United Draws First Blood

Chelsea 1 - Manchester United 3
Scorers
Chelsea: Kalou (83)
Manchester United: Valencia (41), Hernandez (76), Berbatov (90)

Team: Van der Sar, Vidic, Evans, Fabio (Smalling 71), O'Shea, Scholes (Fletcher 79), Carrick (Giggs 79), Park (Nani 46), Valencia, Rooney (Berbatov 46), Owen (Hernandez 46)

Life is good. We did well, really well, to take the game to a Chelsea side that looked completely out of sorts. With the exception of Essien, Chelsea looked jaded and at times, rather mundane. If today's game is any indication of the season to come, we look like genuine title contenders. As Kentona mentioned while we were watching the game, it looks like we have two first teams, with equal cover in every single position.

Both teams started the game with attacking flair and either side could have taken the lead. But it was United who drew first blood with a fine combination of Scholes and Rooney, finding Valencia alone and unmarked to fire home. Scholes pass was utterly exquisite he seems to have found a new dimension to his game. We all know Scholes is good when he's not tackling, but from the game's I've seem so far, he seems to have brought it to a higher level. The question is if he can keep it up for the entire season. Both in preseason and today's game, Scholes has been our top performer so far.

Wholesale changes were made at the start of the second half and United's entire strikeforce was replaced. Berbatov seems to link well upfront with Chicharito. His little flicks and Chicarito's runs behind the backline of Chelsea's seemed to be giving the defenders a harder time than expected.

The game was played at the right spirit with neither team parking the bus and both willing to throw men forward. Eventually it was United who scored again. This time Valencia was the provider and Chicharito opened his United account with a goal that was truely comical. His shot ricochetted off his face and into the net. It didn't matter to the lad nor everyone in the team. I'm pretty sure it's the first of many in his United career. At some point in the distant future, we're all going to remember his first United goal, much like the way we always remember Ole's first against Blackburn.

To Chelsea's credit, they came back strong and pulled one back with Kalou. Their onslaught to find the equalizer eventually left them exposed and Berbatov finished them off with a delightful lob. It was an immensely entertaining game and we signalled our intent to carry the fight to the champions.

Every season, I can't help but be bearish over the team's chances, but this season looks and feels different. For once in a long long time, I actually think we have a really good chance of taking the Premiership title back. Chelsea is our main rival, and I don't really rate the rest of the chasing pack. City looks good on paper, but the title isn't won on paper. They have too many new plays and a manager who does seem clueless. As we've seen with Chelsea's rise, it takes a few seasons before the team finds the maturity and chemistry wrestle control for the big boys.

Wenger is a brilliant manager, someone I rate as highly as our own SAR. But Arsenal is Arsenal. You just get the feeling at some point in the season, their lack of depth/funds is going to haunt them like the previous seasons.

Liverpool is the dark horse here. Hodgeson is no pushover but their inability to bring in new blood to replace the junk they inherited from my all time favourite manager, Benitez, will hamper their chances. Yet they are the dark horses for a reason. A change in regime, and an influx of funds could change their season completely. With a manager at the helm who knows the English game, Pool could be a force to reckon with.

Everyone else, ie Everton, Spurs and Villa, are simply not good nor deep enough. There is still a gap in talented personale between them and the top 5.

Damn it, I think I've just convinced myself to place a bet on us to win it all.

United Scores Seven In Exhibition Game

Airtricity League XI 1 - Manchester United 7

Scorers
Manchester United: Park (13, 63), Owen (25), Hernandez (47), Valencia (60), Evans (69), Nani (pen 82)

We welcomed back a host of players who were in South Africa. Rooney, Valencia, Park, Vidic and Carrick all returned after their extended break to start in an exhibition game against the Irish league's own version of 'Allstars'. Owen, seemingly, fully fit, was also given a runout.

Despite the poor competition provided, there were alot of encouraging signs. Valencia is pretty awesome, as was Park. They dominated their respective flanks. I was rather surprised at how sharp Park is in front of goal.

The more I see Smalling, the better he gets. He seems to be growing in confidence with more games under his belt. Today he looked superb paired with the ever-present Vidic.

I paid special attention to Hernandez and I gotta say he looks like a gem. Besides his pace and scoring prowess, I was mightily impressed with his range of passing. There were a couple of Scholes-like long passes that were pretty accurate. His off-the-ball movement was fantastic, not to mention the timing in making those darting runs. Of course all these observations are made in pre-season games. The litmus test is when he faces the physical defenders opponents will throw at him in real games. So far he's been very sharp and very impressive.

And what's the deal with Evra? With all the regulars back in the fold, Evra was missing from the party. As far as I know, he's not injured. It would seem he's being punished for his extra activities in the whole France fiasco. Or maybe he's just been given a longer break than the rest. Let's hope he gets some games before the season starts.

United Rounds Up Tour With A Loss

Chivas de Guadalajara 3 - Manchester United 2

Am down with a pretty bad flu, so will try to make this as brief as humanly possible. If the last game's atmosphere was good, this one blew it out of the water. The atmosphere was simply superb. There was a parade before the game to open the new stadium and the fans were all given either a red or white t-shirt in Chivas' home colours. It resulted in an explosion of red and white in the stadium, a feast for the eyes.

As for the game itself, Chivas was clearly the better team. Chicharito played in their colours in the first half and he scored a brilliant volley to open the scoring. Smalling levelled the scores almost immediately thru a corner, but Chivas closed the stronger team in the half and went into the lead with a well-deserved goal, albeit miles offside.

In the second half, Hernandez switched jerseys but was no where near as effective. We were hardly able to find him the ball. In truth we were pretty woeful at creating chances throughout the game. It wasn't a surprise that Chivas found the net again, before Nani pulled one back to make the scoreline respectable.

The results in this preseason tour is no where near what or how we would perform when the season starts proper. A whole host of players will be returning from their World Cup exertions, and preseason is going to start proper back in England.

However from this tour, we get a good gauge of the youngsters in the team. While most of them are as we expected, some probably have exceeded our expectation, there are a couple that have me worried. Players like Diouf and Rafael seemed to have played themselves out of the team. Ok, Rafael isn't that bad, but I can't possibly see how Diouf is going to fight for a place in the team. With the addition of Hernandez, and the upcoming talents of Welbeck and Macheda, I simply cannot see Diouf breaking into the team. Berbatov, Rooney and Owen are far too established, while the 3 young ones are just more talented. Diouf definitely has to be the first casualty of this tour.

United Thrashes MLS Allstars

MLS Allstars 2 - Manchester United 5

As expected, there was a carnival atmosphere with the crowds packing in. And in the first minute, the MLS allstars gave Macheda a gift he gleefully accepted. The opener was well taken. Before the Allstars could get into gear, Macheda struck again with a centre forward's header from a corner. Fletcher could have made it 3 before half time, but his effort shook the crossbar.

A slew of substitutions in the second half galvanized the Allstars and after a few close brushes, pulled one back with Brian Ching's header. It didn't look good for United. Fergie sent on Chicharito for his debut. Hernandez got fouled in a dangerous position and Gibson hammered home the jambulani, slamming the door firmly shut in the faces of the Allstars.

Cleverley cleverly danced his way into the box and added the fourth (always wanted to write that). And Chicharito lobbed the keeper for United's fifth. The Allstars were outplayed by our kids most of the game and only in the dying minutes managed to take hold of the game but it was too little too late. They did however get another goal.

All in all, I was pleased with the way we played today. Especially pleased for Macheda and Rafael. In all honesty, both had a terrible preseason todate, but they managed to redeem themselves in a huge huge way with their performances.

Cleverley was fantastic too. He came on for Obertan who left the field injured in the middle of the first half. He was mainly anonymous until his absolutely brilliant goal. But after the goal, he just grew in stature and was probably the best player on the pitch by a far margin in the last 20 or so minutes. I think his problem in the initial preseason games is confidence. But once that goal went in, he just began to feel at ease and let his feet do the talking, the walking and the dancing. If he can keep that level of confidence, my word, he's going to be a player. To think I was almost writing him off. I supposed the problem with all these young players, as I've mentioned before, is consistency.

Lastly, Chicharito is brilliant. I'm really excited to see him play when the season starts. He's speedy Gonzalez wrapped in taco-flavoured kissed. The only foreseeable problem is how he's going to cope with the physical nature of the EPL.

Watching the youngsters play to their potential and more importantly, in the right spirit, albeit for one game, lifts my spirits for the upcoming season.

These MLS Teams Are Good!

Kansas City Wizards 2 - Manchester United 1

The title says it all. The result is a little bit disappointing, but take nothing away from the Wizards. It's a huge victory for them, especially having to deal with 10 men for the entire second half.

As with the previous couple of games, we started with a youthful backline and they were given a torrid time against a very physical and fit Wizards team. Rafael and De Laet were given the run around the entire first half. Evans and Smalling did better but couldn't prevent both the Wizards goals.

Wizards opened the scoring early after beating the offside trap. They then got into abit of a bother when defender Conrad got his marching orders for a foul on Berbatov in the box. Berbatov equalized from the spot but Wizards went back into the lead before our celebrations were over.

We couldn't prise open the Wizards defense in the second half despite having the lion's share of the possession. All in all, we didn't have a good game, but once again Wizards impressed me, and we're not even talking about a top MLS team.

Our next game is on Thursday against the MLS Allstars. I expect a much easier game. These last two games had a very competitive feel to them, with both teams in mid-season form and playing for pride. Thursday game will have an exhibition feel towards it, and it may work to our favour with so many youngsters in the team.

Personally, I can't wait for all the remaining players return. From what I've seen so far, this is not the 95-96 season. This current crop of youngster are good, but not that good, partly due to the fact that most of the teams in the EPL have improved by leaps and bounds since then. Secondly, most of our play so far involving our youngsters has been rather immature. That group of Scholes, Butt, Becks and the Neville brothers had veteran heads on their then young shoulders.

And on a ending note, Carrick would look sweet on the Kansas City Wizards. Plenty of opportunities to don his superman costume. Wonder if they can afford him....

United Takes Second Tour Win

Philadelphia Union 0 - Manchester United 1

This was definitely a better workout than the Celtic game. Union is a team in mid-season and their fitness levels certainly gave us a larger challenge than the Scots. Although they hardly troubled us, they certainly made things difficult for our very youthful strike partnership of Welbeck and Macheda.

Ultimately, Obertan broke the deadlock when Union's backline made a mistake and gifted Welbeck the ball. Welbeck's thru ball found Obertan and he gleefully slotted home for the narrow victory. It really should've been more but our very young team was selfish. I suppose that's the problem with youth. The only consistent thing about their game is the level of inconsistency. With that in mind, it was still disappointing to see the kids make a mess of good possession. I'm not too sure we can rely on a large number of them when the real games begin. There is still a whole lot to learn.

United Opens Preseason With A Win

Manchester United 3 - Celtics 1

Good to have some real football action at last. This was our first game in pre-season and I was expecting alot of broken plays and players getting back to fitness. But what transpired was pleasantly surprising. I'll not go into detail since it's the friendlies, instead I'll go into little snips on what I observed.

Scholes - Outstanding. England missed him terribly. He was spraying passes all over the pitch and when he left at half time, the quality of United's play dropped significantly.

Berbatov - Scored the opener and created the other 2. He started like the way he played last season, but as the game wore one, he just got better and better. Maybe, just maybe, this could be his breakout season with us. I'm not holding my hopes too high....

Fabio - Outstanding on the left. Great energy going forward and, unlike his brother on the other side of the pitch, showed great patience in defense, not committing into rash challengers.

Smalling - Had a credible first half. Nothing could get past him. He was comfortable on the ball, and would be compared to Rio with his reading of the game. Unfortunately, just like Rio, he was caught in no-man's land and gave away a penalty that allowed Celtic to equalize. Withered like a flower after that.

Obertan - Looks great going down the right flank. Plenty of speed and trickery. Contributed to the opener. However, very similar to what he showed last season. Not enough footballing brains to pick out teammates. I suppose that will eventually come with more experience and maturity. Actually the same can be said for all the youngsters on display today....Cleverly, Diouf, Macheda. At times it's just painful to see them squander good chances when they go for personal glory.

Without the players who played in the World Cup, this was a really good display for the first game after a long layoff. Hopefully I'm able to catch the rest of the friendlies played in North America. The timing's just awful over here in Singapore.

Van der Sar Heroics Standout In Pentalty Shootout (Chelsea 1 - United 1) *United wins 3-0 on Penalties

Thanks to Van der Sar's three saves, United won 3-0 on penalties to take the Charity Shield.

The game itself was a vast improvement from the dull FA Cup finals at the same venue just a couple of months or so back. At least there was more action and, more importantly, there were goals.

Evra was surprisingly a delight to watch when he was fielded at left wing. He constantly got behind the Chelsea backline and was instrumental in providing Giggs with the opening goal. He's got plenty of attack instincts and put them to good use whenever he's played on the left wing. Unfortunately when Silves was replaced by Nani in the second half, he reverted back to the bumbling fool in left back and was constantly beaten by Wright-Phllips. To be fair, Silves didn't fair too well against the same opponent either. Yup, we still need a left back.

The lead given to us by Giggs didn't last the half when Malouda powered past both Brown and Rio from the right wing and shot a beautiful ball into the goal right at half time.

United started off the second half in strong fashion but failed to capitalize on their chances. As the game got on, Chelsea gradually grew in strength and defensive discipline, cancelling out United's superior fire power. Goalmouth action was at a premier and the game fittingly ended in a draw.

Van der Sar steped up and saved 3 consecutive penalties in the shootout, winning us our first silverware of the season. Although it's an inconsequential result but the win is all about getting the psychological edge over our opponents in the 9 months ahead and putting the right foot forward in a long journey.

Youth Beat Doncaster (Doncaster 0 - Manchester United 2)

With less than 48hrs to the season curtain raiser, Fergie opted to field a team largely made up from the reserves and the youth team. Well, actually the reserve team has been mainly made up of under 21s from what I've been seeing on MUTV for the past season.

This game would probably be noted as Anderson's debut and he really didn't do too badly. He certainly did much much better in the red of United than the yellow of Brazil for the Copa. Coming with a somewhat big reputation and a larger price tag, he was marked tightly throughout the time he was on the pitch. At times he was hounded by two doncaster players. Despite the ultra tight marking job, he still managed to spray some telling passes and literally worked his ass off in winning the ball. While he wasn't really effective as a tackler, you could tell his intent desire to impress. As I've said time and again, he possesses the natural ability to make the big leap into a really good player, but as of right now, he's incredibly raw. Perhaps it would help if he played with the first team. At least the bulk of attention would be on the other players.

The other lads performed credibly. There's nothing much to praise or complain about. Johhny Evans and Gerald Pique were formidable as the central defensive pairing. Absolutely nothing got past them in the first half. Both were taken off in the second half. Johhny Evan in particular was outstanding. He certainly looked comfortable with the ball and his positioning was impeccable.

Perhaps the only downside to yesterday's game was the fact that I had to use the same dodgy Thai stream that had failed so miserably during the Inter game. This time the stream lasted a good 70 minutes, when it dropped. The timing was seriously unreal. The goals were scored on the 70th and 90th minutes and I missed them both.

In any case I'm glad to have caught our youngsters in action. I'm going out on a limb and saying that Johnny Evans looks every bit like a future star in the making. It's no wonder Roy Keane is so high on this youngster.

We Need a Left Back.....Badly (Manchester United 2 - Inter Milan 3)

All I can say is that, thankfully, this one's a friendly. Things got off to an ominous start when I had all sorts of trouble finding a reliable feed to watch this game on. In the end I settled for some really crappy Thai feed. It was already bad enough trying to make out the Thai commentary, but things got compounded when the entire feed was lost at half time. Hence I'm only able to review what I saw in the first half.

In front of what looked like a very packed and very vocal Old Trafford crowd, we faced some real competition since the FA Cup finals. Facing Inter was an entirely different prospect from the sub-par opponents we've been playing in Asia in the past month. And it showed.

Our defense was completely and utterly out-played by the Inter forwards. To put it mildly, it was embarassing that this was the best the Premiership had to offer. Rio and Brown were ok, but Vidic and Evra, in particular, were terrible. You would think given the whole Heinze-gate row, Evra would be grabbing the opportunity to seal his position in the left-back spot, instead he totally bungled it.

He was responsible for all three Inter goals (they all happened in the first half when I was watching). For the first goal, Evra failed to cleanly head the ball out of the penalty area allowing Inter to score. His timing to meet the header was horrible, and for a black guy, he didn't seem to get enough lift. In short it was embarassing to see Evra completely botch the defensive header.

For the second goal, Evra was caught in possession which subsequently resulted in the goal.

The third Inter goal was a trademark Evra defensive mistake. He went so far up the opponent's half that he entirely neglected his defensive duties. When Inter attacked, he was literally nowhere to be found. It was easy for Inter to find the open man when the numbers were in their favour.

While Evra was possibly the goat, the entire defense had to take the blame. Brown and Rio were time and time again caught out by Inter's fluid passing. Vidic was a mess, and it didn't help that he had to cover the left back position as well. The guys in front of them, O'Shea and Carrick were rubbish.

The silverlining in all this is that this is still preseason. They can make all the mistakes, but they had better have their heads screwed on the right way in less than a fortnight's time.

Just as our defense is leaky, we're always going to score goals when Ronaldo and Rooney are playing. Along side Giggs and Eagles, we played some amazing one-touch football. The Inter defense worked over-time prevent us from scoring.

Hopefully this game provides a wake up call that we're not going to canter to the finish line this upcoming season. And we need a REAL left back in the worst possible way. I wonder if there is anyway to tempt Denis Irwin out of retirement.....

Another Easy Win in Asia (Guangzhuo Yiyao 0 - Manchester United 3)

Thankfully the Asian tour is finally over. Quite frankly, against such meagre opponents, other than the financial gains, there's absolutely nothing to take in from a footballing perspective, except for injuries. The opposition is so weak that a team filled made up of mostly second stringers was enough to rake up a comfortable scoreline.

The goals were scored by Rooney (20'), Nani (42') and Martin (52'). The first half was a horrid affair. It was boring to say the least. The Chinese side had trouble getting their feet untangled while United looked uninterested, despite good performances from Martin, Nani, Carrick and Rooney. Rio and Vidic must have been bored to death and were mercifully replaced at half time.

Around the hour mark, Evra and Eagles came on to take their places at the wings and the game somehow sprung to life. United suddenly looks more menacing. Unfortunately they couldn't add to the 3-0 scoreline, but the game was certainly much easier on the eye. I'm going to find it hard to say this but, Evra looks really good on the left wing. Well, at least he's safer on the wings than in defence.

I suppose the only thing we can be certain from today's game is that Dong Fangzhuo is crap. He honestly is. Other than being a shirt seller and our token Chinese guy, he brings absolutely nothing to the team. He started today's game and was frankly abysmal. There was nothing to suggest he would ever break into the first team when competing with the likes of Rooney, Saha, Ole, Rossi and Smith. I'm sure after today's impotent performance (the lads did try their best to help him get his name on the scoresheet), he's going to be behind Frazier Campbell and even Febian Brandy from the youth team. If it's any consolation, at least he helps sell shirts to the millions of Chinese.

Videos : The Goals From The Shenzhen - Manchester United Friendly

After scouring the net, this is the best and clearest video available. It's in Norwegian and shows all 6 goals.

Shenzhen - Man Utd | All 6 Goals
Uploaded by GOAAAAL

Like Taking Candy from a Child (Shenzhen 0 - Manchester United 6)

Once again I could only get Cantonese commentary for this game, hence couldn't make out who was playing from the grainy pictures on my computer screen. But it didn't spoil my enjoyment watching the game. The gulf in class between the two sides was huge right from the get go. The end result could have been so much more had Fergie not shown mercy and fielded our token Chinese guy after we had raided 6 goals from the non-existant defence from Chinese side.

Giggs (10'), Rooney (19'), Nani (23'), O'Shea (55'), Ronaldo (56') and Eagles (64') were the scorers for tonight. For the second game running, Eagles' goal has to be the pick of the bunch, with Rooney's delightful chip coming a close second.

Nani showed pace and skill in his debut. The link up was sorely missing from him, but that is understandable since it's the first time he's on the pitch with the team. I'm looking for that to improve significantly. Eagles impressed me again. For a young man who hasn't played many first team games, he's shown plenty of composure. I'm hoping given the number of midfielders we have on the fringe, that he might make the team in the near future.

Perhaps the only disappointment in the game was watching Alan Smith and our token Chinese guy, Dong Fangzhuo miss chance after chance after chance. If Ole was on the pitch, he would have grabbed 2 hat-tricks, and that's an understatement. With the talent we have brought in, Smith and Dong would have to do alot better to impress, not only this blogger, but Ferguson as well. They didn't boost their chances much after today's poor showing.

At least there's still some good news for them in the form of one more friendly to play in this Asian/financial tour.

Seoul Easy (FC Seoul 0 - Manchester United 4)

Managed to catch this game via a stream from a Hong Kong channel. Since it was mainly in Cantonese, I had trouble making out who played, who didn't and who got substituted. In any case it was a good game against an easy opponent. From my poor grasp of Cantonese, FC Seoul fielded a host of their own youngsters in the game against our star-studded players.

The goals were scored by Ronaldo (6'), Eagles (19'), Rooney (21') and Evra (61'). Rooney and Ronaldo combined well when they played in the first half and FC Seoul had all sorts of problems coping with their pace, power and passing. The best goal was probably scored by Eagles, coolly passing the ball into the net beyond the keeper. Have to say Eagles impressed me alot with his level of passing and willingness to run.

Evra was particularly impressive as well. He primarily played on the left wing so there wasn't much defending to do, which is a good thing. Maybe Fergie is converting him into a winger (we should be so lucky).

Vidic, as usual, was a rock in defence. Phil Bardsley and Danny Simpson were given runs at right back and both did pretty well. Silves was a mess at left back.

And I have no idea who played in the centre of the park in the first half, before Scholes and Giggs came on. I honestly haven't a clue. That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if it was Mr Invisible, Michael Carrick. Oh and I mean that in a nice way....I really do.

United Wins Friendly (Manchester United 4 - Europe XI 3)

This was a game of 2 halves....literally. Since it was a friendly, neither side really defended nor tackled. In the spirit of the game, there were goals aplenty.

United went into half time leading 4-1. To be fair to the European select, they were pieced together barely 24 hrs ago and looked disjointed, and at times even uninterested. United were sharp, particularly Rooney and Ronaldo. The European side, made of players from Seria A, the French league and the Premera Liga practically allowed United to rape them.

In the opening 10 minutes, United were already 2 goals up thanks to Rooney and Brown. Malouda halved our lead with a superb strike in the 23rd minute, and Ronaldo replied with an equally superb freekick on 35 minutes. Then at the end of the half Rooney finished a brilliant team move to put us up 4-1.

At half time, Beckham came on to address the crowd, thanking the support he had received during his time here, especially in 98. He also heaped praises on Ferguson, and wished us all the best. Class act. You could tell Manchester United was his first love, and possibly his only love.

As expected in such friendlies, wholesale changes were made for both sides. The Europe select side brought in a largely Premiership contingent, with 4 players from Liverpool and 3 from Bolton. The change brought on more steel to the European side.

United, on the other hand, replaced Rooney and Ronaldo, taking away our sharpness in attack. Perhaps what was most heartening was that we invited Andy Cole back for this game. Phil Neville and Ronnie Johnson would have also turned out unfortunately, Phil got injured in training for Everton earlier in the morning and Ronnie missed the flight to Manchester.

Dong FangZhuo was also featured in the second half, and judging from what I've seen, he may not be the token Chinese player I initially thought he would be. There were glimpses of a good striker. That being said, he has a superb goal scoring record for Royal Antwerp.

Anyway highlights from the second half was that the Liverpool players were roundly booed and Diouf scored a couple to bring the score to a respectable level. We would be meeting Bolton this weekend in a competitive game, and I'm sure Diouf wouldn't be shown this much room.