The Man United Thread

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RONALDO PRAISES FERGIE INFLUENCE

Cristiano Ronaldo hailed Sir Alex Ferguson as a guiding light after he was named as FIFA's world player of the year.

The Manchester United and Portugal winger finished ahead of runner-up Lionel Messi of Barcelona and Liverpool's Spanish striker Fernando Torres in third place to take the award at a star-studded gala in Zurich on Monday night.

Ronaldo is the first Premier League player to have won the award and it ends a stunning year for the 23-year-old in which he played the starring role as United won the Premier League, Champions League and Club World Cup.

Ronaldo received the award from Pele and paid tribute to the influence of the United manager.

He said: "It's true that the manager always has an important role to play. It was a great season for me and for my club, and the coach was important for me because I learned a lot for him.

"His experience over so many years is of paramount importance - it's a privilege to have such a great club manager.

"I am lucky to be part of the history of a club like Manchester United."

He added: "It is a dream come true and I would like to dedicate this to my family.

"I'm extremely happy, it's one of the most important moments in my life and I hope I can come back here again.

"After what I did in 2008, to receive this award is amazing and I feel very proud of this achievement.

"This is the climax of a fantastic era for me. I'm happy and proud about what has been done by my team and what we have won."

"This is a prize that has always been an ambition of mine ever since I started playing football.

"But when I started at Sporting Lisbon six years ago I never imagined it would come so quickly.

"But this is not the end - I want to be back next year to win it again.

"It is my ambition that has brought me here and I will remain ambitious and aim to keep progressing."

Torres was honoured to have come third ahead of ***a, who finished fourth, and Xavi, who was fifth.

The Liverpool striker said: "Ronaldo and Messi are for sure the two best players in the world and to come next to them is a privilege.

"The very fact of being here is a reason to be proud to represent my club and my country. It's a matter of pride to have two Spaniards amongst this group."

Ronaldo's 31 league goals (42 in total) won him the European Golden Shoe as the continent's top scorer, and he was also awarded the Ballon d'Or and FIFPro's player of the year.

The awards are voted for by all countries' head coaches and captains.

Steven Gerrard finished sixth, Frank Lampard 12th, Didier Drogba 13th, Michael Ballack 14th, Cesc Fabregas 15th, Emmanuel Adebayor 17th and John Terry 21st.

Premier League players have finished as runner-up before - David Beckham and Thierry Henry both did so twice while Lampard also came second two years ago - but Ronaldo is the first to take the top prize.

For his votes, England head coach Fabio Capello's choices mirrored the one-two-three positions but England skipper Terry voted for Xavi first ahead of Torres in second and Ronaldo third.

Other votes: George Burley (Scotland) - 1 Ronaldo, 2 Xavi, 3 Messi; Barry Ferguson (Scotland) - 1 Ronaldo, 2 Messi, 3 Gerrard; John Toshack - (Wales) 1 Ronaldo, 2 Gerrard, 3 Messi; Craig Bellamy (Wales) - 1 Messi, 2 Ronaldo, 3 Torres; Nigel Worthington (Northern Ireland) - 1 Messi, 2 Ronaldo, 3 ***a; Maik Taylor (Northern Ireland) - 1 Ronaldo, 2 Messi, 3 Torres; Giovanni Trapattoni (Rep of Ireland) - 1 Messi, 2 Ibrahimovic, 3 Ronaldo; Shay Given (Rep of Ireland) - 1 Casillas, 2 Ronaldo, 3 Messi.
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mercurial said:
Manchester United are now halfway through their season and sit in a handy position in the league. We look at where they were on the last six occasions they lifted the Premier League title...

1998/9 - 4th, five points behind leaders Aston Villa
With Manchester United trailing behind in the league, they were desperate for results to start coming their way. They managed to go the rest of the season unbeaten with the most notable results being a 6-2 thrashing of Leicester and their 8-1 demolition of Nottingham Forest. It's also interesting to note that the last time Manchester United played Inter Milan in the Champions League they went on to win the famous treble. How about that for an omen, ManYoo fans?

1999/2000 - 2nd, one point behind Leeds
Despite being ranked favourites to defend their crown, ManYoo experienced a relatively rocky start to the season but by the half-way point they were in touch despite getting shafted 5-0 by a then mid-table Chelsea.

However, Manchester United weren't crowned champions for no reason and they showed their resilience and strength to fight. As Leeds and Arsenal started losing, ManYoo couldn't stop winning and overhauled their rivals from across the Pennines. They maintained their form to the end of the season which saw them triumphantly lift the Premiership once again as well as end their season on a 14-match unbeaten run. Pretty impressive.

2000/1 - 1st, eight points ahead of Arsenal
Pretty much a stroll from start to finish, with a 6-1 win over the Gunners in February giving a pretty clear indication of the gulf in class between the two. The gap would eventually be ten points.

2002/3 - 3rd, four points behind ArsenalAfter being knocked out of the FA Cup by Arsenal and the League Cup by Liverpool, Sir Alex Ferguson made sure that his Manchester United side were to regain the title taken from them by Arsenal in the previous campaign. ManYoo had won no trophies at all that season, which set alarm bells ringing for Sir Alex. What was even more worrying was that at the half-way point in the season, United were trailing the leaders Arsenal by four points and with losses such as their 3-1 defeat to the Boro, things didn't look good.

However, you can never write off United. They kicked off the New Year recording a succession of victories with the most prominent results being their 6-0 hammering of West Ham (yet again) and their 6-2 victory against Newcastle, not to mention a 4-0 win over Liverpool - a game which was the subject of much debate as they were awarded two controversial penalties. Naturally, Ruud Van Nistelrooy efficiently tucked both away.

2006/7 - 1st, two points ahead of Chelsea
After the arrival of Jose Mourinho and Arsenal's 'Invincibles', Manchester United saw their trophy go missing for three seasons in a row. This meant they were more determined than ever to win back the title - and signed Michael Carrick to that end - and they were not going to let anything stand in their way, reflected by their position at the half-way point. Not even a surprise 2-1 defeat to Arsenal could stop them, and they eventually won the title by six points. In Europe, they humiliated Roma by thrashing them 7-1, although they lost out to Milan in the semi-finals.

2007/8 - 1st, one point ahead of Arsenal
Impressive though he was in 2006/7, nobody could have prepared themselves for the sort of show Cristiano Ronaldo was going to put on in 2007/08. United reached halfway at the summit, but were quickly relegated to second after suffering a 2-1 defeat to West Ham. However, the loss didn't seem to affect them at all as they followed up with a 6-0 win against Newcastle and a 4-0 thumping of Arsenal. The title race went to the last day of the season, while Ferguson completed a double over Chelsea and collected his second European crown in Moscow.

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Interesting article that. We look in pretty good shape :)
 
1998/9 - 4th, five points behind leaders Aston Villa
With Manchester United trailing behind in the league, they were desperate for results to start coming their way. They managed to go the rest of the season unbeaten with the most notable results being a 6-2 thrashing of Leicester and their 8-1 demolition of Nottingham Forest. It's also interesting to note that the last time Manchester United played Inter Milan in the Champions League they went on to win the famous treble. How about that for an omen, ManYoo fans?
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difference in this season and that is in the CL United faced Inter, Juve then Bayer in the Finals... There's that last ingredient missing :(
 
Predictions for tonight?

I am going for a romp...4-0. Ronaldo with 2 and an assist. Rooney with another, and maybe Berba with the 4th and some assists as well...:)
 
I don't see what was wrong with that corner. Rooney clearly played it in but Chelsea were just easily fooled thinking that Giggs would pick it up and re take it. Perfectly legal imo.
 
Stickfigure said:
I don't see what was wrong with that corner. Rooney clearly played it in but Chelsea were just easily fooled thinking that Giggs would pick it up and re take it. Perfectly legal imo.
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Apparently it was unsportsmanlike...

But you can see that the Chelsea players could see Rooney touch the ball. Just like taking a surprise short corner to catch the other team off guard, this should have been allowed as well.
 
Not so far so good - we're playing like crap - we look dismal up front with nobody able to convert opportunities which have been aplenty. I hope the Rooney injury isn't serious.

We should be at least 3 - 0 up by now...
 
Going fine. Now we just need to add to the goals...Like in the Chelsea game.

Ronaldo looks more like his old self.

Nani is still horrible.
 
I am so glad to see Ronaldo back to his normal form. He played so much better tonight. The Ronaldo we've been used to over the last seasons. We played really well in the first half. Pity we couldn't capitalise on our chances. DJK, we played well in the first half. Don't know why you're saying we played crap. Nani is fckn hopeless. Eish, sell him already. They could rather have played Park on the left. Now just for a nice win away at Bolton on Saturday and a win on our catch-up game and we're tops for real.
 
mercurial said:
I am so glad to see Ronaldo back to his normal form. He played so much better tonight. The Ronaldo we've been used to over the last seasons. We played really well in the first half. Pity we couldn't capitalise on our chances. DJK, we played well in the first half. Don't know why you're saying we played crap. Nani is fckn hopeless. Eish, sell him already. They could rather have played Park on the left. Now just for a nice win away at Bolton on Saturday and a win on our catch-up game and we're tops for real.
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Indeed. Ronaldo did look promising again. Still half the season to go. Plenty of time for him to be great again :)

I would prefer anyone on the field instead of Nani to be honest, but when Anderson came on in his place we seemed to lose our shape and go with a 4-3-3, which never really works for me. We lost all our width, which is normally our strength.

Park should have come on in Nani's place and we should have stayed 4-4-2.

Also, what a chance for Tevez to prove himself. Pity he did not convert that glorious one on one chance he had. Would still always start Rooney ahead of him, though. BBT too.
 
mercurial said:
DJK, we played well in the first half. Don't know why you're saying we played crap.
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We did fine in midfield and defence, however we looked sorely lacking upfront. It's all good and well getting yourself into good positions, however capitalising on those is where we have been lacking all season and we showed that again last night. We could easily have walked in to half time 3-0 up. We went 90 minutes against Wigan without scoring again which is dismal if you consider the quality we have upfront. My gripe all season so far has been capitalising on creating chances. Ronaldo didn't (he scuffed many a shot), Tevez certainly didn't and should have scored twice imo and Berbatov didn't either. As world class strikers they should be making the most of the opportunities they are presented with which they are struggling to do. Many of our recent goals have come from headers and tap ins which is indicative of our strikers' inability to convert opportunities into goals.

Think about it this way - if we hadn't scored within the first minute, that game would have been a draw. Not acceptable in my opinion...
 
Our last 9 league results.

Stoke (H) 5-0
Villa (A) 0-0
CIty (A) 1-0
Sunderland (H) 1-0
Spurs (A) 0-0
Stoke (A) 1-0
Boro (A) 1-0
Chelsea (H) 3-0
Wigan (H) 1-0

13 goals scored and 0 conceded. I know we are not scoring all the opportunities we should be and the scoreline often does not reflect our dominance. However, this year, as the commentators mentioned last night, small teams see a draw against a big team as a real result, so they play with no ambition away from home and very little at home, throwing everyone behind the ball and hoping for a 0-0. At least Wigan showed some attacking threat last night. And they were better than Chelsea :o

I just think all these clean sheets are the perfect foundation for the final push to the title. Now, we just need a few more goals. Which will come. :)
 
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