Premier League - Parker not convinced by United

Eurosport - Wed, 01 Oct 23:50:00 2008

Despite a 3-0 win over Aalborg, former England defender Paul Parker is yet to be convinced by Manchester United's early season form.

2008-2009 Manchester United Dimitar Berbatov - 0

"Three wins out of three, Wayne Rooney is back on goalscoring form and Dimitar Berbatov has opened his goal account - after a shaky start to the season, things are starting to look up for United.

Or are they?

I'm still not entirely convinced the champions have hit their stride yet. Just over two weeks ago I said there was still more to come from them and, despite the recent upturn in fortunes, that view has not changed.

United's win over AaB Aalborg in the Champions League capped off a run of three wins and two draws - including one away at Chelsea - in all competitions, but for me performances are just as important as results.

Forget about the three points, there's nothing better than a good performance to give players the confidence they need to go and win the next match.

And on the pitch over the past few weeks United have failed to demonstrate that they are the finished article quite yet.

Take the game in Denmark. United gave the ball away cheaply and did not convince against one of the poorest sides in the competition. That the Danish side have Marek Saganowski - a player who could not even make the grade in the Championship - leading their line speaks volumes.

If it had been Arsenal playing at the Energi Nord Arena, the Danish champions would have ended up on the receiving end of a mauling - but United never threatened to do that.

They gave the ball away far too cheaply when they should have been dominating possession and giving Aalborg the run-around.

We've seen it before and United's away form in the competition still worries me. And with trips to Celtic Park and Villarreal still to come, it's not going to get any easier for them. Ferguson can definitely expect more of a battle in Scotland and Spain than the one his side got in Denmark.

But it was good to see Berbatov get on the scoresheet, although his muted celebrations after having found the back of the net were a little odd. His reaction to the first in particular was akin to that of a player who has just netted the sixth goal in an FA Cup drubbing of a lower league minnow, not his first in a United shirt in a Champions League game.

He still seems to be trying to understand what it means to score for a club like United. It will be interesting to see how he reacts to scoring in a 'bigger' Premier League game.

One other pleasing aspect of the game was the introduction of Rafael Da Silva in my old position at right-back. The young Brazilian did well enough and, although on occasion he is too keen to go to ground, he seems to pose a real threat coming forward.

That is something that Wes Brown doesn't really give United, although I don't agree that the England man has been overtaken in the pecking order by Rafael. I know the boss had said he would not experiment with his side in such an important game, but the Brazilian got the nod ahead of Wes purely because it was as good a time as any to give him a run out. I'm sure Wes will be back in the starting line-up for the next game.

Rafael was not born to defend - he was born to run at defences with the ball at his feet - but with coaching, the defensive side of his game can only improve. And at United, the boy is in the best possible place to make that happen."

Paul Parker was speaking to Mike Hytner / Eurosport

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  1. Parker united is the best team in England. And they­ have done this over a number of occasions in football­ winning games depends where you play, u make sure u­ collect maximum points time to show your prowes is­ limited and a team improves with time from the start of­ the premier leage players are not yet at their best­ still ajusting to the pase of the game and tactics that­ other teams eploy

    from Donald Botswana

    From donald, on Thu 9 Oct 9:28AM

  2. Parker united is the best team in England and they have­ done this over a number of occasions in football­ winning games depends where you play u make sure u­ collect maximum points time to show your prowes is­ limited and a team improves with time from the start of­ the premier leage players are not yet at their best­ still ajusting to the pase of the game and tactics that­ other teams eploy

    from Donald Botswana

    From donald, on Thu 9 Oct 9:25AM

  3. Parker united is the best team in England and they have­ done this over a number of occasions in football win­ game depends where you play u make sure u collect­ maximum points time to show your prowes is limited and­ a team improves with time from the start of the premier­ leage plays are not yet at their best still ajusting to­ the pase of the game and tactics that other teams eploy­

    from Donald Botswana

    From donald, on Thu 9 Oct 9:24AM

  4. paul is jz jealous of the fact that he didnt achieve­ much as a player and sometimes i wonder what united­ see,s in him to the extent that he played for­ united,and in all the united game i have watched from d­ achives,paul is the worst right back united ever­ contracted...no disrespect but pls mr paul parker,shut­ up,ok?

    From Prisca O, on Sun 5 Oct 6:09AM

  5. The Premiership is a marathon not a sprint so too is­ the Champions League. Manchester United's first­ task is to come top of their group; win all or most of­ your home games and draw or even win your away games­ and your top. The REAL work comes in the knockout­ stages!

    From jonathan g, on Fri 3 Oct 3:17PM

  6. shut up paul

    From Manu_Bal, on Thu 2 Oct 5:08PM

  7. WHAT PARKER THINKS IS NOT WHAT THE SKIES WILL LET­ HAPPEN, ARSENAL DID NOT MAUL HULL, SO THEY COULD HAVE­ LOST AS WELL TO THIS DANISH SIDE.LOOK AT BETTER CHELSEA­ SWEATING FOR A DRAW IN ROMANIA, I FOOTBALL PAUL....ALL­ TEAMS ARE NOT YET CONVINCING

    From agahadz1, on Thu 2 Oct 3:26PM

  8. pp you know everything thats why your a manager of a­ top club!

    From chris, on Thu 2 Oct 1:15PM

  9. Maybe he can make another comment about chelsea vs­ cluj. CLUJ??

    From Muhammad, on Thu 2 Oct 2:32AM

  10. Im' a United fan, but Parker's drivel is @#$%.­ There's 20 teams in the Prem, and look at the­ positions of Villa & Hull! How about a positive­ article for a change? Telling us how they do it?
    Eh,­ probably not, Parker hasn't got enough knowledge of­ the game for that.

    From optimus prime, on Thu 2 Oct 1:11AM

  11. Paul Parker should really start to look on the positive­ side of life, apperanty Man U aren't in good enough­ form to win the prem but Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal­ aren't good enough either, he constantly says those­ teams can't keep up Man Us pace. So that means none­ of those teams will win the prem this year, so who­ will? Apperantly Tottenham are inmproving in form.

    From clivewilliamson, on Wed 1 Oct 10:24PM

  12. truth is bitter ...man utd was poor ...with such­ players they were supposed to play with more confidence­ and possesion

    From licksidemony, on Wed 1 Oct 7:02PM

  13. why is it considered an invalid comment to state the­ view that paul parker was a better defender than he is­ journalist/pundit?

    From lanegold, on Wed 1 Oct 6:50PM

  14. once again the knives are out only three goals. well i­ would take three goals every game. keep it up lads and­ prove them wrong

    From nevilltate, on Wed 1 Oct 6:32PM

  15. I understand that Paul Parker used to play for Man Utd,­ but this blog is called "Premier League",­ hasn't anybody told him there are more teams beside­ Man Utd in the Premier League.Come on Paul lets have a­ bit less and a bit more on other teams as well.

    From p.ukwarsaw, on Wed 1 Oct 6:07PM

  16. oh yea "akintayo a" I am tottaly with you man­ "Berba didn't impress me one bit despite­ scoring twice" yea he should have scored 1 milion­ times yea that would impress you ...I think..jackass

    From stoyanovj, on Wed 1 Oct 5:33PM

  17. Utd always get a poor start to the season. e.g Last­ Season. Their worst start to a premiership campaign in­ what...8 years? Still went on to be crowned Champions­ of England and Champions of Europe

    Come on you reds!­ =D

    From Huw Owen, on Wed 1 Oct 5:19PM

  18. Paul who!!!!!!

    Parker wasn't he the driver of Lady­ Pen in the Thunderbirds????

    From Rob, on Wed 1 Oct 5:16PM

  19. whatever it is.paul parker has never been consistent on­ his comments. thats it.

    From Sharma, on Wed 1 Oct 5:13PM

  20. hu cares

    From jay.jaypercival, on Wed 1 Oct 5:11PM
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