Comments on: Evra vs Heinze / Saha vs Ruud – a Manchester United fan speaks out

By: ThaReaper01

ThaReaper01 — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 16:12:32 +0000

The fuck? Giggs covers for Evra? Really? Even though Giggs rarely tracks back. He never helps Evra in defense like you claim. TBH, I think Vidic is an average defender, but is great in the air so it covers for his blunders.

Going forward, Evra is one of the few, along with Dani Alves and Ashley Cole, who have a finished product. If this was made in Evra’s early days at Nice, then I might agree, but at Man U he has been one of the best in the world. Still can believe you said Giggs covers for him. In 2008 no less! haha

I can’t argue with the Saha point. He was never as prolific as promised, but he was still a good player

By: Ahmed Bilal

Ahmed Bilal — Tue, 27 May 2008 11:23:10 +0000

Evra’s defending has improved, specifically his tackling and anticipation. His positioning is still poor and Vidic / Giggs do a lot of covering for him.

Saha – what? you really need to think what you’re arguing against, and what arguments you’re using. Go home and think. It’ll help

By: Conor

Conor — Tue, 27 May 2008 09:32:54 +0000

“Saha is an average finisher, Evra is an average defender. THAT is what they bring to the team – average finishing and average defending.”

Hindsight is a wonderful thing eh? Evra is now one of the best left backs in the world and Saha was one of the main reasons for us winning the league that season.

By: dave

dave — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 10:15:15 +0000

If we had Drogba or Henry this season, are we invincible? If Saha suddenly did a Drogba, would anyone have slated him. With that said, we still need another striker next season. For all of Saha’s worth, we still need another striker that can really put away those one-on-ones ala Henry.

And on a more serious note, Evra vs Heinze, I’d still choose Heinze over Evra when both are fully fit and on form. What he adds to our defense is invaluable. He add that Terry-type influence to our defense. Before Vidic and RIo started firing, he added steel to our defense and dramatically improve a very weak defense. With him patrolling that left flank, we would not have lost the game to Arsenal and countless other goals. If Giggs still was that flying Welshman, Heinze will be untouchable.

By: Tabasco Sauce

Tabasco Sauce — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 14:28:46 +0000

Well, no one has said it so I will…You dont know what you are talking about…

Just kidding…Actually, I dont disagree a lot with what you are saying with regards to the attributes of the players in question. But I think you vastly underestimate the importance of these players, Saha in particular.

Why do you think we have been so dominant in the goal scoring department when Saha has played this year? With his pace and trickery, he forces teams to play much deeper than they would have with Ruud who ONLY lacking was blistering pace..That opens up areas for Scholes, Carrick and Rooney to drop into and stretches teams who also have to contend with the width that our wingers and fullbacks provide…

By: bigmac

bigmac — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 11:49:19 +0000

Gaby has not looked himslef this season but will return and take evras place…
as for the other argument…MUPPETS!!!!!!!!!!!!…
Ruud was an unhappy chappy last season and wanted out
his all round game comes no where near sahas
we are scoring more goals this season primarily coz we are not dependent on ruud
remember 1999 neither cole or yorke wud be considered finishers on ruuds level but together they were unreal..same this year we have saha ronaldo and rooney..
the most important factor of united being top of the league right now is that van is not here…having said that i loved the guy and wish him well but sometimes a move is the best thing for everyone…a teams scoring responsibility at the highest level cannot revolve around one player and it has meant that ferguson is finally seeing the folly in playing 4-5-1..and as for torres yes that would be a great signing but don’t expect any other major signing if we get him..i’d be more inclined to put my money on hargreaves and maybe david souaza

By: legendary keano

legendary keano — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 11:26:42 +0000

interesting debate unfolding here. Agree with those that prefer evra to heinze this season. The reasons outlined are 1. heinze not fully fit/had a decent run
2. evra got the bit between his teeth and improving rapidly
3. giggsys lack of pace which needs compensating
4. most teams don’t attack us so we need our fullbacks to be good on the ball.
5. once heinze is fully fit, he will push evra and it will be a matter of picking and chosing depending on whether we are playing fulham/charlton/arsenal or whether we need to play blackburn/bolton/chelski – the choice would be obvious in my eyes.
moving on to the striker situation
1. saha is good enough – for the bench
2. ruud was good for goals but not for getting the team to play free flowing attacking football ala arsenal. In all honesty he would have been a predator had he gone to chelski as they like their effective football and thats exactly what ruud is – an effective footballer.
3. we need someone who can better saha at finishing and then we have the perfect footballing striker. I think torres would fit the bill but he would cost in excess of 25m. A cheaper yet as effective option would be ibrahimovic who seems a very good young player with room for improvement.
4. I would rather spend 10-15m on a striker and look to get a giggs replacement in, and looking at recent speculation, bale could fit in giggs shoes quite adequately.
5. Hargreaves is a must, no alternatives please.
All in all, id be happy to spend 12-15m on zlatan, 6-8m on bale, 15 on hargreaves and looking further forward to next summer id want a replacement for neville in terms of miguel from valencia or lahm from bayern.

By: mkl

mkl — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 20:29:09 +0000

Ahmed,

Well argued. However, I must somewhat disagree.

I don’t want to go to battle between Evra and Heinze. I believe though that they both are brilliant left backs. Perhaps both in top-3 in Premier League. The problem is that they are so different and with United having a possession in most of its games, I think more forward-minded Evra can arguably do better job. If I had to choose one, I would choose Heinze every day though…

But about Saha and Ruud. It is hard to know why Ruud was sold to Real. It wasn’t merely because what happens on field. But I think it has done good for our United. Giggs and Ronaldo on the wings are getting more out of them and Scholes is also pushing up more. So you cannot really compare them together. Ruud is a much better player individually, but for the United team, Saha seems to be better.

In the end it is not a game of individuals but a team.. There are better players around than Saha though – Torres could suit well for United, rather than Villa, for example.

By: A

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 20:03:48 +0000

I agree with most of what you said and i dont really despute it, but all im saying in reference to this article and many you have written over the past few months, that for some reason you keep on thinking that Rossi is this brilliant and prolific striker that is mr. consitent. Lets be honest, he has never played more than one game in a row, other than for the reserves, and i think we can all agree that he is too good for the reserves. He scored an incredible number of goals in the reserves but the reserves are call reserves for a reason, they arnt good enough to make even the bench. So with all due respect, lets not bank on the guy too much, for all we know he could give us absolutely nothing come next year. And also the Evra Heinze situation is a bit different in the sense that while Ruud was whining and complaining, Heinze has said he wants to stay and fight, guess that shows great character from the man.

By: Igor

Igor — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 15:20:50 +0000

Ahmed – after reading your first two paragraphs of this article, the whole flair vs. effectiveness debate, how can you not be a Chelsea fan these past few years? They’re the standard-bearer for ugly effectiveness.