Following the recent bad news about injuries to Saha and Ole and confirmation of the impending departure of Larsson, comes the good news that Cristiano Ronaldo has hinted he wants to stay and sign a new contract with United.
But the bad news for the clubs owners is that this could mean breaking United's pay structure to give Ronaldo over a reported £120,000 per week. Reds fans will not care about such matters, but will the Glazer family? Especially given that there's been so much talk of world record offers for the player coming from Real Madrid and Barcelona.
One thing is for certain, United cannot afford to lose Ronaldo, without him this current team wouldn't be half as good, in short he's made the difference this season. He could well be the world's best player at present so we need to retain him at all costs.
Friday, March 09, 2007
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Champions League: United, Chelsea and Liverpool through, but disaster for Arsenal..
There shouldn't have been that many surprises in the Champions League this week as far British teams werw concerned. Celtic had what looked like on paper to be the toughest task, but to their credit they took AC Milan to extra time before being undone by Brazilian Kaka.
United faced Lille in what was another tough looking assignment, and they just about deserved to win with Larsson scoring the only goal of the game, but it wasn't pretty or convincing. Based on the level of the two performances against Lille, the quarter final will be United's curtain call, but bizarrely the bookies make United favourites to win the competition, given the Reds limitations up front, that must be completely wrong. What United do not need is to be drawn against Liverpool or Chelsea, losing to either might be catastrophic in terms of confidence.
Liverpool despite losing on the night to Barca, deserved to win the game and the tie over both legs. Barcelona look nothing like last season.
Chelsea scraped through with a scratchy performance against Porto and they too do not look convincing at present.
Arsenal despite being one down from the first leg, went out somewhat surprisingly, as PSV managed to draw 1-1 with Alex scoring at both ends.
The competition is now wide open. Any of the remaining sides can win it, but I fear sadly not United due to our lack of firepower up front.
United faced Lille in what was another tough looking assignment, and they just about deserved to win with Larsson scoring the only goal of the game, but it wasn't pretty or convincing. Based on the level of the two performances against Lille, the quarter final will be United's curtain call, but bizarrely the bookies make United favourites to win the competition, given the Reds limitations up front, that must be completely wrong. What United do not need is to be drawn against Liverpool or Chelsea, losing to either might be catastrophic in terms of confidence.
Liverpool despite losing on the night to Barca, deserved to win the game and the tie over both legs. Barcelona look nothing like last season.
Chelsea scraped through with a scratchy performance against Porto and they too do not look convincing at present.
Arsenal despite being one down from the first leg, went out somewhat surprisingly, as PSV managed to draw 1-1 with Alex scoring at both ends.
The competition is now wide open. Any of the remaining sides can win it, but I fear sadly not United due to our lack of firepower up front.
Injuries and poor planning to wreck United's hopes?
Manchester United have been rocked by the news that the Red Devils will be without Saha and Solskjaer for up to a month, Saha picked up a hamstring injury while taking part in shooting practice (how did he manage that?) and Ole has had further knee surgery, which is a crying shame for the lad.
Coupled with this, Larsson is definitely going back to Sweden on March 12th, leaving United with only Alan Smith, the forgotten striker of Old Trafford. Back in January many reds myself included, wondered about the wisdom of securing just one loan striker as a temporary measure, and as good as Larsson has been , those fears about being light up front have now turned into a reality for Ferguson which could wreck any hopes of winning some silverware.
The reality is United now find themselves scratching around for players like a lesser club, quite simply this is wrong. At no other time in the last decade can I remember United being so short of cover up front.
IF our worst fears are realised and the reds fail to win the title, then Reds fans will look back in anger at the Summer and January transfer windows and wonder exactly why didn't the club buy another striker. While Fergie has taken credit for the work he's done this year, he must also take the flack if it all falls down now due to a lack of numbers.
Coupled with this, Larsson is definitely going back to Sweden on March 12th, leaving United with only Alan Smith, the forgotten striker of Old Trafford. Back in January many reds myself included, wondered about the wisdom of securing just one loan striker as a temporary measure, and as good as Larsson has been , those fears about being light up front have now turned into a reality for Ferguson which could wreck any hopes of winning some silverware.
The reality is United now find themselves scratching around for players like a lesser club, quite simply this is wrong. At no other time in the last decade can I remember United being so short of cover up front.
IF our worst fears are realised and the reds fail to win the title, then Reds fans will look back in anger at the Summer and January transfer windows and wonder exactly why didn't the club buy another striker. While Fergie has taken credit for the work he's done this year, he must also take the flack if it all falls down now due to a lack of numbers.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Man City are not too good to go down...
It's very nearly that time again when fans of clubs who are too near to the relegation drop zone start to cast worrying eyes at the league table and the fixture list. West Ham, Watford and Charlton have been pretty much mired in the brown stuff all season, of the three perhaps Charlton have a chance of surviving sliding down the dreaded greasy pole and into financial meltdown and The Championship.
One set of fans who probably didn't think their club would be where they are now in the league is the Man City supporters, but for good reason, not so long ago they were known as 'a yoyo club' because of their regular sojourns into the nether regions of lower league football, at one point they were on the verge of dropping into the old third division.
Since their latest return to the big time and over the last few seasons things have been a lot better with Keegan bringing a measure of stability to the club. However, the current manager Stuart Pearce now finds himself and his team just one place above the drop zone and out of the bottom group of clubs, City have what looks like the toughest remaining games. Sure they have two games in hand on the rest of the bottom clubs, but they have to play the top four sides and no points from those games could see them in trouble.
United face City in what could be our second to last game of the season, the Reds might need to win to secure the title, City fans would love it if they could stop that happening, but into the bargain the Blues might also need something from the game to stay up, the possibilities are intriguing to say the least.
One thing is for certain, Man City are not too good to go down, City fans would agree of that I'm confident.
One set of fans who probably didn't think their club would be where they are now in the league is the Man City supporters, but for good reason, not so long ago they were known as 'a yoyo club' because of their regular sojourns into the nether regions of lower league football, at one point they were on the verge of dropping into the old third division.
Since their latest return to the big time and over the last few seasons things have been a lot better with Keegan bringing a measure of stability to the club. However, the current manager Stuart Pearce now finds himself and his team just one place above the drop zone and out of the bottom group of clubs, City have what looks like the toughest remaining games. Sure they have two games in hand on the rest of the bottom clubs, but they have to play the top four sides and no points from those games could see them in trouble.
United face City in what could be our second to last game of the season, the Reds might need to win to secure the title, City fans would love it if they could stop that happening, but into the bargain the Blues might also need something from the game to stay up, the possibilities are intriguing to say the least.
One thing is for certain, Man City are not too good to go down, City fans would agree of that I'm confident.
Monday, March 05, 2007
Big week ahead for British teams in Champions League
So then, after three away wins on the bounce the Red Devils face Lille on Wednesday at Old Trafford in the return leg of that Champions League double header. The Reds won the first leg courtesy of some quick thinking by Ryan Giggs, when he quickly took his free-kick and outwitted the French players, who then nearly caused a riot by walking off the field of play. Since then the off the pitch row has been simmering with Fergie calling Lille a disgrace and even suggesting that they should be booted out of Europe.
In response to the defeat and the manner of the Giggs goal, Lille have unsuccessfully appealed to Uefa and anyone else who'd listen, and there's talk of more appeals to higher European courts. Frankly, the French club are acting like a bunch of spoilt schoolgirls and many Reds fans would no doubt like United to spank their collective sorry backsides this week, but I see a very difficult game coming up.
No doubt Lille will want to avenge the 'injustice' of the first game. I just hope United grind them into the Old Trafford turf, but it will be one of our hardest games of the season. If United did lose this game and get knocked out, there's no telling what effect it may have on the remainder of the season, so it is vital United keep on winning. I predict a very narrow win for United.
Saturday's losers, the 'Liverpool Reds' take on Barca and I fully expect Liverpool to finish off the job they started in the Nou Camp, the Barcelona defence is at present like watching the Keystone Cops, they are all over the place and quite appalling.
Arsenal should and will comfortably overturn that 1-0 defeat against PSV in the first leg and ease their way into the next round.
Chelsea have what looks to be quite a tough game against Mourinho's former club Porto, but again the Blues should progress without too many scares.
That leaves Celtic, if they pull off a victory in Italy against AC Milan it will be arguably the result of the round, but few would back them, myself among them.
So with the exception of Celtic it should be a good week for British clubs in Europe.
Return of the forgotten striker beckons?
During Fergie's post Liverpool match press conference, the United manager was asked about his dire lack of striker options after Ferguson confirmed that Larsson is set to return home to Sweden later this week.
According to Fergie, United have plenty of options, he stated that we have Giggs, Rooney, Ronaldo, Saha and Ole who can all play down the middle, added to which he even stated that Alan Smith would figure before the end of the season. The thing is since breaking his leg, Smith has barely featured for United's first team and when the former Leeds man has played, he's never really caught the imagination of the fans, and more importantly it seems something has upset Ferguson and his backroom team.
There has been some evidence of Smith and Ronaldo not seeing eye to eye on the pitch on occasion, that wouldn't help the former Leeds striker one bit, as the last thing Fergie would want right now is for players falling out on the field of play. Smith also dives into challenges, but in that respect his disciplinary record has been quite good, certainly much better than in his Leeds days, he lacks pace too and personally I believe he doesn't link up that well with Rooney, those two factors are perhaps the main reasons why he's not been in the team. Though to be totally fair to Smith he's not had that many games up front.
On top of all those factors, United have made several failed attempts at offloading Smith, so it just shows how desperately short of cover up front the Reds are that Fergie is now talking about bringing back United's forgotten striker.
They do say that Fergie is a lucky manager and how ironic it would be if Smith went on to prove Fergie wrong and end the season as a United hero by playing his full part in helping the Reds to lift some silverware.
According to Fergie, United have plenty of options, he stated that we have Giggs, Rooney, Ronaldo, Saha and Ole who can all play down the middle, added to which he even stated that Alan Smith would figure before the end of the season. The thing is since breaking his leg, Smith has barely featured for United's first team and when the former Leeds man has played, he's never really caught the imagination of the fans, and more importantly it seems something has upset Ferguson and his backroom team.
There has been some evidence of Smith and Ronaldo not seeing eye to eye on the pitch on occasion, that wouldn't help the former Leeds striker one bit, as the last thing Fergie would want right now is for players falling out on the field of play. Smith also dives into challenges, but in that respect his disciplinary record has been quite good, certainly much better than in his Leeds days, he lacks pace too and personally I believe he doesn't link up that well with Rooney, those two factors are perhaps the main reasons why he's not been in the team. Though to be totally fair to Smith he's not had that many games up front.
On top of all those factors, United have made several failed attempts at offloading Smith, so it just shows how desperately short of cover up front the Reds are that Fergie is now talking about bringing back United's forgotten striker.
They do say that Fergie is a lucky manager and how ironic it would be if Smith went on to prove Fergie wrong and end the season as a United hero by playing his full part in helping the Reds to lift some silverware.
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Reds lead at the top widens as Liverpool are beaten at the death...
So for the second league game in a row United win again in the dying minutes of a game, this time the opponents were arch rivals Liverpool as the Reds win courtesy of second half substitute John O'Shea's late goal.
Liverpool will perhaps feel robbed, after giving their all to win this game in the second half as the visitors seemed to be content to hang on for a point, but United too may well feel slightly aggrieved after Saha was denied what looked like a definite penalty after being brought down in the Liverpool penalty area late on in this tense game.
United won this game through grit and determination and great defending, after losing Wayne Rooney following a rash challenge by Jamie Carragher. The former Everton star looked in need of stitches with a nasty looking gash on this thigh. Then as if that was bad enough, the ginger prince Paul Scholes was harshly sent off for what the referee deemed to be an attempted punch, it wasn't, but even though the official had less than a clear view of the incident the United midfield player was shown the red card.
Arsene Wenger recently stated United have no legs late on in games, but for the second game in a row United scored at the death to win a game, so Wenger will have to revise his views on United's stamina and Jose Mourinho is now left to chew on being 12 points behind the league leaders. For the first time in three seasons, the pressure is very much on Jose and his boys.
Liverpool will perhaps feel robbed, after giving their all to win this game in the second half as the visitors seemed to be content to hang on for a point, but United too may well feel slightly aggrieved after Saha was denied what looked like a definite penalty after being brought down in the Liverpool penalty area late on in this tense game.
United won this game through grit and determination and great defending, after losing Wayne Rooney following a rash challenge by Jamie Carragher. The former Everton star looked in need of stitches with a nasty looking gash on this thigh. Then as if that was bad enough, the ginger prince Paul Scholes was harshly sent off for what the referee deemed to be an attempted punch, it wasn't, but even though the official had less than a clear view of the incident the United midfield player was shown the red card.
Arsene Wenger recently stated United have no legs late on in games, but for the second game in a row United scored at the death to win a game, so Wenger will have to revise his views on United's stamina and Jose Mourinho is now left to chew on being 12 points behind the league leaders. For the first time in three seasons, the pressure is very much on Jose and his boys.
Friday, March 02, 2007
Gerrard desperate to beat United...bring it on!
United take on Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday lunch time and Steven Gerrard has admitted that Liverpool are desperate to win this game, if they do win it, it will be the Liverpool Reds first league win at home against United since November 2001.
"Although there are only three points are at stake, the game means that extra bit more and we would love to get three points from it, it is a massive fixture" Gerrard said.
United should be slight favourites to win this one even though Liverpool are full of confidence and playing well, however, the Red Devils are also playing well, and we have the best player in the league in Ronaldo who is playing out of his skin, as they say.
I also believe United's defence is slightly better that Liverpool's and so I'm sticking out my neck and saying the Reds will take three points, and if we do that, then Gerrard and many others believe United will be crowned as champions in May, bring it on...
"Although there are only three points are at stake, the game means that extra bit more and we would love to get three points from it, it is a massive fixture" Gerrard said.
United should be slight favourites to win this one even though Liverpool are full of confidence and playing well, however, the Red Devils are also playing well, and we have the best player in the league in Ronaldo who is playing out of his skin, as they say.
I also believe United's defence is slightly better that Liverpool's and so I'm sticking out my neck and saying the Reds will take three points, and if we do that, then Gerrard and many others believe United will be crowned as champions in May, bring it on...
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