Manchester United News 24/7Writer: Zae 
Date:Saturday November 24 2007
Time: 6:28PM
UK time is: 09:51:39
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Fergie: We Didn't Create Enough
Sir Alex Ferguson blasted referee Mark Clattenburg but admitted his team were far from their best at Bolton.
The 1-0 reverse at the Reebok has been the first defeat since August and it understandably left Fergie fuming. He was particularly disappointed with Clattenburg who did not do enough to stop Bolton kicking our players off the park.
'It was a feisty game, I think they set an aggressive tone. You look for some protection from the referee, we didn't get it, and it became a shambles in the first-half. There was foul after foul after foul.
'I told him exactly what I thought and he didn't like it. Some referees don't like the truth. I just told him how bad I thought he was in the first half, the game was becoming a shambles.
'They battled for their lives, they're down at the bottom of the league, we knew that is part of their game. I thought we should have got more protection from the referee, but we didn't get that and it was a battle.
'We got embroiled ourselves before half time, giving silly fouls away, which we didn't want to do. We wanted to keep the momentum of the game going, keep passing the ball and use our intelligence to beat teams like that.'
Well, that intelligence was nowhere to be seen until the last 20 minutes and that's the biggest problem, Fergie admitted.
'Fortunately in the second half, Bolton cooled down. They defended very deeply, we had a lot of possession without really making any chances and you can't say we deserved to win the game because we didn't make enough chances to win it.
'We do have to take defeats as part of the game, we have to bounce back, because we've got the players with the quality and determination to do that.
'Hopefully we can go on another long run like we did after our last defeat to Manchester City.'
Hopefully. But with Arsenal's relentless winning run and their astonishing luck and even more baffling late goals... I think they will win it. Prove me wrong, guys.
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Your Comments
October 2004 anyone?????????????????You reap what you sow, so shut the **** up ferguson you (unt
bseymour
Wow, Red Nose is blaming the referee. Suprise, surprise. Watch out, you might pop a vein or two. He's a tool for not playing his best player, Ronaldo, not even on the bench and it cost the match. Where's this Man Utd depth that Red Nose is claiming? Arsenal didn't have Fabregas, Hleb, Flamini, Van Persie and Gilberto and they still managed a win.
BMF
"the best squad ever assembled", not from where I'm sitting. Basically utd are a two man team, the rest are just bit part players. These excuses from ferguson are like those we had three years ago when guess who was his main opponent
bseymour
Expect Clattenburg to be 'rested' for a while at the request of the stupid old soak.
bseymour
BMF: we beat wigan at home 4-0 without vidic, neville, saha, evra, carrick, hargreaves and fletcher. we had terrible injury problems, including the loss of rooney for very long periods now yet we still managed to stay very close to arsenal playing on the very top of their form (no room for improvement from where i'm sitting) and without serious injury problems. oh, and we beat wigan with a CONVINCING display.
Vidicinho
October 2004????? Who gives a ***** about October 2004 anymore? I guess all the ABU brigade use that one event as an excuse for anyone who tries to cripple our players. But never mind, we'll win the league again and you can harp on stupidly about lack of squad depth... Arsenal looked woeful without Fabregas, they were pure utter *****e yesterday and absolutely lucky... just as they were against us. Watch out, injuries will start to trouble the gooners, too, and they will have big problems then. pity they played against such a desperately poor team yesterday.
midlothian99
Anyway, Ronaldo had a little injury so that's why he couldn't play. We were unlucky, we did not have Scholes, Rooney, Ronaldo and Vidic, any team would feel that. Arsenal were tremendously, unbelievably lucky so far, they are bound to encounter some misfortune soon.
midlothian99
Ha Ha. Now we know you lot are worried when the 'lucky Arsenal' tag starts rearing its head.
On another more interesting tack name the manager who said the following:
On Aggression in football:
"There's nothing wrong with being aggressive so long as it's the right kind of aggression."
On Mark Hughes:
"He has aggression and determination. I think I had that too and I think that it's a great quality."
I'll give you mancs a starter for ten.
Wyn Mills
I was just pointing out who started the "if you can't better their football, kick the ***** out of them" game mentality. Now the stupid old soak moans when it happens to his team, but Bolton are lambs compared to a ferguson team when they employ those tactics. Please explain this so-called luck that Arsenal have. Is it the same luck that won you the league last season and every season in your fortunate history?
bseymour
Vidicinho, most of the players you had name are overrated like the canadian Hargreaves, Fletcher and Carrick. While Neville is old, time to find a replacement for him, not crap Wes Brown and Saha is injury-prone. As long as you have Ronaldo, Scholes and Rooney, you can beat Wigan. So, you beat Wigan. Whoppie! Didn't Arsenal beat Reading while ManU didn't, you don't see me gloating. Without serious injury? You don't recall Van Persie and Gallas being out for sometime, well good for you? Arsenal has "no room for improvement", yeah, good on you. We have lots of players who are young and who still have to play at their peak. Now sit over there and pout.
BMF
midlothian99 accuses Arsenal of being a one man team and hes a united fan!! No offence Man U fans but without Ronaldo your no where near top draw and theres no way you win the title last year. Thats just the truth.
gunnerkid107
Van Persie is overrated and it tells volumes about Arsenal's quality that he's actually your best forward. The media hype might have made you believe that you are now world beaters but 21 points difference was not for nothing. We'll see how you cope if you'll have such injury nightmares as we had in the last months - not as well as we did, I'm sure. Hargreaves overrated? That shows how little you Arsenal guys know about football.
midlothian99
As for explaining your luck: apart from Van Persie's injury you had no injury troubles. Now Hleb is out, we'll see how you cope, on Saturday you were poor against a desperately bad Wigan side... You score goals always at the very end - it won't always happen. One day, you will lose. And as you and your team are very bad losers (bad winners, too, judging by the smugness you display these days), you are bound to collapse.
midlothian99
Hargreaves is only overrated by you numpties, the rest of us see a 'just above average' workhorse with very little skill. Without Rooney and Ronaldo you are just a middle of the table standard team on par with the likes of Reading, Portsmouth, City, Bolton and WHU , none of who you can beat. So you are the lucky ones to have two players who make you better than 15 or so teams in the league.
bseymour
WHOA!! 3 points lost eh, ere whats that noise?
SMOKIEJACK
can anyone else hear that noise??
SMOKIEJACK
i can definatly hear something, sounds like its coming from behind??
SMOKIEJACK
is it the sound of failure??Wait i can hear it more clearly now! that noise is coming from the CHELSEA catching your ass's and waiting to take back 2nd place on our way to taking back the league!
SMOKIEJACK
To an outsider looking in, this argument borders on being surreal. Arsenal fans calling Manchester United lucky: remind me again how many times Arsenal's games have been decided by goals in their favour in the last 15 minutes this season? Arsenal and Manchester United fans complaining about the physical nature of the opposition: remind me again about how Patrick Vieira and Roy Keane went about their business? Is it Robin Van Persie who's overrated? Or is it Owen Hargreaves? "Without Ronaldo you couldn't win the league", say the Arsenal fans. Yeah, well they did, and without Thierry Henry Arsenal didn't do exactly set the world on fire either, did they? I really can't believe I'm saying this, but Manchester United had a blip against Bolton, nothing more. And the attitude of some Arsenal fans (not all of them, but a few of them for sure) is becoming so poor that it's making certain Chelsea fans who border on lunacy look like reasonable people. On the flip side of the coin, it wouldn't kill certain Manchester United fans to admit that Arsenal are playing quality, attractive football right now, either. There: by injecting a dose of reality into this discussion I've probably managed to alienate both camps without pleasing anybody. Cue the potshots at me for daring to state the bleeding obvious.
Harry P
Oh, look, there's one of the aforementioned Chelsea fans with his valuable contribution...
Harry P
Harry P, the game does not end until the 90-94th minute, so what is 'LUCKY' about winning games within that time scale. Arsenal's pressure exhausts the energy from their opponents and they will win many games with goals scored in the last 15 mins of the game. The depth of quality in this squad also means they can introduce match winners towards the end of the game. united have 2 genuine match winners and when they're not playing they are so bereft of attacking ideas they are an embarrassment to their claims of being title contenders. Incidentally Arsenal have scored 45% of all their goals this season in the final 20 mins, so it's not luck, it's the wearing down of opponents. We're still top with the Prem's best striker out injured, wait 'til he comes back!!
bseymour
See, that's the sort of well-thought out, rational, positive argument that you need to make more often, bseymour. Well, at least the first three sentences were. United are just as deadly in the final stages of the game for similar reasons (Carlos Tevez's miss was an aberation), so why is it that you can't acknowledge that it's one of their strengths, too? As for the Premier League's best striker, well, we could debate that until the cows come home. I don't particularly enjoy watching Didier Drogba (there's something about his style of striker that doesn't do it for me) but there's no denying that he's deadly. Fernando Torres has had a good start but I'm not going to celebrate his coronation just yet. But, for me, Robin van Persie needs to do it for more than just half a season or so before you can say that he's the best of the best. Don't you worry that you'll come across a team that will soak up the pressure and then catch you with a sucker punch sooner or later?
Harry P
im sorry, but all these arsenal fans comparing their match played without fabregas, gilberto, hleb and van persie to us playing withour rooney, ronaldo, scholes (three of the best players in the league) vidic, gary neville need to see who has it worse. granted, van persie and fabregas are a miss but gilberto is passed it flamini is just a poor mans darren fltcher and hlev is possibly one of the most overrated players this season. ffs, this is one time i must agreee with chelsea fans bemoaning their injurys because they are a hell alot worse than yours, and possibly ours. im NOT using injurys as a exuse and insteasd blame the players lack of understanding and disrespect for a bolton side who prior to this season have been immense, however i wont let arsenal fans come on here and claim they are gods gift because they managed to play without their best player and a couple others when teams like man u have been playing without rooney and ronaldo (two best young players in world football) scholes (recognised as one of the all time premiership best, ask wenger yourself) vidic (one of, if not the best defender in the league) and gary neville (our fu(king captain!!!)
united4life
the fact you've described Flamini in that comparison shows you're not worth discussing any football issues with, u4l. dickhead!!
bseymour
darren fletcher ****s on flamini bseymour. grow up and see that not all of your players are gods gift. tw*t
united4life
Flamini is a starter for Arsenal this season, while overrated Fletcher is a bench warmer for Man U and will always be. If Fletcher is in Arsenal (though, no way in hell, we'll get him) he's will having a hard time having a place in the team with Fabregas, Flamini, Diarra and Gilberto. What the hell does he does anyway? Is he a holding midfield or playmaker, Fergie just uses him most of the time to let the time run by. The only people who rates him that highly are the scots. Hargreaves is overrated and injury-prone. just because he played a couple of good games at the World Cup, people think he's class. Then again, English always overrate their players. Their failure to quality for Euro, is a wake up call that English players aren't hot ****.
BMF
Arsenal fans didn't start this 'lucky' debate, remember. You mancs have got some front talking about luck when you steal the European Cup from a better team in the final seconds with a high punt and outrageous deflection into the goal. Not to mention the 'luck' of having self-confessed mancfan Mike Riley officiating a fair proportion of your home games. Rooney has only been out a few games and already you're plummeting down the table. No-one there to abuse the referees anymore I guess. Now that Scholes , Giggs and Babyface are struggling to keep up and ready to claim their pensions who's going to deflect in those late late goals Utd used to be so famous for? Tevez doesn't seem up to it if his 1 yard miss was anything to go by.
Wyn Mills
Thanks for entering my argument BMF, but she's not worth the trouble of explaining to.
bseymour
I just couldn't let her get away saying Fletcher is a better player than Flamini. U4L, we are not saying out players are gods' gift, but Fletcher better Flamini? Oh, please... If he's so good, Red Nose without need to bring in Carrick and Hargreaves for a ridiculous amount of money for the two. I guess, since Fletcher is a Scot, he feels the need to keep him. I laughed at the time when Roy Keane blasted Fletcher for his poor performance, along with other players like O'Shea, Smith, K. Richardson, etc, just before he left Man Utd.
BMF
"Van Persie is overrated" Yeah, sure, like you know football... Last season, he scored 11 goals in just 17 matches in the Premiership before he got injured. Rooney scored 17 goals playing 33 matches last season. But I guess, you mancs, don't care about stats, as your main concern is the players' price tag. Just cause Van Persie does not cost 15 million pounds, does not mean he's a bad player. This is probably why you mancs rate those overpriced and overrated Brazilians. What's their name? Nani and Kleberson... I mean, Anderson. Like Man U don't have their share of luck. Your type of "luck" is when the referee calls penalty when C Ronaldo goes down softly on the box.
BMF
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