While I’ve always wanted to devote posts with regular news-y bit,s I’ve tried to look around for a solution that helps me post links without much hassle and with a few choice remarks of my own suffixing them. I think I’ve finally found a neat way of easily posting them in a batch, by date, on a daily basis, and will be trialling it starting tomorrow.
So don’t panic if you see a post popping up tomorrow looking slightly different. (Or maybe not looking slightly different, if things work out fine in the back end.)
Hopefully you’ll all like it. And if I’m satisfied with it I’ll be glad to stick with it — and will make this a daily feature.
If you think you’d like to bring to my notice interesting links you’ve encountered during the day, do feel free to post them in the comments or send them to me through the contact page (can be found in the top menu of this site.)
Just as the dust has almost settled after the dismal performance against Birmingham, we get the fantastic news about our financial situation. The doomsday soothsayers are out in force and every Manchester United fan in the land is slightly worried. Apparently the club are in crisis. So what better time to be facing a team that has just changed coach? Burnley visit Old Trafford later today and this could well prove the match that gets our season back on track.
Continue reading “Manchester United vs Burnley: Preview”
United’s surprise defeat at Turf Moor back in August was the first signal that Burnley meant business in the Premier League but with Owen Coyle gone fresh questions are being asked about the Claret and Blues’ survival.
Former Sheffield Wednesday manager Brian Laws was the surprise choice to replace Bolton-bound Coyle and a trip to Old Trafford is hardly an ideal opening fixture.
The champions’ home is still a fortress with a lone defeat and draw against eight wins from ten league games. Under Coyle, there were stark differences between Burnley’s home and away form – 19 points at Turf Moor, one on the road – and the question for bettors is whether that will continue in the Laws era.
For those considering a bet, the odds point to an overwhelming home victory to cheer the Old Trafford faithful so how should we approach this game?
Continue reading “Betting Preview: Manchester United set to thump Burnley”
… for the Soccerlens Awards 2009.
Yes, it’s that time of the year again. There are several categories and before the actual voting begins, sometime in the near future, sites have to be nominated. So if you think we deserve to be on the list of nominees, then go on, nominate us. Here’s how you do it:
1. Go here.
2. Select the category that fits us best (I think Team blog, Team Specific Writer, and Community. But if you think there are others that may have slipped our notice feel free to nominate us there.)
3. Copy-paste the award categories list in an email, list your nomination for each as many categories as you care about, and then send it through email to awards@soccerlens.com. And please do nominate other football sites / blogs that you might read.
Cheers.
The Guardian has been rattling off story after story on the Glazer debt, giving me an image of a press room chock full of Shakespearean monkeys rattling away feverishly at their keyboards. And, whilst some of them have gotten repetitive, quite a few of them have been good reads.
The blogosphere isn’t far behind though, and there is some good material going around over there too.
Continue reading “Media Avalanche of Glazer-Debt Stories Gathers Pace”
Let’s be clear here: let’s just stop making excuses for our team. We can go on about our dominant possession; throw stats out in the air on how much of pitch area our players covered. And perhaps go on a rant about sides parking their bus against us. Or, how unfair Cameron Jerome’s goal was.
But what’s the point?
Continue reading “Questions Continue to be Asked of United After Another Draw”
Manchester United are back in action this weekend after the midweek postponement of the Carling Cup semi-final. The F.A. Cup 3rd Round loss to Leeds United has been hard to swallow, with many of the team in for harsh criticism, so expect two things against Birmingham later today. First, a number of changes and second, the dreaded United backlash.
A week dwelling on an embarrassing defeat is almost over and the team will be looking to make amends at St. Andrews, but it will be by no means an easy match. Birmingham are unbeaten in 11 Premier League matches and have equaled the record set in 1907/08, ironically, a run which ended with a 1-0 loss to Manchester United on 29th February 1908. They have also kept nine clean sheets so far this term, only Chelsea have done better.
Continue reading “Birmingham City v Manchester United: Preview”
While I’m on a linking spree let me add this one too.
United Rant has a very good break down of the debt situation — this is in light of our mooted interest in exchanging our “debt for bonds”. Those who don’t want to break their head to understand the financial intricacies, can read Ed’s piece which tries to explain it to a lay person.
When you’re done laughing at City (linked in the last post) it’s time to get a dose of reality here.
… that United is a better supported club than City, then here’s some proof:
1. City don’t seem able to sell all their tickets for their first semi-final in 30 years.
2. We’ve had better attendances than City every season since the 40s.
This is akin to saying the sun is brighter than the moon, but some people would like definitive proof even today.
I woke up at 6:45am in time for the 7am kickoff, my local time. I was up late the previous night; stayed up till 4am, in fact. But late nights are quite common during weekends, by my standards. About 60 minutes into the game, overwhelmed by a combination of weariness and an unprecedented ennui watching the game, I gave in and involuntarily dozed off. In my mind the game played on as Rooney fashioned a comeback 3-1 win.
When I woke up, I carried on with my day, only to fire up the Guardian a few hours later to read the match report. Only then did the 0-1 scoreline dawn on me. Funny story — not much on poignance value — but true.
Continue reading “Taking stock, post-Leeds.”
