coogar:

i really don't think we were crap today cos of the lack of a defensive midfielder - none of the goals conceded could have been prevented by tiote/dembele or even yaya toure. I think the problem is more a general laziness of the team. we don't press at all. we let opponents stroll to the centre of the pitch before we offer any resistance to disrupt their flow!

the players still have this slight delusion that vidic/rio/carrick are what they used to be 3-4 years ago....the rest of the team tend to leave so much for the defence to do. evra/rafael are fantastic going forward but not so great at defending! they play like wingers and when we don't have the ball, they take forever to fall back into position! our biggest problem is our organisation when we don't have the ball - its horribly substandard!

Fergie: De Gea’s Mistake Cost Him His Place

“I think young David made a mistake last week,” he said. “He knows it. With the form he’s been in, he’s been making some fantastic saves, but one error like that could have cost us the game. It’s just a learning process for him and he’ll be back in a couple of weeks’ time.”

montelik:

I hope this new found accountability will applied to other as well. I would expect Evra to be given some bench warming time soonest considering DDG made one mistake, while Patrice averages at least 3 or 4 a game but is bailed by the other defenders or DDG himself. No sacred cows.

StarBoard: How's maverick Nani doing?

debosky:

Sir SB I hope you noted the fantastic cross the maverick delivered to seal the three points.

StarBoard:
At this rate we won't see any meaningful midfield play without the golden Gingerhead.
Tom Cleverley and Shinji Kagawa hardly did anything properly in the game.our best midfield axis still remains Scholes-Carrick.Which is a shame.We had a chance to move on from that but here we are still stuck on asking Scholes to orchestrate our middle.
Like RuuDie said, [b]Nani(played fairly well today) Anderson, Young and Welbeck and Cleverly [/b]are the reasons Fergie won't let Giggs and Scholes retire.

chamotex:

Fergie is a stubborn goat.
We are the only team in Europe without a natural DM in the whole squad.

Cristalz:

Ouch!

Learning some art of Modification frm mOi huh?

RuuDie:

If we buy a DM - he's going to be somewhat indispensable meaning, as in feature in most of the games - there will be so many players rendered redundant!
2 or 3 players need to leave for us to bring in a DM.

StarBoard:
Rio Ferdinand and Antonio Valencia each had an assist despite playing mostly rubbish.So I dont get your logic.

Nani played well tbh but I'm not convinced.

debosky:

I wasn't proposing any logic - I simply asked whether you saw the delivery from the player who according to you cannot cross.

debosky:
I expect to hear you say those words quite frequently this season.

StarBoard:
My position is as clear as daylight.Southampton isn't going to be my benchmark for performance.

StarBoard:
If it's all for the better, I won't mind seeing a few people go.
Right now, a DM is a modern football necessity.

StarBoard:
Rio Ferdinand and Antonio Valencia each had an assist despite playing mostly rubbish.So I dont get your logic.
Nani played well tbh but I'm not convinced.
Lets see him do it more consistently over a stretch of games and against better quality opposition then I'll change my one.

coogar:

you must learn to raise your hands up sometimes.....

StarBoard:
Nani played well tbh but I'm not convinced.

StarBoard:
Like RuuDie said, Nani(played fairly well today)

coogar:

then the weak opposition excuse does not count too.....this same southampton led city 2-1 @ the etihad for a long period before city managed to win the match. if southampton can match city pound for pound on city's turf, what makes them a weak opposition to man utd? it is only when united play some certain teams that we deem those teams as weak....southampton are a very good hardworking side and they would give many big teams a run for their money!

StarBoard:
Story.
Let him prove it to me against tougher opposition. I'm the one who wants to be convinced so I set the criteria by which I judge him and believe me I'm not the only one who feels this way. For crying out loud,how many of those Southampton fellas had any prior EPL experience before the start of this season?

A game in which our tactical gambit allowed Southampton to play to their strength doesn't give them any credibility in my view. That they led City at the Etihad doesn't count as well.They lost that game, which is all that matters in the end, as they did yesterday.
If we had our manager do a half-decent team selection,Southampton wouldn't have had a chance.

Did you see how Swansea silenced them a week ago at the same St. Mary's stadium?Why didn't they give them (the Swans) the same run for their money noting how they caused a scare at the Etihad?

chamotex: Did Southampton play Swansea or Wigan?

debosky:

Sir SB I hope you noted the fantastic cross the maverick delivered to seal the three points.

mbulela:
the first decent corner Nani has taken in 7 years.

mbulela:
the first decent corner Nani has taken in 7 years.

coogar:
nani has consistently scored against tough oppositions ever since he joined man utd in 2008. in fact, he plays better against tough opponents than the easy ones. in his first season with us, chelsea were the only big team he didn't score against! so what's your point that he needs to prove you wrong?

coogar:

it was always going to be a difficult game. teams like this raise their games against the big guns. they were playing the biggest club in the land on their home turf so i expected a tough game. mid-table teams would easily go to the britannia and win there easily but the big clubs would have their work cut out to win there because tony pulis would set a different strategy for the big teams....that's the way it is!

coogar:
they didn't consider swansea a threat! against us, they raised their game - played like its a world cup final! by the 75th minute, they were zapped and they stopped pressing which allowed scholes to pick those passes! watch how liverpool would do the same to us when we go to anfield! arsenal won there fairly easily but united would need all the luck in this world to beat liverpool 2-0 cos the scousers would raise their game against us!

StarBoard:
You're talking of Nani scoring once only against City,Spurs,Chelsea,Arsenal and Liverpool in the League, Carling Cup,FA Cup and maybe Champions League in his 5 seasons at United.Name any of this sides that Nani has scored more than once against. That hardly counts for consistency.So that point is mostly null and void.
Nani's consistency needs to improve in my view.

Yeah, they do. That should be a reason for United to anticipate that scenario and raise their game as well.

True, but that assertion is based on an age-long rivalry.
Liverpool don't mind losing to Arsenal (as of now).
I really don't buy that reason.Swansea is a mid-table team at best and for a newly promoted side they should see that game as winnable in a bid to stay up, unless they feel they can't stay up.

coogar:

on the top of my head.....
arsenal(fa cup 2007/8, emirates 2009/10)
chelsea(community shield 09/10, league last season)
man city(community shield 11/12, league 10/11)
liverpool(league 07/08) spurs(league 07/08 league 10/11)
plus countless of assists in those games to boot - he has scored against bayern, barcelona and created goals in big european match-ups - and he's not consistent?

debosky:

Nani has scored multiple times against the top 5 sides of last season in the past 3-4 seasons (more than Valencia has done), but StarBoard is just waiting for Nani to start demonstrating consistency.

Waiting for the next definition of consistent.

mbulela: Interesting words from Dimitar Berbatov

"He [Ferguson] tried to explain to me that the team will be using a more direct style, with more speed but I've never been among the fastest players, I like to hold the ball, this is my style. I found it hard to accept his decision – I still have my dignity. I scored many goals, I won the league two times, and I was the league top scorer, so it's not bad. I'll have no problems playing against United as this already happened in my career. But there's no point to look back again. I said goodbye to the people, who deserve it. I couldn't say goodbye to Ferguson."

coded guy: @ coogar
Is this the same welbeck you were praising last seaszon when some peeps called u out on how undeserving he was of a place in man u line up? Na welbeck u dey lambast like this!

Berba deserved a better treatment at United, would always respect him for what he achieved with us and his loyalty even when Fergie was trea(ing him badly.