Sir Ryan Giggs

His form was poor in the last 1/3 of the season, I think it's fair to say. Because he's old for a footballer people inevitably jump to the idea that he will never get back into form. It happened with Scholes for the last three years, and it's been even worse for Giggs.

SAF has shown over his career that he's ruthless when it comes to offering players places in the starting XI, and on the team, it's hard to believe that either player has been unable to meet the physical requirements of playing a competitive match. We monitor their fitness to the calorie and heartbeat.

Giggs has amazing close control of a football, and there's more room in midfield for him than there usually is on the wing. I think he's still very well suited to sit deep next to Carrick and be the hub of the attack, just like he did when those two tore apart Chelsea in the CL two years ago. He's not any slower now than he was then, imho, especially if he sits deep.

I wouldn't want that to be our first choice, but he's a fantastic backup and rotation option. Having Giggs, Scholes, Anderson and Cleverley is comparable to having two healthy young midfielders, they just end up splitting the games 4 ways instead, due to age and injury.
 
Giggs prepares for coaching career

Manchester United midfielder Ryan Giggs is pondering a career in management when he hangs up his boots.

The 38-year-old is captaining the Great Britain Olympic team and is taking the opportunity to learn as much as possible from Stuart Pearce and his coaching staff.

Giggs told the Daily Mirror: "Coaching is something I'm looking at more and more. In the middle of last season, I completed my UEFA A Licence, which was good. It's a different side of things, completely different to being a player."

He added: "I want to gather as much knowledge as I can and prepare myself as best as I can, if I do want to go into management or coaching.

"The Olympics is a great platform, it's different being involved in tournament football to league football.

"I ask as many questions as I can at United and I've been the same here with Great Britain."
 
He'll probably retire from playing football at 76 by which time it'll be too late to pursue coaching career.
 
Giggsy for me is one of the main reason we've been successful for the past 20 years or so... he represents most of the my joyous memories about Manchester United... in my point of view he reaches sainthood...
 
gooDevil said:
His form was poor in the last 1/3 of the season, I think it's fair to say. Because he's old for a footballer people inevitably jump to the idea that he will never get back into form. It happened with Scholes for the last three years, and it's been even worse for Giggs.

SAF has shown over his career that he's ruthless when it comes to offering players places in the starting XI, and on the team, it's hard to believe that either player has been unable to meet the physical requirements of playing a competitive match. We monitor their fitness to the calorie and heartbeat.

Giggs has amazing close control of a football, and there's more room in midfield for him than there usually is on the wing. I think he's still very well suited to sit deep next to Carrick and be the hub of the attack, just like he did when those two tore apart Chelsea in the CL two years ago. He's not any slower now than he was then, imho, especially if he sits deep.

I wouldn't want that to be our first choice, but he's a fantastic backup and rotation option. Having Giggs, Scholes, Anderson and Cleverley is comparable to having two healthy young midfielders, they just end up splitting the games 4 ways instead, due to age and injury.
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Tore apart Chelsea and then chased shadows against City and Barcelona last season. Sorry but its not just down to speed but it and stamina together. He may run 9k in a game, but its 9k chasing somebody just like it was with Park last year. He can't play central midfield anymore and shouldn't be played there.
 
gooDevil said:
His form was poor in the last 1/3 of the season, I think it's fair to say. Because he's old for a footballer people inevitably jump to the idea that he will never get back into form. It happened with Scholes for the last three years, and it's been even worse for Giggs.
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I think this is right. Last year he was good early on in the season if I remember rightly, and the season before was when he on the POTY wasnt it? I think it is a bit early to write him off. Obviously at his age each dip in form will be more closely scrutinised as you say, and one of these days he really will be too old to cut it. But I dont think we can say definitively that time has come yet. I can easily imagine him playing games next season where he looks like the best player on the park, it hasnt been that long since this happened.
 
Who would hold on for nostalgia's sake? Surely the debate here is whether he still has something to offer on the pitch? OK, maybe arguably there is another element which is the dressing room influence. But that still isnt nostalgia, that is a cost / benefit assessment. His wages are x, he brings y to the team / dressing room. If y is greater than x he stays. There is little room for sentimentality in professional football, and SAF understands that better than anyone.
 
adexkola said:
I wouldn't mind if he retired, to be honest. Anyone who's still holding on for nostalgia sake needs to grow a sack and let go
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Wtf? What has nostalgia got to do with it? People have such short memories. He had a pretty good season last year.
 
Sir Ryan Giggs should contemplate a player manager role... Manchester United would be perfect!
 
http://www.sambafoot.com/en/news/33598_rafael_praises_manchester_united_team-mate_giggs_ahead_of_clash.html?


Rafael praises Manchester United team-mate Giggs ahead of clash


Manchester United and Brazil full-back Rafael has been speaking to the media about coming up against Ryan Giggs in Friday's pre-Olympic friendly with Team GB.

Rafael, 21, will start at right-back for the Brazilian side and is likely to find himself opposing his senior club colleague.

The youngster, though, insists he is not afraid to take on his friend, even if it means making his presence felt in a way that would no doubt annoy manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

"On the pitch we forget that he is an idol and everything he is," Rafael told reporters. "When you're on the pitch, everything changes. If I have to hit him, I will hit him. If I have to slide tackle, I will slide tackle.

"He helped me and continues to help me in Manchester. I am grateful for what he has done. When speaking about Giggs, there is no end. I even think that he will be called "Sir"."

***

Rafael joins the "sir" bandwagon?
 
Ah man, he wasn't even particularly great today but he's just an amazing athlete. I take my hat off to you Ryan.
 
Didnt think he was really in the game tbh. Just checked his stats to see how he fared in those:

0 shots
14/20 passes in attacking third
28/35 overall
1 cross
1 attempted take on
0 tackles
0 fouls suffered

Thought some of his passing was messy. A couple of badly overhit ones and a couple that were drilled into a player knee height for no real reason. Was expecting him to play today as he's lacking in minutes but looked a bit rusty.
 
Can he make it to 1,000 appearances? He's on 911 right now.

I reckon we should try and get him there, even if we only play him for 5 minutes against terrible teams towards the end of his career.
 
He'd need atleast another 3 seasons.
 
It'd damage his legacy if he stuck around when he was not longer as asset to the club and took up a squad place just for sentimental value. Whilst it'd be nice to see him get 1000 games, as a fan I'd rather see him go out at the top after one last proper 20-30 appearance season (which I imagine will probably be next season).

I thought he was good today, created a couple of goalscoring opportunities. He's not the tidiest passer but in the final 3rd he's got a great eye for a killer pass and the guy can still take a player on.
 
Some of the little side foot dinks he played into Buttner were great, I think he put in a decent cross that someone should have put in.

Also gave away possession at times but overall I though he had a decent enough game.
 
Cutch said:
Didnt think he was really in the game tbh. Just checked his stats to see how he fared in those:

0 shots
14/20 passes in attacking third
28/35 overall
1 cross
1 attempted take on
0 tackles
0 fouls suffered

Thought some of his passing was messy. A couple of badly overhit ones and a couple that were drilled into a player knee height for no real reason. Was expecting him to play today as he's lacking in minutes but looked a bit rusty.
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Those stats can hardly be true as he was almost yellow carded for a psycho tackle just outside our box - thought it was Büttner myself, but it was Giggsyboy.

Thought he did well yesterday. I'm still surprised at how fast he can be when he runs with the ball - has he still ever been truly outpaced? He just seems to choose his runs with extra care, and he isn't as explosive as he once was.

Great play for Powell's goal and he also made some nice runs through the middle. I also still like him as a winger.
 
I'm going to get slated, but it's looking like one season too many for him. I hope I get proved wrong, but he really hasn't been good for about a year now.
 
Lynk said:
I'm going to get slated, but it's looking like one season too many for him. I hope I get proved wrong, but he really hasn't been good for about a year now.
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Wasn't he our third best assister last year after Valencia and Nani? He also bagged an important goal or two. Not sure what people expect from time to time.
 
What is the verdict on him? How did he do today?.

I thought he was dull at best & hasn't been good especially in midfield for a while now.
 
Too sloppy in possession, and getting overrun in high-paced games.

Should play off the left, drifting into central areas, if he starts nowadays.
 
If I have learned one thing about Giggs is that if you thought he was getting to old for this and had a bad game he will make a comeback in one of the next games and show he still got it in him to play a fabulous game.

I just hope he can do it again this season because obviously we still seem to rely on him and Scholes for the big matches.
 
Should have retired leaving us all wanting more rather than leaving us wanting him to retire.
 
I desperately want him to make 1000 appearances, looks like he'll just fall short.
 
Pexbo said:
Should have retired leaving us all wanting more rather than leaving us wanting him to retire.
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Bit unfair. The manager picks him. I agree that he might be best coming on as a sub, but Ryan Giggs can retire when he chooses to for what I care.
 
Pexbo said:
Should have retired leaving us all wanting more rather than leaving us wanting him to retire.
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I don't want him to retire. He's still in great physical shape and hasn't lost the will to win. It'll be a sad day when he does hang up his boots for it seems like only yesterday he was laying on the winning goal in the 1992 League Cup final.
 
Look at this:

2ylwa53.jpg

[Not quite up to date]

Ryan Giggs can spend all season trying bicycle kicks every single time he gets the ball yet I'll still be happy and proud to see his name on the teamsheet.

Some people on here are blind to the legend in front of us. Just think how he'll be revered in 50, 60, 70 years time.
 
marjen said:
Too sloppy in possession, and getting overrun in high-paced games.
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41 passes, 90% pass accuracy.

Probably one of those occasions where we should watch the game again. fecked if I'm doing that though.

Giggs suffers from the same "oh FFS Ryan" moments as Nani, and those seem to stick in the mind. His stats show that he really wasn't as bad as some (and myself for that matter) thought.
 
Baby Faced Assassin said:
What is the verdict on him? How did he do today?.

I thought he was dull at best & hasn't been good especially in midfield for a while now.
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Awful. Absolutely awful. Only Nani was worse and not by much.

It made absolutely zero sense to start him today. Zero.

Zero.
 
NoLogo said:
If I have learned one thing about Giggs is that if you thought he was getting to old for this and had a bad game he will make a comeback in one of the next games and show he still got it in him to play a fabulous game.
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If only everyone had learned that.
 
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