United v Roma: Player ratings

April 10, 2007

Patrice Evra and Cristiano Ronaldo

Van der Sar: Confident throughout. Clearly unaffected by his Fratton Park mix-up with Rio Ferdinand 8

O’Shea: Snappy in the challenge and proves he can live on the big European stage 8

Ferdinand: Cool as ever. It’s as if that own goal at Portsmouth never happened 8

Brown: Helped his central defensive partner keep Francesco Totti quiet 8

Heinze: Loves the big European nights and it showed in his eagerness to get stuck in 8

Ronaldo: Grabbed his first goals in the Champions League proper but was just one of several outstanding players in red 9

Fletcher: Wasn’t fooled by Mancini’s constant attempts to bamboozle him with the step-overs 8

Carrick: Two astonishing goals and thoroughly deserved his standing ovation when he was substituted towards the end 9

Giggs: One of his greatest European nights – and the Welshman has been involved in a few 9

Smith: What a night. Ran himself ragged, got booked and, more importantly, finally got that first goal since his return 9

Rooney: Champions League goal drought? You’re having a laugh. Well-taken third goal 8

Substitutes:

Evra: (for O’Shea, 52): Great to see him back, and he even chipped in with a goal 8

Solskjaer: (for Giggs, 51): Kept the attacking move flowing for the Reds 7

Richardson: (for Carrick, 72): Relished the chance to get involved on a memorable night 7

Not USED: Kuszczak, Dong, Cathcart, Eagles.

Roma: Doni, Taddei, Mexes, Chivu, Panucci, De Rossi, Pizarro, Wilhelmsson, Vucinic, Mancini, Totti.

Attendance: 74,476

Referee: Lubos Michel - Had a solid game 7

Agree with the ratings? Have your say.

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Red Lou, Malta (10/04/2007 at 23:02)

Perfect. Should have given them all a 9. But a great vote of thanks to the fringe players like O'Shea, Brown, Fletcher and Smith. They were superb.

Lee , Heywood, Heywood (10/04/2007 at 23:03)

Rooney a 9 and if a 7-1 performance doesnt deserve a 10 for someone I dont know what does ? I remember a poor City side beating a poor United side 5-1 and every player got a 10. Carrick 10 Ronaldo 10 Giggs 10 Fletcher 9 Rooney 9 Smith 9. Just fantasy football.

bobbydazzler (10/04/2007 at 23:05)

fletcher deserves a 9 and yes i really mean that. thought oshea did really well too against a very ytricky opponenet

Utd-For-Life, marseille ex-stretford (10/04/2007 at 23:10)

Why so shy in giving out tens?? there were a few out there tonight who deserved it. I could eulogise about this performance all night. Heinze was worthy of at least a 9. He was poor in the last two games, but tonight he was in his element. 9 out of 10 for him minimum. Giggs gets a straight ten by me for another MOM performance. reminicent of his performance against porto quite a few years ago when we won 4-0. Great to see Carrick finally believing in himself in a european match with both him and fletch bossing the midfield. With all the injuries recently, the players who have come in look ready and focused. Wes in for Vidic, Fletch in for scholes (although he'll be back next game), now smith in for saha, and most surprising, evra in for nev. doesn't look so bad now does it.....

Tomas, Aarhus, Denmark (10/04/2007 at 23:15)

So there's nothing higher than a solid 9 is there...Carrick definitely deserved more, what a performance. And Giggs as well. The 2 youngsters were brilliant as usual.

bobbydazzler (10/04/2007 at 23:17)

rooneys work rate tonight was incredible nothing is a lost cause for this lad. watching our boy ronaldo is something else though he is without doubt the most exciting player in the world. just hope the biased southern press dont deny him a deserved footballer of the year. have to say marvellous atmosphere our fans were like a 12th man tonight.

Sparky (10/04/2007 at 23:26)

I hope this silences the trolls who keep going on about Fletcher, O'Shea & Smith. Fletcher was everywhere tonight with good vision in his passing and maturity in his tackling. O'Shea was not very solid and doesn't deserve his mark but is a good squad member. Smith has always been a great contributor when in the team. He has been played so many times out of position that it is not fair to judge him on his performance other than when he plays as a striker. He is good in that position with good vision and an eye for goal. I for one hope he stays and gets plenty of playing time.
With Rooney, Saha & Smith in the squad as the central strikers (Ole is surely in the last chance salon now) and with Rossi due to come back the need for another striker is not as desperate as I read on these postings. A world class addition would be nice mind you but not make or break. In central midfield we have Scholes, Fletcher and Carrick who in my opinion are all of the required ability. The addition of Hargreaves would make that area of the team very strong. In defense we have Pique who is earning rave reviews in Spain. While additions are always nice I disagree with those who are constantly moaning about the depth of the squad. The table, a semi-final place in CL & FA Cup speaks for itself. 7-1 tonight with three of the supposed weak links in the team!!

Steve, Glossop (10/04/2007 at 23:26)

Ronaldo was sublime 10 but Carrick as well 10 superb mate & great that Evra & Heinze can play in the same team. Brilliant all of them nuff said.

Alias Smith, over the moon (10/04/2007 at 23:28)

What a laugh. How can any player be marked less than 10? OK, you can mark Heinze, Rio and VdS down quarter point each for the Roma goal - nearly allowing them back in the game. LOL! Men against boys tonight, without four of our starting XI, against the second best team in Italy. A few players will have changed opinions tonight; I'm thinking particularly of Carrick, Fletcher, O'Shea and Smith but they're not the only ones. Truly fantastic.

seamus vanisle ex-stretford (10/04/2007 at 23:43)

Other than giving Richardson a 7, ratings are spot on IMO.Including son of SAF who really did have a very good game indeed. Carrick was superb, MOM for me. What a night! Would loved to have been there, maybe BobbyD or Balders (others?) can tell us just what it was like inside, must have been fantastic, I know it was watching it here.

Bradley (10/04/2007 at 23:59)

Wonder if the usual mob who moan on about quote "the god son" will be quiet so critical of his display this evening, worked his socks off in his natural position, he and Carrick controlled the midfield. Magnificent display was lost for words after the 1st hour, expected a good display but this was wonderful. Roma very much up for this game and they thought they stood a chance. But United having none of that, didn't let them settle and broke with amazing pace whenever they got chance. Wonder how Hargreaves will play against United in the next round! I suspect we'll be seeing a lot of Chelski in the last weeks of the season. Hopefully Vidic, Gaz Nev, Park & Saha back and fully fit for them!

charbel (11/04/2007 at 01:30)

I'm sure Fletcher's contribution encompassed more than just dealing with Mancini's stepovers. He was man of the match and deserves a 9. Nice to see Giggs provide 4 assists. As for Carrick, what a player! I can't see Scholes earning a place back for Saturday.

Aaron Tan (11/04/2007 at 03:26)

one word --> magnificent.

francescowho.blogspot.com

Davey Boy, Kuwait (11/04/2007 at 07:08)

Why bother, give em 10 didn't see one dodgy performance a combination of individual brilliance and incredible teamwork. What a weird easter get beat by pompey sat pompey get stuffed by watford mon and we shred roma tuesday ...go figure! Bet watford felt good about things up till last night!

Keane was right Sell Ronny (11/04/2007 at 07:45)

All played well - how can this be, essentially, the same team that played Pompey. Time now to Focus on Watford. Well done lads job done !

TDC, Japan (11/04/2007 at 08:18)

what in the world does a player have to do to get a 10?

Christer, Norway (11/04/2007 at 08:53)

Everyone deserved their rating, and then some. Kieran Richardson however; did not.

george (11/04/2007 at 09:13)

Magnificent;possibly the best performance ever at OT.The marks at least got somewhere near,Carrick proved himself worth his fee and answered all his critics.There'll be tougher games to come but UNITED on song can beat anyone.

chris, oxford (11/04/2007 at 09:14)

Bradley & Sparky: that was one performance so don't be so smug. Saying that every player to a man was superb and I find it hard to remember the last time I have seen such a devastating game from a United player; Ronaldo, who was totally unplayable last night.

RCH, Salford (11/04/2007 at 09:15)

This shows how overjoyed I am top marks to the Ref! So refreshing in a Champions league game an official who let the game flow and did not fall for the usual cynicism. Though we didn't give Roma time to think.

edinburgh red, edinburgh (11/04/2007 at 09:22)

Ronaldo def deserves a 10 for that display, they were so scared of him they couldn't even tackle , towards the end I must admit I was scared one of them was going to do a hatchet job on him for showboating, thankfully no further injuries, carrick and fletcher put in good displays, let's hope they continue instead of reverting back to type, also credit to the ref who let the game flow and wasn't fooled by diving etc, no idea what richardson did to get 7.

bobbydazzler (11/04/2007 at 09:58)

bradley read my post acknowleging his performance,see yesterday also willing the lad to shut me up big style and i have to say he did that. what i want from him know is much more of the same. if he can play regularily at 75% of last night game he will do. darren lad please do not leave it so long again you proved me wrong long may you continue to do so.

Alf For The Devils, Ipswich (11/04/2007 at 10:45)

People has to cool this hype english press is doing on their players. Thus Fletcher is not world class player and i doubt he will ever be.He just shows to doubters once again that he deserves his place in the united squad unlike Richardson who i dont know how he can have a 7.The problem Fergie has to solve is to used Fletcher at his right position and at the right game. Players like Fletcher and Park are key for our success in Europe and in big games in the league as they bring that workrate our main players dont have.

VALTINHO, LISBON (11/04/2007 at 11:01)

Fletcher was really good and had his best game so far if he would have this standart every now and then...HE would be ok at United.
VDS 7,O'SHEA 7(Mancini didn't have a chance),BROWN 7, RIO 7,HEINZE 8, CARRICK 9, FLETCHER 9, GIGS 8, ROONEY 9, SMITH 8, CR 10( MOM).

Mick, Dublin (11/04/2007 at 11:01)

I've nothing to add on the ratings. Except if you're not gonna give any 10s on a night like that I'll have to assume you're only marking them out of 9!

I'd like to agree with the comments from RCH et al about the ref. It's a worry that you can get two such differing performances from different referees in two legs of a quarter-final. In Rome we saw how not to let a game flow, how to spoil a spectacle by being over-fussy, lacking in common sense and showing far too many cards.

Last night was the perfect example of the exact opposite.

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