Man of the match: Diego "Volley" Forlan Entertainer of the match: Cristiano "juggle the ball around, do step overs till the defender gets dizzy, then end up tripping over himself :-D" Ronaldo Horror moments of the match: 1. When Howard almost tipped the ball into his own net in first half 2. Howard loses the ball again after stopping a free kick in second half
those were the only real chances for Rangers to score, i guess any Rangers chance would be a Horror moment for you, your making to much of this. There was no chance of goal on that "tip" , in the free kick he was sure the shooter will go for the left corner, never thought it would come down the middle, the shot was powerful, Timmy saved it, its a save and another shotout.
and the winner is? Man of the match - Forlan. Great goal, great touches, some great passes and great effort. Keane played very well. Not sure about Bellion, but give him a chance. Glad Ruud scored, hopefully he is on a scoring streak...who next but.....Liverpool of course!
Forlan - what a game!!! Two fantastic volleys, two goals. And he had some nice combo play up top, which Giggs should have finished better a couple of times. I'm with you Mt K. Ian Motter is a genius - good thing Sir Alex listens to him. Forlan clearly has the confidence of a man playing well, and it showed in all aspects of his game. Keane was a man possessed tonight, just like he was 2 weeks ago in Glasgow. He was all over the field, went forward well, and distributed some great balls. He's obviously a different player than Scholes, but he can still open up the offense, especially in the 4-4-2.
Ruud does not belong there... He created nothing for himself or others, the first goal hit him in the leg, and the second goal to some skill, but more good fortune than anything else. He got a good through ball and should have burried the shot, it was not a bad effort. Forlan played very well, still had some control issues but made good runs and nice passes Keane was stellar, with some excellent passes Ronaldo was perhaps our most influential player tonight (possibly after Keane). (Not to take anything away from Forlan) He gave us width, much pace, and played several excellent crosses one of which most BigSoccer posters would have had little trouble heading home (ie the one ruud missed).
What I meant was both goals were the result of Forlan volleys. The second goal may have belonged to Ruud, but he got it because of a fantastic turn and volley by Diego.
MoM: Forlan, with Keane and Ronaldo on his heels. Ronaldo created most of our better attacks tonight. I don't understand the poster that criticized Howard above. There was no danger at all on the juggle. And on the free kick block... he misread the kick, but then got back extremely well to block it. He made a mistake, but "horror" is going way too far. A lesser keeper pays for his mistakes. Ruud was awful until he scored that first goal. After, he played quite well. He was Ronaldo-esque at one point, when he was on the touchline, dribbled past two men, only to flash his shot wide. Giggs was wide open, but by then the game was already more about "how manyy," so you can't blame him too much. Giggs was quite poor. Made good runs, but his control was awful, and he really should have scored, but placed a very weak shot than Craig Moore managed to get back to block. #1 complaint on strategy: Rangers chances all seemed to come after Man Utd started playing more defensively after the 1st goal. The possession game in the attacking 3rd was a far better defense than simply packing the last 3rd. Fortunately, SAF seemed to realize that in the 2nd half. Sometimes the best defense is a good attack .
Am I the only one who thinks the biggest difference from Man Utd last year to this year is the reincarnation of Keaneo, midfield general. It seemed to me last year he was too shackled down with defensive duty as Veron tried to play the midfield general role with mixed success. I think SAF is right to keep him rested as he will most likely be the key to the team's success both domestically and in European competiton. Great match overall. Nice to see Forlan finally live up to his talent, he can be great in time, and certainly has showcased his talents the last few games. Maybe he can establish himself as Ruud's strike partner...
I guess it's fair for you to defend Howard. But it's a horror moment not because it's a Rangers chance, but because it's a Ranger chance seemingly saved by our goalkeeper, BUT, just as I thought everything is safe, something unexpected happens. I do think Howard is a great goalkeeper, but I think many will agree that he needs to get hold of the ball more often.
This can be said of any goalkeeper. Timmy was right when he said that people over the world were going to be super critical of him.
Not any goalkeeper, many, but not Oliver Khan, Germany's women's GK (who i like to call Olivia Khan) Dida, Buffon, Recber. All professional athletes at the highest level face criticism, they have seven figure salaries to cover for that inconvienience. He is a good goalkeeper who will ascend to greatness soon enough. His only flaw in my opinion that should have been avoided was when he came out to punch a cross when he could easily have wrapped it up, and to make it worse the puch was not well aimed. I like your post Haven, but I think we were still feeling out the Rangers team to see where their weaknesses were cuz, we could easily have gone to the defensive strategy with a 2 or 3 goal lead that we got, but we didn't we worked out that by keeping P.Nev in the centre circle pushing Keane up and overlapping with Fortune and Gary, we could dominate on the flanks which is where much of our play came from. Keane was really at the heart of the team, his pace and ability to shut down the counter allowed us to attack freely, Phil must be given credit as well.
I think this game just tipifies how important confidence is to a striker's game. Forlan is oozing it after his run of goals and all it took was one lucky (maybe even unintended) bounce to get Ruud moving just a little quicker and with more venom. The turn he had where he played the ball just across the open face of goal in the 2nd half was brilliant stuff. I don't want to get too excited about a match against an obviously inferior opponent who seemed to give up with a good 40 minutes left, but this team (and its fans) has got to be feeling pretty good about they way things are going right now and that feeling should carry into its play on Sunday.