Manchester United News

[BillyManutd]

Originally posted by Acronym
madds timm is good...


on another note Kenny Cooper scored in the reserves tonight

Do you know if Spector played in this game?

[Acronym]

Originally posted by BillyManutd
Do you know if Spector played in this game?

nope he didnt

[johno]

It seems that despite not getting much playing time Eric Djemba Djemba is still up beat, but is striving for a starting role...

'I had some weaknesses that I wanted to overcome and my coaches, both at club and particularly international level, have appreciated what I've done.

'But I'm not going to stop there,' he vowed. 'I want to keep going, and win myself a first-team place over there.'

I like the sounds of this... and I think it can happen in the next 2 years or less.

Providing we sell Butt who is still a good player. Keane maybe has 2 more seasons as an every game starter and depending on how well Ronaldo develops we may see Ole back on the bench.

[webster]

City or Spurs at Old Trafford in the next round of the FA cup.

[Potomac Red Devil]

Originally posted by mtkillamanjohno
It seems that despite not getting much playing time Eric Djemba Djemba is still up beat, but is striving for a starting role...

I am really surprised that D^2 hasn't seen the pitch that much...he was fairly impressive in some early outings this year, and provided some much needed creativity at a time when we were without Klebs and Scholes.

[Motterman]

Originally posted by Potomac Red Devil
I am really surprised that D^2 hasn't seen the pitch that much...he was fairly impressive in some early outings this year, and provided some much needed creativity at a time when we were without Klebs and Scholes.

Well, he left the team to see his sick mother for awhile and now he is at the Africa Nations Cup.

[Potomac Red Devil]

Originally posted by Motterman
Well, he left the team to see his sick mother for awhile and now he is at the Africa Nations Cup.

I didn' t know that...but it doesn't seem like he's played since September.

[johno]

Yeah... incidentally i think his non selection and subsequent vacation trip to see his mom were connected with Butt... butt got a few starts and appearances instead of him... i think it was one last chance to see if he would make it with us in the long run... I expect Dj to be second or 3rd off the bench after Butt goes... right now 1 goes to Klebs/Ronaldo (not sure who will play wide right) and then I think its Phil in close games and then DjDJ cuz he could play wide right or defensive... or even right back at a squeeze..

[Motterman]

REDNEWS.co.uk is announcing changes to the dates of the tours:

United will now be playing in Chicago on the 25th July, Philadelphia on the 28th & New York on the 31st July.

[BillyManutd]

Nardiello loaned for a month to Barnsley.

http://www.skysports.com/skysports/article/0,,53-1120938,00.html

Hope he stays there for a longer time so that Cooper has greater chances of playing first team and continue impressing in the reserves.

[bigtoga]

Oh, Georgie....

George Best Arrested for Drink Driving (http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-best&prov=reuters&type=lgns)

And this is a fun read - Interview with Christiano Ronaldo (http://www.skysports.com/skysports/article/0,,31-1121437,00.html) 'It's going well now and sometimes I can even understand the manager,'' continued Ronaldo. ''But I don't like the weather and the cold.

''The language barrier is also difficult, although I don't think it affects me on the pitch.

''Unfortunately, I can now understand Roy Keane now when he shouts.'' I don't know how much of it is real quotes or not; some of the quotes seem made up in the story. But, either way, it's an entertaining read.

[johno]

Originally posted by bigtoga
Oh, Georgie....

George Best Arrested for Drink Driving (http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-best&prov=reuters&type=lgns)

And this is a fun read - Interview with Christiano Ronaldo (http://www.skysports.com/skysports/article/0,,31-1121437,00.html) I don't know how much of it is real quotes or not; some of the quotes seem made up in the story. But, either way, it's an entertaining read.

thanks for posting this.. it was great.. really funny...

Stepover maestro... wingwizzard... whats next.. brown haired boywonder???

[Pinesol13]

oh Ronaldo....I like him a lot, but I saw another dive today against Southampton.

I just wish he would cut it out, and just rely on his skill.

[johno]

Originally posted by Pinesol13
oh Ronaldo....I like him a lot, but I saw another dive today against Southampton.

I just wish he would cut it out, and just rely on his skill.

I think what we consider a dive and what he considers a dive are different things... seriously... i think maybe, that if he gets pushed, he feels justified to fall rather than fight for his balance... it shoud be a foul called but if the ref refuses to call it and ur not the biggest lad in the world it can get to u after a while... im not condoning it.. just examining....

[haven]

Originally posted by mtkillamanjohno
I think what we consider a dive and what he considers a dive are different things... seriously... i think maybe, that if he gets pushed, he feels justified to fall rather than fight for his balance... it shoud be a foul called but if the ref refuses to call it and ur not the biggest lad in the world it can get to u after a while... im not condoning it.. just examining....

Actually, he pretty much said something to this effect, fairly recently.

He stated that he was not a diver, that he only went down when he was fouled. Of course, the key there is that he didn't deny that he fell down when he could have very well stayed up.

I don't like it, personally. But it's not quite the same as diving. Diving is an at tempt to fool the referee. Exxagerating merely makes the referee choose: whether to give a free kick on something really probably was a foul... or whether to punish the player for falling down unnecessarily by not giving the kick.

I wish he'd stop, but I don't think it's nearly as bad as Pires' theatrics.

[Pinesol13]

I think what we consider a dive and what he considers a dive are different things.


yes, I think that's true. But I still don't like it. I like it more when a player battles with a defender, stays on his feet, and pops one into the net...rather than convincing the ref to give you a free kick.


However, a goal is a goal, and I do like Ronaldo. just wish he didnt dive.

[Sofabloke]

It was the dive that lead to the Saha goal. He should be careful that he doesn't overdo it, but his type of player will attract mis-timed tackles and the free-kicks are important weapons for us.

BTW two of the games biggest divers who don't get picked up on it are Shearer and Owen. They seem to have the falling over part down to a fine art, maybe Ronaldo just needs some acting lessons so it is not so obvious :)

[haven]

Originally posted by Sofabloke
It was the dive that lead to the Saha goal. He should be careful that he doesn't overdo it, but his type of player will attract mis-timed tackles and the free-kicks are important weapons for us.

BTW two of the games biggest divers who don't get picked up on it are Shearer and Owen. They seem to have the falling over part down to a fine art, maybe Ronaldo just needs some acting lessons so it is not so obvious :)

Shearer drives me berserk.

He's supposedly this icon that stands for everything that is good in the English game - but he's about the worst diver in England outside of (maybe) Robert Pires. He goes down constantly. And he whines and moans and bitches more than most when he doesn't get a call.

Yet the English constantly seem to refer to diving as a continental and South American problem - when their iconic striker is worst than most of the foreigners in the league.

[johno]

This is very interesting to me... as I said, I don't condone diving, however, I don't condone fouling either.

Is it wrong not to try your hardest to stay on your feet if pushed our fouled? I dont think so... however, if you accentuate the fall, or willingly flop when a tackle is being made regardless of contact, legal or illegal that is bad. Its a very thin line between diving and falling... we have to remeber that this lad is just 19 and rather thin so he may fall a helluva lot easier than most.

I think larger players get called for flops less because of the general consensus that they can overpower defenders so why wouldn't they, unless fouled. Vieri is tricky... he is very strong but every now and then he will fall and it leaves you thinking 'i bet he coulda stayed on his feet.'

Diving, or falling easily can be very useful in a manner one might not expect...

Ronnadinho who does not flop often, but he does so effectively... and on some occasions defenders will foul him, expecting him to go down and that really gets them cuz they dont expect it... that is a quality that Ronaldo needs to pick up... dont kill yourself to fight off a tackle, but fight through enough to make yourself a threat.

[bigtoga]

Originally posted by Pinesol13
oh Ronaldo....I like him a lot, but I saw another dive today against Southampton.

I just wish he would cut it out, and just rely on his skill. You know, I absolutely think he is fantastic and I appreciate the diving from time to time from a purely student-of-the-game's perspective.

Look - the truth is that referees and linesmen can be fooled into giving one or another team an advantage on the pitch. Don't question it - it is simply part of the game. And also don't misinterpret this statement and try to twist it around to point out that I said all refs suck (all refs suck!) either...

So when I see players who are dangerous players recognizing how important the referee's decisions are in game, it points to me that this player has either excellent coaches, an excellent analysis of the game, or both. This part of the game is not going away either; FIFA are just too pu$$y to do it.

Take Ronaldo, Pires, Shearer, Rivaldo, etc - comments like "I don't like diving!" and "It's cheating" are fine and dandy but quite misdirected. You should be railing at the referees and FIFA. Who has the power to stop this? Not one single player can stop it.

So, now on to another aspect...

A player who is an attacking player loses a significant part of their advantage if fouls are permitted against them (that are not called). Put yourself in Ruud's shoes - your effectiveness drops 25% or more when you get fouled and the ref doesn't call it. You essentially have two options and only one will earn you a red card or injured(hence you try to avoid this one). The other has the oportunity to (a) earn dangerous free kicks, (b) yellow or red cards for the opposing team, (c) the chance that one out of 150 times you do it, you'll get a yellow card. Hmmmmmmmm - easy decision in a situation when the ref is blind.

To wrap up, I think that an attacking player with significant 1v1 skills is a fool not to add this aspect into their bag-o-tricks. There is one single danger: that you get a reputation for diving. When this happens, now you've lost three things: (1) part of the statistical advantage you had over the opposition, (2) a significant increase in the chance that you'll get a yellow card for diving (only prolly up to 1 in 100 chances though), and (3) when legit fools occur against you, you may not get the call thus causing all the above problems.

There is no advantage gained from getting a reputation as a diver; you actually lose a little by having this reputation except for in only the blind of situations. Ronaldo saw that today. He needs to settle down, stay on his feet, but keep this "technique" in his arsenal (and get a penalty against Arsenal with it).