Ronaldo's 2 Minute Blitz (Manchester United 2 - Blackburn 0)

After a scathing report on Ronaldo the previous game, he decided to bring his A-game today. A brace in a space of 2 minutes by the Portuguese maestro, in the first half settled the game.

I caught this game with Kentona over at Cow's place and I was completely knocked out by the time I reached home. Hence this late report.

Blackburn gave a really good account of themselves, and were probably one of the toughest opponents we've faced at OT this season. Their form and record against the other top 3 opponents spoke for itself.

The game was pretty even with both sides coming close to scoring. But it was Ronaldo who scored twice in as many minutes, to put United in front. The first was a beautifully placed header from a Giggs corner in the 34th min. The second came shortly after when Tevez found Ronaldo on a counter attack.

Early in the second half, Blackburn were reduced to 10 men. Kentona, Cow and myself were expecting another round of goals, but it didn't materialize. Sparky's team had inherited his character and spirit. Even when down to 10, Blackburn didn't hang their heads down but continued fighting. Very simply put, this Blackburn team is really quite good.

Couple of additional notes:

- Evra seems to be getting better and better. He's defending is still abit dodgy, but his forward forays adequately makes up for it. There were many instances in this game where I thought he was an awesome winger.

- Owen Hargreaves is awesome. He seems to have formed a pretty solid partnership with Anderson, who is pretty damn good himself. I still don't like the price at which we got them, but I can't deny the quality that they bring.

- Giggs. Despite missing a couple of really good chances, he was really flying in this game. He would have been my man of the match had it not been for the next guy.......

- The guy who printed Bentley's jersey. He completely butchered 'Betnley's name on the back of the jersey and provided many hilarious moments while we were watching. Hell initially we though we all suffered from collective dyslexia!

United Aids Shitty to Top With Another No Goal (Manchester City 1 - Manchester United 0)

A week into the new season of our title defence, and we're already staring up the table, a massive 7 points behind local rivals, Shitty. This is an almost unthinkable position given the fact we've spent massively after winning the title last season in one of the most stylish manners possible.

The inability to score is really hurting us this season. Again in this game we've looked the more likely team to score but again in this game, we didn't.....or more aptly put, we couldn't. I'm sure even the most optimistic of fans will find concern in our inability to find the net.

I take everything I said about Owen Hargreaves in the off season back. He was awesome. He was literally everywhere on the pitch, making the important challenges, winning the ball and pushing the play forward. There were times I actually thought Keano had returned. Yes, he was that good. It'd probably be a few more games before I'd even come close to annointing him as the next Keano, but today he certainly earned his stripes. The only think lacking from him today was willing the team to victory. To be fair to everyone else who played, they were all pretty damn good today.

We started this game with a swagger, looking to decimate Shitty with our passing and approach play. For a good 30 minutes, there was only one team playing football, and another watching in total admiration. We played like the Champions of last season and totally dominated the Shitty midfield. Shitty didn't even get a sniff of the ball let alone string any passes.

Then the unthinkable happened. Totally against the run of play, Giovanni, our tormentor from Benfica, popped up outside our penalty box and scored with the aid of a deflection. Van der Sar didn't have a chance in hell to save it. It was as if the Gods of Football were mocking us. After all we had done in the past 30 minutes, we were rewarded by going one goal down. The lads in red looked stunned while the other set of players in blue grew in confidence and started making cheeky forays into our half.

Try as we might in the second half, the equalizer simply wouldn't materialize. At this point in time my brain and heart both switched off and quite frankly, I really can't recall what happened. Maybe subconsciously my brain is saving me from a huge headache fathoming just how quickly things have changed. All that I knew was the final result and our unbeaten run had been stopped! <---tongue firmly in cheek.

While the Blue side of Manchester celebrates their ascend to the peak, we're left to ponder over how costly losing Rossi or Smith is and wonder how cruel fate is to rob us of Rooney.

Yet in the doom and gloom of it all, there were some good things to take away today.
1. Shitty is shit. It's just a matter of time before they come back down to earth.
2. Things can't possibly get any worse. When you're right at the bottom, the only way is up......except for losing to Spurs next week.
3. Hargreaves was awesome, so was Tevez.
4. Nani is almost the exact carbon copy of Ronaldo. Which means in 3 years time, he'd be a great player.
5. Rob Style royally screwed Liverpool. Yup, I just had to take a dig at both Styles and the grannystabbers.

United Unveils New Jersey

United has officially unveiled the new home jersey for the upcoming season. I'm personally not too overwhelmed with the design. Call me old school, but jerseys without collars to flip up just doesn't work for me. Moreover the back just doesn't seem asethetic enough. Maybe with the names and numbers printed, it might actually look pleasing to the eye. In any case, I'm not adding any money into the Glazers' pockets.


In other news, we've offically signed Owen Hargreaves.

Nani and Anderson both signed 5-year deals. And we've made the Kuszczak loan deal a permanent one.

Owen Hargreaves £17.5m, Scott Parker £7m. Hmmm.....

Fleeced!
I don't know about the majority reading this blog, but I really think there is nothing much separating Hargreaves and Park in terms of ability. Even age-wise, they are the same. Only 2 things stand out between the pair, Park's been more injury prone and Hargreaves costs a lot more.

In terms of ability, they could very well be on par. In all honesty, I would've loved to see Parker in Red instead. He's a tested and proven performer in the EPL and more of a box to box midfielder. Moreover from the games I've caught of them both, Parker probably shows more leadership qualities than Hargreaves ever had. Unfortunately, it's West Ham who got him on the cheap at £7m.

Malaysia Ta Boleh!
Just a disclaimer before I get a blanket party from the Malaysians reading this entry. It's a tongue in cheek comment and no malice intented, and certainly not intended to cause any disharmony amongst neighbours.

According to The Times, Manchester United has scrapped plans for the game in Malaysia on the 27th of July. This is kinda sad news for us, as Kentona and I had intended to take time off for a frivolous adventure up north to catch our heroes playing live.

Transfer Rumours
Anelka Next on United's List - Can't say I'm totally against this. Its depends on which Anelka comes over. If it's the Arsenal Anelka, I'd welcome him with open arms. If it's the Real Madrid/Liverpool Anelka, he can continue rotting at wherever he is now.

Spurs Move for Smith - Why is every irritating piece of news this off-season involving Spurs? WHY???

More Details on Our New Signings
Last but not least, MEN has an interesting bit on our new signings. Not exactly earth-shattering, but an interesting read nonetheless.

Fleeced Again! Hargreaves Done Deal

So what's new? We got fleeced yet again in the transfer market. Ever since Martin Edwards stepped down, this has become an almost annual affair, paying ridiculously inflated prices for mediocre players.

Anyway according to reports flooding the English press, Bayern Munich is laughing to the tune of £17.5m after agreeing to sell Hargreaves to United.

I admit I've not watched many games Hargreaves has played in, but I've not been impressed whenever I did catch him. I don't particularly dislike him, it's just that the price tag is ridiculous. It we purchased him for £7.5m, I would be a happy camper. The silverlining is that his wages are rumoured to be in the £60,000 range, quite reasonable.

Anyway it seems like a done deal, so we've just got to live with it. Looking on the bright side, if Hargreaves doesn't perform, or live up to his price tag ala Carrick, it's going to be another fun season blogging.

It's AC Milan in the Semis

We're facing AC Milan in the semi finals of the Champions League. They just beat Bayern Munich 2-0.

Just a couple of comments:

Owen Hargreaves
I used to be unsure about Owen Hargreaves, but now I'm dead sure I don't want him in Red. Except for a couple of good appearances for England (not hard considering the crap that plays for them), I see absolutely nothing special. At least for Carrick, he's a good player, it's the price tag that makes you cringe. There isn't anything in particular about Hargreaves that makes him special, and there sure isn't anything about him that would make him worth anything over a couple million pounds. Can't pass, can't tackle, can't shoot. I can't believe I actually stayed up and watched both legs, hoping to see something worth raving about.

If anything, Mark Van Bommel looked like a star in the Bayern midfield. And he's got the fire in the belly.

The Game
1. Bayern couldn't buy a break. Every decision seemed to go against the home team.
2. AC players just couldn't get booked. No matter what they did, the referee simply wouldn't book them. Disgusting!
3. Obscene time wasting by the Italians. What's new?
4. Ferguson was at the game scouting our opponents. I hope he was taking notes about Hargreaves too.
5. The Italian defence is ancient. We should be able to unleash Ronaldo and Rooney on them.

Boro Barks Up Wrong Tree

In the news today:

Ronaldo Branded A Cheat - Typical Boro. I'm beginning to lose complete and total respect for Boro. It's getting disgusting and getting on my nerves the way they are coming out to discredit Ronaldo. I can understand they were still complaining about the Riverside penalty incident back in December, but in last night's game, even a fucking blind man can see it was a penalty. It's just disgraceful that Southgate and his coaching staff are such dicks.

'Why Does Controversy Follow Me?' - Good to see Ronaldo being totally unflastered about the whole 'cheat' thingy. Boro would have garnered more sympathy had they attacked the referee instead for playing favourites by not sending Rooney off. I sincerely hope they get relegated next season. Boro is seriously pissing me off.

Warnock Brands Southgate A Disgrace - Neil Warnock probably conveys my feelings best when he calls Southgate a disgrace.

Owen Bent On United - Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not a big fan of Owen Hargreaves. But his commitment to joining us cannot be doubted. I hope his transfer goes thru this summer for a reasonable price. My only fear is that he's going to be another Michael Carrick, not that Carrick isn't good, just too damn pricey.