Too Close To Call

Real Madrid 1 - Manchester United 1
Scorers
Real Madrid: Ronaldo (30)
Manchester United: Welbeck (20)

Team: De Gea, Rio, Evans, Rafael, Evra, Carrick, Jones, Kagawa (Giggs 64), Rooney (Anderson 84), Welbeck (Valencia 73), Van Persie

It was a good away result under trying circumstances. Most of key players were starstruck and coming away with a result puts the tie firmly at our advantage. More importantly, it gives players like Kagawa and Rooney time to get over their jitters with a pinch of Fergie's hairdryer treatment.

De Gea was possibly our star guy last night. After poopooing most of the season, he came good, making numerous good saves to keep the tie alive, especially in the second half.

Van Persie, who has been our star for most of the season failed to add to his already glowing United reputation with a double miss in quick succession. The first he struck the crossbar, and uncharacteristically mishit his volley, only for Alonso to clear as it threatened to trickle past the line.

But the night belonged to the two goalscorers. Welbeck put United into the lead, directing Rooney's corner into the net while Ronaldo did likewise at the other end. Ronaldo's refusal to celebrate will be duely noted by the Old Trafford crowd when the teams meet again on the 5th of March to settle the tie.

I noticed a few tactical changes that were made from the transition of the first half to the second. In the first half, we stuck really close to the Madrid front players, not allowing them space. However it didn't seem to work very well. The likes of Ozil, Di Maria and Ronaldo were just too skillful and mobile. Alittle jink, a little feint and they were away. Rafael in particular was caught out more than once and we were left scrambling to provide extra cover.

The strategy in the second half was to give the opponent more space but that in turn resulted in more long range shots, especially from Di Maria, who had an outstanding game. I supposed neither strategy actually worked well and it would be interesting to see how Ferguson adjusts, if he is able to.

That said, it was a brilliant move to put Jones on Ronaldo. He did an immaculate job keeping the prolific Portugese honest.

Encouraging Loss

Galatasaray 1 - Manchester United 0
Scorer
Galatasaray: Yilmaz (53)

Team: Lindegaard, Jones, Carrick, Rafael, Buttner, Fletcher, Anderson (Young 74), Cleverley, Powell (Macheda 74), Welbeck (King 85), Hernandez

We rest a whole slew of players coming into this fixture. Having already qualified and secured the top spot in the group, we could afford to relax and rotate the squad, while keeping our focus on domestic competition.

Although we just lost this game, the signs were encouraging. If only that were true with the 'regulars'. Anderson and Welbeck were the pick of the bunch. Along side Cleverley and Powell, we passed the ball much faster and as a result were able to attack the opponents quicker before they could set their defence. Only poor finishing was our undoing on the night. Both Welbeck and Hernandez had their chances but were unable to beat the Turkish keeper.

We might have lost, but at least the game was immensely watchable, with both teams going for it. It was especially encouraging after Galatasaray took the lead. We put relentless pressure on them and was alittle disappointing not to have come away with anything.

Young Powell's performance promises alot for the future of the team. He's passes and positioning, especially positioning, was top notched. Although he delivered little in quantifiable terms, it's the intangibles that gives alot of optimism.

Of course everyone knows I love to see Cleverley and Ando playing together. They may not be the best pairing, but they speed up the game so much that it's refreshing to watch.

Carrick actually played a good game in central defence. If he doesn't get murdered at that position, he's actually a good asset. Keeping him there keeps him away from midfield.

Jones was terribly rusty. He gave the ball away a few times in dangerous areas. It will take time for him adjust and get his form back.

Welbeck was just brilliant at everyone but putting the ball in the net. I still insist that he's our Emile Heskey. He was really brilliant at everything.

I'm not feeling Hernandez at the moment. He had an okay game. It's looking increasingly like his best position is coming off the bench, ala Ole. Unless he gets an early goal, he tends to fade. I really like him, but I'm just don't think he's suited to play the entire 90 minutes.

Overall, the greatest change to the game was in midfield and it showed, even though the results showed otherwise. The ball's in Fergie's court, add Van Persie and Rooney to the mix, I'm sure we'd be churning out results week-in, week-out.

Braga Self-Destructs, United Takes Advance

Sporting Braga 1 - Manchester United 3
Scorers
Sporting Braga: Alan (pen 49)
Manchester United: Van Persie (80), Rooney (pen 84), Hernandez (90)

Team: De Gea, Evans (Rio 57), Smalling, Valencia, Evra, Giggs, Anderson, Nani (Rafael 73), Rooney, Welbeck (Van Persie 64), Hernandez

It was hard staying awake to catch this game. Having it played at 3.45am and coupled with a lengthy floodlight failure in the second made it even more difficult. In any case, we somehow managed to grap all 3 points with a late flourish of goals to come away from a difficult fixture and book a place in the next round of the Champions League.

Our teamline up looked strong enough and although we had the bulk of the possession, it was Braga that looked threatening everytime they countered. Their passing and movement was a stark contrast to our lacklustre movement and misplaced passing. We were constantly on the backfoot whenever Braga broke on the counter, and were lucky not to concede when they hit the post on the 22nd minute.

Braga deservingly took the lead in the second half when Evans fouled Custodio in the box and the 2-goal man from the first leg, Alan converted from the spot.

We just couldn't get the engine going. Giggs and Anderson looked kinda confused. I know I was pretty confused watching them, trying to figure out who was trying to play where. For most of the game, I didn't know who was playing in front of the back four and who was supposed to roam forward. That said, Anderson's energy was phenomenal. He was constantly trying to get forward and sometimes he was our last line of defence when all else failed. However he still looked confused on the pitch.

The game was looking like a victory for Braga until it all fell apart with some madness on the pitch, the first starting with Beto, the Braga keeper. Van Persie was set free by Giggs, and with defenders in front of him, Beto rushed out his box leaving Van Persie a wide open goal to lob into.

Rooney then won a penalty which he scored himself.

And for the finale, Braga were all over place when Hernandez scrambled home the third. Had Braga not lost their discipline in the final 10 minutes, the scoreline would have been so different. Just some crazy football. We can now go to Villa Park on the back of a good result and fully concentration on the League.

Random Thoughts
WTF are Shitty doing? We need them to advance in the Champions League. The more distractions they have, the higher our chances of taking the EPL. At least on this night, Chelsea did what was expected of them, albeit unconvincingly.

United Nearly Pays The Price

Manchester United 3 - Sporting Braga 2
Scorers
Manchester United: Hernandez (25, 75), Evans (62)
Sporting Braga: Alan (2, 20)

Team: De Gea, Evans, Carrick, Rafael, Buttner, Fletcher, Cleverley, Kagawa (Nani 46), Rooney, Van Persie, Hernandez (Giggs 80)

Great comeback victory, but honestly if we hadn't won, this one would be on Fergie. All that nonsense of not wanting to repeat the debacle of last season, and he rests Rio and Evra. Fittingly, Buttner and Carrick were at fault for us slipping into a 2-0 hole.

Lucky for Ferguson, our attack was much stronger than our defence on this day. Riding on the back of Hernandez's heady play (pun fully intended), we managed to claw a victory, but just. Even while leading 3-2, we were playing like a bunch of girls, giving possession away and generally playing like we were having our periods.

Honestly I know I should be celebrating the result, but I just can't help but be pissed off at Ferguson and his decisions today. Other than not playing our strongest 11, he further compounded it by bringing Hernandez off the pitch when he could've had a chance at a hattrick. Again after all the nonsense of resting players for the weekend against Chelsea, he chose to take Hernandez off instead of Van Persie or Rooney, both of whom are almost guaranteed to start at the weekend.

I know Ferguson has been instrumental to bringing United to where it is now, while I would shed a tear for his past achievements, I wouldn't be sorry to see the great man leave in the summer. His loyalty to players like Carrick, Giggs and to a lesser extent Scholes is really wearing my patience thin.

I absolutely dread the prospect of facing Chelsea this weekend. Given the way we've been defending, I pretty sure we'd get murdered at Stamford Bridge. Our attack might give a good account of themselves, but the defence sends more than shivers down my spine.

United Continues To Suffer From Poor Starts

CFR Cluj 1 - Manchester United 2
Scorers
CFR Cluj: Kapetanos (14)
Manchester United: Van Persie (29, 49)

Team: De Gea, Rio, Evans (Wootton 79), Rafael, Evra, Fletchers, Anderson, Cleverley, Rooney, Van Persie, Hernandez (Welbeck 83)

It took a last gasp save from De Gea for United to come away with a victory in Romania. Like most of the games this season, we got off to another slow start and nearly paid the price.

Cluj were defensively tight and were advertised to be the experts at the counter-attack. Well, it was supposed to be common knowledge, except that Evra obviously missed out on the scouting report. Sougou, the two goal hero at Braga, found himself with so much property that if he were in Singapore, he would be the richest land owner. He eluded Evra on the left and found Kapetanos with a sweet cross and all he had to do was to put it past De Gea.

In the words of Ferguson at a half time interview....'it was shocking!'.

The only saving grace is that Cluj is a pretty terrible team and we practically dominated the entire game. With Carrick, Giggs and Scholes all left at home, we started with a midfield consisting of Fletcher, Cleverley, Anderson and Rooney supporting the two frontmen.

The midfield battle was comfortably won as we imposed our will on the game. It wasn't a surprise that Van Persie equalized. Rooney's freekick from the left was looped over the keeper with a lucky bounce on Van Persie's shoulder.

Van Persie got the winner early in the second half with Rooney providing once again. Rooney seems to be thriving in the supporting midfield role with most of everything good United did coming from him. On this occasion, his long raking ball released Van Persie who took a delightful touch to direct it past the on rushing keeper.

With the lead and the momentum on our side, you would think we would have gone on to really plaster the Romanian goal, yet the opposite happened. We shifted a couple of gears down and just stopped playing football. There was a whole lot of nonchalant passing the ball all around midfield. The good thing is that Cluj is built around the counter-attacking game and it kinda put them off their game plan.

That said, without a two goal cushion, there was always an element of luck, and that nearly came for Cluj in the dying seconds in injury time. De Gea made a superb save right at the death to preserve the lead and the points.

Once again, we were our worst enemy. I suppose at least the midfield looks much better today than it has in a long long while, but I suspect a huge portion of that is down to the quality of the opponents. Sadly I think we're going to see Carrick and Scholes back on Sunday at St James. Ben Arfa is going to have a field day with that pairing.

United Loses Midfield Battle But Wins The War

Manchester United 1 - Galatasaray 0
Scorer
Manchester United: Carrick (7)

Team: De Gea, Vidic, Evans, Rafael, Evra, Carrick, Scholes (Fletcher 79), Valencia, Nani, Kagawa (Welbeck 84), Van Persie (Hernandez 81)

The more I watch United this season, the more underwhelmed I get. We keep getting lost in midfield and had it not been for some stout defending and brilliant goalkeeping, we would have dropped points tonight.

To be fair, we started off pretty well and really looked like taking the game to the Turkish. Carrick scored early playing pretty one-twos with both Kagawa and RVP. He rounded the keeper, kept his balance and put the ball in the net. We had numerous opportunities to double the score but were found wanting. As with every game, the momentum slowly swung the way of Galatasaray and we were kept at bay for the longest periods in the game.

They struck the woodwork thrice and had a couple of penalties denied. On our end, we had one called and Nani fluffed his lines while trying to fool the keeper. I don't understand why or what he was trying to do, taking a number of stutter steps which only ended up fooling himself. At least after making a complete and utter fool of himself, he actually played some really good football.

We created a good number of chances in the game, but were unable to find the target, while Galatasaray were good value for a draw. They were the better team and probably on the night deserved something. Yet we won the game. I hate repeating myself, but we continue to live the lie.

I really have a bad bad feeling for this Sunday. You know that Liverpool is a wounded beast, and as poorly as they have been playing, we're no better. Our careless play in midfield is going to come back to bite us in the back one day. I just hope it's not this Sunday.

Europa League....Here We Come!

Basel 2 - Manchester United 1
Scorers
Basel: Streller (9), A.Frei (83)
Manchester United: Jones (89)


Team: De Gea, Rio, Vidic (Evans 44), Smalling, Evra, Jones, Park (Macheda 82), Giggs, Young (Welbeck 64), Nani, Rooney

This game had the feeling of deja vu all over it. It felt exactly like the game against Newcastle a week back. We were all over Basel but were sucker punched twice. In truth, we were our own worst enemies yet again. Rooney couldn't buy a goal and our defense couldn't keep one out.

We dominated the game and had chances galore but were put on the backfoot with a piss poor De Gea clearance that allowed Streller to volley home from the edge of the box. De Gea's had a brilliant season thus far, but he's had a terrible game tonight. All game he was nervy and his distribution was poor to say the least. It was so bad that towards the end of the half, Jones was ranting at him to pull up his socks.

If the result wasn't bad enough, we had to suffer the ignominy of losing Vidic in what looked like another serious knee injury. He was stretched off and replaced by Evans late in the half. The season's going down the shit house.

We continued to pepper the Basel goal with chances but with one true poacher upfront, we rarely looked like making the breakthru, whereas Basel looked really good whenever they had the opportunity to break. Even after throwing Welbeck and Macheda on, we continued to struggle.

It was eventually Basel who added to their lead with the old, wily veteran Alexander Frei's header. He eluded Smalling, crept to the backpost and headed in a cross. We answered with Jones' header in dramatic circumstances but it was too little too late.

We need help, and we need it in the worst way possible. We've been sleepwalking again this season and unless Shitty goes thru the kind of meltdown Chelsea did last season, the chances of retaining the Premiership title is slim to none. Adding to that, Shitty crashed out of the Champions League as well, which probably means they would be concentrating their entire resources to pipping us to the title.

Not wanting to end this on a sour note, at least we can continue blooding our youngsters in the Europa League since we've crashed out of the Mickey Mouse Cup. So it's not all bad eh?

United To Sweat It Out In Switzerland

Manchester United 2 - Benfica 2
Scorers
Manchester United: Berbatov (30), Fletcher (60)
Benfica: Jones (og 3), Aimar (61)


Team: De Gea, Rio, Jones, Fabio (Smalling 82), Evra, Fletcher, Carrick, Valencia (Hernandez 80), Nani, Young, Berbatov

This is not a good result. A win would have qualified us but the draw leaves us with all to fight for against a feisty Basel team who won today. Even with a victory in Switzerland, we would have to hope that Benfica doesn't wallop the Romanians for a better goal difference. Damn, even if the goal difference somwhow ends up the same, we would qualify as 2nd in the group with a worse off head-to-head after today's result.

It's all not looking very rosy all of a sudden. In two week's time we'd know our fate. A loss would crash us into the Europa league, while a victory doesn't guarantee us avoiding the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in the next stage of the competition. With Chelsea and Arsenal likely to qualify as winners of their respective groups, the odds look stacked against us. I suppose first thing's first, let's just get cross the hurdle in Switzerland.

The game itself started off in disasterous fashion and I'm glad I missed it. Jones opened his scoring account for United, unfortunately it was at the wrong end. It wasn't the start we wanted.

The first half was frustrating to watch as a football fan. Benfica is possibly one of the dirtiest teams in Europe out there right now. Every little touch from a red jersey resulted in a Benfica player rolling on the ground, while the presence of the medical team springs them back to life the next moment. To add to that, they are the masters of the cynical fouls whenever we looked to gain the upper hand. They weren't making bad or hard fouls, but doing just enough with subtle bodychecks and ankle taps to bring a United player down. As a result the game never got flowing for either team. We had to rely on Valencia, Young and Nani to dribble the ball to get into scoring positions.

Despite the negative play, we did manage to get an equalizer when Nani's cross found Berbatov in the box and he gleefully glanced it past the keeper.

The second half was a complete opposite from the first. United came out firing on all cylinders. We were playing at a ridiculously high level and were giving the Benfica defense fits, literally. Carrick probably had one of the best games he's had in eons. He controlled the tempo and was spraying passes left and right, finding his teammates and putting them in position to cause real damage. This was the Carrick we were hoping for when we prised him from Spurs.

The goal eventually came from Fletcher. He barely stayed onside to deliver Evra's cross for the goal. It was what we deserved from the outstanding play. However the joy was shortlived. Barely a minute after the celebrations died down, Benfica caught us napping, or should I say, caught Fabio and Rio napping, and it resulted in Aimar aka Frodo scoring.

We piled on the pressure but never really produced that level of play in that opening 15 minutes of the half. Still it looked likely that we would come away from this fixture with a much needed win. But try as we may, the Benfica defense stood firm.

They are now in pole position despite the fact that we still top the table. I'm pretty sure that would change unless we somehow ship a boatload in Switzerland.

Benfica, United Share Points

Benfica 1 - Manchester United 1
Scorers
Benfica: Cardozo (24)
Manchester United: Giggs (42)


Team: Lindegaad, Evans, Smalling, Evra, Fabio (Jones 78), Carrick, Fletcher (Hernandez 70), Park, Giggs, Valencia (Nani 70), Rooney

 Putrid display in midfield. Ferguson gave the old timers a run here and after the free-flowing football we've witnessed in the last month grinded to to a halt. There was precious little movement in the centre of the park. Carrick and Fletcher were non-entities. They moved like their feet were cast in cement.

With 7 changes to the one that played against Bolton, we certainly looked like strangers on the pitch. Rooney was starved of any supply and he had to constantly track back to get a touch of the ball, of course when he did that, there was no one up front when he did get the ball.

The only players who ran their socks off from the starting eleven were possibly Evra and Park down the left flank. Fabio and Valencia tried to put in a good shift but the quality was poor and eventually both were taken out before the 90.

Benfica's goal came from a superb goal from Cardozo. He spun beautifully around Evans and whipped a wonderful shot across Lindegaard and into the net. Our reply was a little against the run of play. We created little in the first half and were perhaps fortunate to draw level when Giggs was allowed to dance his way thru the Benfica midfield to lash home the equalizer.

The second half performance was much better from our point of view. We begun to string a couple of passes together but it wasn't enough to take the 3 points. Benfica, too, had their chances but Lindegaard is pressing hard for the no.1 spot. He made a couple of outstanding saves to save our blushes.

The game ended all square and probably the right result despite our putrid first half. Thankfully our group looks really weak with Basel and Otelul as our next oppoents, both of which we should deal with, barring an Inter-like collapse.

With our top players rested, I'm optimistic we should deal with Chelsea's slow legs in defense this weekend.

United Given A Lesson In Football

Manchester United 1 - Barcelona 3
Scorers
Manchester United: Rooney (34)
Barcelona: Pedro (27), Messi (54), Villa (69)


Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Fabio (Nani 69), Evra, Carrick (Scholes 77), Giggs, Park, Valencia, Rooney, Hernandez

It wasn't even close. After bossing the Premier League, United were on the wrong end of the footballing scales and a fish out of water against an incredible Barcelona team, that in my opinion is probably the best footballing side to ever grace the world.


Barring the first 10 minutes, where we worked our socks off to make a semblence of a fight, the rest of the game was all Barcelona. After finding their feet, they went on to completely and utterly dominate the ball and got a deserved lead when Pedro scored for the Catalans.

We pulled one back when they fell asleep 7 minutes later with a well worked out goal which involved Carrick, Giggs and Rooney, but that was probably all that we could muster against the masters of the game. They had such complete control of the ball that we were made to look like a pub team....a very poor pub team. I've mentioned before just how poor our midfield was, and we barely had a sniff of the ball the entire game.

While Van der Sar, Rio and Vidic had superb games to keep the scoreline respectable, Evra was missing from his position all night long. Evra's had some bad night before, but this probably has to rank right up there as one of the poorest EVER.

Barcelona's master class finally broke thru in the second half with goals from Messi and Villa. Only Van der Sar's sheer brilliance prevented a worse whipping for the men in red. As long as this Barcelona remains, Ferguson will have a hard time finding European glory, especially with this midfield that is barely good enough in England, let alone against the prowess of a team like Barcelona.

It's back to the drawing board for Ferguson, and we can only hope with a substantial, rumoured warchest, we'd be able to bring in some real midfielders.

United Dispatches Schalke

Schalke 0 - Manchester United 2
Scorer
Manchester United: Giggs (67), Rooney (69)


Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Fabio, Evra, Carrick, Giggs, Park (Scholes 73), Valencia, Rooney (Nani 83), Hernandez (Anderson 73)

Surely United must be thru to the finals. I can't possibly see how Schalke can turn this around at Old Trafford in 8 days time. We were dominant in even single aspect of the game and the contest should really have been over within the first half.

Neuer was exceptional. He's a truly special goalkeeper and in my opinion, he's probably the best in the world by a huge margin. It was him who kept Schalke in the game the entire time. We curved the German defense apart at will. Whenever we moved forward, we created a goalscoring chance and by some miracle it remained goalless at the half. Neuer made a couple of point-blank saves and several one on one stops. And all that in the first 45 minutes.

We continued our dominance over the Germans in the second half and Neuer continued to frustrate all our attempts. It wasn't until the 67th minute before we found the elusive breakthru.

Rooney's pin-point passing once again split the Schalke defense and after the umpteenth attempt at goal, Giggs finally managed to slide the ball under Neuer's giant frame to give United a thorouthly deserved lead.

A couple of minutes later, Rooney doubled the lead. This time it was Hernandez who tore the Schalke defense apart with a determined run and a pass that sliced the defense to ribbons.

United took the foot off the peddle and kept possession, while still moving forward when the opportunities arose. The pace of the game dropped as we saw out a good win to bring back to Old Trafford next week.

I doubt, based on today's performance, we would be troubled at all by Schalke. Barring a miracle of epic proportions, we should have secured a path into the finals.

And as a last note, Ferguson must find a way to get Neuer to Old Trafford. If and when we lose Van der Sar next season, Neuer is definitely my first choice replacement. I've been following his exploits in the Bundesliga this season and he's definitely the best out there. And that's made more impressive with the crap defenders he's had to put up with.

United Continues To Haunt Chelsea's Champions League Dreams

Manchester United 2 - Chelsea 1
Scorers
Manchester United: Hernandez (44), Park (77)
Chelsea: Drogba (77)


Red Card: Ramires (70)


Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, O'Shea, Evra, Carrick, Giggs, Park, Nani (Valencia 75), Rooney, Hernandez

That was quite a game and a shame if you missed it.

We started off slow and shaky, giving away possession easily and failing to control the midfield. Ramires, Essien and Lampard were proving a handful and we didn't help ourselves by acting like little schoolgirls on their first date. O'Shea in particular was pretty abysmal, making silly passes and playing teammates into trouble, but he turned it around for the first goal.

While Chelsea had the early dominance, they were woeful in the last third...and I mean truely woeful. If Torres was bad 6 days ago, he was terrible this week. There must be something in the water or the food at Stamford Bridge that doesn't agree with him, coz he's nowhere even close to the Torres that played at Liverpool.

With Chelsea literally firing blanks, it was a matter of time before we had our spell, and boy did we make it count. O'Shea expertly played Giggs down the byline and Giggs ran away from his defender to place the goal on a platter for Hernandez. The goal came almost at the stroke of half time, deflating Chelsea at a crucial period in the game.

Much to my chargin, the second half saw the ineffective Torres replaced by Drogba. The good thing with a 2 goal lead in the tie was that our heads were held high and we were the much better team at that point in time, creating chances while Chelsea struggled to match up.

Ramires found himself carded for the second time when he took Nani's legs away in the 70th min. It should have signaled the end of the game, but we're United and we somehow tried to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

The sending off saw Chelsea find a second wind and they threw caution to the wind and came at us with renewed energy. Drogba found an equalizer with a brilliant individual play after a pass from Essien. At 1-1, all Chelsea needed was another goal to win the tie on away goals.

Earlier in the season, this would have signaled an unlikely cameback by the away team, but United at this stage of the season are made of sterner stuff. Even before Chelsea finished their muted celebrations, they were silenced from this edition of the Champions League by Giggs' quick thinking and Park's quickfire goal.

It was a deserved victory over the two legs and a likely trip to Germany in the next.

The treble dream still lives on, but we're taking it one game at a time, starting with Shitty this weekend.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! This One's For Rooney

Chelsea 0 - Manchester United 1
Scorer
Manchester United: Rooney (24)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Rafael (Nani 51), Evra, Carrick, Giggs, Park (Smalling 90), Valencia, Rooney, Hernandez (Berbatov 78)

Going to do a chop chop kalipok one here since it's 4.30am in the bloody morning.

Rant mode on.

First off, Rooney's been banned 2 games for mouthing off at the TV cameras on Saturday after scoring his hattrick. He's appealing it and I wqouldn't be surprised to see it extended by another game for a frivolous appeal. As it stands, he misses this weekend's game against Fulham and the following weekend's FA Cup semis against Shitty.

While I think it's wrong of Rooney to do what he did, I think the punishment is absolutely ridiculous and makes a mockery of common sense. Carragher slides in and rips Nani's legs apart and all he gets is a yellow, while Rooney gets banned for saying something naughty at the height of a passionate game. This is why the FA is run by a bunch of highly strung dicks. And after a wiki-search, I discovered that the current top dick is a David Bernstein, a life-long Shitty fan and their ex-chairman. No wonder Rooney's ban was two games. How convenient!

Bah, rant mode off.

Back to today's game, my what a good result. We not only held Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, but we came away with a 1-0 victory. And the goal itself was a beauty to boot.

Carrick's long ball was take down wonderfully by Giggs and his cutback to Rooney was perfectly measured. Rooney side-footed the ball off the post and into the net for the winner.

Chelsea had their moments at the end of the first half when Torres struck the post and Evra cleared off the line.

We allowed Chelsea a healthy amount of possession in the second half but their failed to really make much impact. To say we were comfortable was an understatement. We looked really threatening on the counter.

We had to endure some late drama when Evra brought Ramires down in the box in injury time and were really fortunate that the referee waved play-on. And just before the final whistle, it was Torres' turn to be brought down in the box. Unlike the previous foul, this one was an obvious dive and Torres got a booking for it.

For some reason, Carrick seems to find a phone booth to change into his Superman costume almost everytime we face Chelsea. He had an outstanding game along the evergreen Giggs. Valencia was surprisingly good too, especially when he slotted into right back when Rafael was removed from the game via an injury.

Park did have me worried, especially with his first half performance. He kept losing the ball, but he grew from strength to strength as the game wore on. He eventually redeemed his first half performance with a number of really good tackles both in midfield and defense.

And it's great to see Rio and Vidic back in defense. Together, they kept Chelsea at bay. It's surprising to see just how poor Torres has become since making his move to Chelsea. He was hardly featured in the game and, quite frankly, is turning out to be a colossal waste of money.

Overall it's a superb result. The job's not done yet as we have a second leg in 6 days. Another good performance will see us in the semis facing Schalke who pulled off a shocker last night.

United Scrapes Thru After Flying Start

Manchester United 2 - Marseille 1
Scorers
Manchester United: Hernandez (5, 75)
Marseille: Brown (og 81)


Team: Van der Sar, Smalling, Brown, O'Shea (Rafael 36 (Fabio 70)), Evra, Carrick, Scholes, Giggs, Nani (Valencia 62), Rooney, Hernandez

We really made it hard on ourselves after a blistering opening to the game. We came out of the blocks and took advantage of Merseille's youth. While they were in awe of the moment, Hernandez scored a poacher's goal with a tap-in following Rooney's cross cum shot.

It was opportunities galore but in typical United fashion, we refused to make it count. Gradually Marseille got their act together and had a few threatening moments but were wasteful.

We threatened to swing the gates wide open at the start of the second half, but were once again unable to find the net. Marseille grew in confidence as the game wore on and they started to create chances. The tie was hanging on a balance by a knife's edge, until brilliant play from Valencia and Giggs created another poacher's tap-in for Hernandez with 15 minutes to go.

We should have been home and dry. We really should have. Instead of pressing home our advantage, we took a backseat, hoping to see out the game and were rather unfortunate to have Marseille pull one back when Brown put the ball into his own net. It set up a really tense ending to the game, one that was unneccessary.

Despite the somewhat close scoreline, we were pretty much the better team on the night. There were some really good performances on and off the pitch.

Thumbs Up
UEFA - Definitely got a thumbs up for the support and the minute's silence in the aftermath of the earthquake in Japan. I have to say that the Japanese people as a whole were absolutely brilliant in handling the crisis. I doubt any nation or people in the world would have handled the situation any better. In the face of a life threatening situation, they were still looking out for the people around them and that spirit is commendable, unfortunately will not be replicated anywhere else on this earth.

Rooney - His passing today was quite out of this world. He made some jaw-dropping passes that left me....well...with my mouth gaping. Looks like he could very well be back to his best.

Hernandez - What can you say about this little pea that hasn't been said? He was everywhere and his positioning for both the goals was top class. Not to mention he's in the form of his life. No wonder Berbatov can't get off the bench despite his exploits this season.

Smalling - My word, he's our new man mountain. He's had another top class game. Let's hope it's a consistent thing with him. I remember going crazy over Evans when he first played, but it faded off after sometime.


Thumbs Down
Evra - Was given the captain's armband but it wasn't a captain's performance. He's tackling was ridiculously reckless and was lucky not to have been given a second yellow in the early stages of the second half. That said, he was however, pretty effective going forward.

Ray Wilkins - I was really unfortunate to have this dick as part of the commentating team alongside Billy Leslie. There was nothing he said during the game that wasn't obvious. Not only was he Captain Obvious, he was auditioning for Captain Blowjob. The entire night he was drooling over Rooney's passing even when Rooney didn't pull them off. It was almost this idiot has Rooney's dick in his mouth the whole time. And he crossed the line in the final 10 minutes of the game when he was probably jisming in his pants when Carrick made a long pass. The kicker - Carrick completely missed the target he was aiming for. Chelsea were smart to let his idiot go. All that needs to happen now is for Liverpool to sign him up so we won't get to hear sperm mouth fucking our ears.

Carrick - Didn't have a good game. Didn't have a bad game. Just wanted to put him here.

Scoreless In France

Marseille 0 - Manchester United 0

Team: Vander Sar, Vidic, Smalling, O'Shea, Evra, Carrick, Fletcher, Gibson (Scholes 73), Nani, Rooney, Berbatov

Crawley was bad. This was lightly better. But only marginally. Again the problem tonight was the midfield. There was little to no flow to the game, and it didn't help our cause when everyone was sloppy on the ball and giving it away like some McDonald's happy meal toy.

I've always hated 0-0 draws away from home in Europe. Not scoring away from home in a competition where away goals count for double is simply criminal. 0-0 draws simply give you a false sense that the job is half done and we've seen it with this team in this competition time and time again how complacency sets in and we end up out of the competition.

The good thing here is that Marseille is just as bad. Neither side looked like scoring and neither side came close which of course resulted in this terribly boring result.

Hopefully we'll show some fire in the second leg at home.

United Avoids Big Guns

Manchester United 1 - Valencia 1
Scorers
Manchester United: Anderson (62)
Valencia: Hernandez (32)

Team: Amos, Vidic, Rio (Smalling 50), Rafael, Fabio, Carrick, Anderson (Fletcher 90), Park, Nani (Giggs 80), Berbatov, Rooney

We drew a game we largely dominated. Practically everything went thru Anderson today. The last couple of games he's played absolutely brilliantly and it was most deserving that he grabbed the equalizer.

Ferguson kept to his word and the starting lineup was pretty much the strongest side we could have put out with the exception of Ben Amos. Felt kinda sorry for Kuz though. It looks like his time at Old Trafford is up. We've already signed Lindegaard and now Amos is apparently ahead in the packing order.

There was also a slight concern at our midfield pairing of Carrick and Anderson. Neither has featured much this season and with Fletcher on the bench, you'd think that this might not be the strongest we have at the moment. Anderson certainly blew that concern out of the water. He's energy, endeavour and enterprise was just fabulous and a breath of fresh air given how we've played much of this season. The only worry is if he can keep this up for the rest of the season. Shortly after the equalizer, Anderson was practically playing at walking pace and it was no wonder that Valencia came back into the game and could have stolen the lead back.

Carrick, on the other hand, didn't play too badly, but his mistaken in front of the back four was disasterous. His sloppiness cost United the win and it came at a time when we were completely in control of the game. He spent the rest of the game making amends and luckily for him, he did a credible job.

Upfront, both Rooney and Berbatov were quite brilliant, yet at the same time very wasteful. Berbatov seems to have used up all his scoring in the game against Blackburn. He did everything but put the ball into the net tonight. The damning statistic is that he hasn't scored in the Champions League for 17 consecutive games....and I'm not sure that statistic includes tonight's game. Some shocking stats!

At the end of the night, we got the result we needed. We've now successfully avoided the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid. Once tomorrow's results come in, we'd have a clearer picture of who we've avoided and who we're more likely to face.

And more importantly, we can put the Champions League aside for a long while and focus on the bread and butter topic of the Premiership proper. It doesn't bigger than this weekend against Arsenal, who leapfrogged us in the standings over the last weekend. After that, we have Chelsea, before the fixture logjam of the holiday period. Should make an interesting month to come.

Rooney's Late Penalty Sees Off Stubborn Rangers

Rangers 0 - Manchester United 1
Scorer
Manchester United: Rooney (pen 87)

Team: Van der Sar, Smalling, Evans, O'Shea, Fabio, Carrick, Scholes (Anderson 67), Giggs, Nani (Obertan 76), Berbatov (Hernandez 76), Rooney

Pretty good game considering the circumstances. Rangers parked the bus for most of the game and despite some quality chances spurned by our misfiring front pairing, we eventually prevailed when Fabio was caught by a high boot late in the game to earn a penalty. Rooney put it away to give us a well deserved victory and thru into the next round of the Champions League.

This game was particularly sweet in that practically everyone in a red jersey had an outstanding game. It's hard to find fault with anyone on the pitch today. Van der Sar had some nervy moments early in the game with his wayward kicks, but redeemed himself with a couple of good saves.

Berbatov brought his A game today and was rather unfortunate not to find his name on the scoresheet. Maybe all the rumours of him leaving are starting to get to him. He was running his socks off and his first touch was absolutely brilliant. Even the much maligned Carrick was outstanding besides Scholes.....a rarity, but much appreciated.

But the man of the moment has to be Fabio. Right from the kickoff, his boundless energy stood out. He was up and down the left flank, supporting Giggs. It's a pity the guy ahead of him in the squad is Evra. In my book, Fabio is heads and shoulders above his brother Rafael. He times his tackles well and whips in a wicked cross. I think he would make a good left winger should the need arises.

United's Turkish Delight

Bursaspor 0 - Manchester United 3

Scorers

Manchester United: Fletcher (47), Obertan (73), Bebe (77)

Team: Van der Sar, Smalling, Vidic, Rafael, Evra (Fabio 80), Scholes, Carrick, Fletcher (Bebe 63), Nani (Park 29), Berbatov

Superb result from Turkey, especially given the very blunt lineup we put upfront. We struggled in the first half but eventually the midfield made up the difference. Once we started to get a grip on the midfield, the game came easy and so did the goals.

The introduction of Park in place for the injury to Nani was huge. He provided the industry needed for the midfield engine and unleashed Scholes and Fletcher higher up the midfield.

Carrick also had a brilliant game, doing all the little things, and on a rare occasion was actually instrumental for many of our furores upfront. He also had huge hand in the first goal. His pass opened up the Turkish defence and created a wonderful opportunity for Fletcher to pass the ball across the keeper and into the bottom corner of the net.

Obertan did his confidence wonders, after Park played him in, with a stunning net buster that no keeper in the world could stop.

And Bebe continues to baffle critics with a poachers goal when Scholes played him in. What's worth mentioning is that when Scholes got the ball, everyone in the world expected him to shoot, but only Bebe was prepared for the pass. And of course he took the goal well with the outside of his right foot. Again I'm going to say this: he's raw, pure power and pace, but today he's shown a little more to his game. Towards the end ofthe game, he showed the power and pace aspect of his game, brushing off his defender and running down the right flank to whip in a perfect ball to Berbatov, too bad it resulted in nothing.

Speaking of Berbatov, well, he's back to his old hopeless self. It's terribly disappointing to see how poor Berbatov is. After anointing this year as his year on this blog, he goes on to being the player we've always known him to be the past couple of years. He's shoulders were slumped whenever he loses the ball, and he's beginning to berate his teammates for poor passes, most of which occur with his own inability to go for the ball. It's as if someone pat him so hard on the back after the Liverpool game that his footballing brain was dislodged.

Special mention to Smalling here. The defense on the whole played a superb game. Much of it due to Smalling being a man-mountain and the other part due to Bursaspor's poor finishing. Smalling looks superbly confident. At the rate he's going, Rio's going to have to be worried for his place. He doesn't look like someone for the future, with abit more experience, he looks ready to step in anytime.

Backs Against The Wall Time

Manchester United 1 - Bursaspor 0
Scorer
Manchester United: Nani (7)

Team: Kuszczak, Vidic, Smalling, Rafael, Evra, Fletcher, Carrick, Park (Obertan 70), Anderson, Nani, Macheda

Should have been a good victory, but the shadow of Rooney's impending departure puts a dampener to the celebrations.

Determined to put our worries about the immediate future aside, Ferguson opted to put up a youthful looking team to A) blood them and to B) show the Old Trafford faithful that our young players can stand on their own on Europe's largest stage.

Well, apart from Nani's screamer in the 7th minute, we really had little to show. On the flip side, the Turkish champions hardly threatened either. Their best chance came in the first half when Vidic slipped, but Rafael recovered his captain's error superbly. Both sides played to a dull finale in the second half. Bursaspor were happy to come away with a one-nil loss, and I suppose we were happy just to win amidst all the furore surrounding a want-away star.

Personally I don't see what the entire fuss is all about. The past two days have been filled with Rooney headline after Rooney headline. It's almost having a life of its own. To make matters worse, we're probably going to have to live with it until Rooney finally leaves, either in January when the transfer window opens or next summer, by which time we'd probably have gotten peanuts for him.

At the end of the day, the most disappointed person at United is probably Ferguson. Having watched his interview, you can tell he's terribly disappointed that he's been unable to turn Rooney's thinking around.

Granted on his day, Rooney is a special player, however he's more of a feast or famine player. When he's on form, he's unstoppable, but as seen throughout his career with us and Everton, when he's off, he goes on long stretches without scoring.

Since he's expressed his desire to bugger off, we really should milk him for whatever we can get, even though the value would no longer be at it's peak. It's all about cutting losses, unless by some miracle Ferguson manages to keep him around. Whichever the case is, I think he's lost alot of ground with the supporters and with bridges burnt, it's never going to be the same. In this aspect, I have alot more respect for someone like Ronaldo. Hell, I'm even growing some grudging respect for Invisible Man and Berbatov.

Hopefully with all the negative news surrounding the club, the players would close ranks and consolidate. With threats coming externally from wealthy clubs and the media, and internally from our owners and Rooney, it's about time to have that siege mentality back, the us-against-the-world attitude back. Time for Ferguson to work his magic again.

Chicharito Opens European Account

Valencia 0 - Manchester United 1
Scorer
Manchester United: Hernandez (85)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Rafael (O'Shea 90), Evra, Fletcher, Carrick, Anderson (Hernandez 77), Park, Nani, Berbatov (Macheda 85)

Utterly horrible game to watch. Let's be honest, both sides were terrible and really neither side should have had any points, not even for a draw. UEFA should refund the tickets the supporters paid. This game brought about more negatives than positives.

In fact other than a nice goal coming late in the game, there's nothing to write about so I'll go along with some observations, starting with the negatives.

Negatives
- Outside of Scholes, we have no central midfielders. Not going to win anything unless Scholes goes the distance.

- Carrick is utterly rubbish. Everyone who reads this blog knows I already not a very big fan of Carrick and his standing with me is somewhat rock bottom. Yet somehow he went alot lower after today. Granted it's his first game back, it's still hard to cut him some slack with the abysmal first touch he showed today. Not only that, he was guilty of giving the ball away with every other touch. I'd very much rather have Invisible Man back, at least that guy wouldn't/couldn't do much damage.

- We can't defend crosses. Valencia was utterly horrible at the end of crosses, and we benefited from their wastefulness.

- Knew it wouldn't last. Berbatov is back. Sulky, lazy Berbatov is back. At least with him, I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt and just put it down to him playing up front alone without support. Yet somehow I feel it's not the end of this version of Berbatov I'm going to see this season.

- Alright own up, who took Evra's soul?

- Owen must feel so fucked. After scoring 3 goals last week, he ends up behind Hernandez and Macheda. And because Macheda created the goal that Hernandez scored, no one is really going to notice this. Can't help but feel sorry for Owen.

- Had I known they were going to play this badly, I would have gone to sleep or watched some porn. The only consolation was that we somehow won, just was Valencia was gaining some foothold in the game. To be honest, both teams were just terrible.

Positives
+ Chicharito has a beautiful first touch. Hit a post and scored a goal in a short short period of time he played.

+ Macheda didn't do too badly either. Did well to pass to Hernandez. Showed more life than most of the zombies on the pitch.

+ Nani was immense. Top notch work-rate today. Was everywhere on the pitch and made some crucial blocks, covering Rafael. Was tremendous going forward, but never got the support he deserved. Easily the best player on the pitch by a long long margin.