Summer Sale : Kieran Richardson Joins Sunderland

Richardson has signed a 4 year deal with Sunderland. The fee has not been disclosed.

I'm sure many fans would be rejoicing, since Richardson really isn't very much of a fan favourite. For some reason he cannot stop himself from whining and generally making a dick of himself whenever he wears a United jersey. His behavior was very much mimicked by Ronaldo when he first joined the club.

I can, however, offer this, off the pitch during interviews, he seems like a genuinely nice guy. He says all the right words, and quite frankly doesn't sound like the dick that was on the pitch.

In any case, I hope he has a good career under Keano.

The official reports:
Times
ManUtd.com

Rooney : The Perfect 10?

King Wayne - Denis Law handed over the no. 10 jersey to Rooney in a symbolic gesture. The jersey had been left vacant since the departure of Ruud, and Rooney aims to fill those large shoes. There is also speculation of the new jersey numbers the newcomers, Nani (no. 12?), Anderson (no.8?) and Hargreaves (no. 23?) will wear in the coming season.



Anderson Gets Work Permit - Anderson gets his work permit after the original application was denied. This is going to be good news for Ferguson, Anderson and the fans. No doubt Anderson will take a while to get used to United's culture and the sooner he gets here and trains with the lads, the better.

Pool's Cheeky Attempt At Heinze - No doubt this rumour is going to grab the headlines, if it hasn't already done so. It's nothing but a cheeky attempt by the seagulls to sensationalize. I would be surprised if United even accepts a bid and I trust Heinze to have the integrity to turn down the bid. Be sure if it comes to past, we'd be burning effigies of Heinze from Manchester to Singapore.

Tevez Loan Unlikely - A summary of all the above United news and rumours. The most sobbering piece claims that a Tevez loan deal is unlikely. Apparently the owners of the rights to Tevez are looknig to cash in this coming season. Also in the article, Everton has expressed interest in Richardson.

Old Boys Help United Zero in on Title (Everton 2 - Manchester United 4)

This is the stuff made for legends. 2 goals down and a thrilling comeback served up a sweet taste of toffee at Goodison Park.

Speaking of legends, there was a minute's silence to mark the passing of World Cup legend Alan Ball, which was immaculately kept before the start of the game.

Everton started both halves with early goals as United struggled to find their passing game. Despite the injuries faced during the run in and a relentless persue by Chelsea, fatigue is fast becoming our greatest enemy. Our play was sloppy and we failed to make that final pass when it mattered. The players looked like they were wearing weights on their feet for most of the first half.

On the 12th minute, Alan Stubbs thundered a freekick home, albeit with a telling deflection from the unlucky Carrick. It wasn't as if we weren't warned, as Lescott had hit the crossbar from a corner minutes earlier.

Our response was almost non-existent. Although we did dominate the first half, the final pass was always lacking. The Everton defence was sordid and did not allow an inch of space to the invaders in Red.

The second half started disasterously as Manuel Fernandes scored a stunning goal which Van der Sar could only flap at. In all honestly, the strike was so damn good, no keeper in the world could have saved it. 2-0 down and things were not looking good at all. Making matters worse was that Chelsea was leading in their own game against Bolton. Things were indeed looking glim for the men from Manchester. I'm glad I don't own a pet.

Our meek response was to take off the ineffective Evra, replacing him with Richardson in left back. Against a determined Everton side, who are fighting their own battle for a UEFA spot and trailing by 2 goals, it was perhaps better to give Richardson a run out for the midweek Champanions League game against Milan.

While the management probably had throw in the towel with a negative looking substitution, the players never hung their heads. Right on the hour, Iain Turner who has been playing in place of Tim Howard, inexplicably dropped a corner from Giggs, allowing John O'Shea to stab the ball into goal.

After playing like zombies for an hour, United were thrown a life line and my did they grab it like their lives depended on it. On came Ronaldo in place of Smith and the football was flowing. There was a sudden spring in the steps and United pushed forward for the equaliser.

And it came from the most unlikely source. Old boy and goal shy, Phil Neville somehow managed to score, perhaps his most important goal for United during a mad scramble in the penalty box. I hope his Everton teammates wouldn't be to harsh on their captain in the dressing room.

The other old boy, Rooney, completed the comeback in the 79th minute. He dragged the ball wide from the Everton defence and squeezed in the winner between Turner and the far right post.

Chris Eagles, who came on as a late substitute, put the sprinkling on the toffee, curling a superb 4th in injury time.

It was a superb victory given the circumstances and it was made sweeter by the news that Chelsea had drawn against Bolton. 5 points clear and needing 4 points from the next 3 games should see us home free. Surely we can't possibly screw this one up even if we tried...right? I certainly hope not, but we're United, and we've always made things difficult for ourselves, as this game has shown.

Another thing I just want to say here......damn we gotta be one of the most exciting teams to root for. The emotional roller coaster rides that we, United fans, go thru is incredible. And it's been going on and has gone on for quite sometime. My ticky ticker has gone thru some really tough times for almost 27 years, just by watching United play. I swear I'm going to have a heart-attack one of these days before I turn 40. I suppose the point I'm trying to say is that as much as I love the emotional spins we've gone thru the past week or so, gimme a Roma-type, non-nerve wrecking game anytime. Thrashings or boring wins once in a while is good for the heart. I'm sure some of the older fans reading this will understand where I come from.

Fuckin' Late Kickoff (Manchester United 1 - Middlesbrough 1)

I can't emphasize how fucking irritated I am with our performance in late kickoffs. We were trying to be what Fergie and Giggs had said in midweek....efficient. Unfortunately it all turned out wrong as we tried to play like Chelsea. Now the cushion has almost been completely swept from under our buttocks. Chelsea now holds their own destiny in their hands. All they need to do is to win their remaining premiership games, including the one with us.

The game started brightly for us. Richardson gave us the lead after a superb pass from Scholes and some brilliant running from Rooney in the 3rd minute. Just as Chelsea has been making a habit of scoring late in games, we've been doing the same with early goals.

The difference is when you score late goals, the other hasn't a chance of hitting back. And Boro did just that at the stroke of half time. It was also partly due to Rio hurting his groin again and was practically immobile when Viduka scored the equalizer.

Our tactics after going one goal ahead early was probably to blame as the team took heed from SAR and Giggs suggestions to play 'efficiently'. We allowed Boro plenty of possession and allowed them to come at us. Although until the goal, we had been able to contain Boro somewhat comfortably. We should have gone out and tried to nick a second goal, and play the way that had worked so well for us the entire season. Of course there were other considerations like injuries and more importantly, fatigue, but we should have treated each game like it was a cup final.

SAR rang in the changes at half time bringing on Giggs as an attacking punch and Fetcher to replace the injuried Rio. Yet it was Van der Sar who was called into action, denying both Viduka and Yakubu. Perhaps our first half rhythm had set in and our attacking play just wasn't effective. We could hardly penetrate the last third of the pitch with Boro defending resolutely and hitting us on the counter, a tactic which we made almost exclusively our own throughout the season.

Ole was sent on in a desperate push forward to seek the winning goal with a quarter of the game left, which in fairness to Ole, just wasn't enough. To put things into perspective on how ineffective we were, I don't think Schwarzer was troubled to make a single save in the second half. The tension in the stadium was intense and it probably got to the United players on the pitch.

In the dying minutes, what was a already bad situation almost got worse. John O'Shea brought down a Boro player in injury time and a penalty wasn't given. It could have made a bad day turn really sour.

Despite not winning this game, things aren't dire yet. Just as Chelsea has their destiny in their hands, so do we and it always has been. The only difference is that the margin of error now is minimal. Nerves will play an important part to both teams and how they perform under that pressure will separate the men from the boys.

I don't like the situation we're in, especially after having had a 6 point cushion, but I'll take what we have considering I never gave us a lick of hope at the beginning of the season. And with all the fucking late kickoffs out of the bloody way, the only thing that worries me is facing West Ham in the last game. I believe we probably would draw Chelsea to bring the race down to the wire.

If anyone cares to remember back in 95, we faced West Ham in the last game for the title and a certain Andy Cole missed 7825 shots on goal. We drew that game as Blackburn edged us to the title. Had we won then, the title would have been ours.

We're Going To Wembley! (Manchester United 4 - Watford 1)

On paper it was David vs Goliath and the scoreline suggested so, but in truth for 67 minutes, Watford gave us a harder time than we had expected. What they lacked in quality, they made up with endeavor and determination.

Rooney belted in a stunner in the 6th minute and it looked like United would run away with the game. We were comfortably in control and threatening to score more while not even getting into second gear. Then Edwin Van der Sar probably broke his nose again, and after a lengthy treatment, Watford took advantage of our confusion and equalised thru Hamuer Bouazza's beautiful bicycle kick.

But their joy was shortlived when Ronaldo celebrated his new contract by popping up to put United back in the lead in the 28th minute. Parity was broken only 2 minutes after it was achieved. However brave Watford did not hang their heads down. They came at United with vigor and perseverance. An injury to Rio resulting in us reshuffling our backline, gave them more hope.

Cream has a way of rising to the top and on the 66th minute, Rooney scored his second of the night to effectively put an end to Watford's night. Up to this point, it was a tough fought game, and we had a hard time controlling the game, only relying on swift counter attacks.

With the cup tie firmly in our grasp, the rest of the night was spent by the players trying to get Rooney his hattrick. Richardson did eventually add to the scoreline in the 82nd minute with a delightful goal. It probably could and should have been more if Ole and Smith didn't only have eyes for Rooney.

In any case, the scoreline reflected the gulf in quality between the sides. We're going to Wembley for our third FA Cup finals in four years, quite an achievement.

Couple of things to note in the game:
1. Evra started in right back and was later slotted back to his usual left back. He looked terribly uncomfortable in right back.
2. Heinze started in left back and was moved to central defence to pair up with Wes Brown after Rio left injuried.
3. Fletcher came on as a substitute and played in right back. He had a pretty credible game there. Let's hope Fergie doesn't get any weird ideas playing him there long term.
4. Alan Smith was awesome today. He's probably my personal man of the match today. Some of his passes was pretty darn good.
5. Carrick is beginning to grow on me. He started off as Mr Invisible, then progressed to Neil Webb status, and now he's pretty much no longer my whipping boy here. That's quite an achievement in less than one season.
6. Off the ball movement was pretty awesome. If we can keep this up, we're going to out-score alot of the teams we're going to play in the next couple of weeks.
7. Injuries are hitting us hard and fast. As much as I dislike Rio, I hope his injury isn't too serious. Ditto Van der Sar. The squad is thin enough as it is.

Curse of Late Kickoffs (Portsmouth 2 - Manchester United 1)

The cushion which we've been sitting so comfortably on has just gotten significantly harder. Chelsea beating Spurs (seriously, who couldn't see that coming!) and us losing to Portsmouth has cut our lead in the table to just 3 points with 6 games to go. It's still a commanding lead, especially when you factor in our superior goal difference.

It's just a minor road bump on our journey to wrestle the title from Chelsea. As long as there are no major road blocks in the form of late kickoffs, we should do fine. If at the start of the season, given the option to be in this position, I would gladly grab it with both hands. That's how far we've come, and I doubt neither the players, the management team nor the fans will willingly let this one go, especially not since we've worked so hard to come this far.

As for the game, all I can say is that Portsmouth played well, we looked tired and were undone by individual errors. None more glaring than from our stand-in captain Rio and our keeper Van der Sar.

The game was played at a franatical pace right at kickoff and neither side really got a hold of the game in the first half. This, of course, didn't help our cause since we never got into our rhythm. Both teams were guilty of giving away possession under pressure from the opposite side, but Portsmouth made theirs count. On the half hour, Richardson conceded possession and Benjani took a pot shot at goal. Van der Sar parried the ball straight in front of him and Matthew Taylor, my favourite Portsmouth player, got in front of Rio and knocked in the rebound.

Kinda hard to find fault when 3 of our players were involved in the boo-boo. They were:
1. Richardson for gaving away possession in a dangerous area.
2. VDS for parrying the ball in front of him. I'm sure in goalkeeping 101, you're taught to parry the ball to the side if you can't hold it.
3. Rio for standing rooted to the ground and allowing Taylor to get in front of him to score.

We were poor and rattled by the goal. In the second half, we were significantly better and piled up the pressure on the Portsmouth goal. Unfortunately, the final ball was always found wanting. When we did get it right, David James was in outstanding form. A couple of saves he made were simply marvelous, leaving Kentona and I rooted to our seats wondering in amazement how he kept them out.

With 2 minutes left to go in regulation time, our stand-in captain decided to make our task doubly difficult. In a moment of sheer madness and lack of communication between defender and keeper, Rio and EVS somehow made a goal out of a seemingly innoculous backpass. It was an epic comedy of errors, which no United fan could find joy in. It was horrible defending and equally horrible goalkeeping. I couldn't believe how Rio could make a backpass like that without even looking up to see where his keeper was. I was equally shocked at EVS for coming off his line when there was absolutely no reason to.

Credit to the lads, they never once held their heads down and carried on plugging away. Although time was running down, they did manage to pull one back, albeit too little too late. Ole's shot was spilled by James and O'Shea was on hand to poke in the rebound.

As Kentona noted to me, Rooney was particularly disappointing. In the run up to our injury time goal, Rooney ran up to the referee to complain about something when he should be focusing on the game. It's a part of his game he must get rid off. The constant whining when decision do not go his way must stop. Ronaldo has learnt it, and now Rooney must learn it if he's going to be of any use, especially when the chips are down. If he cannot concentrate for the good of the team, then he's useless to us in such circumstances, no matter what a brilliant player he is.

Oh, and last but not least, PLEASE NO MORE CAPTAIN'S ARMBAND FOR RIO EVER!!!!!