Man Utd Thread:

[The Real Laoislad]

Great save my James...Blow the f**king whistle Ref

[Redgreenery]

Full time Portsmouth 2-1 Utd.
All Ferdinands stupid fault and that bloody ref! Utd should have gotten 2 penalties in that game! Gaps at 3 points now. Bollix!

[FermPundit]

Awful result. Giggs was brutal when he came on. He was bad in Rome and he was even worse this evening. still 3 points ahead. its still ours to lose!!

[The Real Laoislad]

IS A

[The Real Laoislad]

Full time Portsmouth 2-1 Utd.
All Ferdinands stupid fault and that bloody ref! Utd should have gotten 2 penalties in that game! Gaps at 3 points now. Bollix!

Your havin a laugh aren't ya.?.Ye should maybe have got one penalty and the Ref was as fair with both teams as i've seen all season

[Square Ball]

Ack well, James had a great game and I think we only have ourselves to blame, Fergie should know better than to play a weakened team aganind that ballox Harry. I honestly thought that if we had have won that game we would have won the league. the game against Evertone will tell a  story, we should beat Sheffield Wed and Boro at home then Everton away, massive massive game

[J70]

Full time Portsmouth 2-1 Utd.
All Ferdinands stupid fault and that bloody ref! Utd should have gotten 2 penalties in that game! Gaps at 3 points now. Bollix!

I must have missed two penalty shouts in the first half, because Primus' tackle on Rooney in the second was not a foul.

I thought the ref was pretty good.

[The Real Laoislad]

I thought the ref had a very good game,Typical United blame the ref.
United just were not good enough today

[FermPundit]

United lack a target man up front. It takes too many passes to create any chances. Andy Gray is a knob. He was delighted United lost!!

[The Real Laoislad]

Amazing the way Sky Sports never blame the English players..Ferdinand couldn't have been at fault oh no

[Redgreenery]

God Sir Alex is so calm. But he's right the 10 day break from the premiership has come at the right time. Will we beat Roma?? Doubt it!
We need Vidic back badly! Neville too!

[Redgreenery]

               P  W D L  F  A  GD PTS
Man Utd  32 25 3 4 75 23  52  78
Chelsea   32 23 6 3 56 19  37  75


Thats the difference now.

[tyroneboi]

RIO GOT MERKED!!

[Redgreenery]

Report:
Portsmouth 2-1 Man Utd

United slipped to their first Premiership defeat in eight games as Matthew Taylor's strike and a Rio Ferdinand own-goal sealed victory for Portsmouth at Fratton Park.

An off-colour first-half display from Sir Alex Ferguson's side proved costly as the Reds somehow failed to muster a goal from a dominant display in the second 45 minutes.

Portsmouth goalkeeper David James was in inspired form for the hosts, making outstanding stops from Darren Fletcher, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs.

Given the exertions of playing for an hour on the vastness of Roma's Stadio Olimpico pitch with 10 men last Wednesday, Sir Alex Ferguson rested the veteran legs of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Giggs, dropping both to the bench.

Gone too was Louis Saha, who suffered a slight recurrence of his niggling hamstring injury in Italy and was left out of the squad to travel to Fratton Park.

Kieran Richardson and Darren Fletcher both started, and the latter was involved after five minutes as he was incorrectly flagged offside. That he was then brought down inside the box by James only served to raise a slight sense of injustice.

All eyes were again on the referee as Linvoy Primus tangled with Wayne Rooney inside the area, but once again no penalty was given as Mark Clattenburg rightly ruled that the big defender had gotten a toe to the ball.

United looked far from their best, while Pompey were steely and focused in the way they harried their visitors, so it was of little surprise when Harry Redknapp's side moved ahead on the half hour.

Richardson was caught in possession on the edge of his own area, allowing Benjani Mwaruwari to fire a powerful effort goalwards. Edwin van der Sar could only parry
the ball out and Taylor nipped in ahead of Rio Ferdinand to fire home.

A jaded-looking United seemed to be shaken out of their slumber as Michael Carrick strode into the Pompey area almost immediately, only to drag his shot wide.

Rooney then shot wide from 25 yards before Fletcher saw his close-range effort well saved by James with his legs after neat approach play from Rooney.

If van der Sar was in any way accountable for Pompey's opener, he redeemed himself in first half stoppage time with a fine save to thwart Taylor.

A long punt forward from James fell in between O'Shea and Brown, and their collective hesitancy allowed Taylor to nip in and bring a strong close-range save from the big Dutchman.

Sir Alex Ferguson used the interval to reshuffle his pack, with Ryan Giggs introduced at the expense of Richardson. The Welsh veteran had been rested after his exertions in Rome, but was called into action as United looked to spring into life.

The Reds should have been on level terms within 15 seconds of the restart. Giggs clipped a fine ball over the static Pompey defence for Rooney, who finished with aplomb only to be incorrectly ruled offside.

Ronaldo prodded a corner goalwards, forcing a fine save from James. Just as it seemed Solskjaer was on hand to prod in an equaliser with his first touch, Lauren managed to toe the ball to safety.

Rooney teed up Giggs moments afterwards, only for James to make a stunning save and tip the winger's fierce effort over for a corner, from which Wes Brown brought another save from the ex-Liverpool goalkeeper.

Carrick then dragged an effort wide from Solskjaer's pull back as United continued to dominate, but van der Sar was heavily involved again on 65 minutes.

Taylor's left wing pull-back was prodded goalwards by Sean Davis, only for the big Dutchman to pull out a world class save to claw the ball around the post and preserve United's hopes.

Rooney looked set to haul United level with 22 minutes remaining, only for Primus to make a superb last-ditch challenge and spare his side. The England striker vehemently claimed a penalty, only for his claims to be waved away.

United looked evermore jaded as the game wore on, with touches and passes going astray with great regularity.

A winding Ronaldo run ended with James clutching his low shot, before United's deficit was doubled in agonising circumstances.

Rio Ferdinand, racing towards his own goal, attempted to pass the ball back to van der Sar. A lack of communication meant that the Dutchman had already set off on a different course, meaning that Ferdinand's pass trickled into the unguarded goal.

United finally did find the net in the final minute of normal time as James fumbled a Solskjaer shot and O'Shea nipped in to convert the rebound.

The former England stopper was then incredibly called into action again in the 94th minute as he flung himself low to his right to punch away substitute Alan Smith's powerful effort.

That was the final meaningful act of a highly frustrating evening which ended with defeat for United, who remain three points clear of Chelsea with six games remaining in the Premiership chase.

Team line-ups

Portsmouth: James, Lauren, Primus, Stefanovic, Traore; O'Neil, Davis, Hughes, Taylor, Kanu (Kranjcar, 81), Benjani (Lua Lua, 67).
Substitutes: Ashdown, Todorov, Pamarot.

United: Van der Sar, O'Shea, Brown, Ferdinand, Heinze; Fletcher (Solskjaer, 59), Carrick (Smith, 77), Scholes, Richardson (Giggs, 46), Rooney, Ronaldo.
Substitutes: Kuszczak, Evra.

[J70]

Remaining fixtures:

United -
Sheff Utd (h)
Middlesbrough (h)
Everton (a)
City (a)
Chelsea (a)
West Ham (h)

Two easy home games, following by four potentially problematic ones.

Chelsea -
West Ham (a)
Newcastle (a)
Bolton (h)
Arsenal (a)
United (h)
Everton (h)

Not too easy either!

Plenty of scope for dropped points by both sides.