FOR THE LOVE OF MANCHESTER UNITED FC.

UNITED AGAINST RACISM!

2012-02-13T22:33:00.002+03:00

I won't buy into all the talk about how Evra should not have done what he did at the final whistle on Saturday because I doubt anyone would have put up with the hell he's been through these past few months.
Firstly, to be racially abused, then condemned for reporting it, then being branded a liar, then being booed for being racially abused----and you still want the fellow to walk off his moral victory parade like nothing ever happened?

Since Saturday, Liverpool and that donkey have apologised for their behaviour so its not quite worth going into the whole fiasco all over again but the Dippers will be well aware of the damage that has been done to their brand.

Enough of them; Unite were brilliant again on the day. We've played Arsenal, Liverpool (twice), City and Chelsea over the past month or so and I can't recall us having a terrible outing----the kinds that saw us lamenting our midfield showings.

It's safe to say that the manager struck gold by convincing Paul Scholes to give us another few months. I mean, who would have thought that we'd have Tom Cleverely fit but fail to accommodate him in the middle?

Wayne Rooney seems to have hit another purple patch as he's made it 4 goals in a week. Let's hope this one lasts all the way through May. David De Gea yet again pulled off a points winning save by denying Johnson what looked like would be the equaliser. He's managed to silence one or two critics for now. Hopefully he regains much of his confidence now.

So after being written off heading into the sticky run of games we've been involved in, we've managed to come away with all of 7 points out of 9. If we can maintain that level of performance even in the so called easier games, we will ensure that City will have sleepless nights in the run in.
For now though, a first taste of Europa League football.

FROM THE JAWS OF DEFEAT----CHELSEA VS UNITED REVIEW!

2012-02-06T14:04:00.000+03:00

I can't quite remember us having so many goal laden games between the top teams in the EPL. It's usually picky and tight with a ll sorts of tactics from the managers chocking the life and entertainment value out of the games. This season though, it's been anything but.

However, at 3-0 down yesterday, the game kind of had that look of a one-sided affair, at least in terms of the scoreline. We've been magnificent throughout this big game period but have been unfortunate at times so the the trend seemed destined to go on until Sturridge brought down Evra in the box. Wayne Rooney made it 3-1 and suddenly it was game on.
I couldn't believe our luck when Webb pointed to the spot again, this time because Welbeck was tripped by Ivanovic. Wayne made it 3-2 and now the game had an inevitability about it. On came Scholes and Chicharito and before long it was 3-3. The Mexican yet again turning up with the goods in an important fixture.

There was all of 7 minutes left after Hernandez drew us level and at that point, given how well we'd played, I wanted the fourth goal. Sadly it wasn't to be but in the end, I'll take the point, if not for the fact that we never really seem to get anything out of games at Stamford Bridge regardless of what form we're in. So given that at one point we were 3-0 down, kudos to the team for not letting their heads drop and chipping away to ensure that we take a point from a ground we usually get nothing from.

We've got Liverpool on Saturday next and given that right now we have most of our players back, I'd like to think that only a win will do for us on the day.

ONWARDS AND UPWARDS!
P.S LEST WE FORGET: FEB 6 1958.

REACTION TO STOKE WIN AND A LOOK AHEAD TO CHELSEA ON SUNDAY!

2012-02-02T10:41:00.002+03:00

Paul Scholes put in a masterclass of a performance yet again as United eased their way to a 2-0 win over Stoke at home on Tuesday.

Albeit the goals did come from a couple of spot kicks, United easily controlled the game and nullified any threat whatsoever that Stoke could muster. I thought that the passing and vision of Scholes was world class and now I'm beginning to wonder if he is worth a contract extension. I mean we could still go out and finally buy his replacement in the summer but let's face it, no midfielder on the market at the moment can pull the strings in the middle the way he does, even at that age.

Berbatov and Hernandez each did well to convert a spot-kick but I thought the Bulgarian should have got a third if not for wasteful finishing.

Special mention to Paul Pogba for coming on and showing why he deserves a place in the manager's squad every week. Let's face it, none of the midfielders that we have at the moment have it all in their locker the way he does. In his 20 minute cameo, he showed that he could hold the ball, win the ball, pass the ball with precision, ghost late in the box ready to pounce on a loose ball. That is the kind of player we need at the moment and although he's only 18, if he's good enough, he's old enough.

We've got to go to Stamford Bridge on Sunday---a ground we've not won at in the league since 2003. We've been unlucky lately there so we're due some good luck. The injury crisis became something like a nightmare with the news that our first two goalkeepers were injured and sick respectively but it is expected that we'll have Wayne, Nani, Young and possibly Cleverely available for selection on Sunday. We need all the fit bodies we can muster for Sunday.

Darron Gibson did us a huge favour by thumping one into the Citizen's net and hence allowing us to go into the weekend joint top. Couldn't have had a bigger break going into two difficult fixtures!
Onwards and Upwards!

POST LIVERPOOL NOTES!

2012-01-30T20:46:00.000+03:00

Manchester United suffered yet another Cup exit, this time at the hands of the bin Dippers at Anfield.

Well first of all, I thought we did well enough on the day to win. It's not often that United dominate the midfield of such a big game but we did.

The issue I have with the performance though is that we failed to trouble Reina enough. We were a bit short in the final third.

Now whilst De Gea will take a large chunk of the blame for the opening goal, none of our defenders managed to get off the ground with Agger, which in my opinion is as much culpable.
I also thought that De Gea could have dealt with Kuyt's winner because, let's be honest, it wasn't in the corner. If he had spread himself , he could have probably got a hand on it. Then the fact that he went for the save with is feet was also a tad worrying.

It's always gutting to lose at Anfield and it was more gutting that after getting past more difficult opponents in the third round, we failed to get past a Liverpool team that didn't play well on the day.

That leaves us with the Europa League and the League for glory this season, so I hope with the returning players and the relatively less congested fixture list, we shall give the title a real go, besides, it has always been priority for me.

We've got Stoke at home in the league tomorrow, so here's to three points and a return to winning ways.

POST LE ARSE QUIKIE!

2012-01-24T17:35:00.000+03:00

Manchester United recovered from the shock of seeing City go 6 points clear in the most cruel fashion to record an important 2-1 win over Arsenal at the Emirates.

Okay; This blog is not one to gone on about the praises of heroes on the day because the media and fans alike have already done that. I usually save my space to point out one or tow things that I think are being overlooked.

Firstly, as far as the goalkeepers go, it's a case of choose who and forgo what. De Gea is by far better than Lindegaard when it comes to ball distribution but the Dane can argue that he's better than the Spaniard when it comes to catching balls even amidst a crowd of players. Okay, the Dane has not caught one or two in his time but he is marginally better.
Given the rigours of the EPL and the little or no protection keepers get from the man in the middle, Lindegaard is the less risky option.

Chris Smalling is now the next best thing we have to Vidic. It's fair to argue now that the young Englishman is ahead of Rio in the pecking order.
Paul Scholes was worth the gamble. It went unnoticed at the weekend that he switched play to Valencia's wight wing that was devoid of Arsenal players and that gave the null a chance to skin Arshavin and beast his way into the box to tee up Welbeck for the winner.

The rest of the talking points have already been exhausted by Her Majesty's press.

The importance of the result at the weekend couldn't have been overstated. We've given City that much to think about over their 'FA Cup break'. But of anything, they'll now be aware that the Champions are not going to give up their crown without a fight---whether they have the temperament to see out the job remains to be seen.

ONWARDS AND UPWARDS!

PAUL HELPS UNITED TO THREE POINTS

2012-01-16T21:09:00.000+03:00

I was talking to a colleague the other day and we came to the conclusion that Paul Scholes is doing what he's doing simply for United. I don't buy the stuff of missing the game and all. I think he's seen his club in big trouble as far as the midfield is concerned and thought that he'd see them through the season as the midfield completes its morphing. I think its down to his sole love for the club.

The Ginger Prince opened the scoring on Saturday on the cusp of half-time with one of those famous late runs in the box that found him at the far post unmarked. His tackling undoubtedly remains the same but it was nice to see our midfield boast some authority with Carrick and Scholes in a sort of competition to spray as many passes as possible. Carrick, for me got that particular accolade with the pass of the game to Welbeck midway the first half. It was simply majestic.

Carrick would of course go on to get himself on the score sheet as well after Welbeck had sealed the win for us. Welbeck himself was the toast of many fans once again and it's easy to see why the manager has opted to put him ahead of Chicharito in the pecking order.

That said, Valencia was the man of the match. The Ecuadorian endured a tough start to the season but he is fast re-establishing himself in the United first team squad with a string of fine displays out on the right wing side. It's just that the lad has regained his appetite to beat his man and put that cross in the box. As such, his assists would be much more than the 5 he has if the forwards were putting away most of the chances he creates. Wayne Rooney in particular passed up an open goal in the second half---wasn't a particularly good day for him anyway.

It was nice to assert more pressure on City ahead of their game at the DW stadium tonight but more importantly because the next few fixtures will not be as easy as we found it on Saturday.

Onwards and Upwards!

POST DERBY NOTES!

2012-01-10T16:00:00.001+03:00

In the end, my gut feeling came to pass. For the past five years, Manchester United have gone into every game as favourites (with the exception of last years' European Cup final). That favourites tag does put players under immense pressure to get a result lest the hell will break loose.
After THAT defeat to City at home in the league in October, our noisy neighbours suddenly found themselves huge favourites for Sunday's Cup fixture. In fact, many United fans were looking for a performance in this one, and not quite the result that seemed out of reach.
But alas, it's the FA Cup and being underdogs in this competition, in many ways, does make you 'favourites' in a twisted sense. Playing as underdogs in a huge fixture for the first time in quite a while was always going to work in United's favour---I mean, haven't we always been at our best when our backs are up against the wall?

The team News going into the derby couldn't have been more dramatic. I had ignored the Paul Scholes story earlier last week because I dismissed it as one of those from which lazy journalists sought to make quick money so I was caught dumbfounded by the news that he was on the bench.
Then the manager who is an expert at giving journalists misleading team news in his Friday press conferences, named Chris Smalling in the starting lineup again----meaning Valencia could finally play in his customary right wing spot.

Wayne Rooney rose well to send us wild within the first ten minutes and then kissed the club crest to send a message or two to City. Then Vincent Kompany got himself sent off by going in the tackle with both feet off the ground. Now, whilst the ABUs will tell you that it wasn't a red, it should be pointed out that Chris Foy acted to the letter of the law and hence cannot be faulted for not exercising his discretion.
We would go on to dominate the first half and add to our tally through a brilliant take by Welbeck and Wayne Rooney from a re-bound off his spot-kick.

The second half however told of a different story as we became slack in possession and let City force us into mistakes that they profited from. the manager was displeased about it-----calling it carelessness but I hope we somehow improve our ball retention for the remainder of the season because it has cost us possession far too easily over the last few games.
To be fair City did put up a good show in that second period but Roy Keane summed it up brilliantly when he said that you can give City all the credit you like but they're out of the Cup! Couldn't have put it any better.

It was even more pleasing to get Liverpool away in the fourth round of the Cup as that is another big one that requires no player motivation---much the same way as this game didn't need the manager to rally the players after the Newcastle defeat. Looking forward to that.

Finally congratulations to Wayne, Sir Alex and Vidic upon their FIFA honours last night.

Onwards and Upwards!

OF THE FESTIVE PERIOD AND THE NEW YEAR SLUMBER!

2012-01-05T18:00:00.002+03:00

Forgive the inactivity on this blog. I spent my festive season in a part of the world that is yet to fully appreciate the phenomenon that is the Internet.

The last time I blogged, United were heading into the busy Christmas period and I warned of the difficulty of playing against QPR and Fulham in tight pitches but much to our credit, the lads showed up in those games and we duly won, handsomely at that. Now, I worry about narrow pitches because United have traditionally relied on wing play as the source of their attacks. It was thence shocking to see us lose against Blackburn on our very own expansive pitch. It seemed bigger for us than it did for Blackburn who were able to combine attack and defence much better or at least more effectively than we did.

And just when we were about to write off that defeat with a blip, we allow Newcastle United to stand in our faces and claim all three points against us last night. Its not often that United lose two games on the bounce but if this team does not show the hunger and variety of play to solve problems brought by different teams, we might just lose three on the bounce given that our next stop is at the Etihad Stadium.

It would be unfair for me not to point out the catastrophic injury list that we have at the moment but I can't help but ask why our players seems to be out in numbers during the season proper. I mean, take time and think back. For the past four seasons or so, we've been with at least half a dozen players in the hospital for just about every week. The 2008 season seems to be the last time we've been at full strength for most of the season. Is it ill-luck or is there something that we don't know about our medical team?

Apparently Sir Ales feels that there is no need to panic and although many fans are disagreeing with him, I'd like to think that he's the one who is answerable to every performance after every match so if there is anyone that does anything in the best interest of Manchester United, it's him. I'll trust him, as I have always done and look out for what he has to offer post match.

When all is said and done, we're still just three points behind City. Now we'd have taken this position back in November when the five point gap seemed a mountain as City kept winning. However, I doubt we can afford to lose any more ground on them. The unfortunate thing to take in is that we've let point slip during our honey-moon time in the fixture list. January and February are particularly difficult months for us in terms of opposition. We have to go to White Hart Lane, The Emirates, Stamford Bridge and a couple of other uneasy ones. It means that we have a job on our hands to stay in touch with City who will have it slightly easy in the meantime.
The reward for staying in touch, that is if we do it, is an easier run in in March and April that could see us wipe out City's lead in the same we did over Christmas.

The Question therefore is: Can we stay in Touch?

I'm sure the performance, not the result, on Sunday will go a long way in helping u find that out.

LOOKING AHEAD TO LOFTUS ROAD AND THE CHRISTMAS FEAST OF FOOTBALL

2011-12-15T16:47:00.002+03:00

Sir Alex has talked about using the depth of his squad over the busy Christmas schedule. No doubt that he has always used it to the club's advantage as statistics will show that we've usually done well over this period compared to our neighbours. In fact, since 2007, no club has taken more points in the six game December schedule than us.

Much as I respect the manager's take on this, if there is anything that we've learnt about this current Manchester United squad over the last few weeks is that we don't have a lot of depth in terms of quality. There will be a temptation of sending out a squad like the one we sent out against Crystal Palace---with all of 9 internationals but unable to get the result we shall need. Suffice it is to say that that is my major concern over this period.

In the past, we've had the February effect of the Champions League forcing us to save over players' fitness over this period. This season however, is different because we're not involved in the Champions League and I'm sure there are quite enough Europa league games to go around the squad players such that everyone is happy. The Premier League is effectively the biggest trophy that we can win now---yes even bigger than the Europa League so I'd rather that we keep our best weapons for it.

Part of the temptation will herald from the nature of the opposition that we're up against during this period. Granted, it looks like, at least on paper, that we have the easiest run of fixtures in the festive period compared to our title rivals. However, as we did make our Champions League group, complacency could make these easy looking games nightmares.

QPR have one of those old pitches that is a tad too narrow and the fans are right on top of you. The atmosphere can be a living hell for the opposition largely because it is likely to also influence the man in charge.

It means that you only do well there if you manage to silence their fans and cool their players by giving them nothing to work with. Chelsea for instance approached this fixture casually back in October and ended the game a goal and 2 men down. They left empty handed. Before their defeat at Stamford Bridge, City's hardest EPL fixture turned out to be at Loftus Road. The point being that Sunday may not be one of those games where we can afford to let the opposition build steam or take the lead hopping to mount a late comeback.

We take on Fulham on Wednesday and needless to say we should know what they're all about. This is likely to be the first game where the manager will tinker abit but it has to be said that Fulham are a well established force in the EPL now. They are very much in that B team category in the league. They now have players that have European experience given their two campaigns in the Europa league so that makes them unafraid of taking on teams like us, especially given our recent run of form.

Wigan and Blackburn remain North-West derbies and are the only games where even on a bad day, we might just be lucky enough to walk away with the loot. However, stranger things than them beating us have happened in this sport.

With City hosting Arsenal and Chelsea away at Spurs, we really cannot afford to let this chance of putting pressure on City go to waste. Fans have been talking about a blip that City will face at some stage this season but that can only be engineered by us constantly putting pressure on them in the weeks we play before them. Sunday is one such day and this time, the pressure could be bigger than ever before as a win would take us top of the league by a point. It is very likely that if we cut them loose, we might never get as close for the rest of the season.

That underlines the importance of playing our best team in this period and showing the hunger to keep our trophy.

SO COME ON UNITED!

MORE LIKE IT!

2011-12-12T15:30:00.001+03:00

Yes the opposition wasn't the sternest around but at the moment, we've been limping regardless who we're up against so I have to say that it was more like the Manchester United we know that turned up on Saturday. Quite frankly, we couldn't afford anything less.

City have been close to perfect this season and that has meant that we've had to step up our title charge even earlier than we usually do. We've been moaning about how they've not yet really been tested domestically but December is the month in which they come up against the kind of teams in the league that make your afternoon longer than you want to. That we had the opportunity to pile pressure on them going into the Chelsea game was a blessing because we blew one such opportunity against Newcastle. I'm pleased that we can now watch them with our feet up.

It was great to see Wayne and Nani get on the score sheet again. Wayne has possibly started a run and I hope he keeps shooting at goal rather than looking for that pass in the six yard box. To be honest, the one reason why I adored Cristiano and still do is because regardless of how many players are in the box, he will shoot at goal, if not with the aim of getting a deflection. Against Basel the other night, there was obviously no way we were going to pass that ball through their 2 layered wall of a defence and expect to score. Such games need players that are willing to take advantage of the little space outside the box and shoot at goal. If anything, the keeper is likely to be unsighted and that can heavily determine the outcome.

Next up is the very hectic Christmas schedule that has, overtime, come to be a very good indicator of who will come out on top come May. I hope we'll traditionally be up for it.

THE NADIR!

2011-12-09T18:43:00.001+03:00

Suffice it is to say that at the moment, it can't get any worse---or could it?

This late review is brought to you by the failure of a bus to hit me on my way home after the match and a couple of other failed suicide attempts.
It wasn't supposed to be like this but we made it be like this. Manchester United have the habit of doing things the hard way, but that comes with the danger that in the event those heroic stunts fail to come off, the disaster is as great as the success in times when they do come off.
Thursday morning's papers could easily have been filled with the great escape of United going two goals down but rallying late on to equalise, but it wasn't to be and as such, the club's name and reputation has taken a pummeling.

The Europa league is a competition that in the past we've taunted Liverpool fans about; Now we have to eat humble pie.
In truth, our only failure on the night was that we couldn't put the ball in the back of the net. But the one aspect of the game that I thought angered me most was the way we stood off Basel when they had the ball. It speaks volumes that both crosses into the box that resulted into goals against us, the crosser had all the time and space to pick out his man. None of our defenders made effort to close him down. We might be getting away with it at home but in Europe, against top class opposition, we've been punished heavily for it. That is as far as I'm getting into the game;

Moving on; it will be interesting to see the response that the players put up over the nest month as we have some winnable league games coming up. At the moment our season's saving grace is just the league title so you hope that now that our players have been given a harsh lesson, they'll be up for it. The one factor however that is determined to undo our season are the injuries that we're picking up. It's really bemusing that we went to America for pre-season, played six games, won all six games, with no player injured and then picked up a knock from the Community Shield right through to Wednesday. The Captain's season is now done with that Basel injury so we now have Mr. Evans and co to look to to keep our young goalkeeper sound. I think now is the time for Evans to show what he's made of---starting Wolves this Saturday.

NOTES FROM VILLA PARK WITH A LOOK AHEAD TO BASEL

2011-12-05T14:39:00.001+03:00

Another win, another 1-0 win, another drub performance albeit with an exhibition of defensive solidity----Manchester United went into the tea-time fixture at Villa Park under pressure as City had opened up an eight point lead earlier. The challenge therefore was to get the three points, which we did to keep up the pressure.
It was our fifth away victory of the season--equaling last season's total but the harsh reality is that last season can no longer be used as a yardstick to win this year's title.

Thing is, we were ''okay'' last season and that was enough to win us the league. This season, as did happen in 2005 with Chelsea, City have raised the bar. It means that ''okay'' may not be enough for us to win the league this year. We need to up the ante a little bit.

It was nice to see Jones get his first goal for the cub. His celebration with the manager was the highlight of the game. The one worrying stat that possibly explains our goal drought is that Wayne Rooney spent more time in our half than in the opposition penatly area. Why he's dropping deep even with two holders in the middle beats me. It was sad to see Javier join an already long list of casualties but equally god to see Danny return. What a chance for him to once again stake a claim.

Got a crucial game coming up in midweek in Switzerland---a game we cannot afford to lose. It was unthinkable that we would fail to make the last 16 in Europe in 2005. I'm entitled to think that its impossible to fail again this time round so I do hope that the players do themselves justice and get the win.

SO COME ON UNITED!

TEA AT VILLA PARK!

2011-12-02T15:14:00.001+03:00

Few things, if any, ever make my tea taste awful; In fact, I'd argue that just about everything in my life goes well at tea-time. It's why I've always enjoyed United's 5.30pm games on Saturday. If we play as well as we did last week against Newcastle, I think I'll have another good round of tea tomorrow.

This weekend, we play last on Saturday and as a result, by kick-off, in all probability, we could be eight points behind City and third behind Spurs as well. Last weekend was one of those we should not have let pass without the three points and quite frankly, because of that result, neither can this one. In fact, we play teams at the bottom half of the table throughout December---a good opportunity for us to make up for the poor rub of form in November.

The manger has been talking about how he wants to be top or within a point or two of the top at the start of the year, so I guess that means he'll do all in his power to see to it that we do not let City off the hook anymore than we've already done.

We travel to Birmigham to take on Villa without Tom, Michael, Dimitar, Fabio and Rafael plus Anderson of course. That still leaves us with a strong enough team to get the three and still be in the right shape to travel to Basel.

Here's to a good evening's Cup of Tea.

QUESTIONS FROM OLD TRAFFORD LAST NIGHT!

2011-12-01T14:50:00.001+03:00

I'm not getting into the details of the game because by now, unless you live under a cave, you've learnt that United lost their Carling Cup quarterfinal fixture against Crystal Palace. The following is not a knee-jerk reaction to the defeat but rather a few 'interesting' questions that have been playing on my mind for the last few weeks. Firstly, I'd like to categorically state that the young lads who came in last night did a job to keep us hopeful for the future, but I couldn't help but notice that there were 9 internationals out there as well.

So here goes; Do United train these days? If so, I'd like to find out how much emphasis is put on ball possession. How fit are the Da Silva twins? Is it possible for them to play 90 minutes for 2 straight games? Was Fabio signed as a long term replacement for Evra? If so, why are we desperate to get a left back in to challenge Pat? Has Valencia been the same player to you since the Champions League final? When was the last time we won at Old Trafford? When was the last time we won a game of football? Do our players understand the challenge ahead of them this season?

Again, just to point out, these questions have been doing the rounds in my head over the last few weeks during the matches that we've been playing.

Fair play to Crystal Palace, and it will only make this less hurting if they somehow go on to win this Cup.

DAYLIGHT ROBBERY!

2011-11-28T15:17:00.001+03:00

You get some, you lose some; Fair enough, but Saturday's penalty decision was all that much harder to take because the ref could and should have overruled the linesman's decision. Si r Alex quickly pointed to the game against Sunderland when the ref did overrule the linesman for what would have been a controversial penalty. I thought the ref was sure Rio got the ball and hence should not have bowed to the pressure of his assistant.

That said, we were bound to get punished for failing to be clinical infront of goal sometime. Winning 1-0 i great and says a lot about your defensive solidity but its never a safe lead. We missed the load of chances against Benfica and paid the price and did the same against Newcastle. After finding or feet at the back, I think its time we found that clinical touch infront of goal that we had at the start of the season.

It wasn't for a lack of trying though as Newcastle did defend resolutely when they could and rode their luck when they were dead cut through but that was after they drew level. Earlier in the season, we used to kill off games in the first half so that no sort of comeback was possible for our opponents. The number of chances that we put to waste before Ba scored the penalty came back to haunt us.

It was great that Hernandez got his first OT goal of the season but it speaks volumes that he got it in such lucky circumstances. Ultimately we've been lucky that this slip was not punished by City yesterday and we only remain 5 points behind. It will hurt that we could have been just three behind today.

The challenge remains for us to keep in touch for as long as possible.

OF SWANSEA, BENFICA AND NEWCASTLE!

2011-11-24T17:07:00.001+03:00

Two different results, two different performances.

United's fixture in Wales last weekend was pretty much like what we've been treated to in the past few weeks---a laboured show largely devoid of flair but with some grit at the back that has seen us on a run of five straight clean sheets. That run was also accompanied by the return of Captain Nemanja.

On Tuesday, against Benfica, the flair and mojo was back in the side and saw us post our best performance in over 2 months but the result was undesired. Vidic was suspended for the tie but seemed the grit of our game went with him cue the two gifts of goals the Portuguese outfit scored. The manager and coaching staff have to work out a way to keep our flair upfront without compromising the grit behind--you know, like its always been.

It has to be said that United deserve the position they find themselves in. At the conclusion of the Champions League draw, I thought, and indeed blogged here that we could have won the group by the end of October. Looking back now, I couldn't have been any further from the truth. It seemed the fact that the group was a plum one did get to the heads of those at the club. Sir Alex has so far, chopped and changed his side for Europe so much so that he himself has admitted that it has had an unsettling effect on the side.
It is sobering that we now have to go to Switzerland to book a place in the last eight and even then, we can only finish second.

The real punishment will be realised around February 2012 when you can surely expect a second round tie to look like this United vs Barca/Real/AC Milan/Inter/Bayern. . . when its not expected that such potential final fixtures should not be subject of a second round show.

Back home, we've got Newcastle United in the league this Saturday. We've been moaning about how City have not really had a rough run of fixtures but they go to Anfield on Sunday---a day after we play. This is the part where no other result other than three points will do. We've had our est start to the league since the 1993/94 season but like Chelsea did in 2005, City have raised the bar so we have no choice but to either step up or watch them buy our title.
Newcastle United have done well enough to have us worried for this one, but I do hope that the players understand that if we are to be where the manager wants us to at the start of the new year, we cannot afford to drop any further behind the leaders for that will give them room to recover fro whatever blip we're hopping for without doing much to their title challenge.

SO COME ON UNITED!

LOOKING AHEAD TO THE WEEKEND!

2011-11-15T15:16:00.001+03:00

Its been a long but much needed International break---so long that the media has found it necessary to print stories like 'Vidic to Madrid' or Ferdinand to MLS just to keep up their sales.
Thankfully for them, and armchair viewers of the incredible series that is the EPL, the drought comes to an end this Friday.

We're back in action on Saturday against Swansea City with us having to make the trip to Wales. Now the importance of this fixture cannot be overstated. For starters, nobody has won there so we have a jinx to break come tea time Saturday. City and Newcastle United play each other just before our game so we have to make the fixture count because either way, we'll finish Saturday either clearer of Newcastle or closer to the summit.
City don't look like they'll be giving away any points that easy this season, so its up to us to make sure that in the games they have stern opposition, we make them count.

The biggest plus for us that we should reap from this break is that we get to have Ashley Young and Tom Cleverley back for us. The team has looked short of ideas at times without them and the absence of Clev has made Wayne drop to the middle which has in turn taken something away from our attack. I do hope that on Friday, the manager blesses us with the news that we'll have them both available.

Finally it's also been refreshing to have an International break with most of our players afforded a bed rest. Rooney, Vidic, Rio, Clev, Young, Ando, are among the many that have not taken part in International duty for one reason or the other so we should be fresh enough for this mid-season kick-off. You just hope that the rest does them a world of good.

To be fair, its hard to imagine that we could dip in terms of performances after the break because we've been very poor between this and the last one. So far, the manager has got us to the basics of keeping things tight at the back after the City horror show and that has yielded four straight clean sheets---a remarkable feat given that we've not done that since the 2008/09 season. Hopefully we can now combine defensive solidity with flair performances that saw us win 5 out of 5 at the start of the season.

BRIEF NOTES FROM SATURDAY

2011-11-08T15:12:00.001+03:00

Manchester United treated us to another limp performance on Sir Alex's 25th anniversary at the club. Perhaps the sense of the occasion and the celebratory mood ahead of kick-off could have had an effect on the performance but it's not like we've been doing any better recently.
Luckily for us, Wes Brown forgot the identity of his current employers to see us through. I guess the one positive we can take from the match, besides the three points is a fourth consecutive clean sheet. Nemanja Vidic has surely addressed the rot at he back---long live the captain.

In truth, the International break could not have come at a better time for us. Between this one and the last, we've put up some limp displays but crucially picked up the points in those games (bar the City one). It bodes well for us that after starting the season in fine scoring form, we have come good at the back as well. What now remains is to find the right balance that we should carry along for the rest of the season.

So far, the team have looked anything but inventive without Tom Cleverely in the middle of the park so hopefully we get to see him in the side more often after the break. It is vital that he improves our midfield show lest the manager will have to shop in January to match the class of City---on the pitch at least.

Our main title rivals have recently faced stiff tests from minnows Wolves and QPR and the worrying thing is that they have gone on to win those games when it looked like they would drop points. At the moment you hope that we don't give them any more breathing space than we have already afforded them.

In the meantime, I can't believe that I'm saying this but, thank God for the International break; It gives us one last time to regroup and charge again---this time with no finger nails in the mouth.

SIR ALEX'S TOASTS TO SILVER JUBILEE WITH GUESTS FROM SUNDERLAND!

2011-11-04T16:39:00.001+03:00

Old Trafford will be a party atmosphere tomorrow as the boss will be marking 25 years in charge of Manchester United---and you can't take that away from him. All the praise that he has been showered with this week is well deserved. All that is left is for the players to mark the occasion with a win.

Sunderland will not be overwhelmed by the celebration atmosphere inside Old Trafford tomorrow and you can bet they will want to steal the show by harvesting the points instead. United have performed so poorly in recent games that you can't help but feel nervous about the fixture. You feel that the players might take their minds off the most important thing tomorrow and that is the three points. Its not to take anything away from the Gaffer but we've had all week to praise him and I think we'll only do the occasion justice by claiming all the points on offer.

At the moment, and indeed according to the manager's press conference, we're a bit short of bodies. Anderson, Cleverely, Carick and Young are injured, while Evra has lost an elder brother. It could mean that Rooney may get to play in the middle again. Anyhow its useless trying to predict Fergie's team but I should think that the players owe Fergie a win in this one.

In all probability, we shall kick-off in third place because Newcastle don't look like they'll drop points against Everton and hence the need to be on top of our game tomorrow. City play later on so we need to put them under pressure ahead of their trip to QPR. We've got an International break coming up so hopefully we'll leave off with another win.

Congratulations to Sir Alex

So Come On United!

UNITED TREAT US TO YET ANOTHER LIMP PERFORMANCE

2011-11-03T15:59:00.001+03:00

I pride myself in being one of the most red bespectacled United fans around. That is because I usually take long to snap. I will defend a poor performance or a defeat because I think I'm patient enough to wait for the team to click into gear again.

The last time most fans appreciated a performance from us was that 5-0 away win at Bolton. Since then, we have slowly but surely moved our game to the away performances of last season. But for our sheer determination and resolve to post results, we might not be as healthy as we are both in the league and in Europe.
The injury to Tom Cleverly and the constant changing of our back line has given me reason to be patient with the team but I've reached that point where I cannot take another drab performance.

Last night, United had me nodding off for the first time in ages. Neutral fans that were watching the game with me thought that Otelul Galati played better than us on a whole. Whilst they didn't have much possession of the ball, they hurried us in possession and were fit enough to play a defense-attack game against us. They seemed better organised especially at the back and were unfortunate t concede more than the one goal.

United on the other hand, for all their possession, were forced to pass the ball around in their half and had no imagination of any sort going forward. It speaks volumes that David De Gea was more involved than Dimitar Berbatov. I thought Anderson, Berbatov, Nani and Valencia were complete let downs. Valencia seems to have lost that directness that made him a starter for 2 seasons. Nani has once again failed the inconsistency test and is as timid as Valencia on the wing as well. Anderson has also lost the spark that restored hope in us at the start of the season. It all seems to have got horribly wrong. It cannnot be that in our 25 man squad, it takes Tom Cleverely to make everyone else tick---I refuse to accept that. But if it is the case, then I hope we do get somebody in during the next window because as we are, we're only going to dread the knock-out stages of the Champions League. At the moment it takes just one organised team to make us look like a mid-table side.

The manager has pointed to injuries to a few players but every team has injuries and we pride ourselves in having a big squad so that excuse cannot stand. I was more lenient with the team after the win at Everton for the simple reason that we had not won there for the last 4 seasons but I did expect us to express ourselves more last night. That we failed to do so yet again kind of sends a chill down my spine as we prepare for the visit of Sunderland on Saturday.
Only Phil Jones stood out for me last night. I know Wayne was playing in the middle but he was too deep for my liking as well. His deep role made it impossible for Berba and Chicharito to get any sort of link from the middle.

Last night also had me wondering if it is possible for any of the Da Silva twins to maintain composure in the penalty box after a surging run. Its not to have a go at Fabio for his brilliant runs but it is the end product that really counts. I've seen Rafael make the same comedy when in the side.

Credit though to Galati who made us chase and work for every ball. For sure, there are no mugs in the Champions League but one hopes that by the time Basel and Benfica come around, we would have got our game together.

Sunderland at home is another chance for us to play like we've grown to love to watch United play.

UNITED DELIVER GRITTY WIN!

2011-10-31T18:03:00.001+03:00

The swashbuckling response to derby day disaster wasn't all that as United put up a 2008/09-esque gritty performance to win at Goodison Park for the first time since 2007. I refer to the 2008/09 season in the above statement because of the numerous 1-0 wins we gathered in that season en route to creating a 14 game run of consecutive clean sheets.

The fans may not love it but Sir Alex says that he will take a dozen of those all day for the simple reason that such results show championship material. I can see where Sir Alex is coming from. After letting in six the week before, it was imperative to come away with a clean sheet at Everton. Also, scoring one and shutting out the opposition is testament to the defensive solidity of the team---a trait that was nowhere to be seen at home last week. The final reason is that throughout his time as manager of Manchester United, and for all the goals we do tally every May, our title triumphs have been built on a solid DE-FENCE. Its why the club has a few famous central defence pairings over the years.

That said, it must also be noted that we seemed to run out of ideas at the time Tom Cleverely pulled his ankle. For the remainder of the game, it seemed like we were down to ten men and yet Nani had actually come on for him. It really does make you wonder if Tom is very rapidly becoming an important member of our squad. In any case, for as long as the manager doesn't make that signing, he will be.

The pleasing thing for me on Saturday was that we've got all three points again at a ground we dropped two last season---that should make up for the three lost last weekend in a fixture we won last season and that our away form seems a tad more assuring this time round.
We've got a few winnable games between now and the dawn of the year, so you expect us to really put City under pressure. Frankly we have no choice if we want to win the league again.

Wednesday sees the return of Champions League football. Otelul Galati should not be a problem at home though. We need to win to assure ourselves of topping the group when Benfica come over later on. Nobody wants to finish second so I hope the manager will put out a side to in the game on Wednesday.
At the moment we don't have Clev, Young and Smalling but at least Rafael is on his way back.

Finally; special mention to Ole Gunnar Solsjaer for winning the league with Molde for the first time in the club's centenial existence. Even bigger mention goes to Sir Alex for making it 25 years in charge of the World's most popular Football club.

ANOTHER TRIP TO MERSEYSIDE!

2011-10-28T20:18:00.000+03:00

Manchester United make the short journey to Mersyside for the second time in a fortnight---this time under pressure to win after the massive disappointment last week.

In truth, Everton away has proved to be a tough fixture for us in recent seasons although the stats point to a routine United win when the whole EPL era is put in context. Goodison Park is known for its vicious crowd that is too close to the pitch and usually rallies their players in games against top opposition. However, the context of last week's defeat means that United have no choice but to battle at all cost for all three points.

It is a doubt if Ashley Young will be fit for the midday kickoff whilst the media is rife with reports that Evra and Rio will also miss out for an entirely different reason. The good news though is that Tom Clev is back and should therefore make our midfield look more like the one we saw at the start of the season when all talk of a playmaker died down.
Not surprisingly, in the week following our derby defeat, we've been linked to just about all playmakers in world football. Tom Clev is one bad performance away from justifying that speculation.

So Come On United!

SECOND STRINGERS DOING WELL

2011-10-26T15:15:00.001+03:00

I know it just Aldershot in the League Cup but hey, credit must be given where it is due. The likes of Owen, Berbatov, Valencia, Fabio and Amos have not put a foot wrong in that banana skin competition called the Carling Cup. Sometimes you do see shocks in the FA Cup coming but not in this one; For starters, because of the remoteness of the fixtures at times and their inconspicuous midweek schedule, many a fan usually do not know that the club have a game and so wake up to the news that United lost 4-0 to West Ham United in the Cup (as was the case last season).

Moving on; it was nice to get the City result somewhat out of our system as we can now safely say we've won our last game.....and they say you're only as good as your last game. It was also pleasing and relieving to see Tom make his way back from injury with an hours' work-out. He was all over the midfield last night and it showed what we've missed in him.
If he plays with a foiler or holding midfielder next to him, he can certainly be as good as anyone in that position. However, that we currently lack a natural holder in the middle does sometimes take something away from his game. I mean even David Silva would struggle if you take Barry, Toure and De Jong out of the equation. So unless the manager asks Anderson or Carrick or Fletcher to sit, then we might continue to allow the opposition to get more than a sniff of our goal every game.

We've got Everton away in the league on Saturday, and whilst we would go to Goodison Park in a modest way in any other season, we simply have to win there this time. Given the result we posted last week, anything other than a win will enable the British press make record sales of papers with Doomsday articles for United.
We've now gone five points off the summit so quite frankly, City should drop the next points, not us; We cannot afford to give them enough breathing space to address whatever blip comes their way and still remain on top.

Over the course of the season so far, we've been moaning about a difficult start to the season; well the next 12 games provide us with an opportunity to really put City under pressure and illustrate for them how difficult it is to win the league.
Whilst it would be demanding too much of the team to go on and win their next 12 games, it must be evident to us by now that if we want that 20th title, we're going to have to fight for it even harder than we did for the previous one.

Sir Alex is not knew to challenges from rival clubs, but just hope we don't take a season or two to raise the bar as we did when Chelsea were then in-thing in town. As far as responding to bad results goes, none put up a better response than United. The fans will be expectant this weekend. In many ways, therefore, our season really starts on Saturday at Goodison Park.

?!

2011-10-24T14:40:00.000+03:00

Manchester United and City were involved in a derby on Sunday. That's it for the review....on to the next game. . .

A LITTLE MORE THAN A DISAGREEMENT; MAN UNITED VS MAN CITY PREVIEW!

2011-10-22T12:02:00.004+03:00

It's way much bigger than a small dispute between neighbours. Well, it used to be, but come Sunday lunchtime, a lot more than that will be at stake. The biggest prize of all will be t spot in the league.

City and United have been neck and neck so far this season, and have swapped places at the league summit more than once already. Sunday is an opportunity for both sides to settle the question of supremacy for another while yet.

United head into Sunday's crunch game with an astonishing home record that stretches back to April 2010. In that time, we've come up against all sorts of opposition in all competitions but we haven't lost at home---and bar West Brom's lucky point at OT last season, teams have left our patch empty handed. It has therefore become expectant that whilst at home, we fans expect the win. It shouldn;t therefore phase us that City are visiting on Sunday.

The irony is that in the last few seasons when City have been with all these resources, their record against us has been abysmal to to put it mildly. We've won nearly every encounter against them. It can also be argued that but for Berbatop's early gaffes in that FA Cup tie last year, we could have beaten them with or without Wayne Rooney. However, at the start and in the middle of the last decade, we couldn't buy a win against City. For some reason, the likes of Darius Vassel, and Shaun Goater used to find their way around our defence much easier than the likes of Barry and Co are doing. I remember that those players played with passion in that fixture for they understood the occasion. For all his footballing abilities however, I'm not o sure Sergio Aguerro knows much about this derby.

Anyhow, what we can be certain of is that City will provide us with the toughest test we've come up against this season so far. We've had a very difficult start to the season, but we've done a good job sending out messages in the games against Spurs, Arsenal and Chelsea. It's time we send out that final statement of intent that should force the rest of the league to raise the white flag. Victory over City, even despite being at OT would be ominous for the rest of the league.

The manager has played down talk of a big deal if City win and go five points clear. Whilst it would be gutting to give them a five point head start, I'd like to think that it's still early days to make much of such a lead. Our strategy at United has always been to be in touch right up to Christmas and then we can take it from there.

Tom Cleverley is back in training with the first team but you wonder if the manager will throw him in the deep end after so long out. The fans though want to seem him in because we've been terrible in the middle since he limped off. I will be happy if he even makes the bench. City have such an array of midfield talent that we cannot afford to look pedestrian in the middle again.
It is very likely that the second half team in that Community Shield will play on the manager's mind overnight, but I think if we have both Rio and Vida in then the kids should play, I mean after all, aren't they the reason we're where we are in the league?

SO COME ON UNITED!

GALATI PAY THE PENALTY!

2011-10-19T09:54:00.001+03:00

Its a bit intriguing that ever since Tom Cleverley left the pitch in that 5-0 win at Bolton, our style of play has somewhat become less of an entertaining spectacle. I personally can't wait to have him back and running so that I can confirm one or two things about the impact that he has on our team.

United put up yet another uninspiring performance last night but in the end got the job done. Sometimes its easier to play against the bigger teams than against the smaller ones. This season so far, we've found life jolly against Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea, and even Liverpool in that second half. But when the likes of Norwich, Stoke and FC Galati who know their place in the football hierarchy play 9 men behind the ball at nearly all times, then you know you have a job on your hands. Firstly, it means that at some point your defence will be caught napping given the amount of possession they'll have and little threat from the opposition. Then it also means that as the game wears on, if you haven't found the opener, frustration will take its toll on some of your hot headed players.

Thankfully for us in the end, we managed to work Galati into some sort of submission. The handball that granted us our first penalty was borne of fatigue from the Galati captain and so was the trip on Rooney that got us the second.

Captain Nemanja was unfortunate to be sent off for what seemed at best a yellow card offence. Its easy to understand why the manager will not appeal the decision--- I mean look back to 2009 when a bad decision of the same sort cost Fletcher the final. He also lost the appeal. Unfortunately for Vida, his bad week took another twist in this week. He should view it as an opportunity to be fresh for all the league games. Besides, we'll need him more when we get to the knock-out phase.

Now, the build up begins; Sunday is one of those days when United will have to be at their very best because its time for us to silence our noisy neighbours once again.

NOTES FROM ANFIELD WITH A LOOK AHEAD TO OTELUL GALATI

2011-10-18T16:06:00.000+03:00

A somewhat belated review and preview but what the heck;

Liverpool have recently bought a reputation of bullying United out of their skins at Anfield and that has accounted for our poor form on the day in the last three fixtures on that ground. Its therefore good to note that on this occasion, our boys dd not let the bullys have it all their way as we had our best game there since 2007/08 season.

The first talking point was the team news; Now Sir Alex has built a reputation of shocking us with team news every now and then when we least expect it and I must say I wasn't too surprised by the side he chose to start with. In any case, I had initially hopped for Welbeck upfront alone as I think he's much better equipped for the role than Rooney who will usually shift office to the midfield when the supply is at a minimum.

Individually, at '90 minutes, it was hats off to David De Gea, Chris Smalling and Danny Welbeck in that order. I think its refreshing that more than the veterans, its our U-23 team that has contested the man of the match awards so far this season.

Javier Hernandez came off the bench to score the point winner that made him statistically, the best substitute in United's history---what a lad!
Finally on that game, we need to address the issue of the wall parting in free-kick situations. I mean Gerrard scored the same goal in the OT game last season---this time Fletcher moving from the wall. It sucks to concede two from the same mistake so pull it together guys. I know a lot is at stake given the area where the ball will strike but hey; that's what the weekly cheque is meant to compensate---so your hands should be enough cover.
Oh and Suarez is a disgrace to football--end of story!

We're in action in the Champions League tonight and for goodness' sake; get the 3 point tonight; Hell the team even owes us a performance of some sort in Europe. The irony is that the team tonight could be stronger than the one that started on Saturday---so if you believe Wayne's tweets; he and a host of other big name players were being rested for the game against Otelul Galati tonight.

Till then; Ciao!

LUNCH AT OLD TRAFFORD!----MAN UNITED VS LIVERPOOL PREVIEW!

2011-10-14T11:46:00.001+03:00

Welcome back from that very much needed break---at least from United's perspective.
However the return of EPL action could not have demanded more focus from us.

Liverpool provide the opposition on Saturday lunchtime in what is going to be the most watched game of the weekend. This one will get nasty.

For the first time we walk into Anfield as England's most successful club. That this is a rivalry borne of jealousy means that we're already one up.
The Dippers tend to play their best game against us and that perhaps explains our poor record there recently but you do hope that the manager and his staff have addressed the concerns at the back that we've documented recently.

Liverpool vs Man United is one of those fixtures that needs no introduction. A win tomorrow will, for me send out another strong message to the rest of the league about our intentions this season. With City next up, it would make them pee in their pants.

UNITED LABOUR PAST NORWICH CITY

2011-10-03T14:36:00.000+03:00

The International break couldn't quite have come sooner for us. The last time our season was interrupted by a similar break a month a go, the sentiments could hardly have been any different.

Thankfully though, we haven't been made to pay seriously for putting our foot off the pedal a little but. Norwich City could have easily taken all three points from us at home as could have Chelsea, and as could have Basel.
Right now there seems to be nothing particularly wrong with going forward but the rate at which our opponents are finding it easy to cut us to shreds is sickening. We badly need the Captain now because October is going to be our most difficult month of the season. A trip to Liverpool on 15th then the derby at home plus a trip to Everton with a must win Champions League tie in Russia in between means that the next ten day break could be crucial in terms of how our coaching staff figures out a way to stop the rot at the back.

Until then though, we can reflect on what has been a near perfect start to the season. Indeed, for as long as we are above City in the league, we'll be all right as far as winning that 20th title.

CHANCE TO REDEEM FACE----MAN UNITED VS NORWICH CITY PREVIEW!

2011-09-30T16:16:00.003+03:00

Ideally, Norwich wouldn't want to be visiting Old Trafford after a couple games in which United have been relatively starved of victory and had their performances questioned. The game in midweek has drawn its fair share of criticism from the press and I'm sure the Canneries would rather have us complacent in the same demeanour that Basel found us in and exploited.

Instead, they have a team that has been sternly warned by their manager against further complacency and for the first time this season asked to find a balance between attack and defence. United have scored a glut of goals at the start of the season but have been very porous at the back as well---at least in terms of chances created by the opposition if not goals conceeded. Its something that we finally paid for on Tuesday night and you hope will be addressed sooner rather than later.

Norwich City are in good form at the moment but it will be expected that United win tomorrow---anything less and the media will have a field day on Sunday. I certainly hope too that those going to the game will out-sing a very vocal support that the Canneries will bring with them.

Sir Alex has pointed out that both Wayne and Hernandez will be fit for this fixture and that the likes of Vidic, Smalling and Cleverley will be available for the game at Liverpool after the Internationals. We're in a mini-battle with City for top spot at the moment and it would really leave a sour taste in the mouth if they were to spend the ten day International break at the summit of the league. That therefore makes victory in this one paramount. I'd like to see Wayne paired with Welbeck ahead of Chicharito at the moment. They seem a more deadly pair. But that is the manager's headache---all we expect is a win alongside a good performance.

SO COME ON UNITED!

ITS GETTING WORSE---MAN UNITED VS FC BASEL REVIEW!

2011-09-29T15:08:00.000+03:00

The start of the season has seen Manchester United display some brilliant football that the team will now provide the yardstick for when we actually perform well or when we don't.

The draw in Lisbon the other week was the first real taste of a poor performance that we've treated to this season. The draw at Stoke was slightly worse than the one in Lisbon and yesterday seemed to top it all up.

Its not that we were poor all through yesterday but that we put up a show of amateurish standards at the very top level of European football.

It all started with the manager for me; That 4-5-1 policy in Europe is indeed what its worth and no doubt it has helped us over the last few years in Europe but I'd rather that the manager kept it for the knock-out stages. I mean our opponents came to the fortress Old Trafford and started with two forwards; United--the home team on the other hand, would opt to start with one in Welbeck supported by a host of midfielders. I thought that made it easier for their defenders as Welbeck had to drop deep to link up with the midfield. It really bothers me that such opposition can force us to pack the middle. Was there really anything to protect ourselves against by playing one upfront. To think that we have up to seven strikers available at the club, makes you wonder why the manager would hold them back in games that beg for attacking football.

Whilst the formation made it all the more difficult for the forwards, I thought we still acquainted ourselves well going forward. However though, the defence, possibly expecting to be up against just the one striker, had their hands full as Basel kept two upfront. It meant that Jones and Ferdinand had their hands full for just about the entire match. That Basel could have scored three in the first half is testament to how we can't really claim to have dominated that first half.

On the plus side, Danny Welbeck seems he's ready to challenge Chicharito seriously for that first team place alongside Wayne. Ashley Young, Jones, De Gea were among those that hadn't yet tasted European football this season so you hope that as the season goes on, we'll warm up to the competition. The manager said it was a wake up call to them and you do hop they take note.
On paper, its an easy group that we could have won by the end of October but if we keep toying with reality and fate, we might find ourselves in the position we were in in 2005 going into match day 6.

So where do we go from here? Well, right now the Otelul Galati fixture has to be a must win one. Then we'll take it from there. As far as the league goes, you'd hope that sooner rather than later, we do get a consistent back five. Injuries have not hlped us build that this season and a lot of our play does depend on the strength of our back five. The manager has pointed that out so hopefully in the near future, we do get more consistency at the back. It does help the goalkeeper as well.
Our midfield seems unable to do with any sort of combination bar Anderson and Cleverley. Nobody else adds that drive that we'd got spoilt with at the start of the season. I'm thinking Tom hasn't lost his place in the side despite a month out.

We've got Norwich at home in the league on Saturday (for the first time at 3 o'clock). It will be expected that we finally return to winning ways!

LOOKING BACK AT STOKE AND AHEAD TO BASEL

2011-09-26T11:49:00.002+03:00

Well it was always going to happen sometime, wasn't it? Manchester United have finally dropped points at Stoke City---joining the rest of the top six sides in England by doing so. It was always a minor suprise that we seemed to have it all our way there given the difficulty of coping with their play but on Saturday we got first hand experience on the bullish actics employed by Tony Pulis' side.

The biggest blow on the day ahead of the match was that Wayne Rooney would miss out because of a hamstring problem and that was only made worse when Chicharito was forced off ith injury early on. That's the second successive game that the Mexican has been had done by the officials. I hope this doesn't reflect on the kind of season he's going to have for us.

Nani wants to be the best player in the world; it has to be said that if he keeps up his level of influence in proceedings during games, the world will start to take notice. It was a brillinatly worked goal albeit the fact that we've failed to build on it.

There was nothing he could do about the goal but it has to be said that once again David De Gea showed us why he was signed by Sir Alex. He's now made it a habbit that he'll come up with saves during the game that will either keep us in the game or protect our leads. He has what it takes to beccome a club legend and its only to our adantage now that we have two very wonerful goalkeepers.

FC Basel provide the opposition the Champions league tomorrow night. Its an opportunity, as usual, for us to return to winning ways---given that you're good as your last game. We did a credible job in Lisbon the other week so hopefully we can build on that tomorrow---scratch that---we must build on that tomorrow.

We've got a near perfect home record in the Champions League and no side in our group this season is entitled to even a point at Old Trafford. I know the manager will make wholesale changes to the side but that shouldn't be an excuse for failure to get the maximum three.

SO COME ON UNITED!

AWAY DAY AT STOKE!

2011-09-23T15:51:00.000+03:00

Whilst the rest of the Premier League has found life rocky at the Britannia Stadium, Manchester United can safely jot it down as one of their 'happy venues'. Its a little intriguing that we've never left the Britannia with a bloody nose given how 'cocky' the build up can be.

Rio is expected to be back in the team whilst we can expect up to 11 changes from the side that beat Leeds United in midweek. Chris Smalling is out for a couple of weeks whilst Nemanja Vidic is still another week away from duty. Danny Welbeck should return to the starting line-up in place of Javier Hernandez. In the end, you expect that we should have enough of a team to see off Stoke even on their own pitch.

We've got Basel in the Champions League on Tuesday so there are enough games to go around for the entire team.
Priority should right now be vested in the EPL to see us build a strong lead at the summit of the league as we stroll into another tricky round of fixtures. Liverpool and Manchester City are round the corner, and we'd only want to get in those when we're on a roll.

So COME ON UNITED!

INTO THE FOURTH ROUND!

2011-09-21T15:40:00.000+03:00

Manchester United easily booked their place in the fourth round of the Carling Cup with a very comfortable 3-0 away victory over Leeds United.
Just as I posted in the preview, even with as many as ten guesses, you couldn't possibly predict the team that Sir Alex was going to put forward on the night and indeed the manager did raise not one, but both eye brows with his starting 11. It wasn't in the alleged weakness of the side to take to the pitch but rather in the unavailability of defenders on the pitch. Fabio was the only recognised defender on pitch given that many didn't know who Fryers was.

Michael Carrick and Valencia took up their makeshift positions in defence whilst the likes of Macheda and Diouf were asked to track back more often than not in a bid to help out with wing defensive duty. As such, we had four natural strikers in the starting line-up and ended the match with Dimitar Berbatov playing centre-half.

It really did highlight the defensive problems we're having at the moment. I mean right now we can only name one back four and after that, we're a little short of bodies. You do hope that Captain Nemanja and Rio do return in time to help lift the burden on the young wall that is keeping us safe at the moment.

That aside, United's old guard did pull off an energy sapping display that in the end saw them ran out comfortable 3-0 winners. Its becoming a nice habit that we seem to have at least three goals in us in just about every game.

Michael Owen did stake a claim for himself last night with two finishes that typified his predatory instincs as well as eye for goal. Ryan Giggs silenced the hostile Leeds crowd with the third just before the break to all but seal progress to the next round of a competition that seems to be the one that will provide valuable game time to some of our squad players.

Thankfully though, Sir Alex didn't have to call on anyone you think he might use for the Stoke City game this weekend so hopefully we'll be fresh for that one.

CARLING CUP QUICKIE!

2011-09-20T15:00:00.002+03:00

Barely 48 hours since Phil Dowd blew the final whistle at OT, Manchester United return to action tonight as the Carling Cup campaign for 2011/12 is launched. Bitter rivals Leeds United provide the opposition and no doubt many a fans will expect United win if only for the simple reason of exacting revenge for our 2010 FA Cup exit at their hands on our own pitch.

Even if you tried ten times, you might not come up with the side that SAF will start tonight but at least we are certain that Paul Pogba will make his very first competitive appearance. The Frenchman has been dubbed the replacement of Scholes/Keane for the future so he gets his chance to show the world what he can do infront of the unforgiving Sky sports cameras at the hostile venue that is Elland Road.

Besides Poggy, I do hope that Berbatov, and Lindegaard get the '90 minutes as both players are desperate for game time, whilst I'd also expect the manager to go for Park, Giggs and Diouf in the team. Valencia could use another game under his belt as well. Regardless, you do expect that the manager will name a team strong enough to win us the game whilst staying clear of all those that took part in the memorable win over Chelsea on Sunday.

The good news from Carrington today is that according to Chicharito's agent, the player will be back to training as soon as Wednesday as there was no serious damage to his left leg.

UNITED COME AWAY WITH ALL THREE POINTS IN 'BASKETBALL GAME'

2011-09-19T10:36:00.002+03:00

You couldn't possibly make up what we were treated to in yesterday's United-Chelsea clash at Old Trafford. Let's just say, that we might never see a game of the sort ever or at least between the twoo sides.

For starters, contrary to what we've grown used to between these two sides, there seemed to be a distinct shortage of negative tactics. I struggle to remember when we last saw as open a game between United and Chelsea as we did. I mean, it could really have finished 9-5 last night. Wayne and Torres could have each walked away with a treble of goals and quite frankly the three points seemed to dangle between United and Chelsea for just about the entire match despite United soaring into a 3-0 lead at the break.

Fernando Torres did have a good game but of all the chances he passed up yesterday, I thought THAT ONE was inexcusable. If he nets it, United are under pressure for the last ten minutes or so and who knows, his team could have hustled a point. When your club dishes out £50m to sign you, there are certain things you're expected to do, and failing to hit the target with an entire goal at your mercy is not one of them.
Wayne Rooney was gulity of missing the penalty (in John Terry style) to seal the game for United but when you've got 9 goals in five games, it does buy you some leverage to have one or two off days. It that leverage that Torres lacks and therefore is due all the criticism he can get despite the good game he had.

Ultimately though, we're a lucky bunch to have come away with another vital three points. This was one of those weekends made for drama in the league (just take a look at the full result list) so to come away with maximum points was priceless. The reward is that we're now clear at the top of the league after City found it difficult to balance Europe and the League.

Individually, I thought the ypung players got a bit of stage fright and a dip in confidence at times in the match. Two of them however seemed unbothered by the nerves and stage; they were David De Gea and Phil Jones. I thought De Gea's stunning save to deny Ramires in the first half was as vital as they get and was my turning point in the match. United were 1-0 up through Smalling but if Ramires equalises, Chelsea get all the confidence in the world and United's youth might not have recovered. It was similar to what happened in the Arsenal game. If van Persie scores the penalty, Arsenal are thrown right back into it and who knows what happens from then.
As did happen in that Arsenal game, after De Gea's stunning save, we almost imeediately went 2-0 up. This time, through FLOM's man of the match Nani. Its fair to say that his solo effort stunned the United bench. To be fair to the lad, he did have a good game besides his goal and right now I'm thinking the club should start negotiations for a new contract for him. His performance toay might have ensured that Valencia will warm the bench for another week yet.

Phil Jones is the other player that I thought seemed unnerved by the level required of him yesterday. It didn't bother him one bit that we were playing against Chelsea and kept powering forward in the same way that he's done this season. One of those runs got us the third goal through Rooney. His form has made it impossible for Sir Alex to leave him out of the team. A great array of defensive talent at our disposal now!

I said in my preview that a win for United would be ominous for our title rivals and I think despite the performance yesterday, we've really sent out a strong message to our rivals. Its a given that United will eventually slip but we're putting ourselves in a position whereby that that slip will not do much damage to our title chances.

Also on the negative side ast night, we lost Chris Smalling to a groin injury and Javier Hernandez to a horrendous tackle from Ashley Cole. That Vida and elbeck are soon returning should soften the blow but its alarming the rate att which we are losing these players. Its gutting that the young players who have established themsleves in the side are seeing injury rob them of their opportunities. Hopefully injury doesn't disrupt their form.

Next up is that (match-fixed) Leeds United tie in the Carling Cup---a chance to avenge our FA Cup exit to them two years ago.
Onwards and Upwards!

BENFICA POST MORTEM AND LOOKING AHEAD TO CHELSEA!

2011-09-17T10:54:00.000+03:00

A lot of Manchester United fans around the world were not pleased by the performance in Lisbon on Wednesday night----and that is largely because the first four games of the season have spoiled us with the sort of entertainment that made us fall in love with United in he first place----Not me;

To be fair to Sir Alex and the team he selected, I thought there was no urgency at all to spend a lot of our energy and risk vital personnel for a Champions league Group stage game, in a group that we will, in all probability top. I mean you only have to look at last season's opener to know some of the permutations that were playing in Fergie's head. Antonio Valencia started that game against Rangers in the Champions League last season and broke a leg that ruled him out for 5 months. Given how Nani and Young have started the season, can you possibly imagine us going the next five months without Young. Its bad enough that we have lost Cleverely for a month so I thought the manager had a point in not including his vibrant blend on young talent in the squad when there is a need to put up a great performance on Sunday.

Secondly, Sir Alex has all of 30 gentlemen to employ at the club and yet he can only play 11 at a time. Given the great start by the young team to the EPL season, it was always going to be the case that the manager wold employ the same team for the Chelsea game having given the youngsters a breather in midweek.
People have to understand that the same formula will not take you places in this day and age. Whilst it would be great to watch the kids twice week, the manager knows the effect such a run could have on the side by April. Ref: Arsenal.
The only qualm I have with the manager is why he didn't give Berbatov a few minutes of pitch. I mean why play Rooney for the '90 when the Bulgarian is clearly a better lone striker given his hold up play and distribution?
So in my book, we did well to rest a load of players and yet still come away with a point in what will be our most difficult fixture in this group.
The 4-5-1 adopted by Sir Alex has been dubbed boring by many but its the reason we're statistically the most difficult team to beat in Europe.

So United, on the back of their firs criticism of the season, take on perennial rivals for the tile, Chelsea. Andres Villas Boas will become the 8th manager in 8 seasons at Chelsea that Sir Alex has shaken hands with. No doubt this fixture is the litmus test of AVB's reign at Chelsea and it could be the blue print that starts a memorable career.
On the other hand, Sir Alex will be desperate to turn on the pressure on him by outwitting him on Sunday. Whilst the result will not determine the destiny of the title, its is no doubt that neither team will want to lose ground at this stage of the season to their rival if only for the slightest of advantages.

The manager reported no new injuries from the game in Lisbon so that makes us essentially at full strength despite the absence of the captain Vidic, Cleverely and Welbeck. Chelsea played their Champions League game on Tuesday but it will be interesting to see who AVB goes with upfront, given the record Fernando Torres has against United and the form pf Danny Sturridge.
Its clear that Mr. Roman will judge his employee on his ability to overcome the best in Europe after this fixture so he'll send out his players for the win but I'm not so sure he'll be as disappointed as United if they don't come away with all three.

Chelsea are the only side that boast a better head to head record against United in the EPL but the Champions have since built a run of wins at Old Trafford, in all competitions, that stretches to April 2010. Chelsea were the last EPL team to come away with all three from the M16 so if anybody can break the jinx, its them.

A win for United would send out another statement to the rest of their rivals but more worryingly for Chelsea, would mean that United will go 5 points ahead of them in September.

So COME ON UNITED!

ROAD TO MUNICH 2012 BEGINS!

2011-09-13T15:11:00.000+03:00

Genuine United fans will remember that the club suffered its darkest day todate in the 1958 Munich Air Disaster---a tragedy that has gone on to define our club.
European competition has since been taken to mean a lot for United as we were the pioneers of it in England at the time.
It is therefore easy to seee why Sir Alex has bemoaned our measely three trophies in European competition. However, that we won it in 2008, exactly 50 years after the crash that claimed 8 first team players and 15 others, it was a fitting tribute to our gone heroes.

The 2012 UEFA Champions League final will be held in the German capital this year, the scene of our grief about 55 years ago. Its therefore easy to see why this season's European road will be an emotional ride which we hope to at least be one of the teams that will contest the final next year; and hopefully go on to win it.

United have been handed the plum draw of he Group stages and you do feel that we should have qualification wrapped up by the end of October. Having said that, we start off with our most difficult opponents of the group; Benfica---our opponents in the 1968 European Cup final which we won as the first major tribute to the Busby Babes.
A win tomorrow night will surely make it ominous for the rest of the group as its is expected that if United are to slip in Europe, this is as possible as it will get for the group phase.

At the time of the draw, I was particularly pleased that we don't have the kind of tricky opposition in the group that can make striking a balance between European competition and the domestic league difficult. The draw should now give Sir Alex the perfect opportunity to utilise his players in Europe as well maintain the ethic in the team that has seen us lead the league from the kick-off.

The one surprise from the team that has travelled to Portugal is the absence of Rio Ferdinand. I'm only hopping that the manager has saved him for Chelsea on Sunday. Otherwise, United are set to name a string of experienced players for the game. It's therefore likely that we'll see the likes of Park, Giggs, Carrick, Valencia, Fletcher and the like play a huge part in this game.

Whatever the team, I'd like to see United take on Benfica with the same mentality that we've started the season with; Show no mercy, Take no Prisoners!

So COME ON UNITED!

UNITED HAND OUT YET ANOTHER THRASHING!

2011-09-12T12:24:00.004+03:00

It's not bad being a United fan now because at this rate, they might as well hand over the trophies to United.

The 5-0 away win at the Reebok ensured the critics will be put away for another 7 days at least until United host Chelsea this Sunday. In the meantime, though, we can revel in the sheer entertainment value that United have treated us to this season. A start like no other I can remember in the Premier League era and one that has seen us record a record stunning 18 goals in the first 4 matches of the season. Given that this wasn't supposed to be an easy start, at least on paper, we ought to recognise the effort of the players and coaching staff for taking the task on, hands on.
Ultimately, this period ensures that whatever blip we suffer from hereon, will be greatly mitigated by the start we've made.

Many will point to Chelsea's early season form last season as evidence to show that United shouldn't get carried away an rightly so; but you feel that given the number of vultures waiting to devour the team at any slip, we might just end up being a team that is too scared to lose a match that they don't lose one.

The litmus test for this team is yet to come and we may get a little insight into the importance of Clevereley in the next one month given his absence. I thought Carrick slowed down the team when he came on---a feature that distinctly differentiates our experienced team from the young lads. Whilst the young lads would like to carry on the scoring even at 4-0, the older heads might prefer to see out game. I'm glad Sir Alex sticks with the younger when he has the option to do so.

It was nice seeing Hernandez getting his first couple of the season; he was dead unlucky not to bad a hat-trick of his own. Its nice to note that so far we've got all six points on offer away from home. If we can get in more away wins and protect our home record, then that will do for the league.

Before Sunday though is a small matter of a Champions League tie with Benfica away. They'll expect to be the next best thing in the group after us. They are the kind of side that will tear you apart if you take your foot off the pedal so hopefully the manager goes for experience to see us post the first three points of the Group phase. A point wouldn't be bad either given the permutations but being spoilt for success like we are, we always want to win regardless of the circumstances;

Roll on!

QUICK PREVIEW FOR THE AWAY DAY AT BOLTON!

2011-09-10T12:03:00.003+03:00

Club football returns this weekend with Manchester United providing the tea-time fixture this evening away to Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok stadium.
The Reebok has notoriously been a tricky ground for United but more often than not, especially recently, we seem to get the job done.
Its the physicality of the opposition that has usually caused us problems and what better time for them to use that weapon than now. I mean the last place David De Gea wanted to re-start his career so far is the Reebok. You can be sure that Kevin Davies will not need a team talk to know that he has the job of getting under DDG for the whole 90 minutes. The media is rife with reports that Fergie is set to drop him for Anders Lindegaard who is more built for the occasion but knowing Sir Alex, I doubt it because a good show at one of the most hostile venues of the EPL would earn the young Spaniard a load of confidence.

United have been lucky not to have any new injuries after the International break. That is just about as big a bonus as you can get because for most of the team, it was more or less a holiday. We have a bulk of players that did not represent their countries so you feel that the manager will finally get to utilise his entire squad for the next busy schedule of fixtures. After Bolton, we've got Benfica away in Europe and then Chelsea in the league on Sunday. That means in all probability, the young team that has so far given no reason to be dropped will take some major breaking up to accommodate experience.

Speaking of experience, now would be a good time to have Vidic in our team but at least we've got Rio available for today. However, the manager pointed out yesterday that he will not drop the team that has got us to the top of the league and rightly so because they've not given him reason to. The one exception should be Danny Welbeck who might not be ready for today and will, in all likelihood, be replaced by Javier Hernandez. The manager does have Cleverley fit again but now with the added headache of selecting either Carrick or Fletcher ahead of Anderson and Clev. Antonio Valencia is in the squad for Bolton so Nani possibly won't last the '90 today. Park and Giggs might be saved for the Champions League and or for Chelsea.

At the end of the day we seem to have the right blend of players to pull us through just about any fixture. It's always going to be a case of whether the manager got his selection right at the end of the day.

Last season we dropped two points in this fixture in a run of games that hardly saw us win away from home. This season the target is to improve our away form whilst maintaining our home form. Three points today, will go a long way in showing that we mean business this time away from home.

So, COME ON UNITED!

UNITED OBLITERATE ARSENAL---THE REVIEW!

2011-08-28T23:31:00.007+03:00

Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! I think we'd have to go back to 1999 for the last time United scored 8 in the league but I'm not sure how far back we'd have to go for the last time United destroyed the opposition with 8+.

First things first; Sir Alex Ferguson was aware of the number of players the Gunners were missing for this game and despite the fact they still had quality about them, I think he couldn't pass on this opportunity to give his young team a sort of litmus test against a side with the pedigree of Arsenal. I was therefore pleased that he maintained the same squad that beat Spurs on Monday night. But it has to be said, not even he would have thought the they would go on and produce a performance that would steal all the headlines from their noisy neighbours when it seemed dead certain that after the weekend, all the positive press would be saved for the blue quarter of Manchester.

I struggle to think of a better performance I've seen lately from United. I mean even the 7-1 rout of Blackburn last season was not particularly as enthralling as what we saw today. Our young lads seemed to have that hunger in them that made them unwilling to settled for any scoreline till the final whistle was blown. I've known United to customarily back off when the opposition raises the white flag. Arsenal raised it within the opening half hour but this United side were having none of it. They relentlessly attacked with brute force and class that made it impossible for Arsenal to digest proceedings. I mean at some point of a thrashing, you're allowed to toy with your opponents, well not today at Old Trafford. United went for the kill each time they went forward. Its therefore no wonder that Sir Alex told the BBC that we could have scored more goals despite harvesting 8.

Individually, there weren't enough balls to award the more than one outstanding player in the side. Wayne Rooney's hat-trick (that saw him overtake the 150 goal mark) obviously helped him claim it in the end but Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Ashley Young, Tom Cleverely and David De Gea could, on any other day have walked away with the champagne themselves.

Critics will point to the weakness in the Arsenal team in a bid to tone down United's victory, but for how long shall we watch this team before giving them the benefit of the doubt. After that stunning comeback in the Community Shield, we've hardly been in any sort of danger on the pitch with this team. They seem to be up for it; and its a testament to their efforts that, until Welbeck's unfortunate hamstring injury, this team had kept out Javier Hernandez, Dmitar Berbatov, Park Ji Sung, Ryan Giggs and the like.

I certainly hope they continue to give the manager reason to trust them when the stakes are higher as the season goes on.
I blogged in my preview that this was a big test for Fergie's fledgings and boy did they pass it with flying colours.

We've got a very difficult month of the league out of the way with maximum points so far. Our difficult start will continue with a stern test at the Reebok after the International break and then the visit of Chelsea at Old Trafford. On this form, we should go in confident but we know too well the effect Internationals can do to one's rhythm.
On the upside, its good to see Tom, Phil and Chris get called up for National team duty.

Finally, let me just point out that the FA fixed the League Cup draw and gave us rivals Leeds United at Elland Road. What I'm sure of is that Leeds will not want to play against the youngsters on this form.

Take a deep breath everyone, August has gone by with no damage suffered!

FIRST 'BIG FOUR' TEST FOR NEW LOOK UNITED--MAN UNITED VS ARSENAL PREVIEW!

2011-08-26T14:09:00.004+03:00

The past few weeks have eroded a bit of that 'big four' status from Arsenal but in my eyes, they remain one of those few teams that can come to Old Trafford and win regardless of the state of their club, for the simple reason that they've done it before.

Manchester United will not be adding any new players to their squad according to David Gill which means that we'll have to tighten our seat belts with the players we have and hope that they see us through the first half of the season with little or no damage to our title hopes. So far, so good but you're only as good as your last result, and much as this young team has been praised by all (except Jamie Redknapp), you can be sure that the same media Will tear them apart at the very instant they lose a game. Just a quick reminder here; the English media builds you up to bring you down. Its because of that that I hope that the young lads will not fade when the going gets tough on them. I'm sure Sir Alex has let them in on how success is not just expected at the club but demanded and the consequences of failure.

It remains to be seen for how long the manager will stick to his young squad but I think we shall get that answer this weekend. In all probability, Rio Ferdinand could start on Sunday meaning that one of Evans or Jones will have to make way. Then there is the return of smiling assassin Javier Hernandez that is surely going to relegate Danny Welbeck to the bench. Darren Fletcher is in the squad for the visit of Le Arse so that means Ando and Cleverly might not just be sure starters on Sunday. If they are picked over Fletcher, then they also have the hurdle of Park and Giggs for that central position. It was easy for the manager to leave out Park and Giggs for the opening two games for the simple reason that the opposition didn't require a major application of the tactical formations and all but you do have a feeling that Arsenal will provide the manager with the kind of test that will ensure that they pack the midfield a little more---in a formula that has seen us beat them on almost every occasion in the past few years.

Fans could point to the injury and suspension problems of the Gunners as incentive to keep it 4-4-2 but that could be unwise given that Arsene Wenger's teams usually benefit from less tactical games. I mean Kenny Dalglish last week was not about to be fooled by his opponent's weaknesses at the Emirates and chose to keep it tight until Arsenal were caught between frustration and fatigue. He opened up just in time to kill off the game and see it out.
It wouldn't therefore surprise me for Fergie to go for experience in this one, as the nature of the fixture requires so.

If the Gunners do live up to their supposed weakness on paper, then it would help that we kill off the game as soon as possible to save my finger nails the trouble.

SO COME ON UNITED!

REACTION TO THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DRAW 2011/2012

2011-08-25T23:38:00.003+03:00

Quite obviously, I like many reds, is delighted that we've got the plum draw in the competition. Fair enough, we cannot afford to underestimate our opponents too much but you do feel that Sir Alex has got the European formula right these past few seasons so much so that a place in the last four every year is now looking like a minimum requirement.
I mean, forget the kids; the manager does have a perfect blend of youth and experience to see us over the line in tricky home and away Champions League ties. To think that we won more away games in Europe last season than in the EPL shows you what I'm talking about.

However I was least concerned about who we got in the Group stages because going through shouldn't be problem regardless of the group we're in. What I was bothered with most was getting opponents not so far from the United Kingdom. I mean playing a tie in Russia on Wednesday and then flying back immediately to prepare for a Saturday evening kick-off in the EPL the same week can take its toll on the players. Take a case of the 2009/10 season in which we lost every league game after an away match in the Champioons League in mid-week. You might remember that we had to go to places like Moscow in that season. So given that we lost the title by the odd point, I think it would also be fair to conclude that our European adventures cost us the title that year.

Regular readers of this blog know that I unlike Roman Abramovich, prioritises the league every season ahead of the Champions League. So its comforting to not that just about every after away game in Europe, we're home in the league. That does reflect in the long run.

Looking at the group, I'd like to think that Benfica will pose the greatest challenge but United have such a perfect record away from home in the Champions League that you feel that the Portuguese outfit will have to be at their very best throughout the six games to deny us top spot. If things go our way, we might just have qualification wrapped up by the end of October. What's for sure is that this is an easier group than the one we had last year.

We've got a load of players on our team who do not have Champions League experience so you feel that we've got a group that allows for them to get games without necessarily undermining our cause. I expect that the manager will call on the likes of Park, Carrick, Giggs and the like when he needs to be tactical and get a result away from home.

Finally, David Gill says that we shall input be making any more signings this summer---much to the disappointment of many fans. Fergie's Babes have given us reason to hope for a lot this season so hopfeully they vindicate the manager's decision to have faith in them.

THE KIDS ARE ALLRIGHT----MAN UNITED VS TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR REVIEW!

2011-08-23T04:44:00.003+03:00

Not so much as a game of two halves but Spurs will point to the fact that they were better off in the first half than in the second.

Given the line-up for this one, I wasn't about to be bothered with the performance if it meant that we get the result. As it turned out, our young team----the second youngest ever to take to the pitch under Sir Alex--put in a good shift and but for the brilliance of Brad Friedel, could have bagged an avalanche of goals. Not that I'm complaining, 3-0 will do.

Danny Welbeck, Javier Hernandez, David De Gea, Paul Pogba, Tom Cleverly, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, et al make you wonder just what could be in store for United when this team reaches their peak. Whilst that contemplation is for the future, there are some issues in the present that these brilliant kids are affecting.
Case in point; Dimitar Berbatov.

I had reconciled my mind to the possibility of Berba leaving this summer, not because I want him out but because his talents deserve a regular place in a team. He was our top scorer in our record breaking campaign and yet finds himself at best fourth choice among 7 strikers now at Fergie's disposal. You really wonder what is pacing through his mind these days. The player himself doesn't want to leave which makes it all the more painful because he fits into a rare breed of footballers these days that are not in it for the money.
It remains to be seen how Fergie uses him this season but Welbeck's man of the match performance yesterday and Chicharito's return from injury makes the competition that much stiffer. Ultimately though, its the kind of headache that Sir Alex would want.

Anderson has done a fine job of adding goals to his game. His level of accuracy has certainly improved and now what's left is consistency in finding the back of the net. If he keeps it up, then the manager would be right in keeping the cash for who know who. The bigger concern is whether Tom and Ando will have the balls to stand up and be counted against tough European opponents. If the manager goes ahead and buys you know who, then it will almost solely be down to this concern.

I had pencilled in 7 points for August, given the difficult start and the usual delay to click into gear but we seem well on our way for the total 9. Arsenal provide the challenge this weekend. Hopefully we can add more misery to them before we start feeling sorry for them.

Case

BIG TEST FOR 'FERGIE'S BABES'----MAN UNITED VS TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR PREVIEW!

2011-08-19T13:43:00.004+03:00

Okay, ignore the 'Fergie's babes' reference in the title but it has to be said, Arsene Wenger (and Michael Jackson) will be 'pleased' with our starting line up on Monday Night's Football's fixture between us and Spurs.

Captain Nemanja is out for five weeks and the manager is not certain if Rio will make the starting line-up for this one, and has hence told the press that our back-line will feature De Gea, Smalling, Evans and Jones. Evra is the most experienced available in the defence. Add Cleverley, Welbeck, Anderson, Nani, Young and Rooney to that list and the age stats will make Spurs a team full of veterans.

Not to take anything away from United, this United team has impressed the manager and fans alike ever since that pre-season Barcelona game and the Community Shield win against City. The speed at which we play seems to have gone up a notch or two compared to last season and despite our alleged weaknesses, we've become a suddenly more difficult team to beat, if not for the fact that those young kids will keep you running for the 94 minutes.

The manager has spoken today of his excitement at watching his fourth generation Manchester United team take to the pitch and silence critics and I have to say, I too are. I mean despite the clock ticking away at the Hawthorns, I wasn't really bothered by the fact that the scores were level because this season, we seem to be playing a style that is full of goals. Yes, we could let a few but we're likely to out-score our opponents every game. That should mean that a season-ticket holder and regular arm-chair viewers are in for a treat of a season.

Spurs are yet to play in the EPL because their game against Everton was cancelled because of you know what and so I thought that we could benefit from having them relatively unfit as this would be their first game of the season. But having watched them last night break a few Hearts, I have to revise that opinion. They won 5-0 and although the opposition wasn't the strongest, the fluidity with which they went about their business was one that spoke volumes of a side that are eager to take to the pitch and kick-off their season.

In all probability, we're likely to have De Gea in goal for this one so you can be sure one or two set plays will require that our young centre-backs put in a shift on Monday night. They have to. I know Crouch and Dawson will be right in the nose of the Spaniard but I trust he's had enough of the same in training this week. The media just can't simply wait for Spurs to win a corner on Monday.

Manchester United vs Spurs at Old Trafford has had a knack of bringing up 'controversy' over the 90 minutes. Don't expect this to be any different. What we can be sure of is that this game will give us something to talk us through next week, but I won't care a jot if at the end of the match, we have bagged all three points!

OFF AND RUNNING BUT AT WHAT COST?----THE WBA REVIEW!

2011-08-15T08:37:00.003+03:00

First things first; David De Gea will not do himself any favours if he continuously lets in cheap goals. I know he's young and all but there are better ways to concede goals than he's doing. Sir Alex said he lost concentration for the goal which is a shame because at United, the goalkeeper is rarely asked to produce a top class save given the defence infront of him but the thing is you have to always be alert for that moment when you have to make that save.

To be fair to the lad, I personally think that he should have been eased into the league by starting Lindegaard ahead of him. Regular readers of this blog are aware of the praise I had for Anders when on tour in America. I think he has got loads of confidence and that is about as good as you hope to find in your keeper. We've got Arsenal and Spurs next so it will be interesting to see who Sir Alex starts in goal especially given the aerial prowess of the likes of Crouch.

We lost captain Nemanja and Rio to injury yesterday but we should have cover for them. It would be nice though to have Rio fit for a whole season. I mean looking at his injury record for the past few seasons, only Hargreaves probably has a worse record. The abilities and determination of the young Jones and Smalling could see him lose his place in the fold.

It wasn't all gloom yesterday as United started the season with the swagger of champions! That was good stuff to see. Rooney rightfully claimed our first goal of the season----a season in which he will be looked at as among the experienced players at the club at the age of 25. Ashley Young paid off part of his transfer fee by creating both goals and linking well with Rooney. Its a breath of fresh air that we can now afford creativity on both wings compared to last year when Nani wasn't as effective on left. We were almost predictable last season for our reliance on the right. Young will be a welcome distraction for Nani and Valencia. And when you win the Man of the Match award on your league debut, you know you did something right.

Given the failure of our rivals to pick up maximum points, it has to be said that this win as crucial if only for the fact that it gives us a two point advantage over our rivals.
We've got tough ones next and despite just 90 minutes of the season gone, we already have an injury crisis. The next few weeks could throw up heart-stoppers!

HERE WE GO!----WBA VS MAN UNITED PREVIEW!

2011-08-13T08:28:00.005+03:00

If last week didn't give you reason to put those finger nails in the mouth again, for he first time in 2 months, maybe this Sunday will.

It's kick-off time in the Barclays Premier League (much to the disappointment of my fingernails and my heart) and the banana probably couldn't get more slippery than at WBA on Sunday.

I know West Brom are one of the five teams we managed to beat away from home last term but those who watched that game will agree with me that we could easily have lost it by more than the one goal that we won it by. I mean if Gary Neville gets sent off and Peter Odemwinge converts that penalty, it would have been curtains.

Ever since Woy (Roy) took charge of them in the middle of last season, they've only lost two games there. They are a typical Premier League team that will take your punches to the shin and if they don't draw blood, will have a go at you themselves. Roy has made them a sort of Fulham team in 2009. According to what I'm hearing, they've offered Owen Hargreaves a contract. Thankfully, he won't make it in time for tomorrow.

The manager will use the second half display in the Community Shield to aid him pick a team. Evra, Hernandez, Fletcher and Valencia are out of this one but they should be easily replaced by Fabio, Berbatov/Welbeck, Cleverly and Young.

We've played some fantastic football right from the tour to that Shield game last Sunday----the kind of football that has given many United fans hope that we can actually cope without trying to replace Scholes from outside the club. I hope we start the season in that kid of form as well.

We play the top six teams from last season within the first two months of the season. It literally means that if things don't go our way, we could be out of the title race by October. We'll therefore have to collect all the points that we can and failing to get all three tomorrow will be something close to a disaster for me.

So come on United!

ANYBODY SEE A BLUE MOON? ME NEITHER. . .

2011-08-08T07:02:00.004+03:00

At half-time, City led 2-0 and I was preparing to attach curse-words to just about every paragraph of my review.
Its not that United were playing badly because we were actually brilliant throughout the match save for those five minutes at the end of the first half. What really irked me was the apparent lack of confidence infront of goal in the opening half. We seemed to know our way past the City midfield but were guilty of over-playing when the killer moment arrived. Carrick didn't seem up for it in that respect.

Admittedly, De Gea could have had a better debut. Obviously its just one game so for now he can keep his shirt on but the sooner he gets to grips with the task at hand the better. At Manchester United, as he will learn, one mistake will win you the back page for all the wrong reasons. David Silva's free-kick was just as perfect as Young's in the second but I thought, he should have come out and punched the ball clear or stayed on his line on his feet. The inspiring thing he did was to come off his line and go down even before Lescott made contact with the ball.
The Edin Dzeko shot was evil in all sorts of ways but still, at this club, you're only asked to make one or two brilliant saves per match so regardless of when or how they come, you should be able to keep even the most wicked of them out.
He did have a more composed second period and made a couple of saves that redeemed him somewhat.

There must have been a slight sense of resignation among the fans at half-time when they saw Sir Alex withdrawing three of his senior players for 'rookies'----given the circumstances under which they came on. But much to the awe of fans and ABUs alike, United produced a stunning second half fight-back that will live long in our memory. Only the 4-3 derby result a couple of years back would compare with what was on show yesterday.

Chris Smalling seems one of those players that has proved to the manager that he can do a job whenever called upon. But for the impressive form of Javier Hernandez last season, he could have been the signing of the season as well. His touched in effort gave the team a new belief.

The goal of the game was scored by Nani after fantastic link play between him, Cleverley and Rooney. We shall struggle to come up with a better team goal this season. I mean, after that went in, a got a call from an Arsenal fan that claimed that for a moment, we looked like Barca. Martin Keown writes for the Daily Mail that we played the Barca way for the entire match. Well, they do look good when they come off, but I'd rather we shoot when we have to and leave the fancy flicks for when we are 2-0 up.

Nani showed great willingness today. This is a player that has every reason (well, more reason than Ballotelli) to sulk at having unfairly missed out on a PFA award late last year, lost his place in the team to Valencia when he was on top of his game, and eventually missing out on a starting berth in the Champions League final last season despite being the team's most creative player. As if that wasn't enough, he saw his manager go out and sign another wide player in the summer hence increasing the competition for a starting berth. He has however, taken all that on chin and worked his way through an impressive pre-season that included netting a goal against Barcelona and now he's claimed a man of the match accolade in some style against what many perceive to be our main title rivals next year. Well done boy!

Special mention goes to Tom Cleverely for giving us reason not to dread the retirement of Paul Scholes and Danny Welbeck for staking a claim for himself as a forward to reckon with. Two cheers for the Academy!

Now that we've ensured that there will be little or no noise from our neighbours over the next couple of months, its rather a conducive atmosphere, I would think, to go about preparing to take 3 points next week at WBA.
Before that though, expect one big addition to the Manchester United set-up this week.
Cheers!

LOOKING BACK AT PS18's TESTIMONIAL AND A PREVIEW OF THE COMMUNITY SHIELD DERBY!

2011-08-05T23:48:00.003+03:00

Paul Scholes was given the perfect send off today with a 6-0 testimonial win oer a select New York Cosmos XI. It was perhaps most fitting that the Ginger Prince was the one to open the scoring in the 8th minute with the trademark piledriver that he has served to the club for the best part of 2 decades.
It was great to see Pele endorsing Paul's greatness as one of the best players to ever grace the game. His former manager Sir Alex was certainly right in saying before the match that Paul is one of Manchester United's all time great players.
A true model professional that I've already labelled a one-off; if you don't believe it, try finding a player who doesn't have an agent.

It has been an emotional evening for all concerned at Old Trafford but attention quickly turns to Wembley on Sunday for the traditional curtain raiser of the League Season---the FA Community Shield. We've come to get used to playing against a team in blue for this one in the past 5 years but this time, it won't be Chelsea or Portsmouth---its our noisy neighbours.

Now, the manager and some fans alike will let you know that the game carries minor significance for us. True; because win or lose, you can be sure that Manchester United's resolve for the coming season will not be shaken one bit. But I have to say that we've had enough bad days at the New Wembley and regardless of the level of competition, I wouldn't want to see us walk those steps first. Granted, its a derby and for the players, what an opportunity to give themselves that crucial shot in the arm that they can take into the big kick-off next week. No doubt City will be looking for the same so on that note, it should make for a cracking game for neutrals.

The manager has already pointed out the absence of Carrick, Chicharito and Rafael but we do have more than enough cover for all those positions so hopefully our lads carry their pre-season from into the season proper.

OLD TRAFFORD BIDS FAREWELL TO A LEGEND AS UNITED

2011-08-05T07:54:00.003+03:00

Later today, Manchester United will take on the New York Cosmos in a testimonial for Paul Scholes.

It is set to be an emotional evening for both the player and the fans as the man known to be the Ginger Prince, not unlike his manager for the past 20 years or so, is a one-off in football especially in the current era.
The press is ripe with reports of how United are trying to replace their creative genius but in truth, its impossible to replace him.

Replacing Paul on the pitch is one thing but doing so off it might be too much to expect from whoever gets the nod to attempt to fill his boots. The 'family man' kept such a low profile off the pitch that at times, you'd forget that he was part of the Manchester United first team.

That the likes of Del Pierro and Eric Cantona will grace the event only serves the function justice.

Thankfully for us fans, we get to keep him in our coaching set up so maybe all is not yet about PS18.

5 OUT OF 5!------UNITED VS BARCA REVIEW!

2011-07-31T08:42:00.004+03:00

There is something about United playing in red and Barca playing in their changed strip that we're yet to appreciate....[kidding]

Manchester United recorded a perfect pre-season tour of the United States of America with a 2-1 victory over FC Barcelona on Saturday night.
Goals from Nani and Owen were enough on the night although it really should have been 4-1---I mean Rooney and Owen should have put away their sitters.

The essence of the exercise was not lost in the desire to get one over our European rivals as I thought it was a good workout for our lads. It was nice to see the manger trust the young lads with such a fixture and I thought they came through well.
Danny Welbeck for instance has certainly got be on his side again and Tom Cleverly held his own against a side that usually hide the ball from opposing midfielders. Evans didn't do bad either.
The manager has utilised just about all of the 29 players on tour and we seem to have in our midst a young and big squad of players that can each contribute something to the season ahead.

We've scored 20 goals on tour and let in 3. The ease with which we have probed our opponent's back lines suggest that Sir Alex has every reason to feel happy with the squad we have so that Scholes replacement might indeed be in this side.

We've accounted for one of 2 sides that caused us heartache last season, there's one more left for next Sunday.

AND FINALLY, THE BEST OF THE LOT----UNITED VS BARCA PREVIEW!

2011-07-30T08:43:00.003+03:00

Manchester United have gone about their pre-season job in America destroying all in their path. 18 goals in four games has so far not raised any questions about our strikers on tour---indeed the striking department comprises of more than a third of Sir Alex's squad. In the same breath, the creativity has been all too evident despite going about the tour without a 'replacement for Paul Scholes' as the press would have you believe. Regardless of the level of opposition, Manchester United have been a joy to watch in the West.

It is therefore only right and fitting that they get the opportunity to test themselves against a side that is generally believed to be sitting on the throne of World Football today. Barcelona was viewed by the coaching management as the epitome of the tasks we should face in the lead to the first competitive match of the season---next Sunday's Manchester derby.

Obviously between now and then we've got a Charity match in France, and Scholes' testimonial on Friday before the Senior Open Training Day for the Manchester Foundation Saturday a week.

Its been a fantastic tour for the lads; Anderson, Park and Rooney in particular as I thought they stood out. Anders Lindegaard can also pat himself on the chest as he has given the manager and fans something to think about as regards who starts in goal for United.

Make no mistake that the press will have a remix of a field day should United lose to Barca tonight...and make no mistake that they will rubbish a United win because it is 'pre-season' and there is no Lionel Messi. So from a distance, tonight is a lose-lose situation but for us close United die-hards, a win is just the sort of thing the players could use to take their confidence into overdrive for the season ahead----and we know how much of a role confidence plays in this sport.

4-0! NEXT. . . .

2011-07-28T21:38:00.004+03:00

Well you thought that the MLS All Stars being the MLS All Stars would give us a tougher evening than any of the sides we've met on tour so far but as it turns out, they were no different.
Like all the sides before them, they started well, giving United a lot to think about in the opening exchanges, but when United got the full measure of them, it was once again about how many United wanted to put away. Sometimes you wonder what sort of scorelines we'd have if the manager kept it full strength for the '90.

Anyhow, it was nice to see Anderson score an opener for United. His midfield performances have for long been devoid of goals and that has perhaps led to some to question his abilities so hopefully he maintains his improved record last season and gets himself 10 or so in the next.
Park Ji Sung is a name that remains in the back of many United fans' minds and doesn't often hit the finger tips but here is a lad who has scored in every game of the tour-----all fantastic goals without really getting much recognition for it. I think he is every bit worth that 2 year contract extension.

Berba was due a goal one of these days so thankfully he got it and Welbeck will not care how much of a deflection that took----in his mind, he's got a tour goal.

Surely Barcelona on Saturday will give us a much difficult task than we've been accustomed to lately. But we're due a win against them and I think its the perfect opposition to get the lads ready to silence those noisy neighbours next Sunday.

AND NOW FOR THE STARS!

2011-07-27T14:09:00.004+03:00

United take on the MLS--All Stars team tonight/morning depending on where you live. This summer though, Thierry Henry and David Beckham will join the cast of stars in a collected effort to throw a spanner in United's so far 100% pre-season record.

Javier Chicharito Hernadez has joined the first team in New York City but it is unlikely he will play tonight. The manager says he will ease him into the team slowly. I reckon the Barca game on Saturday will be his first.

We thrashed the All Stars 5-2 with virtually a reserve team but they seem to be a tad stronger this time round and look like they could beat us if we're not on our A game. The manager has said that he'll play the first team players more often so as to give them a better level of fitness than they had last year when we dropped too many points at the start of the season late on in games.

Hopefully it will be a fantastic watch.

FINALLY A TEST: THE CHICAGO FIRE REVIEW!

2011-07-24T10:33:00.003+03:00

United did really get burned in that first half at the Soldier Field Stadium, needing a significant injection of talent and flair in Nani and Rooney before eventually dispatching off Chicago Fire in soaring temperatures in Illinois.

The best part about the game was that Phil Jones and David De Gea finally got their debuts and Ge Gea in particular did pull a couple of saves that showed one or two things about him that the fans wanted to see.

Wayne Rooney came off the bench to get the leveller, Rafael exhibited some Brazilian full-back attacking to put us ahead and Nani added the cherry on the cake late on. Once again it was our endurance for the '90 minutes that won us the match compared to our opponents who seemed to tire from the hour mark. If anything, the win kept the vultures in the sky as United couldn't simply afford to let the early goal and temperatures cost them victory. Defeat for us will make all sorts of headlines whilst the media will overlook the fact that Hull City thrashed Liverpool 3-0 earlier in the day.

The manager was pleased with the fact that the team managed to ovecome some sort of adversity for the first time in the tour and it puts us in good stead going into the toughest of the four MLS games; the All Stars game on Wednesday in New Jersey; Sir Alex will also have Chicharito available for the first time since Wembley on that day. We're gradually building up strength as we head into the Barcelona game and the Manchester City clash at Wembley.

It's also nice to note that we have such a big squad of players and that can prove to be invaluable in a league campaign as we have found out over the last few years.

SURELY FIRE SHOULDN'T BE A PROBLEM FOR DEVILS

2011-07-23T15:08:00.003+03:00

Manchester United are free scoring in their United States pre-season tour much to the delight of the fans across the pond and those that had fears about the abilities of our current crop of players. 11 goals in two games is not bad even though the opposition so far can be equated to a Championship side in England.

Chicago Fire should however be a much sterner test for Sir Alex's boys not least because of the 100 degrees plus temperatures that Chicago has to offer. The manager has hinted that he'll make even more use of his squad by giving game time to players who are yet to make an appearance in our new kit; It thence means that by the end of tonight, we should have seen both David De Gea and Phil Jones in action for us.
The manager has taken the unusual step of announcing that the young Spaniard will be first choice for us next season so its now up to him to show the world what he's made of by attempting to replace EVDS.

The one downturn for us has been the failure to get a replacement (well, sort of) for Scholes before pre-season. It means that either the cheque-book is closed for the summer, or he'll join in August---which will not give whoever it is the time to adjust to life at United in the same way that the likes of Young and Jones have.

1,2,3,4,5,6,7----0!

2011-07-21T07:07:00.006+03:00

I'm not going too delve into the match report here because I covered the entire game live on our facebook page so straight into what I made of the game;

United did start a little rusty but I thought we got better as the game went on---it was a similar trend to the first game against the Revolution and so far, it seems that our opponents tire much quicker than us. At least we've got endurance covered in pre-season so far. Speaking of endurance, it was pleasing that Rafael got the full '90 today as he and Fabio tend to suffer from cramp after the hour mark.

I thought Anders Lindegaard did himself a world of good again tonight. I've sort of become a fan of him after watching his training and performances on the tour. I'll put my head on the line and say I wouldn't mind him being first choice. I think we've got ourselves 2 good keepers.

Anderson and Nani failed the test of consistency as they weren't as good as I saw them train and play inn the past week or so. That Young has made the left wing our most effective so far is testament to his abilities and Nani's failure to cash in on Valencia's absence. He is brilliant buy consistency would do him a world of good. Anderson meanwhile seems unsure of what role he should play. He does well when he's got one of the 2 midfield roles to perform but is poor when doing both holding and creating. Unless Carrick and Fletcher are ever-present to ease his duties, I think we badly need another signing to supplement the Brazillian's efforts.

Well you know you've been spanked when Obertan scores against you. Nice to see Wayne grab a pre-seaon hat trick. Games should get him on form ready for the season. Special mention to Michael Owen and Park Ji Sung for getting a goal a game in the 45 minutes given to them.

Roll on Chicago on Saturday!

LOOKING AHEAD TO SEATTLE SOUNDERS!

2011-07-19T05:06:00.004+03:00

Manchester United take on Seattle Sounders in Game 2 of their pre-season American tour tomorrow evening. The Sounders are sterner opposition than the New England Revolution so it will be good to see how far the team has gone ahead of the big kick-off next month.

Whilst in Seattle, the lads have been joined by new signings David De Gea and Phil Jones whilst Tom Cleverly and Danny Welbeck also linked up with the squad. We're however more likely to see them in the third game.

That we have more or less pulled out of landing Wesely Sneijder or any other attacking or defensive midfielder means that we need somebody in the team to step up if only to give cover to whoever the manager will bring in to fill the Scholes void. Its why I'll be taking a closer look at the players especially as the games get harder.

1-4? NOT BAD AT ALL!

2011-07-14T16:08:00.003+03:00

Manchester United got their pre-seaon tour underway last night with a breezing 4-1 victory over the New England Revolution.
Obviously its pre-season and hence I'll try not to read much into it but I was chuffed to see the lads go out and put up a performance that had desire written all over it.

Player tend to give just the 50 percent for pre-seaon games but I thought the shift we put last night was excellent for a start. Had to wake up a 3a.m to catch the game so I was pleased at the pace at which the game was played lest I doubt I would have seen it through.

I thought Anderson seemed a tad lighter than we're used to seeing him. I think if he shades off more weight, he'll be more of a threat in terms of being a box to box midfielder. We usually forget that he's still yet to peak so here's to further progress from the lad.
Carrick got himself a couple of assists so no harm done there whilst I thought Ashley Young did so well that the left wing, for once was our main source of attack throughout the match. Unfortunately Nani didn't do as well the other side which he usually relishes patrolling. I just feel that now that we've got three of the best wingers in the league, our forwards and midfielders need to use pre-seaon to work out how they'll crowd the box to get on the end of those delicious deliveries that went begging last night.

Rafael seems to have learnt to defend better than Fabio but again Fabio seems to know when and how to drive forward better than his brother. The only reason our defending wasn't punished further was probably because of the opposition. Sterner tests will call for better. Meanwhile I thought Anders Lindegaard was sharp throughout the match last night. There was nothing he could do about the goal as it was a wicked deflection but he did pull off a couple of saves and was efficient in his distribution of the ball and coming off his line in time to cut out attacks. Compared to the cover we had for EVDS last season, he's a mile better. And I also think he'll challenge for that No.1 position seriously.

Finally I thought that it was ironic that we started with both Berba and Rooney and yet ended the half with a blank whilst Macheda and Owen seemed like they'd score at every attack. The goal of the game was however scored by Park Ji Sung. The move was sublime.

We take on the Seattle Sounders on Wednesday next week in what will be a slightly harder test.

WELCOME BACK!

2011-07-13T18:37:00.003+03:00

For us who just can't stand the thought or sight of United losing a game, today will mark the end of the holiday for us.

On Monday, Manchester United made for the US for their tour and tonight will see the club officially unofficially kick-off the 2012 football season with a friendly against New England Revolution.

Sir Alex clearly brought out my sentiments when he said that Manchester United being Manchester United cannot afford to take any game for granted be it a friendly or not because of the amount of criticism that would thence emanate from the press and fickle fans. Hopefully the players will start the American dream with a BANG!

Meanwhile, David Gill os over in Italy trying to land United's fourth summer signing----Wesely Sneijder. If that goes well; I might just spare a finger or two in the coming season.

On a sad note, Javier Hernandez lost his grandmother today so our prayers are with him. You can follow text updates of the game tonight on our facebook page.
P.S I'll have to wake up at 3.am to watch it!

LONG MAY THE SUMMER CONTINUE!

2011-06-26T12:08:00.004+03:00

I pride myself in being a unique Manchester United fan; if you share my sentiments then that makes two of us. Many fans can't wait for the season to kick-off because they just can't stand a week without watching United.

I'll be the 99999th person to admit that I also find it difficult getting around a week when United are not in action so the 12 week or so break in the summer should be hell for us but for me, it only applies when the Old Trafford cabinet is empty. I'd like to hold on to the trophy in that cabinet for as long as possible because United gives their fans a heck of a roller coaster ride to glory---you 'throw up' so much that by the end of the ride, you can't possibly get enough of a rest before it all starts all over again.

Last season saw us win our record 19th league title. We played all of 60 games and lost just 7; Naturally that stat would point to to walking all over opponents but it was far from it. It was a topsy-turvy ride between August-May; In that time, I lost my voice thrice (Liverpool, Blackpool, Bolton), needed a medical heart test (West Ham) and spilled very expensive beer (vs Wolves at home).

You see, for a few of us, when Manchester United take to the pitch, its close to a matter of life or death. Watching them play is not the hobby it is for many of their 300 million fans across the world. It's a case of literally watching how your future will pan out; (I know its superstitious---but aren't we all?) A win means things will work for the better; a draw stagnation and a defeat I dread to thin of it; ultimately all these amalgamate into success or failure at the end of the season.
For instance last season was a wonderful success. I don't care what the press writes about it but the stats and facts show that the period between 2007-2011 is the most successful era in the club's history!

So much as I'd love to see the lads back in action on the pitch; I think my heart is enjoying period of recovery so I'm not complaining. Not ready yet to start pulling my none-existent hair out of my head (its still growing) and look! My nails are pretty chuffed too about the holiday. They've finally recovered from that complete clear-out on New Years Day at West Brom; conceding a second half penalty after Gary was lucky not to have seen red and given away one himself; then Hernandez edging us ahead before we struggle to see it out.

Yup! Not ready yet! Long may the summer continue!
I'll do a transfer wrap when the manager puts away his cheque-book in the meantime, follow us on facebook.

Cheers!

THE SILLY SEASON SO FAR

2011-06-18T14:47:00.004+03:00

You might wonder why this blog has gone AWOL since the football stopped. Well the answer is simply that yours truly only really sits down to blog at done deals. The silly season doesn't really interest him. It's disgusting to be linked with all sorts of players from all walks of life in the name of journals making money to see them through the summer.

That said though; Manchester United were always going to be in for a busy summer in the transfer season---not least because of the humbling experience a Wembely. That Neville, Scholes and EVDS called time on their careers further created an urge to rebuild the team. Not that this is new to Sir Alex (who could soon be Lord Alex) as he has built four Manchester United teams. True Reds will agree that the manager has the full backing of fans and as such afford him all the trust to make the right decisions that should see us party like its '99 every month of May.

As far as players who are nailed on to be at United next season; Phil Jones seems to be the one absolutely confirmed deal. According to the press and twitter, we've got a gem. He better be one; I mean he's cost twice the fee Real Madrid dished out to sign Mezut Ozil! Ashley Young is another name that we should be singing next season. The player cancelled his wedding, flew out on holiday, and is expected to complete his transfer on his return. Given the nimbus clouds hovering over Ryan Giggs, you feel that it was a safe signing by the manager. David De Gea should replace EVDS in goal but since he's not interested in talking about the move, I'll do him a favour and leave it at that.

The silly season is not just about players arriving as you might be aware that John O'Shea, Wes Brown, and Darron Gibson could be playing for Sunderland or some sort of EPL side next season. It's not until I actually heard of this that Fergie's rebuilding plan finally sunk in. These are players who we've known to do a job for the club wen called upon without ever complaining about a lack of first team chances. It remains to be see if we shall get new players from our squad who can assume the same responsibility.

It's very likely that the manager has one big signing left to pull out of the hat and personally if I were to pick that person, it would be Alexis Sanchez. Many will point at Wes Sneijder to patch up central midfield and replace Scholes but I'm not having any of it when we're on the brink of landing another Cristiano Ronaldo. I've seen the boy play for long and I think he's that good---probably better (YES I SAID IT!) It speaks volumes about him that Barcelona---a team that could still win a treble next season without him---are also patiently lining up for him. I'll be gutted if he picks anyone over us.

HERE'S THE NEW LOOK

2011-06-08T12:57:00.003+03:00

2010/11 MANCHESTER UNITED SEASON REVIEW!

2011-06-01T13:41:00.003+03:00

Manchester United ended the 09/2010 campaign just a point behind eventual winners Chelsea so you can imagine the pain the players and fans went into the summer with. Arm chair viewers were adamant that United wouldn't win any major trophy again until they replaced Ronaldo and Tevez---who had left the season before.
However Sir Alex saw no big difference between the EPL champions and us and bar a little more discipline from one of our players, we would easily have gotten past Bayern Munich in the Champions League and Lyon in the semis to book a place in the final in Madrid.

In came Javier Hernandez, Chris Smalling and Bebe---all who were relatively unknowns. Perhaps the Mexican arrived with a more synonymous reputation than his colleagues as we'd got a glimpse of him at the World Cup in South Africa. Smalling and Bebe (who the manager signed on instinct) were seen as players for the future.

The customary season predictions by the media would have us between 2nd and fourth place in the final league standings as many could not see past the mega bucks of Chelsea and City.
Perhaps the Community Shield should have provided many with a taste of what Sir Alex had in store for them. Manchester United ran out 3-1 winners against Chelsea and our three goal scorers in Antonio Valencia, Javier Hernandez and Dimitar Berbatov would provide us with the story of our first half of the season.

ANTONIO VALENCIA;
You're obviously wondering why a player who hardly kicked the ball for us in the first half of the season is part of the story...well that's the point.
Valencia had a wonderful debut season for us and had managed to effectively replace Ronaldo on that right wing for effort if not for quality. His ability to whip in the ball into the box with a single-mindedness is one of the main reasons Wayne Rooney bagged 34 goals for the club last season. He was therefore widely expected to push on this season and the goal in the Community Shield encounter against Chelsea suddenly had us lit up for what was to come in the season proper.
Then, in the most unprecedented of fashions, he breaks his leg in a somewhat innocuous challenge during a European tie at home against Rangers. It seemed like we'd seen the last of him for the season and even though he were to make a return towards the end, just how bad had our season aspirations taken a hit?

Antonio Valencia's troubles is many ways re-invented Nani as a creative outlet for United. We all know he can play on either wing but the stats show that he's better off on the right side. Nani duly took full advantage of the void left by Valencia to score 10 times in the league alone and and provide 18 assists. Quite simply, he was our player of the first half of the season for the simple reason that he made us have a life without Antonio. I happy that his fellow professionals recognised him for this and awarded him the Player's Player of the Year award at the end of the season. Nani didn't show up much for the last third of the season but it's easy to forget that the highs we reached were largely down to his early season efforts.

JAVIER HERNANDEZ;
The Mexican got the second goal in the Community Shield fixture but even then we expected him only to have a minor role in the season ahead. He however caught the fans and indeed the manager's eye for his style of playing on the last shoulder of the last defender. He has a touch of Michael Owen and Ruud van Nistelrooy in him. His crucial double away to Stoke and then the late winner in Valencia in the Champions League must have been the goals that elevated him to first team status. In fact the one stat that does justice to Chicharito's contribution to United's cause this past season is the fact that he has excelled just as much away from home where United have been generally poor all season. Those five away wins in the league were just enough to complement our terrific home form. Hernandez won us the 3 at Stoke, won us the 3 at West Brom, helped win us the 3 at Blackpool, confirmed the 3 at West Ham and stole us 3 valuable ones in the Champions League in Spain.
It's no wonder that he won the prestigious Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year. The fans were clearly moved by his contribution.

DIMITAR BERBATOV
DB9 grabbed the third goal at Wembley in that Shield opener. It led Fergie to reveal that this would be his season. We took the manager's word's lightly given the 2 relatively disappointing seasons that Berba had. But by October, the Premier League had taken note. His 21 league goals must have had something to do with our ending up as eventual league Champions. He was criticised for scoring in bulk and then going on a drought but I guess when you have a striker who scores in the more appealing fashion that Chicharito does, then you need one who will score them in in numbers if it means improving your goal difference. His finest moment came with a superb hatrick against Liverpool at Old Trafford----the first in 64 years to do that. Then he joined the likes of Alan Shearer in the record books by scoring 5 against Blackburn in a 7-1 rout.
He was in the end rewarded with the Premier League golden boot. That he shared it with Carlos Tevez takes some gloss off it but he can take courage from the fact that Carlos's total included five penalties whilst his were all taken from open play.

Wayne Rooney came into his own just about the time Berbatov began to fade and scored the best goal I've ever seen at Old Trafford (edging out Ronaldo's free-kick vs Portsmouth). For all his troubles in front of goal, he got the goal of the season---further proving that class is indeed permanent.

Edwin van der Sar had a fantastic last season with us. It's only sad that his last game for us was a painful experience for us fans. Paul Scholes called it quits at the end as well whilst Gary Neville did it in mid-season. They're all club legends and will be greatly missed. The summer should be about replacing their talents.
Sir Alex will look back and probably admit that this season was the most difficult he's had. That we've been successful in it despite the difficulties further attests to the managerial genius of the fiery Scott. The Antonio Valencia leg break was obviously unwelcome but none of those hurdles shook him more than the Wayne Rooney transfer saga. That he managed to save another player from wasting his talent by seeking a move away from Manchester United was a master stroke of his genius. This team was not given a prayer by anyone at the start of the season but we played 21 league games before we tasted defeat---an incredible feat in a league as competitive as this.

The manager's belief in the strength of the team was rewarded with a League title triumph in May. The next best team was all of 9 points away from a team that struggled to win away from home and a team that many called the 'worst under Sir Alex'. The irony is that this is the team that has claimed that most wanted record of 19 League titles. The most optimistic neutral called United an average team. Given our success, I can only conclude that the rest of the English League is below average and pretty much most of Europe as well!

+CHAMPIONS!+

TRIBUTE TO A LEGEND! PS18

2011-05-31T14:24:00.005+03:00

He's staying at the club to take up a coaching role but we'll miss him! He's not a man of many words so I'll sum up his tribute in these words; 'If Lionale Messi is one of a line of great players we have witnessed, Paul Scholes is a one-off.'

ANTI-CLIMAX BUT UNITED DID US PROUD IN 2010/11!

2011-05-30T00:35:00.004+03:00

After missing out narrowly in the fight for the title last season, we expected Manchester United to come out all guns blazing into the new season with the ultimate goal of winning us that 19th league title. Obviously we hoped for a few top buys in the summer to help us achieve that goal. We hadn't really replaced Ronaldo and Tevez the summer before so hearts sunk a bit when the manager announced that Bebe, Chris Smalling and Javier Hernandez were to be our only purchases in the summer. He had to be kidding right? But no, that was it.
As fans of this great club, we've learned to trust our manager more than anyone or anything else at the club so deep down, we knew that Sir Alex knew best.
The media couldn't see us better the big spending City and Chelsea and most even dared predict that we would finish outside the top four, behind City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and that Spurs would even have a better season than us.

The season started with a 3-1 victory over Chelsea at Wembley so it was ironic that it ended with a 3-1 victory over Barcelona at Wembley. But at the end of it all, you have to go back and picture yourself in August. What were your club's main goals.
I expected us to win the league----as I usually do, and as far as I can remember, that was it. We've won the League Cup quite a few times lately so I didn't particularly pay attention to that accolade at the time, the FA Cup has had an issue with us since 2004 and I usually struggle to remember that it's there for the taking and the Champions League, you felt would be asking too much of our squad which was more or less in transition.

Roll on to May and look what's in the cabinet---The League. And this is not just any title; Manchester United teams in 70 years to come (hopefully I'll still be alive to testify) will remember this current side as the one that put us on top of the domestic food chain in terms of success. It's a fantastic feeling that we now have more FA Cups and League titles than any other club in the country. That is the kind of position that does justice to this great club.
The manager also went the extra mile to make us dream by doing so well in the Cup and in the Champions League that for so long in the season, there was talk of a treble in the press---the same press that sad we would end up at best in third place in the league.

Last four of the Cup, Champions League finalists for the third time in four years and now record Champions of England. You just can't help but imagine what we would achieve if we were not hampered by the debt weight the Glazers put on us.

The measure of success this year is only confirmed by the fact that but for the brilliance of Barcelona who are now the best team in the sport by a mile, we would be Champions of Europe and England.

What makes Sir Alex special is his ability to keep the titles coming even during the transitional years of the team. Giggs, Scholes and EVDS are smoothly being eased out of the club as he gets ready replacements who will ensure that we keep competitive and successful.

In the end though we are lucky fans. We are lucky that we support a club that keeps us happy during the season and in the summer. A club that has made us so drunk with success that we take defeat as though we're enjoying it for a change.

I'll do an in depth season review soon but for now; I'm thankful that the club has PULLED IT OFF!
Glory Glory Manchester United.

OFFICIALLY CHAMPIONS, THEN GIGGS, THEN WEMBLEY 2011

2011-05-25T12:59:00.003+03:00

Manchester United finally got their hands on the real Premier League trophy on Sunday accompanied with another 4-2 comeback victory over Blackpool. Tangerine were effectively relegated by the result---the only ill feeling to penetrate an otherwise joyful atmosphere inside Old Trafford.
Whilst it's easy to take in league success this season and get on with the next job at hand, I feel that we shall look back at this particular title with even grater emotion in the future so I'm not rushing the moment. I'm loving every minute of being associated with this football club almost as though they are paying me for it.

In his post match interview during the title celebrations, Sir Alex quickly pointed out that not too much champagne would be poured out because the club does have another date with history on Saturday night.--More on that later.

The hot-selling Manchester United story however has nothing to do with football. It is alleged that Ryan Giggs is the footballer that had an affair with Imogen Thomas (former Big Brother star). Whilst we're all human, let me just vent my frustration with all this; Ryan Giggs is the one player that personifies Manchester United's success in the recent past. Whether he likes it or not, whatever he does will always be associated with Manchester United---a small burden that comes with being the club's most decorated player, and record appearance holder.
Sir Alex must be cursing because just when you thought the Wayne Rooney 'thing' was the last of its kind at our club, this comes up. I man the game coming up in itself poses enough threats of its own to ponder about and now he's got to accommodate this. The Wayne Rooney 'thing' nearly threatened to undo our season and only a manager of Sir Alex's abilities could wither the storm. Thankfully we now look at it as a bygone because we're now league Champions again.

The last thing that Sir Alex needed ahead of the Champions League final was 'this new thing.' Ryan Giggs is odds on to start that game at Wembley----and I'd be gutted if he didn't. So you wonder how much will be playing on his mind come Saturday evening. I know there's talk of his experience and all but hey; as we've all been reminded with this latest scandal, we're all human--subject to the same mental and emotional reactions of life's situations. Having said that, If I was to pick anyone in the Manchester United team who could juggle the media and pressure ahead of such a game, then I'd pick Giggs. I really hope that we shall sort this out next week with the European Cup seated alongside the League title.

Barcelona are already in London largely because a certain volcano in Iceland is not their biggest fan. I'll take it that nature is also against them. So hopefully wildlife can join in as well. Here's to Eagles, Vultures, Lions, Tigers, and Elephants raiding the Thames hotel on Friday night.

Finally Sir Alex has confirmed that David De Gea is the goalkeeper who will replace EVDS. I hope the lad enjoys his time in Manchester----and I mean the weather. The next name doing the rounds in the papers today is Ashely Young. You can expect that given that the CEO labelled this a busy summer, they'll be a few 'done deals' doing the rounds in the papers.

Cheers y'all---especially to that wildlife part!

GALLERY; NUMBER 19!

2011-05-18T14:32:00.008+03:00

As we await the official presentation of Number 19. . . After this, you can't claim that you lack wallpaper.

Credits: The Official Website; MAN UTD.COM

TAKING IN THE MOMENT WITHA LOOK AHEAD TO WEMBLEY

2011-05-17T11:02:00.005+03:00

Scott Red of the very wonderful Republikofmancunia blog recently published an article that was a bookmark of the predictions Journalists around the country had about the 2010/2011 Premier League Season. Like many ABUs and fans for good measure, Manchester United were largely between third place and fourth place in the predictions. Some went as far as predicting that United would finish the season outside the top four places.

Roll on May 2011 and we are once again Champions of England--this time for a record breaking 19th time. It must be said; this past season has been like no other in terms of competition and I reckon that future seasons will struggle to emulate it in terms of drama.

I mean take a look back to August when United dropped points at Craven Cottage and Goodison Park in incredible fashion. Nani'[s penalty miss at Craven Cottage has 'no title' written all over it---I mean the manager stressed at the time that when you have a last minute penalty to kill a league game, you have to score it.

Then leading 1-3 at Everton heading into the final few minutes and in the space of sixty seconds the game is 3-3; We've been Manchester United fans long enough to know that such lapses in concentration are not traits of aspiring league champions. At that point, you really started to worry for Manchester United because something just wasn't right.

We did however get off lightly with those dropped points because our main title rivals Chelsea got hit by some sort of 'bug' that downed them as far behind us as we could have imagined. It meant that we had to shrug off the title challenges of Man City and then Arsenal and given their relative inexperience about a title run-in, they duly faded such that by the time Chelsea recovered from their 'bug' we had our destiny in our hands with just a couple of games left.

The art of keeping the destiny of the league title in your hands going into the last three or four games of the season is what I believe has made Sir Alex the master of his trade. No wonder that people say that he could have won the league this season with any of the top four sides.

That this was the 19th league title means that the team which the media rubbished as Sir Alex's worst has established itself in United's history books as the record breaking team---and to think that it could soon add the title of European Champions to it makes you laugh at the irony.

Speaking of being European Champions, Manchester United have another almighty chance of adding another European Cup to their cabinet next week when they take on Barcelona at Wembley in the European Cup final. We went into the 2009 final against them as favourites but this time we head in as underdogs---possibly overwhelming underdogs as some people cannot fathom anything other than a Barca victory.

The good feeling about this final is that for starters we are underdogs so that takes if only the slightest pressure off. Secondly, it seems to be a back against the wall job and for all the years I have supported United, we seem to relish challenges that give us no chance; it's why we win games so late on way after the match reports have already been posted. This game has all the ingredients of a 'Manchester United shocker' written all over it. I also can't remember a time when Sir Alex has been beaten by the same challenge twice. I mean the manager has been beaten hands down by some of the challenges he has faced in his quarter century reign at United but he usually finds a solution to them.

This is not to out rightly state my confidence ahead of the final but rather to point out that the final is not as certain as people would have you believe.

19 NOT OUT!

2011-05-15T16:25:00.005+03:00

Yesterday, May 14 2011, will go down in Manchester United's illustrious record books as the day the club officially became the most successful club on English soil by securing a 19th league title and finally knocking Liverpool off their perch.

The 1-1 draw against Blackburn was just about the result both teams wanted so it's safe to say that nobody left Ewood Park yesterday with a gloomy face. It was nice seeing some Rovers fans staying on to watch the on-pitch celebrations of Manchester United players infront of the Away fans---I mean what's the point of leaving them there and going home and turning on the telly only to see the same pictures.

The game itself was a contest for the best part of 80 minutes until Wayne Rooney scored from the spot to put United level. The remaining six minutes would be played between the United defence and Paul Scholes (The possession stats make for interesting reading)
It would have been a procession for United if Tomas Kuszczak had not chosen that game to show why he hasn't made the grade at United. Thankfully for him though, Javier Hernandez's exploits upfront won us a penalty that Wayne Rooney duly dispatched to send the Away end into wild celebrations.

Machester United's season is full of so many sub-plots and anecdotes---largely because this year, there can be no argument of a 'one-man team' that the media has usually tagged successful United sides with. Thankfully we have a full summer to reflect on all that and to comprehensively build it all up for next season.
For now though, we ought to savour the fact that we have successfully met our season's prime goal. Of course we still have a Champions League final to look forward to so you'd think that the manager will get the boys down to work Monday morning and leave the celebrations for Many 30th.
I have promised myself that I won't 'demand much' from the team if the team beat Barcelona and win a fourth European Cup for the club. What a way that would be to end a season in which the team's obituary was written in August and then underwent several amendments before Wayne Rooney dispatched that penalty.

I could easily write a whole review today about yesterday but being one of those United fans for whom following the club and paying allegiance to it is close to a religion, maybe the tears that flowed down my eyes at the final whistle yesterday will suffice.
For those of us that eat, live and breathe United, it can only mean the world to us that our club is now the most successful in the country. It means the world to us that for another season, you'll visit the official website and be greeted with the headline tag; CHAM19NS. It means the world to us that Manchester United are the Champions of England Again.

WHY BEATING CHELSEA WAS THAT EXTRA SPECIAL FOR UNITED---MUST READ!

2011-05-10T22:17:00.007+03:00

Sir Alex Ferguson has never quite had a stable rival in his time in England. I mean you can argue that Liverpool and City remain our eternal rivals regardless whether they compete with us or not for silverware but the manager has had some good things to say about them----and we all know that when Sir Alex starts praising you, you're no longer deemed worthy competition.

Arsenal were his first big headache in his time at United so far considering that Newcastle and Blackburn were not as consistent as the Gunners. When Arsene Wenger took the 'Liverpool route' and lost interest in the title, Roman Abramovich's money came in and that gave Sir Alex some sort of new competition. I'm sure he didn't take them seriously until they defended the league in 2006--something that even Arsenal had failed to do. That forced him into another re-building process that saw us win the league in 2007 for the first time since 2003---the longest the league had been away from its traditional home since 1993.

The departure of Jose Mourinho and the constant change of coaches at the Stamford Bridge club has not prevented the Rent Boys from being such a pain in United's quest for silverware. That we have battled them for the title in each season since 2005 is testament to how much they have got on our nerves in the last few years. I mean when the Premier League announce the fixture calender every summer, you pick out the Liverpool dates and the City ones but its increasingly becoming impossible to ignore the date we play Chelsea as more often than not, the fixture has decided the destiny of the title. It should be recalled that we've had to do battle with them even on the European stage for honours--a point neither of our previous rivals had got us to.

However you thought that we had put them in their place when we on the league treble for the second time between 2007-2009. After ruining our bid to make history by winning it four times, Sir Alex found himself with another job of his hands---returning the trophy to its rightful cabinet.

Chelsea did beat us at every opportunity the had last season but there was a sense of injustice about the way the won their games against us. Perhaps that what made this season's victories against them all the more sweet.

I'll start from the 2009 Community Shield fixture that saw them beat us on penalties. Michael Ballack elbowed Evra in the move that led them to scoring a second goal. The referee did not see it---despite the fact that it was as blatant as it could possibly have been but that is not what you expect from your opponents in a sport based on fair play. Wayne Rooney restored parity to send the game to penalties but the fact that we lost the shootout did irk many fans.

Then came the first clash between the two clubs in the league at Stamford Bridge. With the game level and on the balance of play in our favour given that they didn't bother EVDS significantly, the Martin Atkinson awarded Chelsea a free kick that never was. Darren Fletcher had taken the ball from Ashely Cole but it was given. John Terry scored from Lampard's free-kick with a header but the goal was an illegitimate one on three counts: Firstly that it wasn't a free-kick, secondly because Wes Brown was clearly fouled in the area by Drogba who attempted to connect with the ball from (thirdly) an offside position. None of those incidents was spotted by the linesman or the ref so it was gutting that that goal turned out to be the winner.

Of course these decisions even themselves throughout the season because United too have benefited from the same so you hopped that in the reverse fixture at Old Trafford, we'd get something going our way. However it was not to be as for the third time in a fixture against Chelsea, the decision would go against us; Drogba's winning goal was scored from an offside position---a clear 2 metres away from our defence at the time the ball is played. Again, a poor decision by the ref would hand Chelsea the win. They went on to finish just a point above us despite beating us twice in the league. We were left to reflect on what might have been if just one of those decisions had gone our way.

Roll on to 2010/2011 season and as fate would have it, the season would also start with a Community Shield face-off between the two clubs. We hadn't done much of an investment in the summer (Chicharito, Bebe, Smalling)--at least compared to them but the sense of injustice, we hopped, would spur us on to overhaul them.A 3-1 win in the curtain raiser was therefore as sweet as you can imagine. This time there was no poor decision to save the day for them. I hopped that we had turned a corner on them.

I would later on in the season proper be proved wrong. Martin Atkinson---the same referee who took charge of the Stamford Bridge fiasco a the season before was picked to take charge of the game. We battered them in the second half and went infront courtesy of a Wayne Rooney cracker of goal. Then Atkinson failed to book any of Chelsea's players despite the tough tackling they employed whenever we were in possession. David Luiz in particular committed three yellow card offences in the span of half an hour. That the Brazilian then equalised at a time he should have been in the shower made it all the more gutting. But Atkinson's mission was not yet done; after waving away murderous challenges by David Luiz all match, he awarded Chelsea a penalty. Chris Smalling hardly touched Zirhkov but Atkinson couldn't have pointed to the spot any faster. Lampard scored from the spot and for the umpteenth time, Chelsea beat us because of a poor refereeing decision.

Sir Alex lost it. I mean I lost it too. He, spoke our minds when he said that he noted the pattern of results Chelsea had Stamford Bridge with Atkinson in charge--particularly the fact that they had benefited twice against us from the same official.The FA banned the manager for saying the truth---a total of five matches in the stands. Not that the ban affected us that much but it only served to worsen the sense of injustice we felt against Chelsea. It was bad enough that they were beating us but that they were doing it with the help of officials made it all the more painful.

Call it fate or whatever you like but the Champions League last eight draw paired us against Chelsea. I could hardly believe our luck. I mean surely this was our turn to get something over them---with our without help from the officials. The draw meant that we would play Chelsea three more times before the season would close but given that at the time we were so far ahead of them in the league, the Champions League ties would be the ones they'd feel the hurt we felt if could win them. Its synonymous to all that Roman Abramovich badly wants that European Cup at Stamford Bridge so you can imagine how excited I felt when we were presented the chance of trashing that European dream for a second time---en route to making a claim for our own.

The fact that we were now going to be under European officials rather the domestic officials gave me a sense on comfort given that you'd expect more objective refereeing. Going into the first leg in London, we hadn't won there since a 3-0 win in 2002. An away goal or a score draw was the best we ans were hopping for so you can imagine the feeling when we registered a win there. We would go on to win at home in the return leg as well and effectively end their European dream for another year. That was sweet. But for some reason, I wanted us to end our domestic woes against them too.

Call it fate or whatever you like but between March 1 and last Sunday, our league form was such that we didn't throw away so many points to lose our place in the league but also that Chelsea would get close to us to reduce a once 15 point gap to just three. That suddenly gave as much importance to the final fixture between the two clubs as we had anticipated t the start of the season. It was more like a Premier League finale--but for me, it was a chance to once and for all strike the upper cut against a side I had grown to hate even more than our other established rivals over the past two seasons---largely because we seemed to play against 12 men (something Wayne whispered at Stamford Bridge after a defeat there the season before) whenever we played them. Finally a chance to heal all the hurtful pain we had suffered against them for over a year and above all, a chance to reclaim our trophy and return it to its rightful Old Trafford home.

How fitting it was that it was David Luiz's blunder that gave Hernandez (a victim of his fouling at Stamford Bridge in March) the opportunity to put us in the lead in just 36 seconds. I've already blogged (in my review) that I nearly kicked the telly whilst celebrating. You can therefore imagine the smile on my face when Ancellotti started giving Luiz a telling off on pitch and warming up Alex after just five minutes. I mean you couldn't have written the script. Then Captain Vida made it 2-0 and given that he was sent off in the March 1 fiasco, his celebration told of a man whose revenge had been meted out in the sweetest of fashions.

By the time Howard Webb blew the final whistle on Sunday, even the usually calm and composed Sir Bobby Charlton was clapping off the final few seconds of the match. We had beaten Chelsea for the third time in the season. That once again the decisions went against us( Ivanovic should have been sent off and Lampard's handball should have merited us a penalty) but we still won and battered them throughout made it an even more sweeter victory----it made it extra special. For me, it was as big as a triumph of Good over Evil!

RE-LIVE THE GLORIOUS MOMENTS OF YESTERDAY

2011-05-09T15:36:00.016+03:00

Old Trafford was yet again the place to be as the EPL season reached its grand finale as far as the title race was concerned. Manchester United produced a display for all to behold and the pictures taken from the ground will be fonldy remembered in United's history as they now stand for English League Title Number 19!

UNITED BEAT CHELSEA TO PUT THE CHAMPAGNE ON ICE!

2011-05-08T21:20:00.005+03:00

Make no mistake about it, United will struggle to bottle it from the position we're in now, so you can virtually say that FINALLY, after a long season, season of its own kind, with the most twists and turns I've in my lifetime (and I'm not exactly young), with the most unprecedented script todate-----Manchester United are English Champions again, and this time for a record breaking 19th title!

Mathematically we still need a point from either of the trip to Ewood Park or infront of our own fans on the final day of the season against Blackpool to officially claim the title of Champions but hey; you can be certain that after this win, Chelsea might as well get beaten next week to hand it to us regardless of our result. The psychological blow landed today was THAT BIG!

This was the most watched sporting entertainment of the weekend around the world but I doubt many had taken their seats in their living rooms at the time Park slid one through for Javier Hernandez to score the opener---and astonishingly, his 20th goal of the season for United in his debut campaign.
You can bet I nearly kicked the telly in celebration---I mean here we were, in the game of games, hearts in mouth even before the kick-off, but with the comfort of knowing that just a point would do but with just 36 seconds in the game, leading 1-0! Not even the most optimistic of fans would have predicted such a start.

In that first minute of the game, not only did we considerably destroy Chelsea's game plan but also dealt them a major psychological blow whose impact would last the entire first 45 minutes. So when captain Nemanja Vidic made it 2-0 with a trademark header, you knew that we had just given ourselves the cushion to see out whichever period of the match Chelsea would get back into it.

It was good to see Wayne Rooney give David Luiz a hair day after the injustice he suffered back in London in the reverse fixture. The Brazilian was all over the place so much so that his manager had his replacement warming up on the touchline as early as the fifth minute!

Alex would prove to be an able replacement a he did cut out many of our attacks in the second half as well as clear a certain Rooney goal off the line. Having said that, our strikers did squander a host of chances in that second period so much so that the manager reckons Wayne and Hernandez could have had six goals to their name by the 90th minute. Thankfully though the cushion Vidic gave us in the game has made sure that the press will ignore the fact that we should have had two penalties in the game plus the fact that Chelsea should have ended the game with 10 men considering Ivanovic made three yellow card offences.

Ryan Giggs and Park Ji Sung were the standout players today ad I think we now have a fairly clear picture of how United will line up at Wembley against Barcelona.

The joy and delight that greeted the final whistle was in many ways akin to the one we saw in 2008 when we made it to the Champions League Final after seeing off Barca. Old Trafford was really rocking today, and the manager's bow to the Stretford End at the Final Whistle was testament to that.

We now have a well deserved week of rest head of the lunchtime kickoff at Blackpool next Saturday on a day we could win the League. The players deserve a couple of days off given that its the first time in quite a while that we have a full 6 days to prepare for a game. Well done!

After that it should be back to business; but for now every fan deserves a glass of wine.

Onwards and Upwards!

GALLERY; UNITED PLAYERS ENJOY A LUNCH OUT AFTER SECURING A PLACE AT WEMBLEY 2011

2011-05-05T20:54:00.008+03:00

MANCHESTER UNITED REACH WEMBLEY 2011!

2011-05-05T12:10:00.003+03:00

For all their haters and critics this season, this Manchester United team has recorded a remarkable achievement. Coming from the disappointment of missing out on the final in Madrid because of a technicality last year, they've responded in typical Manchester United style---bouncing back to dispose of Valencia (in the group stages), Marseille, Chelsea and Shalckle 04 to reach the UEFA Champions League final for the third time in four years. It could easily have been four in four but we'll take three---not least because no club in Europe can match that level of consistent success in Europe.

After accounting for the exits of Valencia and holders Inter Milan in the knock-out rounds, the media was all about how the Germans could prove to be a banana ski for us. Granted, they do play attacking football--which is credit to them, but I thought in praising the Germans so much, many forgot that the lesson United learnt in the San Siro in 2007 will forever be a part of this group of players in Europe. We are statistically the most difficult team to beat in European competition, and perhaps what scares opponents is that we are better away from home than at home---which is i harp contrast to our league form. That we have let in just four goals throughout the tournament going into the final is one of the reasons as to why I have certain inbred confidence about this team going into a final with Barcelona who will be everybody's favourites. However our final opponents is a topic for another day.

Right now, we must revel in the fact that we have another opportunity to further honour the Busby Babes and the 1968 European Cup winning team by winning the trophy from the scene of our first triumph. Many people tend to forget that United's history is largely built around European competition. It therefore means that success in the Champions League is only right and fitting for a club who boast the biggest fan base in World football.

Sir Alex shocked just about every fan with his team selection and he admitted that he lost sleep about how his second string would perform. It's good to see that the likes of Evans, Smalling, Gibson and Rafael are being trusted by the manager to see out a Champions League semifinal. The experience will do them good. They also managed to help the team register an even bigger victory margin than in the away leg. A total 6-1 aggregate against the Germans is a Champions League record for a semifinal which the club will add to its stock of records.
We were made to ask ourselves why we were worried by the team news as the players seemed to enjoy themselves more than anything. I mean when the likes of Anderson are chasing hat tricks by the 70th minute then you know United are having fun on pitch. Gibson got another Champions League goal for himself with a trademark shot and maybe Mr. Pep Guardiola will at least have been pleased to see one of the sure starters in the final in Antonio Valencia---otherwise one can argue that his trip was more of a formality than business.

For Manchester United, there's never enough time to mull over victory or defeat. The league still has to be won and we have an opportunity on Sunday to do that. We need to beat Chelsea on Sunday if not for the mere fact that it will be sweet to do to them what they did to us exactly a year ago.

Onwards and Upwards!

UNITED COME AWAY FROM THE EMIRATES EMPTY HANDED BUT STILL IN CHARGE.

2011-05-01T22:16:00.003+03:00

Over the last few seasons, we've got the better of City and so it was almost certainly that a very important FA Cup semifinal would go their way---and so it did. It's how sometimes things work. Likewise Le Arse have been on the receiving end against us for a while now so I must say I had the gut feeling that they were due a win against us. I prayed that that win would wait till next season but in vain because Arsenal, in the end, got the win.

So it leaves the title race in the most exciting position right now---at least as far as the neutrals and media are concerned. It has also made next week' clash between United and Chelsea at OT virtually the title decider.

This is where as fans and as a club we have to put things into perspective. For starters, we have been in such situations time and time again so there shouldn't be any nerves or talk of cracking because for all intents and purposes, we are still in charge of the destiny of the title. Contrast this position to the one we were in last season. We were in Chelsea's position now heading into that crucial game at OT. It was never really about what we did but what they did. They'll be desperate to get all three points next week so as to put themselves level with us at the top so we should exploit that next Sunday. I also feel that by the time this fixture comes around, they'll be no other midweek commitments (besides Neville's testimonial on 24 May) so if we could see out the 90 minutes against Schalke on Wednesday with minimum energy used, we could leave ourselves fresh enough for one last hurrah in the league on our own pitch---a ground we've won all but one of our games this season---with the ultimate prize of sealing that 19th title.

The frustration at not coming away from the Emirate with at least a point will lead many to forget that back in August, after signing Bebe, Smalling and Hernandez, we would all have taken the position that we find ourselves in. We've played our part in keeping the title race candle burning for a while now but I think its time we blow it out and start thinking of how we are going to win the Champions League final.

Of course the result means that the title cannot be won until the final day of the season but beating Chelsea would restore that six point gap that we could use in the last two games against Blackburn and Blackpool.
At the moment, Chelsea would gladly swap positions with us. So its up to the lads to see out the '90 on Wednesday and put an end to proceedings in the league next Sunday.

Onwards and Upwards!

UNITED PUT SCHALKE IN THEIR PLACE!

2011-04-27T09:49:00.004+03:00

I blogged here in my post Everton notes that we had to go to Germany and remind Schalke 04 that they had gone as far as they could in the Champions League. I mean when you look at the teams that sat out the semi at their expense, you're thinking that they must put up a performance against United to merit their place in the semi and book one in the final.

But behold, we were treated to the most one sided Champions League semifinal todate. You must have read it on a thousand sites by now that but for Manuel Neur, this particular tie should have been excused for a second leg. If there's one game the neutrals are not looking forward to its the second leg on Wednesday week.

Just like many fans, players and manager alike, I was dismayed that the first half ended goalless especially given the number of clear cut chances we created. You thought that the Germans would get one chance or some luck their way and make it count. So the relief when Giggs became the oldest player to score in the Champions League was palpable. Some justice was done to the scoreline a couple of minutes later when Rooney scored a second.
Make no mistake that United, bar a minor miracle, are well on their way to Wembley.

What this does is that it gives us the breathing space and clear mind that we need to go into the weekend's league game at Arsenal. Sir Alex can now selected his strongest possible side at the Emirates in full knowledge that the second leg will not require as much effort as it would have required if the Germans had actually turned up.

Obviously it is not to say that its a done deal because if they win 5-2 at Old Trafford, that would be curtains for us so you hope that experience will help our players know how to see out the final 90 at home.

Just a stray thought; I struggle to remember a game in which nearly every United player had a chance to score a goal. Vidic, Evra, Fabio, Carrick, Park, Giggs, Rooney, and Hernandez all had chances in the game. As Sky put it; were we really that good or they were really that bad?

LIKE CHAMPIONS!

2011-04-24T08:21:00.004+03:00

In typical United fashion, Manchester United took a threshold of the League title with a late 1-0 win over Everton.

Javier Hernandez is increasingly giving Sir Alex little choice but to start him every week ahead of Berbatov by notching yet another vital goal--possibly his most important for the club so far.
Yesterday was one of those days when you feared that the ball wouldn't get sucked in--largely because Everton put up some fantastic resilient defending. Credit to United though for they kept huffing and puffing and in the end got their just reward.

I blogged prior to this post that the manager needs to select his best team for the league games because that is our priority. The team news was therefore disturbing and but for that late goal, we might have been starring at the real possibility of losing out on the title given the results of the evening. Thankfully though the manager's gamble did pay off--but that was not until some of those he held back made it on the field.

Anderson's passing was brilliant at times but I thought he did put as many to the wrong player. Gibson is paid to shoot so failing to nail it on target in four attempts means that he had a bad day a the office by his standards. Nani seems a better player on the right whilst I thought Jonny Evans needs to do away with a clumsiness in his tacking--not all refs will wave them away.

The gap at the top remains at six points with just four left to play. Victory at the Emirates next Sunday will mean that six points against Chelsea the following week could win us the title in front of our home fans.

For now though, how about we book our date with destiny by 'kindly' applauding Shackle 04 and reminding them that they've reached as far as they could go in Europe?

Onwards and Upwards!

REMEMBERING OUR PRIORITY

2011-04-21T14:57:00.003+03:00

At the start of the season, the media had us below Chelsea and Manchester City in their prediction of the final league standings. We weren't as active in the transfer window as we would have liked. The manager has since said that bothe David Villa and Wesely Sneidjer preferred to stay put in their countries of employment. Our most significant signing was a little known Mexican Javier Hernandez who we would only know about during the World Cup. Chris Smalling and Bebe were meant for the future so by and large, the team that finished second in the league to Chelsea by a point, in the last eight of Europe and Carling Cup winners was essentially the team that Sir Alex would entrust with the duty of winning us that 19th league title that would put up over and above anyone else domestically in terms of league titles won.

We simply had to Believe especially given that the likes of City spent heavily revamping their squads. Somewhere somehow, you felt comfortable in the knowledge that we had a team composed of players who wanted to play for us. Its why the Wayne Rooney saga really rocked us fans in October---a lot about that saga showed that he was in for the money.

After ending the year unbeaten in the season proper, suddenly thoughts of a treble started surfacing--and those thoughts would only grow stronger until last week when of all teams, the Bitters knocked us out of the Cup. We've got a dark horse for opposition the semifinals of the European Cup so that means if we take them as seriously as we should, it could be another Wembley day for us and another Champions League final, another shot at making this season, a vintage United season.

But halt! Think back in August. The most biased of United fans probably only had the league as our target at this time of the season--simply because it is our trophy and its only right that we win in. I mean getting knocked out of Europe and the Cup sucks but nothing beats the sick feeling of seeing another team claim domestic gold. It kind of does us an injustice because we're by far, the best club in the country in all aspects.
It's why I think we've been too generous with our title challengers. We've given them so much room to recover quite a number of times and I fear that we're losing track of our primary target each season. The two points dropped at Newcastle have made Chelsea--not Arsenal, our main title rivals. That could mean that we've been on some bit of 'Arsenal form' lately whilst Chelsea have gone about winning their games quietly. A six point lead is still a healthy one given that of the five games left, three are home and two away but that means we cannot afford to prioritise the Champions League.

For instance it will be taking a great risk if Fergie were to rest his stars instead of going at Everton full throttle. Failure to register three points on Saturday could mean that we've blown open the title race and hence endangered our position at the top which we've held for the best part of 7 months. I still feel that the Champions League is a bonus and so we shouldn't risk throwing away what we have in hand in pursuit of what we're not certain of winning. More still, we have a second leg at OT to correct whatever mistakes we make in Germany on Tuesday so hopefully the Everton match will take precedence over anything.

Onwards and Upwards!

OUCH!

2011-04-16T22:05:00.003+03:00

That kind of hurt. Our treble dream disappeared between EVDS, Carrick and Berbatov. Pointing fingers is never smart but given how well we played especially at the back, it would be harsh on those that kept it simple and never put a foot wrong.

City have had problems when they have gone behind this season but they have been equally good when they have taken the lead. So I feared the worst when Toure gave them the lead.

One couldn't help but wonder what might have been if Berbatov had put away one of his three chances in the first half. Make no mistake, those were the kind that a striker of his calibre should put away. It was a shame that he wasn't at his lethal nest for the game.

City scored from a defensive error that was in part due to EVDS's poor attempt at a clearance nit largely because Carrick couldn't make a pass past Toure. In the end, that mistake ensured that the payers let themselves down and I hope Tuesday will be the day they bounce back from today's disappointment.

We have the league and the Champions League to play for now but I'd suggest that we ride home our advantage in the league and the Cup will only serve as a bonus. We've invested more in the league this year so hopefully we don't throw it away in the manner we've thrown the FA Cup away.

The saddest thing about today is that very many of the current crop of players lack the FA Cup winners medal and its sad that EVDS will retire without one. Shame for a player of his calibre.

We return to the bread and butter of league football on Tuesday at St. James' Park in need of a win to bounce back.

AND THEN THERE WERE FOUR!

2011-04-13T15:02:00.005+03:00

Manchester United deservedly booked their place in the last four of the UEFA Champions League after a 3-1 aggregate victory over Chelsea.

I say deservedly so because over the two legs, United have proved to be the better team. In fact as testament to that, it can be argued that Marseilles put up a better fight over the two legs than the London club did.

The win means that we've made it to the last four of Europe's premier club competition four times in the last five seasons. It's increasingly likely that we'll face Shackle 04 in the semis and I doubt they merit a scalp over us. Our success this season has meant that we've had to keep playing twice a week so hopefully the lads will not let their guard drop. The Champions League semifinals are sand witched between crucial league games against Chelsea and Arsenal so it will help a lot of we maintain the gap we've built between ourselves and Arsenal.

It was a fantastic performance by the team yesterday, and one that will encourage many to rethink their stand about the ability of the current United team. It seems that the more they are dismissed, the more they come back fighting hard against all odds. You could see it in the face of ABUS when Drogba hauled them back into the lead but talk about taking the wind out of your sails! Park killed them.

Javier Hernandez might just turn out to be Sir Alex's greatest coup in the modern transfer market. Fernando Torres must be wishing he was worth 6m quid!

We've got the Bitters in the Cup at Wembley on Saturday. It ought to be a fantastic day out for the fans at the national stadium for the first of a possible three visits to the stadium in a month. Fingers crossed.

Onwards and Upwards!

UNITED SLEEP THEIR WAY PAST FULHAM!

2011-04-09T22:29:00.002+03:00

Well it wasn't all sleep but I think our players broke more sweat against Crawley Town than this afternoon. I mean the formation that Sir Alex started with didn't do us any favours because we were the home team so the onus is on us to 'entertain' our guests but we let Fulham do the passing a and pretty much have a good share of the possession whilst we sat back and waited patiently for that chance to break.

Thankfully we did take two of those chances the first half and from the moment Antonio made it 2-0, I had a feeling that unless Fulham were to awaken us with a goal, that was pretty much it as far as scoring was concerned. In fact, I'm sure the manager would gladly have accepted the final whistle at half time---and I wouldn't blame him because when chasing a treble, its difficult to maintain a generous application of all resources in all the legs. The big task for United now is to make that first leg win at Stamford Bridge count so it was important to keep his 'best men' available.

As far as the league is concerned however, the win today was just about as vital as the one we got last week because it puts us in an ominous position. I'm thankful that we're making the easier games count so that means we shall not be as desperate when we travel to the Emirates or meet Chelsea later on. Our form right now also serves to take the win out of our opponent's sails. Even with two games in hand, I'm sure Arsenal are looking at that ten point deficit with a sort of constipated face.

It's 6 games to go for the league now and we're in good shape to make it to the last four in Europe.

Onwards and Upwards!

UNITED TAKE THRESHOLD OF TITLE!

2011-04-02T23:47:00.004+03:00

What a day in the EPL! Where does one start from ? I was particularly disappointed with the starting line-up or at least the formation because playing Rooney upfront alone against relegation candidates only served to hype the spirit of the West Ham players. I mean of we go 4-5-1 at West Ham, then we might as well go 6-4 at Stamford Bridge in mid-week! I understand that Hernandez might have been fatigued by the International break journeys (as Evra was) but Berbatov had a 2 week rest so I thought he should have started alongside Wayne. That we had the likes o him and Nani on the bench could only point to resting players ahead of Wednesday. It looks ridiculous questioning the manager's starting XI now that we have the win but at halftime, I did see a few cursing the Great man himself. Manchester United have a tradition of overcoming adversity or coming back from the dead. However, as a fan, you do get the odd thought that somedays it won't happen. I mean how often do we see a ref give two penalties against you--regardless how blatant they are. So when Mason pinted to the spot twice in the same half, I feared that wemight be on the end of another drubbing at Upton Park. Yes I still had the faithin the lads but the last thing you want to do at this point of the season is give a relegation candidate like West Ham the initiative in a match. So to come back in the manner that we did in the second half was simply UNITED! It sort of reminded me of th e2007 comeback win at Goodison Park after going 2-0 down only to win 2-4. It happened again today in almost similar fashion and that is why I cannot help but see us as virtually league champions. That's three times this season that we've come from a two goal deficit so you have to believe that this is our season. And just when you thought that the day couldn't get any better, Chelsea and Arsenal drew their games to leave us 7 points clear of our nearest challengers with 7 games left! I think that its reward for having made it out of difficult games against Bolton and West Ham with maximum points. Before today, we had 7 games in April; it's a good start ahead of a testing month. Finally, in case of an incoherence or anything such-like, I've written this in the heat of the aftermath of the game, intoxicated so Cheers!

AHEAD OF A TASTY APRIL!

2011-03-29T23:01:00.003+03:00

I say tasty but with 7 games coming up---all of which determine whether we end the season with one of three are all three trophies still available, its hardly a month in which most of us will have anything like fingernails at the end of it all. 80 percent of the Treble could be won in April if we win all 7 games or at least come out of the month whilst still chasing three trophies. That's essentially because by the turn of May, we'll be talking about a couple of games or so left in the league, a Champions League semifinal and final and an FA Cup final as the only remaining fixtures of the season. If ever there was a month to get into that fifth gear therefore, its April. Most of our players are free from International action in the summer so why not break a leg and spend the summer nursing sweet injuries? The defensive crisis has not helped matters and the manger has pointed out that it could hinder our treble bid. Hopefully the International break has done us good in the sense that a few players should be on their way back from injury. I certainly look forward to seeing Vidic, Park and Ferdinand in the side. Hargreaves is unlucky is reports are to be believed that he's now got a shoulder injury. I hoped that he'd play against West Ham. The game at Upton Park on Saturday lunchtime kicks off the final third of the season and it gives us a chance to head into the run in by applying immediate pressure to arrivals for a response. We've already lost 4-0 at Upton Park this season with a decent side so I guess the lads need no reminder of what is in store for them. Given our away form and West Ham's ability to get stuck in when the big boys are in town, it could prove to be a much more difficult afternoon than we expect. One therefore hopes that Fergies doesn't hold anything back in the name of resting a few players for Chelsea in midweek. I've already blogged that I think we should use the league as a priority this term and everything else as a bonus. We have a few winnable games coming up in the league and if we do win them, we might just land the league with a couple of games spare. Forget '99, working without pressure can make you perform better in games. That said, this is United we're talking about...the hard way, for them, is the only way.

MANCHESTER UNITED IN PERSPECTIVE

2011-03-23T23:01:00.004+03:00

The international break provides us with one last time to breathe and look at what we've got so far and how we can turn May 2011 into another memorable month for Manchester United.

At the start of the season, given the predictions the media was throwing about (Chelsea and City to finish above United) and given the relative inactivity in the transfer market (Smalling, Bebe and Chicharito hardly raised dust), we've done well to still be in the race for a treble!

1. I'd like us to prioritise the league as the number one target. Anything we win besides the league should be treated us a bonus.

2. We're a little short of defenders at the moment so hopefully by the dawn of next month after the break, we shall be a little more healthy in that department. It's funny that its two consecutive seasons now that we've had a defensive injury crisis. Hopefully it won't wreck our season like it did last time.

3. It's 7 games in April and all are must wins. A tough ask for any team and most would chose what they win or lose at this stage. But Manchester United being Manchester United, we usually have a problem with choosing and hence chose all. But if it goes down to bare bones, the league s what I'd prefer. Having said that it would be painful to see City and Chelsea get past us so we could do with wins against both.

Onwards and Upwards!

SERIOUSLY THIS AINT GOOD FOR MY HEART!

2011-03-20T13:24:00.005+03:00

Just when it looked like we were going to blow the another chance to take a threshold of the title, Dimitar Berbatov pounced and reminded us of the fact that this is his season.

The Bulgarian has now scored 20 league goals for us this term but this could be the one that eventually sees us claim number 19. Many have criticised him for not banging them in when it matters most but so far, his third against Liverpool at OT, the winner at Blackpool and the one he got yesterday means that he can account for at least nine crucial points that he's won us.

Let's face it United were poor yesterday largely because of European duty in midweek and also the number of changes we've had to make given the injury situation. I doubt the absence of the manager form the dugout had anything to do with it but thankfully in the end we got what we wanted. The fans were aware of Arsenal's struggles at the Hawthorns so you can imagine the nausea when Evans was sent off. A point under the circumstances would have been good but we couldn't pass on an opportunity to create more daylight between us and our main title rivals.

It was good to get Nani and Valencia back in the same team but credit to Nani who kept trying to shoot from range as that is just about the only way to break down teams that defend deep. I mean you hope for a deflection or a lucky break like the one we got yesterday.

Evan's red card essentially means that we now have just the three recognised defenders so the International break couldn't have come any sooner. I hope we get a good chunk of the lads back after the break.

The Champions League draw on Friday paired us with Chelsea with the second leg at OT. Personally, couldn't have asked for a better draw because of the injustice we've suffered at their hands lately. It's an opportunity to settle the score.

TREBLE TALK AMIDST INJURY CRISIS!

2011-03-17T23:37:00.003+03:00

The one think I dearly prayed for at the start of the season was an injury free campaign. Well not entirely injury free because that's largely unrealistic but surely we couldn't suffer the same the same injury crisis we did last term especially in defence that saw the likes of Carrick and Fletcher make numerous appearances in central midfield. It was pathetic and rather absurd that we lost up to 7 defenders to injury at the same time and one wonders what we could have achieved if we were at least afforded the services of at least one of our regular centre backs.

Roll on to this season and just a few months ago, as Sir Alex pointed out in his pre-Bolton press conference, we had all our defenders fit and it did hold us in good stead to go on and have a comfortable run in, but behold we now head into the run in with all but one of our regular defenders missing through injury. At least this time we can still say that so far we're not yet to the point of playing midfielders in defence but who know with the kind of luck we're getting.
Rafael, Vidic, Ferdinand, O'Shea, and Evans are currently out leaving us with Fabio, Brown and Smalling to patch in without any natural replacements.

When you're heading into a run in like the kind United are usually involved in every March and April, you hope that you can have all your players fit because of the demands that come with playing twice weekly. It means the manager can rotate to keep the squad fresh---just as he did effectively en route to the Treble. Last season we lost Rooney at this stage of the campaign and we were already without EVDS and Rio. In the end that crisis cost us at least the league title.

This season United are in a the hunt for the club's second Treble and given the inactivity of the club in the transfer market, you hope that at least if you have all your players fit then you stand a chance. We have a fight on our hands to win the league and we play City in the FA Cup semis. The Champions League draw for the last eight of the competition is soon to be made so that means the last thing we need is our fringe players contesting in the big games of the season for honours because in many ways it sells us short.
Neither does it help that our manager has been slapped a 5 match ban by the FA (cunts).

On the plus side, we seem to be doing well further up the pitch, Anderson could be back nay time soon and Hargreaves has started training again with the first team. It's mighty good to see Valencia back as well. Javier Hernandez has done a good job of keeping Berbatov on the bench by making it 16 goals in his debut campaign, two of which are the reason as to why United made it to the final eight of Europe's premier club competition earlier this week.

What's for certain though is that we need some sort of heroics from our fringe defence if we are to keep the Treble dream alive. The League remains the primary target so the game against Bolton on Saturday is a must win--I mean it's been long since we won a league game. Thank heavens that the upcoming International break will give Sir Alex some time to get more players back into the team.

Marching on!

...AND THE REDS GO MATCHING ON! ON! ON!

2011-03-12T23:58:00.003+03:00

What a win! What a team selection! What a performance!

You've got to hand it to United this season. I mean at home, they've been nothing short of brilliant regardless of the opposition--certainly in most of the games and that, it has to be said, has gone a long way in patching up our weaknesses away from home. That means that the Champions League tie in midweek against Marseilles bodes well.

Today however was all about striking a psychological blow on our opponents. Arsenal are not on one of those teams that can handle the mental blow of losing three Cup competitions in a fortnight so you'd think that as far as the title race is concerned, we might just have put them in their place.

We've come form three away games to three home games so hopefully we keep making them count.
The FA Cup is now seemingly a big possibility for us this year and I'd love that we win it because most of our lads don't have a medal and that its been long since the most successful club lifted it. We're the outright favourites now to win it so hopefully we finally bury the memories of 2005 and 2007!

Full marks go to EVDS, Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez for putting up such a show that subdued our title rivals. Well done everyone!

AFTER THE STORM....

2011-03-10T21:15:00.003+03:00

Well technically it should be calm after the storm, especially the kind of storm that Manchester United are in right now. The question is are we past it anyway?

Three defeats in a month for a team that was quietly going on about finishing an entire season unbeaten should be some sort of crisis right? Well at least the media think so. Personally I'll quickly forget the events of the past month if we can kick on from where we are an keep posting points on board for the remaining few games to see us just over the finish line still in first place.

The only worrying thing for the past month--besides the standard of officiating has been the inability of United to call on their 'unbeatable spirit' that we've seen in the earlier stages of the campaign---I mean before the game at Wolves, there were games before in which we had played poorly but still stole a point from the game. A case in point is Sunderland. Granted, we should have come away from Stamford Bridge with at least a point---but again we played well enough to take all three! We should have put away one of the many chances that we had to make it 0-2!
The Anfield game was however a horror show. I mean we moan about how Carragher should have been sent off and all but that Liverpool team could easily have battered us with 10 men---besides, they were already 2-0 up at the time. We simply lacked the passion and desire to play at the required standard and with the right enthusiasm---I mean its was a derby for crying out loud so you do wonder when all the fire in the belly died out. We can have few complaints in that regard.

I'd like to see United play with the sort of determination and hunger that defines our club. For a moment at Anfiled, our players looked like they had been fed up of success and hence wouldn't be arsed about getting themselves whipped at Anfield. That Suarez was allowed to dance his way in the box tells the story of footballers that were not willing to get their shirts dirty.
I really hope we can get stuck in for the last 9 games or so of the season.
The two week break in the league couldn't have come sooner enough for us. I really hope that we'll be back on a roll after the International break.

All our remaining games are winnable but if we play with a desire to get back in the dressing room clean then I must add that all our remaining games are potentially banana skins. Besides the Arsenal and Chelsea games, you hope that the remaining games--including trips to West Ham and Newcastle---not to mention Blackburn should be winnable games not least because we cannot afford at this stage to relinquish the leadership of the league. I'm thinking we keep it while we still got it. Giving away our lead will leave us in a position of dire agony that we found ourselves in last season when we simply ran out of games to patch up the distance between us and Chelsea.

Before all that however, and in the form of a curtain raiser in the battle for the championship to come, United entertain Arsenal in the FA Cup on Saturday with the winner booking a place in the semifinal at Wembley. Arsenal are smarting from Champions League elimination at the hands of Barcelona whilst we could do with a win ourselves given what we've been through. The result could certainly carry a psychological impact for both winner and loser so I think its imperative that we draw first blood. Knocking Le Arse out of the Cup could be what could make our title run in that much easier as they might not recover from being eliminated from three competitions in the space of 14 days.

Right now we don't have Nani at the time Valencia is returning (we can't get a break at the moment) and one wonders if Park is ready for this is the sort game he thrives on. Ultimately though we may have to make do with Fletcher and Giggs on the wings for Saturday as Valencia is unlikely to start or be named in the team.

Here's to Calm after the storm!

ANOTHER ROBBERY!

2011-03-03T22:13:00.002+03:00

UNITED BAG THREE CRUCIAL POINTS!

2011-02-27T14:37:00.004+03:00

Forget the Chelsea and Liverpool games coming up next week, the real test for United was to go to Wigan and take all three points and hence restore their four point cushion at the top of the EPL.
Arsenal's victory over Stoke on Wednesday meat that we went into yesterday's game under pressure and I'm thankful that we did just enough to seal only our fourth league away win all season.
Going to Stamford Bridge with just a point's lead would have only served to increase the pressure on us. Now we head there with the security of our lead and the pressure having all shifted to Chelsea.

If United win the league this season, Javier Hernandez will be the ex-factor behind it. The Mexican ace has been in the right place at the right time to win us games with the kind of goals that we lost when Ruud left. He's a natural finisher and hence makes it easy for the likes of Wayne and Dimitar to play with him. His two goals were the real deal yesterday because they virtually won the game for us. Rooney and Fabio's goals were borne of the white flag that Wigan had put up when Chicharito got the second.

I was chuffed to see Fabio get his first goal for the club. He almost failed to find a method of celebrating it. Now there's that twin stat that shows that both twins have scored against Wigan in the EPL.
There was something pragmatic about the way we approached the game yesterday and it probably accounted for the way Wigan pressurised us. We badly need Giggs fit for Chelsea and Valencia can't return soon enough.

Onwards and Upwards!

POST CRAWLEY TOWN NOTES!

2011-02-20T16:58:00.004+03:00

A win is a win---and that is all I usually ask for from Manchester United but something has got to happen among Bebe, Obertan, Carrick and Gibson if the are to stay at Manchester United for the long haul.

The lads have already received enough criticism from the press and the media alike for their 1-0 win last night that saw us book a place in the last 8 of the FA Cup so I won't go on about that a lot but those few players I've singled out might attract unfriendly attention from the manager. I feel that when you play in Manchester United's 'B' team, then you are as good as a first team player because more often than not you get to play a lot of senior games. I mean I've lost count of the number of games Sir Alex has gone without naming the same team. So you expect the likes of Gibson and the like to put in top class performances especially against inferior opposition five league below us.
That the Crawlely Town midfield passed the ball better than us in the middle of the park is appalling.
Wayne Rooney came on in the second half and the most significant thing he did was to pick up a yellow card. Valencia's return can't come soon enough for him.

We sustained a few injuries on the night that could cost us personnel for Wednesday night so hopefully Rafael and Anderson are fit for the flight to France.

We've turned winning without playing well as a theme song for the season so I won't be complaining much of we win the lot after playing poorly all season but that attitude will change when we start losing after playing badly.

MANCHESTER UNITED COMMENT!

2011-02-18T08:56:00.005+03:00

So let's put a bit of the season into perspective here; we're still in the running for three trophies heading at the end of February, four points clear at the summit of the league, with a surely winnable FA Cup fifth round tie to come on Saturday plus another negotiable Champions League tie against Olympic Marseilles also on the horizon.

It's fair to say that so far, the season as gone pretty much according to plan---I mean we've only suffered two defeats in all competitions and yet we've had nearly 7 months of football. But it's that time the season again--squeaky bum time! A time when you have to get your priorities right lest you lose all. It all usually comes down to how large and effective a squad you've got.

As far as United is concerned, we have one of the larger squads in the league but its fair to say that our central midfield has not yet started their season. It remains a weak spot in an otherwise good team that you expect stronger opponents to exploit as the games become of more importance. I mean Fletcher and Carrick have been just below their potential whilst Anderson (and to be fair like most of the team) seems to play blinders only at home. Scholes has been injured but he remains irreplaceable in the team.

It's why the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City must be cursing how on earth United are top of the league and are this difficult to beat.

The one bit that has helped patch up the shortcomings of our central midfield is that we've got results from our wingers despite the long term injury suffered by Valencia. Nani, Giggs and Park have come up with the goods on such a consistent basis that we've not felt Valencia's loss as much as we should have---well, maybe Rooney has, but it's been a breath of fresh air for us that that trio has a brilliant tally of goals and assists for us this term.

Now with that in mind, it becomes gutting to learn that Park will be out of action for a month after injuring himself in training. That blow is softened by Valencia's return to training. One really hopes that Park does return fresh enough to spur us on in the final month of the season.

By prioritising what we need to achieve at the end of the season, we can avoid the nightmare of last season of playing three crucial games in a week. Last season, we were essentially done by playing Bayern away, Chelsea at home and Bayern home. Technically, we lost all three games but I wonder if at the time, the league game against Chelsea was an academic one whether we would find it easier negotiating past Bayern in the Champions League.

I think we have a better chance of doing that this year. I mean the priority is the league and we still have a relatively fragile lead but focusing on extending our lead against Arsenal to at least 7 points going into April will give us that much needed breathing space to, if necessary, divert more resources to the FA Cup or Europe. If the league remains as tight as it is, then I'd like to think that the manager will only direct his resources to ensuring we win that 19th title.

I'm sure the fans would take the league over anything else this season.

We've got ourselves a difficult run in in the league so we need to hold our nerve as Arsenal will be getting more motivated if the gap between us and them becomes smaller. This is the point in the season when I'd hoped that we'd have Hargo and Valencia to give us that bit of extra dimension to see us over the line. I really hope we can have them both between now and May.

What's for sure though is that it's going to be a bumpy stormy ride. Whether we pull through intact and dry is the question. We shall see.

POST CITY NOTES!

2011-02-12T20:10:00.005+03:00

Well sometimes, you sit and wonder how you can possibly explain to somebody, who hasn't seen the game, a goal of many superlatives. You wonder even where to start from because the goal is one of those we only get to see once in quite a while. It's a shame really that certain goals cannot be described within the confines of the English language. So hopefully you're not among those that missed one of the great Old Trafford goals.

Wayne Rooney, it has to be said, has struggled to justify the mammoth wages that he' been pocketing ever since his transfer saga and they were sections of fans, including yours truly, that demanded that he kicks on and starts delivering the performances that he held us on ransom over. A couple of goals against Aston Villa a week ago only granted him a stay of execution so after going AWOL at Molenuix last week, a defeat in today's derby would certainly have brought him under scrutiny once again especially given the contribution of Javier Hernandez so far.
The winner that he's just scored today has now reminded us of the quality that he posseses. To be fair to him, it hasn't been for a lack of trying but one hopes that THAT goal will finally kick start a run of consistency in front of goal.

The reality is that we badly needed that goal--for many reasons. The obvious one would be the three points that take us a step closer to reclaiming our trophy. The other would be to send a statement of intent to our rivals by illustrating our hunger for the title. The Wolves defeat was supposed to be the blip of the season---nothing more. A run of poor form would have given our closest rivals reason to challenge us with even more determination. Our win today more or less gives them a psychological blow. Even thought the gap between us and the rest of the league is still just four points, it damages their morale that we can beat so close a rival even at this high pressure stage of the season. The third reason is that the win obviously rules out City's title aspirations. They are, obviously, still mathematically in it but realistically, one ought to have his money on one of Arsenal or Manchester United.

Ultimately, today;s derby win further underlines the fact that Manchester is Red, and that City, despite all their investments are still way off the pace s far as competing with our squad. We've beaten them even more times in their 'rich years' than we'd have imagined following their frequent wins against us in the years just before Mansour.

It's 12 games to the title now, and right now it appears that its up to how well we do away form home that will determine the outcome in May. For some reason we seem to freeze away from OT. I just hope the manager can address that as we head into the final straight.

Onwards and Upwards!

POSTMORTEM!

2011-02-06T15:22:00.004+03:00

So the unbeaten run has come to an end and although the press is rather shocked at the opposition that ended it, I have to say that I always had the feeling that it would be ended by a side that is least expected to give us problems. I mean it's what the Premier League is made of---bottom of the table can beat top of the table three time out of 10!

The biggest disappointments on the night were that considering that Arsenal collapsed earlier at St. James' Park, we had a big big chance of going 7 points ahead of the chasing pack going into the Manchester derby next weekend. That would have deflated our rivals more than anything but as it stands, we've now given them more reason to believe and be consistent. It actually means that whilst getting a point next week would have been a good result, the only way we can smile after the derby is if we pick up all three points. I mean our position at the top is no longer as comfortable as it was a few hours ago. More dropped points before our rivals drop could put us under some pressure which we have handled down the years but the question will be can this group of players handle it?

I'd like that our coaching department work with our players on set piece defending because the mistakes at Blackpool were repeated last night. Johnny Evans and Darren Fletcher have for me, been the most disappointing players of the campaign so far. That is because of what we now expect of them. Fletcher seems to have forgotten what made him one of our best players in 2009. I'd like that we keep more clean sheets between now and the end of the season because at the moment, given how many we are letting in, our goal difference is taking a hit. Berbatov and Chicharito seem the perfect combination to the naked eye because Wayne is no longer as effective as he was a season ago. I thought the manager made a mistake in taking off the player of the season so far and leaving on Wayne. Maybe the couple of goals in mid-week gave him reason to trust him.

Ultimately though, it was a timely reality check that should see us through the remaining 13 games. Park and Valencia cannot be that far away and Anderson should start ahead of Fletcher now more often. Soon the manager will be picking his league team with an eye on a Champions League game but he has to get his priority right. The league is for me our chief target this year--the Champions League requires a lot more luck and so it fits the bonus category as far this season is concerned and as far as our player resources go this term.

Finally today we remember the Munich Air Disaster that claimed virtually our entire team in 1958. The Busby Babes--continue to play on in Heaven!

POST VILLA NOTES PLUS A TRIBUTE TO RED NEV!

2011-02-03T16:31:00.004+03:00

Besides the period when Darren Bent yet again found the net at OT for a third successive season in his third different team, the win against Villa on Tuesday had an inevitability about it. That could largely be due to the fact that the visitors were a goal down within the first 49 seconds of the match. If Wayne Rooney hadn't been just in time, the game could well have gone the other way given how well Villa played before we got our second goal.
It was nice to see Wayne hit the back of the net at Old Trafford again and the timing couldn't have been better given the events of the transfer window a day earlier and the sensational form of Javier Hernandez in his debut season. For some reason, Wayne's recovery seemed to dent Berba's confidence as the Bulgarian was a yard short of where he has been popping up lately to grab easy goals. That my initial reaction was that Berbatov had got us the second instead of Rooney says it all.

Captain Nemanja Vidic---what a hit! Name one forward in Europe who wouldn't be proud of that goal! He continues to leave us with no choice but to put him down firmly as a candidate for player of the season for the second time in three years. Victory kept us five points ahead of the rest of the league and extended our unbeaten record in the league to record equalling 29 games! That's 14 games left to play and you can't help but feel that with each win, we're getting closer to yet more history!

Gary Neville yesterday announced his retirement from football. He's called time on a Manchester United career that stretches back to 1991. A remarkable 20 year career in which he's won everything a player can dream of at the highest level. I hope the young players at the club can learn one or two things about determination and loyalty--two traits that define a man who bleeds United!

POST BLACKPOOL AND SOUTHAMPTON NOTES!

2011-01-30T00:04:00.004+03:00

From the beginning: We were all set on our way to witness the shock result of the Premier League season so far on Tuesday night until something not unusual happened and restored expectations.

The manner of that particular 2-3 away win on Tuesday night at Blackpool is exactly what I thought we needed to send a clear message to our title rivals. Prior to the game, we only had two wins to show for our away day troubles so it was apparent that nothing we did at home would significantly move our rivals. It had to come away from home. So seeing United 2-0 down with a little over 20 minutes to play must have been paradise for many of our rivals. Winning 2-3 in the end must have had them itching for the night. Wins such as the one that we saw on Tuesday are usually characteristic of Champions.

I don't have to add to the praise that Dimi has got from the press during the past few weeks but I have to say that I'm chuffed for the Bulgarian. I mean after enduring two seasons of vehement abuse from rival fans and United fans alike, I think he needed a something to go for him there and I'm glad it did. Its amazing how quickly one can rise from the most frustrating player to the best in your team in a little over a couple of months.

Wayne Rooney on the other hand has so far not done enough to justify his huge weekly wages and what more--a certain little Mexican is, basing on appearances and goals, a better striking option at the moment. contrast of fortunes really. I mean whilst Berbatov got stick throughout the previous campaign, Wayne basked in the glory that his goal scoring form won him. The exact reverse seems to be happening now and its not least because of the early season transfer saga that went some way in damaging his relationship with the fans. Obviously I hope he gets to turn it around but I won't be complaining if The Little Pea keeps banging them in, pointing to the sky and kissing our badge.

The reward for picking up all three points at Blackpool was a 5 point lead at the summit of the league. I thought it was crucial we got the gap to five points because that gives us some kind of insurance should there be an unprecedented blip between now and May. Chelsea largely kept the distance between us and them to five points last season and that in the end helped them edge above us even when they dropped a couple of points towards the end of the season.

We've now gone 23 games unbeaten in the league--now into February and with 15 games left now, the butterflies are starting to have their way.

With no league action this weekend the FA Cup took centre stage and Sir Alex picked a more or less reserve team to take on Southampton at the St Mary's stadium. As usual, we made it very hard for ourselves by playing poorly in the first half but we certainly did make amends with a couple in the second half that have given us a place in the last 16 of the Cup. It's been 6 seasons since we last won that particular trophy so I've been yearning for it but I wouldn't sacrifice the league for it any day and that is probably whey I wasn't so disturbed by Fergie's team selection.

Giggs and Nani did their part to turn the game in our favour but once again it was Javier Hernandez who got us yet another match winner. The best thing about Javier's 11 goals for us is that I can't remember any of them that wasn't vital for us. His goals rarely add gloss to scoreline--they win games, and that's why Sir Alex will have to seriously start justifying Wayne Rooney's position in the team.

We've got Aston Villa in the league on Tuesday---as February kicks in. Onwards and upwards!

POST BLACKPOOL AND SOUTHAMPTON NOTES!

2011-01-30T00:04:00.003+03:00

From the beginning: We were all set on our way to witness the shock result of the Premier League season so far on Tuesday night until something not unusual happened and restored expectations.

We've now gone 23 games unbeaten in the league--now into February and with 15 games left now, the butterflies are starting to have their way.

We've got Aston Villa in the league on Tuesday---as February kicks in. Onwards and upwards!

LAZY BERBA NOW SHARES RECORDS WITH RUUD AND SHEARER!

2011-01-23T13:52:00.004+03:00

For some reason, Dimitar Berbatov continues to get the cold shoulder from a few Manchester United fans despite netting hat-trick after hat-trick for the club. His name was only sung twice yesterday at the ground whilst Wayne Rooney who is on a mega bucks earning contract and who still managed to miss a free header from all of 2 yards out had his name sung throughout by the same fans. It beats me really, and I can only wonder how much more the Bulgarian will have to do before he is regarded in the same way (mind you he turned down City to play for us and has never wanted away).

Arsene Wenger claimed on Friday that luck and a good defence was what had got us this far unbeaten---suggesting that we are poor offensively. I wonder what went through his mind when he saw that we were leading 3-0 at halftime. The truth is that whist our current game would suffer at many away grounds that are not as expansive as OT is, our home from has certainly compensated added to the argument that we'll likely win games when our players have the space to stretch the opposition. Blackburn, Birmingham, Newcastle, Sunderland and the like have not been sure whether to attack or defend at Old Trafford and yet the Brum and Sunderland had us pretty much under check on their own grounds.

It might be for the same reason that we could find problems imposing our game on Blackpool on Tuesday but hopefully we shall come away with the result we want.

Our win yesterday coupled with the Bitter's fifth league defeat at Villa means that we are now two clear at the top and with a chance of extending that lead to five points on Tuesday. It's an opportunity you feel we must cash in on because a 5 point lead might not come around again this season.

vs SPURS COMMENT!

2011-01-17T23:19:00.005+03:00

Mike Dean might have been labelled a United fan in the same way Howard Webb was labelled the same last week if he hadn't shown Rafael a second yellow card but that has not stopped Harry Rednapp from criticizing his decision to send off the Brazilian full back. Our defence was pretty much the only unit of the Manchester United machine that showed up at White Harte Lane and credit to them for restricting the hosts to just two serious attempts on target. Nemanja Vidic really does know how to play like a captain. He put his body on the line yesterday and so it was a shame that the people in front of his couldn't do their jobs. I thought Wayne Rooney would have done more with the couple of chances he got and Berbatov--besides holding the ball up well was pretty much AWOL. Our midfield without Scholes still lacks the creativity that our forwards ought to be getting. So it was an even bigger shame that Nani couldn't show up.

Ultimately though I think in the end we did get the minimum requirement from the game---the point that was enough to see us back to the top of the league. It was evident that our rivals had practically pencilled this as a defeat for us so it was good to frustrate them in that respect and that can only galvanise us to pick six points from our next two games.

The season has been---to put it mildly---ridiculous so far and it might stay tight at the top for some time to come but that doesn't mean its okay to drop points. We've lost our two point lead at the top but the point gained against Spurs means that we'll put ourselves at least three points clear of our rivals if we beat Birmigham at home and Blackpool away in our next couple of games---one of which is our game in hand! Given congestion at the top, even a couple of points lead should be seen as a big gap so hopefully we take our chance.