StarBoard:
Sorry to seem that way.
Just that certain peeps tend not to respect other counter opinions without name-calling.
Wonder why.

montelik: No doubt about SAF should have reacted to the obvious threat Madrid posed when they brought on Modric. But there were no real options on the United bench. All we had were Lindegard, Smalling, Young, Kagawa, Rooney, Valencia, Hernandez. None of those is natural central midfielder. Its one thing to criticize SAF for not making an obvious substitution that would have helped contain Madrid, but fact is that there was no obvious changes that would have helped us deal with Madrid's midfield superiority. What we needed was to bring in an energetic central midfielder who could press and close down Madrid midfielders, while maintaining discipline (solid positioning and good tackling) around the 18 yard box, but we had no one even close to capable of that on the bench (please don't say Rooney who when asked to drop back in midfield against Chelsea at Stamford bridge was getting caught out of position and making reckless tackles that led to at least one goal). Jones was injured and Fletcher's (the only midfielder we have who fits that bill) career is all but done. This is why I was so annoyed when we did nothing about our midfield in the summer. In seasons gone by we would have brought on a fit Fletcher, Hargreaves even Ji-Sung Park who would provide the necessary cover. But we are top heavy on either ball playing central midfielders, whom are either more attacking (e.g Tom C, Ando, Kagawa) or lack the natural energy, burst or athleticism (Carrick, Scholes, Giggs) and Fletcher is all but done.

I would understand the criticism if we had Jones or Fletcher on the bench and hadn't brought them on, but they weren't available. None of the changes we could have made would have significantly helped. Even if he was available, Ando is not good enough pressing and tackling on the edge of his own box, not to mention his reaction, anticipation and positioning when defending are inconsistent at best. We could have brought on Rooney for RVP and he might have been able to may be frustrate Alonso, but Modric would still have been able to overload and kill us with his fresh energy and intelligent short play in the middle. Fact is we didn't have the options available to deal with the red card and Madrid's smart change in tactics. You can second guess and say this change or that change would have made the difference, but there was hardly an obvious option available. In situations like that, there are not guarantees.

We need to bring more variety in our midfield even it means some players have to move on. Well on the next one.

montelik: No doubt about SAF should have reacted to the obvious threat Madrid posed when they brought on Modric. But there were no real options on the United bench. All we had were Lindegard, Smalling, Young, Kagawa, Rooney, Valencia, Hernandez. None of those is natural central midfielder. Its one thing to criticize SAF for not making an obvious substitution that would have helped contain Madrid, but fact is that there was no obvious changes that would have helped us deal with Madrid's midfield superiority. What we needed was to bring in an energetic central midfielder who could press and close down Madrid midfielders, while maintaining discipline (solid positioning and good tackling) around the 18 yard box, but we had no one even close to capable of that on the bench (please don't say Rooney who when asked to drop back in midfield against Chelsea at Stamford bridge was getting caught out of position and making reckless tackles that led to at least one goal). Jones was injured and Fletcher's (the only midfielder we have who fits that bill) career is all but done. This is why I was so annoyed when we did nothing about our midfield in the summer. In seasons gone by we would have brought on a fit Fletcher, Hargreaves even Ji-Sung Park who would provide the necessary cover. But we are top heavy on either ball playing central midfielders, whom are either more attacking (e.g Tom C, Ando, Kagawa) or lack the natural energy, burst or athleticism (Carrick, Scholes, Giggs) and Fletcher is all but done.

I would understand the criticism if we had Jones or Fletcher on the bench and hadn't brought them on, but they weren't available. None of the changes we could have made would have significantly helped. Even if he was available, Ando is not good enough pressing and tackling on the edge of his own box, not to mention his reaction, anticipation and positioning when defending are inconsistent at best. We could have brought on Rooney for RVP and he might have been able to may be frustrate Alonso, but Modric would still have been able to overload and kill us with his fresh energy and intelligent short play in the middle. Fact is we didn't have the options available to deal with the red card and Madrid's smart change in tactics. You can second guess and say this change or that change would have made the difference, but there was hardly an obvious option available. In situations like that, there are not guarantees.

We need to bring more variety in our midfield even it means some players have to move on. Well on the next one.

coded guy: You are playing a CL game against 9 time champs, real Madrid with a coach like maurinho and Fergie is being sentimental about one 40yr old playing his 1000th game. Which is more important, winning the game or Giggs hitting his 1000th game in style.

Yes Giggs played very well, but Rooney on the pitch would have given us a sharper edge against Madrid and given them something to worry about far better than what Giggs was offerring even though he was playing well. IMO

Fergie also reacted slowly to the red card, as soon as Modric was brought in we needed another body in the middle to distract/hassle him and any player from, young, Ando, rafael and smalling would have been capable of doing that.

Fergie messed up, simple! I have been to upset to comment since.

coded guy: You are playing a CL game against 9 time champs, real Madrid with a coach like maurinho and Fergie is being sentimental about one 40yr old playing his 1000th game. Which is more important, winning the game or Giggs hitting his 1000th game in style.

Yes Giggs played very well, but Rooney on the pitch would have given us a sharper edge against Madrid and given them something to worry about far better than what Giggs was offerring even though he was playing well. IMO

Fergie also reacted slowly to the red card, as soon as Modric was brought in we needed another body in the middle to distract/hassle him and any player from, young, Ando, rafael and smalling would have been capable of doing that.

Fergie messed up, simple! I have been to upset to comment since.

Mr_TA:
I disagree with your bolded bit. No way to know Rooney would have for sure performed well. He was one of our worst players in the 1st leg at the bernabeu. Giggs played well and we were leading till the red card and even after the red we was still playing well. Just absolutely no need to scapegoat giggs on this.

The main fault lies with fergie when he should have reacted to the red card but he didn't and the players didn't and before we knew it Real Madrid were 2-1up. Too late by then.

You all need to stop scapegoating giggs unnecessarily when he played well.

Cristalz: The British media will forever remain sensational...papers need to be sold! I wouldn't believe anything they say without hard evidence.
Personally I'm glad RVP failed to show up on the night; shows Fergie that the man isn't invincible.

Would be suicide to let Rooney go anywhere....IF he indeed wants to go. Big IF.

Cristalz: Too lethargic to bring RVP into the game but not too lethargic to feed and create chances for Danny Welbeck, right?
Does Welbeck have two heads?

coogar:

those are half chances.....and that's exactly the point!
rooney would have done better with shots on target than welbeck in the same position. fergie gave madrid too much respect by having welbeck sit on alonso. madrid were tired already with the 2 classicos - without the sending off, we would have coasted without playing too well. the sending off just tipped the balance massively towards them and mourinho took full advantage!

coogar: rooney is pissed now and if newspaper reports are to be believed, he wants out!!! i would want out too.

Cristalz:

And you know this because....your crystal ball said so, perhaps?

And FYI, you avoided answering why chances, or "half chances" (in your opinion) were created for Welbeck but mysteriously weren't created for RVP.
Welbeck must have two heads!

Or here's a thought. . .maybe RVP was simply too ill-positioned for his teammates to find. It wasn't about having Rooney on or not.
Plus, most of the time when RVP did get the ball, quoting a friend that saw the game with me..."na RVP sef dey spoil ball"

montelik:

If that is true then he should GTFO. After mugging us for £250k per week, and hasn't even improved since his bumper pay rise, he can go sharpish. Good riddance, lets see if he will find anyone beyond the money miss roads across town, in London or Paris who will pay such wages. White Pele my a**. Kagawa scored a hat-trick this weekend and was benched, no one is screaming as to why he was left out. Evans was faultless in Madrid, yet was also dropped. Rubbish and nonsense.

Cristalz: Superstition at best.
If Welbeck took "the Rooney role" and has a worse finishing than your dear granny, why pick on Giggs? Especially when he was faultless.

Agree to disagree, C. This is becoming old.

In other news....Chelsea lost tonight. Weak performance that made a lil' attempt at picking up near the end of the 2nd half.
They weren't organized defensively....Bertrand was a sorry story. Guess Ashley got rested for Sunday.
If our guys are on top of their game, we should nail 'em nicely.

coogar:

welbeck got a start because he works hard. he sat on alonso throughout and alonso disappeared in the first half - i cannot remember anythin significant xabi did in the first half. welbeck didn't get the nod because he's got any exquisite skill. giggs denied rooney a start(this is where my problem is)!

Emperoh:

Don't take such things to heart. . . . . it is important we have differing opinions and that we recognise the need to respect such differences but not everyone appreciates that. Just overlook them, make your point and we go onto other things.

Have you taken the email id? am about to take it off.

coogar:

those are half chances.....and that's exactly the point!
rooney would have done better with shots on target than welbeck in the same position. fergie gave madrid too much respect by having welbeck sit on alonso. madrid were tired already with the 2 classicos - without the sending off, we would have coasted without playing too well. the sending off just tipped the balance massively towards them and mourinho took full advantage!

coogar:
rooney is pissed now and if newspaper reports are to be believed, he wants out!!! i would want out too. let's hope giggs would give us the exact number of years rooney would have given us! alex ferguson has gone senile. sacrificing the energy and verve of young players for old fools like giggs and scholes! we deserve to be eliminated for having the chutzpah to play giggs against madrid - why didn't he bring back cantona, schmeichel, steve bruce and nicky butt to complete the aroma of shyte?

Mr_TA: @starboard. I hope you stick around and give your 2cents regularly. Try not to respond to insults etc. I know it can be annoying but it would be good to have your input and thoughts regularly. I don't get myself involved in a slanging match with anyone. I say my thoughts and keep it moving. Hope you do the same as your input in valued.

My sentiments exactly. Ignore such jejune insults.
Some of us are so busy noticing such nonsense. Maturity is key to me and that basically when you ignore such things.
I trust we'll sure have Starboard on ground. Missing TKB as well; that one dey do agbaya for Twitter

All great to have Crizzle around.

montelik:

If you concede that Welbeck deserved his start in the middle after the brilliant job that he did on Alonso, then you are scapegoating as Cristalz says. Have you seen Rooney's performances when played wide this season, did you see how awful he was in Madrid? When Cristalz pointed it out, you claimed he was out of position and excused his poorness, which is true and I agree. But yet you think despite his consistently poor play (when wide this season) he should still have played on the wing just so you wouldn't have put up with Giggs in the starting eleven. You are complaining more on sentiment just cause you no longer want Giggs to play in any important games for United. If you were actually being genuine you would have called for Valencia/Young to take the Giggs position rather than all this crying over Rooney.

I am done talking about Tuesday night.

StarBoard:
Half-chances?
Please o.Danny Welbeck got himself into positions where he could threaten. Robin van Persie had one early in the first half.He didn't even manage to make clean contact.
Besides what if I blamed Van Persie for the ones he missed at the Bernabeu?

Coogar is now advocating for a player he once labelled as the worst in terms of " bottom-level" to be given a chance to play against Real, just to give his argument credence.Interesting.

coogar:

we did well enough in the first leg 1-1. i cannot ask for more
we weren't eliminated because of the first leg, but for the 2nd leg. let's discuss why we had an unbalanced team against madrid on our own soil. we didnt have to respect madrid too much. rooney should have started, welbeck should be protecting evra and nani should be protecting rafael. giggs had no business in that line-up. we would have definitely scored more goals!

coogar:
but rooney's form is currently good!
he had gotten 1 goal and 2 assists in the game before madrid. in raw stats, rooney has 11 goals + 9 assists in 20PL games as a supporting striker - he's been very good this season!