Grinding it out… same old, same old.

Ever since that someone posted a comment that this site lacked Man Utd content, I feel that I have to contribute at least once every two weeks or be crucified by the… numerous(?) United fans who visit this site.

What can I say? I have really been disappointed with United’s football thus far. For a team that has invested 50 big ones in the summer, you’d think they’d be anything but short of cover in certain positions. After this past week of internationals and last night’s game, we now have ONE striker and ONE left back.

I don’t know if this whole no out-and-out striker = lack of goals is justified. I mean, I saw Saha come on for the last 20 minutes or so against Sunderland and Everton and the flow of the match didn’t really alter dramatically. The only similarities I saw were: Vidic’s great defending, lack of creativity, Scholes’ horrendous tackling, Wes Brown’s impressive tackling, United’s desperation, and a winning goal off a near-post corner.

Wanna stop United from scoring? Work on defending those near-post balls.

Oh yah, one more thing I noticed… Rio Ferdinand is a completely different player once he gets the captain’s armband. Give him two and he’ll probably be the best there ever was.

Lest I get crucified for being the most critical, sarcastic and skeptical United fan ever (I am a Man Utd fan, really!), I must say that I am ‘content’ that they are at least grinding out results. Jose Mourinho would have key-messaged us to death on ‘champions are those that get three points even when having out-played’ - and I think this is pertinent. I mean, to be performing this poorly and still be only two points adrift is a massive achievement. The teams who are in form would probably want to be build a bigger lead before the off-form teams kick into gear. Because eventually, they will. And when that happens, watch out!

There’s my two cents of positivism.

Spur-ring on, United finally win.

Second-last in the Premier League table is not a position Man Utd are accustomed to. Yet there they were sitting majestically above Derby before the clash with Tottenham on Sunday. To put it plainly, losing - or even a point - would be catastrophic even at this stage of the season. I guess it does put into perspective how competitive the EPL has been since Chelsea became a force.

Martin Jol’s team were not exactly flying high themselves and with the recent flak he was getting, it was imperative that Spurs got a result at Old Trafford. Not the easiest of things to do considering their poor record there - Spurs’ last win was in Dec 1989. All the hype and statistics seemed to point towards an intense, open, attacking fest. Well, there was plenty of ‘goal-mouth action’. Unfortunately, not the kind of action neither United nor Spurs fans would be relishing.

Most of the game was played in midfield with both sides striving hard for penetration. With Tevez up on his own, the trio of Carrick, Scholes, and Hargreaves proved ineffective in getting anywhere beyond Spurs’ resilient back-line. Only Nani provided that bit of flair and industry and hopes of any ‘magic’. At the other end, the ever-immaculate Berbatov was wrecking havoc for Vidic and Ferdinand; his two well-crafted chances in the 2nd half requiring heroics from Brown and Ferdinand to keep United in the game. Both chances also substantiated valid claims for penalties though neither was given, thus inviting a flurry of post-match controversy.

Berbatov put on a masterclass performance - even with lack of service

Former United target Gareth Bale started his first match and impressed. Playing most of the match on the left of midfield, the 17-year old was more than a match for Wes Brown and his dead-ball pedigree nearly gifted Ricardo Rocha a goal. Unfortunately, the defender fluffed his chance and sent the ball wide.

At the end, the scoreline was settled by a spectacular effort by Nani - though Carlos Tevez’s intervention may have proved more vital than it appears. Only Paul Robinson knows if it mattered.

Tottenham were the better team at Old Trafford. However, like Chelsea, it is important for potential champions to grind out results when least likely. Chelsea did it against Portsmouth and United had to against Spurs.

I’d hold the celebrations for now…

Indeed there’s a lot to be happy about, but Ferguson will not be celebrating considering his team were outplayed for the first time this season. Ironic, eh? With Solksjaer’s immediate plans to retire, the Scots will probably have to reconsider his decision not to purchase a striker before January. Suddenly, that seems like a long time away.

Man of the match: Dimitar Berbatov

Play of the day: Berbatov collecting a high-ball, pulling it behind him on his foot between Vidic and Ferdinand before attempting to bend it top right corner. Van der Sar was grounded.

Controversy take: 1) Vidic had eyes on ball, no obstruction. 2) Hit Brown’s chest. Even if arm, too close and after Rob Styles’ case, was unlikely to be given.

Team of the season

Here you go, my team of the season for 2006/07. My opinion of the team of the season differs very much from PFA Team of the Year which had 8 Manchester United players in the lineup.

In goal, I opted for Cech instead of David James and Van der Sar. Cech is known for his reliability and consistency. Don’t need to justify my pick of Cech much, do I?

In defence, Vidic and Carragher will both have to switch between right back and centre back once in a while where else Carvalho have been rock steady in the centre and the occassional forward sting. The likes of Dawson, Yobo and Agger came close to selection as well. In left back, I opted for Shorey ahead of Evra and Matt Taylor.

In midfield, Ronaldo & Bentley are my choice for wingers ahead of Pedersen and Giggs. Where else, Fabregas and Arteta occupy the centre, both have been instrumental to their respective teams’ performances this season. Gerrard, in my opinion was not quite consistent and didn’t contribute to Liverpool’s success as much as previous seasons. Scholes and Essien also came close to being in the team of the season.

Up front, who else but Drogba and Berbatov? Tevez and McCarthy are the remaining substitutes ahead of Rooney in my team of the season.

Manager of the season? No doubt, that would have to go to Sir Alex.

Most interesting club to watch for the neutrals, that would have to go between Spurs and Man Utd, but Spurs edges with the number of goals conceded and scored.

Most boring team to watch for the neutrals, definitely Charlton!

Most dissapointing performance, Arsenal….So damn inconsistent where else Reading is my choice of the most impressive season.

Regards,

Ivan J.

UEFA Champion’s League Final 06/07

This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill
Fifteen percent concentrated power of will
Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain
And a hundred percent reason to remember the name!

- “Remember The Name”, Fort Minor

I think we did the 50% pain part, 5% pleasure, 15% concentrated power of will, maybe 15 out of 20% skill but had only like 2 out of the 10% for luck. Hence no one will remember the losers’ name.

Liverpool ran the show in the first half but a Milan goal from an err in the Red defence just before halftime gave the Italian side a lucky break. Liverpool failed to make their chances count when on top of the game, and Milan took their rare chance with both hands. Master predator “Super-Pippo” Inzaghi showed us his poaching skills again by being at the right place at the right time to deflect a Pirlo free kick past Reina into the net.

From then on it was Milan, smarting from the defeat 2 years ago, who used the better of their experience to keep Liverpool at bay. Liverpool tried to make things happen but couldn’t find the finishing touch to score the all-important equalizer.

As Liverpool pushed forward in search of a goal, Milan exploited the space in the Red defence and doubled their goal advantage deep into the second half. Inzaghi did his thing again beating Liverpool’s offside trap from Kaka’s perfect through ball.

Liverpool somehow managed to pulled one back in the 90th minute via a Kuyt header following a Crouch flick on from a corner. Sadly, there was no repeat of the famous comeback 2 seasons ago.

I think Liverpool played well overall, but just lack the quality to nick these games in the final third of the pitch. Gerrard didn’t produce the goods in this match, and I thought Riise and particularly Zenden were disappointing. On the bright side, Mascherano had another collosal performance, outshining Gattuso in the midfield battle. Pennant also did very well but he just wasn’t good enough to make any significant contribution at this level.

That can also be said of a few other players, but everyone who played today can be proud of themselves and I am also proud of them as they gave their all for the club. Hopefully with some fresh investment from the American duo, Rafa will bring some quality signings to lead us to our 6th European cup or league title in the near future. YNWA!

- sca1lywag

Tottenham’s season in 20 questions

Got this off one of the Spurs websites. BTW, doesn’t just apply to Tottenham so if anyone else wants to use this for their favourite team go on ahead!

Here goes…

1. On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being “Over the moon”, how happy are you with this years’ performance?
7. Despite 3 decent cup runs, 19 extra games we still managed to match last season’s 5th place finish. Having said that, I’m a bit disappointed as if we had started the season a bit better who knows we could’ve been maybe 3rd or 4th.

2. Your favourite performance of the season?
4-3 comeback win against West Ham. Thrilling game.

3. Worst performance?
Losing 4-0 at home to Manchester United. We were ripped apart.

4. Best goal?
Many to choose from, Dimitar Berbatov had quite a number of great goals but I’ll go for his 2nd goal in the 4-0 FA Cup win over Fulham.

5. Worst goal conceeded?
Most of the goals we conceded were rubbish, terrible set piece defending. But the one we conceded early on to Sevilla at home sticks in my head (Steed Malbranque own goal)

6. Best Player?
Dimitar Berbatov. No question about that.

7. Worst player?
Hossam Ghaly. And I’m not even talking about the ’shirt-throwing-tantrum’.

8. Most improved player?
Michael Dawson. A couple more years of consistent improvement and he could challenge Terry and Ferdinand for a spot in the England’s defense.

9. Most disappointing player?
Steed Malbranque. Expected more of him after seeing what he is capable of during his time at Fulham.

10. If you could have one match to re-play again, which would it be?
UEFA Cup Quarter Final 2nd Leg at home against Sevilla.

11. What would you consider as our luckiest perfomance?
Arsenal at home. We didn’t deserve a draw on that performance.

12. Realistic goals for next season?
Challenging to break into the top 4 while holding of the other ‘Best of the Rest’ challengers like Everton, Bolton, Newcastle. A cup win would be nice too.

13. Biggest surprise of the past season?
How well Dimitar Berbatov adapted to the English Premier League on his first season.

14. Biggest disappointment?
Squandering a 3-1 lead away at Chelsea and eventually getting knocked out of the FA Cup.

15. Which player do you see as making the biggest improvement next year?
Steed Malbranque. I still have faith that he will turn out to be a key player for us in the future.

16. Which single (realistic) signing would you most like to see us make?
Martin Petrov of Atletico Madrid or Morten Gamst Pedersen of Blackburn.

17. Which peripheral player do you see as breaking into the main team next season?
Adel Taarabt’s trickery and flair could see him breaking into the team more often.

18. Which player is most likely to leave?
The great Egyptian sale: Buy one get one free.

19. Your favourite (not necessarily the “best”) player this year?
Dimitar Berbatov. No question. Kinda like Didier Zokora as well.

20. What is the main area the team needs to improve to gain CL next year?
We need a left back, a left midfielder and a new set piece coach.

- Blinque 

European birth

There are virtually 2 spots left for the UEFA Cup spot with Everton almost certain to clinch one of the 3 spots. The other 2 spots will be left contested between Spurs (v Blackburn & v Man C), Bolton (v Villa), Reading (@ Blackburn), Pompey (v Arsenal) and Blackburn (@Spurs & v Reading).

Spurs will only need to win one of the two remaining games to ensure European qualifications next season. Where else for Bolton, they must win at their final game of the season against Villa. Reading have an outside chance and will be hoping for Bolton to slip and even a draw would be sufficient if Bolton loses. Pompey and Blackburn both will need to win all their games to even have an outside chance and will be hoping that at least 2 teams contending for UEFA loses their games in the final day.

- Ivan. J

Portsmouth 2 - Liverpool 1

Liverpool fielded a somewhat reserve team against Portsmouth at Fratton Park. Rafa wanted to rest most of the players in the first team for the Champion’s League match in midweek.

In this game we can see why Dudek is on the way out of the club. The first goal was totally his fault. His failure to decisively clear a loose ball gave the not-so-prolific Benjani Mwaruwari a free goal.

This game also demonstrates the how useless Momo Sissoko is in an attacking role, and also how ineffectual Craig Bellamy can be on the right wing. I hope Rafa won’t ever put them there again. They hardly touched the ball for Pete’s sake!!

I also have another question. What happened to Mark Gonzalez? Last season he was playing so well in the Spanish league scoring wonderful goals against the likes of Real Madrid. This season he has failed to make any significant impact in Liverpool’s and is hardly ineffective on the wing. He needs to make better use of his pace, he can’t even dribble past the simplest of opponents. His decision making is also pretty awful. Let’s hope he settles well in England and gets his act together next season.

All in all, the Pompey match was an opportunity to blood a few youngsters such as Insua and Palleta in the Premiership. El Zhar also came on as a substitute late on.

- sca1lywag

Chelsea 1 - Liverpool 0

Chelsea beat Liverpool by a goal to nil at Stamford Bridge in the UEFA Champions League semi-final last night. The solitary goal was scored by Didier Drogba after 29 minutes. Drogba led the Chelsea attack well and deserved his goal. However he and the rest of his team are still up to their dirty tactics, which is kind of disappointing for one of the best teams in Europe. Look at the picture below and tell me what’s wrong

Chelsea were clearly targetting Daniel Agger as the weak link in Liverpool’s defence. Drogba was instructed to expose this weakness with his physical presence the way he did with Philippe Senderos of Arsenal. Furthermore, Drogba had some extra “protection” from the referee after some pre-match comments from Mourinho (who else?) pressuring the referee not to show a yellow card to Drogba, ruling him out of the next tie.

After going a goal down and outplayed for most of the first half, Rafa brought Peter Crouch on for Craig Bellamy and Liverpool dominated the second half. Agger fared much better against Drogba after the break, but Chelsea were still dangerous on counter-attacks.

What puzzles me is the lack of initiative shown by Chelsea on their home ground. They just sat back and defended their marginal lead for the rest of the match. Are they that confident of their defensive/counterattacking poweress that they are willing to settle for a 1-0 lead to take the tie to Anfield? Even Barcelona manager Frank Rijkaard did not want to leave the tie to be decided at Anfield.

Hope springs eternal. We all know how special European nights can be at Anfield. Hopefully the team will be able to turn things around with the support of the best supporters in the world against a side of world class players.

- sca1lywag

Soccer Shorts

Man Utd 3 - AC Milan 2, 1st Leg Champions’ League Semi Final 1

Ronaldo and Kaka, both prodigious in their own mesmerizing way, have excelled in the thrilling encounter between Man Utd vs AC Milan yesterday, with the home side going to the San Siro in a week with a goal in hand.

However, despite these two having good games last night, it was Wayne Rooney who secured the advantage at the death after Milan had constantly threatened throughout the game.

The second leg will be next week.

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Liverpool vs Chelsea, 1st Leg Champions’ League Semi Final 2

Liverpool play Chelsea tonight in what will be a repeat of two years ago, where Liverpool were constantly underachieving in the league and Chelsea was on top. However, it was Liverpool which went on to achieve that win in that dream final when they were trailing 3-0 to AC Milan at half time, only to come back and win the Cup!

Chelsea will be looking to avenge their previous knockout in this game.

Liverpudlians will be constantly comparing this with that season, while the Man Utd fans will comparing this season’s run to their unforgettable treble season.

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Arsene Wenger set to be most powerful manager in England?

With the departure of David Dein, Wenger is set to choose the Director of Football to ‘help’ him in office matters. It is rumoured that Gerrard Houllier is favoured to fill this position after achieving light years with Lyon in the French League.

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Watford goes back to the Championship League

Inevitable, but it remains that Watford are just not good enough to stay on, with a Roy Keane inspired Sunderland ready to replace them in the Premiership through a late surge of wins after Christmas. This will mean renewed hostilities between Newcastle and Sunderland in the Premiership. It is said that Roy Keane will be the future successor to Alex Ferguson when he steps down in a few years, but that remains to be seen.

Other teams still in the danger zone include West Ham and Charlton who need to win their remaining games, while Sheffield United, Wigan and Fulham only needs 2 wins to virtually secure their place in the Premiership.

Remaining games are as follows:-

West Ham - Wigan, Bolton, Man Utd
Charlton - Blackburn, Tottenham, Liverpool
Shef Utd - Watford, Aston Villa, Wigan
Wigan - West Ham, Middlesbrough, Shef Utd
Fulham - Arsenal, Liverpool, Middlesbrough

*If Wigan beat West Ham, WHU are virtually doomed.

Middlesbrough and Newcastle need to win a game while Aston Villa and Man City need to draw to confirm their Premiership status is retained for another season.

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- KarHeng

Liverpool 2 - 0 Wigan Athletic

Liverpool beat Wigan by 2 goals from Dirk Kuyt to bring them to 67 points in the Premiership. To be honest, I only caught the last 20 minutes of this game. I enjoyed the entertaining exchanges at the end of the game. Wigan was chasing the game after going a goal down, and Liverpool weren’t sitting back but trying to score more to finish the game as a contest.

After the criticism handed to him last week, Kuyt bounced back to score 2 good goals to show everyone why Liverpool paid over 9 million pounds for him last summer. His first goal was typical of him - out-muscling De Zeeuw and beating the keeper to the ball to head the ball into the goal. His second was a good goal, turning neatly in the box and scoring with a good low finish.

The Pennant and Arbeloa partnership on the right is looking good. It caught my eye in the Arsenal game with 2 successive backheel flicks from each player to make the first goal for Crouch. They looked good in this game too. Let’s hope we can see more of it in the future.

Arbeloa hasn’t played many games for the club since joining us in the January transfer window. However he has impressed when he has played. He is a pacey and hardworking right back who can play both right and left full back roles for the team and is not afraid to make darting forward runs. He is not very strong physically, and that might be the reason why he is not starting too many league games as he is settling into the English game. He gives positive competitive pressure to Finnan to perform better for the team in the right full back role.

The best moment of the match for me was when Agger tried to do a Messi when he dribbled all the way from defense to the edge of the penalty box.. only to mess up his shot with his weaker right foot. If only that was a goal..

- sca1lywag