Saha is United's Kewell

Feed Me

Maybe I am being a cynic with this comment. But I find it slightly irritating that Saha has missed vast swathes of the season through injury. Of course, that is not necessarily his fault. It seems the player is just amazingly injury prone. But there are wispers that he has been habitually selected in match day squads after a full weeks training, only to pull out HIMSELF because he doesn't feel right.

Then all of a sudden, this trend is checked and he feels fit enough to join the squad for the final day of the season and the subsequent celebrations. You can bet your bottom dollar that even if Saha feels a twinge in his knee or hamstring this week, he'll keep it quiet so he can be selected in the Champions League final squad.

Put simply, having done sweet f.a. for the entire season, it seems that Saha has finally roused himself to get involved. Is it mere coincidence that he is involving himself in the two games that could yield him two medals. I honestly cannot think of a more undeserving way to get your mitts on the finest prizes in football.

Call me a cynic.

Dominant

If anything, I think Saha looked almost embarassed when he was receiving his medal, and during the celebrations.

Feed Me

Don't get me wrong. I am not saying the lad shouldn't get his medal or be allowed to celebrate. The directives are in place. If you play more than 10 matches in the league then you are deemed to have contributed enough to your teams success. Certainly he scored 5 goals so he has had some impact (albeit very minimal).

But I find it a great coincidence that he has managed to get himself fit for the showpiece events but has missed virtually every other match before that for months.

We obviously do not have the inside track on Saha and his situation. Much of what we say is based on conjecture and rumour. But it seems that the lad has some sort of mental block. Something along the lines of: I don't feel 100% so I don't want to play. Maybe all his injuries have forced him into his shell so to speak. But players play all the time when not 100%. To put it crudely, his lack of balls in taking to the field when not feeling 100% ok has probably ended his United career.

He is worried that if he exacerbates a sore hamstring or knee, it will keep him out for longer. He may as well be properly injured, seeing as he plays so little anyway. Real waste of talent.

Epic

"...and Saha's won it!"

Sky1981

He might be traumatised... can't blame him for that.

We can sell him for that though

Feed Me

And I will be the first one to go mental if that happens. But you have to take a medium-long term view as well. The Final is a one off game and if he is fit, he has the ability to enter the fray when opposition players are tiring and notch a winner.

Would that justify keeping him here another year and not buying a more reliable front man? Imagine such a situation and next season, in the midst of an injury epidemic we were relying on Saha to stay fit and healthy. We will have been caught with our pants round our ankles.

Raoul

is he fit for the Final ?

Feed Me

Well, he was in the squad for the Wigan game and he did not play, so I don't think he will have picked up a knock between then and now - unless he does so in training. Certainly SAF has not said anything so I assume he is ok.

SAF will put him in the squad because an extra striking option is invaluable in games like this.

Sultan

Yes, and also a good opportunity of putting him in the shop window.

Dublin Red

I must be a cynic too because thats exactly how I feel about him.

I would love to know for sure if the "whispers" are true, I suspect there is some truth in them because I read an interview Fergie did a while back and he said he has selected Saha to play a game but Saha refused saying he didn't feel right. If this was a once off it would be somewhat excusable but if it has happened on numerous occasions that would be totally unacceptable.

I always support the players and hate to see fans making negative comments about them but if the whispers are true Saha doesn't deserves any loyalty from us fans.

Pogue Mahone

Saha was one of our most influential players in last season's leqgue campaign and he's scored some important goals this season too.

Kewell has achieved fuck all in his entire ti,me at Liverpool.

Don't see any similarity there myself.

As for the "whispers", when did people start taking "whispers" seriously? Load of nonsense, IMO.

Cupid Stunt

I doubt he would pull himself out if he was fit, although these "wispers" could be true. The reason I say this is because in the Champions League group stages I was watching United on Sky and Graeme Souness was commenting and when the panel was talking about Saha and his injury's Souness said (let it slip) that Saha had been pulling out of games without the physio's identifying injury, Key's quickly moved onto another subject.. I remember it well, Why would he say that? We'll never know anyway.

PS. Graeme Souness, Cnut!

EDIT: It was actually Jamie Redknapp

PS. Jamie Redknapp Cnut!

GE

He will score in the final.

Feed Me

The link is not as tenuous as you make out Pogue.

People keep harping on about Saha's impact on the first half of last season. But we still got through to a semi and won the league without him in the second half of the season.

The man has barely played this year. He scored a penalty against Chelsea in the final minute (in a game that was virtually won). He scored the winner against Sunderland - credit to him. I can since remember him scoring inconsequential goals in big wins. He has five goals. The man contributes virtually nothing to our cause. Everyone witters on about his supposed impact on our team and about him making us a better team, yet we have done really well this season without him and the fluid football has still been in evidence.

The parallel with Kewell is totally fair. Both injured all season. Both miraculously fit for the showpiece occasions.

As for the "whispers". SAF has explicitly stated that Saha has had situations where he has trained all week and been selected in a squad only to pull out at the last moment.

Chris H

We've also won the league without Messi. So obviously he couldn't be all that good. He even played against us, and he lost. And there are whispers that he's very, very short.

Crap little player IMO. But perhaps I'm just a cynic.

topper

correct - in his MUTV pre match conferences

Cambo

Have to feel a bit sorry for Saha - he's obviously got either a physical or mental condition which is affecting him. Would love to see him break back into the team and become a regular again, however wouldn't be surprised if he's sold in the summer.

youngred

Fergie is not a fool, if he thought that was what Saha was doing he would be nowhere near being selected for the team and I doubt the lads would be very warm to him and its clear from whenever their on screen that Saha is a well like member of the squad. I also don't see the reasoning into why Saha would choose not to play if he felt he was fit himself, that makes no sense.

Raven_Blade

Good Man, Saha. He himself knows the situation. There is nothing personal towards him but the club needs more reliability up front. The injuries are not his fault and this benefits nobody but we cant go through another season with so many doubts. Good luck in your future career if you leave.

Mr. Wood

"The just-world phenomenon, also called the just-world theory, just-world fallacy, just-world effect, or just-world hypothesis, refers to the tendency for people to want to believe that the world is "just" so strongly that when they witness an otherwise inexplicable injustice they will rationalize it by searching for things that the victim might have done to deserve it. This deflects their anxiety, and lets them continue to believe the world is a just place, but at the expense of blaming victims for things that were not, objectively, their fault."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-world_phenomenon

charlenefan

I'll still be extremely sad if Louis does leave in the summer, even with the injury problems we're better off with him than without him.

Denis' cuff

and furthermore, Fergie also implied that a lot of it was "in the mind"

obviously not one to put the interests of the team first. The Kewell comparison is perfectly logical.

Regarding his selection for the CL Final, surely the best he could hope for would be the bench - and even then only as a last desperate measure to get a goal when all else has failed because he's not exactly match fit even if he is (shock, horror) physically fit.

Chris H

Obviously? Bullshit.

Supporters get angry at him him because when he comes back from injury, he tends to re-injure himself immediately. This last time, in his second game back after a lengthy rehab, he hurt himself kicking a ball, with not a defender in sight. Kicking. A. Ball.

Yet this is somehow evidence that he should be coming back from injury more quickly? Even after he thinks he's fit, a subject about which he has been far more cautious than the medical staff (according to Fergie), he gets hurt again right away. How can you argue then that he should have come back even sooner, and imply that he's some sort of shirker?

It's illogical. Think about it.

ave fenix

indeed. Saha=Kewell(but only on injuries.....)

Alex

Wouldnt put a goal past him if he does play top player, but not healthy enough to play for a top club, just to unreliable

Mr. Wood

Very good point.

Perhaps he's pulling out of matches but not training because the former requires a higher level of intensity. If so, some of his absences would be explained by logical reasoning rather than, as Fergie has suggested, his imagination.

PS: Has Fergie actually made those comments? Any sources?

afrocentricity

This old chestnut again... there are some good posts in here by the usual suspects, but they seem to fall on deaf ears. I can't be asked to say what I normally say...
Hopefully the lad gets his career back on track (even if its not with us), it seems like its only a matter of time before the fans really turn on him...

Crustanoid

look at it another way - he is making himself especially available for the big games because he wants to help the team