Boro V Man United spolier

The Muppet

Fergie looks Happy.

The Muppet

Fletcher scores for United

1- 0

Chong

come on Fletch!!

The Muppet

Half time

Boro 0 United 1

LegacyUser

The Muppet wrote:

Fergie looks Happy.

LOL i saw the same images of him u saw then i assume...

The Muppet

cheesedude wrote:

LOL i saw the same images of him u saw then i assume...

He might have been just stung by a wasp but he looked a tad irate pre kick off.

The Muppet

giggs with number 2 for united,

Djemba x 2 on for ronaldo who is off injured.

PHB

Jesus, missing Van Nist is just gone to a whoel new level. I want Saha + Van Nist back

The Muppet

Final score 2 0 to united . Good to see no slip ups in what was always going to be a tough game.

yop

Ya, still did not make any ground on the arse or chelswee.
Sick and tired of Ronaldo, drives me mad with pointsless flicks and greediness.

Well done Fletche, Heinze is my player of the season so far

LegacyUser

Ronaldo played pretty poorly today. If he improves his decision making skills....he will be unstoppable. What was interesting and sums him up so far is the fact that he had 6 shots and none on target. He just has to sort a couple of things out but even stilll, he is a constant threat.

smemon

yeah ronaldo was poor, ironic now that he's had a couple of bad games, giggs is on fire.

i never thought id see the day again when giggs is looking for the ball, determined to take on people and track back aswell. carroll never had a save to make, it was fairly comfortable defensive wise.

massive win imo, we always struggle against boro. 25/27 pts in last 9 games. (8 wins and a draw). not bad form at all. lets hope it continues into february, our biggest month so far.

eirebhoy

smemon wrote:

25/27 pts in last 9 games. (8 wins and a draw). not bad form at all. lets hope it continues into february, our biggest month so far.

Couldn't work out whether it was 25 or 27?

LegacyUser

Can you just imagine how we would be doing if we actually beat city and Portsmouth and Fulham instead of drawing? Those were three games we deserved to win too but becuase of poor finishing we didn't. Bah.

Jivin Turkey

cheesedude wrote:

Can you just imagine how we would be doing if we actually beat city and Portsmouth and Fulham instead of drawing? Those were three games we deserved to win too but becuase of poor finishing we didn't. Bah.

United would still be behind Chelsea if that was the case. And Fulham definately deserved their draw. And Portsmouth deserved their 2-0 win over United.

LegacyUser

Utd should have killed Fulham in the first half with the amount of chances they wasted. Same with Portsmouth. We had so many ridiculous chances. Hit the bar by Smith, Ronaldo missing from 12 yards...they should have been killed by half time too.

And if we had beaten those 3 teams, we would be 9 points and level with Chelsea.

The Muppet

eirebhoy wrote:

Couldn't work out whether it was 25 or 27?

He obviously meant 25 from 27points 8 wins and a draw = 25 points. :

I hope this thread is not going to turn into another stupid childish argument.

Jivin Turkey

cheesedude wrote:

Utd should have killed Fulham in the first half with the amount of chances they wasted. Same with Portsmouth. We had so many ridiculous chances. Hit the bar by Smith, Ronaldo missing from 12 yards...they should have been killed by half time too.

And if we had beaten those 3 teams, we would be 9 points and level with Chelsea.

I find it hard to believe that they could "deserve" to beat a team that shuts them out and scores two up the other end. And United pummeled Fulham in the first half, probably should have scored more but didnt, Fulham deserved a share of the points from the second half performance, and for once I thought it might actually be United that got stung at the death with a late winner!

Besides, it would only be an extra 7 points (because they got one point in two of the mentioned games), and we are talking about changing the past which is stupid.

cournioni

Good win for United, that looked like a bit of a sticky fixture. How Heinze didn't get man of the match on Sky Sports I will never know. What a player... I almost think he's being wasted at left back, I wonder how well he would do in Keane's anchor role...

smemon

he's a good player. no nonsense and commits 100% to every challenge.

his passing and crossing let him down though, rather than play it, he belts it and fires it into people, sometimes over-playing it. but there are times when the ball comes into the box, it might bounce around and by god am i glad to see him just boot it away!

the likes of rio or silvestre would try and play it out of trouble, heinze's no nonsense approach is what makes him a crucial player for us. hopefully the likes of fletcher will learn from him to stand up for himself. anyone see hasslebaink going for a 50-50 with fletcher, hasslebaink ran in, won the ball and sent fletcher flying, hasslebaink never moved, like a lorry into a bicycle.

despite scoring the goal, fletcher doesnt impress me one bit, he's too predictable, a manufactured player with no natural talent. there was one instance where he brought the ball into the corner, hands swinging all over place like an octopus, and was just brushed off it by 2 boro players, at least had ronaldo had it, we'd see a trick or 2, a change of pace and he might wriggle his way out of a seemingly impossible situation, with fletcher you just know he cant do that and want him to get rid of the ball A.S.A.P.

why he's so highly regarded i'll never know.

PHB

Because while he is manufactured, he fights for the ball and has very accurate passing. He does however have the problem that he has the end product, but not natural skill imo, while other people have natural skill with no end product yet.

He would do very well in the lower leagues or the SPL imo, would be world class there

cournioni

But when you think about it, he is still only 20. If he spent some time eating a few steaks or something or a few pints of the black stuff you wouldn't be long seeing a change in him. He reminds me alot of Beckham, he's not the type of player that likes to take on people and then put in the ball. He likes to pass it around and look for crosses.

Remember Beckham was only just starting to play when he was 20, and then became more renowned when he was 21 or 22 (half way line goal against Wimbledon). Fletcher has far more experience than Beckham had at that age. And he can only get better. People really need to take age into account with these players.

The Muppet

PHB wrote:

He would do very well in the lower leagues or the SPL imo, would be world class there

LOL there's flawed logic there somewhere.

I'm undecided about fletcher. I do think he plays best in CM role when he gets the chance but he is too lightweight at the moment. I also think Fergie sees something special in him . I'd give him another year or two to bulk up and fully develope bofore we can be sure if he's going to make it or not.

dirkey_wynne

smemon wrote:

he's a good player. no nonsense and commits 100% to every challenge.

his passing and crossing let him down though, rather than play it, he belts it and fires it into people, sometimes over-playing it. but there are times when the ball comes into the box, it might bounce around and by god am i glad to see him just boot it away!

the likes of rio or silvestre would try and play it out of trouble, heinze's no nonsense approach is what makes him a crucial player for us. hopefully the likes of fletcher will learn from him to stand up for himself. anyone see hasslebaink going for a 50-50 with fletcher, hasslebaink ran in, won the ball and sent fletcher flying, hasslebaink never moved, like a lorry into a bicycle.

despite scoring the goal, fletcher doesnt impress me one bit, he's too predictable, a manufactured player with no natural talent. there was one instance where he brought the ball into the corner, hands swinging all over place like an octopus, and was just brushed off it by 2 boro players, at least had ronaldo had it, we'd see a trick or 2, a change of pace and he might wriggle his way out of a seemingly impossible situation, with fletcher you just know he cant do that and want him to get rid of the ball A.S.A.P.

why he's so highly regarded i'll never know.

I agree with you on this one. I don't think he's going to make it at this level. As a friend of mine said to me, when any new player has come into the Utd team, those who are going to make it, you can tell instantly. Like O'Shea - he looked naturally good enough when he first came in, as has Spector each time I've seen him. With Fletch I've seen him play about 2 good games. He gives the ball away far too easily, and gets brushed off it very easily. I think he has vision to see passes which perhaps the others can't see, but he can't execute the passes!

I heard a story from another mate, not sure if it's true. It was along the lines that, apparently they had massive hopes for him in his early years, but he then got an injury to his feet, for which he now needs to wear special boots. Apparently they're giving him the chance to see if he can adjust to the boots! Like I said, not sure how true this is or whatever, but it may explain something!

dirkey_wynne

PORNAPSTER wrote:

But when you think about it, he is still only 20. If he spent some time eating a few steaks or something or a few pints of the black stuff you wouldn't be long seeing a change in him. He reminds me alot of Beckham, he's not the type of player that likes to take on people and then put in the ball. He likes to pass it around and look for crosses.

Remember Beckham was only just starting to play when he was 20, and then became more renowned when he was 21 or 22 (half way line goal against Wimbledon). Fletcher has far more experience than Beckham had at that age. And he can only get better. People really need to take age into account with these players.

If you're talking about age then look at Ronaldo, look at Giggs, look at Rooney. 20 is old enough now, if he's good enough to be regularly producing. He doesn't. He has never looked right in that first team, he just doesn't look like he belongs. Beckham may have only become renowned a bit later, but always looked good enough in the first team, from the very first moment he stepped in. I for one rarely think Fletch is going to do anything good with the ball, and sometimes when we get the ball to good positions, and I realise it's Darren on the ball I just groan.

smemon

yip, whilst he IS young, look at ronaldo rooney etc... i mean there's no comparason.

from my point of view, this guy has come out of nowhere, played a few games in the 1st team, because he plays for manutd has been made scotland captain (which is a disgrace), and now because he's scotland captain i feel that puts fergie under a little bit of pressure to play him being a scot himself.

captain at 20, what has he achieved, what leadership does he show, why is he different to anyone else? id much prefer to see miller get the sort of run fletcher has been getting the past year or so. miller is a much better player imo and hasn't been given any time to show what he can do the way fletcher has and he's done nothing in that time.

cournioni

Hey, if he scores one from the half way line tonight you will all change your tune. The thing about Fletcher is that he works hard to win the ball, and he is positive when he has it. The only problem I can see with him is his strength which will be sorted with time (same with Miller). I certainly can't remember any mistakes coming from Fletcher.

dirkey_wynne

PORNAPSTER wrote:

Hey, if he scores one from the half way line tonight you will all change your tune. The thing about Fletcher is that he works hard to win the ball, and he is positive when he has it. The only problem I can see with him is his strength which will be sorted with time (same with Miller). I certainly can't remember any mistakes coming from Fletcher.

I won't change my tune should that happen. If you don't remember any mistakes, then if the young man is playing tonight, watch him, and note how often he gives the ball away. He gives the ball away nearly as often as he manages to find a teammate. He's not up to it. He's supposed to be a creative player, but he doesn't create all that much. Admittedly recently he's put in a couple of good passes, but the number of times he loses it far outweighs this. I mean, look at how people got on Seba's back, and he was a truly classy player, who really did open defences and create things. And people got on his back as he didn't "work hard enough." So people aren't getting on Fletchers back as he works hard. Good God we may aswell bring back Robbie Savage!

Big Ears

smemon wrote:

yip, whilst he IS young, look at ronaldo rooney etc... i mean there's no comparason.

from my point of view, this guy has come out of nowhere, played a few games in the 1st team, because he plays for manutd has been made scotland captain (which is a disgrace), and now because he's scotland captain i feel that puts fergie under a little bit of pressure to play him being a scot himself.

captain at 20, what has he achieved, what leadership does he show, why is he different to anyone else? id much prefer to see miller get the sort of run fletcher has been getting the past year or so. miller is a much better player imo and hasn't been given any time to show what he can do the way fletcher has and he's done nothing in that time.

actually I think he is just a fill in Captain when Barry Ferguson is injured .

smemon

Big Ears wrote:

actually I think he is just a fill in Captain when Barry Ferguson is injured .

even so, he's hardly their best or most influencial player. he just got the captains armband because he plays for the biggest club of all the scottish squad imo.

he's not ready to play in the utd 1st team, never mind captain his country. with the likes of rooney, ronaldo.... i'd be reluctant to question them or their ability as usually as soon as you do, they'll put in a match winning peformance and leave you looking stupid.

with fletcher, im confident i can question him and confident i can hold my head high in here after tonight if he plays. he doesnt have the x-factor that most other utd players have, he's average and ive never seen him do anything on the pitch that suggests he's above average.

dirkey_wynne

smemon wrote:

even so, he's hardly their best or most influencial player. he just got the captains armband because he plays for the biggest club of all the scottish squad imo.

he's not ready to play in the utd 1st team, never mind captain his country. with the likes of rooney, ronaldo.... i'd be reluctant to question them or their ability as usually as soon as you do, they'll put in a match winning peformance and leave you looking stupid.

with fletcher, im confident i can question him and confident i can hold my head high in here after tonight if he plays. he doesnt have the x-factor that most other utd players have, he's average and ive never seen him do anything on the pitch that suggests he's above average.

Exactly. Average. Perfect word to describe really. He isn't good enough for Utd, and I don't think eh will be. For so long I gave him teh benefit of the doubt, and then finally I realised what I knew all along. he just ain't up to scratch.

cournioni

For christ sake lads. You're writing off a player who isn't even 21 yet! Who knows how good anyone will turn out to be, who is to say that Ronaldo will be up to scratch in a couple of years?! We just don't know. Fergie see's something in him because there is something there. And I can see it too.

He's a tallish lad, he just needs to fill out a bit more and gain some strength and he'll be a better player believe me. He is a superb passer of the ball, he is confident when going forward, and he tackles back well. He doesn't have the physical side going for him yet but when he does he'll be where Beckham was when he was starting out.

I have a fiver on him to score the first goal tonight. 20-1. My god how I'll laugh if he scores the first goal.

smemon

a real stunning performance last night from young fletcher ferguson even subbed him for miller he was playing so well.

cournioni

Only after Giggs!