₦airaland Forum

montelik:
I doubt any United fans deny that pretty much since his signing in 06, Carrick is easily first choice (aside from a brief period in 08 when Hargreaves fitness and form put his starting position in doubt) when it comes to midfield positions. But d truth is Carrick needs support and competition. He is d first name on d team sheet yes, but mostly cos Hargreaves career is in jeopardy, Anderson can't seem to produce any sort of consistency, Fletcher for his energy offers not much on d creative end and Scholes is rapidly regressing. In my view after 3 stellar seasons it is obvious he has taken a few steps backward. Considering that he is now at d age he should be peaking it can be a little annoying to see him seemingly going backwards or stagnating.

don't you think this is because carrick's role has changed over the years? he now plays far too deep to influence games like he was doing in his first three seasons. his role now is to pick the ball and spread to the wingers. he's now a hybrid between a passing midfielder and a defensive midfielder who shields the back four. not really one or the other, somewhere in-between.

quality means doing it right when no one is looking. it basically sums up carrick as a player for me. he is so intelligent off the ball that only those who pay specific attention to it can spot what he does. take notice when other teams try to break. the first player tracking back, hustling, tackling and intercepting in the middle of the field or in defense will be carrick.

it's not because he is a physical beast, but because he is such an intelligent player who takes up great defensive position. It's great that he is being quicker and more assured on the ball of late as well. look at the stats. four league titles in five seasons. three european finals in four seasons. carrick has the ability to break up attacks without running round like a lunatic but it's his accurate forward passing that makes him so valuable when he's on his game.

mystikal:
That maths sucks.

I can also wake up and say Dzeko 1 - 2 Cesc

how so?
the thing about big players is winning everywhere they go. no excuses about funds, managers, bad pitch, bad weather or credit crunch. great players always win. it's been how many years now since cesc and his goons won something? answers on a postcard, please!

dayokanu:
Or Chelsea going Belly-up in December-january, If Chelsea had maintained their early season form, Shouldnt they have won the league by December?

Well GAYYners are notoriously reetarded, Has he forgotten how Man Utd lost points to Everton from 3-1 up?

Am sure he would come up with another demented excuse why they were unable to win Birmingham in Wembley, Got shamed by Manure youths at the FA cup and couldnt muster a shot on target in barcelona

it sucks to be an arsenal fan. look at this. . .

dzeko 1-0 walcott.

debosky:
^^

We were leading against Spurs in BOTH games - winning against Liverpool, Sunderland and Newcastle gives 6 points, winning home and away against Spurs from leading positions (2 goal leads) equals another 5 points. 11 points puts us in the driving seat.

seems you have ignored united's silly draws at the start of the season. fulham, everton, birmingham, west brom, sunderland, etc. if we had won those, arsenal wouldn't even be in the race.

[quote author=Mr_TA link=topic=567773.msg8320023#msg8320023 date=1305389345]I think people need to get used to the fact that our midfield at the moment is Carrick + one other. And I also think you're going overboard with the criticism because he's such an important player for the club in that role. He may have been poor in a few games but he has been a very good player since he's joined and been our most consistent midfielder this season.(not including wingers)[/quote]i think one of the litmus tests of whether someone 'understands' football and more specifically man united's style of football is his appreciation of carrick and his role in one of the greatest footballing sides of all time. when carrick shows form, we win league titles. the only season he was off-form was last season and we missed the title by a single point.

Though often maligned for his lack of assertiveness, Michael Carrick is quietly effective for Man Utd in Europe, as tactics blogger Michael Cox argues in a piece exclusive to ITV.com. Few players have had their recent career so widely defined by one game. The abiding memory of Manchester United’s 2009 Champions League final defeat to Barcelona is the sight of Michael Carrick trying – and failing – to pull the strings from the centre of the park.

It’s a little harsh that Carrick’s performance is remembered in such a negative fashion. The truth is that Barcelona had a clear, deliberate strategy to disrupt his game. United’s main attacking threats may have been Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, but with Barcelona’s backline depleted through suspension, they instead had to cut off the supply to those players. Carrick was the man pinpointed as United’s heartbeat. “Carrick gives United balance and can play defensively too”, Xavi Hernandez said before the match.“He passes well, has a good shot and is a complete player.”

He wasn’t given time on the ball to settle, and therefore his long, diagonal balls to the flanks were often misplaced. At least he was involved, however – Ronaldo and Rooney barely influenced the game at all. It’s a particular shame the former Tottenham player endured such an unhappy memory in Europe, because it is the Champions League where he’s really made an impact over the course of his United career. He was arguably United’s best player in their most impressive performance since he joined the club, the 7-1 home win over Roma, and was also excellent when United lifted the Champions League trophy against Chelsea in Moscow in 2008. Having started United’s last seven European games, it’s clear Ferguson remains confident in Carrick’s ability.

Calm and steady

Carrick's game is based around a calm, steady passing role from the centre of the pitch. Whilst Barcelona and Spain are the best club and international sides in the world through short passing, there are still some who question the worth of a player designed to keep possession. The frequent criticism of Carrick is that he only plays the ball sideways, favouring easy square balls rather than more ambitious forward passes. That misunderstands the way United play, though – they lack a central attacking midfielder, a Cesc Fabregas or Rafael van der Vaart type, and their main creative threats are all out wide – Antonio Valencia, Nani and Ryan Giggs. Carrick’s job is essentially to get the ball from a teammate and distribute it from side to side, and he usually performs this task admirably.

The statistics back up what a key player he is. In United’s previous Champions League match, against Marseille, Carrick finished with a 93.1% pass completion rate, by far the highest on the pitch. He’s also ranks No 10 in the ‘most passes played’ table for the Champions League so far this season, and yes, he does play a lot of square passes – the seventh most in the competition. However, when you consider that the six names ahead of him on that list are Dani Alves, Xavi, Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi and Xabi Alonso, the sideways criticism looks rather impotent.

A confidence player

Without the ball, he doesn’t thunder into tackles like Roy Keane, but he presses, occupies and intercepts, winning the ball in a less spectacular but equally effective way. Again, he’s amongst the best in the competition in this regard – only two players, Benedikt Höwedes of Schalke and Marseille’s Lucho Gonzalez – have made more interceptions than Carrick.

The main problem is that Carrick is a confidence player. When not on his game, he can look as if the game is passing him by – whereas Keane, Carrick’s predecessor in the No. 16 shirt, could always fall back on his attitude. Wednesday night’s game against Chelsea will be a big game for Carrick. United’s recent trip to Stamford Bridge was a game of two halves – their ‘double pivot’ of Carrick and Paul Scholes controlled the game in the first period, but was completely overpowered in the second.

That juxtaposition underlined that a particular type of game suits Carrick – a patient tactical encounter rather than a blood-and-thunder war. Which will it be on Wednesday night? The answer might influence how Carrick performs.
Still, as a central midfielder, Carrick can’t simply go along with the tempo, he must dictate it. If he wants a calm, technical game, it’s up to him to get on the ball and make sure that happens.

montelik:
I don't think it would be wise to play Fletcher. Thank to Kuskus he couldn't get any playing time today and he needs at least 2 matches to start a CL final against Barca. Even he completes 90 mins against Blackpool it won't be enough and surely he can't start if he plays midweek in Neville's testimonial.

This may sound very crazy but I would play
middle 3 (Carrick, Ando & O'shea)
front 3    (Rooney, Hernandez, Berba)

o'shea in the midfield and then berbatov/hernandez in the attack? crikey me, you would be the worst manager in europe.

[quote author=kay_pumpin link=topic=567773.msg8319581#msg8319581 date=1305384530]Congratulations guys.You are champions,and worthy ones too.[/quote]how gracious!

[quote author=Mr_TA link=topic=567773.msg8319471#msg8319471 date=1305383158]Well, I guess we'll see what Baba decides for the final. Fletcher has no chance considering he didnt play today or even on the bench. No way he'll get the fitness and intensity required to play the final. Anderson's form is still too erratic.[/quote]this is because saf is resting fletcher for wembley. he is fitter than fit as we speak.

montelik:
We have no choice. We absolutely have to field 3 in d middle against Barca, if we don't want to get murdered. D question is who and how will we play d front 3 and who we will be middle 3.

middle three(carrick + fletch + ando)
front three(valencia + rooney + js-park)

chamotex:
Let me quickly edit the thread title.

Congrats to my fellow Mancs . . . we did it again, even after people like[b] Mumuface[/b] wrote us off amd predicted our downfall.
It's a shame he came back to yarn the same thing again. smh

hilarious!

montelik:
But after that display I can't believe some people think it would be a good idea to play Carrick and Giggs in d centre against Barca in a 4-4-2.

exactly what we were saying in the previous page. barca will eat us raw with carrick + giggs(2-man midfield).

montelik:
If only we could clone VDS. Kuskus is certainly not up to d job.

Typical Man United, never do things d easy way. They just had to make d game needlessly nervous.

kitkat is obviously rusty. when was the last time he started a game?

i was so pissed with the last 5 mins. players knocking the ball back n forth. it's like watching a paint dry. why should the game allow such nonsense? barcelona did exactly the same thing against levante in the midweek.

[quote author=Mr_TA link=topic=567773.msg8319215#msg8319215 date=1305380505]Champions

Fantastic achievement by Sir Alex to win yet another Premier league title. Amazing.

Well done Ryan Giggs - 12 league titles [/quote]useless team - always doing things the hard way.

this is the most tasteless league title we have won.

[quote author=Mr_TA link=topic=567773.msg8318537#msg8318537 date=1305370849]Apparently,[/quote]bench
Amos, Evra, Smalling, Scholes, Anderson, Owen and Berbatov.

hannie:
I dont care what anyone says . . .I have always known that we needed to get better in striking positions considering how frail we have always been at the back, since we love going the offensive most times UTILIZING THOSE OPPORTUNITIES was always going to be the greatest challenge else we get/got punished . . .now when u get duds like Chamakh upfront and have Arshavin that is always inconsistent, or even a RVP that could be very annoying atimes, not forgetting Bendtner that buys too much into his own hype . .NOT FORGETTING THAT JAY EMMANUEL THOMAS WAS ERRONEOUSLY SENT ON LOAN . . .then its little wonder why didnt win the EPL

personally, i don't think chamakh was a dud purchase.

dayokanu:
How can ppl mention Van persie when talking about Good strikers.

Even Adebayor is wayy better

of course. . . .adebayor(24 league goals), 30 in all competitions in the same team van persie has been failing to score more than 20 goals. robin van persie is a fraud! the worst dutch striker in the history of the game.

dayokanu:
Did Torres START 7 games at the world cup? If you cant think beg someone to do it for you

torres scored 33 goals in his debut season in the premier league. abeg, what's van persie's highest goal haul in his career?

nateevs:
Only one person to blame. TinkeRoman.
Everything was flying until he thought it was time to tinker again.
Since then, nothing remained the same.

too many old players, no genuine width and too many cooks spoil the broth frontline. playing drogba and torres together is an overkill. you need just one of them.

duduspace:
Even I didn't foresee a debt ridden Dortmund that hasn't won anything since 2001 overtaking your big for nothing club.

hollow point. what have arsenal won in 6 years? this is the 7 years since arsenal last won the league title and they are not debt-ridden. what is the excuse? pathetic manager, useless players, lethargic fans.

dayokanu:
He is busy concocting other predictions.

We are waiting for the next set to come out of his smeagol faced mouth

you need to see how he was celebrating chelsea's bad form during the season. that his predictions have come to pass. chelsea is now above them, i wonder what mumuface's eyes actually see.

dayokanu:
Its a known fact that you are demented.

Tell me if messi played as a top striker and if he played 7 World cup games.

Can one expect anything different from the poster child of dementia?

where is mumuface and his daft predictions? man utd were supposed to drop out of the top four this season, weren't they? their youths are not even good enough and yet arsenal with the best youth players are still where they were in 2005----> six years without a trophy!

HNIC:
Hard having any debate with someone that asks his questions and answers them
Why are you asking me if he's world class.
We are talking about you saying he has never scored 12 goals before.
Who cares about Darren Bent?why bring him into talks about RVP
you guys have brought little pea,berba,  . .now hernandez. . .am waiting 4 the next idyot to bring in rasheed yekini or Abedi Pele

you are such a tool! as at the time we were saying van persie has never scored 12 league goals? were we correct or not? now that he's done it, does that suddenly make him world class? in those 20 goals, about 8 were penalty kicks/direct freekicks so what's the biggie? it is a well known factor van persie never banged 12 league goals in his entire career until 2011. he hasn't proven anyone wrong - i am actually disappointed it took him 11 seasons to score more than a dozen league goals in one season.

debosky:
Bottling as far as I’m concerned involves possessing the ability to achieve something but failing to do so because of pressure.

check the definition. . . .

By my assessment, the quality of the Arsenal squad is not sufficient to win the EPL - if there was sufficient quality but the side still failed, then that can be accurately characterised as bottling.

i did not hear this when the season started. you were highly optimistic this team is now well-equipped to win it. many of the disciples here even argued arsenal have a better squad than man utd. yes or no? i can dig out quotes from locked threads.

We can make ‘one-off’ points that support Wenger as well - Song took the Piss on Rooney so much that he was whining to the ref every minute. What is Song’s market value compared to Rooney’s?

which piss did alex song take? the game at the emirates was 50-50. arsenal took their chance, united fluffed theirs!

Ultimately ‘one-off’ examples are insufficient to explain overall trends - we need to look at team composition in terms of quality and value.

this arsenal team is good enough. the mental strength deserted them when it mattered the most.

First of all, your table supports the 'money talks' theory as you have termed it. It is by no mistake that Chelski has won three out of the last six titles - a feat achieved in the EPL era by no other side apart from the scumtwats.

how so? city and chelsea have outspent united. by all logic, city should have won the league title since shinawatra's era.

The second point is that the table fails to identify the value of the underlying 'base' before the Glazers' arrival. Utd already had Rooney, Rio and other high value performers in their squad, so the table can give a false impression that everyone started at the same point in 05/06, when the reality is not so.

which underlying base? united sold the world's best player, they ditched tevez. look at the net spend and compare to united's rivals.

The issue I have with you and 4uller is that you are prone making gross oversimplifications. The money theory holds true, but is not the SOLE determinant of success.

stop contradicting yourself abeg. in a season united were outspent by their rivals, they are on the brink of winning the league with a guest appearance in europe. why didn't city and chelsea achieve this feat with their mega billions?

The other components include some measure of stability and continuity (either in the playing staff or management or both) as well as sustained ‘base’ investment over a period (at least 3 years).

City’s 4th position is testament to their improvement, coupled by their first FA cup final in aeons. If they continue along these lines, posing a credible challenge for the title is inevitable.

stoke's fa cup final is a testament to what? birmingham beating arsenal in the cup final nko?

My position is clear - Arsenal have all the other attributes - stability and continuity and sustained ‘base’ investment. If we didn’t, there would be no chance of consistently being in the top 4 and qualifying for the CL 14 seasons in a row.

arsenal are where they should be on the table. wenger haven't improved arsenal in the last six seasons. i think arsenal have regressed under him. when it looked arsenal would finish 2nd or even win the league, chelsea rediscovered their mojo and the natural order was restored. only city and spurs have improved drastically and they are fast catching up with the arses.

What is missing is are the instances of big money investment which forge the other elements together into a winning proposition. Tellingly, this was one of the main aims of the Emirates move, to provide the club with a financial competitive edge. The club has achieved part of that, by not being under pressure to sell its players for profit - what is required is the ability to bring in ‘marquee’ players who will take things to the next logical step.

so you think marquee players will get into arsenal and then win the league in a canter? i laugh in itsekiri. if only it's that easy. . . .bringing in marquee players has it's own demerits. the moment wenger starts spending big then the pressure to deliver even becomes more. ancelotti will finish ahead of arsenal and yet he's the one having to look over his shoulder while wenger can breathe easy. after all, wenger hasn't spent big on torres or david luiz or ramirez so the pressure is off.

dipo2much:
I should be getting paid that I am even attending to this mentally unstable lot. These anit-arsenals have paranoia.
RvP is a fuc-king world class striker. I dunno what else †нє dude must do to earn respect. He played in the world cup finals, bitchis. How many Manure players know what it feels like to play in the world cup final? Giggs would trade all his trophies for a first half game in world cup finals.  And a full like Sharon is naming berbatov near Rvp. And then starbored  goes as far as mentioning Hernandez too. Chikarito, a player I love, isn't qualified to lace RvP's boot. You guys should stop this show of shame, i plead

what has van persie achieved since his existence? a spare-part player in the world cup holland could have done without. sneijder, robben were the key players for holland, not the arsenal striker. if this striker is so good, why is arsenal fruitless since he joined? how much are his goals in gold? hernandez joined united last year and yet he will win the league, play in a european final and he has won the community shield already. he has already done more than 99% of the arsenal squad in his 12 months at man united.

van persie is shyte. arsenal will actually play better without the dud. he's a global fraud. he has managed to pull a wool over the eyes of his followers using injuries to excuse his poor goal return. van persie's injury record pales in comparison to saha and yet saha has crossed the 20 goal-mark several times in his career. one of the reasons arsenal have been fruitless in their quest to win a trophy can be linked to van persie. chelsea have drogba, man utd have rooney, liverpool used to have torres and arsenal have who?? adebayor is a better striker!

HNIC:
@coogar
Please quote where I thought Arsenal still had a chance when we beat manure or STFU
On the day we beat Manure, this thread was as quiet as a graveyard, never mind the Manure thread, you could hear it when peeps clicked on the thread to see what was happenning

stop making up your own argument. nowhere in ma comment did i mention you said arsenal had a chance after the game at the emirates. all i know is you kept harping about the "possibly" and "probably" theory until united decimated chelsea and arsenal lost to stoke to put united 9 points ahead of arsenal. simple!

HNIC:
These scummies claim we like to deflect the arguement.
Y'all said RVP has not scored 12 league goals in his career.
dude shut you up in just half a season, now y'all comparing with Hernandez and Berbatov!
SMH. . .

so because he has now scored 12 league goals in his career after 10 seasons then means what? he is world class? are you paid to be a tool or is it in-born? darren bent has scored more than 12 league goals EIGHT TIMES in the last 10 seasons and he ain't world class and yet we should shut up because a useless striker called van persie has scored more than 12 league goals once in his entire career. hnic, you must have pap predominantly in your brain cells.

duduspace:
Sure, and yu feel yu're doing any dicing when yur knife is as blunt as a rubber sphere? 
enjoy yur victory and don't delve into trivialities, if you still need to come to this thread with 2 different handles after Manure's victory then yu must be some very vindictive soul in dire need of some serious help. I would wish very much for your well being that you really aren't.

so you are not even sure of your accusation and yet you open your diseased gob? the many symptoms of being trophy-less include aches, diarrhoea of the mouth, fever, blurry vision and death! you are in the stage 2 and i implore you to get help before it gets to the final stage.

duduspace:
Why do Starboard and Sauron always show up about the same time and have a similar writing style laden with insults? SMH, some folks are just plain kiddish.

more conspiracy theories, the kind of rubbish reetards like you rely on when being diced like a kebab. try harder.

StarBoard:
For  you duds bringing up Van Persie,shame on you all.Hernandez has 20 this season in his first EPL campaign.
A striker who has spent 7 seasons in the EPL managed to hit the 20-goal mark for only the second time and you fulls are getting hard beneath the belt.

don't mind the losers. . . . .with another fruitless season, they have resorted into celebrating a striker who has popped 20 goals in all competitions. a feat berbatov and hernandez have achieved in the united team mostly as bench warmers. arsenal fans are lethargic. dipo2dork even had the audacity to compare van persie to berbatov. . . .

duduspace:
We shall see next season, chelsea did a double only last season and are winning nothing this season. Enjoy yur victory and stop typing tripe.

we are always seeing next season. the next season hopes never end.

what a dork! so are man utd chelsea? 12th premier league title compared to chelsea's miserable 3? ask the admin to change your name to fufuface! all your daft predictions fell flat on the face.

https://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w170/Brad_Beckham/Arsenal-2.png

this graph will always be right!

duduspace:
I know thinking deeply is a bit of hard labour for you but do try some more. You can only come out and sound a bit intelligent when your team wins, so you seemingly can't make a difference between cup competitions and a league for example would you say the Arsenal team that got to the final of the UCL in the 05/06 season had a better overall quality than the invincibles team that went unbeaten just cos they didn't reach the final of the UCL?  

did the arsenal team in 05/06 season win the league? in one big swoop, i have exposed your indolence without really trying hard. united will win the league. six points ahead of the chasing pack and will play in the european final and a troglodyte like you is comparing them to the arsenal team of 05/06 season that finished 4th in the league and lost gallantly against barcelona.

mbulela:
coming from an Arsenal fan, dude you sure do have guts to spew such.
I am a united fan but i refuse to accept that united are sorted.
how comfortable do you feel typing the bold part?

we are extremely sorted. all we need is a world class goalie. young players need to be given a chance to perform. classic example - nani!

dipo2much:
By †нє way,will anybody not relieve us of clichy? Abeg o, i no wan see that guy for emirates next season o.
Talking of false predictions, some of you here who said Van Persie is world class are now keeping mute on the matter. I remember sauron sayin berbatov is better than RvP. 20 goals in a season that only started in January makes even Rooney look like a midget.

see this mumu. so rvp is now world class cos he's managed to score 20 goals/per season only for the 2nd time in his career? you are a dork! how many did rooney score last season? how many goals has berba scored this season? you have a dysfunctional memory!!!

duduspace:
I still stand by this one, its  not exactly as if Manure won the PL at a canter anyways, this is the lowest point haul to win the PL in recent years, to put things in perspective the max number of points Manure will win the PL with this season (82) is less than the point haul of the Arsenal team that came 3rd in the 07/08 season (83) so while I agree that the Arsenal team hasn't advanced this season as expected, the Manure team has definitely dropped in both consistency and quality, maybe my predictions were a season early. 
Anyway, thats a story for another day, congratulations on your expected victory and hope your team don't snatch defeat from the jaws of victory as ours have been prone to do this season.
Will you now stop chronicling my odyssey on nairaland, unfortunately I've spent the money I could have used to commision you to write my nairaland biography in paying off my betting losses. 

what a miserable nitwit. so because man utd will finish the season with 82 points now mean they have dropped in quality and standard? if that is the case, how did they manage to be in the european final? what does it matter if a team wins the league with 50 points? the name of the game is finishing ahead of others. if arsenal finish with 100 points, united woulda finished with 109 points.

dipo2much:
If RVP scored 20 goals from january till date, how many goals do you think he would have scored if he started †нє season? He surely would be sitting on the top scorer's list in england. And even a dayokanu won't equate a EPL top scorer to a Burnthisliga top scorer. The difference in league is way too much. I won't use any adjective on you again. 'Dayokanu' is worse than any word in dico

20 goals in 31 apps isn't exactly what to have a party about. rvp is still a poo striker regardless. hernandez has also scored 20 goals(debut season) with fewer starts and the mexican does not take penalties like van r@pist. if van persie had started the season in august, his goal-tally would be around the same cos of 'burn-out'.

HNIC:
@Coogar
We lost on Sunday and I am showing up on Wednesday.
You are having a laugh.
Did we lose the EPL on sunday?
No we didn't. . . .We had lost it a long time again and my friend I was on this thread then.

shut up and stop lying. you still had a faint hope with your "probable" and "possible" theory. you kept ranting "we shall see by may".

I was here running commentary when we held 4-4 by Newcastle, was here when we lost all the previous matches this season.

you were here because arsenal took the lead 4-0 and gaynners all felt it was a walk in the park. where were you when you lost to bolton and stoke?

So what's the difference in losing on Sunday. . . .at least you find peeps on this thread win,draw or lose, can't say same for u guys(Ipswich etc )
It's still the Arsenal and can't quit me love affair with the Red and White

yes, you find more unfortunate people seeking for help than the successful ones. united are in the final in europe and with a hand on the league title and the thread is relatively quiet. you and the other muppets on this thread would declare a public holiday in nigeria in united's shoes.

duduspace:
@tkb417
You were right, experience and know how won over in the end but next season still dey o. The legs are getting even more tired (VDS retiring, Giggs, Scholes and Rio one year older) and I still don't see top notch quality coming in though I'll make an exception for Hernandez, I hope he experiences a 2nd season syndrome next season.

giggs = js park
scholes = anderson
rio = smalling
vds = de gea, neuer, stekelenberg.

united are sorted. top notch quality is not coming through but rafael/fabio/evans/anderson/nani/gibson/smalling/hernandez have more glory than any arsenal player in the last six seasons.