Manchester United Blog | The Stretty Rant

Despite being one of the best left backs in the world and one of the most consistent performers in recent seasons for United, ex-French defender Lillian Thuram has called for a life time ban for our number three after his conduct as captain was called into question at the World Cup finals in South Africa. Evra, along with Malouda and Anelka were harshly criticized for their actions following Anelka’s criticism of the inept head coach Raymond Domenech. Anelka was sent home, whilst Evra and Malouda were left out in their final group game, a 2-1 loss to host nation South Africa. Lillian Thuram is France’s most capped player ever and was a fine fullback for Les Blues over the years, whilst performing constantly at a high level in Serie A for Parma and Juventus – however, is there a tinge of double standards from Lillian?

Continue reading Lilian Thuram slams French Captain Patrice Evra

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So, there you go.

Pure shambles, but if you’re a Manchester United fan, short of winning the World Cup, yesterday’s farce was surely the best case scenario.

No United scapegoat and even the strongest attempt to deflect attention cannot divert it away from the abject failure that was on show – chief culprits being Gerrard and Lampard, later revealed by German coach Low as being targetted due to their lack of positional discipline.

Continue reading England exit the World Cup: Are you bothered?

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Wayne Rooney has come under harsh criticism in recent England matches after failing to find the back of the net, criticising the travelling England fans for booing, slammed for being unfit and not ‘really caring’ about the team.  Rather than singling out Rooney, the most talented footballer in the England squad, I would be focusing on England’s poor ball retention, rigid tactics and lack of imagination.

I’ve kept pretty quiet recently on the events occurring down in South Africa, however I wanted to address the situation now that England have qualified for the last sixteen.  Rooney’s World Cup campaign hasn’t even got started yet and I would look at a certain inspirational Roberto Baggio as proof that you don’t need to blow the group stages away.

Continue reading Wayne Rooney: The Divine Ponytail number 2?

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Manchester United’s number nine has decided to call it a day on his International career aged just 29.  Berbatov, who found the net 12 times in 33 Premier League apperances for United this season, is Bulgaria’s all time top goalscorer with 48 goals in 77 appearances and won his first cap back in 1999 against Greece.  Some would consider his performances this season a little disappointing, despite generally scoring when he started a match and contributing a number of goals to a goals tally that surpassed last season’s total.  There are many rumours linking Dimitar Berbatov with a move away from Old Trafford, especially considering that Ferguson doesn’t believe the Bulgarian can play in a 4-3-3 formation with Wayne Rooney.

Continue reading Dimitar Berbatov retires from Bulgaria national side

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Ronaldo scoring twice against Blackburn Rovers seems an eternity ago and i’m sure we’re all looking forward to the trip away to Bolton on Saturday. Starting with Ronaldo, he played in a 0-0 draw at home against Finland, which put the Portuguese through to the finals next summer. Unfortunately, Vidic will not be joining Ronaldo after failing to qualify from the same group with Serbia. Evra (although second choice for some reason to Abidal of Barcelona) qualifed with Louis Saha for France having come second in their group to Italy. Edwin Van Der Sar will be playing his last competitive international tournament next summer as Holland came second to Romania.

So there we have it, all the top nations there expect for England. Does anyone really care? I suppose I want to see Wayne Rooney in action all the time and I want him to prove how good a player he is against the top international defenders. But then I see the arrogance of the FA and sheer inadequate performances of England’s midfield and it really doesn’t bother me.

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