May 16
Arsenal Preview: Will United do it?
Arsenal visit OT after a run of brutally demoralising results against us and a Chelsea side that was gutted only three days prior.
United play Arsenal with the knowledge that they don’t need to win, but this current side, with the awareness of making things easier, by winning it today and cooling their heels against Hull, drilled into them by the manager would know better than to relax today.
Or so, one would hope.
I am not really sure how cracking this encounter is going to be; one side with everything to play for while the other with nothing — not even pride, surely — to play for.
United’s dominance of Arsenal over the two legs of the Champions’ League, and Arsenal’s performances against the bigger opponents — so to speak — have had such an effect that, today will be perceived more of a victory march with the North London team reduced to a sideshow that must be surely painful for their fans.
It hasn’t been really good for the Gunners this season, and that United fans have expressed a lot of sympathy for Arsenal fans and their manager is more because of their status this season as an also ran, more than United fan arrogance.
But adversity can cause managers to say strange things. Benitez has been firm in his assertion that United have not been the best team in the league. He also says the last two games of the season must be played at the same time — like they do back home in Spain.
Tomorrow he’ll decide to say head to head record must be considered over goal difference — like they do back home in Spain.
And in a few months he’ll say siestas should be introduced in afternoon matches during half time — like they do back home in Spain. It will give players more energy to come back rejuvenated for the second half, he’d argue.
Wenger meanwhile says this has been Arsenal’s best season in recent times if you just disregard the situation they had in December, the Gallas injury, Toure and Gallas hating each other, injuries, the lack of a Flamini-type player, injuries, the lack of a good ‘keeper, injuries, and the last season, and injuries. But for all these setbacks, Arsenal have had their best season since their unbeaten season. In fact, if you disregard the games they drew and lost, they have gone an entire season winning all their games, the professor would say, but wouldn’t because the reporter cut him off in mid-speech.
Right, enough fooling around.
Fergie talked about resting some players owing to the tiring day’s work that Wigan away was — thanks, in no small part, to the heavy pitch. I think it’s better Fergie plays his best possible team — whatever that means — and do the business before sending the reserves against Hull.
I’d play Fletcher, Anderson and Carrick in midfield. Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez up front, with Vida, Evans, Evra, O’Shea and EVDS at the back. I’m sure, when the team sheet comes out, I’d have got most of that wrong.
Meanwhile Ferguson questions Gerrard’s award in the writers’ choice player of the year. He plumps for Vidic, but then this is a writers’ award and Ferguson is no writer — unless there is a magnum opus on chewing gum and turning red-faced hidden somewhere in some dusty crevice, waiting to be unleashed upon us — and we all know the difference in perspective writers and managers have on the game. Me? I am not losing sleep over why Gerrard won the award. All that matters to me now is, Gerrard = 0 Premiership titles (but next year will be the year, surely)
Prediction: 2-1 to United — there’s no way we’re going to have a clean sheet on either side today. Hopefully, Rio is fit for the final.
Come on ya reds!!!!
Related items from Red Rants:
- Man Utd v Everton: Preview
- Porto it is then…
- Portsmouth Preview
- Manchester United 2006/2007 Season Review
- The Manchester United Pledge
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (541)
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Craig Mc (344)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
@Craig Mc: @Craig Mc: This was before my time, but the Liverpool between 1975 and 1985 were in fact renowned for their defensive approach away from home.
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@Craig Mc: I agree mate. Where last year Ronaldo elevated our team and our play to dizzying standards, this year he has brought our play and the team attitude and chemistry down due to his poor play and the dissension I believe he creates. The fact he seems to get away with murder cannot be going over well with his teammates. He has become a selfish distraction and an annoyance and I for one still love him for his ability but have had more than my fill with his attitude. I don’t want him to go, but I think that it would be best for the team in the short run and in the long run.
Question of course is who replaces him? Truly, I am getting sick and fucking tired of noticing every player we target would rather play for Barca or Real. I am just sick of this fact and I’d like to know why more players are not interested in playing for the world’s best team? I especially get frustrated when I see a player like Ribery for example who would fit into our system and starting eleven like a glove still prefer to go to two teams that really don’t have a starting position in their lineup ready and perfect for him. Does Barca sit Henry or Messi down or does Iniesta sit?
It’s ludicrous how the ego’s of these players work because if they truly had an ounce of education and the brains to reason and think like logical people instead of like uneducated athletic muppets, they would realize that going to a winning team that has an outstanding spot open for them, is far better than going to a team that will force him to compete for playing time. Just frakken stupid beyond words. It’s not like we are asking him to come to Man Shitty.
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@Craig Mc: Our forwards were shite personified. Unbelievable how bad they were but lets also include the midfield that never provided one interesting and vital ball all game. Like I have said many times before, forwards are only as good as their service.
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@Craig Mc: Neville lifting the trophy FIRST is called a disgrace and a ripoff. He is a paper captain who hardly plays and if he had the courage and class of a David Beckham would have given up the captaincy one he realized he was no longer the first choice. I frakken hate him, the useless pratt.
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@NicoQB: Ibrahimovich is a loser, a coward and a lazy bastard that never shows up when the game is major and when it means something. He’s a classic no show choke artist and the game has to be in a crawl or even in slow motion for him to show some of his overrated tricks. The man is total rubbish. Sorry.
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@Craig Mc: You know the thing that gets to me is rafa and bloody ranting about money, i mean hes hardly been on a small budget has he and yet we still hear him saying we spend much more than he does. Well maybe winning trophies and having more ticket sales has something to do with us having more money.
And thats actually besides the point, the man claims we spend more than him but im pretty sure ive seen the spending figures for the last 5 years and they have comfortably outspent us everytime so where the hell does he get the balls to talk about that, fat spanish waiter.
I think the difference is he will spend £30 million on 6 mediocore players whilst we will buy 2 quality players, that aint nothing to do with money its just hes a crap talent spotter who goes for quantity over quality.
As for your comments on ronaldo i have to agree. I have been so frustrated at times with ronnie its unbelievable, he does appear to be getting preferential treatment and hate to say it but in many ways seems to do no wrong and is bigger than the club. I think to be honest fergie maybe is letting him get away with this through gritted teeth, he probably does feel ronnie is taking the piss but he doesnt want to loose him because really theres no 1 out there to replace him who is anywhere near as good as him. Were not talking about an older player past his prime or a player who can easily be replaced were talking about an excellent player, best in the world in my eyes whos in his prime and is head and shoulders above every1 else. Were he to leave whos good enough to replace him. Ribery is the best in my opinion but hes not as good as ronnie.
So i can see what your saying mate, ronaldo really pisses me off too and does act like a brat at times but i think fergie feels he has to take it cos hes such a big player and would be very hard to replace. Its maybe not right but thats the situation and its a complicated 1. Put ronnie in his place and risk loosing him or let him do as he please and keep him. Its a tough one.
So i
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@Craig Mc: I think that is one thing positive that we can gain from this championship. That we were still able to outpoint them when they were at their very best and when we were playing like crap for most of the season.
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@Craig Mc: I too believed 100% with all my heart that we would beat Barca but the last two games have me feeling the team might have peaked vs Arsenal last week. They look slow, tired and mentally wasted. Hopefully a week off will help them to get their “A” game back, by the 27th.
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@Darth Red Diablo: Ronaldo is a giant prick.
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@frankie: Our defense has been a rock for most of the season. In that area of the game we are truly excellent and they are the number one reason we are champions. But our attack wasn’t just cautious today. It was totally inept. Try driving a truck up hill without any fuel. Thats what we were like. And as well as we played defensively, Arsenal still had a few great chances to score where we had none. None and we were playing for a championship at home where we needed to win in order to allow resting our best for Rome.
They barely showed up today. Our skilled players in midfield and up front took the day off, and that for me is inexcusable but is quickly forgiven and forgotten because we weaseled out a single pathetic point that allowed to have half hearted and pathetic celebration at the end. I was just sick watching it because I expected us to come out and play like champions. Instead we played like chumps and pretenders. And that for me was an embarrassment. Liverpool have every reason in the world to make sure we never hear the end of it.
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@Darth Red Diablo: I still possess the evil mate. I just channel it differently and use it for special occasions like today.
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@Craig Mc: Good point mate. I can understand playing that style against European competition but playing that style of garbage in the EPL is just not right and doesn’t sit well with me.
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@Jon: I got to admit, I am in a piss poor mood and feel Liverpool were better than us all season, but that was a funny writeup. It helps me make todays game more of a faded memory and allows me to just concentrate on the post game celebrations and the fact that despite all our weaknesses and pathetic play this season, we are still number one and the Scouser can cry in their scouse stew all year long thinking about what could have and should have been. As they say, close only counts in horseshoes and had grenades.
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@Fred The Red: Great point, but that does not excuse the fact that our new style of play has to also be included in the EPL where we play the likes of Hull, Stoke and Bolton. The EPL should be used for the players to let it all hang out and turn on the style and the flash. Not be inhibited by utilitarian pragmatism and conservative play that is designed to slow everything down and just keep possession. That’s what you do to beat Italian teams, not West Bromwich.
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@antsBoy: Trust me, I’m more upset about today than how we played all season. I could not believe my eyes today that I was watching an Alex Ferguson managed Man Utd outfit playing at home for an 18th League championship. What I saw was Stoke City wearing Red and white and masquerading as United. It was for me a very hard pill to swallow because one of the things I like to use in judging the greatness of a club is how they play when it’s crunch time and the championship is on the line. Trust me, many of you would be singing my song today had this been the Champions League final and the 0-0 went to penalty kicks and we lost. We were awful out there today and looked nothing like worthy champions.
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@Dan: I’ll remember you said that after the final. Pray he doesn’t beat us with his play because you will get the wrath of Grognard for throwing a JINX like that on this blog.
Not to mention anew nickname or handle like “Dan is a frakken jinx and he knows it!” 
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@Fred The Red: Widemen were not as overly used back then but I remember a player in the 70′s named Steve Heighway who was pretty damned good. And their central midfield with the likes of Souness, McDermott and others was pretty frakken outstanding. I was never a Pool fan but their team of the 70′s and 80′s were outstanding and extremely well coached and disciplined.
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@Liam: He’s just Dan. Sometimes he’ll say something outlandish just to get a rise out of us.
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@Craig Mc: Liverpool won 5 European Cups playing very safe defensive tactics mate. I have all five games on DVD and everyone of those games was won with strict defensive discipline and taking advantage of counter attacks and set plays. They were not an outstanding attack oriented club. More of a well balanced and and hard working club. They were closer to Mourinho’s Chelsea than they were to our great attacking teams of the past.
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@Grognard: What you are saying is hogwash mate, during Liverpools dominant years we beat them on a regular basis, does that mean that we were the better team, no it doesnt.
You point out the fact that we have been beaten more times than them, but you fail to point out that we won more games than them.
Stats can be interprated many ways my friend and can also be very decieving, but the bottom line is this, the best and most consistent team over 38 games finishes on top of the pile.
I will admit that Liverpool at thier peak this season were a bigger handful than us us most of the time, but Liverpool only hit thier peak at certain times during the year, the other times they were average as an attacking force and this shows in the number of draws they played out, so over the course of the season they might have reached thier highs more often than us, but thier lows were lower than ours, and that over the marathom of a season makes us the better team.
In every competition that we entered we went further, in all four of them we were more successful than liverpool, so if you want to say that they are a better side than us be my guest, our position in the league table, the Carling Cup sitting in our cabinet, our further progress in the FA Cup and our future trip to Rome tells me when the going got tough, the tough got going.
Remember this Grog, if you have two cars, and one can of them can go at 120 MPH top speed, and the other at 150 MPH but for whatever reason it has failed to reach its top very often, the fact is, its still a faster car even if it only went at 120 MPH for most of the time, United are the faster of the two cars, and the ability to find the extra speed when it mattered makes us the best.
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@Fred The Red: You are absolutely right mate. Pace and free flowing football was not their forte. Yes in the 70′s they had Keegan who offered a bit of that but they mostly had a very utilitarian and pragmatic side that bored opponents to death. They just didn’t make mistakes.
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@Grognard: I respect your opinions mate and always find them thoughtful and well considered and I will admit that United were below par too often for my likng this season, but I still think that we are the better team mate and in the end it showed,
peace Bro.
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@Fred The Red: First off mate, by all means disagree with me and feel free to do so, but please do not insult me by calling my ideas hogwash. It doesn’t have to come to that. Be civil and show some class. I have every right to feel the way I do because that is what I am and who I am. I’m a nit picky perfectionist and those two losses to Liverpool this season in this very close race just rub me the wrong way. But I would have forgotten about them had we come out today and legitimately claimed the throne with three points and a resounding win. The way champions do. Instead we backed in to the championship through the back door. Just my opinion, whether you like it or not. And if you don’t agree, i’m fine with that, just spare me the insults.
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@Fred The Red: We are the better team because we have more points, but are we the better team when we match up against them? That I am not so sure of anymore. They beat us twice and the 4-1 loss at home will sit and fester in my soul for a very long time. And seems to bother Fergie a lot too because he keeps bringing it up and always making the sad excuse that the score flattered them. That’s a proud man who was embarrassed talking, and that’s how I feel too.
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@Fred The Red: Also remember this, my criticism over the team is for just their EPL run and not the other competitions. We are the best team in the world because we can go so far in all those competitions. Liverpool clearly couldn’t. But as for the EPL alone, yes we are champions but by the skin of our teeth.
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@Grognard: Hogwash is just a figure of speech that probably conveys a stronger or more negative opposoition of your views than I intended mate, no offence was intened.
The two Pool defeats do not sit well with me me either Grog, but my honest opinion on them was that in both games Liverpool did not outplay us and were fortunate in 5 of thier six goals.
But what they did do in the two games that made them deserving winners was that they outfought us, they out hussled us, they pressurised us into making stupid mistakes and for this they deserve credit.
If it boils down to a pure football match then Rafa knows that we would win everytime so he has turned this match into a battle and we will continue to have have problems with Liverpool in a head to head until we first match them in the ugly stuff and by not letting them back into the maych by siily mistakes after taking the lead, eg, Osheas og at Anfield and Vidics brainsorm at OT.
The OT defeat was a freak Grog, yes they desreved to win coz they pressured us into making silly mistakes, but if you look at the goals mate not one of them was well crafted and all of them were very preventable.
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@Grognard: I don’t think it was by the skin of our teeth. For every close game we had (Villa, Wigan, and Sunderland come to mind), Liverpool equaled us (City, and other I cannot recall right now…).
There is NO WAY they have more right to be champions. Yes, we were not pretty this year as you mentioned, but we did not have a 2 month slum after New Years nor did we throw away a 5 pt lead at christmas.
Sure they beat the top team in EPL but it means nothing if you cannot beat the minnows first – once again Liverpool prioritized poorly and it cost them on all levels.
Yes we have more money to spend than they do but we are also a more successful club.
Grognard, you are a football connoisseur and I respect it, but I cannot follow you logic in claiming that liverpool deserved the EPL – following the car-analogy, they over-revved their engine and it cost them.
I am happy today, despite waking up at 8 AM and watching garbage for 2 hours. Once again, we did our task, which was avoid playing full strength at Hull City.
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@Grognard: another way of looking at it Grog is by asking if Liverpool would be worthy winners considering the number of draws that they had, I personally dont think so.
Its not the first time that we have finished above a team that lost less games than us during the season mate, the only difference this time is that in the head to heads we came out second best this time and as I siad in the above posts, there are lessons to be learned from both defeats, but I will put it down to two bad days at the the office, but having seen what way Rafa intends to play against us I will be very disspointed if we let do the same next season, coz our defeats to them this year were more down to them stopping us playing than them outplaying us.
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@Fred The Red: Preventable but the fact is they weren’t prevented. And lets not forget that they did score 6 goals in two games. It doesn’t matter how well crafted the goals were, they all count the same. We could only score two against them and that is the bottom line.
When one judges two teams over a marathon there are a lot of circumstances and 18 other teams that have a lot to do with one team’s success over others. Luck, timeliness and avoiding long injuries to key personal have a lot to do with who wins. Considering how much time both Gerrard and Torres have missed this season, I don’t think it’s out of line to say that had they been healthy for most of the season, they may be in first right now. The other factor is the opposition. Playing Arsenal two months ago was a more daunting task than playing them today. Well Liverpool had to play them when they were in better form. We probably played a lot of teams when they were in better form while Liverpool got lucky and generally, those things even out, but not always.
Thats why the two head to head battles say a lot to me. Last year we beat them twice and they couldn’t shit to us because they were our bitches and they finished 4th. But this year they could conceivably finish one point behind us. And for me, that is one hell of a point considering they made their point and got six points playing us head to head. I’m sorry but that 4-1 loss did a lot of damage to my heart and soul mate. Sure I am being overly dramatic about things, but it severely bruised my inflated United supporter ego badly. And yet, it wouldn’t have been so bad if we had won with some comfort and style today. At least I could say that when it was on the line, the club showed up and won it with power and class. Instead the played like a bunch of pregnant women to bloated to care.
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@Madschester United: We lose one game to any of those teams we l beat 1-0 and we finish second. It was a close run thing and it was definitely by the skin of our teeth. Also remember that despite the two losses to them this year, we only captured 5 out of a possible 18 points against the top three teams. Sorry but that is not the stats of a great champion. Where we won this title was being able to defend well and beat mediocre clubs early in the season by 1-0 while Chelsea and Liverpool were still searching for their mojo. Come the second half we were clearly the third best team in the EPL, and that is a fact, as the Fat Waiter would say.
In the end, all this will be forgotten and i will celebrate with all of you because in ten and twenty years from now, nobody will remember how we won the title or by how much. They will just remember that we won it. But for right now, I can’t get past the obvious. That being that we back our way into a the championship. Today we never played like Champions. We played like a tired old team hanging on for dear life. It was sad to see.
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@Grognard: Hate to think how you’d feel if we ever didn’t win the league. I’m sorry mate, but you seem to look at the dark side way too much.
!!
Today is a day of celebration, we won the league, beat Liverpool at it, and Chelsea and Arsenal and who ever else you’d like to mention . Over 38 games we are the very best, because it’s not really the teams you beat but how often you beat teams. We did better than anyone else over the course of a grueling season and deserved our spoils without any reservation.
Today we were a very tired looking bunch, mentally and, in the second half, physically, and narrowly eked out any kind of result at all. But once again we proved that we could win (or draw) the games we really have to.
Regardless of your post-season slaying, I take my hat off to these young gladiators and will drink merrily to them all this evening
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UNITED : 11 Premier Leagues
Blackburn : 1 Premier League
Liverpool. ZERO PREMIER LEAGUES
CHAMPIOOOOOOONES !
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@Madschester United: Bullshit, they fought hard and won this title because of their grit. Why would you try to take this away from a young squad that, for most of them, are just growing their teeth in the European game.
For all of you that say Liverpool was a more worthy winner, I suggest you go here. Oh and stay there!!
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@Traverse: My man, fucking Champions!!!!
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@Redrich: have to agree with you there mate, in my opinion it was a well deserved title and we showed over the season in all the competitions that we were the better side.
Your also right in saying that we are a young team coz when you take away the old stagers and look at the core of our team then I think we have reasons to be very optimistic for the future.
Four seasons ago we barely finished in Chelseas slipstream and failed to emerge from the group stages in thr Champions league, the empire has crumbled was the cry from the media, the balance of power has shifted they said.
I honestly thought back then that major rebuilding over a 2 or 3 year period was needed to get us back to the top, three years later we have won 3 titles, semi finalist in CL, winners of CL and a final to come, you couldn’t make this up.
In a strange sort of way this team is still in transition, with a group of young players ready to take the reigns from players like Scholes, Giggs and Neville, and being led by new old stagers like Evra, Ferdinand and Carrick. Even the young guns that Im talking about like Rooney, Ronaldo and Nani are 3 or 4 years older than the new kids on the block like the Da Silvas, Macheda and even Anderson who people seem to forget is only 20 or 21 and throw in the kid Ljajic in Belgrade, who some say is the hottest young player in Europe at the minute, and I think you will agree, things are not too bad at the minute.
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@Grognard: what if Liverpool hadnt of stolen those games late on early in the season, what if thier opponents hadnt have had a man sent off when they were either drawing or beating liverpool at the time and how many points would Liverpool have won if they hadnt have been playing against ten men on eight or nine different occasions this season. These type of arguments can be made both ways and are purely hypothetical. Dont forget, they were seven points clear at one stage, they simply did not do what was required, we did, and thats why we are champions. Your entitled to your opinion mate. and we all would probably agree that we did not hit the hieghts of last season, but the best team is the team that finishes top, and that team is United.
Liverpool might be closing the gap, but until they finish on top a gap still remains, coz ultimate success is not beating United in two games, but in finishing top of the pile come May.
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@Fred The Red: I have to admit that I couldn’t see this coming in November. It could have been “just one of their seasons”, with a lot of poor individual performances, and an attacking force looking lik they couldn’t penetrate a whore on a Saturday night in Amsterdam.
But with guidance , they have shown a massive willingness to prove their desire to win and dominate their counterparts!
It’s only fitting that to clinch our title we beat out a team that professes to be the ideal janitors of the youth movement. We showed that its really not just youth but the maturation of youth that allows your team to progress.
I do beleive , that we are now in pole position to dominate the European game for years to come and without a major shift in our direction, I just can’t think of a reason why not!!
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@Redrich: it was a strange run in for me as well, coz although I must admit that I dont think we ever hit the same high points as last season, for some reason even in the games were we were behind and struggling to play our game, I just knew that they would find a way, it happened too often for it to be put down to luck or good fortune, and for a team that contains so many young or youngish players it speaks volumes of their determination and self belief.
When you think about it and ponder some of our results and how we got them, the mental toughness of this team is incredible.
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@Redrich: I’ve handled that a lot better than you think. Four years ago I wasn’t upset because we just weren’t good enough. I don’t demand the impossible form those who cannot deliver it. This team is great and has stars 22 players deep. There is no excuse for them to come out like they did today and go through the motions. I’m getting a lot of heat for being the only one with the balls to say hurrah for the championship but you looked like shit today and were very average all season long. Sometimes the truth just infuriates people because they are so drunk and happy from celebrating. I look at a season like this the way Eisenhower and Churchill looked at the end of D-Day. We took the beaches but it was unfortunate to lose all those boys in the process. Yes we won the league but we stunk in the process and let ourselves get embarrassed a few times on the way. It was an ugly win because take a few goals away early in the season and instead of winning the title, we finish 2nd. It was a close run thing. Believe me I am happy and relieved but I am also pissed off in the manner we won it today and I still cannot forget 4-1 for Liverpool at OT. That had to be the lowest I have felt in a long time when it comes to watching the game. Even watching my beloved Germany loses World Cup or Euro finals didn’t hurt that much.
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@antsBoy: Thanks mates!! I actually put it up on facebook, and got a reply from a fucking Scouser fan with “Dear United, Of Course It’s Our Fault”.Never got around to reading that bullshit anyways.
Nah, mate. That doesn’t deserve to be a post. But it just summed up what I feel about those fucking Scousers. Legends of the past, end of.
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@Grognard: I fail to see HOW you or any other United fan could HATE ‘United thru and thru’ RED NEV – I’m shocked to hear you talk about Gary like that Bro
.
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@Grognard: The games against Liverpool, I feel, have little or no say in terms of who deserved to be champions. I admit we were outdone, or rather, we commited professional suicide, giving up the lead in both matches, and going on to lose miserably. The thing is, we were more than capable of producing the 3-0 whipping we gave them last season, but we somehow didn’t. I believe it was a freakish result, and one that will not repeat itself next season. Trust me, United will shit over Liverpool at Old Trafford next season.
What we must consider as credentials to be worthy champions is the squad depth, the attitude of the players, the ability of the players, and above all, the amount of points we rack up. Before yesterdays game, we had won 18 out of our last 20 games, 12 of those wins had clean sheets…I would say we are not at our most potent offensively, but this season, we won the title on our defensive capabilities. However, that is a run of great form that only champions would have. We saw Chelsea do it two seasons ago, and we said that that is how leagues are won: long runs of successful results. We have produced it here, and I believe that the most important statistic would be the positioning on the Premier League table.
Last season, we really won the league by the ‘skin of our teeth’. THAT was skin of our teeth, mate. Having no option but to go for the 3 points away from home on the final day of the season to win on goal difference. That’s tight and close. This season, the only reason why Liverpool kept going top was our game in hand. If we had both played equal games, we would be soaring high above them, as we are now, for a big part of the season. I thought that despite Liverpool’s best efforts, they didn’t come close to ever really challenging our title. I had no doubt from January onwards that we were going to win the title, despite any possible hiccups on the way. Liverpool have exceeded my expectations, but have still fallen short of what is required to be true champions.
I feel your disappointment in the way we won the title. I must say that compared to last season, this season just quickly fades away in my memory. I feel that the season hasn’t even begun, really! The way we played left much to be desired. Unlike last season, where we knew we can score and leave the opponent for dead after hitting them with 4, I had to struggle at times to imagine our team scoring. I feel that I enjoyed my football alot more last season compared to this one, because United were not at their attacking best. However, we cannot say that we do not deserve to be champions. We do. It’s just that the team didn’t do it the way we would have loved them to. But we are champions, deserving, nonetheless.
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@Fred The Red: Just ask yourself one question and be honest with yourself when you answer it. If the roles were reversed and it was United in second place and united with only two losses and United with more goals scored and United with two big victories over Liverpool, would you be saying the same thing. That Liverpool were worthy champions? I think not.
Most of us are fickle winners and we are fickle losers too. I just look at things with a little more perspective and insight. And theres nothing wrong with it because even though I am displeased with the way we won, I am overjoyed that we did win. Because like I said earlier, in 10 or 20 years from now, nobody will remember who finished second and by how many points and nobody will remember that they beat us in two games. They will only remember that in 2008/09 Man United were crowned EPL champions. I get that. So let me have my few days of bitter contemplation from the perspective of an elitist and perfectionist who wanted the victory to feel more inspired and more deserved.
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@Fred The Red: Fair do’s then Fred mi Old Bro
, I guess some of us Young Uns are too, too, spoilt 
. I still want to keep being spoilt though Fred, because it means Man United will still be Top of the Tree 
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@Craig Mc: Sorry mate, I’m being honest. Something about that ugly Franck Ribery lookalike has always bugged me. For years I have called him an overrated albatross on the United defensive back four as well as Englands. Unlike you and so many others, his numerous errors stick in my mind more than most. When Neville blows a marking assignment or just gets skinned, nobody does it better. He invented the art of losing focus on his marker and letting the guy steal a shot or header on the back post. He’s not a bad crosser but for me the guy was just not that good. Honestly, he wasn’t that much better than his brother Phil. He may be United through and through but there is no law that says just because he is United player, I must love him. Not even close. If I was running the club he would have been sold before 2000.
Again, sorry Bro, but I am being honest. There has never been a team I love in any sport that I follow that hasn’t had at least one player that rubbed me the wrong way. United have had several. Neville is king of the lot though. I also wasn’t a big fan of Andy Cole and Nicky Butt. Cole especially used to drive me crazy because even with all his goals, the guy needed ten shots to score one goal. He was a totally inept shooter and could miss more sitters than one could ever imagine. And lets not forget my ever lasting love for Mr. Balsa Boy himself Louis Saha. What a slug of a human being that walking injury list was.
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@Grognard: Contrary to what you think it doesn’t take real balls to say we stunk today. Yes we stunk, but who gives a flying fuck right now when we won, what is, a historic title for the club?
Today, and a couple of days would be a good time to have an unconditionally, blinkered celebration. Enjoy the day when you are meant to enjoy as a fan. It’s what most fans live for. Retrospection would come, and I will certainly get back to it in a few days’ time when the season gets over. But I think it’s a pretty good time to just enjoy the moment.
Of course, you could rain on the parade right now, you’re welcome, but we’d be a little too caught up in emotion to actually give you a sober response or debate with you about it — which, I’m sure you might want.
Check back in a week or two, and you will have a debate.
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@Jon: I’m hearing a lot of coulda woulda shoulda when it comes to Liverpool. What I am not hearing though is people fessing up to the fact they beat us twice and once badly at home. And those games had a great bearing on our season because if we win those games we win the league comfortably and then there is no doubting who the real champions are. But those two wins buoyed the Liverpool cause and gave them the confidence and impetus to fight on and so in the end we win by 1 or 3 points, we can always say that it was our luck against one of those minnows that we beat 1-0 that really was the difference between us being champions, and us finishing second. Not exactly something to stand up straight and walk around with pride over.
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@Jon: For me as a supporter the season felt like a beast of burden. I never really enjoyed it that much. Sure there were a handful of games that were great but overall, it felt a lot like having sex with a really ordinary and plain looking girl after having broken up with your ex model girlfriend. Just left a sour taste in my mind and in my heart. It got to the point where i would record every game and not even bother labeling the dvd because I couldn’t be bothered. And I blame Ferguson for all of it. Yes the man is a legend and I will never question his game time decisions again, but honestly, he brought to the team this year a really boring pragmatic and totally utilitarian style of play direct from Italy for all of us to love and rave over. Fuck I am mad as Hell with him for fucking with the traditional style of play we are known for and that we have had more than enough success with to not panic into changing it. A tough pill to swallow this season, no doubt.
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@Grognard: We lost to Liverpool intentionally to lull them into a false sense of comfort and confidence, so that we can come back and crush them again.
It’s true.
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@Red Ranter:
, IS THAT the best you can come up with Boss? 
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