Yes, one hand on the title it is. Wigan won their game yesterday against Villa and ensured their survival. So they have nothing to play for when they face us next week. Despite it being an away game, this season’s Premier League title is only United’s to lose.
But getting back to yesterday’s game, it’s nice to see the swagger back. Presumably, the win against Barcelona could have driven the men on. Or perhaps, it’s the knowledge that, with only three games to go, prior to yesterday, they can afford to give it their all for the final push.
Either way, a warm welcome to Manchester United as we know them. What we saw over the past two-three weeks was a pale shadow, to be honest.
Continue reading “Man Utd 4-1 West Ham: One Hand On the Title”
Crisis? What crisis? That was so easy wasn’t it? Surely we’re going to wallop every team that comes our way from now on, aren’t we?
Okay, let me not attempt to jinx the team anymore, but to quote a certain Scottish manager — I forget his name — football… bloody hell!
Continue reading “Man Utd 1-0 Barcelona: Reds March On To Moscow”
Match report to follow 
[EDIT By RR]
Great stuff by the lads. Outstanding support from the crowd. They won’t be able to talk for a week, I’m sure. Let’s savour these moments for now. I’ll put some videos or pics as I find them, but the match report will come up only tomorrow. Hang on tight, and feel free to rant your guts out.
Over to you…
Found this on video Youtube, don’t know if it’s relevant, but enjoy!
Continue reading “Moscow, we’re going to Moscow!”
I’ve been trying my best to write a match report for the past hour or so. I bet this is going to be a bad one. It’s going to be incoherent, but it has to be done. So here goes…
Manchester United look set to gifting the title to Chelsea after being in the lead all this while. Sure, we still are in control of our destiny realistically. But we have to beat West Ham and Wigan to ensure we win the title. Also there is the small matter of a Barcelona side that needs to be seen off at OT on Tuesday; not too much time to recover one suspects, considering the Spanish giants rested six of the players in their weekend loss to Deportivo.
We, ran around for 90 minutes on Wednesday in Camp Nou and did an equal amount of running around yesterday. Trust me, to win on Tuesday — and next weekend — would require a little more than a grit of the teeth. It’s not going to be easy, but, to use a cliche, when have we done things the easy way?
Continue reading “Chelsea 2-1 Man Utd: So, Is This harakiri In Progress?”
Red Rants had some problems in the last 10 hours or so - first our server was under maintenance for a looonnnggg time (they picked one hell of a time to do maintenance), and then there was a problem with our database that didn’t allow people to post comments. Both problems are resolved now, and I thank you for your patience and hope that you haven’t migrated somewhere else in the meantime.
We will be shifting servers in the near future to avoid any such future problems.
Ok, back to the match itself. In case you haven’t seen the game, I suggest finding a place to download it and watch it again, or trying to catch a replay on TV. My hangover prevents me from going play by play over last night’s events, although to the teams’ credit I managed to go through the whole game without sleeping (as opposed to the shit on a stick affair at Anfield when I dozed off 10 minutes into the game). If you’re pressed for time, read the beeb’s report or guardian’s minute-by-minute coverage.
What I DO want to discuss though, is the nature of United’s performance and what that holds for the coming days (both the Chelsea game and the second leg at Old Trafford).
Continue reading “Barcelona 0-0 Manchester United - Much better than last season”
Yes, it’s amazing how many important and late goals Carlos Tevez has got us this season. Yesterday was another such occasion where he chipped in with a crucial late goal that still keeps United in control of their own destiny.
Continue reading “Blackburn 1-1 Man Utd: Another Tevez Late Goal”
The regulars to this site might be left wondering, and for good reason, why there wasn’t a preview to yesterday’s game posted on this blog. Dear readers, kindly accept my humble apologies. My internet for some reason decided it deserved a holiday — with it being a Sunday and all — and politely conked out so conveniently, just as I started writing the first few lines of the preview.
Continue reading “Man Utd v Arsenal: United End Arsenal’s Season”
It’s hard to terrorise opponents when your attacking trio boasts of an ageing 34-year old whose time, according to his own fans, is up at the club, a Korean imitation of the Energizer Bunny sans the coolness and impact, and a hobbit brought over from Argentina.
Behind them sat 2 defensive midfielders and a player turning 20 this Sunday who had been anonymous in the first leg. Behind them stood a crocked center-back, a green 21-year old, an alien making his comeback from injury, a right-back no one rates as being good enough and a 37-yr old keeper whose best days are behind him.
Either Luciano Spalletti didn’t do his homework, or his scouts lied to him about some of these players.
Continue reading “The Attack Of The Hobbits…”
I had a small sneaky feeling, somewhere deep in the crevices of my mind that Alfonso Alves will score, after having come so close against Chelsea. After all he hadn’t been prolific for nothing. Little did I realise that he will make a more than significant contribution to the course of our season from now on, with finishes as cool as an iceberg; one may wonder if we had one more finisher as cool as that — apart from Ronaldo — we may have yet taken full points from this game.
Continue reading “Boro 2-2 Man Utd: Alves Breaks United Momentum”
Manchester United won 2-0 at the Stadio Olimpico thanks to goals before and after the break by Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney. The Red Devils take a vital 2-goal lead into the 2nd leg, to be played on Wednesday, 9th April 2008 at Old Trafford. The semi-final beckons, and with it another crack at history.
Highlights (You can read the play-by-play match report here on ManUtd.com):
Cristiano Ronaldo scoring an away goal in a crucial game for Manchester United - showing a resolve that seemed missing in seasons gone past.
Wayne Rooney’s all-round performance, easily the man of the match for his work-rate, creativity and commitment. Ronaldo stole the show with his goal but the rest of the game was more about Rooney.
Vidic’s injury - a knee strain as he landed awkwardly after jumping for a header - will be a cause of concern but hopefully it’s not a long-term injury like last season.
Roma’s wastefulness in front of goal - granted, by the end of the game both teams had their fair share of chances but there were periods of time before both goals that Roma had clear-cut chances to score, and they bottled it. For United to grab those crucial away goals in difficult games - at Lyon and now here at Rome - is a good sign of maturity from their players.
Continue reading “Rooney and Ronaldo punish wasteful Roma to give United 2-0 away win”
