It's like the fecking ocean tide on here. That's what you get when people don't watch the game.
Absolutely retarded that anyone could put blame on Rafa for that incident.
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Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 11
- Clean sheets
- 4
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 1
- Yellow cards
- 2
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
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Absolutely retarded that anyone could put blame on Rafa for that incident.
He did not have to sit on his arse, neither did he have to touch the player in the penalty area waiting for the slightest touch to go down. He did not attempt a tackle, he simply ran into the player, even if it was the slightest touch. What he should have done was try and get ahead of the player, or let one of the other defenders try and cut Vardy off.
He didn't touch him though. And also, how the hell can he get ahead of Vardy who had barged him into the ground seconds before. That's a hell of a lot of ground to make up. You're asking Rafael to basically do the impossible.
I beg to differ. The penalty call was absolutely wrong, but Rafael should not have let the ref make that decision. He did touch the player, but very slightly. He made enough ground on the player to touch him, he should have just let another defender deal with Vardy if he could not get ahead, or make a tackle.
Vardy would have gone down regardless.
Yeah and had he just let him go and they scored from that, you'd probably end up saying Rafael didn't even attempt to get back. He did all he could to get back and there wasn't a thing wrong he did in the situation. Clattenburg was keen to give the penalty and Vardy knew he could get away with it.
Absolutely, he was waiting for that, but if he gave away a penalty trying to make a tackle, i could understand.
But that's still stupid, because people would still be saying Rafa was wrong. You are basically putting him into a damned if he does, damned if he doesn't situation here.
We are going to have a difference of opinion on this, but at the end of the day the defending for some of those goals were horrific. We just have to live with it and hope it does not happen again.
Some of the goals (ie every other goal) yes, that one no - we were fecked over by the ref, that's all there is to it.
Honestly, can we set up a poll to see just how many people think Rafael was AT ALL at fault for the penalty? Either lots of people are just repeating the tiresome media narrative, or they're all just congregating in this thread.
Rafael's team-mate tales
In our exclusive interview on team-mates, United right-back Rafael talks about playing poker with Darren Fletcher and socialising as a squad...
Who is your best friend at the club?I have some big friends here. I would always say Antonio [Valencia] is the closest one but Anderson and Fletch are big friends of mine too. I have a lot of friends in the squad.
Do you have a room-mate at the hotels?No, we do not share rooms together but when we're sitting in the lounge at the hotels, we often have conversations. It's always nice to do that with your team-mates.
Do you discuss tactics and other footballing matters away from the club?When we are away, we do some other stuff, but of course we often talk about football. Sometimes, I go to Fletch's house and we play poker and talk about football all night! But of course we do talk about other things as well.
Do you watch any other Premier League games together?Yes, we do that when we are away. When we're at home, we often play video games but we stop to watch some matches together.
Do you socialise with the other players?Yes, we had dinner together in Manchester last week. It is always nice when everyone is together. It allows us to talk properly as a team.
Was it Wayne Rooney's idea to get everybody together as a squad?Yes, I think it was Wayne’s idea. He spoke to everyone about it. Now, he’s the captain here, he's doing everything like that.
From http://www.manutd.com/en/News-And-F...e=twitter&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=ManUtd
In our exclusive interview on team-mates, United right-back Rafael talks about playing poker with Darren Fletcher and socialising as a squad...
Who is your best friend at the club?I have some big friends here. I would always say Antonio [Valencia] is the closest one but Anderson and Fletch are big friends of mine too. I have a lot of friends in the squad.
Do you have a room-mate at the hotels?No, we do not share rooms together but when we're sitting in the lounge at the hotels, we often have conversations. It's always nice to do that with your team-mates.
Do you discuss tactics and other footballing matters away from the club?When we are away, we do some other stuff, but of course we often talk about football. Sometimes, I go to Fletch's house and we play poker and talk about football all night! But of course we do talk about other things as well.
Do you watch any other Premier League games together?Yes, we do that when we are away. When we're at home, we often play video games but we stop to watch some matches together.
Do you socialise with the other players?Yes, we had dinner together in Manchester last week. It is always nice when everyone is together. It allows us to talk properly as a team.
Was it Wayne Rooney's idea to get everybody together as a squad?Yes, I think it was Wayne’s idea. He spoke to everyone about it. Now, he’s the captain here, he's doing everything like that.
From http://www.manutd.com/en/News-And-F...e=twitter&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=ManUtd
No surprise he and Valencia get on well. They have a good connection on the pitch too, Valencia always looks a better player with Rafa on his wing.
Have not read back through the thread because I knew people would be going off their onion at him. Just on the topic of the podcast and 'rash' and 'naive' defending I can't see why that is naive at all.
He got up to get back and not shirk his defensive duty, is that naive? He went up to challenge in a non agressive manner barely making any contact at all, I just don't see that as naive.
You can't assume the referee is going to blow up in the box every time you have to defend. If you did that we'd never make any tackles in the box ever.
I think it's harsh.
He got up to get back and not shirk his defensive duty, is that naive? He went up to challenge in a non agressive manner barely making any contact at all, I just don't see that as naive.
You can't assume the referee is going to blow up in the box every time you have to defend. If you did that we'd never make any tackles in the box ever.
I think it's harsh.
If you watch the replay you will see Raf was trying to get goal side of Vardy. He didn't even touch Vardy until Vardy dived into Rafael. Nothing Rafael could have done.
Man Utd 2:1 West Ham
Been great so far. An assist and could of had another, with another good ball to Rooney. Dominating our right hand side and linking well with Herrera.
Brilliant again!
Fantastic again.
The hate he was getting last week from the caf...
...such a star our Rafa. Been a fav since he fronted up Tevez in 2009/10. Love the guy.
...such a star our Rafa. Been a fav since he fronted up Tevez in 2009/10. Love the guy.
Great first half. Gives us so much going forward, looking composed at the back too.
He's responded well to the critiques from last week whether anyone feels they were warranted or not, he already is growing into a good understanding with Herrera.
Super half. He'll bag a lot of assists if he continues with his great crossing. Been a joy to watch.
Great going forwards and just adds so much danger to our attack.
Now if he can keep his cool on the other end and not make any errors.
Now if he can keep his cool on the other end and not make any errors.
Very good today, in both ways.
Excellent performance again.
Didn't get as forward as much this half, obviously after the red but at the back was solid. Did not let anybody in at all. Also looked like he took control of the defence after that as well. Saw him instructing Rojo and the rest. Always full of energy. My MOTM.
Best player on the pitch today I thought.
I bet he's been livid with himself all week even though he did absolutely nothing wrong. More than made up for his 'mistake' today. Was excellent.
He didn't need to redeem himself as he was unlucky last week but nonetheless he assured that the mistakes were not going to come from his side of the field today. He's the best right back in the PL when he puts in performances like that.
Shades of 2012/ 2013 Rafael in the last few games. Has struck up a great understanding with Herrera down the right side. Just needs to keep fit now, absolutely vital to our performances. The drop to Valencia is significant.
MOTM today.
Brilliant going forward and was covering all over the place 2nd half too and got first too so many clearances.
Blind fecked up towards the end but Rafael tracking Nolan across at the LB post saved us.
Brilliant going forward and was covering all over the place 2nd half too and got first too so many clearances.
Blind fecked up towards the end but Rafael tracking Nolan across at the LB post saved us.
The guy is absolute class. Let the morons in the media have their lazy preconceptions. The lad is a gem, and still my favourite United player despite some good additions this summer.
I felt there were moments today where you could finally see that little bit of restraint from him that we've needed, shielding and shadowing as opposed to lunging and charging and trying something that has a 20% chance of not losing us possession, felt he led at the back, love him!
Absolute beast. The difference between him and Valencia is a world apart. My MOTM.
A great competitor
He was fantastic today. He has a great leap on him as well, won so many important duels just outside our box.
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Was more impressed with his second half. We knew he can attack and did so in the first half. Thought he was composed in the second half which helped our defence of the 2-1 lead.
He showed two different sides of himself today.
First half he was brilliant going forward a kept on getting past his player.
Second half we had to defend a lot more and Rafael showed that he is not just about attacking and defended his side very well.
Easy MOTM for me and hopefully he can stay injury free now and we will have a very exciting player in him.
First half he was brilliant going forward a kept on getting past his player.
Second half we had to defend a lot more and Rafael showed that he is not just about attacking and defended his side very well.
Easy MOTM for me and hopefully he can stay injury free now and we will have a very exciting player in him.
I absolutely love him, immense today. Glad he bounced back from being on the end of a poor decision last week
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