So far, the biggest loser from the signing of Dimitar Berbatov has been Carlos Tevez. He didn’t get on the pitch at all against Chelsea, failed to gel with the Bulgarian against Notlob, and was relegated to the bench for the games against Aalborg and Blackburn. His industry whilst on the pitch haven’t been rewarded with goals, and at the same time Rooney is returning to something like his best form.

And yet talks are on-going to make his contract permanent by paying MSI (the company who “owns” him) an eye-watering sum, reported to be around £32m. Which is more than we paid for Berba or, for that matter, anyone else. Ever. Spot the disconnect? Doesn’t take a genius.

Continue reading “The Tevez Problem”

Things one can do during international breaks:

• Refresh Newsnow for updates on the latest 12 year old sensation
• Watch reruns of Law and Order
• Try to maintain interest in Heroes despite the show losing its first season magic.
• Listen to some football podcasts if it helps
• Go to work.
• Try other sports.
• Listen to (and watch) John McCain’s laugh — on loop.
• Try to listen to Sarah Palin speak but end up looking at her.

Continue reading “United News During International Breaks”

James Ducker on Times Online

The good news for the other Barclays Premier League clubs is that Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick and Owen Hargreaves are injured and Cristiano Ronaldo has yet to find his best form. The bad news is that Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov are starting to hit the high notes, Darren Fletcher and Anderson are no mugs in central midfield, Ryan Giggs continues to defy the years, Rio Ferdinand appears to be impregnable at the back and Ronaldo will start destroying the opposition, as he did so often last season, soon.

Mike Adamson on the Guardian:

This was a glimpse of the future. For 11 minutes here, Manchester United’s forward line read Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez, Cristiano Ronaldo and Dimitar Berbatov, the first time the fab four have been fielded together. It was short-lived but the quartet sparkled both individually and collectively, suggesting they will soon become the world’s most devastating attack.

Continue reading “Thoughts on Blackburn and the Weekend action”

Blackburn away has always been a little tricky. At the moment they are above us in the table, and one would hope this is only an aberration. Today is the day to set things right as we attempt to scale the heights of the league table, before the players depart towards their international sojourn.

Continue reading “Blackburn v Man Utd: Preview”

It was interesting to hear Fergie make comparisons recently to the Treble-winning squad. He particularly alluded to having a pool of strikers who he could rotate through the season, drawing parallels with the Yorke, Cole, Solskjaer and Sheringham quartet. However, whilst the strength in depth of our squad is at least equal to the Treble boys (and probably superior), there is one major difference that makes other comparisons irrelevant:

We have no idea what our best team is.

Continue reading “The Debate on United’s First Eleven”

United won a game that I thought wasn’t exhilarating for a 3-0 scoreline, as a spectacle. Perhaps the 10,000 odd strength of the stadium made it look like a kick about at a Sunday league game. No disrespect to the fans of Aalborg, who to their credit sang their lungs out, but when I heard the commentator mention about a section of fans holding a banner with “Welcome to hell!” written on it, I thought they had a really good sense of humour — a heated cauldron with mentalists baying for blood was certainly not a picture that came to mind.

Continue reading “Thoughts on the Aalborg win and reactions”

Fergie was in particularly non-cooperative mood with the press, basically telling the English media to fuck off. He cites the misquote (that Chelsea were too old for the title) in South Africa as a reason why they won’t hear from him again. Of course he had to attend the pre-match conference according to UEFA rules, so we do have quotes from him.

Continue reading “Aalborg v Man Utd: Preview”

No, it wasn’t a penalty; everyone by now would testify. I’m not sure if Ronaldo dived, as lot of pundits would claim — though, I think he could have stood his ground. But it was the sort of break you needed in the game to come away with a win.

Continue reading “Man Utd 2-0 Bolton: Ref Reprieve Earns Win”

A quiet few days later, United return to a Premier League game that’s at home. The start has been gruelling for us with the injuries and the fixture list, among a few reasons, but if Fergie’s prophecy — that we’ll be fine by October — is to ring true, today would be a game we should be looking to stamp our authority.

Bolton haven’t been particularly stellar, and at home one should expect us to knock them over easily. The question, though, is how.

Continue reading “Man Utd v Bolton: Preview”

Our sluggish start to the season has been much discussed and much lamented. All sorts of reasons have been offered up for this, many individual players have had their reputations torn apart. I think that a lot of people can’t see the wood for the trees, and are missing either the main reason why we’re struggling or have lost focus on it because it has been going on for so long. So let me remind you: we’re in the middle of an injury crisis.

Continue reading “The Effects of the Injury Crisis”