.

As for Valencia, it's not pretty on the eye, but he's very effective at that. Just need to learn how to play with our RB/CMs so that he doesn't look so clueless when he can't go outside.

Berba have been performing well. It's just that he doesn't have the goals to show for in some games.


--
I still see people are expecting him to play like a Nistelrooy. Get us goals, or you're crap kind of thing.

I wouldn't say ridiculous, he's just never prolific at that part of his game, so I don't think we can expect much from him in that area other than being a 20-25 goals a season striker.

He creates in almost all games. At least one chance to his teammates, and a lot more in the build up play when we attack which doesn't get shown, or remembered. He plays behind Rooney, and there are reasons for it when people were screaming for it to be the other way round last season, till now. It comes with the territory of being an attacker that not all their passes work. Just see Ando and Giggsy. Not all their passes work. If you tell Scholes to play the same way, he too would miss at least half of the attempted through balls. That's why we see some players play the percentage game most of the time rather than being fancy trying to be the hero to open teams up like the likes of Giggsy, Berba etc does.. it all about roles. Right now Berba is expected to link up play, along with getting goals himself, although not much is expected from him there(again, 20-25 goals would be good for him). If we want goals, we would have gotten an Anelka.. or someone else, an Eto'oo perhaps etc.

Same thing, he will still need replacing like the others. Hopefully we can replace him too like we did with the others that left before him.

First 10 games this season and last.. minus the Carling Cup game.
We scored 22 goals compared to 14 last season.
Conceded 9 this season compared to just 4 last season.
GD of 13 this season and 10 last.

First 20 mins or so before Berba came we didn't look so good. But after that it was very entertaining. It's like the recent games where we were fluid in attack and able to attack at will. But that also means the opposition have some chances themselves too.. but I'm loving it! Give me this sort of performances any time compared to last season all about letting Ronaldo score kind of play.

Last season there was a lot of that. We only scored 68 in the league.. it'll be far different this time. Our wingers are back.

Like I said, people are still expecting Berba to be that man furthest forward and be the normal striker type that scores goals, when it's been the other way round. Berba was brought in for the way he plays his football, not because he was a guaranteed 25-30 goals a season striker. If we want that type of striker, we would have gotten someone else. Berba really need to do better though in front of goal looking at last season, but it was more his role that was to blame for that and the way we play. This season he's been more dangerous.. and with the type of wingers we have now and the way we play, it suits him far better than last season's Ronaldo show. 20-25 goals would be a very good season for him, along with countless of assists.

Rooney have been playing as our main striker, further ahead of everyone else in a 442 for the best part of 2 seasons(not counting this season since it only just begun) now. Heck, ever since Saha got injured mid way through 06/07, it's been Rooney as the main man upfront. It's been almost 3 years now. If you look back after we got Tevez, it was Tevez that was running around all over the place and Rooney has to play the discipline role of being the striker up ahead. Last season it was Berba's turn to play behind Rooney. Sure Rooney loves to drop deep and help defend and pass the ball around, but most of the time he doesn't do that for us last few years except for some games because SAF told him to be 'that' kind striker. And looking at his start so far this season, it's justified. The pace, movement, power, and finishing(when he's in the mood) is absolutely frightening for defenders. We may not like this version of Rooney we're seeing now, but it looks as though that's the kind of striker SAF sees Rooney as, for the time being at least. Or maybe this is just part of Rooney's learning process of being better in front of goal. I really like the way he always does his shooting from the left cutting in.. he always tries to shoot between the defenders legs and just inside the near post.. it's obvious he's been learning finishing lessons.

150 goals now Ryan Giggs scored for us! He took 6 years to get from 100 to 150. 35+6years=200 goals.

Ruud will get plenty, although I'm not sure having to kinda slow players next to each other is a good thing.

We know Berba need to score more, but his performances have been good and he's getting a lot more chances in front of goal compared to last season. The goals will come. Just don't expect him to suddenly become a Torres/Ruud overnight or ever for us. Accept him for what he is and you'll see he's a wonderful footballer that contribute a lot to our team.



Good start so far. I just focused on the midfielders and strikers.. any other I missed out?

Defenders should be easy to include.. will do next time. But on that 1st half vs last season thing, pretty hard to find for last season. Have to go through game by game.

---

Added on October 1, 2009, 11:48 pmEvra..


This post has been edited by Wan: Oct 1 2009, 11:48 PM

We got Teddy when he was 31, we were heavily linked with Di Canio too after Yorke's form deteriorate. Fat Ronaldo, Inzaghi, Del Piero.. but with the likes of Macheda, Welbeck and Josh King coming through, we may not look for another one..

Don't get me wrong, I love him just as much as anyone, and if given chance, I wouldn't want him to leave in the summer and keep staying with us as long as he wants. But I didn't miss the Ronaldo that has just left us, apart from his finishing ability, pace, power, heading ability, and his movement.. I miss the 06/07, 07/08, and the earlier not so impressive seasons version of Ronaldo. He sacrificed a large part of his game to be the player he is today, which is more effective and is great when we look at the results, but he lost that bit of spark that make him exciting to watch. He became from a very good winger scoring lots of goals to just someone who scores lots of goals. A bit harsh perhaps, that's just the way it is for me.. he's not an effective(beating his man, crossing etc, he replaces those with goals) winger anymore. Saying that, he would still be our best player most probably if he was still here.

Our reserves vs Sunderland tonight.. 1st half goals.


Eikrem and King both scored 2 I think. Remember those names.