[mdajoka]

(Original post by Welsh Leprecaun)
Wow Blackburn fans

I know right but our fans were amazing tonight, absolutely amazing, never stopped singing throughout.

[darkshadow1111]

(Original post by Chicharito14)
Excellent result from United, typical that United killed the game off near the end of the match.

Good defensive display from De Gea, Evans and Rafael in particular.

Did you forget evra?? thought he was one of our best players today

[Louis.]

(Original post by JK.)
**** me.

And funnily enough it was only after he came off that we scored, imo Scholes not being on the pitch actually helped us.

Valencia's crossing isn't actually that good, not from the touchline anyway. He needs to be delivering from pretty much inside the box most of the time, especially with Blackburn's tall defenders only up against Hernandez and sometimes Rooney. With Rooney wide we relied entirely on Scholes as our playmaker, while he's fantastic when you play as deep as he does you can only feed your winger near the touchline, as that graphic shows quite well. When Scholes was off our passes to Valencia were coming from 20 yards higher up the pitch and that put him in far more dangerous positions.

It also meant it was more difficult for the midfielder Olsson to double up with the defender Olsson, combined with fatigue of course. Both of our goals came from Valencia isolating the fullback, for most of the match Blackburn hadn't allowed him to do that and they deserve a lot of credit for it, but we eventually got him in those positions and he produced, like he always does.

But more to the point, i'm so relieved right now. Logic told me the goal was always going to come but emotions do funny things to you while you're watching football.

[pinda.college]

(Original post by silent ninja)
Their European performance this year says otherwise.
there's a huge gap between Real, Barca and Man United. This is a poor team compared to previous years and no offence but they're not in the same class atm.

You cannot knock United's credibility of being a great team because they did poorly in Europe this season. I mean you would not take away anything from Barcelona if they underperformed in the Champions League this season, so why should it not be the same for us? When I mentioned the two Spanish clubs and United I was not comparing the football they have been playing recently, I was getting at the success they have all had in footballing history.

[silent ninja]

(Original post by Mistersjmcg)
I agree and I'm a united fan, however I think you are overeating real madrid (although I'll be the first to say they have much qailty) but they are yet to be tested by a big team, we'll see what happens when they meet Bayern.

Man united are very close to being in the same level as barca/madrid etc, they are lacking a quality holding midfielder & a quality creative midfielder with these two ingredients we'll be challenging in the champions league, competitively as we did in previous seasons..

Real's team has a lot more quality in it atm, not least with Ronaldo firing in goals from everywhere. Also United lost out to some mediocre teams. You forget being embarrassingly outplayed by Atletico over both legs in the Europa too. There's a lot of work to be done. It was a bad year but anyway the league would be a great success.

[Chicharito14]

(Original post by darkshadow1111)
Did you forget evra?? thought he was one of our best players today

I was pinpointing the fact that the young defensive players all managed to play well. You didn't see the old guard superglueing the defence together throughout the match, which has happened at times this season.

Still, with the amount of experience Patrice has, you'd expect a solid performance defensively and offensively from him, especially against Blackburn.

[Mastermind`]

Phew! Always felt the goal was coming with the roar of the crowd behind us then people like Ashley Young, who just thrives in those situations, and Welbeck. Blackburn played Valencia well, doubled up on him and intercepted his low crosses into the box very well for the most part. Our starting team didn't help, Jones wasn't that useful, really, and Rooney was wasted on the left in the first half.

(Original post by silent ninja)
Their European performance this year says otherwise.
there's a huge gap between Real, Barca and Man United. This is a poor team compared to previous years and no offence but they're not in the same class atm.

This is a team going through transition, with the majority of mistakes in Europe coming from the players who haven't played on the biggest stage in Europe before (in the CL at least). The majority of this 'turd' team reached the European final last season. Our league form at the moment says this team is better in the league than the 'poor' team that also won the league last year. Of course we're not in the same class as Barcelona, but who is? Real Madrid themselves get smacked 5-0 when they come head-to-head, for all their world stars.

[Chicharito14]

(Original post by Louis.)
And funnily enough it was only after he came off that we scored, imo Scholes not being on the pitch actually helped us.

Valencia's crossing isn't actually that good, not from the touchline anyway. He needs to be delivering from pretty much inside the box most of the time, especially with Blackburn's tall defenders only up against Hernandez and sometimes Rooney. With Rooney wide we relied entirely on Scholes as our playmaker, while he's fantastic when you play as deep as he does you can only feed your winger near the touchline, as that graphic shows quite well. When Scholes was off our passes to Valencia were coming from 20 yards higher up the pitch and that put him in far more dangerous positions.

Are you mad?

He is the most consistent wide player in the PL, and his crossing is amongst the top three, out of wingers in the PL. I'll agree that Valencia's crossing, especially from corners, were a bit poor today, but he managed to grab himself a goal, so he still contributed in the game.

[silent ninja]

(Original post by Mastermind`)



This is a team going through transition, with the majority of mistakes in Europe coming from the players who haven't played on the biggest stage in Europe before (in the CL at least). The majority of this 'turd' team reached the European final last season. Our league form at the moment says this team is better in the league than the 'poor' team that also won the league last year. Of course we're not in the same class as Barcelona, but who is? Real Madrid themselves get smacked 5-0 when they come head-to-head, for all their world stars.

Real should have won the earlier meeting this season (dominated early but conceded) and you also forget Real lead by 6 points in the league against such a phenomenal team. Besides losing out in the CL with a favourable draw, United got embarrassingly outplayed twice by Atletico. It was the manner of the defeats that makes it worse. So yes I would say there's a big gap between these teams and Ferguson needs to bolster the side.

[Louis.]

(Original post by Chicharito14)
Are you mad?

He is the most consistent wide player in the PL, and his crossing is amongst the top three, out of wingers in the PL. I'll agree that Valencia's crossing, especially from corners, were a bit poor today, but he managed to grab himself a goal, so he still contributed in the game.

His skill lies in beating his full back and delivering from dangerous positions on such a consistent basis. That means he puts in about 700 crosses a game. Saying it's quantity over quality is too harsh but it's on those lines.

He hugs the touchline but when he has to deliver from there he's nothing like as effective, which I said just after the bit you bolded. By doubling up on him all match Blackburn forced him to cross from areas he didn't really want to, that's why although he looked like our biggest threat he didn't create much for the first 80 minutes, the early Hernandez chance aside. He's not a Beckham 'stand and deliver' type winger, he relies on his ability to get inside the box more than his actual crossing skill. Just look at the start of the season, he was shot of confidence, looked scared to take a player on and as a result couldn't even get in the side as a winger. There was a home game where our coaching staff just screamed at him all game to try and beat players and that's what set this extended run of form in motion.

It's not a criticism of him in any way, he has been fantastic for us pretty much all season and is up there with our standout performers. It's just a comment on his playing style, and an observation as to why he was so effective late in the game.

[Mastermind`]

(Original post by silent ninja)
Real should have won the earlier meeting this season (dominated early but conceded) and you also forget Real lead by 6 points in the league against such a phenomenal team. Besides losing out in the CL with a favourable draw, United got embarrassingly outplayed twice by Atletico. It was the manner of the defeats that makes it worse. So yes I would say there's a big gap between these teams and Ferguson needs to bolster the side.

But they didn't win, there's no point discussing should haves, could haves and ifs. Barca were pretty dominant after around half-time in that match, the early goal shell-shocked them. Real Madrid lead by 6 points, but it hasn't been a matter of directly beating Barca (not that they have to in order to win the league, of course), just a matter of destroying the other teams. As I said, Man Utd are in a transition periods, mistakes in the CL were largely made by the new players at the club - Jones, DDG. The backbone of our run to the CL final last year (and CL finals before that and league titles) was our consistent-ish defence so an unsettled defence disrupted our rhythm. As for Atletico, they approached it well, we just can't deal with teams that pressure us, Newcastle did it to us in January and beat us 3-0. And if we consider Newcastle-Man Utd results this season as a two-legged tie, Newcastle would have won 4-1, are Newcastle a better team than Man Utd, though? Probably not, not league-wise anyway. There's a big gap between Man Utd and Barca, but this Man Utd team are not a poor side. SAF probably needs to bring in a reinforcement or two and the team will grow as they learn from their mistakes.