Red Rants

Amidst the supposed gloom and transfer kerfuffle, Manchester United, as if like an afterthought, return to playing action against Aberdeen tomorrow.

So much has one man taken the wind out of any success or pre-season, that so little is being talked about our forthcoming clash against a side with a rich history.

Continue reading “United Return to Action From Saturday As Queiroz Departs”

Behold! Squeaky bum time is approaching and approaching fast for Manchester United and if you think that I am talking about the remaining five fixtures that Fergie’s men have left in March, you are gravely mistaken. Nay, it is not March which worries me, but April… that is a different story.

Of Manchester United’s eighteen possible fixtures left, nine of them would be next month. Aside from the four Premier League fixtures, they could have an additional four Champions League games and, if they get past Portsmouth on Saturday, the FA Cup semi-final is conveniently placed between the two legs of the Champions League quarter-finals (in place of a Premier League fixture against Middlesbrough).

Oh, did I mention that they will also be taking on Arsenal and Chelsea?

So onto the actual fixtures:

Continue reading “Manchester United’s tough, tough April fixtures list”

There has been a lot of talk on midfielders in the comments section, I realise Penguin did a post on this topic, however, his was more centred on individuals whereas I will be looking at partnerships as well. And there is a big decision to be made by SAF on who to play in the centre of the park on Tuesday when we host Lyon in the second leg of the tie.

Continue reading “SAF’s European Headache”

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”

Update: Report will be in later on. Nothing to write about in all honesty though. We were utter crap but Vida bailed us out.

Even the official site confirms that Rooney will be in the squad. Personally I am apprehensive about playing Rooney so soon even if it is for ten minutes. I can’t believe SAF would take such a gamble, given his stance during the world cup last year. Granted, he’s not the sort to take risks on his top men - which would mean that Rooney has shown superhuman healing abilities (Claire Bennet, of Heroes fame, style )

But there is a chance that he is playing Rooney more out of desperation, in case we are faced with a dire situation.

Oh well, we’ll have to trust Fergie’s judgment on this one. Bring ‘em on! What do you reckon will be the formation?

We’ll try bringing you updates, but we can’t promise as in all likelihood we’ll be too busy watching the game. While you are waiting for the game you might head over and vote for Red Rants too. Or discuss away in the comments.

FULL TIME:
Saha showed what we’ve been missing all along this season. A target man. His introduction made so much of a difference. Makes one realize how important he was to our blazing start last season. A headed goal was something we were never likely to have got prior to this game. Speaks a lot about our season from now on, as we rely on an injury prone striker.

The game was scrappy, with plenty of possession but the ball given away numerous times. Evra however was immense, as he was in the first half. His tackling has also improved greatly. My man of the match by a mile. Hargreaves was also good, doing the tidying up job pretty well. Great buy indeed.

That’s it for now from me. Detailed match report later.

FIRST HALF:
United have been bossing possession, but have been clueless as far as making use of it. Familiar story, isn’t it? Eagles, Tevez, Anderson and Nani are our attacking quartet. Scholes and Hargreaves are in our midfield. Saha was on the bench. Nothing remotely threatening has come throughout the half, despite some 7 odd shots from outside the box.

Oh did I mention, Patrice Evra has been immense. Most of our promising build-ups have been from the left channel.

Sad story really. Pray lads, pray for your life that Saha has a blinder.

Half Time Substitution: Saha replaces a very quiet Anderson. Come on Louis!

Watch this space for updates. Hopefully I should bring you some! Won’t promise you though, if I get carried away by the game. Feel free to discuss away.

Watch this space for updates as we get match news.

Update: Nani scores. A scrappy win. But was it a pleasant sight! Anyway, still plenty of cracks to paper over. All in the report tomorrow. Sorry for not updating as promised, but I will get out a decent enough match report to make up for it.

Update 3: There are two things that are happening at the moment. We can’t find the net even if the goal is a mile wide. Teams we play against suddenly have some Supermen springing up at their defence. Hahnemann in the Reading game, James in Portsmouth and this time Richards. Detailed report later. Just can’t believe it!

Update 2: At half time despite running all over City, United somehow manage to be behind by a goal. A deflected Geovanni goal (off Vidic) against the run of play separate the two sides.
And yeah, I fuckin’ can’t believe it! I guess so would you. We kept possession well, Nani had a few genuine chances. Tevez was good in patches but was isolated for most part. Hargreaves has been impressive and has stuck on to Elano for most part.

Oh, well. This season doesn’t look good as far as our luck seems to be going.

Update: Hargreaves to start today. Campbell on the bench. Giggs plays on the left with Nani and Tevez completing the front three. Watch this space for updates.

So we head over to City for a key game, crucial to our confidence and everything. Meanwhile two other biggies, Chelsea and Liverpool, clash with one another. Arsenal have a tricky trip to Ewood Park. So here’s hoping they all drop points. (Although, I’d rather Chelsea lose against Liverpool. We have a better chance catching up with the ‘Dippers.)

Back to the game, discuss away on our comment threads or better on our very own Man Utd forum.

I couldn’t be more serious. We head over to Eastlands to face a Man City side, who for the first time in a million years are actually playing half decent football. In previous seasons, we were up against a City side that were generally shite against most teams but somehow managed to nick points off us. Two seasons ago, we saw Ronaldo sent off in a 1-3 loss. Evra had a particularly nightmarish debut then, when Trevor Sinclair, of all people, terrorized him. Earlier, in the same season, they managed to draw at Old Trafford with Joey Barton equalising after Ruud’s goal.

Last season, we did relatively better although, our away game was a drab affair, known especially for Michael Ball’s stamp on Ronaldo and a penalty that van der Sar saved. It was a game that we should have won quite comfortably but instead chose to grind our way through with some nervy moments and uninspired football.

Continue reading “Preview: Extremely, Immensely Massive Citeh vs Puny Reds”

So after a disappointing draw against Reading we head south over to Fratton Park to play a team that in recent times have become our ‘bogey team’. But in a way it’s good we are playing away from home. At least there is this hope that teams wouldn’t park their bus in front of their goal. Harry Redknapp himself said he won’t be defensive. “One can’t just defend against teams like that”, he said - or something to that effect.

So we could hope for a much more open game today. SAF has confirmed that Tevez will start today. It would be a like for like replacement for Rooney, but that said, it shouldn’t open up the old, tiresome debate that Rooney and Tevez are too similar. As Carlitos would himself say, “I am only 50% similar to him” - or something to that effect. He would have said that in Spanish anyway, so there you go.

I would love for Hargreaves to start along side Carrick with Scholes in the hole, as I mentioned yesterday. But I doubt we are going to see that happening. Giggs might be persisted with in the hole with Carrick and the Ninja playing deeper. Fletcher would get to start on the wing with Ronny on the other. However we should see Evra in a more familiar role of left back - displacing Silvestre. So that should hopefully settle many nerves, or so we’d hope.

Nani would be on the bench and so would Anderson/Ole. I am sure Fergie would have realized his folly of not having any genuine strikers on the bench in the last game. Well, sure, he didn’t have any fit striker, but Anderson could play in that role too. Or even Frazier Campbell, no?

Oh well, let’s not talk about that game anymore. Here’s looking forward to a good game today and a result.

Prediction: 2-0 to United. The lads will be pumped up for the game. Tevez to score! I don’t expect our defence to be too troubled by Portsmouth’s attack although they are decent enough to cause us problems.

And before I end this preview, here is an inspirational fan chant created by none other than yours’ truly, (Who else!) which involves three of our summer signings. It could be horrible, or outright brilliant. But that’s your opinion. Anyway here it is:

Anderson, Nani, Charlie Tee,
In your pants, they’ll make you Pee!

Angry? You have the comment section for that!