Archive for October, 2007 Page 2 of 4

Dynamo Kiev 2 Manchester United 4

Published by
Paul
at October 23, 2007 in Champions League, Manchester United and Reviews. 6 Comments

Dynamo Kiev 2 (Rincon 33, Bangoura 78) Manchester United 4 (Ferdinand 10, Rooney 18, Ronaldo 41, 68 pen)

A storming attacking display against a dreadful Kiev defence saw United become only the 2nd English team to win in Kiev.

With the defence and midfield in disarray due to injuries to Evra and Scholes, United decided to attack from the start, and blew Kiev away, exposing pretty poor defending. With an unmarked Ferdinand free to put United ahead in only the tenth minute, Rooney quickly doubled the lead after Wes Brown and Ronaldo combined on the right to give the White Pele a simple tap in (McClaren take note Rooney like to play up front, and I mean up-front not deep in midfield).

Only pretty poor defending on United’s part (not marking properly and not being on the post as Rincon headed a goal back) meant that the game was still a contest when Ronaldo got United’s third. Ryan Giggs might have lost yards of pace over the years but he has learnt how to cross the ball properly. His cross to Ronaldo was perfect and the Portuguese star powered a header home.

In the 2nd half Kiev made more a fight of it and caused United some concern at the back before the the referee ended the contest by awarding United a penalty for a handball. It looked just about in the box, but whether it was meant is another matter. Unlike Rooney, Ronaldo isn’t English and therefore can put away a penalty and duly got his 2nd of the match.

There was still time for Kiev to get a 2nd themselves when Bangoura struck a great low drive to beat Van der Saar.

Once again I was impressed by Anderson who looked both strong and skilful in midfield as he carried the unfit Fletcher all game.  However in the 2nd half it was clear United missed Scholes, Carrick or Hargreaves after Kiev regrouped.  United did exceptional well to take the game to Kiev before Kiev could work out the weakness in the midfield.

Rooney and Ronaldo looked very sharp indeed and whilst Tevez and Giggs were relatively quiet the helped the team link together very well.  None of the defenders were tested enough, although when required Ferdinand was his usual calm and assured self.  Only Darren Fletcher didn’t do well.  When United attacked in the first half he didn’t contribute.  And when Kiev came back into it in the 2nd half, he was mostly anonymous as well.  I’m being unduly harsh as he is just coming back from injury and I wouldn’t have played if Scholes had been fit.

All in all, a very good night for Manchester United and with full points from 3 games qualification from the group is nearly there.

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Neville the Younger the legend

Published by
Paul
at October 23, 2007 in News. 0 Comments

More heroics from ex-red Phil Neville, but ultimately in vain as the ref lets Stevie Gerrard do the sending off.

The situation is this. 1-1 in the Mersey derby in injury time. Everton already down to 10 men (thanks to the aforementioned Gerrard). The keeper has made a save but is hopelessly out of position and the shot flies goal bound with only Phil Neville in the way.

Deciding a 3 game ban and a sending off is worth a chance at swapping a certain goal for a chance the penalty will be saved, Phil saves the ball with his hand. Cue mutliple England goalkeeping jokes.

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Aston Villa 1 Manchester United 4

Published by
Paul
at October 23, 2007 in Manchester United, Premiership and Reviews. 2 Comments

Aston Villa 1 (Agbonlahor 13) Manchester United 4 (Rooney 36, 44, Ferdinand 45, Giggs 75)

Sorry for the delay on this review. I’ve been ill over the weekend and didn’t have Setenner so couldn’t even see the game (bring back PremPlus!). However, I’ve since been told my local has got Sky back so I will have to step out to see if they have paid for Setanta as well. It might cost £10 to buy a few pints whilst watching the game, but you are still a few pints better off that forking out the money to watch it in the comfort of your own armchair. What is worse is that when Setanta show the game Sky can’t show it as a football first game, so all you get are the MotD highlights. By the time, I got to see the highlights on MotD it was too late to post, but I wish I had because I was ill Sunday and Monday. Anyway, better now, just in time for the Kiev game.

United look to be really getting into a groove and despite conceding a goal first (letting one in? surely not; but then Vidic wasn’t playing, not that Pique is a bad deputy but then Vidic is some sort of defending Rock God at the moment “None shall pass!”) United went on the rampage with Rooney and Tevez really combining well.

Admittedly, the Villa defence seemed to be AWOL for much of the game and we guilty of giving United far too much room.  Rooney had a free run at a pass that went straight across the 6 yard line for the first, it seemed that Knight decided that marking Rooney on the edge of the area was a no no.

It shouldn’t detract from the performance because normally Villa are not a bad team and I think, in part, it was United’s movement and passing that made Villa look bad.  This was without Ronaldo as well, rested after the international weekend and ahead of the Champions League match.

Villa ended the game with 9 men after first Reo-Coker got 2 bookable offences and then Scott Carson brought down Tevez in the box.  Rooney managed to have his penalty saved which would have made it a 5 goal thumping.

I always think thumpings start at 5 goals rather 4.  4 is just a big win, but 5 and then 6 is a crushing win.  It gets strange when 7 (seven) are scored because this is an abnormal score and rightly noted by the vidiprinter (remember that?) by writing out the word “seven” in case you rightly thought it was a typo or that you were misreading a 1.  Of course, scoring 7 but conceding 4 as Portsmouth did a few weeks back against Reading is not a thumping, more a case of deciding not to play with an defence or goalkeeper.

Is scoring 4 the new scoring 1 for United?  Lets see if it continues tonight.

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Villa Preview

Published by
Paul
at October 19, 2007 in Manchester United, Premiership and Previews. 1 Comment

Aston Villa v Manchester United, at Villa Park, Aston; 20th October, 17:15 BST

The Premier League is back. It seems like a year ago that United recorded a 4-0 win over Wigan. Now, United face Aston Villa whose manager is being lined up as future England manager again, although I was treated the way he was treated by the FA, I’d tell them where to shove their job. Not that the position is vacant, mind, but the press are circling the trawler, not so much seaguls but vultures picked at the dead carcass of England’s Euro 2008 campaign. Come on Scotland!

Speaking of England before moving on to better teams, I see Rooney was partly blamed for the defeat because of that penalty. Firstly, Rooney scored a fantastic goal (if offside perhaps) and it would have been 2-0 if it hadn’t been for Press Darling Steven Gerrard. Check out this interesting analysis of Captain Slightly Not Fantastic Gerrard’s performance against Estonia.

United are without England’s Hargreaves, Carrick and Neville (still!) and Glassland’s Saha. Vidic, O’Shea and Fletcher should all be okay to play. I wonder if Anderson will get the nod after a good display against Wigan. Fletcher was clearly not match fit for Scotland, so I expect O’Shea to fit in. Brown should return for Pique which is almost a shame as I hope that both Pique and Simpson get more run outs.

“England’s best midfield” Gareth Barry will be hoping for a similar result to when the played Chelsea but United are going for their 10th league win in a row against Villa, whilst hoping to extend their clean sheet record by another 90 minutes to 659 minutes.

Special mention to Ronaldo who will be making his 200th appearance for United but Ryan Giggs doesn’t have to worry too much yet.

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United’s September In Review

Published by
Paul
at October 10, 2007 in Manchester United. 1 Comment

When I look back at September, I’m not looking at many goals. For a start the only goals conceded were with a reserve defence in the Carling Cup. And United themselves didn’t score many more, recording four 1-0 wins, and one 2-0 win.

On the 1st September Saha returned from injury and scored the only goal in a 1-0 win at home to Sunderland. Anderson made his debut but did not impress and was withdrawn at half time for Saha. Once again United struggled to win and did not play well.

An international break did not change the pattern of United’s season when the managed to beat Everton 1-0 at Goodison Park “not even the return of Ronaldo bringing back the attacking team we used to love“. I noticed that Carlos Tevez was anonymous in this game, and it was Hero Vidic that scored the goal to win the game.

On the 19th United returned to Champions League action with a trip to Sporting Lisbon. It was an emotional return for Nani and, in particular, Ronaldo. He scored the only goal in another 1-0 win and the sporting fans gave their prodigal son a standing ovation when he later came off injured.

All the talk before the game against Chelsea was about the sacking/leaving of Jose Mourhino but it appeared to affect Chelsea far more than United and new manager had no idea what to do after Jon Obi Mikel was sent off and United had their most comfortable game of the season running out 2-0 winners.

United’s participation in this season’s Carling Cup started and ended on the 26th as they lost 2-0 at home to Coventry City with Mifsud getting 2 goals.  Most United fans couldn’t care less and in fact with the enforced cup ticket fiasco are probably glad they won’t have to see more games.

The final game of the month was away to Birmingham City and it was another 1-0 win.  It was down to determination, resolute defending, two excellent goalkeepers, a Birmingham defenders mistake and a composed finish from Christiano Ronaldo.

September started with United in a little bit of trouble in the league and finished with us crashing out of the first cup competition.  But in between we recorded 4 league wins without conceding a goal and a good start to our Champions League campaign.  Whilst we haven’t played at all well, things are looking up.

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