as much as i hate manure, WE WERE BEATEN BY A BETTER TEAM.
this was especially the case in the first half. they ran the midfield, mainly due to the fact that they had an extra man with keane, scholes and fletcher in there. we stood off them too much and allowed them to dictate the game. so much so, that stevie g couldn't influence the game at all in an attacking sense. all the good work he did was tackling back ect, and the game just showed how roy keane's experience was vital in how he applied himself. add this to the fact that garcia gave the ball away umpteen times as normal, and even hamann had a shocker, and we were always going to struggle.
the second half was just a complete battle. i lost count of the number of bookings by the end. brown deserved to go but the way keane, scholes, ronaldo and rooney constantly were in the face of the ref giving him verbals was a disgrace. as great a side as they are, this is the reason why i hate them. the way they conduct themselves both on and off the pitch.
in conclusion, it just gives us another reality check as to where we are. yes we are heading in the right direction but we are still short when it comes to the really big games. put the arsenal game aside and we have played manure twice and chelsea twice. in those games we haven't scored (man u away was an own goal). that, my friends is the difference.
sometimes, you just have to admit thart we were poor. ok, they only had one shot on target but we only had two as the home team.
let me just reiterrate again. IT IS NOT DUDEK'S FAULT for the defeat today.
