Draws

[Jim D]

Once again another mediocre performance, we were poor against Stoke and now against Everton. It took a moment of magic from Gerrard to take a point tonight. We are relying too much on individual brilliance rather than team ethic to create chances and score goals.

 

Draws were our undoing last season at Anfield and it seems we are falling into the same trap, that is now 10 pts dropped at home and all of a sudden we now have Aston Villa breathing down our necks in 4th place. Make no doubt about it we no longer in a scrap for the title but also for a Champions League place.

 

Rafa's judgement needs to be questioned, we are just too negative sometimes and we have brought undue pressure on ourselves big time by not winning the games we should be winning. His substitutions seem pre-determined and changes are made which don't reflect what is going on out on the pitch. The Lucas sub stank of that, that wasn't the right time to bring him on.

 

It sounds crazy talking about being under pressure despite losing only one league game all season but draws kill you in this league. We just didn't have enough tonight to grind out that 1-0 win which the Mancs have done so well recently and this is where we could fall short.

Edited January 19, 2009 by Jim D

[psl]

We seem incapable of just doing enough and that is what the Mancs have been masters of this season.

Edited January 19, 2009 by psl

[Escargot]

Chill you could have that demented dwarf Sarkozy as president. Always look on the bright side.....

[lfc003]

true..remember United lost more games than us last season and Chelsea but still won the league.

[Magic8Ball]

We seem incapable of just doing enough and that is what the Mancs have been masters of this season.

we have the players to control a game, but few of the players to regularly win a game. However, we did score today and normally we don't concede so there's a chance missed.

[Sion]

16 games left. We'll need to win at least 12, probably closer to 14, to stand a chance

[psl]

16 games left. We'll need to win at least 12, probably closer to 14, to stand a chance

How have you picked that number? We're joint on points at the top.

[Sion]

How have you picked that number? We're joint on points at the top.

 

Because the chances of United winning less than 12 from 17 is pretty slim don't you think? And that's before factoring Chelsea into the equation.

[Falconhoof]

We seem incapable of just doing enough and that is what the Mancs have been masters of this season.

 

I can't get my head round this kind of perspective from our fans.

 

'masters' ?

How are United earning superlatives when they have exactly the same number of points as us ? Okay they have the game in hand but we are a whisker away from them at this stage.

[LondonLiverpoolFan]

Because the chances of United winning less than 12 from 17 is pretty slim don't you think? And that's before factoring Chelsea into the equation.

 

Who have the Mancs got left to play?

 

Us and Arsenal at OT, what about City? Have they played them twice already? Villa? I'm not confident that they'd drop points against any of the others but then this has been a strange season.

Edited January 19, 2009 by LondonLiverpoolFan

[psl]

I can't get my head round this kind of perspective from our fans.

 

'masters' ?

How are United earning superlatives when they have exactly the same number of points as us ? Okay they have the game in hand but we are a whisker away from them at this stage.

 

Indeed. I've certainly not given up hope but it just looks as if they get a 1-0 where we get a 0-0.

[Jim D]

we have the players to control a game, but few of the players to regularly win a game. However, we did score today and normally we don't concede so there's a chance missed.

 

The Mancs also get more men forward when they attack than us and have more potential match winners. (Rooney, Berbatov, Tevez, Ronaldo)

 

Ferguson knows that in this League it is worth gambling a point to try and get all three by making bold substitutions. Rafa didn't do this at Stoke, he went like for like, when really we could have turned the screw on Stoke and taken a defender off for an attacker.

 

What does Ferguson do at Bolton? He brings on Scholes and Giggs, opposition crack in the 89th minute. We need to be more adventurous and creative in our forward play. How many times this season have we seen a cross come into the opposition box with only 1 or 2 of our players in there? You be almost guaranteed to see 4 or 5 Manc players in there in a similar situation.

 

Rafa seems to be more worried about what the opposition can do to us rather than what we can do to the opposition. Tonight and the Stoke game were prime examples, a positive sub might have made the difference instead of bringing Lucas on.

 

1 win and 1 defeat is better than 2 draws.

Edited January 19, 2009 by Jim D

[Sion]

Who have the Mancs got left to play?

 

Us and Arsenal at OT, what about City? Have they played them twice already? Villa? I'm not confident that they'd drop points against any of the others but then this has been a strange season.

 

West Brom away

Everton home

West Ham away

Fulham home

Blackburn home

Portsmouth home

Newcastle away

Liverpool home

Fulham away

Villa home

Sunderland away

Wigan away

Spurs home

Boro away

City home

Arsenal home

Hull away

They'll get a minimum of 12 wins there, minimum.

[alias75]

Its a tricky balance to get right, if you listen to Rafa talk about games hes always talking about controlling the game, i think his ideal game would be one where the opposition have no chances and if we only win 1-0 so be it.

 

Personally i have plenty of faith in this team to defend leads and to be fair a lot of the games we've drawn this season have been 0-0 so the problem has been getting that first goal.

 

But its no good only losing 1 or 2 games all season if we're going to draw too many. A lot of the 0-0s we've created more than enough chances to get at least 1 goal but we've also been without Torres for most of those games.

 

I guess Rafa isn't going to change the way he does things, the only way we'll improve our attacking player is by getting players in the wide positions and maybe another striker if Keane isn't going to work out. But the basis of the team is one thats very hard working hard to break down and relies on 2 or 3 attacking players to get the goals.

[alias75]

West Brom away

Everton home

West Ham away

Fulham home

Blackburn home

Portsmouth home

Newcastle away

Liverpool home

Fulham away

Villa home

Sunderland away

Wigan away

Spurs home

Boro away

City home

Arsenal home

Hull away

They'll get a minimum of 12 wins there, minimum.

 

They've needed late goals to beat Sunderland, Bolton and Stoke, if the luck changes a little bit they might drop points you don't expect, its such a fine line between winning and losing at the moment.

[Jim D]

West Brom away

Everton home

West Ham away

Fulham home

Blackburn home

Portsmouth home

Newcastle away

Liverpool home

Fulham away

Villa home

Sunderland away

Wigan away

Spurs home

Boro away

City home

Arsenal home

Hull away

They'll get a minimum of 12 wins there, minimum.

 

Their home record last season was immaculate and that is why they won the title P19 W18 D1 L0

They are once again on course to do that, if we are going to have any shout of being in this title race come April/May we need to see them dropping more points at Old Trafford. Very unlikely to happen.

[lawrie]

Why oh why did we sit back when we went in front - up to that point it didnt ever look like Everton were gonna score. This fecking about at the back and in midfield really has to stop

[RedMarauder]

Draws also have the potential to derail everyone else's challenge. We've had our fair share and now Torres will convert them to wins.

[psl]

Draws also have the potential to derail everyone else's challenge. We've had our fair share and now Torres will convert them to wins.

 

Having Torres in the team does not mean we'll win every home game. How many games did we draw at home last year?

[Guest Keeper74]

tital challenge? the way we have played on the last month(newcaslte aside) i am now getting worried about missing the 4.

[RedMarauder]

Having Torres in the team does not mean we'll win every home game. How many games did we draw at home last year?

 

It doesn't, it just takes the pressure off others and makes me appreciate how well we have done to stay at the top pretty much without him

[Sir Tokyo Sexwale]

mediocre performance? My a***

[MFletcher]

Their home record last season was immaculate and that is why they won the title P19 W18 D1 L0

They are once again on course to do that, if we are going to have any shout of being in this title race come April/May we need to see them dropping more points at Old Trafford. Very unlikely to happen.

 

They lost at home to Man City last year.

[Owen1978]

Having Torres in the team does not mean we'll win every home game. How many games did we draw at home last year?

 

Exactly been saying this, To much on Torres's shoulders!

[Stevie H]

tital challenge? the way we have played on the last month(newcaslte aside) i am now getting worried about missing the 4.

oh good grief.