The FA is under us. That's why.

Maybe they prefer someone more physical/who 'works' harder. That's why Carrick never got a look in. They are clueless really. They shove Scholes down the left before he retired. His form this and last year have been very good IMO. He should get a look in this time, but probably the likes of Barry and Parker will still be ahead of him because they appear to work harder.

Gerrard, Lampard, Parker, Barry, Wilshere(if fit) would most probably go. Hopefully Carrick and Cleverley will go as well..plus Scholes.

I thought football is a team game? We as a team failed in those games, against Barca especially in thw two finals where we got outclassed. And against Barca, with how they pressed us, even Scholes would give the ball away. As for the Bayern game the fact that we were a man down for the 2nd half were the reason we went out.

As for his passing range, it depends on the role he plays. But if you look at Scholes' stats, it would be the same sideways passes that would dominate the chart. And I read somewhere a while back, he attempted more forward passes than any other players aside from the defenders at the club.

You expect him to be spectacular? Why is that? His role in the team is to shield the defence and keep the ball moving and he does it well than most players. He's been first choice ever since he got here, although he struggled for a bit before this season losing his place to Fletcher. But he was struggling with his ankle injury if I'm not mistaken.

People have been underrating our midfield a lot over the years. But with the supposedly weak midfield, we won the league 4 times in five years and went to the CL finals 3 times, winning it once. Should have been 4 finals really if the ref had any balls to give Bommel a couple more cards in that game..and against Inter, I would fancy our chances.

He's been consistently been very good in most games. He had a dip in form, which happens to even Scholes and Giggs when they're nearing 30, but this season ever since he got back in the side, he has stepped up another gear. He's very important to our defence too being the only one currently capable of shielding them.

Park? In the CM role he's behind everyone.
Scholes, Giggs, Cleverley..they would play with Carrick next to them.
Ando, still too hit and miss right now but he too more often than not is more suoted to play next to someone like Carrick.
Fletcher when in form is certainly a threat to his place when in form. But he can't shield the midfield as good as Carrick does.

As for overprice..look at all the English players that move clubs over the years. They all cost a lot. And his performance and contribution have more than made up for it.

He just needs to steer clear of injuries. It's frustrating really. Just when he starts to put good consistent performances, his knee will go(arrow?). Potentially a beast there and seems to struck up a pretty good partnership with Cleverley. I agrer that someone like Cleverley does bring out the best of Ando. He need to be busy on the ball to be effective, and with Cleverley, he gets to see plenty of the ball not to mention Cleverley's movement open up the space all over.

I hope his fitness will improve. If Pogba decides to stay and he performs as well if not better than his last cameo, we will look very comfortable there..

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Added on February 15, 2012, 10:55 pmHope he plays and impress us. Evra needs some competition and cover. And Evra won't be running up and down much longer..

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Added on February 15, 2012, 11:19 pmYeah Carrick was struggling with injuries at the start. One of yhe reason we went out of the CL. Injuries to us this season is ridiculous.

I think we went a bit stale in midfield ever since Tevez's last season with us. We didnt score a lot that season compared to other seasons even with CR, Tevez, Roon and Berba as the firepower. Teams knew how we play with our CMs acting as the shield and playing more like a DLP.

Cleverley completely changed things around. His hyperspeed plays, the one two's, quick passing and taking no more than two touches most of the time.. and he's always on the move. His play just open up so much space. Add people who's comfortable on the ball and mobility around him like Ando, Young, Nani, Rooney, Welbeck and the young defenders.. with them pressing like mad, they will wreck havoc. Its beautiful when in full flow. I would like to see that again with in form Valencia and Carrick thrown in the mix.

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Added on February 15, 2012, 11:23 pmMini Scholes without the vision/long range passes and control, and goal scoring ability.

This post has been edited by Wan: Feb 15 2012, 11:23 PM

Carrick was having problems with his ankles at the start of the season. That's why he didn't feature much. And SAF made a point saying Carrick is a slow starter. With us looking very vurnerable at the back, he would have been thrown into action even withous seeing the others went out inuured.

Unless one of the wingers leave, I can't see us bringing in another winger. Then there's that 25 squad list we have to register in the league n CL.

It'll be a humbling experience this.
hoho

Valencia out will be a blow. He stepped up another gear with the way he just buldoze through the middle. The only direction he knew was to go wide, so it's nice to see him run at people through the middle. Very effective too.
Good to see Hernandez improving his link up play although sometimes he did them a bit too much, and his passing sometimes is off a bit, but it sure does look like he's been training at them.
Fabio played well too I thought. Good to see. Now just stay fit so we can rest Evra now and then.

They still hurt over that?
Excellent.
Evra, Trolling level=Veteran
SAF=Master.


No need to talk anymore about that proven liar. Twice now he got caught red handed. No need to proof anything anymore when he himself admitted them.

Wow. Mind game works.
He trolled Rafa back then as well with the Fahct rant.

Unfortunately for them, it means King Kenny stays for a while longer.

Now let's hope we don't trip ourselves tomorrow. But for now, we're gonna have a quiet chuckle..

What a ..

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Added on March 4, 2012, 10:00 am



Drama Queen.

This post has been edited by Wan: Mar 4 2012, 10:00 AM

Ref have the right medicine. Show some cards, and he would be cured straightaway.

Last2 LS mengaku he disn't shake Evra's hand.
Or how they become language experts about the negrito word and argue about it 24/7 for weeks. In the end turned out it was another word. It's good entertainment. Comedy show that could rival Shinchan.

Not great performance, although we defended well. 3 well taken goals. Young have end product, but he needs to get back his early season form. And what happened to Nani? Where are your balls? Transferred to Valencia ka?

They like to watch history channel.
Let them be.

Any team news?

Even if we begged him, what's wrong? He's still a super player and should not have even retired in the first place when he can play as well as he has for us since coming back.

Who would have known Fletcher would still have problems with that illness of his and that both Ando and Cleverley would struggle throughout the season with injuries. Our whole squad really have been struggling with injuries. Nani who we expected to kick on haven't had the chance since its been a stop start season for him. Same goes for Young. Only Valencia been able to sustain his good form but he missed quite a bit of important games for us in Europe especially. It's been crazy this season.

Irwin? Or even Gary even, they are well past it. If they still had the ability and their fitness level are good, I wouldn't have been surprised to see them sign like Scholes did. But fact is Irwin retired over a decade ago and Gary retired because he can't hack it anymore and was struggling with injuries. Totally different scenario. We sign Owen(the striker) on.. And still kept him on despite his injuries.

We had options at the back, and apart from Rio and Vida, the others are good enough to make up a very capable backline. Even with the twins out, we could always slot someone like Park or Valencia at RB.

Evra, Rafael, Fabio
Rio, Vida, Evans, Smalling, Jones

At that that time Scholes decided to continue again, we had Fletcher out for the season with that virus of his, and Ando and Cleverley both out injured(recurring injuries at that). And at least two out of Valencia, Young and Nani were injured that time. It made perfect sense to sign Scholes back, since he was available and his fitness level is still at a good level even though he retired for 6 months already.

Valencia, Young, Nani, Park
Carrick, Ando, Cleverley, Fletcher, Giggs

We have the numbers and quality, but injuries took most of that away. Maybe we could have prepared better by having(sign new players) more options, but there's the matter of that 25 man list we have to worry about. And as the young ones get older, we have to make room to fit them all in.