"And Forlan really disappointed me today." Forlan is such an enigma. One minute he is sending a cracker on goal or sending in a great cross...the next minute he is tripping over the ball and negating the buildup.
There were two Southampton players unmarked on that corner kick. At least the defense should have put a body on them. One on the near post and the other in the center who scored the goal. I would blame those players first. With that being said, that goal is totally preventable by Howard. The corner was extremely well taken. I highly doubt Howard has seen a corner better than that in his life time. The velocity and placement were perfect. Four games into the season, I think Arsenal's starting 11 is way better, although ManU has better depth. This is going to be a rebuilding year and ManU. Too bad it doesn't have to be. I guess the upper management decided to sell players while they still worth a lot of money.
I'm not a ManU fan, and even I thought that was obstruction. Well, it was 60-40...you'll usually see that called, but it wasn't blatant. Unlike the handball on Phil in the first half. Also, Phillips was onside but got flagged anyway at least twice. So you can't blame the ref for this one. As far as Howard being out of position on the chip...I don't think so. He does a fantastic job going back, so the "right" position for him is going to be different from your usual GK. It's like Andruw Jones of the Braves...he plays "too" shallow, but it works for him. Or me when I play softball...I'm one of those 10% who actually go back on a ball better than I go forward, so I always play really shallow. I mean, you say he was out of position, but he easily got to a pretty good chip, and I think he would have been able to get to a perfect chip. So how was he out of position?
I'm not sure why Howard's getting blamed for that goal. Keano allowed Beattie the free header. The way the boys played, I thought 1 point would have been generous. As others have previously said, there was little creativity in attack. Kleb was invisible, & will be for quite some time now that he suffered a separated shoulder. Dj-Dj was losing balls too often. There was an instance when Dj-Dj lost a ball in midfield & here came Soton in transition. Three passes, shot saved by Howard. It's just like in pointy-ball where the offense turned the ball over & the other team scored a defensive touchdown Ouch!!! And Keano seemed to be playing more defensive than usual. Scholes was really missed, & to a lesser extent so was Solskjaer. That deep-lying threat that was Scholes commanded a lot of attention, opening up space on the wings & also space for Ruud against a single defender. Forlan can be that scoring threat, but unless he scores in buckets, he won't get that same amount of attention that opponents lavish on Scholes. Which opens up United's game.
Djemba Djemba & Klebson I have pointed out before that Djemba Djemba looses the ball, especially trying to play thru the oppo. Both Djemba Djemba and Klebson are new to the English game and it seems need some time to settle down. It seems unfair to harshly criticise both after only 4 games, in which we won 3 out of 4. True against Wolves we didnt play well but SAF has to take some responsibility because he picked the team. In the Wolves game both had their moments, but made mistakes. We need more time to judge. All is not lost. We do have other players in the squad. Fletcher and Richardson deserve a few games. I expect SAF is trying to play Djemba Djemba into the premiership, I am sure that Keano will be letting Djemba Djemba know where he has gone wrong. Both players may be turkeys. But it is too early to say. The midfield needs to play better for sure. Pity about the sale of Veron now that we will be without Scholes for several weeks. United will bounce back.
Beattie lost Keane in the box. Omerod was unmarked also. Howard did misjudge the cross, however, the cross was superb. Howard will learn from that surely. IMO (and I've said it in other threads) there were two too many Nevilles on the field for any goalkeeper, to keep any team out for full time. Very frustrating watching those guys play. In fact, every time I see either of them play I'm reminded of the chant, "over-ratted.....over-rated......over-rated....."
This was always going to be a tough game, as the Saints were looking for a quality performance after 3 draws and they're a hard working side to boot. I had actually, deep-down, figured it to be a low scoring draw, but would never admit that to anyone out loud. 4 games into the season there are a lot of positives and definitely some worries. Both stem from the midfield. United have given up 2 goals in 360 minutes; both were from set pieces. That's a fantastic record. And it's mainly because Keane and DJ2 are really winning balls in the middle of the field and chopping things up. But there is no one to unlock the defenses who seem to mass right on the 18. And it's because Keane and DJ2 are chopping things up. There needs to be more participation from the wingbacks who don't seem to be as involved through overlapping runs as usual. Ruud needs to recognize that he needs to get involved in the attack further from goal, then laying the ball off and receiving it about 20-30 yards further ahead. All in all, though, this was just a lethargic outing on what seemed to be a pretty warm day with a dry pitch. I'm willing to write it off as "one of those days".
"This was always going to be a tough game, as the Saints were looking for a quality performance after 3 draws and they're a hard working side to boot." Indeed....Saints play solid defense and were tough to crack on Sunday.
It is always very easy to blame the Nevilles. I reject your statement that they are overrated. They may not be world class but they have their strengthens and served United well. Gary is a very good defender, he has had his bad games, but doesnt everybody. Both are United through and through. You seem to be trying to blame the Nevilles for Howards error. Unfortunately he didnt get the ball. Howard is now in a better league and needs more experience. I am not going to make a decision about him until the end of the season. Fab is a very good keeper but has not been consistent enough for us, is Howard his replacement? You have to feel sorry for Carroll. This team with Klebson & Djemba Djemba may take a little while to gel and play well. Both players need to adjust to the premiership. It would be unfair to blame Howard for the defeat. SAF and the other players should take their share to varying degrees. The premiership is not lost in August.
Sorry, I didn't mean to come of so brash. I don't mean to place blame on the Neville's. I just don't think that united plays well when both are on the field. I call them overrated because they get picked for starting rolls, but it seems that when they are playing poorly, they don't get yanked like other players. I did state that Keane lost his mark and that whoever the hell bumped into Howard was unmarked also. Actually, I really don't think that anyone had a good game. Howard made some good saves, but he's supposed to. He should have anticipated better/gone up stronger for the cross then he did, no doubt in my mind.
Almost forgot to drop by with my obligatory "damn, you guys paid too much for Ronaldo" take. He couldn't dribble anybody or make a dangerous pass YET AGAIN. However, he did manage to make a few short simple crosses after getting stopped in his tracks on the dribble, rather than shanking it for an opposition goalkick. Progress is progress- especially for 15 million.
From the Manchester Times: SAF was also quoted as saying that "Howard had an excellent game, absolutely superb." Good enough for me.
I'm not disparaging SAF's opinion at all... but he's famous for defending his players no matter what the evidence is... until he's ready to chuck them. Listening to SAF, you'd have thought Veron was God the last couple of years. Then... oops! guess he's not so necessary after all. Same with Barthez. Around the X-mas break last year, SAF called him "probably the best GK in the world." Now he can't crack the bench. Not criticizing him... but I prefer to ignore what he says about players .
Well, that quote was taken out of context. The full quote is: "probably the best GK in the world he's created for himself."