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.

Amsterdam Tournament - 9 Men United Beats Porto (Manchester United 3 - Porto 1)

Amazing how quickly things change in just a month. All the p2p programs that I had been using since the World Cup were outdated and I had to spend over an hour downloading the latest versions. As a result, I completely missed the first half, 2 goals and Rooney's sending off.

But I'm glad to have caught the second half. I caught glimpses of a couple of our youth and am impressed with a couple of them. We were leading comfortably thanks to first half goals from Scholes and Rooney (a delightful chip over the keeper), despite being a man down. However the numerical advantage for Porto increased early in the half with Scholes getting a second yellow for a reckless tackle.

With 9 men, United struggled to keep possession, allowing Porto to surge forward. However my good man Ole broke into Porto's penalty area and slided the ball past the Porto keeper from an impossible angle to put us 3-0 up, after good work from Richardson. It was a brilliant individual goal. Ole had to dribble past his man, face the keeper at the byline and somehow managed to slide the ball between the keeper's legs and into the net. Vintage Solskjaer!

Porto did reply with a superb long range effort from Pepe, and piled on the pressure but Ben Foster was a man mountain standing between Porto and that elusive second goal. I can't fathom why the idiots at the club want to buy Kuszczak from West Brom. From what I saw today, Ben Foster is probably going to better than our own Van Der Sar. I can't see any weakness in his game yet. Except for experience, he could possibly walk into at least 15 EPL teams as the first choice keeper. Yes, in this game, he was THAT good.

The other outstanding player for me was Lee Martin.....no not the same Lee Martin who played for us in the 90s. He was quick, skilful and made good use of the ball. However there were times he was caught showboating, ala Ronaldo, abit too much. Could be a very useful player if he develops the way we want him to.

Also caught abit of Carrick before he was substituted out. He didn't impress me at all. After Scholes was sent off and Giggs was subbed, he was supposed to be THE man in the middle, but he didn't show me he could handle the role. He was hardworking without doing much. Maybe he would show more as he gets used to our system of play as well as his new teammates. Perhaps to save him from further embarassment, Fergie wisely took him out shortly after.

As for the rest of the team, we played a good game. Our defense was pretty tight and whatever got past the defenders couldn't get past EVS or his replacement Foster. Park, Scholes and Ole combined well on a number of occasions but lacked the sharpness. I'm overall happy with what I've seen today.

Before I sign off, just want to rant alittle about today's referee. Someone must have forgotten to send him a memo to inform that donkey in black that this is a friendly tournament. That means today's game is a FRIENDLY! Fancy sending 2 players off.