Roaring Forties

Cristiano Ronaldo came, conquered and left. But in Manchester, life must go on. Skeptics were expecting the downfall of the Red Devils especially when no new superstars were signed from the record fee which Manchester United has managed to recoup from the sale of the

Neighbours, Manchester City FC were quick in announcing they are the Manchester with their advertisement of Carlos Tervez in their light blue strips. Liverpool must fancy their chances of a Man U without Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tervez. Chelsea felt that they finally have the Manager to step into the footsteps of Jose Mourinho. Tottenham Hostpurs started the season charging ahead and led the league in the first month of action.

Except for a hiccup against Burnley, Manchester United showed the world that they are a team and not a one man circus. The Red Devils stamped their class by having the best start in three years by posting 9 wins and only 1 loss in 10 matches (in all competitions). In comparison, they won only 4 times, lost 2 times and drew 3 times during the same period of August/September in the 2008/2009 season when Cristiano Ronaldo was at his prime with Manchester United.

Amongst the 9 wins this season, Manchester United overcame the pretenders to the crown in Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspurs and Arsenal.  

Undoubtedly, the first two months of the previous season yielded more goals and if we were to review the goal scorers in the previous season, Cristiano Ronaldo did bagged 5 goals or 20% of the goals scored. The positive point for this season is more players got on the score sheet which means that United is not dependent on one or two scorers. 

Even though it is only two months into the 2009/2010 season, Sir Alex Ferguson has proven yet again that Manchester United is a team. They have survived the departure of David Beckham and Eric Cantona, so life will go on without Cristiano Ronaldo or Carlos Tervez.

Cristiano Ronaldo had dominated limelight and hogged the possession of the ball. In doing so, players like Rooney, Nani and Giggs took a back seat. Now these players have the opportunity to show their worth. Sir Alex also managed the best bargain of the season by buying Michael Owen. His clinical finishing in the Man City game is only a glimpse of what he can produce for Man U.

It will be an exciting season yet again for Manchester United. Bring on Liverpool, Chelsea and Real Madrid.

Will Manchester United sell Cristiano Ronaldo in view of Real Madrid continued persistence interest even-though Manchester United had repeatedly told Real Madrid that Cristiano Ronaldo was not for sale. Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon has even gone on the record that they have the cash to pay more than the record £40 million which they paid for Zinadine Zidane.  

As a Manchester United fan, I would love to see Cristiano Ronaldo remaining at Old Trafford until the end of his current contract. He is one of a kind and there will never be another Cristiano Ronaldo. 

There is no one currently in the world who can match his skills with the ball.

(Youtube Video uploaded by frazlatan91)

He has also proven that he can deliver with his 42 goals for the 2007/2008 season

(Youtube Video uploaded by cr7ladyproductions)

By selling a player like Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United may as well kiss their 2008/2009 season goodbye.

May 24 – David Beckham is undisputedly the best known footballer on the planet where he is known more for his off field exploits, for his fashion sense, for Posh Spice, for his move to the US of A but for football fans, he definitely is one of the best distance kickers in the world.  

David Beckham proved that he still has it in him at 33 years old when he scored a goal against Kansas City from 70 yards out last Saturday.

For an equally stunning goal from the halfway line, check out the goal when he was playing for Manchester United more than a decade ago on 17 August 1996 against Wimbledon.  

What a finale it is going to be for the 2007/2008 season.

After leading the English Premier League with a four points advantage, Manchester United squandered it all when they drew with Blackburn 1:1 on 19 April and then losing to Chelsea 2:1 last weekend on 26 April. Now, they would need to win their next two matches to ensure that they win the championship. Only Chelsea stands in their way and Chelsea also needs to win both remaining matches and hopes that the Red Devils falter as they have an inferior

May 3 – Manchester United vs West Ham United in Old Trafford

May 11 – Manchester United vs Wigan at the JJB Stadium

The final curtain will be when they meet their greatest rivals for the season, Chelsea for the European Champions honour on May 21.

Three matches and 20 days separates Manchester United from a season double.

May 21 – Manchester United vs Chelsea at the Luzhniki Stadium

Just when Israel of all teams presented the Euro Finals 2008 to England on a platter by pulling off an upset in Tel Aviv on 17^th November by beating Russia 2:1, England had to self destruct by losing 3:2 to Croatia at home in Wembley.   

Undoubtedly, Steve McClaren faced an uphill task when injury and suspension forced key players like Rooney, Ferdinand, Neville, Terry and Owen out of the home clash but his poor choice of players and poor tactics ultimately caused England’s downfall.                       

The toothless lions team looked more like the visitors in front of their home crowd in a game where Croatia took the initiative and controlled the game with 52% possession and made 10 attempts at goal compared with England’s 6.

I really pity the majority English fans from the 88,000 paying crowd, who must have felt utterly cheated when Scott Carson made a school boy error and let in a ridiculous 77^th minute 20 meters shot. It doesn’t make sense that McClaren would gamble on an inexperienced goalkeeper when his defense is already depleted of his first choice defenders; Neville, Ferdinand and Terry  David James would have been the better choice to give the team more experience and stability. 

Steve McClaren deserves to be sacked. But I think the English FA can only blame themselves as they had wanted an Englishman to lead England after the Sven Eriksson debacle. Just take a look around. How many Englishman managers have proven to be successful? The top 5 teams in EPL are lead by a French, a Scot, a Swede, a Spanish,  and an Israeli. The line of managers for the top 5 teams speaks for it self. 

If they hire Harry Redknapp or Sam Allardyce, they will be repeating the same mistake all over again. Martin O’Neil? Celtic and England is a totally different ball game.

My personal preference would be Felipe Scolari. I think he would bring style and imagination to the English game. 

Euro 2008 would definitely miss the English fans.

Wayne Rooney may be injured but his absence has provided the perfect platform for Cristiano Ronaldo to show his class when he singlehandedly took down Blackburn Rovers last weekend with two quick goals a minute apart. The timely win over Rovers has put the Devils firmly back on track after that dissappointment of the last minute goal from William Gallas which allowed Arsenal to escape with a point at the Emirates Stadium on 3rd November after Ronaldo had made it 2:1.

In between the two EPL matches, Man U had also visited Kiev and trashed Dynamo Kiev 4:0 on Nov 7.  Pique, Tervez, Rooney and Ronaldo took turns to score in match that truly shows that young Man U is maturing as a team. 

I say that they will win the double this year but I hope that they can do the trebble.

Oct 27 – It was another dazzling display which resulted in 4 goals for Manchester United who has done likewise in 3 preceding matches and thus matching a 100 year old record set in 1907 when they did a four in four. Nani open the flood gate with a 30 yards flyer in the third minute. Wayne Rooney add the second in the 33rd minute while Carlos Tevez came good with two goals in the second half. Now for the showdown at the Emirates Stadium on the 3rd of Nov with Arsenal.

It was another 4 goals and this time at Villa Park as Rooney and the boys ran riot in the first half to add another scalp in a 4:1 away win over Aston Villa. The first half was fantastic with a free flow of attacking football where the Red Devils hit back after falling behind in the 13th minute. A 10 minutes blitz from the 36th minute had Wayne Rooney showing his class act by grabbing a brace and Rio Ferdinand adding a 3rd during the first half stoppage time.

Villa had two players sent out, Nigel Reo-Coker in the 60th minute for his second yellow card offense and Scott Carson for a professional foul in the 66th minute on Carlos Tevez. By then, Villa with only 9 men left on the pitch, lost all hope of saving the game. Rooney failed to get his hattrick when he could not a penalty but by then, Manchester United appeared to have lost their appetite even though they had superior numbers. Only a fine solo effort from Ryan Giggs saw him scoring the only goal in the second half.

SAF expressed that this was the best game Manchester United played this season but I beg to differ as I felt that they were treating the last 25 minutes against a 9 man team more like a practise session than a real game. There could have been more urgency to get a couple more goals to reduce the superior goal difference which Arsenal currently enjoyed over Manchester United.

Overall, Wayne Rooney orchestrated the win with his brace, Tevez had a good game, Nani proved that he can play well consistently and Giggs  showed that age has not blunt his skills.  It was Gerard Pique that branded out an outstanding display as a central defender, so much so that the absence of Nemanja Vidic was not felt at all.

It was not the best game of the season as SAF put it but definitely it was a good work out for Red Devils. 

After their second stringers were thoroughly outplayed by Coventry in the Carling Cup and losing 2:0, the seniors continue to slog with hard fought 1:0 victories over Birmingham in the EPL and Roma in the Champions League with Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney scoring their first goals respectively for the campaigns.

It is turning out to be a difficult season and the games are keeping fans at the edge of their seats. Where is free scoring Devils of last season? Everyone is asking. With high expectations from the new signings, this season has so far proven to be a dissappointment. Now that Tervez, Ronaldo and Rooney has all got their first goals, maybe it is about time for them to show what they are really worth.

For the fans, we can take some comfort from the hope that the team will hit top form during the second half of the season. 

Manchester United won unconvincingly 2:0 in Old Trafford against Chelsea in a scappy match to extend their match winning streak to 5 games. Apart from the full points, the other positive outcome from the match is that Carlos Tevez finally got his goal and let’s hope that this goal will spur him on for more to come. Louis Saha took the easy way by reacting to a poor tackle and won a penalty. He would need to brush up his acting skills to avoid being red carded in future matches for diving as he was lucky to get his penalty in this one. Overall, it was a poor quality match and the Blues clearly missed Jose Mourinho.

Sir Alex Ferguson then field the second stringers for the Carling Cup where the only notable regulars included were John O’shea and Luis Nani. The second stringers flopped against Conventry which resulted the Red Devils losing 2:0 at home. SAF may not put much emphasis on the Carling Cup but nevertheless, the game was dissappointing especially for the 74,055 fans who came to see their team play. Unless the second stringers show much improvement especially Oliveira Anderson, there isn’t much hope for Manchester United to last out the long season.

It was a dissappointing week espcially for Man U to drop off at the very first hurdle in the Carling Cup.