VDS 8 Fabio 7 Ferdinand 7.5 Vidic 7.5 Evra 6.5 Valencia 8.5 Carrick 8 Giggs 7.5 (Would be an easy 10 and MOTM if not for those squandered early chances) Park 6.5 Rooney 7 Chicharito 7 Anderson 6.5 Scholes 6.5 Nani n/a
VDS-7 Fabio-7 Ferdinand-6.5 Vidic-6.5 Evra-7 Valencia-7.5 Carrick-8.5 Giggs-7 Park-7.5 Rooney-8 Chicharito-7.5
VDS-7.5 Fabio-7 Ferdinand-7.5 Vidic-8 Evra-6 Valencia-7 Carrick-6 Giggs-7.5 Park-7 Rooney-7 Chicharito-8
VDS - 0 - Nothing of note to do. Fabio - 7 - Effective on the right with Valencia. Ferdinand - 7 - Solid, commanind, not that he was required to do anything remotely testing. Vidic - 7 - Same as Ferdinand. Both of them dominated their, admittedly, isolated forwards. Evra - 7 - Got forward well, and got back aggressively. Valencia - 7.5 - Excellent. Worked tirelessly and got past his man so much I lost count. Carrick - 7.5 - Ran the game from midfield and closed down even better. Really impressive performance from him. Giggs - 7 - One the whole, he played well. Fluffed a glorious chance on his right at 0-0. Took goal well. Park - 6.5 - Played well, worked hard. Rooney - 8 - MOTM for me. Spead the play, stretched Schalke's defence, took his goal well and was generally an all-round game dominating performance for me. Chicharito - 7 - For movement, see 10/10. For finishing, see 1/10. Should have had at least two.
Outstanding Team Performance. VDS 8 Fabio 7.5 Ferdinand 7.5 Vidic 7.5 Evra 8 Valencia 8 Carrick 8 Giggs 8.5 Park 7.5 Rooney 8 Chicharito 7.5 Anderson 6.5 Scholes 6.5 Nani n/a
VDS-6 did what he had to. Fabio-7 Goes to ground early. Rio-6 Vidic-6 Evra-7 Carrick-8 In another league, he would be hailed as one of the best. This is where we need to be careful in naming targets, somebody coming in would need to adapt to the pressure of not only EPL but Man Utd Giggs-7 Missed chances Valencia-7 Park-7 Rooney-8 Hernandez-7
VDS 7 - Velcro gloves. Fabio 7 - Looked good yet again. Ferdinand 7- Brought calm to the proceedings. Vidic 7 - A couple really good clearing headers. Evra 6.5 - Not bad, good shot at the end. Valencia 7.5 - Beat his fullback at will today. Carrick 8.5 - Always looked comfortable. Giggs 7 - Every time I'm about to lambaste him for being wasteful, he does something important. Park 7 - Worked his socks off, looked a threat going forward. Rooney 7.5 - Delicious pass to Giggs for his goal, played well overall. Chicharito 7 - Should've scored a couple times but was always a threat. Anderson 6 - Held up the ball well at times. Scholes 7 - Kept things ticking over. Nani 4 - I was a bit disappointed with his attitude when he came on.
VDS-7.5 Fabio-7 Ferdinand-7.5 Vidic-6.5 Evra-7 Valencia-7.5 Carrick-8.5 Giggs-7.5 (should be higher but he wasted a few challenges) Park-7.5 Rooney-8 Chicharito-7.5 (might have scored but his movement was absolutely key)
VDS - 6 - Was barely tested Fabio - 7 - Was nonstop and tenacious as usual Ferdinand - 7 - Commanded the backline and kept in tact while managing a toothless Shalke with ease Vidic - 7 - Was aggressive and belligerent as usual. Vidic put on another intimidating performance Evra - 7 - Got forward well, and got back aggressively mostly due to the coverage that Park provided. They work well together and Evra plays better when Park is on the pitch Valencia - 7 - Owned the right flank and provided constant dangerous balls to the center Carrick - 6.5 - Fairly typical game from him Giggs - 6.5 - A broken clock is right twice a day. If not for finally cinching that goal, he wouldve been the goat. Credit to him though for being in dangerous positions throughout the match Park - 7 - Unsung hero once again. Maintained possession, playing dangerous balls, and harrying the opposition. Wish he had scored. Rooney - 8 - MOTM. United is so much better with him on than off. People bitch about him left and right but he's the glue of this team no doubt Chicharito - 7 - Proved once again why he's so dangerous and not a fluke. Played some crazy volleys and nearly put in several balls from difficult lies/positions. He's nuts.
VDS-7 Fabio-7 - looking good Ferdinand-7 - did he even break a sweat? Vidic-7 Evra-7 Valencia-7.5 Carrick-8 - almost looks like Schalke was passing the ball to him. Giggs-7.5 Park-7.5 Rooney-8 - our creative force Chicharito-7.5
VDS - 8 Fabio - 7 - A less generous ref would have had him in serious card trouble early on Ferdinand - 7.5 Vidic - 7.5 Evra - 7 Valencia - 8 Carrick - 8.5 Giggs - 7.5 Park - 7.5 Rooney - 8.5 Chicharito - 7.5
Great game from everyone. It was a complete domination. I must say, I was also disappointed with Nani. Is there a bigger gloryhog and selfish player? Does he understand that football is a team game? he is just ME ME ME! i am so irritated with this guy. I hope he doest cry when Fergie leaves him on the bench in the finals. Go Valencia and Park!
He was casual, slow to make a decision and when he did make a decision it was usually the wrong one. I remember one instance where I think we were either 2 on 2 or 3 on 3 in attack or something like that and instead of either beating his man and taking a shot or cutting it across for a teammate he just dallied on the ball until he ran it out of play. After that, he flung his hand up in the air towards a teammate as if to say "******** off" (he obviously received an earful). It was the Nani of old and I don't like the Nani of old at all.
In addition to which, he was trying to draw fouls and kill time. He beat his man like 4 times in 10 minutes. The time it went out of bounds was shit, but I think given what he'd done prior to that, he was fine. I enjoyed his cameo. I laughed out loud like 4 times.
I saw Vince's comment before I watched any of the game, so I was paying particular attention to Nani (to see what Vince was talking about). Nani didn't look like he was trying his hardest, but he was getting by his defender with ease and passing the ball to Evra. No glory-hunting. No bad giveaways. I honestly think that he just can't win. If he went out guns blazing he'd be called a glory-hound and all about me-me-me. If he goes out nonchalantly and kills time, he's pouting. In that 10 minute period, he passed his defender easily about 5 times I think and put Evra in on goal several of those times.
It's just a pet peeve of mine. If you're going to be casual then make the right decision. Nothing annoys me more than a player casually effing up, it drives me insane. I'd rather a player play his heart out and mess up than play at 2 miles an hour and dribble the ball out of play. It's only a personal preference though, so don't worry too much about it as the board appears to be on edge right now. Now I know you'll say he was conserving energy or time wasting but if that was the case why was he taking people on or trying to make plays? He should've just passed it sideways and backwards. Don't half ass attack. Either you do it for real or you don't do it at all.
I saw the posts. I'm not on edge, just curious. I've been reading redcafe and other places -- they presume that Nani won't play the CL final, which sounds like a decent bet to me. I'm just wondering about the "dance with the person who brung you" factor -- Nani had dragged Utd through a lot of this season while Valencia was injured, Rooney was off in Dubai eating chicken nuggets, and Park was off at the Asian Cup -- and now that the big games are here, he gets 8-10 minutes at the end when the game is won. To me, he played appropriately for the situation. No pouting, but no acting like he had anything to prove any more.
I hear ya. We do owe Nani a huge debt of gratitude for what he did and he is a bona fide starter for us, but I feel that he's a victim of tactical decisions at this point. In recent games we've needed wide players who put in hard shifts in both directions. While Nani is certainly capable of this and has done this in the past, it's an exception and not the rule with him. In Valencia we have someone who not only has the work rate, but also the substance and end product that is needed from our wide men. That is why we'll take the loss in creativity and ingenuity by benching Nani for that extra bit of work rate and discipline that might mean the difference between conceding and not conceding. I'm sure there are other tactical reasons for Valencia's usurping of Nani that posters like Johno can shine a light on.
In that case you want to dance with Wayne, Valencia, Giggs, Rio, Park Vidic, Carrick, VDS, and Cheech. This CL campaign so far feels like it belongs to them. I am not even sure he has scored or assisted in the KO stages I get that Nani had to carry a lot of the load at the beginning of the season, but it is starting to be told at an exaggerated level. It isn't like he has 30 goals and 30 assist. He hasn't dragged this train all by himself, and he certainly hasn't since the New Year. The squad has looked better and better the less dependent it has become on Nani. Would you rather the team look as toothless as it did when Nani was playing Superman every match?