PL: Man Utd a Ratings and Reactions

[Banger75]

Very **** happy..... all my ManUre bandwagon supporting mates have been showered with text messages from me since 5:30am this morning....and I collected my $70 win bet. Out-**** standing. Oh, and I voted for Stan Petrov, ran his socks off, tackled like a demon and rarely gave the ball away.

[Brumerican]

Man Ure fan

Yeh, it's just not our day.

The scary thing with Villa is that they can afford to put all of their players behind the ball (as they are), yet still be a ridiculous threat on the counter attack.

[Baalberith]

Just got back. One of the best days of my life nothing more needs to be said.

[dappadan]

Just got back and that was unbelievable 10's for everyone and I will give an 11 for Dunne I thought he was superb first half.

Not sure what has been said about the ref but I thought he was absolutely diabolical, maybe it is a biased view and it didn't matter in the end anyway!!

Absolutely chuffed I can't describe how happy I am!!

[leviramsey]

He was the colour guy with Ian Darke on Fox Soccer; Darke came across as pretty neutral and knowledgeable of how both teams had been playing this season; Ekoku was neutral til Villa scored then just started going on about how we didn't have an experienced enough midfield to see the game out at every opportunity

Ekoku's not employed by FSC... they just take whatever commentary the PL/IMG send them on the international feed.

(though Ekoku did do some studio work for ESPN US for the World Cup draw... I was expecting Shaka Hislop who's now coaching just down the road)

[rjshare]

the ref was dire in the second half. according to the bbc stats, in a game of only two yellow cards, man utd gave away 4 fouls but the villa gave 14!!!!!

[leviramsey]

Not sure what has been said about the ref but I thought he was absolutely diabolical, maybe it is a biased view and it didn't matter in the end anyway!!

I have to give the ref an overall mark of fair, if only because he didn't do what a solid majority of PL refs would have done and booked Rooney for diving instead of awarding a penalty. Had he done that, I think we would have lost... I can definitely see something like that demoralizing the guys.

[thomb2233]

Very proud to be a Villa fan tonight.!!!! Awsome

[b23avfc]

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHEEEEEEEEEEEEEY

I can't stop the happy feeling

[AVFC-Prideofbrum]

I thought the Ref was sorta poor on both sides but however at least consistant, there were some blatent fouls he didn't give for both sides but at least he did his best to let the game flow instead of the Ref's that stop the game every 30 seconds.

[rjw63]

Not sure what has been said about the ref but I thought he was absolutely diabolical, maybe it is a biased view and it didn't matter in the end anyway!!

I thought the ref and the linos were fat yellow cartoon characters who eat a lot of doughnuts and drink Duff beer at Moe's

[paddy]

Freaking brilliant! We've shown we can more than hold our own with the big boys. Beat Chelsea, Liverpool and Manyoo before Christmas. Very nice.

Now lets sort ourselves out against the small teams. We've lost against teams that are currently 12th, 14th and 18th. Find a way of beating these and we're genuine top 4 contenders. Don't and we're probably 6th. 7th again.

[ayshanne]

Was a bit annoyed that they only showed two of our chances and that the first half looked like it was all Utd as well, but they seemed to redress the balance a bit in the analysis

This.

They did not talk about Man U at all. And MOTD ended with Gabby's goal celebration. What a day

Great goalkeeping, brilliant defence, much livelier midfield since Downing recovered and Gabby scores again. Well done Martin. Loved the way Ashley blocked Rooney twice in a few seconds. Ant vs elephant.

[paddy]

As the bloke stood behind me at Burnley shouted: "**** off O'Neill, you're tactically naive"

[ViLLan_92]

Just got back What a WIN!!! A trip to wembley can only top this!

10's for everyone with a special 10.5 for dunne!!!

MOTD anywhere online?

UTV!!!

[drat01]

Who the F are Man Utd

[BOF]

Typical that Sky don't even have the game on Football First

We are very efficient with the ball though, that's for sure.

Our victories against Liverpool, Chelsea & United this season came with possession stats of 32.1, 32.2 & 32.3% respectively. Our 3 worst possession stats of the season and our 3 best results Maybe we need to give the ball to the opposition more often :P

[Ghost_of_Pongo_Waring]

What a superb day.

On the coach up there keeping an eye on the other results and they were all going our way I was waiting for spurs & man city to spoil things and end up winning.

When the other games finished giving us the opportunity to climb to third I knew, KNEW, that we'd fail to take the chance.

That second half seemed to last a week but I'm so proud of the lads. Finally we've won at Old Trafford again.

It's days like these that make all those crap matches and defeats worthwhile.

Three of the 'big four' beaten. Come on Villa do Arsenal and get the full set

[leviramsey]

Typical that Sky don't even have the game on Football First

Sky don't have the rights to ESPN games. ESPN are replaying the game at 830 tomorrow morning.

[Chindie]

I'm still buzzing, so glad I was home to catch the lot of it.

Where do you start? Glorious.

Friedel - never looked anything but confident, one small spill he had covered aside, couldn't ask for more. AWAY!

Cuellar - Great. A little keen to simply hoof away which didn't help us but covered well, blocked everything, made some top tackles, he's the definition of no nonsense.

Dunne - He's quick, in 'e? Top stuff though, much like Cuellar he was covering runners and getting something on everything his way, cannot complain.

L. Young - First half a lot of their threat came down his side it seemed to me but he made amends with aplomb, and took a battering for the cause as well. Moronic tourists in the home ground booed him following a poleaxe after running into Park.

Warnock - The first half was probably our standout man at the back, which in the company he was in today is no mean feat. And top class going forward too, put in some dangerous balls and was following his partner up the wing all the time which helps us no end when dispossessed.

Petrov - Captains display, calm, assured, kept the ball and used it well when asked, and was getting stuck in when it was backs to the wall.

Milner - Brilliant again, faded in the second half giving the ball away needlessly, the composure in his new found position will come I suspect.

A. Young - Much more like it, still lost the ball once or twice with his ludicrous cut in run past no-one malarkey but quality deliveries back to his game much more consistantly today.

Downing - Quieter game but showed his passing range more than once, and a vital block on the line. More to come from him, what a prospect that is.

Heskey - Worked his bollocks off. Growing into this side and does so much to help. He'll never be a goalscorer, but his contribution is vital.

Gabby - Ran and ran. Lovely little header for the goal, some nice touches and passes, quality work rate. He still needs some more work to do his game but you just get the feeling with him that it WILL come to him. Can't help but appreciate a display like that.

Carew - Being fair to him, he came on when we weren't going to play into his hands, we were under the cosh. But he still did bugger all.

Collins - Back with a vengeance. We know what to expect from him already, and we got exactly what we expected, just when we needed it.

NRC - Not terribly visible but helped the defensive effort. I hoped he'd make more of an impact through his energy but no such luck.

We beat United. Savour it.

But then consider that for a half, we gave them a game to worry about. And for a whole game we had a defence they couldn't handle. They had chances, yes, but no defence is completely inpenetrable. But we made it ver very hard for United, have no doubt about it, a lot of what made them look poor today was the sterling work of our side to allow them no easy chances. If United were to score today, they were going to earn it from this side. And they didn't.

Just glorious.