Red Rants

Morning one and all. Today we face Dynamo Kyiv, the Ukranian Champions, in our Champions’ League group fixture. Must be exciting, eh?

It must be exciting, wouldn’t it? All United games have to be exciting. Something about it being the United way and all that. But then we are wasting a little time talking about things that are old hat and not the thing at hand. So let’s get down to talking about the game, shall we?

Continue reading “Dynamo Kyiv vs Manchester United: Preview”

Finally, we return to some real football. The two week break has looked like two months, and I just can’t wait for the action to resume. Prior to the break, we seemed to be getting back in our stride as we brushed Wigan aside in a breathtaking second half display. However, it remains to be seen if we’ve managed to retain any of the momentum that we built over that game.

So will it be another scrappy game where we just get by with a 1-0 win? Or would it be a frustrating draw or, worse, a loss?

Continue reading “Aston Villa vs Man United: Preview”

So we take on Wigan today in a post-noon kick off. It’s one team we’ve had good results against in recent times. So one would hope that, against a team with such a wretched away record as them, (and us, with such an outstanding home record this season) there could be only one possible result in this game.

But let’s keep our feet on the ground for the moment, shall we?

Continue reading “United vs Wigan: Preview”

Sorry for the late post. Some late nights burning the midnight oil had me groggy eyed. Although that shouldn’t stop me from writing a short preview for the readers of this blog. So here goes…

We’ll kick it off with some words from the manager, which you can see over here on Sky Sports (video link). He tries to be as diplomatic as he can. He gives them the benefit, accepts that they are a good team - which they are, going forward at least - and does say that the 7-1 win is not something one would see very often.

Continue reading “Man Utd vs Roma: Preview”

We visit St Andrews Stadium to play Steve Bruce’s men today. The Birmingham players would feel confident after managing to hold Liverpool to a draw last week. If they manage to escape with points today, they would feel very good about their chances of survival this season.

Brucie’s made his team rather tough to beat, bringing in his combative qualities. They will do what many teams have been doing against us — park the bus, and stay extremely disciplined in defence.

Continue reading “Brum vs Reds: Preview”

Morning all. ‘Massive’ game against Coventry today. The sky blues fans are certainly excited about the game. Moreover it would be a big game for the young ‘uns who would be looking to make a mark. I wonder if any channel is willing to telecast this game. It looks highly unlikely, at the moment. So we would have to make do with some indifferent radio commentary and post match reports tomorrow.

Anyway, on to the teams.

Continue reading “Man Utd vs Coventry City: Preview”

Morning all. Big game today. Especially important after seeing the ‘dippers drop points against Birmingham. Finally they seem to be getting results like the Liverpool we know. Arsenal are still motoring along, unbeaten, but then they were playing Derby.

Anyway, ideally, a preview should have been in order. But, instead, I decided to have a small change this time round. Read on to find out.

Continue reading “Blog Chat: Scott of Republik of Mancunia | Chelsea Preview”

Staying awake for 48 hours is really crap. It drains your brain to the extreme. That was the case with me, thanks to some truckloads of work that I spent yesterday asleep for over 12 hours. Hence some slacking off in the blog. I do have a real life too, apparently. So there.

So Sporting Lisbon hosts us today as we bring our hometown boys in Ronaldo and Nani. So let’s get to the preview before I run off to sleep, again!

Continue reading “Sporting Lisbon vs Man Utd - Preview”

United visit Everton after a very long international break - which really seemed to go on for ages - and face a tough game at Goodison Park. The Blues are having a very good season, even on points with Liverpool. A win for us would send us to the top of the table - for exactly 45 minutes (at least!) - before Liverpool play Portsmouth.

For us, Fletcher and O’Shea appear certain injury casualties. Both picked them up on international duty. Otherwise, the return of Ronaldo and Saha to our starting line-up would be the best thing to happen to our side in a long while. Tevez should start alongside Saha but I wonder if the long trip from Australia - where the Argies played them in a friendly - would have any bearing on his fitness. We’ll have to wait and see.

Gary Neville continues his rehabilitation as he hopes to return for the Chelsea game, while Rooney would want to be back, at least on the bench, by then.

Goodison Park promises to be a tricky venue for us and in Yakubu lies a familiar tormentor. The Nigerian has managed to nick goals past us for Boro. Him and Andrew Johnson would keep our defence quite busy. Arteta would be their creative influence, and in Joleon Lescott, they have an in-form player.

We have an early kick off, while Rafa Benitez has shot his mouth off about overhauling the schedule and complaining about early kick-offs, especially after international games. To be fair, he does have a point though. The international games are a major evil during a season and surely FIFA could do something about their scheduling. Although I am not really well-placed to suggest a concrete alternative. At the moment though, clubs have to deal with it and stop complaining.

Back to the game, we expect a pretty well-fought game.

Prediction: United to win 2-1 (Saha and Ronaldo to score.) United to just nick the win.

Anyway, it’s nice to see the lads back in action, and hopefully those of you hibernating during the break would be back to our comment threads in full swing with your rants! Keep them coming. And while you are ranting away, if you thought our site was worth your time you might find it reasonable of us to expect you to vote for Red Rants. We promise you it wouldn’t take you more than 2 minutes to register and vote. (Seriously, just 30 votes so far? Surely there are more readers here!) Hurry up!

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So the Mackems head to Old Trafford for a game which sees the return of a lot of familiar faces. Most prominent among them is manager Roy Keane himself. It’s also a side that has other ex-Reds such as Liam Miller, Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke, Danny Higginbotham, Kieran Richardson and Paul McShane.

Now that is a lot of ex-Reds. Anyhow, given the run we’ve had so far we would be anything but sympathetic about Sunderland’s situation and the players should be expected to be in a murderous mood to get some momentum going in the run in to the Chelsea game.

Continue reading “Preview: Reds vs FC Ireland (a.k.a Roy Keane’s Sunderland)”