Martin Keown (and friends) vs Ruud van Nistelrooy incident...

[Rozay]

I must confess but, 15 years on, I still can’t get over this incident. To have the sheer temerity to attack one of our players in that manner, in our own home, and basically run him off the pitch. I can’t think of a single worse incident of this kind, and ultimately, one that they were allowed to do without what proper retaliation from our lads.

Every time I see that clip it still enrages me that we did nothing at the time.

 

[Valar Morghulis]

Going into a Champions League final against THAT Barcelona team and playing a 442 with Carrick and Giggs in central midfield still bemuses me.

 

[arthurka]

Going into a Champions League final against THAT Barcelona team and playing a 442 with Carrick and Giggs in central midfield still bemuses me.

that was something else

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Going into a Champions League final against THAT Barcelona team and playing a 442 with Carrick and Giggs in central midfield still bemuses me.

Suicidal, but we had nothing else.

Could have dropped Chicharito and put Nani in from the start. Have Park shadow Busquets instead of Rooney and tried to force Alves to be wary of bombing up by having Nani on that flank.

But it was always going to be an improbable task.

 

[Siorac]

And they got away with pretty much nothing but a slap on the wrist.

I fecking hated that team with a fiery passion. I even wanted Liverpool to beat them, always, though I am somewhat ashamed of that. They were a nasty, thuggish, diving, cheating bunch of shitheads who always claimed the moral high ground.

 

[BrianMcClair'sBarnet]

There was a air of certainty that Barca would beat us comfortably again on that warm Wembley night for me.
Our whole journey to that particular CL final seemed relatively easy.We didn't play great football nor did we play great teams,until the final that is.
And boy did they teach us another lesson.

 

[OneUnited24]

Going into a Champions League final against THAT Barcelona team and playing a 442 with Carrick and Giggs in central midfield still bemuses me.

SAF in his book says he did it because he wanted to win playing the United way. After the way we set up against them in 07/08 he said he never wanted to do that again.

The man had morals he stuck to i'll give him that

 

[Rozay]

And they got away with pretty much nothing but a slap on the wrist.

I fecking hated that team with a fiery passion. I even wanted Liverpool to beat them, always, though I am somewhat ashamed of that. They were a nasty, thuggish, diving, cheating bunch of shitheads who always claimed the moral high ground.

Pretty much how I viewed them. But ‘slapon the wrist’ aside, I wouldn’t want us to run to the teacher in a situation like that, especially at Old Trafford. We should be handling shit like that, feck it, we all get fined.

 

[charlenefan]

Going into a Champions League final against THAT Barcelona team and playing a 442 with Carrick and Giggs in central midfield still bemuses me.

WTF? I don't think you understand the thread

 

[Canagel]

Going into a Champions League final against THAT Barcelona team and playing a 442 with Carrick and Giggs in central midfield still bemuses me.

I don't think we would've won regardless of the formation. They were simply class above.

 

[Tarrou]

Why are people just continuing with the Barca topic?

 

[Keeps It tidy]

I don't think we would've won regardless of the formation. They were simply class above.

Exactly

 

[ChaddyP]

What a colossal thread hijack

 

[BrianMcClair'sBarnet]

To be fair,conversations regarding Martin Keown's monkey antics will always,always seamlessly lead to our 2011 European Cup final loss against Barcelona at Wembley stadium.

 

[Bocca9978]

I was at that game, fecking intense.
The atmosphere was amazing when it kicked off. Wanted to run on and smack Keown in the face, still hate him.

I had other supporters telling me Arsenal would get deducted points, wasn’t even me being biased.
Slapped wrist, nothing more. Can’t help but wonder what would have happened if it had been the other way around.

 

[Bastian]

Great OP @Valar Morghulis

In response to the actual OP, we had Keane playing that day, was there no response at all from our lads? Every time I see Keown's face this is what I think about. The man is an ape.

 

[Sir Scott McToMinay]

Suicidal, but we had nothing else.

Could have dropped Chicharito and put Nani in from the start. Have Park shadow Busquets instead of Rooney and tried to force Alves to be wary of bombing up by having Nani on that flank.

But it was always going to be an improbable task.

I don’t think that would’ve changed much.

Oddly enough(or not) I reckon our current team could’ve fared a little bit better against that Barcelona.

De Gea is a much better shot stopper than VdS was.
Pack the midfield, 3-2-4-1

Play Fellaini uptop and hoof it, treat every set piece in our own half as an offensive set piece (Big Sam’s Bolton style), hoof to Felli!

 

[BrianMcClair'sBarnet]

Great OP @Valar Morghulis

In response to the actual OP, we had Keane playing that day, was there no response at all from our lads? Every time I see Keown's face this is what I think about. The man is an ape.

Hate to say it but I felt Keane was always intimidated by monkey-man Keown.

 

[BrianMcClair'sBarnet]

VDS perfectly timed his retirement.He looked past it in the CL final.

 

[Bastian]

Hate to say it but I felt Keane was always intimidated by monkey-man Keown.

You remember any specifics? The only player I'd give him a pass for not squaring up to in such a scenario would be big Dunc.

 

[RedTiger]

Going into a Champions League final against THAT Barcelona team and playing a 442 with Carrick and Giggs in central midfield still bemuses me.

You're bringing up PTSD dammit

 

[Rozay]

Great OP @Valar Morghulis

In response to the actual OP, we had Keane playing that day, was there no response at all from our lads? Every time I see Keown's face this is what I think about. The man is an ape.

We didn’t do nearly enough. Ruud literally ran off the pitch to get away from them. Our own fecking pitch. Unacceptable.

Everytime I see or hear Keown, I can’t see past this incident.

 

[Rozay]

And you Barcelona 442 guys, feck off from this thread please!

 

[BrianMcClair'sBarnet]

You remember any specifics? The only player I'd give him a pass for not squaring up to in such a scenario would be big Dunc.

A few Arsenal games in the early and late 90's.I think Keane was always intimidated by the unknown and especially height.He knew he could wind-up Viera to some degree because the Frenchman knew his importance to Arsenal and Arsene. If he got sent off Arsenal,even with their strikeforce,were sort of fecked.
Keown wasn't really needed or important enough and,as we saw against RVN,that made him abit of a loose cannon.

And yes,Keane would've had no chance against Dunc.

 

[Flying_Heckfish]

The absolute nadir of our rivalry. It was horrible to see, to be honest.

 

[Kazi]

Ronaldo was the only one ready to go there and then

 

[Canagel]

Apologies @Rozay
A new thread should be made for the 4-4-2 Barcelona topic. And please mods move all the related posts there.

 

[BrianMcClair'sBarnet]

To be fair to Valar Morghulis he was either going to moan about the recent 2011 CL final in this thread or the Trump one.

 

[Barca84]

Hate to say it but I felt Keane was always intimidated by monkey-man Keown.

There's a debate to be had about Keane and his supposed "hardness" He carefully picked his fights thats for sure.

 

[BrianMcClair'sBarnet]

There's a debate to be had about Keane and his supposed "hardness" He carefully picked his fights thats for sure.

Yes.

 

[Bastian]

We didn’t do nearly enough. Ruud literally ran off the pitch to get away from them. Our own fecking pitch. Unacceptable.

Everytime I see or hear Keown, I can’t see past this incident.

Yeah, that is really poor. He deserved at the very least a good slap.

A few Arsenal games in the early and late 90's.I think Keane was always intimidated by the unknown and especially height.He knew he could wind-up Viera to some degree because the Frenchman knew his importance to Arsenal and Arsene. If he got sent off Arsenal,even with their strikeforce,were sort of fecked.
Keown wasn't really needed or important enough and,as we saw against RVN,that made him abit of a loose cannon.

And yes,Keane would've had no chance against Dunc.

I never got that feeling with him, but I'm not doubting you. Maybe he's remembered wrongly, in a sense. He was first and foremost frightening in our own dressing room and ensured some standards. But I also remember many a time where he sought retribution on the pitch after one of our own had been done (writing this reminds me of the Cantona and Philippe Albert episode). Sparky and Bruce were probably more up for a fight than Keano.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

I don’t think that would’ve changed much.

Oddly enough(or not) I reckon our current team could’ve fared a little bit better against that Barcelona.

De Gea is a much better shot stopper than VdS was.
Pack the midfield, 3-2-4-1

Play Fellaini uptop and hoof it, treat every set piece in our own half as an offensive set piece (Big Sam’s Bolton style), hoof to Felli!

We were going to lose that game no matter what.

So the defeat never hurt that much.

2009 hurt much more.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Going back to the OP, yes that incident was disgusting to see.

Ending their streak the following year was just the perfect revenge.

 

[Charlie Foley]

Funny the team that did this is the same club who get hysterical about us kicking them off the pitch a year later.

feck them, they’ve won shit all since

 

[BrianMcClair'sBarnet]

Yeah, that is really poor. He deserved at the very least a good slap.



I never got that feeling with him, but I'm not doubting you. Maybe he's remembered wrongly, in a sense. He was first and foremost frightening in our own dressing room and ensured some standards. But I also remember many a time where he sought retribution on the pitch after one of our own had been done (writing this reminds me of the Cantona and Philippe Albert episode). Sparky and Bruce were probably more up for a fight than Keano.

Though I'm going to contradict myself when it came to Keane and height.
I cant ever remember Keane going for that little sh*t Dennis Wise.Maybe it would've been too easy for Keane to knock him out of the ground ?
Who knows.

 

[Ban]

We were going to lose that game no matter what.

So the defeat never hurt that much.

2009 hurt much more.

Jesus Christ, stop derailing the thread.

Just watched the clip, Wenger moaned as usual, how RVN always seeks provocation, after his player jumped around like a monkey.

 

[Oldyella]

Funny the team that did this is the same club who get hysterical about us kicking them off the pitch a year later.

feck them, they’ve won shit all since

Always annoyed me their complaints about physical teams. For the longest time they were dirty feckers themselves.

 

[Charlie Foley]

Keane went after Shearer too and shearer hid from him after the match. No “fear of height” there.

 

[BrianMcClair'sBarnet]

But back to the Ops main point.
We were always on a hiding for nothing against Barca.I mean we played some seriously poor opposition to the lead-up to the final.
It was comfortable. SAF could've eased through those games blind-folded.

 

[Rozay]

I just would have been more ‘accepting’ of it all if it were at Highbury. It’s the fact that they jumped our man on the final whistle, a long way away from North London that pisses me off more. The balls of it.