United Scraps Past Boro (Huge Berbatov Rant)

Manchester United 1 - Middlesbrough 0
Scorer
Manchester United: Berbatov (69)

Team: Van der Sar, Vidic, Evans, O'Shea, Rafael (Neville 63), Fletcher (Scholes 63), Carrick, Park, Ronaldo (Giggs 86), Rooney, Berbatov

This is turning out to be a difficult season to watch. Week after week, we labour to put away bottom-dwellers. This result puts a particularly foul taste in my mouth when the most undeserving player on the pitch got all the accolades.

I played special attention to Berbatov, in the hopes of writing something nice about him after dissing him in the last post. And after today's game, I come away totally justified with my previous piece. He contributes nothing to the game. In fact, I feel he's stifling the progress of the team.

When we break, he's hardly every around, being too slow to keep up with the pace of Rooney and Ronaldo. When we play in the opponent half of the field, he lazes around, not making runs to free up space or draw defenders. When he does eventually move forward, he never runs back to avoid being caught offside. In short, he basically does fuck all.

Yet, despite all that, he scores the winning goal. The footballing gods must be blind. To top it off, it was a ridiculously lucky goal. The ball fell at his feet and all he had to do was volley it in.

I suppose the argument is that he's there for precisely that reason...to score goals when the opportunity presents itself. Right....so that's what....he's 2nd or 3rd goal after 15 games in the EPL. I'm just simply not impressed with what I'm seeing and every week that passes it just gets worse.

The entire team should also bear alot of the blame, including and especially Ferguson, but I'm giving everyone a free pass this post. I'm just incredibly amazed that we're still in the chase for the title after turning out such dross over such a long period. Everyone else must be rubbish as well.

I Puked My Christmas Dinner

Stoke City 0 - Manchester United 1
Scorer
Manchester United: Tevez (83)

Red Card: Wilkinson (72)

Team: Van der Sar, Vidic, Evans, Neville, O'Shea (Berbatov 64), Scholes (Carrick 90), Fletcher, Giggs, Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez

Had I known we would churn out such a putrid perfomance, I would've eaten alot less the day before. We were so god awful for such long periods in the game that I was wondering what the hell happened in Tokyo. It didn't help that we looked as blue as our away jerseys.

It was so bad that I thought Stoke could've nicked it, had they not been reduced to ten men. They were easily the better side for good portions of the game.

We even had to endure the ugly sides of both Rooney (wild elbow swing) and Ronaldo (stamping) when things were not going their way. Just disgraceful from both of them.

Eventually we did score late from Tevez, with a little big of work from Berbatov, who came on as a substitute. Berbatov, to date, hasn't impressed me. In fact, I'm feeling terribly underwhelmed by him. He's not turned up for so many games that I'm beginning to wonder if he's ever going to repay the price we paid for him.

Teve'z future hangs in the balance as well. He's been out of sorts lately, and not getting a consistant run in the team. Hopefully he gets a regular showing during this festive period.

The problem with United this season is that no one is exactly on fire. Unlike in previous seasons, our strikers have been taking turns to light it up at different periods. Rooney, Saha, Tevez and Ronaldo have all taken turns to contribute to our last two titles.

So far this season, only Rooney has had a small spell of scoring. Ronaldo has been inconsistent and Tevez has been largely woeful. The least said about Berbatov the better. Barring a couple of magical touches, he's been doing a Carrick on us.

If we are to retain the title, our frontmen have to find the net more consistantly.

Conquering The World

The holiday in Beijing provided so much entertainment and fun that I missed both the world club cup games. Beijing exceeded all my expectations and it's a city I'm looking forward to visit again. The food is cheap and good, and the people are honest and friendly.

Top of the World
While I was taking time off to enjoy myself immersely, gorging on exortic food, ranging from donkey to dog, United went on to crown themselves world champions against some third-rated opponents. That's right, third-rated opponents. I wouldn't consider Gamba nor LDU anywhere near the kind of competition provided by top European sides.

We played at half-pace and thrashed Gamba 5-3. The score only looked respectable due to defensive lapses when we were already 5-1 up.

As for LDU, they are a shell of the team that won the South American version of the Champions League. Most of their influential players have already left, and it's little wonder that they fell to a 10-men United. The hard truth is that the South American teams just aren't good enough to face their European counter-parts. Most of the best players from the continent now ply their trade in the top European clubs, while the few remaining ones play for the bigger teams in Brazil and Argentina. LDU Quito, from Ecuador, is really one of the smaller teams.

So officially we're now the best team in the world. The additional silverware is great, but let's not get distracted from the true prize, the EPL and the Champions League.

Champions League
Seapking of the Champions League, the draw to the next round really screwed us. We somehow managed to get Inter Milan from the draw. It's going to be hard facing the champions from Italy. And the task will get much harder without the services of Vidic, who will serve a suspension for his red card in the world club cup finals.

This is one matchup I'm not looking forward to.

Evra's Ban
Plenty seems to have happened while I was away, so I'm cramping it all here today.

Looks like the club is not going to appeal. 4 matches seems like a ridiculous number of games to miss for an off-the-pitch incident. It seems from the length of documents released by the FA, they are trying to confuse than to make a concerted effort to address the punishment. In any case, we can only hope this sets the precedence for consistancy. Somehow I seriously doubt it though. One rule for United, another for the others.

Firing Blanks

Tottenham 0 - Manchester United 0

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, O'Shea, Rafael, Carrick, Fletcher (Scholes 70), Park, Ronaldo, Berbatov, Tevez (Giggs 70)

I've got to make this a quick one. I'm due at the airport in a couple of hours, so after factoring in the travel time, I've precious little to spare.

There was a time when seeing a zero on our side of the scoreboard would be an anomaly, but this is fast becoming an increasingly distressing statistic as we are churning them out at an alarming rate. The problem here is that we're not creating enough chances. And from the very few that we've created, they've been spurned by our goal-shy forwards.

After Arsenal and Liverpool drew earlier in the day, this was the perfect opportunity to make up lost ground, facing Spurs and a dodgy keeper between the posts. Like every week where we could make up ground, we threw the chance away. The normally edgy Gomes produced a stunning performance to thwart our best chances, especially late in the game.

Tactically we were woeful. Fegie opted to field Tevez upfront on his own, while Berbatov plyed his trade deep in midfield. Often balls that were crossed into the area were headed out as Tevez jumped and stretched but could do little to head the balls beyond his reach. Berbatov would have been a more ideal target man for this course of action.

The midfield was utterly crap today. Carrick is crap as usual, but it was a surprise that the consistant Fletcher joined him in the tomfoolery, giving away possession cheaply.

Perhaps sensing that the plan wasn't going well, we sent on Giggs for Tevez and Scholes for Fletcher. We did increase the pressure but found Gomez in unbelievable form, saving from a fantastic Giggs' freekick.

In all, it wasn't a terrible game, just a terrible result. We simply need to score goals and we're serverely lacking in that department. Maybe it's time to stop with the Berbatov experiment and start playing the kind of swashbuckling football that we've been pampered on. Maybe it's time for Manucho and Welbeck to stop rotting on the bench and present them a chance to make a name for themselves. The current incumbents are simply not doing the job.

Product Review: Adidas F30.8 TRX TF Shoe

I was recently approached by the chaps at SoccerPro to review a pair of shoes and grabbed the opportunity, especially considering the pair I was using was wearing out. Perfect timing here. For those of you who don't know, SoccerPro is growing soccer apparel company that sells...you guessed it, soccer boots and related equipment like jerseys, balls and guards.

The great thing with the offer was that I was given free rein to choose any pair within a set budget. Since I almost solely play on an artificial pitch nowadays, I chose a pair of Adidas F30.8 TRX TF.

The shoe was shipped on time via UPS, nicely packaged in a box. No hassle, no fuss. Here's where the real review starts. Quite frankly I don't know where exactly to start so I'll just do it in point form and start with the cons.

Cons
- This has got to be one of the most uncomfortable pair of shoes I've ever worn. After the first couple of sessions, my feet were filled with cuts and blisters. Even though I purposely got a size larger (to accommodate socks, ankle guard, taping, etc.), it's too narrow for my hobbit feet. After consulting my teammates, I realise that it's a generic problem with Adidas shoes. It's too narrow in the front for East Asian feet. I had the exact same problem with my last pair of Predators, which explains why I've not worn a pair for Adidas for years. Unfortunately I got overly excited this time round and forgot my past experience.

- The heel is also abit too high and hard, thus cutting into the achilles. Very painful. At least this problem would go away as the boots gets more seasoned.

Pro
- I'm a sucker for aesthetists, and this definitely a beautiful work of art. From the colour to the fold-over tongue, it just looks good. If not for the fact I'm lazy as hell to wear shoes in our hot and humid climate, I would gladly exchange it with my sandals when going out. Good fashion accessory.

- I don't know what leather it uses, but it provides plenty of cushioning to control the ball under your feet. Compared to the other boots I own, the FX 30.8 tops them all in terms of control. For a good two sessions or so, I actually felt I played on a different level. It's hard to explain the feeling. You got to try it to understand.

- Another plus point here is that it packs a punch. My strikes just seem more powerful with less effort put into the backswing.

Things that leave me scratching my heard
- I suppose I understand the whole concept of having a fold-over tongue. It's supposed to give you a larger smoother surface area to control the ball, but let's face it, if you have to use that particular area of the shoe, then you're really not much of a soccer player. ;o) That said, every bit helps I suppose.

- Another thing I don't understand is why is there a see-thru window on the outside of the boot? The last thing I need is for the whole world to see all the holes in my socks....and I do have loads of them. Embarassing is an understatement.

Conclusion
There are alot of good things about the Adidas FX 30.8 which should help you improve your game. But Adidas needs to take into consideration the Asian market when designing shoes. If it doesn't fit, it doesn't sell.

Lastly, I would like to extend my thanks to the chaps at SoccerPro for the opportunity to do this review.

United Tops Table Despite Slack Defending

Manchester United 2 - AaB Aalborg 2
Scorers
Manchester United: Tevez (3), Rooney (52)
Aalborg: Jakobson (31), Curth (45)

Team: Kuszczak, Rio, Evans, Neville (Rafael 77), O'Shea, Anderson, Giggs (Scholes 45), Gibson (Park 45), Nani, Rooney, Tevez

Nothing much to say really. Celtic did the job and beat Villarreal, meaning that the result here didn't matter. We topped our group and avoided a possible draw in the next round against Barcelona, who I think are the best team in Europe right at this moment. The potential opponents are Inter, the two Madrids, Lyon and Sporting Lisbon, none of whom scares me.

As for todays game, we started sharply, scoring early thru Tevez and really looked like running up the score over the Danish side. But yet again our sloppy defending from set-pieces let us down.

We simply cannot defend from freekicks coming in from either side or deep. The equalizer gave Aalborg plenty of confidence and they took the lead with practically the last kick of the half in a blistering counter attack.

Ferguson was obviously not happy as he brought on a couple of more attacking substitutes. The result was a Rooney goal to draw the teams level again. We played Aalborg off the pitch for the remainder of the game but unlike the weekend, were not able to find a winner today.

We should see the return of the regular players on Saturday again Spurs. I should still be able to catch the game, before flying off to Beijing to freeze my ass off. With some luck, I may just be able to catch the world club cup (or whatever they name it now) games there.

Rant of the Year
This part is not United related. I'm just going to rant for the sake of ranting.

As some of you may know, my former pc went down in flames(literally) and I've just gotten myself a spanking new computer. It's ridiculously fast, and more importantly, I got it at a ridiculous price. Hell, it's almost like stealing it.

The downside is that it's pre-installed with Vista. I've heard loads of horror stories about Vista but after using it for a couple of days, it seemed like those stories were just that...stories. Everything was hunky dory.

Then the shit hit the fan. I spent the weekend installing all the programs I used to have on the old pc only to realise what complete asswipes the developers at microsoft are. No seriously....what complete asses.

The freaking damn Vista keeps prompting some security warning whenever I install a program. As if that's not bad enough, the same freaking warning pops up whenever I run those programs. And to make it even worse.......it continues to appear even after I've specifically removed the warning!

I can't believe the anal fucktarts that developed this shit. In the end I had to visit some geeksite and manually remove the works from the registry, not something I'm confident of doing without fucking up the whole system. It's a nightmare I tell ya!

Don't even let me get started on the Disk Defragmentor.......

Late Late Winner Keeps United On Track

Manchester United 1 - Sunderland 0
Scorer
Manchester United: Vidic (90)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Rafael, Evra, Carrick, Fletcher (Anderson 68), Park (Tevez 58), Ronaldo (Giggs 68), Rooney, Berbatov

What an incredible game. For a full 90 minutes we were knocking on Sunderland's door but couldn't find a way thru. And just when a 0-0 result looked on the cards, Vidic's last gasp winner brought on a sigh of relief that could be felt from Singapore to Manchester.

The day started with facing a rudderless Sunderland, who were low on confidence and even lower in quality. It's no wonder Keano decided to jump ship. Sunderland are easily the worst team I've seen this season by a huge huge margin. They couldn't string 3 passes together to save their lives.

Against such weak opponents, we completely dominated the game but yet were not able to find a way past their 10 defenders. Fulop was excellent in goal and the men in front of him were dogged in their task to deny us the points. 4-goal hero from midweek, Tevez, was brought on in the second half to provide much needed firepower but we were still lacking the killer punch.

As the game wore on, United grew more desperate. With the front runners in the title race all getting 3 points, it was imperative that we kept up the chase and it just wasn't looking likely today. Ronaldo's injury today and with suspensions looming over Evra and Rooney, who got his 5th yellow today, we could ill afford to drop points.

In the last few minutes of the game, we threw Vidic upfront as an extra body forward and the gamble paid off in the most dramatic fashion. Just as the final whistle looked more likely than a United goal, Carrick's long rage shot wickedly deflected onto the inside of the post and back onto Vidic's path. And he struck a dagger into the Sunderland hearts that sent Old Trafford into spasms of euphoria.

I don't know if we deserved the victory, but we deserved something for all the grunt work put in today. We outworked our opponents in every aspect of the game. Every man on the pitch carried his own load, even the normally anonymous Carrick. This was truely a team victory if there ever was one.

Tevez Stakes Claim

Manchester United 5 - Blackburn 3
Scorers
Manchester United: Tevez (36, pen 50, 55, 90), Nani (40)
Blackburn: McCarthy (48, 90), Derbyshire 84

Team: Foster, Neville, Evans, O'Shea (Evra 66), Rafael, Gibson, Possebon (Scholes 66), Anderson, Giggs (Manucho 71), Nani, Tevez

Quite an outstanding game with 8 goals. We played a mixture of youth and experience against what looks to be a very strong Blackburn lineup. And we played one of our best games of the season.

Giggs was simply incredible. This is best I've seen Giggs play in a long long time. He was at the centre of all the action and some of his touches today were outstanding.

However as much as I want to annoint Giggs as my player of the game, it still has to go to Tevez. It's not everyday you score 4 against a Premiership side.

The game didn't start too well for United. The players took a while to get used to playing with one another and Foster had to tip the ball over his bar a couple of times early in the game. But we gradually got into our stride and started to play some good football.

Tevez's opener looked like it was an own goal. But I really couldn't tell. I had to watch this game from the computer and had to make do with poor pictures and no commentary. So I'm just going to assume it came off him.

Nani added a second after playing a good one-two with Tevez in the box. The lads were looking really sharp.

We should have added a third early in the 2nd half when both Giggs and Nani forced some desperately defending. But it was Blackburn substitute, Benny McCarthy who scored instead. He brilliantly headed the ball past Neville and blasted it into the net. It was a superb goal and gave Blackburn a whisker of hope in the tie.

Hope, however, didn't last too long. Just a couple of minutes later, Tevez was fouled in the box and the referee wasted no time to point to the spot. Tevez duely obliged the Old Trafford crowd and sent Robinson the wrong way.

It got worse for Blackburn. Giggs, Tevez and Anderson combined to tear a hole in Blackburn's defense. With only Robinson to beat, Anderson unselfishly squared the ball to Tevez for a simple tap in to complete his hat-trick.

Anderson's unselfish play summed up the way we played today. Every member of the team was playing for the other. Even before the goals started trickling in, we were running into space, passing to the open man and basically enjoying the game. It's a total contrast from how the first team is playing. No pouting, no whining. They just enjoyed playing with one another and it's just so fun to watch. And the fans feed off from it.

4-1 up and with things looking pretty, Scholes came on for his first kick in two months. Blackburn had their shoulders slumped and looked like a defeated bunch, while we just grew from strength to strength.

I missed the last 10 minutes or so of the game due to an upset stomach. But when I returned, the score was bloody 4-3. Somehow, during my absence, Blackburn must have found some belief and pulled 2 goals back. It was abit shocking for several seconds but before I could really panic, Tevez sent a screamer past Robinson. Game, set and match.

I don't know who Tevez is going to replace this weekend, but he'd better be in the starting 11. And if Giggs can keep the pace up, some of the midfielders better be quaking in their boots too.

Conclusive Proof That Idiots Exists

Just read that Ronaldo won the Ballon dÓr trophy. Seriously was there any doubt after what he did last season? What really irked me was that he only garnered top choice for 77 out of the 96 assholes who voted.

My maths tells me that there were actually 19 idiots who didn't put him on the top of their list. Seriously, these bunch are supposedly the top sports journalists and they picked someone else. I think this only conclusively proves that sports journalists are nothing more than nincompoops who can write. And I should know since I know my fare share of local sports journalists.

But this is not my rant, although I love to have a dig at nincompoops with pens. This win for Ronaldo feels like a phyrric victory. Sure we have bragging rights of having the best player in the world, but just how long is that going to last. From everything that has happened in the past 6 months, I'm pretty sure he's on his way to Real Madrid, especially now that he's finally won all.

His body language this season is terrible. And he's gone back to that pouty and sulky boy 3 seasons ago. He's just making it hard to support him. Again that is not the point here.

The main point is that we need him more than he needs us. We are a terribly team without him. For the wealth of talent we possess, we're just not producing the results. The future may look bright with promising youngsters coming thru the ranks, but none of them boosts of a potential world-beater. I actually worry for the team when he eventually leaves.

Rooney's Winner, Ronaldo's Shame

Manchester City 0 - Manchester United 1
Scorer
Manchester United: Rooney (42)

Red Card: Ronaldo (68)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Rafael, Evra, Carrick, Fletcher, Park (O'Shea 90), Ronaldo, Rooney, Berbatov (Giggs 84)

Not exactly the kind of derby result I was expecting. Rooney covered himself with glory, scoring the only goal in a tight game, while Ronaldo went the opposite direction, shrouding himself in shame as he was deservedly sent off for a blatant handball.

We had the upper hand in the opening exchanges but were, as usual, not able to convert. Even when Joe Hart spilled the ball, we were not sharp enough to pounce on the City keeper. On the other end, Van der Sar once again proved what a liability he is with balls floated in from freekicks. He flapped at the ball, getting nowhere near it. Thankfully, City were as lacklustre as we were upfront.

Rooney's goal came late late in the first half thru some determined work from Park. The ball was bouncing around in the penalty area and Park's tenacity brought it to Carrick's feet. With the goal inviting, Carrick took a fine shot that Joe Hart could only parry onto the path of Rooney. The newly crowned 100-goal man wheeled away in celebration, and somewhat in relief after finally breaking the duck. Maybe with that monkey finally off his back, he might produce the kind of performance we've been used to. He's been playing like crap for the past month, at times trying too hard.

City came on strong in the second half and we barely stemmed the flood of sky blue shirts coming at us. Then inexplicably Ronaldo handled in the area to leave Howard Webb no choice but to flash the second yellow. I don't understand how anyone can defend his stupidity, let alone a well-respected manager like Ferguson.

His dismissal left his teammates a man short, and United were left to defend the remaining 20 minutes in a hostile atmosphere. We killed the game and it was pretty much a bore to see City try to break us down, at the same time watching United play the kind of football we dread to see.

Despite all that, the game somehow managed to come to life in the dying seconds. City had a goalline clearance and from the resultant ball, Rooney launched a ball from just within the City half goal wards. Joe Hart, who had been sprinting back from the corner at the other end made a diving save to prevent the scoreline from being larger. My mates who were watching the game with me were marvelling at the sequence of play.

We stayed on to watch Chelsea get humbled by a crisis-wrought Arsenal. We've closed the gap between us. Now all that remains is for Liverpool to fumble against the Hammers tomorrow to make it a good weekend.

Sharing The Spoils

Villarreal 0 - Manchester United 0

Team: Kuszczak, Rio, Evans, O'Shea, Evra, Carrick (Tevez 86), Fletcher (Gibson 80), Anderson, Nani (Park 85), Ronaldo, Rooney

Here's something that doesn't happen often: Manchester United failed to score in consecutive matches. To be precise, this is the second consecutive goalless draw. But let's be honest, who didn't see it coming? I know I did and I'm glad I made some money off it too. Oh and while I'm at it...fuck leeds.... fuck leeds.....fuck leeds!

The game itself was anything but a dull draw this time round. Both teams made a real fight of it, even though the starting lineups suggested otherwise. Ferguson practically pussed out, playing with 3 in the centre and Rooney up front on his own, barely supported by Nani and Ronaldo. Villarreal weren't any better, playing Rossi as the lone goal poacher.

Yet the game was pleasantly entertaining. Both teams pushed forward when the opportunity arose. I suppose what made the game interesting was that neither side played with any pressure to win, although there were enough meaty challenges to suggest that a loss would not be tolerated.

Ronaldo had a number of good chances from free-kicks but all were well met by the keeper, Lopez. His best chance was a thunderous shot that Lopez parried onto the bar in the 40th minute.

Villarreal tried to turn on the pressure in the second half, but were well met marshalled by the defense. Our fullbacks, Evra and O'Shea, were particularly impressive. Not only were they good in defense, they provided the width whenever we pushed forward. Kuszczak and Evans were rather jittery though. Luckily neither made any fatal errors.

I'm beginning to wonder what the deal is with Tevez. With Berbatov injured, you would think that he would start, but instead, he was on the bench. To add to the intrigue, he was on the touchline preparing to come on at the 70th minute, but was recalled to the bench again, only to come on again on the 86th minute.

I have no idea what was going on. It seemed to me like Ferguson was fucking around with Tevez's mind, and that's the last thing you want to do with a strike already low of confidence. I totally regretted switching to the Chinese commentary, trying to avoid that idiot of a commentator from ESPN, Tommy Smyth. As irritating as that twat is on TV, at least it would've given me an idea of what was happening then.

Anyway, Villarreal were reduced to ten men when Capdevila received a straight red for crudely chopping Ronaldo down. Personally I thought it was rather harsh, but the referee was ridiculously card-happy. I'm surprised that at the end of the day, only 5 other players received yellow. Could've sworn at least half the people on the pitch had yellows to their names.

The good news with this result is that both teams have advanced to the next stage. And we should be in pole position to top the group.

I'm personally looking forward to the big derby this weekend. And we'd better start scoring some goals.

Dull Draw

Aston Villa 0 - Manchester United 0

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, O'Shea, Evra, Carrick, Giggs, Park, Ronaldo (Anderson 82), Rooney, Tevez (Nani 70)

I'm down with a killer flu so I'm going to do this as fast as possible.

- Typical United. When the teams above us drop points, we do likewise. Just so typical. If I wasn't so damn sick, I would have made a fortune with my bookie.

- Tevez's days look numbered. He's terrible and wasn't really in the game at all. Considering that he's still on loan and not officially a United player yet, things are really starting to look bleak for him. I hope he sticks around, but he's got to do alot more to further his cause.

- Ditto Park. Hmmm.....actually that goes for the entire midfield.

- Surprisingly, O'Shea had a good game at right back. Everything good came from him.

- Once again, we had no midfield. Giggs and Carrick in the centre did absolutely nothing....and for dramatic effect....ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

- We had more possession but Villa looked more likely to score. Didn't understand why Fergie brought on Anderson instead of Welbeck. We sorely needed someone upfront who can bang in the goals.

United's 5 Star Performance

Manchester United 5 - Stoke City 0
Scorers
Manchester United: Ronaldo (3,89), Carrick (45), Berbatov (48), Welbeck (84)

Team: Van der Sar, Evans, Vidic, O'Shea, Evra, Fletcher (Gibson 63), Carrick, Park (Welbeck 63), Ronaldo, Berbatov, Tevez (Manucho 75)

Let me start off by saying what a terrible week this has been for me. I missed the QPR game in midweek and have not been able to torrent the game. I'm using a company laptop, hence do not have administrator's rights to install any programs, and that includes all the p2p programs I use for viewing games not shown in the country as well as any torrent clients. To make matters worse, I chipped a tooth and have been rather grouchy all week. At least the week ended on a high.

It's been quite sometime since we actually looked as good as we did today. I believe alot of it boils down to having Fletcher back in the lineup and scoring an early goal which demoralised Stoke.

We opened the game with a Ronaldo special. His freekick swerved and fooled veteran keeper Sorensen. Sorensen should probably have done better but could only palm the ball into the net.

United pressed on for a second but it wouldn't come despite impressive efforts from Park and Tevez. With the exception of Ronaldo, who tried to whine and dive for attention, the rest of the team played a patient game and were finally rewarded with a second before trooping in for their half time oranges.

Ronaldo's pass found Carrick at the edge of the box and quite untypical of Carrick, he dribbled a bit and let fly a stunner into net. 2-0 up and the going was good at the half.

The second started in much the same fashion as the first. Stoke barely got their feet wet, before they were hit by a Berbatov special. His bungled first touch offered the Stoke defence to clear the ball, but they allowed him time and space to rectify the mistake. And he needed no second invitation to turn and slam the ball home. Stoke were truely dead and buried.

With the game firmly in the pocket, Ferguson rung in the changes, replacing Fletcher, Park and Tevez with Gibson, Welbeck and Manucho. The game immediately went stale and we lost rhythm. Without Fletcher controlling the midfield, we allowed Stoke back into the game. Thankfully, Stoke were as poor as their position in the league table suggests.

It wasn't until the final 10 minutes before the new men blended in and we started to take control again. Welbeck announced his arrival to the big stage in a thunderous fashion in the 84th minute. His wicked strike from way beyond the box flew in beyond the outstretched arms of Sorensen. It was a brilliant strike from the 18 year old. We fully expect more to come from him.

Ronaldo ended Stoke's misery with another freekick.

Overall, this was a topnotched display. Barring the short period after removing
Fletcher from the game, we were totally on top of the game. What's more impressive was that Manucho and Welbeck provided the type of hunger we've been missing going forward. With them in the game, we were more direct without the Arsenal-style type of football of passing it into the net. But I'm kinda weary just how much they would feature in future games when Rooney returns from injury.

Who Says You Can't win With Kids

Arsenal 2 - Manchester United 1
Scorers
Arsenal: Nasri (22, 47)
Manchester United: Rafael (89)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Neville (Rafael 63), Evra, Carrick, Anderson (Giggs 72), Park, Ronaldo, Rooney (Tevez 77), Babertov

If there was one game we needed Fletcher, this was it. It's a terribly disappointing result considering the frontline Arsenal was able to put out due to injuries and suspension.

We had the better of the opening exchanges, alot contributed by Almunia's jittery goalkeeping. He handled a backpass in the opening minute and gave away a freekick in the penalty area. But we squandered the chance to take the early advantage.

He then spilled a Rooney strike that Babertov scored from, only to be flagged offside. It was all going well for us at that point. We were controlling midfield and Arsenal were pegged back.

Then it all fell apart. Narsi's strike was deflected off Neville and into the goal. It sparked wild celebrations from the Emirate crowd and Arsenal grew in confidence.

Right at the opening of the second half, slack marking allowed Narsi to add to his goal total. The defence went to sleep and Nasri scored the second. Arsenal were good value for their lead. They had held us back comfortably and struck well on the counter.

In fact midway thru the half, Narsi could have had a penalty when Vidic yanked and pulled him down, but the ref waved play on. Although we had the lion's share of the possession, Arsenal were the ones that looked like scoring, threatening to sweep us away with good counter-attacking play. I felt their midfield outplayed ours, and without the workrate of Fletcher, we were second best. I wonder what happened to Fletcher as he was not even on the substitute's bench. I can only assume he's struggling with some injury, which is a shame.

It wasn't until near death that substitute Rafael pulled one back with a strike that showed good technic. He chested the ball and let fly from outside the box. It was a strike that put our expensively assembled strikeforce to shame. But it was way too little, way too late. It's startling just how dry Rooney has gone after being redhot for sometime and Tevez just doesn't get enough games to even get warmed up.

I can't seem to remember when was the last time we won at the Emirates. In fact our record against the 'big four' away, barring Liverpool has been rather abysmal. I think in our last 13 away games against Chelsea and Arsenal, we've only won once. It's quite a damning statistic. I suppose at least the silverlining here is that we've played all three teams away this season. It's imperative that we need the full compliment of points when the reverse fixtures come to have any hope of a hattrick of titles. And given the way we continue to jerk off in defence, that's going to be a tall order indeed.

Almost There

Celtic 1 - Manchester United 1
Scorers
Celtics: McDonald (13)
Manchester United: Giggs (84)

Team: Foster, Rio, Vidic, O'Shea, Rafael (Evra 66), Fletcher, Carrick, Nani (Berbatov 45), Ronaldo, Giggs, Tevez (Rooney 71)

A victory at Celtic Park would have seen us thru to the next round of the Champions League, but Ferguson, with the massive weekend fixture against Arsenal in mind, put out a light weight strikeforce. Add to the fact that Celtic have an incredible record at Celtic Park. Moreover it didn't help that we were wearing our blue away Champions League jersey. It's the colour of Celtic's fiercest rivals, Rangers, and in cheeky sort of way on our part, gave them all the motivation to put one over us. Despite that, the irony brought out a few chuckles.

We started the game well enough, without actually troubling the Scottish defence. Like the game in Old Trafford a fortnight back, Celtic didn't look like any threat. Yet on the 13th minute, they took the lead. Poor marking and bad positioning by Foster allowed McDonald the time and space to float the ball into the corner of the net. It was a beautifully weighted ball and quite a brilliant goal.

The only threat from our part came almost entirely from corners. Barring the last game against Hull City, we're woeful with corners. Yet today we came close everytime we had corners. Sadly, apart from the set pieces, the Celtic defence held firm.

The game plan of resting our key players for the weekend was thrown awry. We brought on Berbatov, and subsequently Rooney to boaster the attack but to no avail. Celtic parked 11 men behind the ball and for the longest time looked like repeating the same feat the last time we visited them.

Just when United heads were begining to droop, Ronaldo fired a long shot that Boruc could only parry. Giggs was the first to react and pounced on the rebound to equalize. After totally dominating the second half, it was a well deserved goal. We did press on in the final minutes, but the scores stood level.

Given the circumstances, it was a good result. Villarreal also drew at Aalborg. With a home game against the lesser fancied Danes, we should qualify for the second round without much trouble.

We can now concentrate on the domestic games, starting with beating the gooners this weekend.

United Survives 2nd Half Collapse

Manchester United 4 - Hull City 3
Scorers
Manchester United: Ronaldo (2, 43), Carrick (29), Vidic (57)
Hull City: Cousin (23), Mendy (69), Giovanni (pen 81)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Evra, Neville, Carrick (Giggs 72), Anderson (O'Shea 88), Nani (Tevez 64), Ronaldo, rooney, Berbatov

My terrible weekend just seemed to get worse. The laptop I was using may have been old and slow, but it gave me plenty of hope when I caught the early game between Everton and Fulham. The stream was flawless and I was hoping it would be the same for the all important United game against the Tigers.

Unfortunately that's where my luck ended. I was happily going thru the lineups when all of a sudden the screen went blank. After a frantic 15 or so minutes trying to get it to work, I finally gave up and decided to travel to the coffeeshop 200 metres away from my apartment to hopefully catch the game. With Arsenal and Chelsea both playing at the same time, I was pretty sure it wouldn't be showing the United game. But I made the trip anyway. Better to have a glimpse of hope than to sulk in front of the laptop. Moreover, I would probably hurt myself trying to kick it.

At least there was a bit of good fortune there when I arrived, it was showing the United game. And we were one goal up. Then I realised I forgot to bring my wallet along. So I had to scramper back to get it. It was probably the longest 400 metres (200m to and fro) I had to freaking endure. By the time I huffed and puffed my way back, the scores were level and a good 25 minutes had passed.

Carrick didn't disappoint Ferguson's selection as he ran thru the Tigers' defense and put us into the lead with a good goal.

Ronaldo is currently on red hot form and he added his second from a corner. His header hit a Hull defender and bounced beyond the keeper.

We were 3-1 up at the half and I could finally catch my breath, while watching the first half highlights. I must say I'm pleasantlu surprised by Ronaldo's recent run of goals. His first goal was created by good interplay between Berbatov and himself.

Hull City's equalizer was a typical inability to defend from a set play. It's something I've been constantly criticizing. It's a weakness we've yet to rectify for some years.

At least we played well in the first half to be up 3-1 and looked to maul the Tigers in the second.

We had the majority of the possession in the second half and it wasn't long before Vidic found himself on the scoresheet from yet another corner. For once we're helluva efficient exploiting the corners.

Then we completely went to sleep. Mendy pulled one back when Evra's horrible header left him one on one with Van der Sar. Mendy looped the ball over Van der Sar and into the net, despite Vidic's last gasp attempt to clear it.

Rio made matters worse with ten minutes to go. He pulled Mendy down in the box and Giovanni brought the score to 4-3.

The last ten minutes were nervewrecking at best. We completely lost our composure and kept hoofing the ball up into the Hull half. Tevez and Rooney were on a mission to get themselves sent off.

For once I was glad we had Giggs in midfield and even happier when Ferguson brought on O'Shea late in the game. Both were tremendously cool, holding the ball when everyone around them was panicking.

Ferguson needs to address this recent trend of 2nd half collapses. This is the third game in a row we've played like little school girls in the 2nd half. Moreover Rooney and Tevez are just trying too damn hard to score. They should be letting the game come to them.

I just hope we fair better against Celtic in midweek. I hope my laptop fairs better in midweek too or I'd have to make another trip down to the coffeeshop filled with ABUs.

Up In Flames

Disaster struck in the worst way possible today. My pc finally gave in to the constant kicking it receives whenever we play like crap, and decided to spontaneously combust in protest. That's right, it literally burst out in flames.

So right now, I'm stuck with a dodgy internet connection on a very old laptop. What this means is that there's a high chance I'm going to miss the next 3-4 games until a new desktop arrives. If I do somehow manage to catch the games, reviews will not be as prompt. Moreover, it's slow as hell just typing this post without having it to pause every few seconds.

Another thing to note, I'm now exclusively on Internet Explorer (utterly crap browser) and I realise that the blog is best viewed with Firefox. I dressed the blog up using Firefox and hence the alignments, fonts and colours all work best with it.

Lastly, and most importantly, for those of you who do know me personally, please do not use my singnet email account. I have no idea when the new desktop will arrive and I have no means to check that account on this laptop. So if there are any urgent messages, especially from Beijing, please use my yahoo account. I would have kept sent you all an email privately, but my contacts have gone up in flames.

Video of Berbatov's Genius

I scouted the net and found this video on Fliggo, posted by a user 'molzit'. It's the highlights of the West Ham game, and I thought I'll post it here for everyone to see the delightful piece of skill by Berbatov in creating the second goal. The video is not totally in English, but I'm too lazy to go looking for one so you'd have to make do with this one.

The second goal occurs around 57 seconds into the video. Watch and admire.

Manchester United vs West Ham 2-0 Highlights

Ronaldo's Double Nails Hammers

Manchester United 2 - West Ham 0
Scorers
Manchester United: Ronaldo (13, 30)

Team: Kuszczak, Rio, Vidic, Rafael (Neville 80), Evra, Fletcher (Carrick 70) , Anderson, Nani (Rooney 70), Tevez, Berbatov

Feguson rung in the changes, bringing in Kuszczak (damn...that's one of the hardest names to spell), Rafael, Anderson, Nani and Tevez into the starting lineup. Notthat the previous lineup in the weekend was playing poorly, it's just part of the rotation process to keep the players on their toes and keep them involved.

Before the game started, Ronaldo and Rio received their awards for being in FifPro's team of the year. Ronaldo was honoured with a ridiculously gleaming trophy for being the player of the year. I have to admit it's really a sweet piece of silverware and I couldn't take my eyes off it. I wonder if there's any place selling a replica of it.....

Anyway the newly crowned FifPro player of the year struck twice in the first half to give United the win. This time there was no let down in the second half.

Right from the off, Nani was proving himself a constant threat down the left flank. Everything good that came in the first half was provided by him.

He provided the telling pass to Ronaldo to open the scoring in the 13th minute.

Berbatov then created the second with a piece of outrageous magic, turning his defender on the byline, then flicking the ball past the same defender, before squaring it for Ronaldo to add the second. The goal was a simple tap in but the build up was simply marvelous.

As the story goes, it could have been more. Tevez was rusty as hell from sitting on the bench for the past few games, and it showed. He could have added a couple but lacked the sharpness. It may take a few games to regain it, but with Rooney, Ronaldo and Berbatov in splendid form, he might not have the time.

We did somewhat take the foot off the pedal in the second half. Partly was due to West Ham playing much better and partly was from complacency on our part. I was particularly disappointed with Anderson. He was sloppy with possession and gave the ball away a few times trying to pick teammates with difficult passes.

Nani too had faded after he switched flanks with Ronaldo and Tevez continued trying without really shaking the rust off. Despite all that, we were mostly coping with what West Ham could throw at us.

In the end it was more comfortable than the scoreline suggested. We had already won the game in the first half.

I expect the rotations to continue at the weekend when we entertain the surprise package Hull City. I fully expect another victory to leapfrog them.

United Held By Ferguson

Everton 1 - Manchester United 1
Scorers
Everton: Fellaini (63)
Manchester United: Fletcher (21)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Brown, Evra, Fletcher (Tevez 78), Giggs, Park (Anderson 67), Ronaldo, Rooney (Nani 71), Berbatov

Stupid computer chose today to go down on me that's why I'm up at 3 freaking am, typing this. Good thing it's not something a good hard kick can't fix.

This was just an incredibly frustrating game to watch. I was literally foaming at the mouth by the end of the second half. There were so many stupid stupid decisions taken in the game that it's really mindboggling what goes on in Ferguson's mind when the match is being played.

We comprehensively dominated the first half and really should have put a miserable looking Everton to the sword. Giggs and Fletcher were outstanding, and it wasn't really much of a surprise that the two combined for the opener.

Giggs' thru ball was controlled expertly by Fletcher and his shot found the back of the net in the 21st minute. There was a touch of class and plenty to be admired in the way it was scored.

Everything was going our way and we really should have made the result beyond doubt. But the ball is round and it doesn't always go our way. That's really fine, and I wasn't complaining at that point. We were leading going into the half and it's been a stroll in the park so far.

'So far' were the key words. Everton came storming back in the second half. They got physical and we couldn't cope. Fletcher was literally overworked, doing the job of all four midfielders. Park and Giggs were outmuscled and Ronaldo was just shameful. He took every opportunity to dive, pout and whine. It seems like good Ronaldo is gone and we have to put up with this arsehole until he realises he's not bigger than the team or until Real Madrid grow some balls and actually pay some decent dough.

I was practically screaming at the wide screen TV in the coffeshop for a substitution. It was obvious after just only 10 minutes into the second half, things were falling apart, and falling apart fast!

Phil Neville then lost alot of my goodwill when he threatened to turn the game on its head by lunging in wildly at Ronaldo. True, it was a bad challenge but it didn't deserve the performance by Ronaldo, wringing on the ground as if he was shot by a sniper. And he wasn't even doing it right. I have a football mate who does it perfectly, maybe I should introduce them. Just awfully despicable of Ronaldo to try to make more of what it actually was. Both set of players came together and angry words were exchanged. Thankfully common sense prevailed and it stopped at that.

Everton took the lead shortly after. Phil Neville's cross was met by Fellaini and Everton equalized.

Everton almost took the lead a couple of times when Brown, Rio and Vidic played like nervous school girls going for their first prom. Rio and Brown gave the ball away in dangerous positions and if not for Van der Sar, we would have returned empty-handed instead of the solitary point.

Ferguson's decision making was pathetic. It was clear the direction the game was going and changes should and could have been made earlier instead of responding and reacting to what has already happened on the pitch. He brough on Anderson in response to the equalizer but didn't remove Giggs from the game. Giggs was practically a pedestrian. Whenever he got the ball, we were moving one step forward and two steps back.

Rooney then tried his hand at crowd control when he started kissing the United crest on his chest. Just quite what he was trying to achieve, besides inciting a riot, was totally beyond me. Totally stupid. If there was one thing Ferguson did right today, it was removing Rooney from the game immediately, before WWIII broke out.

As time started to whittle away, Tevez was brought on too late. What has Tevez done to get into Ferguson's doghouse is again beyond me. He should've at least been on at the same time with Anderson to have some impact.

All in all, this was a game we should have won comfortably. Instead of being proactive, we became reactive, and that resulted in a poor draw. The problem stemmed from management down to the players.

And Ronaldo needs to sit. He's getting too big for his boots.

Berbatov And Rooney Secure Win

Manchester United 3 - Celtic 0
Scorers
Manchester United: Berbatov (29, 51), Rooney (77)

Team: Van der Sar, Evanso, Vidic, Neville (Brown 60), O'Shea, Fletcher, Anderson, Nani, Ronaldo(Park 82), Berbatov (Tevez 60), Rooney

Great result. We had a generous bit of help from the linesmen, but thoroughly deserved the victory.

McGready and Caldwell could've opened the scoring for Celtic in the opening moments of the game but Van der Sar was equal to their efforts. United started slowly, but gradually controlled the game and started to curve out chances to take the lead. Neville and Ronaldo found tonnes of space on the right but couldn't deliver the telling balls into the box.

Celtic failed to clear a corner from the left and O'Shea was first to the loose ball. His header back into the box eluded the Celtic defenders and found its way to Berbatov, who had incidentally strayed offside. The linesman on the farside stood static with his flag down, and Berbatov's deft touch directed the ball into the net. It was an untidy goal at best.

The goal brought out the best in us. At the start of the second half, we won a freekick in Ronaldo territory. His freekick was goalbound but Celtic keeper Boruc was only able to palm it down onto the path of Berbatov, who once again had strayed offside. And once again, the lineman did not flag. So with plenty of assistance from the assistant, we found ourselve two goals up.

A minute later, Rooney scored from an acute angle. This time the linesman flagged for offside although the Celtic defenders had played Rooney onside.

Rooney then curved out a chance from nothing, taking a speculative long shot that Boruc did well to palm over the bar. Either side of the Celtic keeper and we would have been celebrating a third.

Give his current form, Rooney was not to be denied. In a lightning counter-attack, Rooney finally added his name to the scoresheet. It was a sweet sweet goal to savour. It took about 10 seconds for the ball to leave Van der Sar's hands and end up in the opposing net.

We're currently sitting pretty on top of the group tables and a victory away from qualifying into the next round.

Just a couple of comments:

Nani - Has really improved in the last couple of games. His decision making is getting significantly better and he doesn't seem to lose the ball as much. And he doesn't try too hard to score, no longer taking wild shots from midfield. The kid is maturing before our eyes.

Fletcher - Superb job in midfield. He stamped the initial Celtic flurry. He's probably one of the reasons why we've been on this superb run of victories. It's no coincidence the moment he's playing over Carrick and Scholes, we've started to look like a team.

Brown - Can't help that he's being shafted by the return of Neville and the emergence of Rafael.

Evans - He's definitely a player. Did Rio's job extremely well today. No one got past him. The only reason why he's probably not been featured that much is probably because of the understanding between Rio and Vidic currently display.

Ferguson - Looks like he's gotten over losing Queiroz. We're back to playing 4-4-2, and playing Rooney in his favourite position. Continue to KISS (keep it simple, stupid) and the results will come.

Sparkling Rooney Leads 2nd Half Rout

Manchester United 4 - West Bromwich Albion 0
Scorers
Manchester United: Rooney (56), Ronaldo (69), Berbatov (70), Nani(90)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Rafael (Neville 66), Evra (O'Shea 36), Fletcher, Giggs, Park (Nani 69), Ronaldo, Berbatov, Rooney

Before I start, I promised to post a link here. It's some pictures of Old Trafford from a friend, Antonia. The commentaries are in German, but as they say, a picture paints a thousand words. Enjoy!

On to today's game, all I have to say is that when Rooney is on such form, he's simply irresistible (he's so fine, there's no tellin where the money went.....). If he can keep this up, he's going to give Ronaldo a serious run for his money in the Ballon d'Or next year. For the past 3 weeks, he's been making a mockery of the price tag we paid Everton.

The first half was nothing much to shout about. It was the usual 'pack the bus in front of goal' tactic that opposing teams use whenever they visit OT. We've gotten used to it and it's getting old.

We passed the ball well, controlled the play, but failed to find the breakthru. Rooney was outstanding and really should've had a goal to his name, but the referee ruled it out for an infringement.

The second half was much of the same except that the man with the redhot scoring touch seared a huge hole in the floodgates. Put thru by Ronaldo, Rooney feint his defender and scored with almost an hour on the clock.

The Baggies were stunned and it wasn't long before Rooney returned the favour, sending Ronaldo thru with only the keeper to beat. Ronaldo obliged the Old Trafford faithful with a cool finish.

Less than a minute later, Berbatov got on the act. Having been largely anonymous the entire game, he's instinctive strike from an unlikely chance added a third to the tally.

The game was won and won convincingly. And when Neville, on as a substitute, almost added another goal, you know that we were playing great football.

And no party would have been complete without a Nani special summersault. Again Rooney place the ball on a platter that Nani couldn't miss even if he tried.

4-0. Albion probably didn't deserve such a spanking, but on this day, they just couldn't stop Rooney. On this form, I can't see anyone who can.

Awful Blackburn Escapes Spanking

Blackburn 0 - Manchester United 2
Scorers
Manchester United: Brown (30), Rooney (62)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Brown, Evra (O'Shea 71), Fletcher, Anderson, Giggs (Tevez 66), Ronaldo, Berbatov, Rooney (Park 78)

I'll probably go short tonight since I can hardly keep my eyes open. That's the problem with late kickoffs, it ends at about 2.30 am over here in Singapore.

The game came as a bit of a surprise to me. The result was probably expected, since we've been playing better lately, coupled with the scoring form of Rooney. But what surprised me is just how meek Blackburn were today. I don't know what Ince did to the Blackburn of the past, today it was like wolves playing against lambs. They simply couldn't cope with our pace and power, and for a good period of the game, couldn't even find a way out of their own half. It's shocking to see Blackburn play so poorly at Ewood.

United took the lead with an unlikely scorer, Brown, in the first half. There was a suspicion of a foul leading up to the goal, but it stood despite the vivid protestations of the Blackburn players. I don't really why they even bothered. If they had spent the same amount of energy on the game, they wouldn't have conceded.

In a classic United counter attack, Rooney added a stunning second in the second period of the game. We could have punished Blackburn further but good goalkeeping and the woodwork kept the score low.

It's a pity it's the international break next week, just when we're finding form. Our football in the past week has been pretty good, but there is still plenty of room for improvement. We're getting there slowly.

Berbatov Breaks Duck

AaB Aalborg 0 - Manchester United 3
Scorers
Manchester United: Rooney (22), Berbatov (55, 78)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Evra, Rafael (Brown 66), O'Shea, Scholes (Giggs 16), Nani, Ronaldo, Rooney (Tevez 59), Berbatov

It probably could have been more, but a satisfactory result nonetheless. The only probable complaint is that we lost Scholes, Rooney and Rafael thru injuries.

It was a lively start with the visitors showing intent on scoring. Just as I started to get warmed up, my broadband went dead on me. It took a good frantic while to get it working again, having to restart the computer twice in the process (damn you Microsoft!). And I only just made it on time to catch Rooney score via a delightful thru ball from Giggs.

It did leave me scratching my head since I don't recall seeing Giggs in the starting lineup. It was only sometime later that I realised that Scholes had been scratchered off with knee problems.

Aalborg did give a good account of themselves and might have pulled level if not for some woeful crossing.

On 55 minutes, Aalborg's captain made a mess of a routine clearance, allowing Berbatov to score his first United goal. The screwed up clearance went high and Berbatov needed no invitation to volley the ball into the net.

In quick succession, both Rooney and Rafael indicated that they needed to be substituted. Rafael had by then firmly moved his way up the right-back packing order. I'm pretty sure, along with millions of other United fans, that he's the best right-back at the team. He's still a little inexperienced but that should eventually sort itself out with more games under his belt. If his brother is half as good as him (which all indications suggests he is and more), then we're in for an exciting future.

While I was salivating over the Da Silva twins, Berbatov sealed the game with his second and United's third of the evening. Ronaldo went down the byline and crossed the ball into the area to find Berbatov unmarked. After some contorting, he volleyed it home.

Tevez and Ronaldo had opportunities to punish Aalborg further but 3-0 was a fair result on tonight's display. We were not as efficient as I would have liked against a weak opponent, but anything more would have understated Aalborg's performance.

A few points to note about this game:

Nani is starting to wear my patience down. With all his god given skills, he seems too in love with his dribbling, holding it on for way too long at times. He reminds me of Ronaldo in his second year with us, too eager to please and not intune with the team concept. I'm sure, like Ronaldo, he'd eventually grow into it (just hopefully we don't have to wait 4 years for that to happen).

O'Shea is crap. His position today is to sit in front of the back four and not do anything too stupid. Unfortunately, he tried too hard to do too much today. When we were 2 up, he started to lose the ball in dangerous positions. Had we been up against a team that had a clue, we could have been punished.

I haven't finished gushing over Rafael. Outstanding going forward and pretty solid in defense. Could have had a couple of crackers. The only criticism is that he tends to lunge himself at the ball in defense instead of shadowing the winger. But like I mentioned earlier, he should grow out of it thru experience.

As much as I dislike Rio as a person, he's grown into an outstanding defender. Whether it's due to playing with Vidic along side him or not, it no longer significant. During this trying period, he's been our most consistent player by a long long shot.

Styles Spoils Perfectly Good Game

Manchester United 2 - Bolton 0
Scorers
Manchester United: Ronaldo (pen 60), Rooney (77)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Evra, Neville, Fletcher, Anderson (Scholes 71), Park, Ronaldo (Nani 81), Babertov, Tevez (Rooney 71)

We beat our favourite whipping boy for the past few seasons but the mood was somewhat spoilt by the worst referee in the EPL.

For a huge portion of the game, we were left frustrated, firing blanks in front of goal. Bolton had come with a game plan and it was to park the entire bus in front of the goal. Our ridiculously expensive strikeforce on show did very little to justify their pricetag. The only threat came from the one-man demolition crew, Ronaldo. He was probably the only person actually taking on the responsibility of taking shots, but Jaaskelainen was simply a man mountain today.

That's not to say we didn't play hard. We played extremely hard, but just couldn't find a way past 11 men in the penalty box. But you knew that it was just a matter of time before we find the back of the net.

Rob Styles decided to make amends for his past transgressions against us and awarded us a supremely weak penalty when Ronaldo was brought down in the box. No, actually it didn't even look like a penalty no matter how many times you look at it. And from the way we were playing, we didn't need that kind of help.

Anyway, Ronaldo made it one up for us. We probably deserved the lead at that point, but the occasion had a sour feel to it.

At least the second was a thing of beauty. Ronaldo laid the ball to Rooney and he fired it in from an acute angle giving us a comfortable cushion. There probably could have been more had we been more prolific, but I think at the end of the day it was a fair result. Bolton would probably have been hard done by had it been more.

The FA needs to really do something about the piss poor quality of refereeing in the English game. The phantom goal last week between Watford and Reading should have been a wake up call for them. Oh, and they should never let Styles referee another top-flight game again. He's utterly useless.

Experience And Youth Sees United Thru

Manchester United 3 - Middlesbrough 1
Scorers
Manchester United: Ronaldo (25), Giggs (79), Nani (90+5)
Middlesbrough: Johnson (56)

Red Card: Pogatetz (67)

Team: Amos, Brown, Vidic, Rafael, O'Shea, Possebon (Gibson 72), Anderson, Nani, Ronaldo (Tevez 60), Giggs (Manucho 85), Welbeck

It was a well-earned and morale boosting victory which was unfortunately tarnished by the injury to Possebon who left the pitch with a suspected broken foot.

We controlled the first half, missing numerous chances. Welbeck, Rafael and Possebon stood out from the crowd with briiliant touches. Welbeck was particularly impressive with his awareness, picking out players around him in the attacking third. Rafael didn't miss a foot in defence and was a pocket dynamo joining in the attack whenever the opportunity presented itself. Possebon is just such a joy to watch in midfield. He's a classy player, even when under pressure.

The scorer in the first half was a headed goal by Ronaldo from a Giggs corner. It really should have been more had we not wasted so much possession. Nani, Giggs and O'Shea were the main culprits giving it away cheaply. Whenver the ball went to the left side of the pitch, the trio somehow managed to either lose the ball or make passes to phantom teammates.

Immediately after the break, Welbeck found himself in a one on one situation but couldn't convert. Then the game swung to Boro. It wasn't long before Boro found the back of the net with a long range effort which deflected slightly past Amos.

Boro's ascendency was shortlived. Shortly after equalizing, Pogatetz lunged into a high two footed challenge that brought Possebon down. It looked like an innocent challenge but after numerous replays, it just looked worse with every showing. Possebon was left on the ground with a wide gash on his right leg and a suspected broken bone. The medical team took a good 10 minutes to stretcher him off, indicating just how serious the injury was. Up to that point, he was easily the best player on the pitch. Pogatetz got a deserved straight red for dangerous play.

Perhaps affected by the injury, struggled to make our advantage count. Boro should have easily held on to extra time except for a couple of suicidal defensive errors. The first by substitute Chris Riggott allowed Giggs a one on one chance and he coolly stuck the ball into the net.

Then David Wheater shortchanged his keeper deep into injury time with a back pass that allowed Nani all the time and space in the world to round the keeper and slot it home.

Repeating what was mentioned earlier, it could have been more.

Given the state the first team is playing, maybe it's time to blood some of our youngsters. Rafael, Welbeck and Possebon had a stellar game today and they should start featuring in the first team, especially if this 'blip' continues. FWIW, it's going to give them valuable experience for future campaigns.

United Lets Lead Slip....Again

Chelsea 1 - Manchester United 1
Scorers
Chelsea: Kalou (80)
Manchester United: Park (19)

Team: Van der Sar (Kuszczak 33), Rio, Evans, Neville, Evra, Fletcher, Scholes (Ronaldo 55), Park (O'Shea 75), Hargreaves, Rooney, Berbatov

We are a frustrating team to watch. This game was almost a carbon copy of the one at Anfield a week ago. The only saving grace was that the team put out today had alot more fight in them and we came away with something.

We started the game well and shackled a poor Chelsea team. It helped tremendously that Deco was pulled out of the starting lineup and replaced by Michael 'always the bridesmaid but never the bride' Ballack. We deservedly went into the lead after some strong running by Evra. His cut back found Babertov and his weak shot was spilled by Cech, only for Park to put us in the lead with a tap in. It was a lead we thoroughly deserved.

Yet instead of building on it, we allowed Chelsea to come into the game. It didn't help when Van der Sar was a bundle of nerves again, spilling the ball whenever it came to him. The entire team, fed on the frailties from the back, started to play tentative football. It was only by a stroke of luck that Van der Sar was replaced on the half hour by an injury. Kuszczak, though not the best keeper around, was a world and a half better than Van der Sar. At least we kept Chelsea at bay till half time, better than we fared a week earlier.

The second half was all Chelsea, as we tried to hold on to the lead. We looked half the team that was in the first half. Berbatov completely disappeared from the game and Scholes was giving the ball away in midfield. In short, we were baring our butts for the rentboys.

On the 80th minute, the inevitable happened. Rooney gave away a needless freekick in midfield and the resultant kick allowed Chelsea to equalize. Our defence was caught napping and Kalou was left totally unmarked to head the ball home.

It was a disappointing result, but nonetheless expected given how we played after taking the lead. We were probably even lucky to escape with a point.

On Tuesday, we should be fielding our kids against Boro in the Mickey Mouse Cup. Maybe the kids would perform better than their more senior counterparts.

European Champions Draw Blank

Manchester United 0 - Villarreal 0

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Evans, Neville, Evra, Fletcher, Hargreaves (Anderson 62), Park (Roanldo 62), Nani, Rooney, Tevez (Giggs 80)

As expected, Fergie rang in the changes from Saturday's shameful performance. It was a much better and more spirited performance, but the quality in front of goal is still a worry. Even the return of Ronaldo for a half an hour runout didn't help. Although the play significantly got much better.

Villarreal, plagued with injuries problems upfront, came to defence resolutely and went away with a point. They frustrated us with some dogged defending.

I don't really have much to say about this game. I'm pretty sure if this carries on, we're going to get absolutely murdered against Chelsea this weekend. I can't see us scoring against the rentboys, let alone beat them.

This is going to be one long season. I'm sure we're not going to repeat what we did in Europe (too much luck needed there and we used a good amount of it last season). It's probably going to be ridiculously hard to go for a hattrick in the EPL either. Firstly, there's no Africa Cup of Nations. Secondly, we have to trot half way across the globe to Japan for a couple of World Club Cup games in December. Long season ahead.

Piss Poor United Loses

Liverpool 2 - Manchester United 1
Scorers
Liverpool: Brown (26 og), Babel (76)
Manchester United: Tevez (3)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Brown, Evra, Scholes (Hargreaves 66), Anderson (Nani 78), Carrick (Giggs 45), Rooney, Tevez, Berbatov

Awful doesn't even come close to describing our play today. It was absolutely disgusting the way we fell apart under the slightest pressure from Liverpool. We showed no passion and no pride. They players should be ashamed of themselves for even donning the jersey today. Every single one of them should take a good long look at the mirror.

The day started with a bang with new boy Berbatov providing an inch perfect cut back for Tevez to power United into the lead with less than 3 minutes on the game clock. We were controlling the midfield and giving Liverpool fits. For a good 20 or so minutes, we were the better and more confident team on the pitch. We missed a couple of good chances to increase the lead, then it all fell apart as we got too comfortable with the lead.

It didn't help that Edwin Van der Sar decided to flap at a loose ball which was Wes Brown's to clear. It was a moment of ludicrous defending on the part of our keeper and all he could do was to palm the ball onto a surprised Brown. The ball ended in the back of his own net off Brown.

From then on it all crumbled. We lost possession easily, we stopped fighting for the ball and everyone's nerves were on the edge. It allowed Liverpool the room and space to come forward and create chances, although it needs to be said that Liverpool never really looked like scoring.

A second moment of madness allowed Liverpool a come-from-behind victory. This time Giggs tried to be too clever with Mascherano and lost possession in his own penalty area. The loose ball fell to Kuyt who squared it to Babel for Liverpool's second.

What made it so bad was that we didn't react to going behind. Everyone was playing scared and Liverpool could and really should have added a couple more to compound our misery.

In all my life watching United play, this was one of the worst displays I've seen. Tactically we were poor, playing without wings and concentrating too much in the middle. But that was not the reason for our demise, it was our distinct lack of pride and fighting spirit that did us in. We just didn't want to play today. It was downright shameful.

I'd be damn disappointed if Ferguson is not pissed at the way we played today. There'd better be more than a few smashed teapots in the Liverpool locker room.

To add to our woes, Vidic was sent off, meaning we'd be missing him for next week's showdown with Chelsea.

I thought I'd never say this, but we desperately need Ronaldo back. It's as if the team is just trying not to lose games until he returns.

United Gets Fleeced

We just spent a fortune getting Dimitar Berbatov. Let's hope he's better than the last recruit we got from Spurs.

The amount we spent, £30.75million, smacks of desperation and utterly cluelessness our board has exhibited once again in the transfer market.

A few weeks ago, we refused to match Spurs valuation of around the same price, hoping to negotiate a better deal. Instead of having the player signed in the summer, join in the training camp, get used to Ferguson's style and gel with the players, the board decided to show just how good they are in the boardroom. So fast forward to today, we meet Spurs' original asking price and the player is a good few weeks behind in the program. Absolutely brilliant. I'm left speechless.

I can only hope Berbatov is the answer to all our woes in front of goal.

The deal also sees Campbell go the opposite direction in a loan deal.

Outclassed By Impressive Zenit

Manchester United 1 - Zenit St Petersburg 2
Scorers
Manchester United: Vidic (73)
Zenit St Petersburg: Pogrebniak (45), Danny (60)

Red Card: Scholes (90)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Neville (Brown 76), Evra, Scholes, Anderson (Park 60), Fletcher (O'Shea), Nani, Rooney, Tevez

I can't even use the excuse that we didn't turn up today. We gave our best but were absolutely murdered by a rampant Zenit side that was easily the best team in Europe last season. I mean they obliterated the likes of German giants Leverkusen and Bayern Munich in the quarters and semis of the UEFA Cup respectively. And today they did their number on us. For a generous part of the game it was just men against boys.

They continuously ripped down our flanks and created havoc. Neither Evra nor Neville could cope with the speed and accuracy of their passes. The wingers, Fletcher and Nani, couldn't do much to help out either. It was just quite shocking to see us on the receiving end of things. If not for some desperate defending and the heroics of Edwin Van der Sar, we would have been dead and buried by half time.

The worst part was that we're were even out of our element. Damn, we were hardworking and hungry, fighting for every ball, but just outclassed in the worst way possible. Now I know how the Wigan, Newcastle, Sunderland...etc etc fans must feel.

At least when we went 2-nil down, Zenit somewhat took the foot off the paddle and we seiged their goal. But try as we might, we just didn't look very much like scoring. In fact Zenit looked more likely to add on to their tally with lightning fast counters. Their football is fast and, more importantly, ridiculously efficient. Dick Advocaat is a master.

We did eventually pull one back thru some good play from Tevez, who pulled the ball back for Vidic to score from close range on the 73rd minute. It gave us some confidence that we might not play second fiddle to an impressive Zenit team.

The team pounded the Russian goal but some superb goalkeeping and organised defending kept the game from going into extra time. It wasn't that we didn't deserve to draw level. It was that Zenit just deserved to win.

Scholes probably echoed our frustration best when he got himself sent off for a silly 'hand of god'.

As critical as I have been with this team, I cannot fault them today. I'm proud they showed alot of fight, but hand to heart, we're just not good enough. I would love for them to progress further in the Champions League and have the chance to meet them again with a full squad. I would love to see how our best eleven would cope with this opponent. I'm not sure we would beat them, but it sure would be an exciting game.

Goodbye Saha
Tissueboy has signed with Everton for an undisclosed fee. I'm still gushing over Zenit to pen my thoughts on this.

Good player, just not dependable.

Good bye, good riddence and good luck.

The silverlining here is that we still have someone to make fun of as Owen Hargreaves is fast becoming the prime candidate to take on the Tissueboy mantle with his latest knee injury.

Champions League Draw

Good news. This season I didn't go thru watching that dour affair, instead I got to watch Manchester City go thru to the next round of the UEFA Cup by the skin of their teeth. Pretty exciting game it was too.

Anyway here are the draw results:

Group A
Chelsea
AS Roma
Bordeaux
CFR Cruj

Group B
Inter Milan
Werder Bremen
Panathinaikos
Anorthosis Famagusta

Group C
Barcelona
Sporting Lisbon
FC Basel
Shakhtar Donetsk

Group D
Liverpool
PSV
Marseille
Atletico Madrid

Group E
Manchester United
Celtic
Villarreal
Aalborg

Group F
Lyon
Bayern Munich
Steaua Bucharest
Fiorentina

Group G
Arsenal
Porto
Fenerbahce
Dynamo Kiev

Group H
Real Madrid
Juventus
Zenit St. Petersburg
BATE Borisov

I don't really seeing anything daunting about the teams we're facing. In fact I'm rather pleased. We get to visit sunny Spain, take a short trip to Glasgow and a good PR trip to Denmark which boosts a healthy following. All in all a good draw, without having to travel to far away and unknown locations.

Fletcher Wins It For United

Portsmouth 0 - Manchester United 1
Scorer
Manchester United: Fletcher (32)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Brown, Evra, Scholes, O'Shea, Anderson (Possebon 77), Fletcher, Rooney, Tevez

Who needs Ronaldo? In a game that was really going nowhere, Fletcher stamped his mark on the game, scoring in the 32nd minute, meeting Evra's low cross at the near post. It's the second time in successive games that he's stepped up when the team needed a scorer most.

We injury list grows as we missed Giggs and Carrick, both injured in the last fixture. We had to draft Anderson into the starting lineup due to a severe lack of personnel in midfield. Portsmouth too missed Kranjcar, but it was equalized with us playing O'Shea in midfield.

The opening exchanges were fast and furious, but neither team created any noteworthy chances. It wasn't until Fletcher's goal that we begun to dominate possession. In fact for the rest of the game, we held on to possession well but simply were not able to breech the Pompey defense...or rather, we simply didn't have the necessary firepower to put the game away.

It got particularly worrying when Pompey had a few long range efforts that troubled Van der Sar and threatened to undo all our good work. But in the end, they too lacked the necessary oomph upfront.

In other news, apparently Manucho has gotten his work permit settled. Unfortunately, he's got a broken foot and unavailable for sometime. Apparently it's the dreaded metatarsal. We've also less than a week before we know for sure if we'd be getting Mr Sourpuss, Berbatov. I'm not too keen on this locker room cancer, but at this point, we so desperately need help up front that I wouldn't mind dealing with devil himself.

In 4 days time, we'd be playing in the UEFA Super Cup against Zenit St Petersburg and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Fletcher pulls another one out of the hat.

Silvestre Leaves For Arsenal

That's right, Silves has signed for Arsenal. It comes as abit of a surprise to me since the tops clubs usually do no sell to domestic rivals, unless you're Spurs....and even they have started to regard themselves as a top club.

I'm surprised Fergie let Silves go to another rival, especially one with as bad a history as Wenger. He must either think very little of Silves or very little of the current Arsenal squad. One thing's for sure, the majority of the United fans must be cheering wildly.

As for me, I'd just like to thank Silvestre for 9 years of good, honest work done in a red jersey, although it doesn't always bring back good memories.

Champions Disappoint In Opener

Manchester United 1 - Newcastle 1
Scorers
Manchester United: Flectcher (24)
Newcastle: Martins (22)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Brown, Evra, Scholes, Giggs (Possebon 63), Carrick (O'Shea 25), Fletcher, Rooney, Campbell (Rafael 80)

Very disappointing game but it wasn't unexpected. We peppered the Newcastle goal with shots in the first 15 to 20 minutes, but gradually faded away badly as the game wore on. In the end, a draw was probably the fairest result, given our lack of finishing.

Today's game exposed all our frailties, from our long standing inability to defend from set pieces to the current problem of turning our possession into goals.

We threatened to run riot from the kickoff, but our lack of experienced goal scorers showed. Campbell had a glorious chance to put us in front, but somehow he headed Rooney's wonderful cross right onto Given's head with the entire goal in front of him. It was a badly missed opportunity. Given then made a double save moments later to deny us.

From the early exchanges, it was obvious that it just wasn't going to be our day. And it was made worse in the 22nd minute. Martins was left unmarked as he rose to meet the corner and powered it into the net given Newcastle a shock lead at Old Trafford.

The lead didn't last long though. While Newcastle were still celebrating, Fletcher stretched to first reach Gigg's cross and equalized before Newcastle knew what hit them. It seems the only way we would score would be to sucker punch the opponents. As the rest of the game would show, when Newcastle were on their toes, we simply didn't have the firepower to penetrate their defenses.

There were moments in the game where we looked more likely to concede than score a winner. It hardly helped matters that we were only able to bring on Rafael, a left-back, in place of the ineffective Campbell upfront.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, this is going to be one helluva long season unless something dramatic happens. The only consolation I can use is that all the other teams looks absolutely crap with the sole exception of Chelsea. At least there is still second place to fight for.

Prelude To The Season

Manchester United 0 - Portsmouth 0

Penalties: Manchester United 3 - Portsmouth 1

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Neville (Brown 66), Evra, Scholes, Giggs, O'Shea (Carrick 66), Fletcher, Nani (Campbell 79), Tevez

Not very much to say here since I didn't really pay too much attention to the game. We controlled a vast amount of the play, contained the opponents sufficiently but couldn't make our possession and domination count.

It wasn't that we didn't create chances. We created chances galore, but just lacked the quality to finish. It's like trying to cut a chicken's neck with a blunt knife. It seems to work in the beginning, but after a while, with all the blood and gore on your hands, and the screeching gets to you, it just becomes a tedious task.

Lucky for penalty shootouts. We could've played till next Saturday when we're due to play Newcastle and still wouldn't have scored. Speaking of shootouts, at least it looks like we're improving in that area.

Until Ronaldo returns or we find someone reliable in front of goal, this could turn out to be a tediously long season, with many of the games having the similar result to the one we just witnessed.

Ronaldo's PR Manager Needs A Rise

I think everyone should read Ronaldo's interview in the Guardian. It's really pretty damn good. He confirms once and for all that he's staying with the team......for this season.

More importantly he mans up to causing a media circus that has sprung up. At the same time he commits wholeheartedly to United's cause.

All fine and dandy stuff. He almost had me. I could almost forgive him for souring a summer meant for celebration, then I realised that it's all a huge PR show. It's a desperate attempt to mend bridges with the fans, at the same time setting us up for a move to Real Madrid, possibly next summer.

Still, I'm impressed with the interview. I'm sure many would have already forgiven him based on it. But there's still plenty left for Ronaldo to win the respect of this fan back.

Thank God Preseason Is Over

This preseason has been just one disappointment built upon another, finally climaxing with yet another inept show upfront. However there are some bright sparks, albeit too few to get really excited over. By and large, judging from our performances, we’re going to struggle mightily if we’re going anywhere close to repeating our achievements last season.

Let me start off with what preseason means to me.

1. It gives me a chance to see our new acquisitions (which to date hasn’t happened).
2. It gives me a chance to see how our youngsters are doing.
3. It gives the team a chance to shake off the rustiness and get back into shape.

New Players
While we’ve not brought in any new players, I was excited at the prospect of seeing Manucho and how he’d gel with his new teammates. Unfortunately I came away sorely disappointed. The only glimpse I got was from the first preseason game against Aberdeen, and he was sitting in the stands. Apparently he’s still to get his work permit, which frankly is shocking to me. Either someone at the club or the immigration department is sitting on their arses and milling around.

Youngsters
I don’t even know where to begin here. We’re just terrible…..just terrible.

I know a lot of people with the club are very optimistic of Frazier Campbell, Daniel Gibson and Lee Martin. I keep hearing endless praises of what they have done last season with their respective clubs, while on loan. When I caught them in the first preseason game, I was underwhelmed. I kept thinking to myself that maybe I’m being too harsh. But after watching every single preseason game, I’m pretty damn sure these kids are not going to make it to the first team. If they ever do, then we’re in deep shit…and I mean seriously knee-deep in shit.

Campbell just doesn’t have what it takes to make it in the Premiership. Other than speed, he’s shown absolutely nothing to justify him being selected ahead of Saha. At this point I must assume we’re wrapping Saha in cotton wool to save him from injuries in preseason since he’s not featured at all, neither is he on the block.

Lee Martin is a year older and still hasn’t shown that he knows how to play the game. He tends to over dribble and is still unable to pass the ball. I’m frankly very disappointed with him, especially after seeing him last season. Yet another case of being good enough for other clubs, just not good enough to make the cut at United.

Daniel Gibson has played in every single preseason game and I’m frankly not sure why. Other than that one spectacular goal against the reserves of Posh, he’s shown absolutely nothing. He’s anonymous most of the time and when you finally do notice him, he’s either giving the ball away or fouling someone. Kinda reminds you of another anonymous character in midfield doesn’t it?

There were many others that played but didn’t register any impact. Just too many to mention. These three stood out coz they played more.

But all is not lost. There were at least a few youngsters who brightened up my day.

I was mightily impressed with the Brazilian youngsters we brought in. Rodrigo Possebon is a player. Initially I wasn’t too impressed with him when he came on against the Chiefs, but against Posh and Juve, he stamped his authority in midfield. He has a good long range shot and more importantly is a good passer in the Paul Scholes’ mould. In a couple of years, when Scholes retires, I’m looking forward to see him step up the plate alongside Anderson. They could very well be the backbone of the Brazilian midfield in time to come.

Rafael da Silva just blew me away. He is as exotic as his pornstar-sounding name. If there is one young player who will be a future star, he’s the one. And from what little I saw from his twin brother, Fabio, we’re going to be rocking with Brazilian flair. As of now, they are still very young and it will take time before they are ready for prime time.

The Team Going Forward
Back to reality. We struggled without Ronaldo, plain and simple. Against subpar opponents, we controlled the midfield, had loads of possession and basically shut them out. But we struggled to find the net and it’s worrying. Drawing all our games 0-0 will only give 38 points, not enough to mount a serious defense to our title.

While I’m not too keen on Berbatov at the rumoured price, I do believe we need him. Unless Manucho turns out to be a goal machine, we look pretty much screwed. Maybe we can tempt Ole back for a supersub appearance every now and then, afterall he showed a lot more than what all our current strikers put together in that 20 minutes against Espanyol.

In short, we’re looking at a difficult season ahead, especially with the heavier expectations of last season’s achievements.

United Loses Chief Scout

It's official. Carlos Queiroz has left to take on the top job in Portugal.

Carlos Queiroz leaves Manchester United to take over as Portugal coach
Queiroz joins Portugal and leaves Ferguson with a headache

It was always on the cards when the Portuguese FA came knocking on his door. Considering his past history, it was to be expected. The top coaching job for Portugal is somewhat a higher profile job than what he's currently holding on to....you know something like that coaching job for a certain Spanish club earlier in the decade.

Anyway I'm sure it's not a huge loss now that Ronaldo has set himself up for a difficult season with the management and fans. One of the main reason Carlos has been influential to the club was to keep Ronaldo in check, but as we all know, this summer has turned into somewhat of a circus involving a bunch of clowns from Spain and one from Portugal.

I'm sincerely wishing Carlos all the best in his new appointment. We'd miss his scouting talents terribly. Yet on the other hand, hopefully without his insightful prodding at Fergie, we'd come to play football in Europe this season....hopefully.