Looks like Valencia has just had a really nasty injury, turned over on his ankle and his foot went all floppy – not nice.

it won't be long before a horde of STW rugby fans start going on about how he should MTFU cos he earns a million quid a second, bloody wendyballers, kicking a pigs bladder between 2 sticks, shagging everything that moves….blah.

Suspected broken ankle. 😥
Sounds like a dire game, hopefully the boy Giggs can bring something positive. 😆

Bloody namby pamby wendyballers should MTFU earn 2 million quid a second shagging everything that moves…

Looks nasty. I rewound the footage to see what happened and you could hear a crack as the tackle went in. Definately broken. Hope it's not a complicated break.

It didn't look good. This game is absolutely woeful! 11 man defence. Rangers have made no attempt to get out of their own half. Dire!!

A broken ankle is bloody painful no matter how you do it – hope the lad recovers well.

The Sale & England Prop Andrew Sheridan once played 3 games with a bust foot because he didn't tell the physio's he'd damaged himself. Took him a fair bit longer to recover than he would have done had he spoken up.
Hard bloke but a bit daft….

Bloody wendyball. He probably has a solid gold toilet and wipes his bum with 50quid notes kicking a plastic ball around a silly square field.

Well played Rangers. Got the result they came for. Man tud looked very poor

thats got to smart a bit

kicking a plastic ball around a silly square field.

It's a rectangle. 🙄

The other players reaction tells it all really.

Hope he recovers ok.

Utter turd of a game mind

ouch.

Rangers defended superbly tonight.

i once got kicked on the shin playing footy……………it smarted for ages………. 😉

its a horrible sight to see something as bad, luckily surgery has progressed so far that its likely he will be playing again and the leg will be strong again,

i think its time to take him out of my fantasy football team !

As an Arsenal fan, injuries like that always sicken me. Only seen this one once but apparently it was unlucky rather than malicious?

football= load of men acting camp
rugby= loads of camp guys acting like men

🙂

Rangers defended superbly tonight.

Are you having a ****ing laugh? How could they not? They were playing a controversial 10-0-0 formation. Believe it or not, there's another aspect to the game. Its called attacking. Perhaps someone should have pointed that fact out

It absolutely bloody infuriates me watching 'games' like that. come for a nil nil. Get a nil nil. Result? Not for anyone who had the misfortune to watch it. Absolute shite!. If everyone went out with the attitude that Rangers did tonight then Champions league games will soon hold the same edge-of-the-seat excitement as your average formula 1 procession

i once got kicked on the shin playing footy……………it smarted for ages……….

Diddums. Come and play a game wih my lot, we can do much better than that. 😉

Hope the feller makes a full and speedy recovery. I know a couple of blokes who had professional careers cut short by bad leg breaks and tissue damage. One lad played for Chelsea. Being told you will never play professionally again, when you're 19, must be **** tough to deal with. All your hopes and dreams gone for good. 🙁

And it was a ploy met with total satisfaction by the Rangers fans as they celebrated the draw after six tense minutes of stoppage time as a result of Valencia's injury.

Celebrating a draw. 🙄

with the Scottish champions sticking doggedly to the gameplan devised by manager Walter Smith.

Over 40 years in football and he comes up with this, anyway, didn't the Italians devise this gameplan?

rugby= loads of camp guys acting like men

I would pay good money to see you say that directly to the face of a rugby player. 😆

Well played Rangers. Got the result they came for. Man tud looked very poor

Just goes to show how poor the Scottish league is if they have to defend with 10 men in the group games! Perhaps they shoud change the competition to the Worthy Champions League. Going to hit United on the break, were they? 🙄

The game is about results imo and the best that Rangers could possibly expect is a draw. They played towards that draw achieved the result and should be applauded for their endeavor not castigated for their tactics. It might have been boring and frustrating to watch but win at home and draw away is the way to progress in the competition. Valiantly attacking in the name of entertainment or chasing a result (at Old Trafford!) is just mental. The fact that merchandise united made 10 changes just shows how lightly they were taking it. Maybe the people criticising Rangers should look closer to "home".

You have a valid point that it's about money and not the game. Feguson has been accused of fielding weak teams before and not showing respect, he's won some, drawn some and lost some. As he has when fielding his strongest team, I also respect his ability as a manager, his record speaks for itself.
Football without the entertainment will soon lose the money that it needs, and I'm sure that Rangers will be happy with the money that they're making from the CL, but as a way of scuring the future of football and the finance needed they are not good.

I also think that the best that Rangers could hope for is a win, if not, why bother turning up? If you go into a competition without optimism, you shouldn't be there. It's a pi55 poor manager who can only motivate his team for a draw.
A good manager will motivate his team to win.

Are you having a ****ing laugh? How could they not? They were playing a controversial 10-0-0 formation. Believe it or not, there's another aspect to the game. Its called attacking

Calm down cupcake and loosen your rollers.

I didn't say it was attractive- only stating an opinion based on ManU:-
* didn't score at home.
* didn't really trouble the Rangers goalie.
* Rangers gave away very few fouls in dangerous areas.
* Rangers gave away very few corners.

ie. good defending in my book. Agreed,Rangers have a weak squad and poor attack.

Perhaps they shoud change the competition to the Worthy Champions League

What does that mean? Only Champions of the Leagues or only teams that have the financial clout to be able to spend vast amounts of money in the transfer market?

anyway back to the OP, I hope the young lad makes a full recovery.

Horrible injury to valencia, hopefully he recovers to full fitness.
I am afraid you have to look at the big picture, the gulf in finances between the 2 clubs these days is vast to say the least. Rangers could not even afford to take 2 of man u's lower end squad players on loan in the summer as they could not afford there wages, that says it all. Rangers performed very well with the means they have, for anyone who thinks they should be going to old trafford and playing lovely attacking football its time to get real…

Did you see my link? A small low finance team beat the mighty Barcelona. An equally poor team, Getafe, have a very small budget and are 7th in the Spanish league. The salary bill for the squad was 500,000€ against Real Madrid's being millions.

Being small and underfinanced is not/should not be an excuse for 10 man defending.

Even the mighty Wrecsam could beat Arsenal, Oporto, Newcastle Utd, Spurs, West Ham, etc, etc.

fluke result or do you think they will finish in the top 4 of the spanish league?

Im sorry but playing one of the best teams in the world your are not going to go gung ho for the win, that is just reckless!

Rangers defended superbly by closing down man utd very quickly and getting bodies behind the ball. The gap between scottish and english footy is massive and I think rangers got what they hoped for away from home.

With the likes of Rooney, Owen, Valencia etc able to pounce at any moment pushing men forward would most likely cost rangers a goal.

And yeas Rangers wanted a win but the odds were heavily against them. Teams like Chelsea & Aresnal would not be to dihearted if they got a point at old trafford.

Think people have to look at the bigger picture rather than just how it was to watch!

fluke result or do you think they will finish in the top 4 of the spanish league?

Hecules or Getafe?

Fluke win or not, The argument of low finances doesn't wash, pi55 poor strategy does. Several of the barcelona player were tired, so maybe not a fluke. But what is a guarantee is that if Hercules shat themselves and defended with ten men they wouldn't have won. Attack and you have a chance of winning, defend and you are demonstrating a complete lack of ambition.

Im sorry but playing one of the best teams in the world your are not going to go gung ho for the win, that is just reckless!

Very defeatist and they shouldn't be in the competition then. At least they should play to the best of their ability and defending with 10 men can't be to the best of their ability, or is it? Do they have no pride?
Why not go gung-ho they might get a fluke and entertain at the same time.

One of the things I like about Man Utd is their attacking mentality, they are always thinking about going forward.

Very defeatist and they shouldn't be in the competition then.

don simon i've never heard so much guff in my life. THe longer a team stays in the competition, the more money. (That's what footballs about nowadays is it not?) The more money, the more to buy better & bigger squad.

don simon i've never heard so much guff in my life.

Does that mean you disagree with my opinion then or my opinion is wrong? But I will wager that you have.

THe longer a team stays in the competition, the more money. (That's what footballs about nowadays is it not?) The more money, the more to buy better & bigger squad.

I basically agree with that, but equally a professional team should be playing to win. As I said earlier if the football is not attractive, fans will not watch and there will be no money.

I simply don't see the pride in playing for a draw. If they are not good enough to play at the top level, then they shouldn't. Money isn't always going to buy you success, Middlesborough? Blackburn Rovers? Even Real Madrid currently? Good management will. Playing for the money with a poor manager isn't a good long term strategy. And a 10 man defence is not a good game plan and does not demonstrate in my opinion a good mananger. Playing for the win might bring flukey result, but it will bring you more fans and supporters which might be a better long term strategy.

Football is about making money through entertaining people.

I would pay good money to see you say that directly to the face of a rugby player

It would be pretty tricky to gauge his reaction through all the fake blood. Puffs.

😉

A good manager does what he has to not to lose the game. Take a mtb race, gung ho attack and 9 times outa 10 you blow up, whereas if you play conservtavely you have a chance of being with the leader.

Same applies here, a point could take them through to the next stage, where as if they had lost it then its an uphill struggle.

If rangers do the same in the next game then its poor management as they need to win but 1st game of the campaign its important not to lose. Morale will be high and they proved they can defend well.

If they get to the next stage then it brings in a lot of revenue, where as having an enetrtaining first match which they lose does nothing for them. Walter assesed his opposition and kept them out, pretty much what most managers would do. Unless there are new rules to footy then this arguement aint really valid!

Looks like he's definitely out for the full season. Poor bugger!

It absolutely bloody infuriates me watching 'games' like that. come for a nil nil. Get a nil nil. Result? Not for anyone who had the misfortune to watch it. Absolute shite!. If everyone went out with the attitude that Rangers did tonight then Champions league games will soon hold the same edge-of-the-seat excitement as your average formula 1 procession

But the Rangers fans may have a different view. For them they have a better chance of progressing (although slim) consequently more games in Europe, more exposure, the ability to maybe attract better players and they will earn more money.
If Manchester United were good enough they would have broken them down. Even Fergusion admitted they created few chances.

I also recall Ferguson commenting (after Liverpool went to Old Trafford and beat them 1:0)
"They came here to get a goal then sit back" WTF does that mean? They just came here to win?

I particulalrly enjoyed the 3:3 result at the weekend. Everton scoring twice in extra, time or as the saying goes "they dont like it up em"!!

Everton adopted the total opposite view to Rangers. They played to win it from the off. I don't think they were feeling particularly inferior.

And I don't think any United fan will have the audacity to complain about anyone banging in two in extra time. I seem to recall us doing that on one quite memorable evening 🙂

I'm not a betting man but looking at some betting blogs the odds were

Match Odds: (Decimals)

Manchester United – 1.20 BetFred

Draw – 7.00 Bet365

Rangers – 19.00 WilliamHill

(Employed) Football managers are pragmatists in the main, not gung ho optitmists

Everton adopted the total opposite view to Rangers. They played to win it from the off. I don't think they were feeling particularly inferior.

Everton were at home were they not?

Personally I think the Champions League should just be for teams that have won their respective national league championships. As it is, it's too heavily biased in favour of the affluent teams of England, Spain, Italy, France and Germany. There are 50 countries in Europe. Granted, the champions of San Marino might not 'deserve' to play the likes of Real Madrid or AC Milan in some people's eyes, but it could still be a great competition.

The FA Cup is widely regarded as the finest club competition in football. The lowest Sunday League sides have a chance to win it, theoretically. And you get 'cupsets' like Bournemouth beating Man U, and Barnsley reaching the semi-finals in 2008.

So, you could have a preliminary qualifying round, with maybe teams that have won it automatically qualifying. you could still have 32 teams for the league stages, and the usual suspects will still probably be in the last 16. None of this 3 teams from one country in the semi finals nonsense though.

As a Liverpool fan, I am aware that our 2005 victory would be invalidated by my idea, but also so would Man Utd's 1999 last-gasp win over Bayern Munich…

To put the Rangers defensive performance and why Smith would be quite happy with the result at OT. Portugal's league must be about on par with Scotlands,if not better. Braga go to Arsenal and get humped 6-0, sure it would be good to watch if you're a goona but not if you're an Arsenalista.

Personally I think the Champions League should just be for teams that have won their respective national league championships.

+1

And make it an open cup draw like the FA Cup.

It's just become a money making machine for the top tier clubs in the main countries. Just another lucre tossoff while the "lesser" clubs look hungrily through the window.