Red Rants

West Ham 2-1 Man Utd

There are days when you will have to hand it to the opposition. As much as I hate to say it, I would be forced to concede that West Ham were the better team yesterday. They outplayed, out scored, out ran and outnumbered (in midfield) us right through the game. And yes, they had that extra intensity to go on and win the game.

It is fairly simple (and sometimes, even boring) writing a match report following a win; you go through the usual format of reportage, saying how good such and such player was. Writing a report after a defeat is a far more enlightening experience, although it must be said that it is extremely hard to get motivated and get to the writing part in the first place.

So here we go with the report.

Continue reading “Hammers Beat United As Champions Squander The Advantage”

A former cult-hero, in Carlos Tevez, returns as the Reds visit Upton Park to take on the Hammers in their last clash of 2007. Manchester United will be looking to keep their winning run intact and maintain their lead over Arsenal.

Continue reading “West Ham v Man Utd: Preview”

Well I’m going to start by admitting that like most fans on this site I was extremely disappointed that we drew against Lyon as we could have had a much easier ride to the last eight. But I am delighted with the teams Arsenal and Liverpool got, which were Milan and Inter respectively.

However, when you look at the teams they could have faced, Barca, A.C, Inter, Real or Sevilla ( just Liverpool ) and Porto ( just Arsenal ) they always had a massive chance of getting a tough tie. Celtic vs. Barca is also a good tie.

Onto our own tie though, we could have had an easier team I still believe we will go through as Lyon are not the side they were a few years ago. And to be honest, the French League isn’t that great, so winning it six times in a row isn’t that much of a great achievement.

Continue reading “Manchester United and the Champions’ League”

Yesterday was not a pretty sight. Not from Reds’ legend Roy Keane’s perspective that is. His side were simply no match for United’s superiority. It was so easy that it was cruel. I’ve seen Korean sides on our far-east pre-season tours show more resistance. After yesterday, you’d have to feel for Roy Keane and his side; and hope, for his sake, that he manages to keep them up.

Our sympathies for Keano aside, it was a superb performance from a United side that had quite a few changes to the composition of its starting XI.

Continue reading “United Stroll Past Sunderland And Go Clear At The Top”

Right. It’s boxing day, and we play Roy Keane’s boys. The Gaffer has mentioned making changes, but “one or two” at the most. Among those changes would be the return of Rio to the centre of defence and Hargreaves to midfield.

As you would see this is Boxing day, with tons of football going around, I wouldn’t leave your lot to waste time on this site — there is a pretty interesting game going on between Villa and Chelsea — so I’ll leave you with our squad composition and get back to watching that game.

First XI from: Kuszczak, Heaton, Brown, O’Shea, Simpson, Ferdinand, Vidic, Pique, Evans, Evra, Fletcher, Ronaldo, Nani, Eagles, Carrick, Hargreaves, Anderson, Giggs, Park, Tevez, Rooney, Saha.

Back to the game then. Discuss and I will get back with a good, good post game report. Honest!

Update: Dang! Chelsea equalised. Oh well, looks a good game nonetheless.

That boy Ronaldo showed nerves of steel to send United up, and within a point of leaders Arsenal. For our most fortuitous of wins, we have to thank the Portuguese lad - and Steven Pienaar’s moment of indiscretion - as a resolute Everton team made a result look highly unlikely, till that point.

We dominated possession and had loads of chances, but it looked like one of those days, where even if one were to be presented with a mile wide goal one would miss. For all the possession, we never really looked like scoring.

Continue reading “Ronaldo to the Rescue… Again”

I had a good Saturday which was only tempered by that good-for-nothing Robbie Keane who couldn’t score a penalty past Almunia.

But today is a new day and one hopes we put several past the other Scouse team to make it a good Sunday.

In team news, we should expect Rio, Tevez and Brown to start; apparently they had some knocks soon after the Liverpool game. I suppose the partying (and subsequent bollocking from SAF) would have been enough to shake them up.

Not much else in team news, and I expect the same team of last week to start this time round. I am feeling a little lazy today. So I will link you all to several previews.

BBC’s Preview
Preview on Soccernet

My Prediction: 2-0 to United.

Alright then, I’m off now. See you after the game!

Well, well, well. We have lot’s to talk about, don’t we? So let’s get started on our daily waffle.

Continue reading “Reds’ New Signing | United Rich For Real? | Lyon Draw”

Another good morning, all.

Not much happening around. There was the Carling Cup where Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea and some other team, that I am unable to recall, managed to progress. But who cares about the Carling Cup anyway!

Continue reading “On Drunk Orgies and Transfer Speculation”

So the festive season is well and truly on. The Anfield win just makes things feel a lot more special. However, the busy period has just begun and we will be stupid if we thought the title has been all but wrapped up. We have another Scouse team to deal with — in the form of Everton — and they have proven this season that they are no mugs. More on them when we get closer to the date of the clash.

Meanwhile, Cristiano must be feeling a wee bit sick in the stomach. After being kept quiet for much of the Liverpool game, he would have been shocked to see himself finish third — behind Lionel Messi — in the FIFA World Player of the Year Award. It’s one thing finishing second best on two previous awards. But finishing behind a player who, despite his obvious talents, has not really won anything of note and yet is in the fray, would be rather gutting for an ambitious lad like Ronaldo.

Oh well, the FIFA Awards are a sham; sour grapes, and all that.

Continue reading “Transfer Talk: Lahm and Benzema | Evra’s Contract”