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I don't believe this health and safety hocum being held up as the reasoning for disallowing people from the grass.

Why should people not be orderly allowed onto the grass for the trophy presentation?

Stuck With Berbatov? Poor Things...
Posted 31/03/10



It's tempting to see Wayne Rooney's injury as the pivotal moment in Manchester United's season - after all, how could they possibly hope to beat Chelsea and Bayern Munich without the media-appointed Best Player In The World? What hope do they have of glory when the only player available to take his place is the fifth-best striker in English football?


Give most managers the choice of lone striker from the whole pool of Premier League strikers for a series of massive games and I'll wager that only Rooney, Fernando Torres, Didier Drogba and possibly Carlos Tevez would be taken in the draft ahead of Berbatov. Darren Bent and Jermain Defoe would be discarded as way out of their depth and Emmanuel Adebayor and Nicolas Anelka are woefully out of form.


Contrast that with Berbatov, a player who has scored five goals in his last six league starts and a very credible 12 goals in his 19 starts all season. He's been far more prolific than current media favourites Bobby Zamora and John Carew, while his first touch puts everyone barring Lionel Messi but including Rooney to shame. And yet we're supposed to believe United's chances are massively deteriorated by his presence?


It suits the English media to paint Rooney as the best player in the world, while the suspiciously foreign-looking and languid Berbatov is an easy target with his massive price tag and his surly face. Fans are happy to join in with the booing of the pantomime villain, whose only real crime is to not sweat quite as much as we think he should while being really very good at football.


They say he doesn't deliver in big games, while ignoring the fact that Sir Alex Ferguson never actually picks him for those big games because his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation leaves no room for two strikers. This season he has played less than 90 minutes in total in five games against Big Four sides, succinctly explaining why he never seems to deliver in those big games.


It would be foolish to suggest that anyone barring Berbatov would pick Berbatov over Rooney for games against Chelsea and Bayern, but United have a back-up far better than any other Premier League side. Forget the £30m price tag - it won't be the price tag holding up the ball, bringing the midfield into play, somehow easing itself out of tight spaces and winning balls in the air, it will be a footballer who just happens to be very good indeed.


Wolves and Bolton are hardly the hardiest of opposition but they were both beaten by United teams featuring Berbatov as a lone striker, while the Bulgarian was impressive against Inter last season in a rare outing without Rooney in a very combative game that ended 0-0. He may not offer quite the same goal threat as Rooney, but you can bet your bottom dollar he will lose the ball with less frequency.


If I were a United fan, I would not be worrying about going into Saturday's match against Chelsea having been forced into fielding one of the best footballers in Europe as the lone striker. I'd be too busy worrying about the composition of a midfield that looked almost as lost against Munich as Barcelona.

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,13320_6066685,00.html

[We never lost a championship match because of drinking, we lost because we weren't good enough on the day.]

We never lost a championship match because of drinking, we lost because we weren't good enough on the day.

Fair play to ye fella.

The art of copying & pasting will never be dead while you're around.

We would all have missed that line the first time round if it were'nt for you.

[While I've been unable to stay abreast of all that has gone on as much as I might like]

So I'm out of the loop on the details of expenses. The details you so well listed in a previous post. Oh that's right you didn't. It was just the odd throw away remark and whoever introduced this element to the dispute probably got what they hoped for. Question Justin on a personal level just as happened to Ger McCarthy and look at the end result there.


As for Mike OBrien's interview. He's such a shy man he woke up one morning and decided to go to the press. There's no way he was encouraged to do so after a players' meeting or contact with the GPA. Great credentials for someone to tug at the heartstrings, a hardworking farmer, making sacrifices, passionate and a teetotaler. Some cynics might think that would have been a good PR move thought up somewhere and maybe not as spontaneous as presented to us.
And good point Heffo. While I've been unable to stay abreast of all that has gone on as much as I might like I was under the impression that accusations of Justin's indiscipline charge were a later introduction to the dispute, connected to only a few players, and the discontent was initally over 'not lifting the phone' to the dropped players. Yet Mike's interview, whether intended or not, gives the impression both went hand in hand.
As for 30 students sitting an exam and them all failing, maybe the students have expectations above themselves and are doing an exam that is a little too advanced for them.
What's that about a silk purse. I don't mean that in an insulting way but there needs to be a bit of realism. Is Mike OBrien saying a different manager would have lead Limerick to victory over Tipp? Is he saying the players were blameless?
As for the sacrifice bit. Always gets to me. I belong to a fairly successful club where players make great sacrifices to play. But there's more people, ones who look after kids and some committee members who make more sacrifices and put in more hours. And I've no doubt there are ones outside the players in Limerick who are likewise. I might even be inclined to believe Justin has made a few sacrifices in his day.

Doesn't stop you speculating widly on the motivation of this player to tell his side of the story though...

Were the "The Emirates" flying 125 years ago?

I hope that some of the 09 squad show good character and return to the team.

Surely good charachter would dictate that they would not return? They'd have to stick to what they believe now rather than adopying the opinion of the delegates

The two best footballing sides in Europe, what price a 0-0 draw in the 1st leg though?!!

lol

There's never been much between Armagh and down. league or championship, no matter who is the perceived "better" is at the time.

Of course the game that bucks that trend is the 99 ulster final when an emerging armagh wiped the floor with down, ending petre McGrath's resign (pete didn't realise it for another while though).

That drubbing was in the early stages of armagh's current unbeaten run against down in national competitions. A run that must surey grate with the self styled aristocrats.

What's the story with the blackberry / iphone when you're out of the country? same massive roaming charges as the ordinary phone?

You just named A team that is made up or half by players who came thru the youth system...

Bruce was hitting penalties until Eric showed up.

Forgive my ignorance on blackberries / iphones, but...

you can connect to the net via your home wireless?

you have constant fast access to the net?

what are the costs of  the above?

what are the general costs of the handsets and the monthly usage?

First the hamstring. now this. disaster month for him.

Its a secret site. guarded for centuries by the knights of columbanus