Owner: My United, My Life URL:http://spectregoesred.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2006 12:19:04 -0500 Rating:1 Site Description: There is only one United, Manchester United. Views from an armchair cynic, on anything related to Manchester United. Site statistics:Click here
United Puts a Poor Liverpool to the Sword (Manchester Unitred 2 - Liverpool 0) 2006-10-22 17:48:00 I caught this game at Cow's place together with some really good Sunday soccermates, namely Cow, Kentona, Ly, Matt and God. Of course Cow, Matt (sourpuss) and God were more or less diehard Pool fans, were pretty bitter over the poor display put up by their favourite team.
Kentona, Ly and I were delirious with the result, and more importantly the determination and grit shown by our own lads. We wanted the game more and the scoreline provided the fruits of our endeavor.
The game was played in a fast and furious pace, with neither set of players settling down and controlling the game for any sustained period of time. The tackles flew in and a number of players were lucky not to be booked in the first quarter. However we began to control the midfield, marshalled by Scholes, Carrick, Giggs and, the ever determined, Fletcher. To say Fletcher had a good game was a gross gross understatement. He played like a man possessed, flying in for tackles and winning all of them, causing panick in the Read more:Liverpool
, Sword
, United
Captain Rooney Leads United to Victory (Manchester United 3 - FC Copenhagen 0) 2006-10-17 22:56:00 Rooney captained the team to a 3-0 trumph in the absense of Giggs, who was not feeling well, and Rio, who somehow hurt his neck during the warm up. It was a scoreline predicted by most pundits, but to be honest, Copenhagen
played really well.
Copenhagen impressed me with the way they approached the game, throwing players forward in attack and did make an impression on Van der Sar numberous times. However in throwing players forward, they were caught out at the back, and had it not been for keeper Christiansen's outstanding performance, they might have been dead and buried in the first half.
The game itself was played at a breakneck pace in the first half. Both sides played attractive attacking football with precision passing. But it was United
who broke the deadlock in the 40th minute with a Scholes scoring his first of the season with a trademark thunderbolt.
And right in the beginning of the second half, O'Shea, perhaps luckily knocked the ball into the net from a corner to give us Read more:Captain
, Leads
, Manchester United
, Rooney
, Victory
Game of Two Halves (Wigan 1 - Manchester United 3) 2006-10-14 15:33:00 After a terrible first half, a Rooney-inspired United
scored thrice to pull clear at the top of the table in an early kickoff.
Wigan
scored early in the first half and had United on the backpaddle. We obviously didn't help ourselves by playing some really uninspired football. There was no flair, no width and no idea in our play. Quite frankly when the half time whistle came, I was pretty much ready to call it a day and go to bed. Luckily my girlfriend was using it, if not I would have missed the second half. The only bright spark in that terrible first half was a determined effort by Rooney which struck the crossbar.
The second half started with Giggs replacing Wes Brown and inspiring some really sweet attacking play from United. It was literally a reverse from the way we played in the first half. Our attacking movement was crisp and quick, and we tore the Wigan defence apart, but failed to find the net.
However in the 60 odd minutes, we found the opening when Vidic scored from a corn Read more:Manchester United
Ole's Goals Takes United Back To The Top (Manchester United 2 - Newcastle 0) 2006-10-01 22:43:00 When the teams trodded out with Ole replacing Saha in the starting lineup along side the out-of -form Rooney, I actually feared the worst. I'm ashamed to admit that my fears were unfounded as Ole scored twice to put a hopeless Newcastle
out of their misery at Old Trafford.
After 5-6 uninspiring performances by the men in Red, we turned on the style today and practically outplayed Newcastle in every department on the pitch. Ronaldo and Fletcher were hardworking and utterly dominant playing on the flanks, giving Newcastle's full backs all sorts of problems. It's no surprise that Ronaldo hit the woodwork thrice and Fletcher once.
There was a brief moment of dispair when Heinze was taken off for an injury and replaced by the hopeless Evra. Thankfully post game reports stated that it was a hamstring strain and nothing serious. I would hate to see Evra start in left back by default, or anywhere on the pitch for that matter.
We bossed most of the game and Ole scored on either end of half t Read more:Goals
, Manchester United
, United
Silvestre Out Six Weeks 2006-09-29 17:50:00 Looks like the injury sustained during the encounter with Arsenal a couple of weeks back wasn't just a simple knock. Apparently Silvestre injured his metatarsa and is confirmed out for at least 6 weeks.
This should be good news since we wouldn't have to see Silvestre making anymore defensive boo boos for at least a month and a half, however this also means that Evra will be the first line of defense in the absence of Heinze. Between dumb and dumber, I'd take Silvestre anytime over the hapless Evra. I'm sure many of us would rather Evra got injured instead.
Don't get me wrong, I hate to see any United players get injured, but if it happens to players like Silvestre or Evra, it's usually addition by subtraction. Read more:Weeks
Ronaldo Exorcises Demons At The Stadium Of Light (Benfica 0 - Manchester United 1) 2006-09-26 22:35:00 Ronaldo earned his right to begin his journey as a United
legend tonight. It was at the Estadio da Luz where he fell from grace in Dec 05, with a disgraceful and immature performance and a sending off. I was ready to write him off then. However tonight he not only redeemed himself with a scintillating display but capped it off with a level of maturity and presence that's only reserved for United legends. Tonight he showed why he will be special. Tonight he stood up to be counted when so many of his teammates went missing.
For a full 60 minutes, we were horribly shit. Apart from Ronaldo, our entire midfield was bullied into submission. Scholes and Carrick were awful, giving the ball away cheaply, leaving O'Shea to clean up their mess. Today the result went our way, but our lack of a ball winner will come back to haunt us in a big way one day. Suddenly having a Phil Neville, Nicky Butt or even a Quinton Fortune in midfield doesn't sound too bad.
Rooney had his 4th off day in a row. Hi Read more:Benfica
, Demons
, Manchester United
, Ronaldo
, Stadium
Normal Service Has Been Resumed (Reading 1 - Manchester United 1) 2006-09-23 20:43:00 Before I go into this entry/bitching session proper, I would just like to say I'd be boycotting Ghim Moh Road block 10 kopitiam's drink store. I was watching the game with Kentona, and the bloody motherless son of a goat who calls himself the owner switched off the tele with a fucking 5 minutes left to play. I sincerely pray to the football gods to hear my pleas and bestow upon him genital herpes or anything similar. May he never have a proper fuck, ever again.
Now that I've placed the curse of a thousand unsatisfied fucks, I'm ready to go into today's game proper.
This is so typical of United
.htm">Manchester United
. When everyone (talking bout last season's top 4) picks up points and scores easy victories, we would screw up. We've been doing this party trick so often, that it's no longer funny nor novel. Everytime we play a later game when our rivals have already won, we tend to fuck it up for some inexplicable reason.
Kentona and I went to block 10 in Ghim Moh to catch the game. We misse Read more:Normal
, Reading
, Service
In Carrick's Defense 2006-09-22 11:54:00 I know I've been rather harsh on Carrick
recently, and quite frankly his performance hasn't really given me any reason to change my stance either.
However I do need to clarify some things about Carrick. He's not as bad a midfielder as I've portrayed him to be. In fact in certain respects, he's better than Darren 'Saviour of Scotland' Fletcher and John 'Out of his Depth' O'Shea. But at £18 million, you're over paying for someone to be just better than the 2 mentioned above. Looking back at the last game, Carrick's pegged lower than Scholes in the eyes of Fergie. Surely, we didn't pay £18 million just to have someone warming the bench as a replacement for Scholes!?!?! I suppose that's my main grouse here. If you spend £18 million, then you better make sure he's good enough to start when he's fit.
As for Carrick's abilities, he's a decent player. In fact I probably would rank him as an above average midfielder. Just look at how Spurs is faring without him. They seem Read more:Defense
The Wheels Are Falling Off (Manchester United 0 - Arsenal 1) 2006-09-17 20:04:00 It was the first big game of the season and we flunk the test, against an Arsenal
team playing without Henry and Van Persie. I've always thought we were not good enough this season, and it's finally showing. Against a short-handed and struggling Arsenal, we were finally exposed as the pretenders we are. I wonder how many lucky games we can squeeze out, especially after our last 2 league games.
For some reason, Tomasz Kuszczak stared instead of EVS. When I saw him in the lineup, I just had a bad feeling about this game.I can only assume EVS must have been injuried. Thankfully Kuszczak had a brilliant debut, unfortunately for him, he ended up on the losing end. He was one of the few players in the team who actually played well. As early as the 12th minute, he was called to save a dubious penalty. Throughout the game he made some fine stops, but was unable to save the winner from Adebayor, at the 86th minute, after our defense was expertly carved open by Fabegas.
The Arsenal midfield co Read more:Manchester United
, United
, Wheels
And So It Begins II - Giggs Out For 4 Weeks 2006-09-14 16:59:00 Looks like Giggs
hurt his hamstring in yesterday's game and is projected to be sidelined for 4 weeks. Giggs has been our best player by a mile so far in this short season. I'm really hoping this doesn't derail our strong start. As the weeks go on and the injuries start to pile up, I'm beginning to hate our lack of activity in the transfer market. The bright spot is that Heinze, Vidic and Smith would and could probably be set for a return to first team action sometime soon.
And let's hope the only guy we brought in during the transfer window, Carrick, proves his worth sooner rather than later. So far he's the guy we paid too much to do too little. Read more:Weeks
United Not Convincing (Manchester United 3 - Celtic 2) 2006-09-13 22:35:00 We were awesome in attack, led by the irresistable Saha. However if we're going to defend the way we did in this game, it's going to be a long long season.
The entire defence was practically napping throughout the game. Rio in particular was awful. He was slow, sloppy and stupid. He allowed Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink to nip in behind him for the first goal of the day.
Giggs then got fouled in the box to win us a penalty, which Saha put away emphatically. To be honest, I felt it was a weak penalty to give. In fact I thought it wasn't a penalty, but the referee gave it and I'm not really complaining. Saha then put us in front but minutes before the half time whistle, Nakamura scored from a freekick that brought the scores level at the half.
Our defense at this point was in shambles. Brown had a poor game and needless to say, Rio was simply awful. We were not controlling the ball in midfield either. Carrick and Scholes couldn't keep up with Graveson, Lennon or Jarosik. Giggs was repl Read more:Celtic
, Manchester United
, United
And So It Begins - Park Out For 3 Months 2006-09-13 20:38:00 Just thought I'd squeeze this in before the Celtic game. Shamelessly taken from Soccernet. A couple more injuries like this and we can kiss our season goodbye.Manchester United midfielder Park Ji-sung has been ruled out of action for three months with ankle ligament damage. Sir Alex Ferguson revealed on Tuesday that the 25-year-old South Korea international was going for a scan after picking up an injury in training but expressed the hope that Park could be fit for tonight's encounter with the Scottish champions. However, United officials confirmed Park will require an operation that could keep him out for three months, effectively ruling him out of all United's European group games plus 12 Premiership games. Coming less than a fortnight after the transfer window closed, Park's absence could cause a major disruption to an already stretched United midfield, which Ferguson revealed today he had tried to strengthen by making a bid for Villarreal's Marcos Senna on deadline day. Read more:Months
RIP Red 2006-10-29 10:00:00 Rest in peace, Red Auerbach.
For those of you who don't know him, he's probably the greatest sports manager who ever lived. I never had the chance of watching any of his teams in action, but he created the Boston Celtics dynasty, the team I follow closely, besides the team that plays in Red.
RIP Red.
He's Back (Bolton 0 - Manchester United 4) 2006-10-28 18:23:00 It was just a matter of time before Rooney found the back of the net. And he did just that today.....thrice!
If there was a match that was accused of fixing, today's game was definitely it. It turned the form books on their heads with the result. Bolton
, who had been playing well this season, basically capitulated in the opening 20 minutes of the game. Before Rooney's opener in the 10th minute, Giggs, Evra and Saha all had chances to punish a leaky Bolton defense. Bolton were guilty of not defending as well as sloppy play all round the Reebok Stadium. They kept on giving the ball away whenever they had the possession.
Rooney added a second with a stinger from outside the penalty box 5 minutes after his first. Like the game last week, we bossed the midfield and gave Bolton no time on the ball. We did take the foot off the paddle when we were leading 2-0.
Kentona and I watch at the Ghim Moh kopitam and we effectively went into sleep mode until the last 10 minutes of the game. Bolton we Read more:Manchester United
, United
No Access to Mickey Mouse Cup 2006-10-26 14:55:00 Due to my Windows Media Player 10 crashing to devastating effect, I've not been able to catch the mickey mouse cup game against Crewe. After fiddling with the damn computer for the past 18hrs or so, I've finally managed to isolate the problem to window's media player. I've since reinstalled it together with all my other programs and hopefully will be able to catch this weekend's game live from the PC.
In the meantime, I've also stopped reading my mail and reading all soccer related sites while I torrent the game. Hopefully no one reveals the Crewe result before I have a chance to watch the game. The unfortunate thing here is that the bloody goddamn torrent is taking forever to download. As of typing this entry, the estimated completion date is probably next year.
So in the meantime, I'll be browsing this site to watch South Park from the net until I can watch the game.
http://southparkvideos.blogspot.com/2006/08/south-park-videos-index.html
BTW, this site is so awesome. I've n Read more:Access
, Mickey
, Mickey Mouse
, Mouse
Scrappy Win (AET Crewe Alexandra 1 - Manchester United 2) 2006-10-31 15:35:00 I finally managed to finish torrenting the game and watching it. Not much good to say about our performance, except that it was a scrappy affair and we played poorly for most parts.
4 youngsters were given a run, David Jones and Ritchie Jones in the centre of the park, Phil Marsh on right wing and David Gray in right back.
Both Jones performed alright, and were quite frankly overwhelmed by the occasion. David Jones did show some nice passes, but nothing to suggest he could make the transition into the first team. Ritchie was nervous and besides a good cut back for Ole to score the first goal, I didn't see anything special. That being said, both of them are still very raw. Hopefully they would grow and mature in the coming years.
Phil Marsh was spectacularly unimpressive. I couldn't remember anything noteworthy to mention, except for losing the ball on numerous occasions. I hope it was a bout of nerves. David Gray, on the other hand, had a presentable debut. Perhaps it was the role he Read more:Alexandra
, Crewe
, Manchester United
, Scrappy
, United
When Will We Ever Learn? (Copenhagen 1 - Manchester United 0) 2006-11-01 22:42:00 Alex Ferguson for some inexplicable reason decided to rest Rio and Scholes, after injuries had already ruled out Giggs, Saha and Neville. We were on auto-pilot for most of the match until the Danes, somewhat luckily, scored in the 73rd minute. We then threw men forward, but the battle was already lost.
Had we shown any kind of endeavour prior to the goal, we would not have lost this game. Why does Ferguson time and time again field weakened teams in the Champions League is beyond me.
Flash back to 2 seasons ago, when we fielded weakened teams after qualifying. The result was that we ended up in 2nd in the table, faced AC Milan in the second round and promptly got dumped. This time round, we decided to up the level of stupidity by fielding a weaken side even before we assured ourselves of qualification.
As for the performance of individual players, there's not much to say. Like the Mickey Mouse Cup game a week ago, we played down to our opponents. Most of the team was sleep-walking thr Read more:Copenhagen
, Manchester United
, United
Some Call The Cops! There Was A Murder At Old Trafford (Manchester United 3 - Portsmouth 0) 2006-11-04 18:59:00 My God, we were awesome! Simply superb display of complete and utter dominance.
By the first 10 minutes we were 2-0 up, with goals from the spot from Saha and an outstanding freekick from Ronaldo. We were in complete control through out the entire first half. And everytime we pushed forward, it looked like we were going to increase that 2 goal margin. Gary Neville could've had a hattrick is probably testament to how one-sided the game was.
Had it not been got David James' heroics, the first half would have ended in a rugby scoreline.
I missed parts of the second half due to my p2p clients dropping the connection, however from what I read we continued to tear Portsmouth
to shreds. We did add a third when Neville crossed the ball right onto Vidic's head, and he took to gift with a delighful header beyond James.
When I did manage to get the feed back, we were playing at quarter pace, but still looking immersely comfortable on the ball. Even in the first half, we dominated the game whil Read more:Manchester United
, Old Trafford
, Trafford
, United
Holders Dumped (Southend United 1 - Manchester United 0) 2006-11-07 23:01:00 I'm going to make this short and sweet after watching this game with one good eye and a splitting headache due to a freak accident in my own cup final.
We played down to our opposition's level and was duely rewarded yet again. Southend's keeper, Flahavan, was in fabulous form, saving a hattrick of saves from the only player who actually played well wearing the red shirt, Ronaldo.
Our passing was horrible and wasteful throughout the entire game. The attack was non-existent, except for Ronaldo's long range efforts. Alan Smith was horrible, and thankfully was substituted early in the second half. I believe he was pretty much screwed last season by playing in midfield. He seems to have lost all his attacking instincts.
Besides Rooney and Ronaldo, all those who played in the weekend were rested. I thought this game would have been a really good test for Carrick. We badly needed someone who could pass the ball. And we badly needed to see if Carrick could dominate the midfield against poo Read more:Dumped
, Manchester United
, United
Rain Fails To Slow United (Blackburn 0 - Manchester United 1) 2006-11-11 20:22:00 It didn't just rain, but it poured....literally. The conditions were simply awful at kickoff. I'm sure had it not been for a ground that had such superb drainage (Ewood Park has always been voted one of the best Premiership grounds), the game could have been called off.
I was worried that the cold and the wet would harm the hamstrings of Giggs and Ronaldo. It would also bring out the clumsy streak in Rio and Evra. But worst of all, it could hamper the passing and especially the tackling of Scholes, who is prone to make rash challenges once in a while.
Thankfully not all my fears were realised. Despite the appalling conditions, we still managed to eke out some brilliant passing. Unfortunately we were unable to find the net in the first half despite our superior play. Rooney was guilty of missing two point blank open goals.
The weather did look to clear up in the second half, and Saha gave us the lead after some determined play from Giggs. Against Blackburn
, it was nearly not enough, a Read more:Manchester United
, United
Rooney Wins It for Manchester United (Sheffield United 1 - Manchester United 2) 2006-11-18 17:58:00 We won this one despite going on down early in the game.
Evra in particular was awful. After a run of good games, he couldn't keep it up, especially after being called up to the French national team in midweek. His passing was awful and Keith Gillespie was practically having his way with Evra. In the 13th minute, Gillespie headed the ball beyond Edwin to give SheffieldUnited
the lead with Evra nowhere in sight. Throughout the entire game, Gillespie was abusing Evra. I haven't seen a black man so badly beaten since Rodney King.
Thankfully we have Rooney
to thank. He scored 2 really brilliant goals, one in each half. The first goal was a result of a really great first touch, taking out the defender and flicking the ball past the keeper. The credit of the second goal has to go to Evra. He made amends with a superb cross that found Rooney who volleyed it in from close range.
We then proceeded to miss a number of good chances, the best falling to Ronaldo who somehow missed an open goal f Read more:Manchester United
, Sheffield United
Nakamura's Freekick Sinks United (Celtic 1 - Manchester United 0) 2006-11-21 22:45:00 Just had an eye operation so will keep this one really short and really sweet. We dominated most of the play but were simply unable to make that final pass. Nakamura
struck a sweet freekick to give Celtic
the win in the 81st minute.
Saha had a chance to equalise at the end of regulation time but his penalty was saved.
So here's how it looks, Celtic face Benfica in their last game which they probably should win, while we face Benfica at OT. If Celtic wins their game, they go top regardless of what our result is, due to a superior head to head record against us. To make matters worse, should we lose our last game against Benfica, we would have to settle for 3rd in the table and out of the Champions League.
It looks like it might take a might effort to beat Chelsea this weekend. Read more:Manchester United
, Sinks
, United
Advantage Chelsea (Manchester United 1 - Chelsea 1) 2006-11-26 19:48:00 But...but we drew! How is that advantage Chelsea
?
Well, let's put things into pespective before all this championship contender status gets out of hand. We played last year's top 3 at Old Trafford and have only come away with 4 points. A loss against Arsenal, a draw against champions Chelsea and a victory against a woeful Liverpool, who can't get over their travel sickness.
To add to that, we have a waffle thin squad and a thick schedule coming up before the transfer window opens. Another injury to any of the quintuple, Rooney, Ronaldo, Saha, Giggs or Scholes and we would be going into December with a monkey on our backs. Already a wrench has been thrown into the works with Ronaldo and Saha taken off injured today. How serious their injuries are is still unknown at this present time.
Compare this with Chelsea's squad, they have ample replacements at every department. Enough to last till January when they can just go into the transfer market and pick the best available.
The Game
As Read more:Advantage
, Manchester United
, United
Strange Game, Good Win (Manchester United 3 - Everton 0) 2006-11-29 22:53:00 Can't quite put my finger on this game. We played with a makeshift side after the weekend draw with Chelsea. Vidjic, Giggs, Scholes and Saha all did not feature in the lineup at all, replaced by Fletcher, O'Shea, Richardson and Silvestre. Rooney and Ronaldo were partnered upfront.
To be honest, for most of the game we looked horrible. There was no cohesion in midfield and the only guys making any good passes were the front two. Thankfully Everton
looked equally bad, with the exception of a certain Neville. Wish he was still wearing Red today.
You would think that after Sundays great performance against Chelsea and the absence of Scholes in midfield, this was the perfect setting for Carrick to shine. Unfortunately I thought he utterly stunk! His passing was wayward, and his control was terrible. All of a sudden, I wished he was the InvisibleMan again.
Anyway we scored 3 goals today. A brilliant effort from Ronaldo, showing some superb technique volleying a deflection to open the scori Read more:Manchester United
, Strange
, United
Larsson to Booster Frontline 2006-12-01 15:18:00 Just got this piece of great news off soccernet.
According to the news, Larsson will be here for a loan deal for 2-3 months and will be eligible to play from 1st January. Despite his age (35 yrs old), he's still a terrific player. Anyone who watched the Champions League finals in May will agree.
It's a shame he can only play in January, and not when we need him most this month. With only Rooney and Saha available, December looks like it might just be a long month. Let's hope we keep our squad healthy and the goals coming. Read more:Booster
, Frontline
Controversial Penalty Mars Good Win (Middlesbrough 1 - Manchester United 2) 2006-12-03 06:04:00 It was the Riverside and last year's demolition was still fresh on my mind. I had feared the worst coming into this game. For some reason, Boro always puts on a good performance whenever a good side comes visiting.
Thankfully this time we came mentally prepared and equiped. Of course getting a dubious penalty to open the scoring was really welcomed. Ronaldo had passed Schwarzer and was thru on goal but he stumbled along the way. Although my initial thoughts were 'PENALTY!', the TV replay did not show any contact. Ronaldo had dived, or at least he hand stumbled. It didn't matter, the referee gave a penalty and Saha prompt stood forward and scored. The good guys were one up, and based on our play, we richly deserved it.
The second half was a bit hazy for me. The game was played at freaking 1am in Singapore, and I was really having trouble keeping my eyes open by half time. I even had to go the extra length to call Kentona on the phone to engage in a conversation to keep myself awake. Read more:Controversial
, Manchester United
, Middlesbrough
, Penalty
, United
Three Headers to Top Group (Manchester United 3 - Benfica 1) 2006-12-06 22:44:00 We started the game with our strongest 11, and for half an hour we played like we fielded most of our second stringers. For some reason, the team that was tearing up the domestic league looked really ordinary. While we controlled most of the possession, we were not at all convincing.
Benfica
gradually grew in confidence and took the lead with an unstoppable thunderbolt from right-back Nelson. It was a stinger that no keeper in the world could keep out. From our less than convincing performance till then, I was expecting the worst. We only needed a point from this game and like the previous two games, we were trailing. Over in Denmark, Copenhagen was doing their part and leading Celtic by 2-0.
Thankfully the goal was what was needed to awake the red giant. Sleepwalking thru this tie no longer became an option. We started stringing passes and started to lay seige on the Benfica goal. Only desparate defending, timely tackles and some cynical fouling stopped our progress. But our attacking Read more:Group
, Headers
, Manchester United
, Three
, United
Putting the Squeeze on Chelski (Manchester United 3 - Manchester City 1) 2006-12-09 15:35:00 We never really looked close to firing on all cylinders in the big Manchester derby. Credit to City for a spirited performance, stifling our midfield. However in the end that little bit of extra quality shone thru and we came away with all three points to go 9 ahead of Chelsea.
We had a bright start to the game when Rooney put us ahead with his 50th premiership goal in the opening 5 minutes. Despite our early goal, I believe City had most of the possession in the half. Thankfully they lacked any sort of quality up front. Rio and Vidic were hardly troubled.
At the end of the half, it became Saha's turn to notch his 50th premiership goal after some determined effort from Hienze to cross the ball to him. It's becoming a healthy race between Saha and Rooney to outdo one another.
Again in the second half, City had alot possession without troubling Van Der Sar. We were beginning to impose our football on City, stringing passes, and coming close to scoring the third. However it was City who Read more:Manchester City
, Manchester United
, Putting
, Squeeze
, United
Wayne Rooney and Paul Pierce 2006-12-13 10:33:00 I'm only posting this coz it includes both my favourite sports teams, and possible 2 players who I really like.
United players were given three days off after the Manchester derby before returning Wednesday to prepare for Sunday's trip to West Ham United.
Here's the thing I don't get. You're given 3 days off after a gruelling week of soccer and you fly across the Alantic to catch a basketball game between the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks? Shouldn't Rooney
be at home resting instead of globe trotting half way across the world? Sometimes I don't understand the mentality of these players. FWIW, he better be supporting the Celtics when he was over there. Read more:Pierce
, Wayne
, Wayne Rooney
Oh No! Not Lille! 2006-12-16 20:11:00 Kinda late with the reactions to the draw here, but better late than never.
The Champions League draw was made and we ended up facing Lille
, who gave a horrid time in last season's very forgettable campaign. As noted here before, my personal preference was to face either Real Madrid or Barcelona. Given our recent history with so-called minnows, we've always struggled to find our A-game.
Our failure to beat Monaco (98), Leverkusen (02), Porto (04) and last season's disaster all come to mind when we face the so-called unfancied teams. At least facing the teams with 'pedgree', we often play our best, and although we might not be victorious, it's good entertainment value. The other advantage is that losing frees up our fixture to push for the domestic league. On the other hand, beating good teams gives us the confidence to make a real run at it.
Let's hope judging from our domestic performance, we show the same kind of intensity facing Lille, who many considered to the weakest team
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