Fergie salutes Brazilian bros

August 05, 2008

NEW KID ON THE BLOCK: Rafael Da Silva

SIR Alex Ferguson refused to comment on the future of absent star Cristiano Ronaldo after victory in Peterborough - preferring to talk about two potential stars of the future.

The Portuguese ace was conspicuous by his absence against Posh last night, but the Old Trafford chief was happy to highlight the performance of Brazilian twins Rafael and Fabio Da Silva.

He said: "Peterborough were the better side in the first half and should have been 2-0 up.

"But there were some plus points for us as well.

"Rafael Da Silva played the full 90 minutes and was pleasing, and his brother Fabio played 45 minutes as well.

"I was really pleased with their contributions, and it will be interesting to see how they get on this season.

"The squad we had tonight will play Juventus on Wednesday - with Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville to come in."

Peterborough manager Darren Ferguson, meanwhile, backed his dad's United side to claim their 11th Premier League title this season - after seeing them win 2-0 in tonight's friendly at London Road.

"Whoever finishes above United will win the league," he said.

"They will take a bit of beating. It will be the usual top four, but I can't see anyone getting above them.

"He hasn't added to his squad yet and I don't know if he will - but the squad last season was the best anyway.

"The size and quality in depth in the squad is the difference."

Who are the most promising youngsters at United? Have your say.

Submit Comments | Comments (53) |

Showing comments 1 to 25 and replies | View All

Teresa20, Norwich (05/08/2008 at 09:59)

Anyone who has seen the pre season games must be concerned as to where the goals are coming from. Ronaldo wont be fit until late October (if he's still a United player), and there does not seem to be anyone capable of putting the ball in the net. We have a tough start to the season with Chelsea and Liverpool away very early.

mater03 (05/08/2008 at 10:33)

It doesn´t matter that much whether ronaldo is fit or not to play liverpool or chelsea. One of the most obvious strenghts of this united team is their "never say die" attitude. Plus they hardly conceded any goals last season. I know ronaldo had huge impact last season, but lets not forget that this is not a one-man team. We have a compact middle with players who can pass the ball (scholes, carrick), players capable of dribbling and forward runs (anderson) and players capable of breaking up play (hargreaves, fletcher). And we have one the best defences in the world. Add ronaldo, tevez and rooney and you have a world class team. We do need cover on the left back for Evra, as well as a centre back knopw that Pique left for barca. And a forward with a bit more physique would be nice (Berbatov etc.)

Free Red, Manchester (05/08/2008 at 10:40)

"SIR Alex Ferguson refused to comment on the future of absent star Cristiano Ronaldo"

He supposed to be at Carrington this morning.

the eyeballs in the sky (05/08/2008 at 10:43)

Fergo can rant all he wants, Utd fans can cry and wail-the lad is going, get over it and move on.

stevi, france (05/08/2008 at 10:50)

I thought they both look very useful especially Rafael.....why are people already pushing the panic button, we've scored goals, maybe not from the expected sources but that doesn't matter....and as the season starts well be up & running, rooney in, Tevez...Berbatov!
CR??.......... no comment and thats the way it will stay from now on.

joey (05/08/2008 at 10:57)

Sometimes objectivity has to go through the door. We watch football to enjoy it, and for some socio-historical conditioning reason we enjoy watching Brazilians more than Brits. The twins were alright, but not outstanding. Gray and Cathcart were brilliant, Possebon really stood out, Gibson's goal was world class, and Lee Martin again showed his potential. However, we all like something new, so just for today its ok to wax lyrical about the twins.
Must say though, Carlos Tevez is like a man possessed, what a pre-season he's having! Not many goals, but everything else in abundance - strength, pace, skill, bullishness, charisma; we're in for a treat this season, fingers crossed.

ian, preston (05/08/2008 at 11:09)

Fergie teased us with a glimpse into the future lastnight!The twins are absolutely fantastic and thought Possebon stole the show in the 2nd half!As for firepower we need to buy Falcao asap!Berbatov is too old and slow for us,we need pace,deadly finishing and aerial prowess!Falcao offers all this at the tender age of 22.Under the wing of fergie he'd become one of the worlds greatest strikers,where as Berb will have 2 or 3 years left at the top.

stevi, france (05/08/2008 at 11:20)

@Free Red SAF didn't comment because there's nothing to say or add to his previous statement. As to when he will arrive at OT, we aren't privi to that information and to an even lesser extent is the press, its all conjecteur and its about selling newspapers.
We should all avoid responding to any hearsay about CR that MEN put up here, I'm bored to tears with it and I'm sure many of you are too. Our club will let us know if & when there's any thing of interest and we all know SAF will always do whats best for our club.

Red Dawn (05/08/2008 at 11:39)

Rafael's debut was the best I've seen since Wayne Rooney's. That's how highly I rated it. He was absolutely outstanding.

Fabio wasn't involved as much when he came on, but I'd like to see him get a full 90 mins soon.

Very promising, especially as they have not played for 12 months.

By the way, where did the MEN get these quotes from Fergie? That's not exactly what he said on MUTV.

I see Ronaldo's name had to be brought into an article which has nothing to do with him.

tooth&claw, manchester (05/08/2008 at 11:45)

Free Red, you've been reading too many Spanish newspapers. Ronaldo is due to fly to Amsterdam to meet the specialist and United medical staff. If the Doc says so, he'll return to Carringston at the end of the week.

Anyway, what did you think of the Silva twins? Better than your Brazilian, Lucas, I think.

tooth&claw, manchester (05/08/2008 at 11:51)

I think Rio, Wes and Vidic must have watched the Silva twins and thought "Oh no!". I bet they've never played with fullbacks who are so keen to be in the opposition half. There was one moment when Rio dispossessed an attacker and instead of making himself available to take a short pass Rafael sprinted into the opposition half while Rio tried to beat his opponent again! In the end we were playing a 2-1-6-1 formation!

They were great fun but heaven knows how we can fit them both into a formation. Great prospects for the future.

Red Afro, Derby (05/08/2008 at 12:01)

Now i understand why we won't spend on a RB. The lad on the right reminded me on Daniel Alves - pure Bazilian margic on the ball, especially going forward. He's definately doing a Underson and breaking into first team way ahead of schedule. I fear for Mr Neville.

NEIL, stalybridge (05/08/2008 at 12:20)

Why is free red so interested in our club.

Link, Birmingham (05/08/2008 at 12:21)

At home we play football manager 2008 and we are fully aware of the young brazilians and hope they have a great future with manutd , they looked good at peterborough.

A Manc and blue (05/08/2008 at 13:00)

Why is free red so interested in our club.
NEIL, stalybridge
5/08/2008 at 12:20

What you doing on this page. Your pathetic comments on normally on the city page. SADDO

tooth&claw, manchester (05/08/2008 at 13:06)

Neil stalybridge, it's the football equivelent of penis envy.

j tatez, manchester (05/08/2008 at 13:16)

first time i've heard of them since they signed . didnt see the game myself but judging by these comments they must be handy.

James Crause (05/08/2008 at 13:57)

I´ve watched the Silva twins playing för Brazil a number of times and wasnt to suprised to see them doing well yesterday. Both of them played exactly the way they do for their national team, very good technically and always bombing forward. However, everytime I´ve seen them i the national team the leftback Fabio has been the better of the two. In fact, he´s the captain of the team and Brazils star player. Based on what I´ve seen, I´d say there´s a lot more to come from Fabio. But I guess it must be nice for Rafael to get all the attention for a change.

Its easy to understand the hype around these two and for once it could be justified. Think United have two future stars in the making here.

Robbo, N2409 (05/08/2008 at 14:01)

t&c, as far as I'm concerned, the first responsibility of any Utd full back is to ATTACK - we have two very decent centre backs, don't forget, and they should be all the defenders we need. Personally, I hope Fergie's charmingly enthusiastic post match comments mean young Rafael may be getting a paternalistic shove towards the first team, and as a (relatively) low-level North Stander, I hope to see him whooshing towards the Stretty on a regular basis. Ps Even I appreciate these boys will need some tactical refinement, but please god let's not coach ALL the fun out of them.

takefour, Kuching,sarawak,malaysia (05/08/2008 at 14:10)

free red already thinking they will win the premier.

Red Dawn (05/08/2008 at 14:44)

I think Fergie's post match comments indicated Rafael could be set to see a fair bit of first team action this season.

I don't get excited easily about young players coming through, but Rafael stood out a mile last night and looks a star in the making.

He'd light up the Premiership I think and have no problem holding his own.

Free Red, Manchester (05/08/2008 at 14:59)

T&C. I was told Ronaldo would be talking to Fergie this morning at Carrington. The person that told me got the info from someone else so maybe it was by phone but they have definitely spoken this morning. As for the twins I can't say what I think of them I wasn't at the match but I have heard they are top draw.

NEIL, stalybridge (05/08/2008 at 15:11)

A manc & a blue idont no what you mean.Ive never been on the ciddy site get your facts right.Its not my fault its been 33 years

tooth&claw, manchester (05/08/2008 at 15:42)

God, there you lot go again. The lad makes one decent performance in a pre-season friendly against a team 75 places below us and suddenly he's in the first team!?

tooth&claw, manchester (05/08/2008 at 15:49)

Free Red, who'd talk to a scouser about United matters? Oh, an unnamed source close to the club. I see.

()

Manchester United