Another Ronaldo Brace Takes United 6 Clear (Manchester United 3 - Reading 2)

Ronaldo continued his fine scoring form, producing another double to bring us 6 points clear of Chelsea. How Chelsea have missed John Terry. Without him in their lineup, Chelsea have conceded 8 goals in the last 4 games, drawing the last 2.

I missed a large portion of the game due to internet disruptions from the aftermath of the Taiwanese earthquake. Luckily, Kentona informed me that the game was showed in the Ghim Moh kopitiam. I rushed down to meet up with him and his significant other, and caught a good portion of the game, without missing any of the goals or exciting moments.

On the 33rd minute mark, Ronaldo sent in a beautiful cross for Ole to head in the first goal of the game. At that point we thoroughly deserved the lead, having been the better side. 5 minutes later Sonko equalised for Reading. Again our defending from a freekick was woeful. Van der Sar came off his line and failed to connect with the ball that was floated in. Sonko rose above him and headed the ball into the empty net.

In the second half, it was the Ronaldo show again. (Note: Kentona's significant other had...ahem...left by then)

Ole was put thru with a delightful flick from Rooney, leaving him with only the keeper to beat. He promptly beat the keeper but failed to beat the upright. Ronaldo was the first to pounce on the rebound and directed it home.

13 minutes from the end, Ronaldo put the result beyond Reading when Giggs found him alone in the 6 yard box. Ronaldo needed no second invitation to score. Personally I thought he was offside from the replays but the goal counted. It was the luck we needed, as Reading gave us a scare right at the death when Silves was guilty of some horrid defending, allowing Lita to score.

I'd be glad when Vidic returns to the lineup on Monday. Silves is prone to silly mistakes, just like in the last game when he gave away a penalty.

Overall the team played well without Vidic, Scholes and Saha. But the story is once again on Ronaldo and his maturity. In the past year, he has grow from the child from hell to a man willing to take responsibilty on his shoulders. It's not only his goals, but the way he conducts himself on the pitch. There is less showboating and more substance to his play. Just bearly a year ago, he would run rings around the opponents without getting anywhere, although that hasn't changed much, today's Ronaldo is able to actually find teammates and produce at the same time.

Perhaps what's more important for me is that the fans truely appreciate what he has done and how far he has come. Hopefully he sees that and devotes himself to the team, the way Cantona did. No more silly talk of going to Real Madrid when the chips are down, we're 100% behind you!

Ronaldo Catalyst in Boxing Day Win (Manchester United 3 - Wigan 1)

Chelsea had dropped points in an earlier draw with Reading, leaving United 4 points clear. Ferguson had dropped a number of stars, giving the reserves a run against an unfancied Wigan side.

Rio, Neville, Ronaldo, Giggs and Saha were replaced with Silvestre, Brown, Fletcher, Park and Ole. Although we had the better of the exchanges in the first half, Rooney squandered a number of good opportunities to give us the lead.

Second half, cue Ronaldo. He replaced Fletcher at half time and within 6 minutes of the restart had scored 2 goals. The first from a corner which resulted in a headed goal, and the second from the spot. He's first shot was initially saved by the keeper but he scored from the rebound.

Ole scored the third goal from a counter in the 60th minute, after Rooney's header had put him thru to face the keeper.

Like on Saturday, Wigan were valiant but ineffective. However in the spirit of Christmas, the ever generous Silvestre gifted a penalty to Wigan in injury time, when he fouled Johansson, who was going nowhere. Wigan scored from the spot to give some respectability to the scoreline.

Man of The Match: Ronaldo. He only needed 6 minutes to prove how effective he was after he came on. Totally changed the complex of the match.

Notable mentions should be given to :

Park, who ran his socks off as usual.

Brown, who was solid in defense.

Fletcher, who made 2 absolutely beatiful passes to Rooney in the first half. However Rooney failed to find the net on both occasions.

On Saturday, we play the last game of 2006, against mighty Reading, who held Chelsea today. And we're doing it without Vidic or Scholes, who are both suspended. However the rest of the calvary should return in the form of Giggs, Ronaldo and Saha.

Oh and an additional season cheer, Pool lost to Mark Hughes' Blackburn.

Mid Term Report Card

Firstly, Merry Christmas to everyone. We've reached the midway point of the League and that time of the year to give grades to everyone.

To be frank, I'm personally gratified that we're leading the pack (Chelsea) by 2 points after the first 19 games. Not even in my wildest dream, would I have expected such a lofty position. If anyone remembers, I had basically written United off in the preseason, and kinda worried that we would probably even be out of the races for a Champions League spot when the season end. Yet at the half way point, we're 14 points above Bolton, who are lying 5th. To make an entire mockery of my predictions, we probably out of reach for Liverpool (3rd) and Arsenal (4th), who are 13 and 14 points behind respectively. Only Chelsea is still hounding on our tails, and given their recent late late wins recently, are the only team able to overhaul us.

(Note to Leonard : You're absolutely right when you made your predictions at Cow's place.)

The other thing that has surprised me so far is the lack of injuries to the key players in the team. Given our waffle-thin squad, major injury problems would have decimated the team chemistry. While it remains to be seen if we do anything to strengthen in the coming transfer window to add to that department.

With nothing further ado, here are my grades:

Edwin Van der Sar (Grade A)
Solid solid performer week in week out. He didn't have to do as much as he did last season, but that's entirely due to the defenders in front of him. He's only weakness so far is still from freekicks, but that's mostly due to the brilliance of the freekick taker.

Gray Neville (Grade A)
What can I say about our captain? He's certainly played well this season. He doubles up as an extra winger whenever the opportunity arises.

Rio Ferdinand (Grade A)
I still can't bring myself to like Rio too much. Too much flash and too little substance. He's too incombustible for our own good, nothing seems to light a fire under his ass. But gotta give credit when it's due. This season he's been brilliant, forming a great partnership with Vidic. We have the meanest defense in the Premiership, a testiment to the great job Rio has done.

Nemanja Vidic (Grade A+)
Man mountain. I thought he was great last season with his no-nonsense style of defending, but this season he upped it a notch. Not to mention he's constantly banging in the goals from corners, something that has been lacking since Daisy and Dolly played for us.

Patrice Evra (Grade B-)
To be frank, I have no idea what to expect from Evra when he plays. Last season he was a disaster, and for the first few games this season, he kept to that form. However after the Spurs games, someone lit a torch under his butt. Since then, he's been playing out of his skin. Although it's not been as consistant as I would like it to be, he's improved leaps and bounds. Just to illustrate the progress he's made, he's no longer on my shit list to slag every week on this blog.

Gabriel Hienze (Grade B-)
Before I get crucified(it's Christmas, not Easter yet), I like to say that I love Hienze. But that being said, he seems to have regressed after a stellar performance last season where he was voted the supporters player of the year. I'm putting the blame on his injury at the beginning of the season and the lack of games played. Oh yah, and also the 'emergence' of Evra.

Paul Scholes (Grade A+)
Before his long hiatus due to vision problems last season, he played like shit. I had seriously feared the worst for him this season, but the Ginger Prince proved me wrong. Despite a 3 game ban in the beginning of the season, he's been one of our best performers this season. Everything in midfield went thru him. He even ended his scoring drought against Liverpool, and that's gotta count for something!

Ryan Giggs (Grade A)
Talk about turning back the years. He's been playing like an 18 year old again, with the flicks and tricks. Although the pace seems to have left him, he's added a good brain to his already impressive repertoire. Adding to that, he's already equalled his goals tally of last season in the EPL.

Christiano Ronaldo (Grade A+)
Without a doubt the performer of the season so far. Last season I was so pissed off with him, that at one point I was willing to let him go for a bag of chips. His immaturity and petulance was intolerable. Thankfully that spate with the English media during the World Cup somehow woke him up. He's returned this season a completely new player. He's taken on a personal responsibility to lead this team when the team is down. He's the reason why we are where we are today. For a number of games in the beginning of this season, he's been the only player carrying the team. Not to mention his 8 goals have been timely and crucial.

Michael Carrick (Grade C)
He's got a C and I'm being kind. I've seen nothing to justify his pricetag, absolutely nothing. Sure he makes pretty sideway passes. And when he does connect with the long passes, it results in an exciting attacking play, but the problem is that it seldom connects. On top of that, he's impersonation of the InvisibleMan is getting really tiresome. Only in the Chelsea game, he found a phone booth and transformed to Superman, but as we know, one swallow doesn't make a summer. The only reason keeping him from getting a D or F grade is that he's been our most consistent player....with that InvisibleMan act.

Wayne Rooney (Grade B+)
He's been brilliant for most parts this season. But I'm giving him a B for that lengthy goal drought and for flying off to America to catch a basketball game (albeit a Boston Celtic game). Moreover much more is expected of him to lead this team despite his young shoulders.

Louis Saha (Grade A)
He's continued with his good scoring form from last season. He's also shown he's a damn bloody good player. His mobility has been the reason why our attack is so potent. Opponents have trouble keeping up with him as he runs all over the pitch, allowing the others to get involved.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (Grade B)
You couldn't ask anymore from him. He's always filled the gap when asked to do so and has scored 5 goals in all competitions this season so far, despite only playing 9 games. Can't wait for him to return from injury.

John O'Shea (Grade B-)
He's the perfect role player. Always called upon to do the dirty job. The unfortunate thing with O'Shea is that as a role player, he doesn't have a fixed role. I can see how utterly confusing it must be for him to play all across the midfield and defense his entire career, while excelling in none. The moment he shows promise in one area, he's shipped off to another to fill the gap.

Darren Fletcher (Grade B+)
Ok, I admit it, I have an unhealthy man-crush on him. Hey, anyone who plays well against Liverpool gets love from this man. But seriously, he's been playing really well this season.

Wes Brown (Grade B)
I pity Brown. He's always showed such promise, but injuries have always plagued him from getting a consistent run. And when he's finally healthy, Rio decides to play well and Vidic emerges.

Mikeal Silvestre (Grade C+)
Forgettable whenever he plays.

Tomas Kuszczak (Grade B+)
He's performed credibly whenever he's been called on. He's probably got a fight on his hands for the number 2 job, with Howard and Foster playing really well on loan.

Alan Smith (Incomplete)
He's been utterly awful, I'm giving him this because he's probably not match fit in the games where I saw him play.

Park Ji Sung (Incomplete)
Injuries have taken away most of his season. In the games he did play, he's done well. Nothing spectacular, just solid. But still not enough games to make any grades on him.

Alex Ferguson (A+)
Well, he still has that fire burning inside of him, and his players are responding. That's all that matters to me.

Ronaldo Sparks Win (Aston Villa 0 - Manchester United 3)

For almost an entire hour, we were probably looking at a second consecutive blank for our much vaunted attacking force. We played poorly in the first half and with the way we started our second half, I really felt this was not going to be a good start to the Christmas program.

Thankfully it was super Ronaldo to the rescue in the 59th minute. He scored with a trademarked mazy run. His first shot was blocked but he showed determination and preserverance by going after the rebound and smashing it.....past a hapless Kiraly.

His goal sparked an impotent United to life. We poured forward with great endeavour and was rewarded with a spectacular Scholes volley just 6 minutes later. The technique was perfect as he connected with the ball. It was made more spectacular as it rocked the underside of the bar before rebounding into the net....past a hapless Kiraly.

Ronaldo completed the scoring by slotting home a counter attack. The move was incisive as Rooney, Ronaldo and Neville combined to out pace the Villa defense, resulting in an open goal for Ronaldo to pick his spot.....once again past the hapless Kiraly.

In the end it was a convincing win, although it didn't look that way for an hour. Once we got our engine running at full steam, Villa were never able to compete. The team did not play badly for most parts, but there were worrying signs that they boys were getting tired and perhaps a bit complacent. Had it not been for Ronaldo's hardwork and 'never say die' attitude, we could be losing ground to Chelsea and not maintaining our lead at the top. (At the time of typing this, Chelsea is already 2-0 up at Wigan)

What was interesting to note was that Carrick had an ankle injury. What was perhaps more interesting to note was that I never even noticed him missing until Kentona called to inform me late in the game.

On Boxing day, we face off with Wigan, who by the way is currently giving Chelsea a good fight by pulling one back. Although it's personally been a hard year with precious little to cheer about, let's hope for a favourable scoreline to bring us into the festive period.

United Loses Ground (West Ham 1 - Manchester United 0)

In a blink of an eye, what was once an 8 point lead is now only 2 points. With the way Chelsea is playing (boring but effective) it's only a matter of time before they catch up or overtake us. It was a disappointing effort by our boys today.

One thing we established today is that we should never...I mean NEVER watch a late Sunday kickoff at Cow's house again. It jinxed us with the Arsenal game, and today, it jinxed us again. Kentona, I hope you're reading this!

We never looked comfortable in the game today. Other than taking long shots, which Green did well to keep out, we never really got our game going. Whether it was down to West Ham trying to impress new boss, Curbishley, or packing men in front of the back four, they managed to put us off our flowing style.

It obviously didn't help that we had no support from the flanks. Whenever Giggs or Ronaldo had the ball, they cut in instead of going down the byline and crossing the ball. To be frank, no one really had a good game.

Rooney was visibly off his game. He looked off form and tired. Looks like that trip to New York did more harm than good. Why he was not taken off still remains a mystery to me. To add to that, after West Ham scored in the 75th minute, Rooney looked like a man possessed. He was losing his composure and ratting off at the referee. I was half afraid he would get himself sent off. To put it mildly, he was like a mad man frothing from the mouth. While I love his passion for the game, it could also be detrimental to the team.....in a really bad way.

My favourite whipping boy in this blog, Carrick, put on yet another solid impersonation of the InvisibleMan. I hardly knew he was in the game until he was substituted off. At least you can't complain he's inconsistent.

As for the rest of the team, well, they could all have gone on that trip with Rooney and we couldn't have seen the difference.

One thing pretty apparent to me is that we lost our intensity this week. Perhaps the break of 8 days without a game gave the lads too much time to actually take stock of the situation and the league table. We seemed to have lost that seige mentality which has worked so well for us this season so far, and the result showed.

They had better start getting their act together before the lead slips any further in the packed Christmas fixtures. In January, you can be sure Chelsea will be adding to their already strong squad, and strengthening in the areas which they look terrible in (which is everywhere but central midfield based on today's win against Everton).

Oh No! Not Lille!

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 left in the tournament. The other thing is hopefully Ferguson has learnt that the 4-5-1 formation has been our achille's heel in European games. I personally don't care what he thinks, but the results have shown through the years that we've constantly failed to perform on the big stage because of our fear to go forward in the away legs, and our failure to score enough in home matches.

Anyway let's hope the lads put on a good performance.

Wayne Rooney and Paul Pierce

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.

Putting the Squeeze on Chelski (Manchester United 3 - Manchester City 1)

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 stunned us by scoring a superb goal. Trabelsi belted the ball just outside the penalty area with 5 United men (that's right...I counted 5) around him.

City suddenly felt a new lease of life, and for the next 15 minutes looked very much like equalising. We were literally rocked by the goal. Our defense suddenly felt nervy and the midfield was conceding possession.

Just when City looked like they were going to romp all over us, Ronaldo restored the 2 goal cushion, after Rooney's shot had fortuitously fallen onto his path. With only 5 minutes left on the clock, City's dogged challenge had ended and we were victorious. To add insult to injury, Corradi was sent off for a dive at the end of the game.

Tomorrow Chelsea face Arsenal and we shall see how today's result affects Chelsea's performance.

Three Headers to Top Group (Manchester United 3 - Benfica 1)

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 playing was simply too much for Benfica. Right at half time, Giggs won a freekick outside the box and took the kick himself. The Benfica defence, probably hoping for the half-time whistle were in sixes and sevens, tripping over one another when the Red tide surged forward. Vidic benefited from the chaos to head home the equaliser.

The relentless seige continued in the second half, and on the hour mark, we were rewarded with the lead. Ronaldo did superbly, by crossing the ball to Giggs. Giggs eluded the Benfica defense and headered us into the top of the group.

Saha then rounded off the win with our third header of the night on the 75th minute.

On this form, we would probably be one of the favourites in the Champions League. We were simply superb, barring the first half hour. Our away form still leaves alot to be desired, but at home, we're practically unstoppable.

It would be interesting to see who we would be facing in the next round. Personally I would love to see us matched up with Real Madrid or Barcelona. I like to see us matched up with the best 2nd place finisher. If we win, it would do our confidence a world of good. If we do get dumped in the competition, we can put more focus on push for the EPL. Ideally I would love for us to win both.

Controversial Penalty Mars Good Win (Middlesbrough 1 - Manchester United 2)

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. Of course having that pussy being viciously attacked by a lizard during the conversation helped to entertain me.

All I could remember in the second half was that James Morrison equalized for Boro but within 2 minutes from the restart, Ronaldo ran riot in the Boro defense, cut the ball back to Giggs who crossed it perfectly onto the head of a rushing Fletcher to restore our lead. He had justified Ferguson's faith in replacing Carrick in the starting lineup. I'm sure after that I fell promptly asleep. Thankfully there were no further goals.

We're now 6 points clear of Chelsea who have a game in hand. Chelsea did not play this weekend coz their game was against Newcastle. Newcastle played in the UEFA Cup on Thursday, while Chelsea will be playing in the Champions League this coming Tuesday, hence the weekend schedule could not be fulfilled.

If we carry on in this irresistible form and dispose of rivals Manchester Shitty next Saturday, we could very well be looking at a 9 point lead before Chelsea meets London rivals Arsenal on Sunday. While on paper it doesn't mean much, psychologically it could affect the Chelsea players.

However, before we start counting our chickens, there's that all important Champions League game against Benfica this Wednesday.

Larsson to Booster Frontline

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.

Strange Game, Good Win (Manchester United 3 - Everton 0)

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 scoring in the first half. Then in the second half Evra scored his first goal in a red shirt, and O'Shea rounded up the goals with a sweet goal at the end of the game.

Despite my constant whining over players like Evra and Carrick, I've never really brought myself to hating any United player, past nor present. However Richardson is really close to breaking that duck. He not only doesn't seem to understand the game, his attitude generally sucks. I can't exactly put a finger on what exactly he did today, but his general behaviour is ungentlemanly and lacks the class of a player wearing the Red jersery. If not for the fact he turned down West Brom to fight for a first team place, he would have been in my doghouse a long time ago.

Man of the Match.....Evra. It was a close call between Rooney, Ronaldo and Evra today, but Evra probably pipped the rest. He did not really play a brilliant game by any means, but he brought countless entertaining moments throughout the game, the best being in the 60th minute when he got booked for tripping over himself and falling right into Arteta. A most bizarre yellow card! And of course he scored his first United goal a couple of minutes later. I suppose after all the rollicking he's been getting from this site, he probably deserved this award.

Advantage Chelsea (Manchester United 1 - Chelsea 1)

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 for the game itself, it's probably going to be reflective of how our entire season will unfold. In the first half, we were pretty much up for the challenge, showing plenty of desire. Add to that we were much more hungry going after the ball, and really putting Chelsea under pressure every step of the way.

Saha's first half goal was probably well deserved, and it was coolly taken too. He sidefooted the ball into the net from outside the penalty box. Despite all the talk about his head being messed up over the midweek penalty miss, he shown that he was back in control.

In the second half, Chelsea showed what they were made of. They worked hard and kept pushing forward for the equalizer. We had to endurea blue tide, but were unable to withstand the irresistable force before us. By the 70 min, Chelsea had already broken thru with a Carvalho header, and to be frank, they looked more likely to win the game than us.

In the end we were probably glad to have come out of this game with a point, especially after Saha and Ronaldo were both replaced because of injury. To emphasize the quality of our subsititutes, we had John O'Shea and Darren Fletcher come on for us, while Chelsea had Joe Cole and Arjen Robben come on for them. Nothing against Fletcher or JOS, but the disparity in quality showed.

Unless we can field the same 11 eleven every game till the end of the season (which we can't and wouldn't), it's just going to be a matter of time before Chelsea catches up and fills that meagre 3 point gap.

Nakamura's Freekick Sinks United (Celtic 1 - Manchester United 0)

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.

Rooney Wins It for Manchester United (Sheffield United 1 - Manchester United 2)

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 Sheffield United 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 from 2 yards out. We played some really good soccer in the second half, but couldn't find the net due to good defending by the Sheffield defense and our own failure to take our chances.

In all, this was a good win against a hardworking and dogged side like Sheffield United. More importantly, with Chelsea winning, we go into next week's game with a good 3 point lead and a superior goal difference. But before we jump that far ahead, we still have a tough Champion's League game at Parkhead against Celtic.

Rain Fails To Slow United (Blackburn 0 - Manchester United 1)

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, as our defenders were guilty of slipping and sliding on the slippery surface. Good thing they were not able to capitalise on our mistakes in the back.

We looked really good for most parts of the game and really should have wrapped it up pretty early, or at least put it beyond Blackburn. Scholes and Ronaldo were particularly brilliant with and without the ball. Scholes played the perfect defensive midfield role, pinning back Tugay and refusing to give him any room to move or pass.

Ronaldo was unselfish when there were players around, and when he needed to, he took on the opposition to devastative effect. He, Rooney, Saha and Giggs practically tore the tired Blackburn defense to shreds but were just unable to finish off their moves.

The scoreline did not reflect our good play, but I'm glad to have just taken all 3 points, especially with Chelsea thumping the hapless Watford earlier today. Our next game is against the Blades next week. Plenty of time for our players to recover from the knocks they received in today's game.

Holders Dumped (Southend United 1 - Manchester United 0)

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 poorer competition. But unfortunately it was not to be. Perhaps Fergie decided against having his 18 million pound signing embarassed against a side lying at the bottom of the second division. Sadly for Ferguson, he still got embarassed on his 20th year in charge of Manchester United.

At least we have one less competition to worry about, and fewer games to play.

Some Call The Cops! There Was A Murder At Old Trafford (Manchester United 3 - Portsmouth 0)

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 while playing at half pace, or at least looking like it.

Everyone had a good game today. There were no silly fuckups and everyone looked the part. Even the normally invisible Carrick cleaned up well in front of the back two.

We can only hope injuries do not rob us of our first eleven. The squad, although deep, is not filled with quality players. But let's enjoy the victory.

When Will We Ever Learn? (Copenhagen 1 - Manchester United 0)

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 thru the game.

Special mention to Michael Carrick who continued his piss poor invisible man act. Besides passing the ball diagonally, he was not much use on the pitch. Being paired with O'Shea, I expected him to push forward much more while O'Shea played the defensive midfield role. Instead, for most parts of the game, O'Shea pushed forward while Carrick continued losing the ball. I know it's alot of expect him to live up to that ridiculous price tag, but I'm really running out of patience on him to even be a good player. Overrated, overpriced.

To make matters worse, Evil Ronaldo surfaced for a brief moment in the game. Thankfully there wasn't much time on the clock for Evil Ronaldo to totally manifest itself.

Let's hope that stubborn mule of a manager learns from his mistake. I can't remember when was the last time we played well in a European game away from Old Trafford. I'm definitely not holding my breath here.

Scrappy Win (AET Crewe Alexandra 1 - Manchester United 2)

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 played in. He looked good going up front and able in defence.

Our other players were noteably underwhelmed by the occasion. With the exception of Ole and Kuszczak (who incidentally had his name spelt wrongly on the jersery), the rest of the other players played down to their level of opposition. Silves, Heinze, Brown and Smith were all terrible. Had it not been for Kuszczak heroics, we could have been flatten.

If you noticed, Richardson was not mentioned....yet. I thought he had a good game playing on the left and subsequently controlling the midfield in the later part of the game. However I was extremely disappointed with his general behaviour on the pitch. He was often whining and complaining to the referee. And when decisions didn't fall his way, he went on to exact his own vengeance by fouling the opposition. How he stayed on the pitch, only the referee knows. Despite a good performance, he showed he's not a classy person. At the rate he's going, I'm going thru what I felt for Ronaldo last season. The difference here is that I feel Richardson is a player we can let go.

3 youngsters were given debuts as they came on as substitutes. Michael Barnes came on and played in the left flank. I wasn't too impressd with him. Too much dribbling. You can see he has the physical gifts and it might take a while before he knows when to dribble and when to pass. The potential is there, but it's going to take sometime to harness.

Ryan Shawcross came on in right back and like the other youngster he replaced, had an okie game. We seem to produce alot of good full backs who are able to join in the attack when required.

Kieran Lee came on and generally played a quiet game until he scored the winner in the dying minutes of injury time. Amongst all the kids on display, he perhaps showed the most maturity. At least he was composed enough to take the chance when it mattered. Will be sometime before he even matures to command a place in the first team.

On the whole, I wasn't impressed with this crop of youngsters. There is some potential, but nothing jaw dropping. I reckon all the ones with potential have been loaned out to other clubs all over Europe. What's probably more disappointing was the level of play of the veterans. If they can't up their level of play in a cup competition, then our squad is truely thin, which doesn't bold well when the injuries in the first team do eventually pile up.

RIP Red

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)

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 were ineffective and their attack was well marshalled by the outstanding Vidic and the defenders around him. Evra, who had a good game was carried off injured. I hope the injury sustained is not serious. His play has been improving and he's gaining confidence. My tirades must have worked, just as it has worked on Ronaldo. Time to work on Carrick, who was virtually invisible again.

Ronaldo put us 3-0 up in the 82nd minute, tapping the ball into an empty net after Saha passed the ball to him, after faking a shot which fooled both the defender and keeper. Rooney then promptly went on to mark his transition from teen prodigy to full fledge star, by smashing home his hattrick.

As long as this team remains relatively injury free, I'm confident we could possibly win the title this season. We have one of the strongest first teams in the league. The midweek game should be a walk in the park against Copenhagen. Our next challenge is against the stout Portsmouth defence next weekend.

No Access to Mickey Mouse Cup

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 not had the chance to browse thru it all since I already have every single episode in my harddisk, but I think it has ALL the episodes available for viewing online!

United Puts a Poor Liverpool to the Sword (Manchester Unitred 2 - Liverpool 0)

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 Liverpool ranks.

Scholes, Carrick and Giggs followed his cue and started to boss an ineffective Liverpool midfield, bullying them into submission. The only respite Liverpool had was from Momo Sissoko, but after his booking at the half hour mark, the taming of the Liverpool midfield was complete.

Scholes, celebrating his 500th appearance for the men in Red, fittingly scored the first goal for United. Giggs crossed the ball from the left and Scholes side footed the ball at Reina, whose half save could not prevent Scholes from poking in the rebound. 500th appearance and a goal to boot. It was a virtuoso performance from Scholes.

In the second half, Rio scored a brilliant goal with his left foot, booting the ball into the top left corner beyond an outstretched Reina. 2-0 to United. The game was effectively sealed and the points in the bag. If anyone remembers, Rio scored a last minute winner in the same fixture last season.

Liverpool on the whole were pathetic. Their defense was slack and slow. Their midifeld crumbled at the slightest tackle, all thanks to Fletcher leading the way in that department. And their attack was virtually non-existent. To be honest, I had my doubts this game. I was almost convinced this was going to be like another Arsenal game, where we were heavily touted to win but would eventually lose again at Old Trafford. And to make matters worse, it would be the kick start to Liverpool's season, the way victory over us kick started Arsenal's. Thankfully my worst fears didn't materialise. And I credit it to Fletcher for setting the tone early in the game.

I suppose you must all realise by now where I'm heading with all this Fletcher praise. I've been getting all sorts of stick for my staunch support for Fletcher throughout the years and finally this season he's showing why he's so highly touted. I know many would have, for sentimental reasons, picked Scholes for the man of the match, but to me it was Fletcher. His individual performance was what epitomised our play today....determined, tenacious and yet effective. And the ironic thing is that he replaced Ronaldo, who was down with flu. Ronaldo would have definitely played had he been fit. Today, I feel vindicated.

Taking nothing away from Scholes, he too had a brilliant game. He tackled, passed and scored the all important first goal to mark his 500th appearance.

In fact I can hardly fault a player in a Red shirt today. Everyone played their hearts out. Even Evra and Carrick, my favourite boo boys, had a pretty darn good game. I couldn't be more proud of the boys today, as I'm sure many United fans would be. Having bragging rights to start off Monday at work is always a nice thing to have.

Captain Rooney Leads United to Victory (Manchester United 3 - FC Copenhagen 0)

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 a 2-0 lead. After that goal, we somewhat took the foot off the paddle. Christiansen then fumbled a Richardson shot from outside the box to undo his first half heroics and sealed the victory for us in the 83rd minute.

Rooney was once again outstanding for us in attack. He and Saha seemed to have developed a special chemistry between them and some of the passing between the two of them was simply exquisite. Vidic was also outstanding in defense, and together with Brown, formed a formidable partnership in the heart of the defense.

Special mention must also be given to Evra. He didn't make any noteworthy mistakes, nor give the ball away....too many times. However he did get booked for kicking the ball away (stupid fuck). Let's hope he steadily improves.

The stinkers today were Carrick and O'Shea. Besides a strike at goal, Carrick was largely anonymous, as usual. Kinda sad that we paid so much for so little (seems to be a recurring theme here).

As for O'Shea, he was simply awful in the first half, playing in right-back. I would be too harsh on him for a couple of reasons. Firstly, his performance improved greatly after scoring the second goal. Must have been a confidence thing. Secondly, the poor lad has been playing all over the park in his entire career, from left-back to midfield to right-back to left wing to central defence. I even remember him playing as an auxiliary striker at one point a couple of years back. No wonder he looks so lost on the pitch sometimes.

Alan Smith was also given a second half run out to the delight of the crowd. He showed plenty of willingness, but it was pretty obvious he was extremely rusty. His first touch was poor and he missed a tap in. I'm sure if given the games, he'd improve in time to come.

With this victory, we're pretty damn close to qualifying for the next stage in the Champions League.

I personally can't wait for this Sunday's clash with Liverfool. It would be exciting to see Rooney, Saha, Giggs, Ronaldo and Scholes all playing together in the same side, especially since most of them are peaking at the same time. I'm smelling blood!

Game of Two Halves (Wigan 1 - Manchester United 3)

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 corner. It's nice to see us actually threatening from corners since the days of Daisy and Dolly. A couple of minutes later, Saha fired us into the lead.

It was all United and by that time, Rooney had completely taken over the show. It's a pity he didn't annouce his return with a goal. He lead the team with his determined style of play, inspiring all around him to play above themselves.

Hell, even Evra had a good game. A far cry from the usual crap that comes from him. The disappointing player for me was once again Carrick. His impersonation of Invisible Man is wearing thin.

We rounded off the scoring in injury time with a really sweetly taken goal from fan favourite, Ole. Quite frankly, after looking at today's team sheet, with Heinez, Ronaldo, Fletcher and Neville missing from the starting lineup due to injury, I would have gladly taken a draw. Credit to the boys who rose above themselves with a come-from-behind performance.

It also marks the second time we've put three past a Liverpool keeper. We did it against Scott Carson at Charlton and today against Kirkland with Wigan. Let's hope I didn't jinx the team and we make it three times lucky next week against Reina next week when we face Liverpool.

Ole's Goals Takes United Back To The Top (Manchester United 2 - Newcastle 0)

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 time to give us a 2-0 lead. The first was from a rebound after Ronaldo had hit the post and the second from a Vidic volley that recocheted off Ole's knee. He probably knew little of both goals, but like in 99 Barcelona, he was once again the right man at the right place for us. That's why we love him, or at least I do (and not in a gay way).

Rooney was again a pale shadow of his usual self, but there are signs he's slowly but surely returning to form, and to the Rooney we have become used to. In defence, Vidic was outstanding, stopping anything that came his way.

As for the man of the match, Ronaldo was outstanding and would be anyone's choice for it. But personally, I'd give it to Ole, just for old times' sake.

There will be no games next week as it's the internationals. Let's hope most of our players return safe and sound for the meeting with Wigan on the 14th.

Silvestre Out Six Weeks

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.

Ronaldo Exorcises Demons At The Stadium Of Light (Benfica 0 - Manchester United 1)

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. His touch was simply absymal. He was either hitting it too hard or too softly. Ferguson should have substituted him much earlier in the game. Everytime the ball went to Rooney, it was given away to the opponents. Rooney needs to get out of his funk soon. He's one of our key players and we can't have him playing badly, especially when so many other players are playing like shit too.

Thankfully for the entire game, Benfica's forwards were as inert as our midfield. Despite all their possession, they hardly threatened our goal.

Our goal came in the 60th minute when Ronaldo (every good move was started by him) released Saha on the right wing. Saha cut passed his man and fired a screamer into the goal from the edge of the penalty area.

The goal practically killed off Benfica's challenge. Or at least the game suddenly became easier on us. We still gave the ball away alot, but the Benfica players seemed to play with their heads held low.

This was not a classic display by our lads, but I'm glad to have the 3 points in the bag. This is an easy group and we should make it into the next round without much trouble. However if we continue playing like the way we have, we're going to be in big trouble in the next round when we face some of the better teams. The consolation is that we would probably have the opportunity to strengthen our squad, especially the midfield.

Normal Service Has Been Resumed (Reading 1 - Manchester United 1)

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 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 missed the lineups as the TV was showing the City - West Ham game instead. By the time the channels were switched, the game had already started and we were left guessing who started for us. Of course it didn't help that we had all sorts of trouble identifying our own players coz the screen was pretty far away and the commentary was off. In fact for most parts of the game, we were left wondering why Saha looked so lacklustre and why our 18 million pound man was left on the bench again.

It wasn't until in the middle of the second half that we realised that Carrick had started for us and Saha was sitting on the bench! To say we were both totally stumped would be an understatement! Fucking Carrick was completely invisible for almost 65 minutes into the game! We fucking spent 18 million pounds for this piece of Houdini act!

And speaking of shit, Richardson was shit. I've been rather tolerant of him ever since he rejected WBA and announced that he wanted to fight for his place in the squad. But today's gotta be the last straw. He's simply NOT good enough......by a long long long shot. We are so poor whenever he plays, giving away possession or making stray passes. It doesn't help that he gave the Ronaldo crap of last season.

Speaking of Ronaldo, he looks like he's completely matured after the Word Cup. He's been a model citizen and has been one of the few players who has really played his heart out for the team the entire season. No whining, no diving, no nonsense. Just pure class all around.

As for the game itself, there's really not much to say. We were poor. In fact we were awful until Saha and Ole came on in the 70th minute. Well....actually we were still awful after they came on.

In the end it was probably a lucky result for us. With the tactics we used today, we didn't even deserve a point. We did have more clear cut chances but on the whole Reading gave a really good account of themselves. They are a honest hardworking team, very much like Wigan last season.

Lastly I would just like to add that Ferguson has completely lost it. Tactically we were naive. We have a fully fit Saha and we put him on the bench. We played a semi-fit Rooney up front on his own. Hasn't the England World Cup experiment been disastrous enough? If an armchair critic like myself can see the obvious, why can't an old fool like Ferguson see it? I wish he would stop playing people out of position and start playing them where they play best at.

I personally don't like the Glazers but if they do what's right and remove Ferguson (together with his cancerous appendix Carlos Queiroz) before he ruins the club any further, I might....might just find it in my heart to accept them as owners. I don't care if we never win another trophy in my lifetime again, but I hope to see someone steeped in our tradition and lore take over as manager. Someone like Sparky, or maybe even Keano, but I know I'm asking for too much from the Americans. The only thing they know and care about is the £.

In Carrick's Defense

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 to sore lack someone to make that killer pass when it matters. They seem to be playing and doing well everywhere on the pitch except that last third where for some reason, they lack that imagination to penetrate the defense.

I suppose that's the reason why we splashed £18 million for Carrick.....to ensure there would be no competition for the 4th Champion's League spot. Brilliant strategy by the board to thwart Tottenham's ambitions. Let's hope the likes of Portsmouth, Everton and Villa do not play the role of party poopers at the end of the season.

Top 4.......Here We Come!

The Wheels Are Falling Off (Manchester United 0 - Arsenal 1)

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 controlled the game right from kickoff and never once allowed ours to settle. We simple had no answer to they energetic and vibrant midfield. They basically laid seige in our half, and we had to settle for the counter-attack, or punting long balls to our front men. This wasn't to say that we didn't have chances. However, Lehmann stopped whatever we threw at him.

Perhaps the entire complexion of the game could have changed if Silvestre wasn't substituted early in the first half by the utterly incompetent Evra. I believe he single handedly made the game so much easier for Arsenal. My patience for him has totally and completely ended, and I can't wait for Heinze to return to left back. Frankly, Ferguson should stop being an ass and play Bardsley there, or even the pathetic Richardson. Evra is just plain useless. He's our Achilles heel.

As for our performers, only Kuszczak, Scholes, Fletcher and Saha were wearing a red shirt today. Everyone else honestly sucked, not as badly as Evra, but sucked all the same. We were unable to match Arsenal both in terms of tactics as well as desire. As an armchair critic, for once I'm unable to critic Ferguson. They were simply better in every department. Perhaps we could have been more motivated, but I can hardly fault Fergie for the inadequacies of the players. I can only hope this would serve as a wake up call for the players.

One thing for sure is that our squad simply isn't good enough. Unless our board can find some players in the January transfer window, we're pretty much screwed. Well, I'm not much of a believer, but divine intervention would help too.

I'm not really keen to see us face Reading next Saturday away. As far as I'm concerned, no Steve Coppell team is a pushover, especially the way we're playing.

And So It Begins II - Giggs Out For 4 Weeks

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.

United Not Convincing (Manchester United 3 - Celtic 2)

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 replaced by Ole after the penalty incident and Ronaldo was suspended for this game.

Thankfully we scored early in the second half thru Ole, pouncing on a loose ball which was parried by the keeper from a Saha shot. It remained scoreless for the rest of game but Saha could and probably should have had a hattrick. The bulk of the best chances went to him but the Celtic keeper was having a brilliant game. Besides a really good chance for Rooney, he was practically non existant in this game.

Overall, I felt we barely deserved to win this game, especially on the performance of our defence. Had it not been for a superb display by Saha, we probably would have come out with a point instead of 3. To compound matters, we didn't beat the spread of 1.5 goals, which particularly pissed me off big time since I had a huge bet on us to do so. If we continue napping in defence and playing like pussies in midfield, we're going to be in for a rough time, both in the league and in Europe.

On Sunday we face Arsenal. I hope we maintain our 100% record, but I'm not convinced, based on the last couple of games. Arsenal would probably be up for the game.

And So It Begins - Park Out For 3 Months

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.

Lucky Win (Manchester United 1 - Spurs 0)

I considered us lucky to get away with 3 points today. Our performance was patchy at best and certainly nothing to crow about, especially after Giggs had put us ahead early in the first half with what I thought was a fluke header from a parry from Robinson, after a superb Ronaldo freekick.

I've always considered Martin Jol a good manager, why he consistantly leaves Defoe on the bench is beyond me. For the entire match, both teams conspired to play some pretty awful football, until Defoe was introduced in the middle of the second half. He singlehandedly took the bulls by the horns and spurred Spurs (pardon the pun) to another level of play. We were honestly lucky not to have conceded an equaliser.

Frankly, I'm not impressed with Carrick at all. Sure we caught glimpses of his passing range here and there, but they were not consistant, nor frequent enough to put any pressure on the Spurs defence. I hope he does well in the long run, but so far he is drawing a blank on my scorecard.

This game also showed why Richardson is not a good enough player for us. He kept trying to get past his man, Chimbonda, who had the better of him the entire game. Overall, Richardson seems like a one trick pony, and when his trick is exposed, he's practically useless.

Thankfully Gary Neville and, particularly, Wes Brown had a superb game. Brown was everywhere, and probably was my man of the match by a far margin over everyone else wearing a red jersery.

Evra deserved special mention today. He was his usual useless self the first half, but in the second half, he got into a tangle with Ghaly. For some reason, it lit a bonfire up his nonchalant ass, and he started to play like it mattered. It was the first time I actually saw the flames of desire in his eyes. If he had that from the go-get, he could easily have been my man of the match! Now we just need someone to give him a good kick up that ass of his to light that fire before any game.

Everyone else had a normal game, probably not worth any mention. The good thing here is that some of the non performers will have to make way for Scholes and Rooney's return. It should make our next home game against Celtic in midweek all that more interesting.

And we're still top of the table with a perfect record, made sweeter with Liverfools getting their asses whipped by bitter rivals, Everton, with Phil Neville and Tim Howard leading the charge. And with Arsenal only managing a draw at their new stadium against Boro. The weekend would have been made perfect had Chelsea also squandered points against Chalton. But let's enjoy our short success while we can.

We rejected Tevez and Mascherano...?!!?!?!?

I just read this from TribalFootball.com. All I have to say is that we're a bunch of idiots for not doing so when we had the chance, and we're a bigger bunch of idiots for admitting it.

Manchester United chief David Gill has explained why they passed up on new West Ham signings Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano.

"We were never interested in Tevez," Gill told BBC Five Live's Sportsweek programme.

"We were also offered Mascherano but we didn't want to go for him."

Gill added: "We were offered Mascherano for a significant sum at the start of the summer and also last week on a loan deal.

"We had watched him last season but the manager and his staff didn't want to pursue him.

"While he is clearly a very good player it was decided he wasn't required at the club."

I'm pretty sure this is complete and utter bullshit. Any one can tell that this is a face saving interview for the bloop job. Gill and his bunch of croonies should never ever step onto the negociating table ever again. It seems all they do is screw up.

Come to think of it, a scary thought just slipped into my mind. What if this was not a face saving interview? What if he actually meant what he said? If this much is true, then we're truthly screwed by incompetence. Suddenly signings like Kleberson and Djemba Djemba come to mind.

I suppose as fans, all we can hope for is for the squad to remain healthy. Injuries will totally undo all the good we've done in the first 3 games of the season.

More On Tevez and Mascherano, Chelsea and Abramobitch

I've had time to calm down....somewhat. Good thing I don't own a cat, it not it would have be kicked silly the entire night.

Let's give this deal some thought. Tevez and Mascherano are 2 world class players, and I mean REAL world class players. They are the type of players who could, and probably would, step into the first 11 of practically any team on this globe. So I don't believe for a moment that they would sign for West Ham to win trophies. I mean there are about a 100 teams in Europe which have more pedigree than the modern day West Ham. However, if they truely felt this way about West Ham, all the more power to them.

Let's dig deeper into this whole anal transfer. Media Sports Investment (MSI) owns the rights to both players and it's an open secret that Abramobitch owns part of MSI. Are you seeing the light yet? Since they are not signing on to Chelsea this season, it becomes paramount to keep them away from bitter rivals Arsenal and Manchester United, and all the other teams playing in the Champions League. Wow, the sun's rays don't even shine that brightly.

So what better way to screw everyone else than to 'loan' both players to West Ham? Just gives you another reason to hate Chelsea over and over again. And another reason to pray to the football Gods (if there ever were any) that Abramobitch gets caught for some money laundering scheme or some tax evasion charge.

West Ham Signs Tevez and Mascherano

You gotta be kidding me. Seriously you gotta be kidding me. How in the world did we not do this and let West Ham do it is beyond me, especially after all the news coming in that we've been trying to sign them. Actually, I know how the hell this slipped thru our hands....we have a bunch of donkeys at the helm. I'm serious!

Ly and I have always thought that Mascherano was the ideal midfielder we're looking for. He's display with Argentina during the World Cup was exactly what we needed, a tough man in the centre of the pitch. To make things worse, he's able to pass the ball better than some 18 million pound man we got.

And don't get me started on Tevez. This was a guy who wore a Manchester United jersery during one of the interviews last season! We're really one of the worst teams when it comes to making deals....and sort of deals.

So far we've had a brilliant start to the season, however when the wheels start to fall off (which eventually will), we're going to rue this chance to sign 2 world class players.

Rossi Loaned To The Barcodes

Just got this off the internet.

Manchester United have loaned Italian youngster Giuseppe Rossi to Newcastle.

The Magpies, stricken by injury to Michael Owen as well as the retirement of Alan Shearer, have borrowed the 19-year-old, who originally hails from New Jersey but has so far chosen to represent the country of his parents. Newcastle have agreed terms with the Premiership leaders to take Rossi on loan until 1 January 2007. The Italian striker will link up with the Magpies immediately and, according to Sir Alex Ferguson, will gain some invaluable first team experience. 'It was a big decision for us especially as we don't have the choice of strikers,' admitted the United boss. 'But this is something that Giuseppe wanted as he needs regular first team football. 'When he returns he will be a more experienced player who will be able to offer us much more.'

Well, looks like we gotta catch more Newcastle games if we want to see Rossi in action. I hope this decision doesn't come back to haunt us in the event we have injuries in our goalscoring department.

Bearing that in mind, it makes all the rumours of getting a certain French striker from Juve all the more scary. I don't think we need anymore strikers unless he's named Tevez or Torres. Well, just a couple of days left till the transfer deadline passes.

Keano, the New Manager for Sunderland

I'm having mixed feelings of this appointment. I love Keane, I really do. I wish we have a younger version of him right now in midfield instead of some over-priced player. On the other hand, I really dislike Sunderland and hope I'd never see the likes of these bastards ever again.

The dilemma here is that I really want to see Keane do well in management, and maybe one day take over as United's manager. As much as I like some renowned and established manager to take over the club, I also like someone who loves Manchester United and has ties to the history and the fans. The only way of having my cake and eating it is hoping that someone like Keane establishes himself in the managerial position.

Anyway, good luck Keane on your new appointment. May these bastards play harder for you than they did their last manager.

Scrappy Win (Watford 1 - Manchester United 2)

Well, we weren't going to play like the past 2 games forever. There has to be a dip in play sometime, and I'm glad it happened in this game. We were scrappy throughout the game and it didn't help that Watford is a genuinely hardworking team. They made things difficult in every aspect of the game. At least we got 3 valuable points today to maintain a 100% record.

The first half was entirely dominated by Silvestre. He scored the opener with a sweetly taken goal, placing it beyond the Watford keeper, before making a mess defending the cross, allowing Watford to equalise.

I caught this game with Kentona and his girlfriend, and we established a fact that his girlfriend is indeed the jinx whenever we catch a United game together. We rarely win games when she's around, and today we confirmed that theory. She left at half time, and Giggs scored the winner in the second half. What else can I say?

What's most intriguing in this game was that Carrick started the game. Well, truthfully, if you caught the game without knowing who started, you'd wouldn't have noticed him in the game at all. It wasn't till he was substituted out in the 75th minuted that I realised he was part of the lineup. I'm not closing the book on him, but for 18 freaking million pounds, it sure seems like a waste of money. The next game's against his old team, Spurs, and let's hope he's at least visible. If that can't spur him on (pardon the pun), I don't think anything will.

Looking Optimistic

We got Celtic, Befica and Copenhagen. I don't think I can ask for better set of teams to play. We should beat all three teams.

The 'Battle of Britain' should a tough one based on the rivalries of the fans, but we should be able to handle the battle that goes on on the pitch. Remember, we beat Celtic in the pre-season, so psychologically, we should have the edge.

Benfica could be a tough one, since we faced them last year without producing much. This should also be interesting to see how badly the team wants to make amends for last year.

And lastly we have the mighty conquerers of Ajax. The last time we convincingly beat a Danish team in the Champions League, we won it. Hopefully we are able to put on our A game and beat them convincingly.

I'm pretty sure, barring any unforeseen occurances, we should proceed easily into the next round. Of course I said the same last year and look what happened.

Elsewhere, it's interesting to note that Chelsea is paired up with holders, Barcelona in Group A. And Liverpool has a couple of tough teams in PSV and a horrible away game in Turkey against Galasataray. That should keep both our rivals busy with Champions League preparations and ease up on the EPL. This could turn out to be a good season for us afterall.

And to top things off, looks like Tevez is making a nuisance of himself at Corinthains. Rumours are that we're interested. Frankly, I'm a huge...and I mean HUGE Tevez fan. If he does come over to United, I'd be ecstatic. I've watched him play in the Copa a couple of years back and have fallen headover heels. I know many quarters find him too similar to Rooney, but if I had things my way, I'd have 11 Rooneys on the pitch at anytime. So let's hope for the best here, it is afterall a rumour.

Champions League Group Draw

I was watching the draw live from the UEFA website. Hope I got it all right.

Group A
Barcelona
Chelski
Werder Bremen
Levski Sofia

Group B
Inter
Bayern Munich
Sporting Lisbon
Spartak Moscow

Group C
Liverpool
PSV
Bordeaux
Galatasaray

Group D
Valencia
Roma
Olympiakos
Shakhtar Donetsk

Group E
Real Madrid
Lyon
Steaua Bucuresti
Dynamo Kiev

Group F
Manchester United
Celtic
Benfica
Copenhagen

Group G
Arsenal
Porto
CSKA Moscow
Hamburg

Group H
AC Milan
Lille
AEK Athens
Anderlecht

Dominant Display (Charlton 0 - Manchester United 3)

Finally managed to help Kentona get the live feeds for this game, and boy was it worth it! We spent the entire game chatting via YIM.

We started the game scrappily, which was understandable, considering we lost Neville to injury and both Rooney and Scholes to some anal suspension by the FA.

The FA has never been a friend to us. They have never supported us and has always tried their best to put obstacles in our way since the mid 90s. I'll briefly chronicle what the bastards at the FA have done to us.

1. Cantona in 95. After the kungfu kick, the club had already suspended Cantona for the entire season, but the FA banned him for part of the next season as well. Perhaps just as well, it showed him how much we loved him and he repaid our affection with the double.

2. David Beckham in 98. The entire country (England) was out for his blood and the FA did not lift a finger. Only United and the fans stood by Becks.

3. FA Cup in 2000. Under the insistence of the FA, we were forced to play in some stupid World Club competition in Brazil and had to forego our defence of the FA Cup. It brought all sorts of negative criticism, but the FA chose to keep silent, despite it entirely being their fault.

4. Philip Neville in 2000. Again a Manchester United player becomes the scapegoat for England's exit in a major tournament. And again the FA chooses not to defend our player, leaving it to the club and the fans.

5. Rio. Rio misses a drug test and is banned for 9 months. Whereas someone who was caught taking forbidden substances got a lighter sentence (Rio was tested clean when he took the retest).

6. Ronaldo and Rooney 06. Once again, a couple of United players are blamed for England's exit. I don't even understand why our English players want to play for their country, when everytime they do, they get blamed for giving their all.

7. Rooney and Scholes banned 3 games. I don't understand why they should be banned 3 games for getting sent off in a friendly. Even if the ban is enforced, shouldn't they only be banned 2 games since they had already served one in the second Ajax tourney game? Moreover, a couple of year back, Liverpool also had 2 players sent off in the same tourney but were not given a warning, let alone a ban. The FA has always had one rule for United and another for everyone else. No wonder United fans have always hated the FA.

Anyway, let's not have the depressing stuff take away what's a great day for us. After a scrappy 15 minutes or so, we turned on the style. Some of our forward play was simply breathtaking. There was plenty of movement upfront but somehow we were not able to put the ball into the net. Giggs and Ronaldo were unlucky to hit the woodwork.

In beginning of the second half, Fletcher made the best of a defender's mistake and coolly put the ball into the net. I have to admit that it was one of the coolest goals I've ever seen. And it was the only time I actually took notice of Fletcher the entire game. He's exactly like the type of woman I like, doing the dirty work in the background and popping up only when it matters.

Saha scored in the 80th to put Charlton away and supersub, Ole, put the result beyond doubt in the dying minutes. It could've been so many more had we been more clinical finishing the opponents off.

I'm trying not to get overly excited right now, since it's still very early in the season, and we all know how prone to screwing up we are. It's even harder to keep from being excited when Chelski lost to Boro today.

Today's display would've been perfect if not for Evra playing the role of a party pooper. He's absolutely useless. I don't think there was anything he did well today. Everytime he did something marginally good, he went on to screw it up the next minute by doing something absolutely shit. Thankfully most of the play was in the Charlton half, where the worst he could do was to give possession away. I'm really running out of patience with him.

Well, let's hope Fergie has seen enough and decides to take him off in the weekend when we face Watford.

Bright Start (Manchester United 5 - Fulham 1)

Yup, that's right, it reads 5-1. We played some scintillating football, something I never expected us to produce, especially in the first game to start off our campaign. The game was made more enjoyable for me coz I was watching it with, good United pal, Kentona.

Everyone in a Red shirt played well, even the much vilified Evra put some useful crunching tackles in. If he can continue producing like this with some consistency by the end of the year, I promise not to pick on him in future.

We raced off the blocks and by the 20th minute, the game was already sewn up with goals from Saha, Ian Pearce (og), Rooney and Ronaldo, giving us a 4-0 lead. Our defence looked solid the entire game, except when we took the foot off the paddle and allowed Fulham to sneak in a goal. It was a fluke goal that deflected off Rio and over EVS.

We certainly played with a purpose, and it did help that Fulham was crap. Rooney added a fifth in the second half after a good cutback from Brown. We had plenty of chances to add to the tally, but we couldn't find the net again.

5-1 was a brilliant scoreline, better than anything I had expected. I know one swallow doesn't make a season, but this one really signalled our intention to make it a much closer race to the finish line.

It's good to put the Rooney and Ronaldo saga behind us as well. They were all good cheer, and short of kissing on the pitch, showed that they are still good pals.

This season is going to be the make-or-break season for Ronaldo. I know many friends of mine, as well as myself, are sick and tired of Ronaldo's antics. Let's hope he shows some maturity and starts taking responsibility of his actions. I'm sure he's going to receive some really hostile receptions in opposition grounds, but I sincerely hope that the fans stand behind him. He's a passionate lad, and hopefully us United fans win him over and he commits the rest of this career to Manchester United, instead of trying to worm his way to Real Madrid. He could very well be our next Cantona, repaying our faith in him with his gratitude. Well, that's of course my ideal scenerio. We can only hope and wait.

Can't Wait for the Season to Start

Truthfully, I'm not too interested in this season. Chelsea is probably going to run away with the title again, with Liverpool probably giving them a run for their money (which they have loads of). I see Arsenal rebuilding and probably somewhere around 4-5th place fighting it out with arch-rivals Spurs for that final Champions League spot again. As for us, I don't see us giving Chelsea much trouble. We might pip Liverpool to the 2nd spot, but that's probably our peak unless something crazy happens.

One thing's for sure, I sure as hell hope the season starts. At least having football is better than sitting around reading stupid news streaming in on who we are going after, instead of having concrete evidence of them wearing the famous red jersery (have I mentioned how much I hate the new sponsor logo?).

I just cannot stand having us linked up to players like Tevez, Torres and Veira, and having my hopes dashed when we eventually don't sign them. It doesn't make things better when we sign crittens like Carrick and that Polish keeper. I have no idea how our braintrust works. They are either braindead or just brainless.

To make matters worse, it seems we may actually be getting Senna from Villareal. For once I hope the rumour mill is wrong. I don't see how having Senna helps. I've seen him play in the Champions League last season and for Spain in the World Cup, but have come away unimpressed. Don't get me wrong, I know he's not a flashy player and I wasn't looking for flash. He doesn't seem to have the kind of aggression I want in a United midfield general. In short, I don't think he can lead the troops when the chips are down. For that matter, no one in the current team is able to do that.

We serverely lack a leader. Someone who can carry the team on his shoulders and takes it personally when we're down. A few candidates come close, but are either over their prime (Giggs, Neville) or simply too inexperienced (Rooney, Ronaldo). I want to see my players get angry. I want to see them pissed off....really pissed off. I want Keano and Robbo and Cantona.

Put me out of my misery, just let the goddamn season start.

Amsterdam Tournament - Manchester Wins Tourney (Ajax 0 - Manchester United 1)

Well, it wasn't a good game but one we deserved to win. The only regulars in the team were EVS, Brown, Park and Giggs. Carrick started the game but got himself injuried and substituted in the opening 10 minutes or so. So effectively we played Flectcher and Liam Miller in the centre of the park. It's no surprise that Ajax probably had the better possession.

The good thing though was that the defense actually looked pretty solid, denying an Ajax team which was made up of mostly youth players too. The truth is that we were probably the second best team today, but we made up with plenty of endeavour and hunger. We didn't give up on any balls and pressured the Ajax players every step of the way. Even when we made mistakes (which was numerous), we fought hard to regain the possession. Every single one out there played their guts out.

Special mention to Rossi here. For most of the game he was the solo striker up front without any support, and you hardly noticed he was even in the game. But he suddenly burst into life in the last 15 minutes of the game, just as the Ajax defense looked tired. Although he didn't come really close to scoring, he was a menance.

And I take back what I said bout Lee Martin. He's almost like Ronaldo, and twice as dumb. At least there's a saving grace here. He's probably the most hardworking player out there. He never ever gives up a chase, or hounding the opponent. And he never stops running. Unfortunately, not much of a footballer.

At least when the season starts in a couple of weeks, we'd hopefully have a full squad of experienced players to pick from. Both the attack and midfield seem slightly light-weight here. Hopefully there would be players coming in to shore up the weaknesses.