Sunderland Away, West Brom Home - 02 Oct 2010, 16 Oct 2010

First of all I thought of closing down this blog for good, because I believe United are playing worse by the day and I am thoroughly uninspired to write about them at the moment - I remain a United supporter, no doubt about it - but unless they do something about throwing away leads and easing off from dominant positions, I wouldn't be too keen to continue with this - Maybe a change in action in me would bring a change in fortunes for United.

Sunderland:

Possibly the worst match I have seen United play - They hardly looked like winning the match right from the start. The formation wasn't the greatest with John O'Shea playing left back we didn't have a left winger. Strange tactics as pointed out by my friend Reon. Michael Owen and Kiko Macheda started upfront and neither went close to scoring - I can attribute this failure to the terrible delivery percentage we had on that day. The midfield play was dictated by Lee Cattermole and Malbranque and the latter had a golden opportunity to open the account with only EVDS to clear. He went for placement rather than power but achieved neither.


I'm trying to recollect the positives I can type about United and it's players and I have to admit I couldn't. Half-time substitute Berba was decent but one man could do little against a spirited Steve Bruce side. It was a thoroughly insipid performance from United and I was pretty pleased with a point from the match. At the end of this match I thought, "OK, this is the worst United could play and from here on it's going to only get better"

West Brom:

I was proven terribly wrong and boy I don't know how to vent my frustration. It's extremely disappointing and I was unable to fathom the fact that we came out with a draw against West Brom (with all due respect to them and their manager) after being 2-0 up by 25 mins. An earlier United would have bombarded the West Brom goal and would have kept them under the couch till the final whistle. But we look totally off-color these days and we did manage to provide what Di Matteo called as "Evening of Gifts" to West Brom and what should have been a walk-in-the-park ended as a disgusting stalemate.


It's getting increasing difficult with each passing week. Though all is not over yet and its a long season, we will stand to repent for all these generosities when the season draws to a close. We are making life tougher for ourselves, the sooner we get out of this mode, the better. I hope the next time I type a blog, United would have made my frame of mind much better than the current one.
I'm crying :(

And a final note on Wayne Rooney - "I want him to be stay" Full Stop!

Vs Bolton, Reebok Stadium - 26 Sep 2010

Another away match, another draw, another valuable 2 points dropped - This is getting very frustrating these days, especially for the rivals' results on Saturday, we could have narrowed down the gap at the top to bare minimum. Not to be!!!

We started again with the 4-4-2 formation and Rio who was expected to make a comeback in this match, didn't. Johny Evans once again had a torrid time, this time with Kevin Davies who was the first to reach to almost all the long balls. He ensured he brought the ball down to the strikers' feat each time and that created enough opportunities (not any take though) to the heavily imposing, Elmander.


Berbatov who looks to be in red-hot form, spurned a glorious (one of Wayne's best in recent times) through ball from Rooney by trying to shoot from an almost improbable angle. He could have squared it up to Ryan Giggs who was completely unmarked - a key moment.

Zat Knight became the 2nd defender in the season to score against United to break the deadlock. Evra who was supposed to protect the area next to the upright was caught off guard as we left enough space.



It took a moment of real class and thrill for the equaliser - Nani collected the ball from our own half and made a scorching run through the midfield and the defence. The finish was sublime as well, it reminded us of those whirlwind runs that Ronaldo used to make.

United were made to pay on the counter, brilliantly initiated and concluded by the former City man, Martin Petrov - the deflection off Fletcher was indeed unfortunate. United made substitutions at brisk pace and I for one have always wanted Michael Owen to get more minutes under his belt. In spite of being the shortest amidst a crowded Bolton defence, he was the one who got the touch and thereby the equalizer in the 74th minute.


From then on how we managed to end the match without creating one genuine opportunity, is beyond my level of imagination. We deserved nothing more than a point against a team which looked better than us on that day.

It's frustrating, but we have to move on...Sunderland away next, isn't the greatest place to look for a turnaround in our away fortunes. But with United, you never know!

Vs Liverpool, Old Trafford - 19 Sep 2010

I do not know about the historical rivalry between Manchester United and Liverpool, since I have picked up a real interest in the sport and EPL as recently as 2006. During those days, Liverpool will never look a threat to United and I have never realized the seriousness with which their respective fans used to look at this fixture.

It was sometime in 2009 when Liverpool came to Old Trafford and defeated us 4-1, I stood up and started looking at Liverpool with real hatred and hardcore vengeance. Such was the intensity of the defeat that whenever I think about Steven Gerrard running towards the camera and planting a kiss, I feel infuriated.


This season is no different, after a couple of heart-breaking late scoring draws (a win against lowly West Ham in between) I was keenly looking forward to this game and really wanted us to scored a few. We made a dominant start as expected, holding the majority of possession and creating few clear cut chances. When the first half was about to end, Berbatov nonchalantly nodded in our first goal - who was his marker? - Fernando Torres who did everything except marking Dimitar. In the half time review I was amused to hear Steve McMahon ask - "What on earth is Torres doing there? He could done the same thing sitting in the dressing room". And yes, he is one expert reviewer whom I hate for the way he hates United.

After Berbatov acrobatically knocked in the second, I thought it was Game Set and Match for United, let's look ahead. But such has been United's defensive frailties this season, I was proved wrong. Steven Gerrard stepped into twice in dead ball situations and equalized in dramatic circumstances. United, having dominated the match so far, wouldn't be one bit pleased with a point and therefore, SAF replaced Ryan Giggs with 'Kiko' Macheda and that proved to be the tonic we needed. At 85 minutes, Berbatov jumped tallest over Cara and scored his third of the match - the first hat-trick by an United player in this fixture in 64 years.


We held on to the lead and sealed a famous win and here is Berbatov being hailed as a hero. The Bulgarian was ridiculed from every corner for some indifferent form in the last season. But I have always been an admirer of Berba, trust me I had him in my Fantasy League team for a couple of weeks last season and I just brought him in the current one and gained 17 points.

By his own admission, Berbatov has not been able to express himself well over the last 2 seasons, largely due to the inflated prize tag that Manchester United attached to him. This season could be a turnaround and one to remember - He has started brilliantly, United needs him to continue...

Vs Everton, Goodison Park - 11 Sep 2010

I was off to a friend's wedding in Ooty and precisely at the time of this match, I had no access to the Television. Utter disappointment, but for a change I kept sports on the secondary.

Therefore, I didn't want to write a review on a match that I didn't catch up live.

All I did was, I came back and saw the 92nd Minute goal's replay and "boy - How sick did I feel?". I got an update from a friend after the Berba Goal, and I said that is that. We are through with three points. What I saw was a remarkably disgusting feeling - to say the least.


I was speechless wondering, "What's going on out here?". We have clearly thrown away 2 points of phenomenal importance. I am absolutely certain, I'll look back towards this match if we lose the league by a point or two.

But United will never be pessimistic, so as an United lover I have to look ahead. There are still 34 matches to go, why panic so early?

Based on whatever I have heard from reviews, we deserved to win this match by a goal difference of 3 at least for the number of chances we created. We did prove to be wasteful again and there fore, we were made to pay - Simple.

We have to get more serious in front of goal and our finishing has to be lot more clinical if we are to push Chelsea off the top of the pack.

Next up is Liverpool (after Rangers in CL) - Never an easy game considering the stakes on hand. We have to take all three on Sunday, which I think looks extremely positive for the way Liverpool are playing now.

Vs West Ham United, Old Trafford - 28 Aug 2010

Having been gutted with last weekend's results, I was so eagerly waiting for this match though I know we should be winning it comfortably and the match is not expected to provide me with any thrill - But what thrill do you want other than United winning?

We once again went with 4-4-2 and I was as excited as anyone else to see Wayne Rooney back in the starting XI. For United to get on course in the season, Wayne has to be in form and none better than getting minutes under your belt - that too West Ham at home, can't ask for more.

And for the first time in many matches I could remember, the old stalwarts Giggs and Scholes started the game together.

United made a soppy start to the match and were hardly looking inspiring. We kept losing balls easily and when someone like Scholes loses possession cheaply, you start doubting if a goal would arrive.

But as always, the former England midfielder sent a searing long range pass to Giggs at the left and the latter tricked himself into the box only to be stupidly tripped by a former Manchester United man, Jonathan Spector. Rooney, who had gone over 1000 minutes on the pitch without scoring, picked up this opportunity from the spot, to break the drought and the deadlock too.

The home team would have been 2-0 up by half time had Nani timed his chip a little more delicately. The setup was brilliant - First Scholes and Giggs slid simultaneously to grab possession in our own half. Then Ryan Giggs expertly found Nani, only to see the chance go begging.

Dimitar Berbatov was busy collecting and dispatching passes at will. He topped up a perfect day with a "Beautiful" finish which he always emphasizes.

Between this and Wazza's penalty, Nani ran through a glut of defenders and scored a brilliant goal that would have provided him the much needed redemption, following his penalty miss last weekend.

SAF made a triple substitution following the 3rd Goal and though we looked threatening enough to score more, West Ham somehow held firm. The closest they came to scoring was when Kieron Dyer hit the outside of the post in the 55th Minute. Vida made a couple of noteworthy crunching tackles when Carlton Cole looked through on goal on both occasions. The importance of the Serbian to our defense cannot be overstated.

West Ham has not scored against United for the last 2 years - Dean Ashton was the last one to score in United's penultimate game (known for Nani's head butt) of the 2007-08 season. They continued to go scoreless again.

Two 3-0 home wins out of Two - time to focus hard on the away form. We go on an International break, that's one weekend wasted in life, deprived of Manchester United Football.

Off to the Goodison Park now, we have a score to settle for last season's 1-3 defeat.

Pictures courtesy: bbcsport

Vs Fulham, Craven Cottage - 22 Aug 2010

We have been historically deemed to be "Notoriously bad-starters" each season - a theory which I have found tough to accept. But for the fourth consecutive season, United have failed to grab all six points off the first two matches of the season and therefore, I would like to give in and accept the pattern.

A visit to Craven Cottage have been a thorn in recent times, the last two occasions have seen us suffer 0-2 and 0-3 reverses. These two results were good enough for me to be really charged up for this fixture to extract revenge.

Rooney was ruled out with a bug and hence didn't travel. We started with our two next best strikers in Chicharito and Berbatov. But it took a typical Paul Scholes long ranger to break the deadlock, a very sweetly timed kick indeed.


From then on we continued to be on the offensive and I was clearly under the impression that we were heading towards a annihilation of Fulham. How wrong was I? Fulham soon settled down and the combination of Bobby Zamora and Simon Davies started creating havoc for our defense, most particularly Jonny Evans who had a torrid time. Still we survived a few nervy moments, none better than the Van Der Saar double-save off Etuhu. We were soon made to pay for our frailties when Davies pulled back close to the hour mark, which our stopper almost saved again, but only almost.

Nani came in for Valencia, Giggs came in for Park.
Owen replaced Chicharito, but to be very honest this looked an irrelevant substitution in the end, as Michael only got the ball twice in 15 mins play.

United went ahead ahead with 7 minutes remaining on the clock, via a Brede Hangeland own goal from Nani's corner. We could have killed the game within the next couple of minutes when Damien Duff was punished for (not deliberately though) hand-balling in the danger area. Nani stepped up for the kick and though he was in my Fantasy League team, i had my fears that we have given it to the wrong man. Ryan Giggs was so effective last season burying two penalties out of two against Spurs. It was a real surprise that he chose to hand it over to the Portugese, who hit it low and at a predictable direction to the very impressive Fulham stopper - who promptly stopped to keep the home team in the game.


This wastefulness from the winger was made to pay dearly when the culprit became cult-status-ed in no time. Having just scored a own-goal, Hangeland leaped the highest to nod down the equalizer in the 89th Minute and thereby creating a redemption for himself. Mark Hughes - who suffered his worst injury-time nightmare last season when Michael Owen poked past Shay Given in the 95th Minute to eke out a winner - was spared the blushes this time. United couldn't do much with 4 added minutes and thereby we dropped two valuable points, though I'm not sure if we really deserved to win. One more attempt at the Cottage ending in heartbreak.


Last season, Michael Carrick missed a penalty against Burnley. For me, that miss along with Valencia's goof-up in a one-on-one situation against Blackburn in the later part of the season, were prime reasons for us missing the league. I hope we don't have to look back at Nani's miss as another pivotal moment, come May.

One of my friends (Reon) told that he wouldn't look too much into the Newcastle game as our biggest tests will come away from home. How correct he was?? In our first game on the road, we were in all sorts of trouble and hardly looked like winning, in spite of the fact that we lead twice.

C'mon United - Get on with it and Get ahead. I hate being part of the chasing pack, even though this is the very beginning.

Pictures courtesy: http://www.zimbio.com

Vs Newcastle United, Old Trafford - 16 Aug 2010

A winning start - that's all that we can look forward to. The last time we played Newcastle at home in the opening fixture, we had to be content with a draw having trailed to an Obafemi Martins' header. This time it was all the more straightforward - A conservative display for our standards, we should have pounded in half a dozen at least - As the Gaffer always emphasizes how possessing a superior goal difference is like owning an extra point. But 3-0 isn't bad after all and Newcastle isn't a side that is only Championship standards, they are a little more than that.

The Star man was obviously one of the oldest on the park that day - The Evergreen Paul Scholes. He was at absolute ease collecting the ball and distributing passes to all corners of the ground with pin-point accuracy. What he ensured was, put more pressure on the wingers Nani and Valencia to control the ball and deliver crosses. Remarkable performance from Scholesy, I am surprised he wanted to hang up his boots a few years ago. Very fortunate that Sir Alex Ferguson talked him out of retirement.

An excerpt from BBC Live commentary - "Amazingly, the usually unflappable Paul Scholes has looked thoroughly disgusted with some of his team mates on occasions today, either for not passing it straight to him or for not converting his beautifully laid-on chances. This time he's annoyed with Javier Hernandez - he's on a different level to everyone this evening."

And that piece of commentary illustrates how intent we are to regain the league that we surrendered last season.


Rooney looked off-color as he has been in recent times, but I have no doubt he will be back to his best very soon - Bring on Arsenal, Wayne's firepower will be on display. Berbatov was good in patches, but for his qualities he should have scored more, especially off the intelligent nudge that Rooney delivered that left him with only the Keeper to pass through - He didn't though. Valencia and Nani were quieter for their standards, still the latter was primarily responsible for the second goal when he expertly tapped the ball into the box for Evra. Ryan Giggs played for less than 20 minutes but he showcased his class with a thumping volley (left-footed, of course) to continue his impressive record of having scored in every premier league season so far. After that, there was this cheeky little through ball to Berbatov, very much reminiscent to his pass to Michael Owen in the Manchester Derby thriller. Berba though wasn't as clinical as Michael was.


Chicharito was lively but couldn't score as everyone wanted him to, on his Old Trafford debut. But we could already see enough of what is in store from him, as the season goes on. The defense and Van Der Saar didn't have much to do throughout the match except for the odd Andy Carroll attempt from outside the box.

Overall, it's a very good beginning, I am happy with it. I could see the trophy coming back to Old Trafford. I am looking forward to the season with a box full of excitement.


Pictures courtesy - bbcsport, zimbio.