Kenny Dalglish Won't Be Delivering the Module: English Premiership 2011-12

oh my

Utd will still win the league though.

no way city will lose these next two games.

They won't win at Newcastle.

Well, that looked inevitable from the moment the teams were announced. I can't remember a United shot all night.

Sight of a Gallagher celebrating in the crowd has spoiled this for me a little.

If Wigan could get 4 past Newcastle, I don't see why City couldn't get one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2VCwBzGdPM

really engrossing second half

yeah was much better fare in the second

there was a moment about an hour in when city lost composure and balance of possession

i thought the subs of tevez and then silva were made too soon but twp et al were pretty useless

NV and Louis OTM

wait what louis is back?

i'm predicting city to throw away title needing draw against qpr.

@DanM: Louis Armstrong and NV iirc

haha mancini is the worst at mind games. "their games r easy nanananana"

My (completely neutral) pal was all 'hopefully Utd can win & stop City buying the title' beforehand. Get it right up ye, if you're reading.

United had to make do with demonstrating good order while the ball spent much of the occasion at City feet in those first 45 minutes. There was a theory that the burden here was greater on City. They were attempting after all to imperil a regime of League title mastery established by Ferguson.

Hansen says 'I've backed the two of them, I'll get one of them right'

curious how pundits can be so wrong and get away with it and never be called to account

The two of what?

the english defence league and hizb ut tahir

utterly gutless selection. Jones, Giggs and Park. Nightmare stuff

what xi would you have selected?

Hansen says 'I've backed the two of them, I'll get one of them right'

curious how pundits can be so wrong and get away with it and never be called to account

― the pinefox

even football writers who seem to actually know a little about tactics and don't just chat shite all the time invariably get predictions wrong a lot of the time. how would you like them to be called to account? community service order?

has football punditry always had that Match of the Day thing where you can't have modest conclusions to your discussion, we always need the bold and decisive predictions?

I would've gone for it nakh. Yes, we contained them for most of the game but it's utterly useless when you barely muster a shot of any kind. Utd have gotten results this season through their wingers. Park had a decent 15 minutes but that's all he's good for these days. Valencia, Nani and Welbeck from the start might have given Rooney something to feed off

park, giggs and jones weren't great but really they are make up the numbers players

twp, nani and carrick are probably their most important players this season and they did very little, valencia added nothing when he came on

i think maybe the lesson for ferguson, and for everyone else, was that they gained little possession with a 4-3-3 over a 4-4-2, and lost a lot in counterattacking threat

yeah not really like the floodgates opened once welbeck came on, if anything he helped the ball stick in the city half

why smalling for evans as well? would also have been a sounder bet than jones if he was that worried about rafael

jones is learning so little he might as well be at spurs

Performance as subs is irrelevant. Bottom line is Park and Jones shouldn't have been anywhere near that team. Giggs i can understand cos he does still have the ability to pick a pass despite being horrible for most of the game but in general it was a cowardly selection and performance. This is not Barcelona. I feel like we could have matched them if we played to our strengths

i might have played jones as a sort of gattusoish runner in midfield, he doesn't have a lot of nous but he has power and aggression where park was just overrun, he can even do a plausible imitation of touré charging forwards a winning free kicks 20 yards upfield to give the dm/cbs respite

id have started valencia cuz he has some of the same attributes

they still probably would have lost of course

nope, this season had been a "learning experience" for Jones. He shouldn't have even been in contention

in an ideal world yeah, but who else would you play there? you can't plays giggs and scholes in cm together, park is 31 years old and about nine stone vs yaya gd touré

which is the best case for playing a narrow 442 with valencia and giggs tucked in during defensive phases

First i would've played Rafael at right back. I don't care how reckless he is, at least he would have offered something going forward. Then i would have gone for a midfield two of Carrick and Scholes with Valencia and Nani on the wings. Rooney and Welbeck up front with the TWP dropping deep to support the midfield. Like i said, we feared them too much tonight and completely negated our own strengths

anyway i'm drunk and depressed. C'mon Newcastle! or something

City won through one defensive lapse at at a set piece. Yeah they dominated possession but they didn't put De Gea under a massive amount of pressure. That's why I feel like Utd played into their hands

rafael at rb def

unfergielike selection and performance, or just an unfergielike result?

twp, nani and carrick are probably their most important players this season and they did very little

I thought Carrick was good, actually.

i think maybe the lesson for ferguson, and for everyone else, was that they gained little possession with a 4-3-3 over a 4-4-2, and lost a lot in counterattacking threat

That was 4-5-1, not 4-3-3, for a good hour: ten men behind the ball and Rooney isolated up front.

why smalling for evans as well?

Apparently Evans was injured, so that change was unforced, the rest was Ferguson's making though. Over the last week I read lots of (internet) United discussion saying if he starts any two out of Park, Giggs and Jones then we've lost. He chose to start all three of them.

Anyway - looks like we've got some much needed rain today. Nice weather for ducks.

why is Rooney called TWP?

United boss Ferguson said: “I think he’s a typical British player, but there have been British players over the last few years, maybe for the last decades who have similar great qualities that makes them great players, whether it’s a Gascoigne, George Best, Bobby Charlton, Denis Law.

“The similarities are that the boy has great courage, he wants to play all the time, he has incredible stamina.

“These are added extras to the talent he has. If you look at Pele for instance, he was a very aggressive attacker also who could look after himself, so can Rooney.

“They have similarities that way — strength, speed, determination, but he’s white, completely white.”

^ That was Ferguson responding to the song, rather than creating the expression. I think Everton might have started the song when he still played for them.

At Goodison, TWP was Colin Harvey.

Evertonian friend of mine used to call him Roonaldo back in the day.

referencing Fat Ronaldo not Cron iirc

I called him the Golden Child. Or just Remember The Name. Now he's just some thug from Crocky.

TFC would only get him confused with terry tho

Remember The Roon! Name Wayney!

that was his catchphrase.

Was Harvey considered a White Pele or was there another reason for his claiming those initials?

When I was about 8 or 10 years old I read a book on PLAY BETTER SOCCER (football was called soccer in those days) and it kept showing tactical drawings of a player called Pele, who I thouht must be pronounced 'Peel'.

ag imirt peile

all in colour

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51UfZhIf8HL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

ah so tahts what it means