Posts Tagged ‘fa cup’

Please sell Berbatov!

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

Well maybe that was abit harsh. Its not just the penalty in the shootout that was very (very) poor. Its just that he doesnt seem interested in playing most of the time – I know its his style! Hopefully next season he can step it up. Vidic and Evra didnt play too well in their first season and look at them now!

Back to the games … It was the FA Cup semi-final at the weekend with Arsenal playing Chelsea and United played Everton. Both games were played at Wembley which was different to normal. I didnt watch the Chelsea Arsenal game but Chelsea won. I wanted Arsenal to win – if you know me you will know I am not a fan of Chelsea.

The United v Everton game was on Sunday and Everton won. It was abit of a sport day for me after playing football earlier on, watching the Chinese Grand Prix and then the FA Cup Semi-final. The game was rather boring to be honest and ended 0-0 after extra time. United really should have had a penalty but it was not given. Even Moyes thought it was a penalty. Anyway, we didnt really play particularly well. Stand out performance – as he has been most of this season – was Vidic.

Anyway, it ended up going to penalties. Cahill missed the 1st one and United were in the driving seat. Berbatov was next and as I mentioned earlier, took a really poor penalty – the worst ever?? (see below). So lazy, so weak. It was as if he was kicking the ball back to the keeper!

Everton scored there next one and United’s 2nd was taken by Ferdinand. He also had his penalty saved but it was a better effort. Everyone else scored the penalties including Vidic and Anderson but the 2 missed United penalties meant Everton won. Everton now play Chelsea in the final and I hope they win! For a few different reason that include Everton have a top manager I like and also a few former United players in the squad.

There has been a lot of talk and comments online on various web sites and forums about Berbatov and his shocking penalty. People are also commenting on his lazy, slow style of play. Hes a talented footballer but just not a Manchester United player. United play with pace with players like Ronaldo and Rooney and Berbatov is just not like that. He gets the ball and it all slows down. He must be in the running for worst player of the year (considering his £30m price tag). Scored handful of goals and in some way has (possibly) forced Tevez out of United – who United fans love.

That means the quintuple dream is over and we can now “only” win 4. With Liverpool and Arsenal drawing tonight (in another 4-4 draw and from what I read an amazing game – I saw the last 15 minutes) it means United are level on points with Liverpool with 2 games in hand. Liverpool have 5 more games to play in the league so its moving more and more towards United. Its not over yet though – it could all change very quickly. Come on United!!

Here is that Berbatov penalty:

Fa Cup Quarter Final: Fulham 0 – 4 Man Utd

Sunday, March 8th, 2009

(Not blogged for a few weeks!! Sorry)

Its FA Cup weekend this week with most of the big teams still in. United played Fulham yesterday and won 4-0. Fulham started off really well and caused United a few problems with Van Der Sar making some errors. One of them almost resulted in Johnson scoring but Vidic managed to clear the ball as it was rolling towards the goal-line.

The first 20 minutes, Fulham were looking dangerous with the possibility of causing an upset. However, once Tevez scored it all changed. Tevez scored from a corner which Fulham should have cleared. Its saying something when the smallest man in the penalty area manages to squeeze a header in. Tevez played really well in the game with his usual all action performace. His 2nd goal was a great long range shot after a solo run towards goal.

A few minutes after half time, Rooney scored was a cool, calm, curling effort. This was after Rooney missed an easy chance in the first half hitting the post. That 3rd goal pretty much finished the game off. Fulham still had some chances but it was overall another good performance by United and now we are on the way to Wembley for the Semi-finals.

Even with United a few goals up there were still some defensive errors. Thankfully, Vidic had one of those goals were he got in the way of everything, putting his head in where it hurts.

Before the end of the game, Park got United’s 4th goal. A nice finish and well-deserved after a great performance.

The MOTM was awarded to Tevez and with 2 goals and his all-action performance chasing everything it was well deserved. I think its a close call with Vidic playing brilliantly just as he has been all this season. Worth mentioning are Rooney and Park.

Next up is Inter Milan on Wednesday!! The only negative about this match was the injury to Ferdinand. Lets hope its OK!!!

(Check out and follow me on Twitter – @andrewyee)