Really pleased to see him back and he played with a great deal of confidence as if he'd never been away. Let's hope he stays fit and healthy for the run in
Antonio Valencia... | Will wear #25 shirt from this point onwards by request
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
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I think Rooney, for one, is very happy to see him back.
His and Rooney's interplay today was very good.
seemed his old self. good to have him back.
Looked rusty by his standard, still impressive in comparison to the average premier league winger.
so much for that.
So so happy to see him playing again, with Nani back on the left
So fuuny when he crossed the ball and little pea headed it back to him
Rooney said: "I can't tell you how good it is to see him back out there. It's fantastic for him and fantastic for us to have him back and playing the way he did."
He added: "It was Antonio's first game back after six months out and he looked like he'd never been away."
Didn't look rusty at all, played very well when he came on. Will be interesting to see how he links with Hernandez.
Feck me. I knew if I waited long enough Rooney would finally say something sensible.
Fantastic player, hopefully he'll start v Marseille.
Hopefully he won't start against Marseille - no offence to a gallic genius. After six months and 48 mins three days before this game I would like to see him do the same again and start the second half. Less playing time and against a tiring defence.
Who can forget Rooney's debut for us, after not playing for four months or so with an injury. Fergie said he ran on adrenaline that night, but it took him a while to get it back afterwards. Hopefully it won't be the same with Antonio, but I'm just so happy to see him back. Just having him stretch defenses by being there is important.
The man is a physical demon. He is so direct when he gets the ball and you can see that the opponents actually shit themselves when he runs at them. It was a massively encouraging return given the nature of the injury - he certainly didn't look as though he'd lost anything and he didn't look tentative or worried mentally.
Agreed that it was likely adrenaline that got him through and that we're going to need patience with him. Could be vital in a cameo role for the run in though, coming in for half an hour here and twenty minutes there.
Agreed that it was likely adrenaline that got him through and that we're going to need patience with him. Could be vital in a cameo role for the run in though, coming in for half an hour here and twenty minutes there.
Valencia plays the percentages so much better than I remembered. He may lack the options of Nani but he rarely makes bad decisions or loses possesion carelessly.
I don't think he'll be as tired as people imply, he's been fit for a while apparently.
I don't think he'll be as tired as people imply, he's been fit for a while apparently.
Unfortunately, we've already seen the same thing happen with Valencia himself.
Spent the whole summer recovering from an ankle injury picked up at the end of last summer before making an outstanding comeback in the Charity Shield, only to struggle in his next few games (right up until his horrible injury against Rangers).
Great to see him back though. We improved so much from the moment he walked on the pitch. Quality player.
Match fitness is a different ball game
For a winger, his pass completion is ridiculously high. Last season he consistently found his team-mates with the ball in 80 to 90%+ of his passes. That's right up there with our more conservative central midfielders.
He looked confident and determined. Shouldn't expect miracles from the lad, but its great to have him back.
Rafael & Valencia down the right and mad Paddy & Nani down the left. We'll be back to our best shortly.
Pleasantly surprised that he was on the bench , great to see him come out in the
2nd half and do so well , hope he's over his injury, mentally as well as physically.
Great timing for us....
2nd half and do so well , hope he's over his injury, mentally as well as physically.
Great timing for us....
That's a pretty exciting prospect in full flow, will stretch defences to the limit.With Hernandez playing off the CB's, I can see us being a little more productive in front of goal
Indeed. Hernandez's movement is the best I've seen from any front player in the league this season. He will score a shit load from Valencia's deliveries.
I think Hernandez seems to be limited in the team's desire to play so narrow so often. Giggs for reasons of age rarely bombs it down the left and gets to the byline as he once did and Nani's always 99 times out of 100 going to cut inside.
I know but physically he's always been impressive and I don't expect him to have the same adjustment difficulties that we always see with Rooney. He's simply a much better athlete.
The fitness work he was doing during his lay off will definitely have helped keep his levels up, obviously he's not going to be at full match fitness straight away but I think he'll get there sooner than some would.
Exactly. Of all the players in the squad, I would pick Valencia to hit the ground running and keep running. Rooney is esentially a fat so and so and therefore isn't any kind of a useful benchmark for fitness etc.
Don't think it's desire rather than neccessity to play narrow.We've been shorn of the wide players for a lot of this year therefore it governs our tactics.We're happier playing with wide men though.
Under the circumstances it was good to see him back and playing. I expected to see him come on in the Liverpool game but hindsight is a wonderful thing to great to see him in the lineup.
It will be interesting if we threw him on in the first half against Marseille and get us into a good position.
It will be interesting if we threw him on in the first half against Marseille and get us into a good position.
feck me, manually quoting and manually trying to bold text backfired on me big time!
feck you my I.T dept for taking away every possible useful thing from this forum, which includes the ability for me to start a new thread!
feck you my I.T dept for taking away every possible useful thing from this forum, which includes the ability for me to start a new thread!
Quote fix.
I don't think it's bollocks either. When he's fully fit, yes, Rooney covers a hell of a lot of ground, but when he's been out of action for any period of time it takes him a good while to get back to full fitness. We see it at the start of every season, he starts slow because his conditioning goes to hell over summer.
Surprised to see him on the bench and staggered when he came on at half time. He played really well. This is great for the final couple of months, he could make such a difference.
I was in the North Stand on Saturday so we have a great view of him when he came on. Eased his way in, then quickly started rampaging down the wing. Played like he hasnt been away. FANTASTIC to have him back. Wouldnt be surprised if Rooney's goals started to really flow now
Indeed. He could hardly contain himself when he was interviewed
I can't blame him.
was surprised to see how well he slotted in after such a long layoff. hopefully he'll play a big role in our run in.
Love him
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