United 2 Portsmouth 0: Player ratings

Stuart Mathieson

April 22, 2009

Paul Scholes during his 600th United game

Van der Sar: The Dutchman was never tested by Pompey’s attack but handling and distribution was sound when needed 6

Neville: Hadn’t warmed to his task before injury forced him off early 5

Evans: Comfortably made sure that this time Ferdinand’s absence wouldn’t be a major issue 7

Vidic: In charge at the back and didn’t give Crouch much change at all 7

Evra: One moment of misjudgment almost let Pennant in but other than that he was on top 6

Fletcher: Back to put in an effective display in the midfield 6

Scholes: Has made more impact in the past but he took the play it simple and cool avenue and let others take the stage 6

Anderson: Started off really well and a big influence in the early stages but Wembley eventually took its toll 7

Giggs: Magnificent performance in almost every department from the veteran 9

Ronaldo: A mixture of super skills and sloppiness on a night when you felt Pompey were there for the taking 6

Rooney: Was a constant thorn in Portsmouth’s side and his energy ignited the Reds 8

Subs:

O’Shea (sub Neville 13) Injury curtailed good stint 6

Rafael (sub O’Shea 52) Impressive cameo 7

Carrick (sub Anderson 76) Neat finish 6

Not used: Berbatov, Nani, Tevez, Kuszczak

Portsmouth: James, Johnson, Mullins, Hreidarsson, Crouch, Nugent, Distin, Hughes, Campbell, Davis, Belhadj

Goals:
United: Rooney (9) Carrick (81)
Portsmouth: None

Bookings:
United: None
Portsmouth: None

Battle of the Bosses:
Fergie’s big name selection got the business done and temporary Pompey boss Paul Hart didn’t have a cutting edge

Referee: Peter Walton - Nothing to trouble him 7

Attendance: 74,895

Agree with the ratings? Have your say.

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mur26, riverstown (22/04/2009 at 22:14)

could and should have wiped out the pools goal difference, but 3 pts is 3 pts, roll on saturday and put spurs to the sword.

danny, WILMSLOW (22/04/2009 at 22:14)

Giggs 9 your having a laugh missed two easy chances 1 hard chance did not complete one decent corner but ran around a lot but caused very little danger.
Anderson should have 9 just for his pass him and Rooney were the best.

RedHeart (22/04/2009 at 22:23)

Anderson and Rooney are playing some wonderful football right now. I, as a critic of his attitude, want to give a shout to Cristiano. He has been much improved in his attitude the past 2 matches, getting on with things and even having a better go tracking back. Fletcher, well done what a revelation this season . Getting stuck in all over the place. Giggs still proves on his day he can beat those on his tail. Good effort all round boys. Congratulations!!

Roy (22/04/2009 at 22:25)

Two superb passes for the goals, as was the level of passing in general. But the team energy dipped alarmingly in the second half. Anderson getting better and vintage running from Giggs. Tight alright but the team did what was asked of them.

AS, Ipswich (22/04/2009 at 22:33)

Can we get Lampard for a week to show to Anderson and Fletcher that you just need to hit the target to score goals and worry less about the power?This team is just a nightmare to watch this season with a poor conversion rate.However I have to say that we need to find a way to have Fletcher and Anderson in the team as it gives us more strength.We only need a winger to have Rooney back up front or maybe trust Macheda to lead the line in some games next season as Berbatov is just not interested to run down the line and to get at the end of crosses.

AS, Ipswich (22/04/2009 at 22:35)

The main disappointment of the night is the goal difference which should been improve massively. However 3pts and hope for the same the weekend as I will take more pleasure winning the league than the CL due to Liverpool and their Mr Facts of Manager.

Aneesh , Canada (22/04/2009 at 22:50)

danny... do you actually get a kick out of slating legends?
also, if you're going to do so, put some thought into what you say. Giggs' link up play and running were superb. As was ALOT of our passing - joy to watch and its a pity we didn't run all over Portsmouth like we threatened to do so often during that game. I agree he should have finished better (and for that I'd take him down to a 7.5 or an 8) but you REALLY need to learn some tact son.

Rooney was amazing, and Ronaldo's work ethic was pretty good too. Anderson coming in has given us that all-action man we've been craving (alongside Fletch) this season - especially since we had Anderson and Hargreaves for much of the last... and the interchangeable top 3 in the 4-3-3 was beautiful. In some ways our play was similar to much of last year, when Rooney, Ronaldo and Tevez played the top 3 in that 4-3-3.

Here's a debate - if you knew we were going to go forward and mainly play an interchangeable front 3 in a 4-3-3 - would you want either of Tevez or the Berb (or both) to hang around next season? If not, then who'd you want alongside Rooney and Ronaldo?

Lee , Heywood, Heywood (22/04/2009 at 22:52)

VDS-6,GNev-0,Vida-6,Evans-7,Evra-6,Fletch-8,Scholes-6,Anderson-8,Ronaldo-7,Rooney-8,Giggs-7

tooth&claw, manchester (22/04/2009 at 22:59)

Rooney, Fletcher and Giggs all great. Anderson was great first half but he always drops away second half. I can't believe that it's a stamina problem for a youngster after being with the squad for two years. Oh well, never mind, Carrick replaced him and settled it. Three good points and a gradually improving performance level. Things are looking up again.

dr_hadi, kuwait (22/04/2009 at 23:13)

tottenham,, city , and arsenal are our worst tests,, i hope we pass them clean with 100% record,,, our destiny in EPL title hands on these confrontations

up your game united,,

CR7 we want you to be this season top scorer

Serge, Europe (23/04/2009 at 00:48)

Think the team did well and deserves an average of 7, but Giggs doesnt merit a 9 after missing two glorius chances, nor does Carrick only merit a 6 after coming on and scoring?

Anderson was MOTM and Rooney was quite close to him in that regard, he really is the heartbeat of our team (and Vidic)

Ronaldo needs to start running back, were not paying him to sit on the grass. Glad Berba was rested. He would have slowed us down...

Rafael is the future and if his brother is honestly as good then I think its safe to say weve got the best young full backs in the world

Seamus, Vanisle,ex-Stretford (23/04/2009 at 01:35)

Not impressed with our passing at all, the goals aside. Anderson was terrific in the first half but faded badly in the second and gave the ball away far too often. Giggs ratings deserve to be knocked down to a max of 5 given he alone should have buried the game for us before the half, and he didn't.He also gave the ball away a lot. Ronaldo was poor I thought, and still gets dumped on his backside too often not always by the oppostion either and won't get back in the play. Vidic and Evans had a good shifts, Fletcher was very good I thought and we will need his industry for the run in if we don't up our game tempo,passing and finishing. Rafael,well done, great to see some enthusiasm. Scholes, great pass for Carrick's goal, but not much else. Rooney had a decent game, but he seemed to lose interest and some of his fire late on, I wonder if he's getting fed up, working his socks off while others seem like their out for a Sunday afternoon stroll in the park. Spurs game will be a big test, they're quick, strong and well organised, let's hope we show up and put out a better effort than we saw tonight or we could be in trouble again, some of our players need a swift kick up the rear end, starting woth Ronnie. Still, 3 points closer, so that's great.

charbel (23/04/2009 at 02:30)

I would take a point or two away from Giggs and hand them to Fletcher. Giggs was okay, perhaps better, but he was culpable of some frustrating misses as well as awry passing. He was also knackered by the hour and was seen trailing in offside positions on a couple of times.

Fletcher's mark of 6 smacks of someone who didn't bother watch him. His double tackle was what won the ball for our first goal, he played several killer passes, and he seemed to appear in all corners of the screen as I watched.

13 more points!

I see the Stretford End Arising (23/04/2009 at 02:56)

Van der Sar: Solid 7

Neville: Given the first telling ball played in behind him when he looked beaten, probably him coming off wasn't a bad thing. Just a pity it had to be with another inury 5

Evans: A bit more convincing than recent performances. Somebody needs to tell the kid that every now and then that he can take it down and pass it out, not just hoof it up the pitch 7

Vidic: Shackled the freakshow. 8

Evra: There was more than the "one" moment against Pennant. A lot was coming down his wing from Johnson and Pennant in the second half. 6

Fletcher: Good performance given his obvious limitations. 6

Scholes: Not as influential as days gone by. 6

Anderson: Superb in the first half. Was guilty in the second half of taking the foot off the pedal and being sloppy 7

Giggs: Woeful finishing brought down marks 7

Ronaldo: A few glimpses but looked disinterested 5

Rooney: Can anyone give me a good reasons 8

Subs:

O’Shea (sub Neville 13) Nearly turned inside on more than one occassion. Sloppy distribution 5

Rafael (sub O’Shea 52) The future! 8

Carrick (sub Anderson 76) Thats more like what he should have been doing the last few weeks. Getting forward, creating. Not sloppy passing and conservtivley passing back ALL THE TIME! 6

Raju, Katmandu (23/04/2009 at 02:57)

Giggs 9? He should get a 10 and another year on his contract.

MJW, New York (23/04/2009 at 03:42)

Giggs was the good but not that good. He missed at least two open goals, and in my book that means he doesn't get 9, maybe not even 8. Rooney was the man of the match for me, in addition to his goal (even it was offside??), he showed sheer brilliance. Ronaldo is in the long goodbye, and may he depart with memories of a few more trophies. Pity that Tevez wasn't given the chance to improve our goal differential. It could be the difference. On the other hand, I was pleased that "can't bear betov" sat on the bench.

skh,pj, Malaysia (23/04/2009 at 05:57)

Portsmouth's best passer gets a 9.What a laugh!

bobbydazzler (23/04/2009 at 06:59)

vds 6
nev oshea rafael 6

vidic 7

evans 7

evra 7

andersen 8

fletcher 8

scholes 7

ronaldo 7

rooney 7

giggs 9*** if he had tucked away his chances then 11 would have been merited, it was like turning back the years last night. giggs showed what a bloody clever player he is. pity that he looks like park player in front of goal.

Red Lou, Malta (23/04/2009 at 07:27)

What really annoyed me about this game was the number of stray casual passes in midfield by top players like Scholes, Ronaldo, Rooney, Anderson and Giggs. They all more than made up for these lapses but, all in all, we should have trashed Portsmouth 5-0 and improved the goal difference which at the end of the day could mean winning the Premiership or not.

Alias Smith, over the moon (23/04/2009 at 08:56)

Giggs MoM but special mention for Anderson who I thought was terrific until he tired. Not surprising given his efforts on Sunday on THAT pitch. Carrick was hiding again until he popped up with his tap-in.

edinburgh red, edinburgh (23/04/2009 at 08:57)

Rooney, anderson bar his passing in the final third and shooting,fletcher,and giggs where all excellent, scholes didnt get involved much and the commentators saying "oh a rare miss-pass by scholes" seems to be happening with more regularity, great pass for carrick though who took his goal well after actually running forward, maybe he will realise that he will get more goals and be involved if he supports the forwards.Giggs and rooney joint mom

Gilly, Belgium (23/04/2009 at 09:03)

Dont agree with all the ratings !
BUT we won and thats all that matters now !!
Tighten up the defence and score goals !
FORZA United

Augustus Gloop (23/04/2009 at 09:05)

A very good first half performance by the lads. As mentioned a fair few times already, we should have been 5-0 by half time.

Dissapointed the press aren't giving Fletcher the marks he deserves. But it's been like that all season. Anderson was good, as were Giggs and Roon.

Red Culture (23/04/2009 at 09:10)

Giggs was the reason we almost threw this game away. Missed chance after chance! Anderson is the undisputed Man of the Match.

Cyprus Red, Cyprus (23/04/2009 at 09:32)

Danny, Giggs had a great game and looked back to his best. We performed as a team at last and overall it was a good team performance. Give some credit to James for his blocks. He did what we used to rave about with Peter Schmeical. That's his job! Great three points puts the pressure back on the others.

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