How have United managed to pull away?

[Guest]

I would agree with that. Doesn't take away from the fact that Ronaldo is on another planet lately.

"Confidence is a drug that cannot be bought" - me (just then)

His goalscoring cannot be underestimated. He scores and they win ... He's effective as well as creative.

[Neil Young]

His goalscoring cannot be underestimated. He scores and they win ... He's effective as well as creative.

Don't you mean his goalscoring can't be overestimated?

[Guest]

Don't you mean his goalscoring can't be overestimated?

My nemesis.

[dww]

We need a better hard working player than Kuyt and Babel also need to work harder so Torres will get more space to work with.

If we sign flair players that don't work hard then Torres won't get enough space for example.

That is why players like Quaresma and Simao for example is a no go. We need flair players that work their socks off.

While I think part of it is about work rate I really think a great deal is about intelligence. A lot of the time the difference between the way we look against teams like United is a lack of intelligence. For example Gerrerd works very hard but by coming deeper he leaves Torres isolated and easy for United to take out of the game. We need a combination of work rate and intelligence and the mentality to just stay in tactically good positions at times. United have got this down to a fine art - all of their attacking players this season remain in positions to counter attack - this is the biggest improvement in Rooney's game in the last year IMO he is now more disciplined and doesn't come too deep loosing the team shape.

[Neil Young]

My nemesis.

I wouldn't go that far, old sport.

[Guest]

I wouldn't go that far, old sport.

Ok Daddy.

[Neil Young]

Ok Daddy.

I am NOT taking any responsibility for you.

*shudder*

[friedk]

Name Manure
13 Roy Carroll
14 Tim Howard
Luke Steele

6 Wesley Brown
5 Rio Ferdinand
28 Mark Lynch
2 Gary Neville
3 Philip Neville
22 John O'Shea
27 Mickaël Silvestre
Alan Tate

8 Nicholas Butt
19 Eric Djemba
24 Darren Fletcher
25 Quinton Fortune
16 Roy Keane
15 Kleberson
26 Danny Pugh
23 Kieran Richardson
18 Paul Scholes

12 David Bellion
21 Diego Forlan
11 Ryan Giggs
7 Ronaldo
Louis Saha
20 Ole Gunnar Solskjær
10 Ruud van Nistelrooy

Name Liverpool
1 Jerzy Dudek
22 Christopher Kirkland
29 Patrice Luzi

23 James Carragher
3 Stephen Finnan
2 Stéphane Henchoz
4 Sami Hyypiä
18 John Arne Riise
21 Djimi Traoré
37 Zak Whitbread

25 Igor Biscan
28 Bruno Cheyrou
15 Salif Alassane Diao
Michael Foley-Sheridan
17 Steven Gerrard
16 Dietmar Hamann
7 Harry Kewell
20 Anthony Le Tallec
13 Daniel Murphy
26 Ritchie Partridge
34 Darren Potter
11 Vladimir Smicer
32 John Welsh

5 Milan Baros
9 El Hadji Diouf
8 Emile Heskey
10 Michael Owen
24 Florent Sinama-Pongolle

Here is the list of United and Liverpool players from the season before Rafa took over (players still here in bold), which of those players should have been kept in the squad? Perhaps Flo as a squad player, besides that I can't fault a single Rafa decision.

[lfc1394]

Rashid, this is a bit of a moot point, when ever a new manager comes in he is pretty much going to want his own team.

You can level the same criticism to Houllier, under Evans we were 2-3 players away, we had a young squad and were playing attractive football, Houllier was brought in to help develop these young players (as he supposedly did in France). Instead he went about getting rid of all the Evans players and replacing them with some good and some not so good players.

For example the 2000/2001 squad was pretty impressive, but 2002 he again made wholesale changes.

We should judge Rafa on next years performance. This season all the boardroom unrest has made it difficult to truly judge him.

[AFII]

While I think part of it is about work rate I really think a great deal is about intelligence. A lot of the time the difference between the way we look against teams like United is a lack of intelligence. For example Gerrerd works very hard but by coming deeper he leaves Torres isolated and easy for United to take out of the game. We need a combination of work rate and intelligence and the mentality to just stay in tactically good positions at times. United have got this down to a fine art - all of their attacking players this season remain in positions to counter attack - this is the biggest improvement in Rooney's game in the last year IMO he is now more disciplined and doesn't come too deep loosing the team shape.

That is the reason to why Aguero would be the perfect signing in the summer. He has everything. Works hard, creative, excellent skill, technique, game intelligence, vision and he can play both as a striker or just behind a striker.

That is the type of players we need to sign to overtake ManU.

[Skillz]

That is the reason to why Aguero would be the perfect signing in the summer. He has everything. Works hard, creative, excellent skill, technique, game intelligence, vision and he can play both as a striker or just behind a striker.

That is the type of players we need to sign to overtake ManU.

Glad to see your back on the right track.

I agree with what you say about Kun but for me the main reason I want him is that if he gets a sight on goal he will take the run and have a crack.

Defenses will need to be right on their toes IMO. This alone will help Torres get more space and chances

[AFII]

We won't overtake ManU if we sign second best players. Only the very best is good enough because our rivals won't sign second best players. They will only sign a player if he is better than one they already have.

In short, if DIC don't buy us then United will soon overtake our 18 league titles because we won't add #19 anytime soon.

DIC are our only hope.

[Skillz]

We won't overtake ManU if we sign second best players. Only the very best is good enough because our rivals won't sign second best players. They will only sign a player if he is better than one they already have.

In short, if DIC don't buy us then United will soon overtake our 18 league titles because we won't add #19 anytime soon.

DIC are our only hope.

Slow down AF. Things aren't that bad. SAF has to retire one day, probably when Rafa enters his prime.

[Roboklopp]

Slow down AF. Things aren't that bad. SAF has to retire one day, probably when Rafa enters his prime.

Aye, but they'll be beyond our 18 then.

[Skillz]

Aye, but they'll be beyond our 18 then.

Taking it back and disappearing again will be all the sweeter