United v Liverpool: Player ratings

October 22, 2006

Van der Sar: Perfectly placed for Liverpool's one good chance that fell to Kuyt 6

Neville: Forced Liverpool to sub Gonzalez and Pennant didn't get any more change out of him 7

Ferdinand: One second half lapse almost let in Garcia but it was his only moment of anxiety and what a goal! 7

Vidic: His usual no-nonsense robust style contained Liverpool with relative ease 7

Evra: Last season he'd have been a fish out of water in such a fixture but not now 7

Fletcher: Worked like a Trojan down the right side and put the block on Riise's dangerous runs 8

Scholes: Immaculate passing and brilliantly timed run into box for goal just like most of other 499 games 9

Carrick: A disappointment. Passing was poor but then he was very much in Scholes' shadow 5

Giggs: Floated along the surface and Liverpool just couldn't contain him 8

Rooney: Worked his socks off but never got the opportunity to have a go at finding that elusive goal 7

Saha: Dangerous whenever he was on the ball but his finishing was mixed 8

Substitutes:

O'Shea: (sub Neville 78) Slotted in comfortably - 5

Brown: (sub Evra 90) On late. No mark

Referee: G Poll - A high octane game but largely the players made it easy for him 7

Attendance: 75,828

Agree with the ratings?: Have your say.

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Richard, London (22/10/2006 at 16:54)

Agree mostly with the ratings except for Carrick's. A 7 for me, he was at least as influential as Rooney, and IMO is one of the main reasons for United's current good form. Our possession stats are much better this season, and I think Carrick can take a lot of credit for that. With the team cutting out the stupid loose passes in bulid up play, everything just seems more solid.

Suky, Manchester (22/10/2006 at 17:31)

Giggs was my man of the match ....he megged Gerrard 3 times and Sissoko 3 times....he was toying wih them at times. Rooney was below par, Saha and Scholes were excellent. Fletcher worked hard but wasn't great on the ball......Carrick gave the ball away dangerously a couple of times. Rio worried me...but alls well that ends well.

S Peder, Norway (22/10/2006 at 17:35)

Okey, now I can see Ronaldo leave us because of Fergies stupidity.... Have Ronaldo on the bench is just cruel, he has been our best player this year, and thats how we reward him... Disgrace Fergie!

Kelly Palmer, Lagos (22/10/2006 at 17:41)

The ratings were ok except for Carrick. For him it should not be more than 3.
His passes were always to the opponents and I thought SAF said his passes were the attribute that brought him for 18.5 million. His level is not good for Manu.
Fletcher supposed to be 9.
The lad did very well against the hardmen of Liverpool

Brad, Erind (22/10/2006 at 17:41)

Evra is becoming a first choice player. Fletcher's performance was extraordinary. He works as hard as Makelele. Carrick is still slow but his positioning is very good as he has intercepted lots of passes. Scholes is becoming a better player.

Eddie,, Salford. (22/10/2006 at 18:03)

Great performance all round. Scholes MOTM easy for a master performance, and I would give Fletcher second best player, why people still knock him when he has been playing well all season and today he was brilliant. Carrick was a little off his game, but it is his first game against Liverpool. He will know what a manc scouse derby is now.

NONAMEBOY, JUSTICE (22/10/2006 at 18:16)

COME on.... ROONEY 7??? WHAT FOR??
The most overated player in MUs history.
Gigs and Scholes did the job. Well done guys.
Missed Ronaldo but good that he got a break.

jo, manchester (22/10/2006 at 18:19)

everybody done well apart from Rooney really bad first touch and no spirit at all.

Robert, South Africa (22/10/2006 at 18:41)

As per usual Carrick gets an unduly harsh rating.

Loyal to the End, malaysia (22/10/2006 at 19:23)

Park Ji-sung called, he wants his tough-tackling, hardworking winger role back..

Denis, Denmark (22/10/2006 at 19:28)

Lads I think we now can say that we have the strongest defence in the world. Carry on Vidic, you are world class ! Vidic and Rio deserves 8

Liam, Manchester (22/10/2006 at 20:31)

Absolutely ridiculous - I was at the game - Rooney was good but not great and Carrick was easily as influential - at least a 7 - apparently Fergie singled him out for praise after the game yet MEN gives a 5 - Liverpool only had two shots on target all match - one was from Carricks great ball to Rooney that was cleared leading to their attack and I think the other good chance was when Fletcher was caught dwelling on the ball. S Peder - Ronaldo had Flu so it was a gamble to even have him on the bench. Otherwise generally agree with the ratings - thought Fletcher was better this match but his lack of pace is still embarrasing - we had an early chance where he challenged the full back and Reina but it was like he was running in treacle - if it had been Ronaldo it would have led to something.
One more thing - If Carrick is so slow then how did he manage to chase back Gonzales and get a tackle in when Ferdinand got skinned?
I've said this before - some of you need new TVs based on what you appear to have seen.
BTW I didn't intend to be a champion of the Carrick cause but some of the rubbish I see on here just makes me mad. No doubt Steve of Glossop will disagree completement.

massive manchester united fan, Manchester (22/10/2006 at 20:52)

About time someone else talking sense - NONAMEBOY, JUSTICE . Rooney is deffo the most over-rated Manchester United player in history, why did he get a 7?? He was so poor and kept passing to opposition(again!!!!!) I think it is disgraceful that they are giving him a ¿¿40million contract - he is rubbish,there r better strikers out there!!!

Well done Scholsey and Rio both scored great goals.

MUFC number 1 fan, Manchester (22/10/2006 at 21:01)

I thought Fletcher deserved a 9 rating, he was MOTM - played brill.

I thought all the players were great apart from over - rated, over- paid Rooney and also Carrick who were both poor and thought they played for Liverpool.Didn't know we played in the yellow!!!!

I wish SAF would drop Rooney and play Ole.

Ronaldo shouldve started, I know Saf said he has been ill but he couldn't have been that ill if he was on the bench.

I'm pleased for Scholsey scoring on his 500th game and Rio's goal was brill!!

Glad we are back on top of prem

RED DEVIL, USA (22/10/2006 at 21:34)

Ronaldo had the flu, thats why he was left out.

Utd-For-Life, marseille ex-stretford (22/10/2006 at 21:48)

Great result today. united look a very different team this year. They seem to have rediscovered their knack of winning games without hitting top gear again. Although there were some good strong performances from the lads, liverpool were pretty poor and wastefull today. But i think more than anything we made them look bad with our quick passing and movement on and off the ball. One worry for me was seeing fletch in place for ronaldo, but it seems that ronaldo was not feeling too clever with the flu, so for the guy who thought fergie now rated fletch ahead of ronny, panicks over!!! and besides fletch was fantastic today! Evra is also turning in some top performances, and it would be hard on him if, on current form, he is relageted straight to the bench when heinze comes back. Carrick on the other hand was very lax in his passing today. he seems overawed and nervous on the ball and kept on giving the ball away. it got to a point where the other players thought twice about passing the ball to him, as the moves broke down when the ball came to his feet. hopefully he can settle down soon and start imposing himself more on the games. but who's complaining...we beat the pool, and we're top of the league.

Nick, Chorlton (22/10/2006 at 22:45)

Come on lads, why any criticism when we've just ended Liverpools' title campaigns. Great performance by United, and I have to admit, Fletcher is a far superior footballer than Khaled ever dreams to be. I can't see how Heinze can win his place back now, barring an injury to Evra.

Aussie Dave, Sydney (22/10/2006 at 22:45)

Agree with most ratings. To S Peder who thinks Ronny will leave, he had a flu so no need to worry. Should be back next week.
Carrick is a Jekyl and Hyde player. I agree that he commits some terrible errors by passing to the opposition. However he also puts some incisive balls through that lead to scoring opportunites and in some cases goals. He just needs more time to become consistent in the United environment.
As for the comment here on Rooney , he did not IMO lack spirit. But, his touch was off tonight so hence only a 2-0 and not a 4-0 drubbing.
It's good to see fellow supporters sticking up for Fletch as he has had a great season. Yes he is not a perfect ,world class player yet, but we win when he plays!
The difficult thing for us fans to accept now is who is the number one left back. I am siding with Evra, he has taken his chances and not let us down.
He has also been injury free. What a terrific problem to have when we have cover for so many spots at the back.Bring on Crewe and let's see Jones, Smudger, Kuscjack Richo and Brown get some game time.

Pepe, in the sunny Caribbean (22/10/2006 at 22:47)

I hate to agree but that Fletcher really deserves an 8 (grrrr....) The boy was here,there and everywhere. Sholes was MOM for me. Saha,Giggs and Rooney are opening up defences so Scholes will score more goals . By the way Carrick it's not shining yet , a 4 for him today.

Stu, Bolton (23/10/2006 at 00:12)

The best performance of the season so far, Rooney Fletcher Giggs Evra all played very well but Scholes was my man of the match. We more than handled their midfield and created numerous more chances we could have taken it on after going 2-0 up.

Patrick, Auckland, New Zealand (23/10/2006 at 00:20)

Give Carrick a break ... when i saw the ratings, I went back to my tape of the game this morning. I must be watching a different game to whoever wrote the article.

Yes, Carrick had a few stray passes and one or two put United in potentially dangerous situation. But I would say his passing was 85%+ on the mark, including a few nice penetrating passes - one to Rooney in the middle and a couple out to Fletcher or Neville on the right side. We all know he can do that ... what impressed me most was his reading of the game and snuffing out dangerous situations.

3 cases - 1, tracking back Gonzales, almost matching him for pace (and Speedy Gonzales is fast!) when Neville was stranded up front - 2, dispossessing Sissoko on the edge of the area with a good challenge - 3, breaking up a developing attack on half way by fouling Gerrard

He is becoming a very good foil for Scholes, giving Scholes the freedom to advance into scoring positions

Btw, Evra and Fletcher both had very good games (see my other post in the game report re: tactics) - in fact, nobody had a bad game at all.

colin, canada (23/10/2006 at 00:30)

We made Liverpool look bad which they are. they are two points ahead of City who are spiralling towards relegation along with the Hammers. Two teams that have to change managers pretty soon.
Three horse race now with Everton and Villa just off the pace. May get down to breaks on the injury front and who buys who in January.

barry, happy valley, ca (23/10/2006 at 00:35)

Great performance without
breaking into a real sweat.
Liverpool have gone terribly
wrong (thankfully) this season.
United can only get stronger
as Fletcher, Rooney, Oshea,
Ronaldo, Brown, Vidic, Richardson, Evra, Carrick all
continue to improve. Although
I must say United are smoother
and quicker as a team when
Ronaldo is out of the line up.
They should use him off the
bench to take on teams single
handed (as he does) when we
need a goal or spark. Otherwise United play a better
team style of football without
the much herealded and twinkletoed one.
Scholes is a marvelous.
Up the Reds

Batman, Gotham City (23/10/2006 at 01:04)

I thought the team was terrific and put in an efficent performance aganist a strong team. The back four was solid and Ferdinand scored a great goal. Scholes was as influencial as ever and I thought Giggs and Fletcher did a great job on the wings. Fletcher has really brought his game along this season, and it seems we are finally seeing him blossom into the player we were told he could become. His passing was good but mostly he worked hard and battled well today. Carrick wasn't overly bad, he just wasn't impressive at all. Its slightly worrying because it was a comfortable game where we weren't under too much pressure. Maybe he is overshadowed by Scholes, and can't do anymore than support him and just give him the ball. The job he is doing right now did not require us spending Â£18 million. We could have signed a good strong defensive midfielder from France like Jean Makoun who would have been cheeper and done the same job. I think Ferguson will pursue his interest in Hargreaves and look to pair him with Scholes, hopefully in January. I'm not writing off Carrick. He is a quality player but at the moment he is struggling to find his feet and place within our side. Bryan Robson stated that Carrick may never be a Keane or Gerrard because he doesn't have it in his nature.

Christer, Norway (23/10/2006 at 01:15)

Great game by Darren Fletcher! I actually didn't miss Ronaldo until late in the second half when everybody started to tire... Carrick actually had a decent game as a holding midfielder. He snatched a fair amount of passes, and got stuck in a few times. It's difficult when his only alternative to passing is Saha. Rooney was OK, but seemed uninspired even by such an occasion. Bet Carrick missed a Rooney on form or a runner like Ronaldo. Giggsy was dazzling throughout the game, and Scholes; pure genius.

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